The End, Part 4

The Scripture says, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is coming. He is going to return, and He's coming with a new age, a new millennial age, a thousand-year reign that will be a different age, an age of righteousness, an age of godliness. An age of godliness, an age of peace and harmony. God asks you to be with Him, to be on His side, to take a side, as it were. To be with Him in daily prayer, He says, pray, our Father, not the Father or the God of this world, but our Father in heaven. In heaven, your kingdom come, your age come, and your will be done here on earth, as it currently is in heaven. This is not being done now in this present evil age. We are to seek first that kingdom, that new age, and His righteousness, the godliness that accompanies that age. So in the days ahead, you and I have a choice to make. Which age do we support? Which age do we stand with? Which age do we love? To which god, capital G or small g, is your allegiance? That's going to be tested over and over in your lifetime, in small ways and in large ways, because God will know, by the time our lives finish, where our allegiance is. Today, the sermon is the fourth and the final in the series on the end time. In previous sermons, we've looked at the struggle for survival that will take place among nations in the end time. We've looked at the survival of the church that's prophesied during the end time. We've looked at the place of safety for some that God will provide during the end time. Today is part four, ages in transition. The transition from this present evil age into an age of righteousness, of godliness, an age that is part of the kingdom of God, that eventually will become spiritual and eternal for all life. We know how the end time conflict ends, and we could simply say, well, we know how it ends. So, what's the point? Don't need to know about the transition period. However, today let's examine this intermediate transition between the two ages, so that we can get an understanding of how evil will be replaced by good, how the struggle will go forward, and we'll be better able then to understand what is coming, and what the events that take place throughout that entire three and a half year period are all about. This six thousand year age of man corresponds to six days of the week, we feel, six days in which mankind does whatever he wants. But the seventh day is a Sabbath, a holy twenty-four hour period where we are commanded to stop doing our own things. We're commanded to stop even thinking our own thoughts, it says in Ezekiel 58. We are to spend that time focusing on God and his righteousness and drinking in his way and in relationships with him and with loving and serving as he does. And so there is a day of the Lord coming, just like there is six days of this present evil age or six days of Satan to be the God of this world. There is a millennial day of the Lord, I'll use that in the sense of a day is a thousand years. There's a period called a day of the Lord that's a lot shorter than that, but it doesn't end. It doesn't terminate once it begins. That day of the Lord continues and blossoms and grows for a thousand years here on earth. History has been a continuum of lifestyles that were expressed by the first four people in the Bible. If you look at Adam, you see Adam the explorer, you see Adam the farmer, Adam the person that sort of goes after life his own way. You see his companion Eve, who is looking for fairness, looking for better things, looking for self-promotion along with her husband. They have children, one of whom is very combative, self-oriented, self-promoting to the point where it's okay if he kills his own brother.

Then you have Abel, who is pursuing righteousness imperfectly, but he's trying to. He's part of those who would be represented by the people of God during this present evil age. Now you just compound those four people by numbers across time, and you see sort of the history of humanity in the age in which we live. When we think about change, then, for the good, change of this evil age, we as humans have this human experience. It's mostly individuals lumping themselves together and doing what those four individuals did in the past. And that's resulted in cities, it's resulted in nations, it's resulted in armies and conquests, it's resulted in all types of evil that have taken place.

When we think of change that's coming with Jesus Christ, we often then want to fix it. We want to step back into our history or our current situations and say, oh, good, Christ is coming, he'll fix this budget. He'll fix this drought. He'll take care of pollution. He'll change people's minds to where there's peace on earth.

And we kind of think of the next age as being sort of better than this, a lot better. But we tend to think of it as a lot like this, only it's been fixed, as it were. It's been repaired. The wrongs have been rightened. There's justice and equity for all. But we find in Isaiah chapter 59 and verse 8, that's not really the case.

Our experience has nothing to do with the age that's coming. We really probably can't even imagine what the coming age that is going to transition from when Christ comes is even going to be like. For one thing, we can't even imagine what the animal and the plant world is going to be like, because nothing's going to hurt or destroy in the world at that time. No animals, no plants, no insects, no bugs.

There's just a little indicator right there from Isaiah that the physical world is going to be different. In Isaiah 59 and verse 8, it says, the way of peace they have not known. It's not that we haven't just lived peace.

We don't know peace. We don't know harmony. We don't know that kind of relationship that will be in the world where Christ leads. There's no justice in their way. We wouldn't even know what justice is. We get the idea that if you can make a bunch of laws, that's justice. But the ones who make the laws often make them to benefit themselves or one group of people more than others, and that's unjust. They've made themselves crooked paths. Verse 9, justice is far from us. Righteousness does not overtake us. We look for light and there's darkness.

We go even as true Christians walking God's way. We go through a blur of our own carnality. And so there's a certain darkness mixed with the light. There's an imperfection. All that we think and all that we do is a struggle. As the Apostle Paul said, here I am the Apostle. Here I'm writing more than anybody in the New Testament. But that which I want to do, I don't do.

