Clearing the Static

Thank you very much, Chris, Catherine, and Sue. I've been hearing one of those three parts quite a bit over the last couple weeks. It's nice to hear it all put together. Very, very lovely.

There we go. To start off the message today, I'm going to share a little bit of nostalgia. I was about 12 years old, I think, when I got my first radio.

Now, some of you might have got yours a little earlier than I did, but if you're old enough, you might remember when they looked something like this.

My first one didn't look exactly like this, but I don't still have that first one, which is a real shame because I understand that they're worth quite a bit of money now.

This was long before we were using our phones, or what we now call handheld devices, to not only make phone calls, but listen to music, take pictures, surf the internet, and I don't know what else they do, probably because I don't have one.

I still carry an old-fashioned flip phone. I've long been fascinated with the history of radio, and it might be largely because I started listening right at the time when the radio industry was about to go through a big change. My first radio was AM-only, and probably many of you remember that. It was this color, actually, a little handheld device, and I got it from Radio Shack. I remember Radio Shack at that point carried a line of radios. They were all the exact same, except for different colors, and they named them after the color of berries that they resembled. So you could have a cherry radio, a blueberry, raspberry, banana. They all sounded the exact same.

It wasn't so bad that it received only AM, because at that time, I think 90 percent of all radio stations in America were AM stations. And for those of you who are a little younger, when I say AM, I don't mean in the morning. That stands for amplitude modulation. That's a scientific description of how the radio waves actually transmit the information. And if you'll bear with me, I want to give a little bit of history on how radio developed. It's been somewhat of a hobby of mine, although I haven't indulged it that much lately until I was working on this message.

It's worth mentioning, of course, that electromagnetic energy was part of God's creation. It's been around far longer than the human technology that's been using it. And if our understanding of how that works is correct, what we call visible light is one part of the broader electromagnetic spectrum. So in a sense, the history of radio began when God said, let there be light. But people didn't learn to use that non-visible part of the spectrum until our modern era. And I want you to bear with me because the idea of something always being there but not perceived by people is an underlying part of this message. It was in the late 1800s that wireless telegraph developed. It worked on the principle of causing disturbances in the electric... I didn't realize how hard that would be to say. Luckily, I've got some water here.

Causing disturbances in the electromagnetic waves that could be detected over long distances. So I said they called it wireless telegraph, pioneered by an Italian engineer named Guglielmo Marconi. Now that I can say. Of course, American Marconi became a rather major American company over time. But as time went by, many people thought there's got to be a way to use this technology to transmit more than just dots and dashes, clicks. They wanted to be able to transmit sound, voice, and music. And it was in 1906, 110 years ago, that an American lead the forest and vented a thing he called the Audion tube. It converted sound waves into electronic pulses, very similar to the way microphones do today. And that's a large part of the function of a microphone such as here before me. It enables sound vibrations to be transferred into electromagnetic waves. And of course, if we understand communication theory, any microphone or other device that transmit changes these sounds into some type of a transmittable code. And that's sent over something we call a channel. That channel could be a string stretched between two soup cans. Some of the older people are laughing. A lot of younger people are saying, what? Doesn't soup come in little plastic things that you stick in the microwave? There used to be another way, but that channel could be that. It could be electromagnetic waves, a wire. But it then travels through the channel and then a mirror technology at the other end unscrambles it and produces the original message. If that sounds complex, well, it kind of is, but it's something we all do every single day. In our brains, we develop an idea and then it comes out through our mouth. We form it into words that's gone, goes through the channel of the air waves as the sound passes and it reaches someone's ear. And then that's transferred back into pulses where the brain hopefully receives the message. And that always works perfectly, doesn't it?

You have an idea, you tell someone and they know exactly what you mean.

You're laughing because if any of you have played what we call the telephone game, you've learned.

Yeah, it often doesn't go well between just one person and another. I know that in my own household. You know, my wife will say something and I hear something entirely different.

And we're not sure who's, you know, of course, then the discussion comes, okay, did you not say it right or did I not hear it right? Or was it something interference? And that's the problem. We have interference. Interference can be literal noise or it can be anything that interferes with transmitting an idea. We call that static.

It was so common in the early days of radio that it became a generic term for any type of interference, whether it's the literal noise or electronic static or something else.

General static wasn't the only problem radio had to overcome. At first, in the early 1900s, American radio was not regulated. Anybody who could put together the right electronic do-dads, because I don't know what they're actually called, but they could transmit on whatever wavelength they wanted, at whatever power. Transmitters interfered with each other.

