Dual Prophecy

Thank you again, Mr. Bumgardner. I did forget to mention my announcements, but I think many of you saw that we had a new letter from the chairman of the Council of Elders, Mr. Melvin Rhodes, and we have some copies over there. I forwarded it. Forwarded it. That's hard to say. A lot of syllables there, but I sent it to everyone who gets the email announcements, and I thought it was an interesting and a good letter in pointing out the fulfillment of several prophecies pertaining to the peoples of Israel. I thought, boy, he and I are on the same wavelength, because I was already thinking of the significance of those events, of the diamond jubilee of the queen, 60 years on the throne, and on how much things have changed since then. I'd like to say that I planned the sermon specifically for that, but actually this is somewhat of a sequel, a part two, to a sermon I gave, I don't know how long ago, I think some months, when I talked about the identity of the children of Israel and went through the proof from the Bible and history that the nations of the United States and Britain are descended from Abraham. After that, someone asked me, he said, well, you did all that proof and you didn't address the end-time prophecies, when are you going to do that? I said, hmm, maybe I should do that. So I started writing the sermon, and then other things that seemed important at the time kept coming up. So this one's been sort of in the hopper, waiting. But I think it's good to come back to that, and especially significant as we put it in the context of what's going on in the world, of the fact that we can celebrate the longevity of the dynasty of King David now expressed in the British monarchs. And one queen being for 60 years is significant. I think I heard on news reports saying that she's the current monarch on a throne or a dynasty that's been in existence for something like a thousand years. And I thought, well, it's been longer than that, actually, as we know. And we know that God called Abraham for a special purpose. He prepared him and he promised him in his descendants blessings that would be too numerous to count. Let's turn as a beginning to Genesis, Chapter 22. Genesis 22 and verse 16.

When I was originally preparing this, I was going to say, well, we don't need to look there. We just recently in a sermon proved all that. It hasn't been that recent now. So I thought, we'll read this one passage. Now, this is after God tested Abraham, seeing whether he would or would not be willing to sacrifice his only son. And of course, God does not favor child sacrifice or human sacrifice of any kind, but he did give Abraham a chance to prove that Abraham would put anything or would not put anything before God, that he would sacrifice anything to God. And when that happened, here beginning in verse 16, God said, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. Your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. Now, these blessings were given to Abraham and his descendants. They were confirmed by a covenant, as we can see in other places. And as we see here, they were given unconditionally. God didn't say, there's no if here. He said, because you've done this, it's done. He said, I swear by myself. And we see in the New Testament, Paul points out that there's nothing greater to swear by. And God doesn't lie anyways, but still he confirmed it by an oath by the greatest thing that he could do. He swore by himself. So we know these promises are firm. They cannot be broken. And then they were passed down from Abraham to his son Isaac, and then from Isaac to Jacob. And then Jacob conferred the chief, the principal blessings to two of his grandchildren, Ephraim and Manasseh. Now, we know that the peoples of ancient Israel did enjoy great blessings, but not the fulfillment of everything that was promised. And, of course, they didn't fulfill the requirements that God put on them. And so God would eventually allow them to fall into captivity, to be conquered by a foreign power, and eventually for most of them to be lost to history. And many who don't understand God's blessing and fully understand God's word think, well, that was it. They think, well, the reign of King David and King Solomon was the fulfillment of these promises, and that was it. But we know that because God's promises were unconditional, we can study both the prophecies and history together, and we can see that God would eventually restore to the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh the blessings promised. And He would fulfill them in the greatest sense, and even perhaps more, giving them extravagant wealth and power. And we enjoy that today. I'd like to point out, well, I guess it's easy to take for granted. When any of us aren't living in the nicest homes or our car is a bit old and broken, now we're not living in such extravagance until I've seen perhaps news reports or documentaries of how people are living in Africa or parts of South America where many of them are living in wood or grass huts and scrambling to get enough food to live. We do live in extravagance. So we can and... I knew I forgot to bring something up. I wanted to point out because I don't want to take the time now to prove that our nations are descended from Abraham and Ephraim and Manasseh, but of course we have booklets that do. And this is one of the principal ones. Oh yeah, we do have a smaller version of this over there. Most of you have read this and earlier versions of it. I just wanted to say we can and we have proved that our nations are the recipients of those blessings.

But as I said earlier, we can prove that, but in my earlier sermon I stopped short of discussing what that means. Now I made the point that, well, since we know that we are Israel, we're Ephraim and Manasseh, we could extrapolate then that end-time prophecies that name Israel must apply to us. And that's true, but as I said, I didn't really go into that at the time. So today I do want to go into it. Let's look at some of what the Bible tells us we can expect for us, for our nations, at the time of the end.

But at the same time, I want to say, and I've got it here in big letters, I feel compelled to exercise caution in doing that. In the past, some of our ministers have gotten excited and sometimes named dates, or been overly confident of when these things would happen.

And a thought crossed my mind just this morning while I was eating breakfast and looking over my notes, partly because I've had summer camp on my mind. I remember being at a summer camp some years ago when one of the leading ministers of the church gave a sermon. And now that I think about it, it seemed odd giving the sermon at summer camp to all the teenagers, but I think you thought it was important for them to know. And the title of the sermon was, Where Are We Now in Prophecy?

And he stated very firmly that he was very confident that Christ would return within the next five or ten years. Now, I was sitting there, and now I'm trying to remember, this summer will be my 25th straight year of serving on staff. That was my eighth year. So 25 minus eight is something like 17. So that was 17 years ago that he was confident Christ would return within the next five to ten years.

Now, I'm not saying that to say that he was foolish because he bladed out and showed, you know, it was very convincing. But God tells us we're not going to know the day or the hour. So we might not know that, but we know the promises are firm. So we know prophecies will be fulfilled. So, as I said with that caution, let's look ahead at some of the things God tells us to expect. Before, though, before we look at prophecies aimed directly at the descendants of Israel, let's look at some that, you know, give the general chain of events of what will happen.

And I want to start with Matthew chapter 24. Of course, we go to this prophecy often because it's very significant. Now, I'm not going to flip back and forth to Revelation, but I will make some mention that a lot of what we'll read is paralleled in the book of Revelation. Matthew 24, or what we often call the Olivet Prophecy.

It's called that because Christ and his disciples were on the Mount of Olives. As a matter of fact, I'll begin just by reading, starting in verse 3. As I said, why it's called that, it says, He sat on the Mount of Olives. As He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately. So this wasn't in a big public meeting. It was the disciples. And they said, Tell us, when will these things be?

What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? And Jesus answered and said to them, Take heed that no one deceives you. I think it's interesting. That was His first response. And they might have been a little surprised by it, but we understand more now because we know that Christ's actual Second Coming wouldn't be until many, many years later, going to some 2,000 years.

They thought it might be within the next few weeks, or months, or years at the most. So His warning that goat went to them and extends to us through the ages is, Don't be deceived. And then He continues, Many will come in My name, saying, I'm the Christ, and will deceive many. And this has been interpreted a couple of ways. Does it mean people come and say, I'm the Christ? Or, as we more properly think, many will come and point to Jesus and say that He was the Christ, but then will deceive people.

They'll proclaim His name without teaching what He taught. And it says, You'll hear of wars, rumors of wars. See that you're not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginnings of sorrows. So what Christ did here was do, He outlined what would be the state of human mankind for most of history. There's going to be all these things.

But we can also interpret that they're going to get worse leading up to the time of His end. The things that He listed parallel very closely in Revelation 6, the opening of the seven seals. Revelation is a general prophecy of the end of the world, or the end of this age. We know there are seven seals. The seventh seal contains seven trumpets, and then the seventh trumpet has the seven last plagues.

The first four seals were symbolically portrayed by horsemen, the four horsemen of the apocalypse, as they're called. First, you've got false religion. The white horse comes out with someone who looks like Christ, but instead of a sword, He has a bow, and he deceives many. Then there's war, the red horse with a great sword. Christ said there would be wars and rumors of wars. There will be famine. I get it without reading.

I think famine and then pestilence could be the other way around. But of course, going out with the balances, the horsemen and food is in great shortage. And then, of course, pestilence, the pale horse where death follows. Christ said all these will happen. And then He moves on in verse 9.

I think it's interesting, and I'm going to talk about duality later, but He said, you'll be delivered up. Of course, He was talking to His closest disciples right then, and you could say that was fulfilled within their lifetimes. But if we look through history, we'll see the disciples of Jesus have been delivered up and persecuted throughout all of the time since then. And we believe at the time of the end of the age, it'll be increased and accelerate. This parallels, of course, the fifth seal where it says that the martyrs are portrayed, that many will suffer for Jesus Christ's name.

And of course, lawlessness will abound. Love will grow cold, but He who endures to the end will be saved. I always like to bring up the question, well, the end of what? We automatically tend to think the end of the world, but for most who have been called to God's church, it's meant the end of their lives. For nearly 2,000 years, most people have had to endure to the end to be saved, but not to the end of the world because it was at some distant time. But we have to be loyal to the end of our lives, even if Christ doesn't return before then.

And then, of course, we start getting to things that do pertain even more to the end of the age. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached, and all the world is a witness to all nations, then the end will come.

Then the end will come. Now, one of the things I wanted to point out is this prophecy so far discusses all the world. Oftentimes, it refers to all nations, but it doesn't specifically say much about Israel or the descendants of Israel. Now, all the world automatically includes the Israelites, but it's not a real specific prophecy. And what occurs to me if one of the signs before the end is, The gospel will be preached to all the world. Does it make sense that the gospel would be preached first to the descendants of Israel? My thought is that it would, and if you will, keep your finger in Matthew 24. I want to come back, but let's turn to Acts 13 to see an example. As I said, this isn't absolute proof. Sorry, I'm thinking of my professor way of presenting, since the Home Office is doing that for ABC. I like to present things where it's absolutely indisputable. This might not be there, but I think it's a high level of proof. Acts 13 and verse 46. This is an example, of course, of Paul and Barnabas traveling and bringing the gospel to people. And, of course, when they would come into a town, they would normally go to the synagogue first, to the chosen people, those who were descended from Israel. Here it says, And they said, I can see that principle being applied down through the ages. God would make the gospel available first to Israelites, but then go from there to the whole world. So if the gospel must be preached to all the world before the end comes, it makes sense that it would be centered in an Israelite nation. And thus we see it. We believe that the United States are the descendants primarily of Ephraim. The gospel message has been preached very extensively here, we could say, for some decades. But not only to the descendants of Israel. It goes to all the world, and has gone to all the world. I remember, even when I was young, Mr. Armstrong, taking pleasure in mentioning that the Plain Truth magazine was being distributed in nearly every country in the world, and certainly in every region. But now with the internet, the gospel is available. Virtually anywhere there's electricity. And of course, we're still on the airwaves, and we have booklets and such. So we're, I believe, fulfilling this prophecy. Now, back to Matthew 24.

Back to Matthew 24, and we'll pick up where we left off in verse 15.

And I said, we're looking at this general framework of prophecy when they asked him, what's the sign of your coming, and at the end of the world? Well, he tells him what's going to lead up to it, and these are the things at the end. He says, therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who was in the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who was in the field not go back to take his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant, and those who are nursing babies in those days, and pray that your flight may not be in the winter on the Sabbath. For then will be great tribulation, such as not then since the beginning of the world, until the end of this time. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. And some translations say, no flesh would be saved alive. But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened. So, this abomination of desolation, and there's different interpretations, but one that we see foremost is that Jerusalem would be surrounded by armies. And of course it was in the disciples' lifetime, but will be again. And there'll be the greatest tribulation ever. And of course, this talks about a time that's so bad, unless God intervened, all human life would be wiped out. And I'll pose the question, we're going to come back to it, but how many times can be this bad? Now, it doesn't say, you know, this is the worst time ever, but it seems pretty bad. Unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved alive, the days will be shortened. I don't think God would ever let it go back that way again. So my thought is, there's only one time that's the worst time ever.