So some orders started to arise when Congress stepped in. In 1912, Congress gave the Secretary of Commerce, who happened to be a man named Herbert Hoover at the time, authority to issue licenses to radio operators, assigning specific frequencies, and later even hours of operation.

It was about that time that KDKA in Pittsburgh became the nation's first commercial radio station. I think KDKA is still on the air, isn't it? Okay, I know we I figured we have some people from Pittsburgh. Later, Congress established the Federal Radio Commission, which later was superseded by the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission. It was necessary to impose order to keep stations from interfering with each other. Here in Cincinnati, we have what we call the Super Station. They like to call themselves America Station, WLW. It has a significant history because it was one of the nation's first clear channel stations. At night, the clear channel stations were allowed to boost their power, and eventually the wattage settled at 50,000 watts. And every other station anywhere in the country that was on their frequency had to shut down for the night so that these clear channel stations could beam across the country. I'm guessing many of you who are a little older associate that with attending SABSA services because that's where you first heard the gospel on some of these stations. That's not the purpose of my message, but I hope it makes that connection. I remember learning that significance when I was a student. I was going to big school in Big Sandy, Texas, and I would sometimes drive home to visit family here in Ohio. I don't know why it was whenever I went to Texas, I would leave early in the morning and drive all day. Coming home, I would often leave at night and drive overnight. And once as I was driving home, I said, I'm bored with listening to music. One of the first signs that I was growing up. I said, I want to listen to someone talk, and I tuned in the radio, and I discovered there's football on the radio as well as TV. I listened to a Monday night football game for about three and a half hours. And as I dialed that AM station, or AM dial, I realized I could pick up stations from around the country. New York, Chicago, Des Moines, Atlanta, New Orleans, Dallas, and of course, Cincinnati would lead me all the way back to Ohio. I was too young for this, but I've read about how WLW for a while was allowed to experiment with ultra-high power. I think they went up to 500,000 watts. And I heard people say you could hear the radio playing if you had a chain link fence, or sometimes in the fillings in your teeth, it was so powerful. It worked reasonably well, but there was still static.

Static comes from various electrical sources, electronic equipment, radio flares, all kinds of things cause static. There are changes that erode the message. And it's based partly on how AM radio works. Amplitude modulation means you change the strength of the signal. You can imagine in your head if you think of a wave actually getting taller and shorter, and that's how it encodes the information.

Now, in the 1980s, some stations in America started experimenting with something that they called high-definition or high-fidelity AM radio, but it never caught on, partly because something else came along. An American engineer by the name of Edwin Armstrong perfected a different way to transmit and receive radio. It was called frequency modulation, or FM. FM radio doesn't vary the strength or the size of the radio wave. It encodes messages by changes of the density, so waves might be coming this close, then this close, then this close, and it goes over and it allows much less static. Now, the question is, can I make this work up here like I did in my room?

Oh, it does that.

Fine. That's fine.

Welcome to be part of the program. There you go.

When I was a teenager, as I said, the change happened. The country was won over by FM. When I got my first radio at 12 years old in Columbus, Ohio, I listened to WCOL-FAM, Top 40 radio. If you liked a song, you'd hear it every so many minutes. Within two years, I was listening to WLVQ-FM96, album-oriented rock. Although I learned that before rock and country music became common, FM stations typically played classical music. Because of the complexity and the details of symphonic music, FM was ideal because it didn't have all that static. As a matter of fact, if I remember, in the 70s, a band named Steely Dan came out with a song called FM, and part of the chorus was, no static at all. FM has limitations. It can't broadcast as far.

And now, satellite radio has come along, and people are tuning in stations using internet and such. I don't want to go into those new technologies. Probably if I work long enough, I could find a way to fit them into my analogy.

But I've got to move on to what we're focusing on today. And you could say I've come a long way to build up an analogy. I'm only saying a long way because I know I'm the last thing standing between you and lunch. Although it's not going to be served for about another hour and five minutes, no matter how quickly I wrap up. But I hope it's understandable when I say that Satan the devil has been causing static. Sorry, Russ.

There's the static. He's been causing that static for as long as mankind has been on earth. Ephesians 2, verse 2, calls him the prince of the power of the air. I'm guessing many of you have that scripture memorized. Prince of the power of the air. And I'm far from being the first person to compare Satan's influence over the world to the airwaves of radio transmission. As I said, from the initial creation, light and all electromagnetic energy existed. Similarly, the truth. God's plan. God's plan for mankind. God's spiritual moral laws always existed. But Satan introduced static and interference to distort man's reception of the truth. We know the story in Genesis. I won't turn there, but if you read in Genesis chapter 3, Satan lied to Eve when he said, you will not surely die. He told her if you disobey God and eat of that fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you're going to have wisdom. You're going to be like God.

You'd be like God himself. She wanted that. And that interference that he introduced was kind of like if you've been driving along in your car and you're listening to a station and suddenly another station bursts in and starts overriding what you were listening to. That doesn't happen. Well, it happens on FM-sum, but it happened in AM a lot. Satan has tried to interfere with God's reception. Let me say, he's tried to interfere with God's reception as much as with ours. I'm going to read Revelation 12 and verse 10, something that the Bible tells us about Satan.

Revelation 12.10. Actually, I want to read just the bottom last part of the verse where it says, The accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down. Earlier in verse 9, it talks about the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world. He accuses the brethren day and night. Just think, we know from Scripture that all people have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. All of us have earned the death penalty. But to make matters worse, attempting to interfere with God's natural proclivity to show mercy and be forgiven, Satan is trying to flood his perception with static and interference. Remember how Satan accused Job?

When God asked Satan, you know, when the angels came before him, hey, have you noticed my servant Job? How good and upright he is? Satan said, I'll put your hand out now and touch what he has. He'll curse you to your face. Satan was proved wrong, but he tried again, as I'll read in Job 2, beginning in verse 3. He says, The Eternal said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job? There is none like him on earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil. And still, he holds fast to his integrity. Although you incited me against him to destroy him without cause, Satan answered the Lord and said, Skin for skin, a man will give all that he has for his life. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh. He'll curse you to your face.

We don't need to continue the story because it goes off in another direction that's not my purpose today. Job did learn through suffering, and we can learn a great deal from studying his story. My point is that Satan is the accuser of mankind. Satan tries hard to distort how God sees us and what good there is to see in us. There is another example in the book of Zechariah, Zechariah chapter 3. It's one that I like just because, partly because of the poetic nature of it and how I think what it says can apply to us as well. Zechariah 3 in verse 1, verse 2.

God showed Zechariah a number of visions, and he shows him a vision here. He says, It showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. Satan's throwing out interference, trying not to let God see us the way he wants to see us. The eternal said to Satan, The Lord rebuke you, Satan. The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?

That's the way we all are in a sense, and all mankind will be. Brands plucked from the fire.

Satan is not successful at distorting things for God, but he has been rather successful at distorting mankind's reception. He has had a lot of success in causing static and interference and humankind's reception of God's truth. We might as well turn to 2 Corinthians 4.4. I just quoted Ephesians 2.2. 2 Corinthians 4.4 is another memory scripture.

Speaking of memory, I could have cited it from memory faster than I can turn to it.

Actually, backing up to verse 3, it says, Our gospel is veiled, it's veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is in the image of God, should shine unto them. God's truth has always been there, but for most of humanity, Satan has poured out his static that's totally obscured that truth. And we want to remember, AM radio is susceptible to static just by the nature of what it is, and human minds are the same in a sense. Human minds have a built-in limitation, which the Apostle Paul explained in his first epistle. We're in 2 Corinthians. If you'll turn back to 1 Corinthians in the second chapter, 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14, 2 Corinthians 2 and verse 14 tells us, The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, of their foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they're spiritually discerned. We could say that humans are born like a transistor radio with only an AM receiver, and it's good for what it does, but it can't pick up the FM band. Can't pick up shortwave. Trying to think what else? Can't pick up CB radio so you can talk to truckers.

Now, as I said, it's good for what it does if you back up to verse 11. It says, What man knows the things of a man, except the Spirit of the man which is in him? So the Spirit of man that's in us is something marvelous and wonderful.

It's what makes us different than the animals. We're born with that.

If you look at your dog and try to have a conversation with him, it'll look at you and maybe tilt its head. What it hears is that I talked to my dog, Vanna. It's funny. We got a dog from the pound, and she was a cute little dog. I said, Let's name her Vanilla. She's a little white Bijon Freeze. That's where I came up with the name Vanilla. Then when we got her home, we said, Vanilla's hard to say, so we started calling her Vanna for short. Then I realized I got a white dog named Vanna. You Wheel of Fortune fans can take it. No, not Wheel of Fortune. It is Wheel of Fortune. Anyways, I'll say, Vanna, come here. We're going to go for a walk, Vanna. What she hears is, Blah, blah, blah, Vanna. Blah, blah, Vanna. She knows her name. She doesn't know what I'm talking about. You have the same experience. The animals, they can't do what we can do. They don't have the spirit in man.