I'm losing my place. Oh, and of course, picking up in verse 29. I'm skipping ahead here, of course, of people being gathered, but I want to get to some of the signs and the prophecies of the end of the age. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They'll see the Son of Man coming on clouds of heaven and power and great glory.

He'll send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and will gather the elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. Excuse me for a minute.

Again, heavenly signs is a global phenomenon. It's global. It doesn't mention Israel, but it does mention its chosen ones. But it says the elect will be gathered from all over the world, not from one particular place. Is that significant? I think that it is. I want to come back to it. But I will mention, actually without turning there, you're probably familiar with it. Revelation 7, verses 3-9 mentions that the servants of God at the end, it mentions 144,000, and there it does list 12 tribes of Israel. That's one of the few places where Israel is mentioned in either the Olivet prophecy or in Revelation. But it also mentions an innumerable multitude from all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues.

Okay, so we're looking at an innumerable multitude from all over. Here we see Christ talking about the elect being gathered from all over.

I'm going to talk later in the sermon about how the people of Israel may be scattered around the world at the end. But this prophecy alone doesn't necessarily make that case.

Now, as I said, if we study end-time prophecy, if we study the Olivet prophecy, we can study Revelation. It's worth remembering, of course, the sevens, the pattern that's there. There are seven seals, and then when the seventh seal is opened, it introduces seven trumpets. The seven trumpet plagues are terrible things, but then the seventh trumpet introduces what's called the seven last plagues, the seven vials or bowls that complete the wrath of God. But as I said, they interestingly, other than the 144,000 in the tribes, doesn't mention Israel. The plagues are worldwide. So Israel is included. It's all around the world. Israel is included, but they're not specific to our peoples. The sixth plague does mention clearing the way for the kings of the east to come and do battle with God on the great day of the Almighty. That's what we commonly call the Battle of Armageddon. We also hear of the beast and being closely tied to the mystery Babylon the Great. These seem to be an end-time military power and a religious power. I'm mentioning these without going to all the Scriptures because, as I said, I want to focus on prophecies to Israel in general. But it strikes me as interesting. All these great prophecies of what's going to happen at the end time. Israel doesn't seem to be in the picture or not named specifically. It brings a question. Could it be that by the time of the seven trumpets, the modern nations that represent the children of Israel have ceased being a factor on the world? On the international stage. And if so, how intriguing. After receiving such blessings from God that Britain and the United States have been the most dominant powers in the world in the 20th century.

Could they just move from significance by the time we reach the end? And what seems likely to me, it'll probably be within the 21st century. Even there, I hesitate. I don't want to be that minister I mentioned 17 years ago who said Christ would return within five or ten years. If I say He'll return within the next, what would that be, 88 years? Good chance of it, but still, I'm not going to put my name on the line on that. But let's see if the prophecies that we do know pertain to Israel could allow for that to happen. There are some prophecies that we know are about the descendants of Israel. Could they be interpreted to mean that by the time of the end of the age, Israel suddenly is no longer a world power?

First, to get into that, I want to look at some prophecies that don't necessarily tie to a particular time. I want to talk about end-time prophecies, but I thought I should set the stage. We've looked at the general prophecies for the end of the world. And I want to look at prophecies about Israel, but first, let's consider what the purpose of prophecy is. Why is there prophecy anyway? And I made a note. It could seem cool to be able to tell what's going to happen in advance. It is cool, but that's not what it's about. It's not for us to be able to have a TV program and say, This is what's going to happen and admire us because we figured it out. Hopefully people will realize when it happens, they'll say, Hey, they knew they were on to something. But let's think of some of the reasons God has for prophecy. In the first one, we can see in Isaiah 46. Isaiah 46, and we'll begin reading in verse 9.

And what I believe this will show us is that one of the principle reasons that God uses prophecy is to prove that He is God and to demonstrate His great power and His wisdom. And this comes out very clearly in this section of Scripture. Only God can work prophecy. He, well, rather than me tell you, let me just read it in His own words. He says here, Remember the former things of old, for I am God. There is no other. I am God. There's none like me declaring the end from the beginning. And from ancient time, things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand. I'll do all my pleasure. So I said, Only God can do that. And prophecy fulfilled is proof that this is God's word and proof of who is God. He can say from the very beginning, this is the way it's going to work, and then bring it about.

So that's my first reason. The second reason that I think God uses prophecy is for His people to learn lessons. He wants us to learn from prophecy. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians 10. We'll read verse 11.

This is Paul's letter to the Corinthians, and he says, Now all these things happen to them, that's to ancient Israel, as examples. They are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Now I will say, I believe in the context, this is referring primarily to the history of ancient Israel, to the mistakes they made and to what they did. But I think we can spread the meaning to include the prophecies that came to ancient Israel, that they were given for our learning. And besides just me thinking it should mean that, there's another story that I think demonstrates that. For that we'll go back to the Old Testament and to one of the prophets, to Jeremiah. Jeremiah 36. I got lucky, I just flipped and went right to Jeremiah 35. So I'm going to be a little ahead of you. It's like the roulette where we'll sometimes flip your Bible and boom, you're right there. Seems like you should have some bells go off when that happens. But in Jeremiah 36, and of course, in studying, using the series of Bible studies going through Jeremiah, I've come to the awareness of some things that I hadn't really noticed that much before. This is an interesting story that I think does demonstrate my point. Let's read in verse 2 first. Here is the instructions from God to Jeremiah. He says, Take a scroll of a book and write on it all the words that I've spoken to you against Israel, against Judah, and against all the nations from the day that I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day. So God had been sending Jeremiah out to proclaim God's prophecies there in Jerusalem. Then he says, write that stuff in a book. Then he's told, go read it to the king and the leaders. We're going to skip ahead to verse 21 and see what happens.