But mankind, with only the spirit in man, is falling short, as it says in the last part of this chapter. Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Paul is explaining that the few of us who are called by God now do have God's Spirit. That's what enables us to understand and perceive spiritual things, as he continues. Now, we've received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

These things we also speak not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches. Comparing spiritual things was spiritual. So, for all of mankind's existence, people have been unable to grasp and to understand the truth. They've had limited reception, like an AM radio. And on top of that, whatever they could try to receive is getting drowned out by the static and interference that Satan keeps throwing out there.

And the result becomes what Paul poetically described in a later letter to the Corinthians. If you'll turn back to 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 12. 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 12. It says, Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech, unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly at the end of what was passing away. And their minds were blinded, for until this day, that same veil remains un-lifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. Now, this is referring to when Moses had spent time up on Mount Sinai directly conversing with God.

He went up for 40 days, of course, and God instructed him how to build the tabernacle and do sacrifices, gave him the tablets with the Ten Commandments written. And then God said, You better get down there, Moses. Your people are messing up. They built a golden calf. Moses went down and had to straighten things out and went back up.

And before he went up, he had to carve two new tablets because he broke the old ones. God said, All right on the new ones, but you got to do the work of making them. He came up and spent another 40 days.

And when he came back, his face was glowing. So much so, people were scared to death, so he wore a veil over his face. Paul is using that story to say, Yeah, people, it's like the world has a veil over its face. They can't perceive the things of God. It's strange and mysterious to them. He says that veil is still there over the people's heart. Paul didn't know about radio, so I'm sure he would have talked about static instead of a veil. Maybe I'm not that sure, but he's symbolizing the fact that without the Holy Spirit, people just don't understand the Word of God.

It's garbled in static. I know it's funny. I've got a new appreciation for that idea, not only of being, having the static drown out what you hear, but being blinded and not being able to see well. I talked to the some in the Cincinnati congregation. Last winter, I had rapidly developing cataracts come on my eyes. It took a lot to figure out what was going wrong, but as I say, I was facing the terrifying prospect of going blind. But then suddenly, when I had the surgery, things were clear again. Boy, do I appreciate that. The one thing is it's left me with, it seems like, permanently bloodshot eyes. So if you see me, it's not that I don't get enough sleep, although sometimes I don't.

But when they're removed, you can see clearly. I'm curious. I'll bet many of you have had that surgery, and you can relate to that. That's what it's like for people when the Holy Spirit is suddenly introduced, I believe. 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 14, their minds were blinded, for until this day the same veil remains unlisted in the reading of the Old Testament. But the veil is taken away in Christ.

That last phrase is the reason I'm addressing the subject today. The veil, the static, the interference has been removed for us. At the very least, we could say reduced. And the only reason I say that is, remember in 1 Corinthians 13, Paul reminds us that we see through a glass dimly, even with what we do understand. When Christ comes, we'll see face to face. Then everything will be crystal clear. We're among very few over the course of approximately 6,000 years of human history who can pick up God's transmission. That's one of the main reasons, or one of the things we celebrate on the Feast of Pentecost. But that's going to change. Not that we understand, but that there are few of us. What has been available to only a few, according to God's plan and his schedule, is going to be made available to everyone. What I've been discussing is symbolized progressively by the annual Holy Days. So if you wonder, it's like, did he bring his Atonement notes up here with him? Not exactly. We know that after Jesus Christ sacrificed to pay for human sin, he established his church. He opened access to the Holy Spirit to those few who are called out—the firstfruits. The firstfruits are able to understand God's Word, to understand his law, his plan and his purpose for everyone, even if we do see something somewhat dimly through a dark glass. By the power of the Spirit, those in God's church can resist Satan. We can overcome sin. Yes, it is a lifelong process, but we can. We have to overcome sin. We have to develop godly, righteous character. But God's plan isn't just for us. We're firstfruits because there are first and then there are latter. As it says in 2 Peter 3 and verse 9, it is worth turning here to cement this in our mind. 2 Peter 3 and verse 9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise. As some count slackness, the Lord is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Those are two powerful words, not willing that any should perish. He doesn't want anyone to fall by the wayside. Now, we know God's Word shows that there's a lake of fire planned because apparently some will, but God wants all to come to repentance. It's not his desire for a single one to be lost. For people to come to repentance, they have to understand what sin is, what to repent of. We know it's written here nearby in 1 John 3, 4, that sin is the transgression of the law. Or the New King James says sin is lawlessness. But people have to understand that. They have to understand how to change, how to live God's way. And for most of human history, almost everyone has not been able to do that because of the static.

They can't hear what I'm trying to say.

I wasn't sure how effective that would be. They have inferior receivers. They're flooded with constant interference. But as I said, though, that will change. Revelation 20 in verse 1 through 3 tells us how that's going to happen. Revelation 20 verse 1, Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of that dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil in Satan, and bound him a thousand years. Cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. After these things, he must be released for a little while. Now, we know this is going to happen shortly after Christ's return. Christ's return is pictured by the Feast of Trumpets, and Satan being bound is much of what's symbolized by the Day of Atonement, which we kept. Doesn't it seem like a lot longer ago than it was? Not long ago we kept the Feast of Trumpets. This verse that we just read even also mentions the Feast of Tabernacles. Satan will be bound for a thousand years. Satan will no longer be able to deceive the nations. The static will clear. The static will clear, which reminds me. Mr. De Vilbas, I forgot to give you a title. If you haven't made one up on your own by now, brethren, I call this clearing the static. Instead of noise and confusion in people's minds, there will be peace. There will be order. Not only will there be no interference of the signal that God is sending out, but people will be able to receive it. They'll be able to understand it. I'm going to come back to Revelation after a few other scriptures, if you want to put a marker there. But I do want to turn to Joel chapter 2. Joel 2 beginning in verse 28.

We know what's going to enable people to understand God and those who will be teaching on His behalf is that they'll have then what we have now. There we go. Hosea, Joel, Amos. And I'm not going to Amos, I'm going back to Joel. Joel 2 and verse 28. It will come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions. And also on my men servants and my maid servants, I will pour out my spirit in those days.

We know from what we read earlier in Paul's epistle to the Corinthians that it's the lack of God's Spirit that has prevented people from understanding spiritual things. Because of not having God's Spirit, people have not understood the way of love. Those two great commandments. Love the Lord your God with everything you've got. And love your neighbor as yourself.

Now we know Peter quoted this section from Joel in that Pentecost sermon that he gave. It's recorded in Acts chapter 2. But we want to remember that was a partial fulfillment. He was correct in quoting it. He said, these guys aren't drunk. This is what Joel wrote about the Holy Spirit being poured out. But I say it was a partial fulfillment because a few people received the Spirit then. Even if 3,000 were baptized in a day, still pretty few. There's a few of us in the Cincinnati area with the Holy Spirit. This room seems crowded, but it's not everybody that's in the city of Milford. Not everybody in the Cincinnati metro area by a long shot. But Joel here is saying that there will come a time when God's Spirit will be poured out on all, everyone. When Christ returns and puts Satan away, there's going to be a tremendous change on the earth. It'll be like everyone's static-y AM radios will be exchanged for FM, where the signal can come in. Be careful, you don't know what I'll hear.

FM was trying to think of a wrote superheterodyne receivers. I wrote that down because I thought it looks really cool, and I don't know what a superheterodyne is. I think it's something that Edwin Armstrong guy invented. But they'll be able to hear God's Word with digital clarity. Let's look back to that analogy of a veil over people's understanding. It's referred to in Isaiah chapter 25. If you'll turn to Isaiah 25 and we'll read verses 6 through 8.

Isaiah 25, beginning in verse 6.

In this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of well-refined wines on the lees. That's symbolically describing what we've been enjoying this past week. He'll destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering, cast over the people and the veil that spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever. The Lord God will wipe away tears from all the faces. The rebuke of his people he'll take away from all the earth. For the Lord will be spoken. That veil that Paul said is blinding people from understanding God's Word. It's going to be taken away. And not only are people going to be able to understand the Bible, but they'll have personal instruction, as is described a few pages forward in Isaiah 30. Isaiah 30, beginning in verse 20. This is another popular scripture. Popular with me, anyways. I hope with you.

And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore. Your eyes shall see your teachers. Your ears shall hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way. Walk in it whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.

And we see this prophecy as involving us. We could be those teachers. That's why God's called us now.