Verse 21, So the king sent Jehudi to bring the scroll, and he took it from Elisham of the scribe's chamber, and Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king, and in the hearing of all the princes who stood beside the king. Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning on the hearth before him. So he's sitting there by the fire. And as it happens, when Jehudi would read three or four columns, then the king would cut it with the scribe's knife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.

Yet they were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments, the king, nor any of his servants, who heard all these words. So these are prophecies against the nation, and it's gone to the king and to all his princes, the leaders. You could say, well, that fulfilled its purpose. It reached its audience. But if we drop down to verse 28, we'll see that the story doesn't end there. Here God gives Jeremiah instructions. He says, Take yet another scroll, and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.

And we'll skip to verse 32.

See that this is done. I'm not going to read all the instructions, but it says, Then Jeremiah took another scroll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Noriah, who wrote on it at the instruction of Jeremiah, all the words of the book, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah, had burned in the fire. And besides, there were added to them many similar words. So there was additional words, but still, it seems perhaps the bulk of it was that which was prophesied, was sent to the king and the princes, they heard it, God could say, well, it was done. And my thought was God wanted the words preserved. He wanted it to stay in writing so that we could have it today, so that future generations could learn. And that's the point I was making, that prophecy is not just about showing how great God is and that He can tell the future, it's also for us to learn from Him doing that and from what happens. And I'll add something else, of course, and perhaps because many of those prophecies had not yet been fulfilled, and He wanted the record there that the prophecy was made.

But there's a third reason, and I think this is one of the most important. Of course, the other two are not unimportant, maybe they're all of equal importance, but a third reason for prophecy is to motivate people to change. God wants people to repent. Well, we're in Jeremiah. Let's turn to chapter 18.

We'll see that when God issues what we could call a prophecy, this is going to happen. It's not necessarily set in stone that that can't change.

Jeremiah 18, beginning in verse 7. Here He says, I said I would benefit it. So God's saying, if they change their ways, I'll change what they're going to get. Let's turn to Ezekiel 33 to see one more example of this.

Ezekiel 33.

And we'll read it starting in verse 11.

Here He says, And the prophecy continues for next several verses. Matter of fact, let me read a little more. He says, Nor shall the righteous be able to live because of His righteousness in the day that He sins. So God gives room to change. Someone who's doing the right thing could miss out on the blessings that He was going to get if He stops doing righteousness. But someone who's doing wickedness has a time to repent. And I'm not going to turn there, but obviously the book of Jonah is largely about that. Jonah was sent to prophesy and say that the city is going to fall and the people repented. Jonah was completely surprised, but they put on sackcloth and ashes and they passed it and God said, Okay, I'm not going to wipe them out. You know, they changed their ways.

So we can see much of prophecy, not about making unexpected predictions and then making them come true. God can do that, but what He cares most about is teaching people His way and getting people and convincing people to do things His way. That's why I like to say that a number of prophecies are really statements of cause and effect.

God tells a person or a nation, if you do this, then that's what will happen. If you do this other thing, then this will happen. Now, I went on a little bit of a limb. I said, computer programmers, I think in computer programming they call that an if-then statement. If this, then that. So in computer programming, they have to break everything down to those little things. Computers speak what's called binary language. Everything is a one or a zero. If it's a one, then this, and then the next decision is made. We're a little more complex, but still with prophecies, God is saying, if you do this, this is what you're going to get. That's exactly what we see in a large number of prophecies made to ancient Israel. In the Blessings and Cursings chapter of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. Let's go to Deuteronomy 28.

Review some of these now. In that earlier sermon that I referenced, to prove that our nations are the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh, we looked at a lot of the blessings that were promised. Then we saw the blessings that fell on our people and saw that as evidence, the if-then statement.

But also of God saying, this is what you're going to get. Now, we'll see the other side of that in a bit. Let's start at the beginning of the chapter. Deuteronomy 28 says, So, as we see, you obey God, blessings. And this is a prophecy. You're saying, this is what's going to happen in the future if you do certain things. But if we'll go to verses, skip down to verse 15, we'll see a similar statement, only this is what happens if you don't. And verse 15, But it shall come to pass, and see, once again, the terms of prophecy, it shall come to pass. If you do not obey the voice of the Eternal, your God, to observe carefully His commandments and His statutes, which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in the city. Cursed shall you be in the country. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. And it goes on from there. So there's general curses. I want to look at some of the particular ones. Let's go down to verse 23.

So I said, I think these are prophecies, but they're not tied up to a certain time. It doesn't say, in the latter days. I think this is a general case of, if your people are practicing this type of behavior, these things will come on you. Let's read in verse 23. Let's read in verse 23.

This made me think, last year, what was going on in Texas and parts of the Southwest. And I wasn't... Well, we hear about it. It's in the news because we've got instant communication. But when Gary Smith was looking at houses down there, it became clear. They were having a very bad drought in Texas. I thought, I wonder if the people there have read that. And we know its droughts get worse and worse, and they have been on our land. Let's read verse 25. Let's read verse 25.

And I'll just make note without turning there. Leviticus 26, 19 adds the phrase, I'll break the pride of your power. And we've commented on that in the church many times because if there's anything worse than military defeat, just as bad as to lack the will to even try. And it seems that that's been coming on our peoples. We've lost the pride of our power. And we don't want to have the wrong kind of pride. But God gave us a certain military power, where the peoples of the modern descendants of Israel came to dominate the world. But as we turned away from God, we're losing that. And we're losing even our ability to think in those terms. Verse 27, Now, God can cure any disease, but it's interesting that on the nations in general, worse diseases seem to be coming. And even as we find vaccinations for various viruses and such, other types of diseases are becoming prominent. And God is not healing people in general, certainly not the general populace.

Let's go down to verse 43.

Here he says, The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you. You shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him. You shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

Now, of course, if we look... Well, in the United States, we're familiar. We have more and more people of non-Israelite origin coming into the country. And it's caused problems as long as the United States has been a country, but it's increasing.

And as we consider that Britain, of course, is our brother nation, we might not be aware that they've had that problem just as much and as long as we have. Immigration is a severe problem in Britain. And I haven't been there for several years, but one of the last times I was there about 15 years ago, there was great discussion in London among people in the church about how many immigrants from Pakistan were overrunning the country. Now, I say overrunning, I wouldn't want to insult the Pakistanis. But if we see that God gave blessings to the descendants of Israel, it's not meant to be a racist statement to say he didn't give those blessings to others as a result of Abraham's obedience. But now, because of the children of Abraham's disobedience, the blessings are being dispersed. They're passing into the hands of others. Who could have predicted 40 years ago that the state of how the United States would change from being a nation that lent to others to being one that's in debt? And not in debt to other Israelite nations, but right now, specifically to China. We see this prophecy being fulfilled. If you want to keep a finger here, but I want to come back. But let's turn to the book of Hosea, Hosea 7.

Yeah, that's one of those different things. I think it's Daniel. No, Hosea is right after Daniel. It's Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos. The only way I can find some of those little books is go to them in order. But Hosea 7, beginning in verse 8, was a prophecy specifically about our brethren over in Britain and some of the other Commonwealth countries.

Hosea 7, beginning in verse 8, Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples. Now, this is a real... talks about some of the problems of immigration. Ephraim is a cake unturned. Aliens have devoured his strength, but he does not know it. Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him, yet he does not know it. And it goes on from there. But that makes us think of what's happened. And Mr. Rhodes mentioned, how much has the strength and the makeup of Britain changed since Queen Elizabeth took the throne 60 years ago? The Empire has been dismantled. Immigration has increased, but a lot of people there aren't even aware. It happened without them noticing how their strength is dissipated. They're in the state now of it's being like someone who's turned gray and lost the vitality of youth and didn't realize it until after it happened. Now, I've been looking at some of the specifics we can readily see happening now. Other parts of the prophecy are no less important. And as I said, I want to make the point that these prophecies have general applications. These aren't specifically end-time prophecies. They've been fulfilled in the past, and they've been fulfilled apparently more than once. So we can be assured that by the time of the end, they will be again. And I think some of them are being fulfilled right now. I want to note one in particular in Deuteronomy 28 that's a clear evidence of how these prophecies can be fulfilled more than once. This one's not pleasant at all, but I think it demonstrates the point so well it's worth noting. Deuteronomy 28, beginning in verse 49, says, The Eternal will bring a nation against you from afar, from the ends of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly, nor shall favor to the young. And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land until you are destroyed. They'll not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they've destroyed you. They shall be seed you at all your gates, until your high and fortified walls in which you trust come down throughout all your land. They shall be seed you at all your gates throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you. You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the Eternal your God has given you, and the siege and in the desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you. So this is saying that it's going to be so bad people would eat their own children. And like I said, that's disgusting to consider, but this is one case we have some evidence that it's happened already more than once in the past. You'll turn to 2 Kings, 2 Kings 6.

We'll see one of the early fulfillments of this, 2 Kings 6, beginning in verse 24.

And this is, of course, after the northern southern kingdoms had separated, and this is referring to the northern kingdom of Israel.

2 Kings 6, beginning in verse 24.

And it happened after this, that then Hadad, the king of Syria, gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria, and indeed they besieged it until a donkey's head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one-fourth of a cab of dub-droppings for five shekels of silver. That's pretty bad when people are spending most of their fortune for droppings from birds and for the parts of animals that no one would normally eat.

Then as the king of Israel was passing by the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, Help, my lord, O king! He said, If the eternal does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or from the wine press? Basically saying, I don't think there's much I can do for you. But the king said to her, What's troubling you?

She answered, This woman said to me, Give me your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, Give your son that we may eat him, but she's hidden her son. Now it happened when the king heard the words of the woman that he tore his clothes as he passed by the wall. The people looked, and there underneath he had sackcloth on his body. And the story goes on from there to demonstrate one of the miracles that Elisha would do.

But this is just a horrible story. But as I said, it's been fulfilled more than once. And I've got a section. I came across this. Many of you are familiar with the historian Josephus. Josephus was somewhat contemporary to Christ's time, and he wrote a history of Judaism. He also wrote in the Wars of the Jews what happened when the Jews rebelled against the Roman Empire, and then were surrounded and Jerusalem was conquered. So I want to read from the Wars of the Jews. This is on page 402 of my edition. I thought I'd bring in the book, but it was easier to read, having re-typed it.

Here, once again, fulfilling the prophecy from Deuteronomy 28, he says, The famine was too hard for all other passions, and it is destructive to nothing so much as to modesty. For what was otherwise worthy of reverence was, in this case, despised, and so much that the children pulled the very morsels that their fathers were eating out of their very mouths.

And what was still more to be pitied, so did the mothers do to their infants. And even those that were most dear were perishing under their hands. They were not ashamed to take from them the very last drops that might preserve their lives. Now, a paragraph from page 442. Now of those that perished by famine in the city, the number was prodigious, and the miseries they underwent were unspeakable. Moreover, their hunger was so intolerable that it obliged them to chew everything while they gathered such things as the most sordid animals would not touch and endured to eat them.

Nor did they at length abstain from girdles and shoes, and the very leather which belonged to their shields they pulled off and gnawed. And then the climax comes a page later. He's describing the case of a woman who was from a well-off family who lived well during the siege she fled to Jerusalem. And he says, Now it had become impossible for her to anyway find any more food while the famine pierced through her very bowels and marrow.

When also her passion was fired to a degree beyond the famine itself. Nor did she consult with anything but her passion and the necessity she was in. She then attempted a most unnatural thing, snatching up her son, who was a child sucking at her breast. She said, For who shall preserve you in this war, this famine and sedition?

Come on, be thou my food, and be thou a fury to these seditious varlats, and a byword to the world. And as soon as she said that she slew her own son, and then roasted him, and ate one half of him, and kept the other half concealed.