That's why God has given his Holy Spirit to us now. He wants us to study and learn his way, to know his law, to make it a part of us. And you might say, yeah, but Frank, we just celebrated a whole seven-day festival commemorating that part of God's plan. Didn't you look at the calendar? This is the eighth day. We call it the last great day. Shouldn't we focus on what it represents in God's plan? And yes, we should. And I'd like to submit that in a very important way, that's what I have been doing. When we look at ourselves now, as I said, even though the room is crowded, we're still a tiny church, a small number of believers. And when we consider how different it's going to be during the millennium, when the whole earth is as full of the knowledge of God, as the seas are full of water, it's comforting and perhaps easy to just stop and go, ah, that's it. That's all it needs to be. That's not it. I think that when we look ahead to what happens next, I notice some ratios might be more similar than we think. Just as we are now a very small number of people who have been given an opportunity in advance to understand and to live by God's way, with a plan for us to share that with many more later during the millennium, when we can be the ones providing that voice that says, this is the way, walk in it. Even so, those who during the millennium do learn to walk in that way, who don't have God's spirit now but who will have it then, and perhaps it'll be millions of them. There's a prophecy in Zechariah that says, the streets of Jerusalem will be filled with boys and girls playing in the streets. And there are various prophecies that talk about the population growing and having to lengthen your tent cords. So maybe there'll be a lot of population growth. But even so, however many people we have learning and knowing the truth during the millennium, it's going to be a pretty small number compared to the billions who will be raised back to life in what we call the second resurrection. Consider in Ezekiel chapter 5, God tells Ezekiel to shave off the hair of his head and divide it into thirds. I often wonder, Ezekiel wrote down the account. He didn't ask him, God, what do you want me to do this weird stuff for? Maybe he asked him but didn't write it down, but then again, maybe he just did it. I didn't want to read the first part, but in Ezekiel 5 beginning in verse 11, we see what it means. And it's kind of intimidating and scary. I covered some of this during the Bible study Friday night. Ezekiel 5 verse 11.

Therefore, as I live, says the Lord God, surely because you've defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. One third of you will die by the pestilence and be consumed with a famine in your midst. One third of you will fall by the sword all around you, and I'll scatter another third to the winds and draw out a sword after them. It seems that less than a third of mankind will survive to begin the millennium. And there are some prophecies that indicate the number might be as small as one tenth of mankind alive. Those who do survive and go into the millennium are going to need more than just to learn God's way and live blessed and happy lives. And it's going to take work to do that, but they're going to need to prepare to be teachers for all those who are going to be resurrected later. Just as we're preparing now to be teachers in the millennium, let's turn it, if you will, now I want to go back to Revelation chapter 20.

Revelation 20 will begin in verse 7, and I'll finish the thought that I started expressing.

Now, when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from prison, and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. That's funny. This is a very brief account. I wonder what details it doesn't give us. How long might it accomplish—let me start that sentence over again—how long might this take to accomplish for Satan to go out and begin deceiving peoples? It makes it sound here like it's like that. But I wonder, and this is pure speculation on my part, but could it possibly be a deception that will take place gradually over the course of years, perhaps even over the course of decades, or even a century or two? It'll be a time when gradually the static returns. It might be imperceptible, then more, then more.

The static will be coming back. It will separate people from understanding of God's ways. How else could this multitude go up, whose number is the sand of the sea? It doesn't happen when Satan is bound. It does happen when he's loosed. However long the challenge takes to develop, though, it will be put down by God rather abruptly. We have to finish the story. In verse 9, they went up on the breadth of the earth, surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, that the Greek should say were, and they'll be tormented day and night forever. So again, the static is going to shut off. God will put Satan away and clear his static, and this time permanently, and the Holy Spirit will be poured out, not only on a small number of survivors, but on a tremendous mass of people who are going to then live again as we continue in chapter 20. In verse 11, this is after that rebellion is put down, then I saw a great white throne. How many of you have margins with GWT written at various places in the margin? A great white throne and on him who sat on it, or let me say that again, I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged, according to their works, by the things which are written in the books.

I won't turn to Ezekiel 37, but it explains, or helps us to understand, that this is a resurrection to physical life. Physical life, again, with a chance now to learn and live by God's Word, without the static. But there must be some time. When it says they'll be judged, this isn't saying that this is a condemnation for what people did and how they lived in their prior life. That was when they were deceived by Satan. That was when they didn't have the Holy Spirit. So the things of God were foolishness to them, as Paul writes. What Revelation 20 and verse 12 describes, is a time when people's understanding is opened. And we believe the books that are opened are the books of the Bible. People's understanding of those books now is going to be clear, without interference.