Now, I read through the account, and it gets even worse. I'm not going to quote anyone. I feel bad reading this because I know it's very unpleasant. And I ask the question, why would I read you such horrible things? Because they have happened. This is real history. And if they happen before, we see from the prophecies of God that they'll happen again, most likely. And probably, it could easily be in our lifetime. This is the result of when the descendants of Israel disobey God. And then we have to ask, how is our nation doing now? Our government seems to be growing ever more corrupt. Our schools are contemptuous of God's ways. And of course, they try to teach anything but true religion. Our people are self-centered. They seek physical gratification. So we have already seen some of these cause-and-effect prophecies being fulfilled. And it seems inevitable that more will follow. And that'll bring on our people things as revolting as I just read.

Now, I've got a note here that there are Bible scholars that disagree with that interpretation. There are some that say these horrible prophecies were fulfilled in the Old Testament, and that took care of it. So that's one reason, you know, I think we need to discuss the concept of dual fulfillment of prophecy. Or we commonly say, dual prophecy.

Now, if you've been in the church any length of time, which about all of us have, you've heard the term dual prophecy a lot. I grew up with it. You know, and then, of course, let me define it. It means a prophecy that has an early, usually lesser fulfillment, and then a later, greater fulfillment that's the one, the primary one, meant. Now, as I said, I grew up thinking this was common in anyone who professed Christianity. So as I started studying into it, I was a little surprised to see that there's a lot of disagreement. Not everybody claiming to be Christian and not all Bible scholars believe that there's any such thing as dual prophecy. And for those who do, there can be a lot of disagreement over which prophecies are dual prophecies and which aren't. And then I thought, well, you know, I still believe in dual prophecy, and I'm going to show why. But when I think of it, I've heard some individuals read just a section out of Scripture and say, this is a dual prophecy, it means this. And some of them, some of which are pretty fantastic in my hearing. I've heard people, you know, read a little bit out of Psalms or something and say, this is talking about, like, Memphis, Tennessee. I was, what in the world? And I just made that up. But I mean, people will say, this is talking about this particular man or sometimes about myself. Or they'll take something and say, this is a dual prophecy with no evidence that it's dual other than they want it to be. So, so we do have to be cautious. But we can know that there's dual prophecy as much as anything else because Jesus Christ showed it. Now, I will mention the term dual prophecy doesn't appear in the Bible, but the principle does. Let's turn to Matthew, Chapter 17. Matthew 17 will begin in verse 10.

This is one of the best places I thought, well, in this sermon, I want to be able to prove that there is dual prophecy. How do you do that? Well, the words of Jesus Christ himself have to be pretty prominent.

Matthew 17 in verse 10 says, now Jesus is talking about, you know, him rising from the dead and things that would come. And his disciples asked him, saying, why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? Jesus answered and said to them, indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already and they didn't know him. They did to him whatever they wish. Likewise, the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands. And the disciples understood that he spoke to them of John the Baptist. Now, this is referring to prophecy in Malachi. We can turn back there in Malachi, Chapter 4. It's actually not very far away. Malachi is the book before Matthew. Malachi 4 in verse 5. This is when the disciples said, how do they say, you know, Elijah the prophet must come first. They were talking about what it says here. Here it says, behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And of course, we often quote how it says, he'll turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers. This prophecy is only given once in the Old Testament, but Christ said, it's been fulfilled, but it will be fulfilled. When he didn't say those words, he said, Elijah is going to come first, but Elijah has already come. That's partly because Christ at that time knew that there would be two comings of the Messiah. He had already come in the flesh, but as he told the disciples, and I made a reference in John 14, is where he says, if I go away, I'll come again. And I'll prepare a place for you. He made it clear he would come again. And so we know that before that second coming, the prophecy of the sending of Elijah would be fulfilled. Now, we don't know exactly how. We've speculated that maybe it means the work of the church. Maybe it does refer to a particular individual. We're not certain about that, but we do know it's a dual prophecy.

Beyond doubt, there are some dual prophecies. While we're in the minor prophets, let's go to the book of Joel. Joel 2.

Joel 2, beginning in verse 28.

Joel says, Okay, so... Okay, so... Okay, so...

Now, we can see where this has been fulfilled according to Scripture in Acts 2.

Of course, we read this not long ago in the day of Pentecost. Acts 2, beginning in verse... Well, we'll actually read the start of the chapter to see what happened. Acts 2, verse 1. In verse 1, And if we go down to verse 14. Of course, as I said, we read this earlier, too.

And all who dwell in Jerusalem, And so he's saying, this is a fulfillment of the prophecy that we just read.

I'll show wonders in heaven above, and the signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire, vapor of smoke. And we could go on. Peter said this fulfilled this prophecy. And I wonder if Peter kept glancing up to the sky that day, waiting for the sun to turn to blood, and for the fire and smoke. It didn't happen that day. Now, was Peter wrong? Or was that an earlier, lesser fulfillment, with a greater, full fulfillment to come later? That would fit our definition of dual prophecy, and of course, fit alongside the fulfillment of the prophecy of Elijah coming before the coming of God. That's what I believe. I think we have clear evidence. I'll just mention, many of course, especially in Judaism, say that there's no such thing as dual prophecy. They say that Christians just make this up, so that they can take something from the Old Testament and say it applies to Jesus Christ. Well, we believe in Jesus Christ, so I don't think we're making stuff up. And of course, God believes in Jesus Christ. So, the prophecies were put there to help us to understand. Now, how do we know which prophecies about Israel are dual? Well, the truth is, we can't be 100% certain. Unlike, well, sort of as a joke, I was thinking, they're not printed in red, like the words of Christ are in some New Testament translations. It'd be nice if they were, you know, a prophecy printed in a certain color, we know it's dual. God doesn't tell us. But, we can see some that make sense. Some of them, as I said, are the cause and effect prophecies. They're going to be fulfilled more than once. Matter of fact, let's see one example. If we go back to Leviticus chapter 26. I'll go there since we spent so much time in Deuteronomy 28. Leviticus 26 is a parallel. Leviticus 26, and we'll begin in verse 23.

And if by these things you're not reformed by me, but walk contrary to me, then I will also walk contrary to you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. I'll bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant. When you're gathered together within your cities, I'll send pestilence among you. And you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. Okay, we've seen and we can see within the pages of the Bible that this has been fulfilled many times. You can just make a note if you want without turning there. In Nehemiah chapter 9 verses 26 and 27, Nehemiah gives a good history of ancient Israel. And he makes the point that when the children of Israel obeyed God, things were okay. But when they started disobeying, he'd let an enemy nation come and oppress them. And then they changed their ways and he'd deliver them. Then they'd get complacent, disobey God, and another enemy nation would come in and conquer them. And if reading Nehemiah chapter 9 isn't enough, you can read the book of Judges and see it happen over and over again. And then it was ultimately fulfilled. Some think the ultimate fulfillment came when the Assyrians took the northern kingdom into captivity. And of course, the Babylonians conquered Judah. I believe that that prophecy will be fulfilled again in our modern era after we had the blessings when our people turn away from the principles of obeying God that we can fall prey to being punished by another nation. How many other prophecies apply to Israel that could be dual? Let's look at Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 1.

Keep an eye on my watch. I wasn't sure exactly how long this sermon would take. Of course, I could... Well, if I were like Gerald Waterhouse, I could go on for about four hours and still not be touching at all. But I'm not going to go that long. But let's look at Isaiah 1 chapter 2. Here, O heavens, give ear, O earth, and the eternal has spoken. For the eternal has spoken, I've nourished and brought up children, and they've rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know. My people does not consider. Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corruptors, they forsaken the eternal and provoke to anger the Holy One of Israel. They've turned away backward. That seems to apply to our nation today easily as much as it ever did to ancient Israel. If we drop down to verse 7, we'll see the result. Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Strangers devour your land in your presence, and it's desolate, overthrown by strangers. So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth and a vineyard, as a hut and a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city, till the eternal hosts have left us a very small remnant. We would have become like Sodom. We would have been made like Gomorrah.

Will this punishment be exacted again, against Britain and the United States? Let's go to chapter 3, beginning in verse 16. Moreover, the eternal says, because the daughters of Zion are haughty, they walk without stretch necks, with wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, making a jingling with their feet. Therefore, the eternal will strike with a scab the crown of the head, the daughters of Zion. The eternal will uncover their secret parts, and that day the eternal will take away the finery, the jingling anklets, the scarves and the crescents. He goes on to describe a great deal. Down in verse 24, he says, So what shall be? Instead of a sweet smell, there will be a stench. Instead of a sash or rope. Instead of well-set hair, baldness. Instead of a rich robe, girdling with sackcloth and branding, instead of beauty. Your men will fall by the sword, and you're mighty in war. As I said, the sins seem to be current to today, and perhaps some of the punishment. And of course, I've heard people refer to some of these prophecies and say, with sexually transmitted diseases, these things seem to be coming true of those who resist God's word. But, we don't have to debate about whether or not some prophecies are dual or not. We can look at these in wonder. They seem like they certainly could be fulfilled in the latter days, but there are some prophecies in a good number that are clearly intended to be for the end of the age. And therefore, the children of Israel. Let's begin in Jeremiah chapter 30 to look at some of those. As I said, if we proved and can prove again to ourselves that the nations of the United States and Great Britain and the other associated nations are the modern descendants of Israel, and they have Jacob's name named on them, Israel. So, these prophecies that name Israel do apply to us. Jeremiah chapter 30, beginning in verse 5. These are a little sobering.

For thus says the eternal, we have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask now and see whether a man is ever in labor with child. Does man ever go into child labor? So why then do I see every man with his hands on his loins, like a woman in labor, and faces turned pale? Here's the key to this. Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it, and it's the time of Jacob's trouble, but he'll be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I'll break his yoke from your neck, and burst your bonds. Foreigners will no more enslave them, but they shall serve the eternal of their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them. Now, this indicates foreigners will enslave the children of Israel. Now, we know they were enslaved by the Assyrians in 720 B.C. And we could argue about the dates, but they did follow the Assyrians and go into slavery. But this, I believe, is talking about a different time. He says, alas, that day is so great, there's no time like it, the time of Jacob's trouble. There can only be one time that's the worst time ever.

Only once, and apparently, that hadn't happened yet at this point.

And remember, in the Olivet Prophecy, Jesus talked about how, unless God intervened, there'd be no flesh saved alive. I believe that's the worst time ever that's coming. Let's go to Daniel chapter 10. We saw bad things coming for the children of Israel, but also the hope. If the time of Jacob's trouble is real bad, it says he'll be saved out of it. Like Mr. Armstrong used to always say, to be saved out of it, he has to be in it in the first place. But you do have both sides of that in first, then out. Daniel 10 and verse 14.

Now I've come to make you understand, this is, of course, when Michael the Archangel came and spoke about it. So I've come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision refers to many days yet to come. So this is a prophecy telling Daniel, this is for in the future. This is the latter days. Now it's a very long prophecy that picks up, goes all the way through Daniel 11, telling a lot of things that are going to happen. And right into Daniel 12, and let's read Daniel 12 beginning in the first verse. At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who's found written in the book.

Now that's something, once again, there's only one time that's the worst time ever. And the people of Israel are to be delivered, but to be delivered they have to be in trouble first, as we just discussed. And of course we see if we go down to verse 4. You, Daniel, shut up the words and seal up the book until the time of the end. This is a prophecy for the end time, not just any typical prophecy. In verse 9 it says the same thing. Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up till the time of the end. So God has some prophecies we know are for the time of the end. And Israel, not looking so good there. Let's look at another one. Isaiah chapter 10. Isaiah 10, and we'll begin in verse 20.