It'll be open to them for the very first time. Before then, all they heard was static. Now what they'll hear is a voice. This is the way. Walk in it. If you will, consider with me Matthew 12 verse 41. Matthew 12 and verse 41. I'm not sure that Christ was making a doctrinal statement here, but he was referring to a truth that he understood quite clearly and referred to it almost in passing. In Matthew 12, 41, he says, the men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment. Remember, we just read in Revelation that people would be judged. It's that judgment. The men of Nineveh will rise up in judgment with this generation, the period when Jesus Christ was living, and condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And indeed, a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the south will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And indeed, a greater than Solomon is here. This shows us a couple of things. One is that people from throughout history will come up in the same resurrection. People that lived centuries before Christ's time and those that were there with him then. And when Jesus says that they'll condemn them, he doesn't mean that they will be condemning people to the lake of fire because the men of Nineveh and the queen of Sheba won't be passing the judgment. God will pass judgment. All judgment was committed to Jesus Christ. But they will look at those who had Jesus Christ teaching the truth right then, and they'll say something like, dude, what were you thinking? You had the truth right there! And that's what he means, I think. A chapter earlier, Jesus explains it even a bit more clearly in Matthew 11, verse 21. In Matthew 11, 21, woe to you, Corazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it'll be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, you'll be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.

I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.

Once again, that day of judgment. And this is showing us that the people raised in that second resurrection, I like to use the term general resurrection sometimes because it'll be a widespread, but of course we know it's after the first resurrection that is that of the saints to eternal life. But these people won't be brought back just to hear a verdict. I brought you back to life so I can put you in a lake of fire. No. But if that were the case, how could it be more tolerable for some than others? You don't say line up two people and say, okay, it's more tolerable for you. It's not very tolerable for you. Now, in you go. That doesn't make sense. And by the way, if you like that analogy, I got that from Bob Dick probably 20 or 30 years ago. It's the one of the things that clicked in my head. Okay, that's what more tolerable means. But it can't be just condemnation. More tolerable seems to mean that both will have a chance for salvation. One, though, might be given more care, perhaps starting with more elementary instruction by their teachers. When they say this is the way walk in it, they might have to start with ABC and the ABCs of the truth and be more tolerant, be understanding of how much static was blocking their understanding back when they lived on earth. And all of this implies a period of time. Time for instruction, time for repenting, time for learning and growing. How long? How long a time will it take?

And that we don't know for certain, but there is a prophecy in Isaiah that gives us a reasonable idea. If you want to turn back to Isaiah 65, I say that for those of you who are not already there, Isaiah 65 beginning in verse 17.

As we believe, this is a scripture that gives us some indication of how this great white throne judgment will occur. Isaiah 65 in verse 17, For behold, I create new heavens and new earth, and the former will not be remembered or come to mind, but be glad and rejoice forever in what I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people as a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people. The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who is not fulfilled his days. For the child shall die a hundred years old, but the sinner being a hundred years old will be accursed.

While this doesn't say so explicitly, it seems to indicate that the great white throne judgment may well be a period of 100 years. If so, then, for a hundred years, those who have lived and died previously, having never known God's truth, having been blinded by Satan, their understanding garbled by static, those people have the static removed. The veil will be removed for a hundred years, perhaps. And you know what? We know some of those people. They are our neighbors, our co-workers, perhaps your grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles, even children for some of us.

When we think of it in those terms, it gets personal, doesn't it? My dad will be one of those. My mother came into the truth, and my dad did not. I expect to see her come up in the first resurrection, and probably him in the second, and I care about who's going to be teaching him.

As I've said, we are preparing now to be teachers in the millennium. At that time, we'll be down in the trenches, so to speak. I'd like to consider a passage in Jeremiah as an indicator of our early role. It's Jeremiah 16. This is another one that I believe I read Friday evening. Jeremiah 16, beginning in verse 14. Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Eternal, that it shall no more be said that the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, but the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, from all the lands where he had driven them. For I will bring them back into their land, which I gave their fathers. And behold, I'll send for many fishermen, says the Eternal, and they'll fish them. Afterward, I'll send for many hunters, and they'll hunt them from every mountain and every hill and out of the holes of the rocks. Remember what you've heard or studied about the trumpet plagues and those seven last vials that will be poured out on mankind before Christ returns? How there's going to be worldwide devastation and death and destruction. People will be hiding in caves and under rocks, those who are still alive. And when it's done and Christ is setting up his kingdom, those who have survived, they're among that small percentage, are going to be shell-shot, terrified, and confused. But there is going to be something different than before, whereas before they heard this, they're going to look out of that hole, and their mind is going to be clear. Satan will have been put in that bottomless pit. At that time, the fishers of men, the hunters, I believe may well be some of us bringing them out, and they'll be able to understand the voice that says, this is the way walk in it. We'll begin teaching them the truth.

But again, today is a last great day message, marking the next day in God's plan.

So let's not just imagine bringing those people out of the caves, dazed and confused, and teaching them, giving them assurance. But let's think of those that we help to understand that God is a God of love. God is a God of patience and kindness. And as they begin to understand that and grow and learn, fast forward a thousand years or more later. Can you see that some of those same people that perhaps you coax out of a cave and give reassurance will have a chance to do something similar for those who come up in the second resurrection? Those people that we teach during the millennium, we might need to have them also be teachers. Because all those people resurrected, as is described in Ezekiel 37, they'll come up and they'll notice something different than their whole life.

There's no static. Their minds will be cleared for the first time. The old hat to us had been that way for a thousand years. But for them, it's new. It's amazing. And I think of those people that we taught during the millennium teaching them. One of those people during the millennium might be the one that teaches my next-door neighbor, that teaches my dad the truth.

So should I be careful about how I prepare now to teach and train those future teachers who will one day teach a vast majority who have ever lived? And by the way, I don't want to seem as though I'm introducing a new doctrine. Part of this is speculation on who will teach during the millennium. But it's good for us to take a long view of how it may be. We are to be teachers and leaders, kings and priests in God's family. We do know that, and for a thousand years we'll be doing that.

But as much as God's family is to grow, we need to think about the idea of getting more teachers.

I think I might be a little more sensitive to that than some people because of the recent change I've had in career. You know, it seems like only yesterday—it's been about three years ago—that I got a phone call from Mr. Antion, and he told me, basically, I'm retiring, Frank, and you're going to come and take over my job. I didn't get a request. He just told me it was happening. And I'm not complaining. I've got one of the best jobs a person could ever have.

As I prepared to move into the position at ABC that I hold now, I couldn't help but reflect that I would get to teach alongside of people who, decades earlier, were teaching me. Gary Antion does still teach classes. I sat in the classroom as a student of his. Dr. Don Ward was one of my teachers. Mr. Antion, I think, thought of that. He's got a picture that every now and then he'll bring out, because he was the faculty advisor for an organization called Outreach in Pasadena, doing student service projects. As this picture of him with the student officers from the class of 1989, and there's a young Frank Dunkel needing a haircut and needing to iron his shirts better, I don't know if in 1989 Mr. Antion was thinking of teaching and training someone to join him in the work, but he was doing just that. It crosses my mind sometimes when I'm in the classroom, those of you who took the tour of the home office where we had the desk set up, I look out there and I think, who among them are going to be teachers in the future? You know, if God delays Christ coming long enough, am I going to retire in my 70s? And one of them move into my office. If so, I'll try to leave it cleaner than it is now. Of course, it won't be exactly the same because we'll be spirit-born sons of God by the end of the millennium, hopefully by the beginning of the millennium. We won't grow old and need to retire, but if we need more teachers, maybe a better analogy would be what's happened I've experienced over the years with the summer camp program. One of the greatest pleasures I've had is to work with young people, you know, as an adult working with teenagers, and then have years pass and those teenagers become young men and women and join the staff and us work alongside them. And they look at me sometimes, I look at them, I feel so good, and they're looking at me like, what's wrong with you? You know? But it is a pleasure.

I think that might be a good way for us to look at the millennium and at the great white throne judgment to follow. We need to prepare now for our role ahead, part of which is to prepare many others to join us in that role. This has come a long ways from me talking about my 12-year-old radio, listening to one of these with the static. The one I had in 1970 got better reception.

When I was in my early teens, I was part of a revolution in the radio business. I was among those who made that switch from listening to static AM radios with all that interference and noise to listening to high fidelity sound broadcast and FM. And later, we got it from digital CDs and then MP3s. But the more important revolution that I'm privileged to be part of is to be among those now for whom God has already cleared away the static spiritually, allowing me and you to understand his message. It is a privilege. I'm privileged, and so are you.

And in a time to come, and perhaps a time not very far off, that privilege is going to open to a lot more people. And that's exciting because we'll get to help those people. In the millennium, we get to help them make that transition. And we get to help those people prepare to join the great work that we're doing, looking forward to the day that this represents that great second resurrection when all will have their opportunity to have the books opened, when everyone who's ever lived will have the static cleared away, when all people will understand the truth of God.