Here it says, It shall come to pass in that day, and in that day is another one of those phrases that indicate the time of the end, that the remnant of Israel, and such as have escaped the house of Jacob, will again depend on him, will never again depend on him who defeated them, but will depend on the eternal, the Holy One of Israel. The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God, for though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, a remnant will return, the destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness, for the Lord God of hosts will make a determined end in the midst of all the land. Notice it talks about, though they will be as the sand of the sea. This refers back to the prophecy that God gave to Abraham when he said, I'll make your children like the sand on the seashore without number. But it says they'll be there, but then they'll be defeated by enemies, and only a remnant will remain.

So, to reach that state, it seems, as I said, the modern descendants of Israel are going to suffer a defeat. Their numbers are going to be dramatically reduced. We can see that if we go back to Jeremiah one more time, Jeremiah chapter 30 again. Maybe I should have rearranged this to stay there, but I wanted to make the point flowing logically. Jeremiah 30 and verse 24. Now, we're going to continue on to the next chapter, but here in verse 24 it says, The fierce anger of the Eternal will not return until he has done it, until he has performed the intents of his heart. In the latter days you'll consider it. So, the latter days... Now, I just want to point out the chapter breaks were added later. There's not necessarily a break. So, in the latter days, and then it says in verse 1 of the next chapter, At the same time, says the Lord God, I will be the God of all the families of Israel. They'll be my people, says the Eternal. The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness. Israel, when I went to give them rest.

Now, that's interesting. Remember, as I said, we saw in Matthew 24 and Revelation 7, that God would gather his people from all around the world. That seems to fit with the fact that there's a remnant of Israel that are going to be allowed to repent. God will accept repentance, which fits in with those cause and effect prophecies, that if you change, you can be delivered. But, it's going to be after suffering apparently military defeat, with a large number being killed and the remnant perhaps being scattered, taken in slavery around the world. That's, in some ways, mind-boggling to think. How could that happen? And yet, we know that it can. We know that it can. We know that it's prophesied.

Let's go to the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel 6.

And I'll just mention, the book of Ezekiel, early on, is addressed to the children of Israel, or the prophecies addressed to the children of Israel, even though Ezekiel was in captivity in Babylon. God called him, and here he is in Babylon, a Jewish slave, and he says, I'm going to send you to the children of Israel. Well, the children of Israel went in captive 120 years earlier, and he was a slave. He couldn't go to them. The only way this prophecy could have gone to the children of Israel was for it to be preserved in writing and come to them later that way. And that's exactly what's happened. That's why we have it here with us. And if we read in chapter 6, beginning in verse 2, beginning in verse 2, Now, this goes on to say about how bad it will be. Let's skip to verse 8.

So it talks about being scattered after being defeated.

So let's skip down to verse 14.

This talks about the city's laid waste. Just a small fraction of the people remaining being taken captive. It portrays our modern nations getting into a war that we lose, and then those who do survive being taken alive hauled away as slaves. It sounds like a science fiction movie. And I've seen movies where this is portrayed, and as I said, the sound music is playing and there's smoke, and it's just you're happy to leave the theater later and see, oh, it's not like that. But think, could it happen? Think how dependent we've become on modern technology. I've been in discussions with people lately about what would happen if what's called an EMP, electromagnetic pulse weapon, went off and destroyed every transistor in the country. What would happen to our people is if we didn't have our technology. Would we start fighting amongst ourselves? There's a chance that the enemy would only have to do that one thing and let us kill each other. Or, of course, disease epidemics. And there have been movies about that, how a disease might start spreading for which we have no defense, and wipe out a large portion of the prophecy. Sorry, a large portion of the population. I was looking ahead thinking of the prophecy. That makes it easier to think that when you get to the Olivet Prophecy, and the prophecies of the Book of Revelation, that's why Israel, the nations of Israel, might not appear. Perhaps they've already ceased being a significant factor on the world stage. Not a significant factor to God. The prophecies continually show that He knows where His people are, and He will show mercy to those who are left. And, of course, those who are destroyed in the wars beforehand will be resurrected and have that opportunity. But I think, you know, of what we're looking at, those cause and effect prophecies. What are we doing now as a nation? Now, as a people in God's Church, we're striving to obey Him. But what are the peoples of Israel doing? Are they earning blessings or cursings? And I think we know which way it's going. So these prophecies should be very sobering. But I don't want to end on that note. Let's turn to Amos chapter 9. Amos 9 will begin in verse 8. Ooh, I'm overtime. Wrapping up, though. Amos 9 and verse 8.

Behold, the eyes of the eternal are on the sinful kingdom. I'll destroy it from the face of the earth. That's what we've been describing. Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says the eternal. Surely I'll command and will sift the house of Israel among the nations, as grain sifted and asive. Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, the calamity shall not overtake us. But on that day I'll raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down. Repair its damages. I'll raise up its ruins and rebuild it, as in the days of old. That they may possess the remnant of the Edom, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the eternal, who does this thing. Behold, the days are coming, says the eternal, when the plowmen shall overtake the reaper. The treader of grapes, him who sows seed, the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow to it. And I'll bring back the captives of my people Israel. They'll build the way cities and inhabit them. They'll plant vineyards and drink from them, and shall also make gardens and eat from them. And he goes on. We read these scriptures during the Feast of Tabernacles, of course, because they apply to that time after Christ returns. But it's good for us to remember, the time of Jacob's trouble will come. And one of my constant prayers is, God, let that time pass swiftly. Let it be shorter than we might imagine, because we want the good thing that will come afterwards, God's kingdom. In the meantime, we've got a job to do. We understand God's Word. We want to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God that's coming afterwards. Without leaving out the warning of what's going to happen beforehand, we need to have both, the warning and then the good news. As a church, sometimes we've emphasized one more than the other. But it's important for us to know how important our message is. That includes the fact that God is merciful.

Many of these things don't have to happen. God's promise is, if and when people repent, He'll remove the punishment. So let's pray that the time of Jacob's trouble will be brief, but that God will come quickly.