That which I don't want to do, I end up doing. How far do we really progress into what will be or what life will be like during this coming age? We really see as through a glass darkly at this point. The human experience on every level, whether it's global, national, regional, city, family, it has this lens that we look through.

And consequently, the new age that's coming is going to be unique. It's going to be very, very, very different. In fact, as we're going to see in a few minutes, this current world in which we live is going to be taken down all the way down. Christ is not going to come back and fix it. He's not going to repair it. He's not even going to use it. It's going to be a new world tomorrow. So let's take a look then at some of the issues. One thing that we can look at at the end time is two possible reasons for some of the challenges that are ahead.

The sequence between Christ's age coming and this age ending might be so bad, as it were, because human relations become so genocidal that Jesus Christ has to step in and stop it, or mankind would kill himself off. Now, that's one way of looking at it. But is that the right way?

The other way is, because Jesus Christ is coming to establish his age and his kingdom on this earth, Satan takes human relations genocidal. Which of those is correct? The Bible tells us in Revelation 12 and verse 12, Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the inhabitants of the sea, all the men and the animals and the plants even. For the devil has come down to you having great wrath because he knows that he has a short time. There's the answer to why what is going to happen is so bad.

It's not that humanity by itself takes itself to the brink and Christ has intervened. It's simply because time is up. The new age is here. 6,000 years have expired. It's time for the Sabbath. It's time for that day, that millennial thousand-year reign of Christ, to begin. And the transition must begin with the elimination of the mindset that has existed here for 6,000 years. The self-promotion, the greed, that are defined by what we understand civilizations to be.

Countries with borders, cities with walls, with gates, competition, competing economies, armies. This continual destruction and rebuilding that humanity is always doing, constructing up, making things fine, and then trashing them, tearing them down through war. There's self-centered offenses to other men and to God, which the Ten Commandments were put there to try to protect us and God from.

But this evil age will continue to fight for those tenets of self-promotion and self-preservation and on harming and offending others. It will not give it up. In fact, it will get a lot worse before it gets better. What is coming is an ultimate duel for who will control this earth. Jesus Christ has said, and it's prophesied, that He will come and control the earth. He will come and rule. And yet, Satan says, no. And mankind eventually will say no.

If we look over in Matthew 24, verse 6, we see from the words of Jesus Christ Himself an overview of this duel, of this fight for control. Look in verse 6 of Matthew 24. He's been asked here, when will the end of this age be, the sign of Your coming, in verse 3.

And now, as we drop down to verse 6, He says, you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. We're not in the period of the end yet. It's going to be a lot of wars and stuff before this three and a half year period ever gets going. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom will rise against kingdom, and there will be famines.

Warfare is scary, but when famines come along and there's not a lot of food, there's another thing that takes place. And when people start dying, then the rodents come out, and then the next thing is pestilences, diseases, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. As one age here is going to transition to the age of Jesus Christ, it's not going to go out with a whimper.

It's not going to go out, you know, it's not going to concede defeat. Regarding the church, they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will be offended and betray one another and will hate one another. And it continues to talk about really tough times here. Verse 12, because lawlessness, lack of following God's law, will abound, the love of many will grow cold. And this is talking about the church.

But he who endures to the end, you've got to get to the end. That individual says will be saved. So in these things we see here, this isn't the great tribulation yet. These are advanced, evidently, if we just take it on its face. These are advanced problems and trials that come upon the world and start to put this world in jeopardy. And what tends to happen when great problems arise is a great leader is needed. And thankfully, just in time, Jesus Christ rides in, stands in the temple, performs miracles, says I'm here, and starts his kingdom.

Well, that's kind of what the Bible says. The only problem is it's a false Jesus Christ. It's an anti, the antithesis of the true Jesus Christ. And yet he comes in, as we'll see, looking like. Look in verse 15.

Solution, that's when the three and a half year great tribulation officially begins.

In verse 24, For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the very elect. I don't think the very elect, the real spirit-led people of God would just be dismayed. Oh, there's a miracle. I guess that's God. But you see, if the miracle was associated with religion, it was associated with a solution for oneself. If it saved my life, as it were, and it had a religious coding, and all I had to do was start breaking the laws of God, you see, it would be a temptation that could deceive and cause the very elect to be short, to be deceived.

And that's a very, very tough time, when the beast will require a mark on the forehead and the right hand, either literally somehow or electronically, or by what you think and what you do, to break God's law in order to live. It'll be a strong motivator to think it over and see if that individual is the one to be followed. Look over in 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 3. The apostle Paul mentions this individual. 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 3 and 4. He says, This man of sin, let no one deceive you by any means, for that day, what day? The day of the Lord, that day, that in time, will not come unless the falling away comes first. There's going to be a falling away in the church. Jesus just warned us about. The love of many will grow cold, and there's going to be a falling away.

And the man of sin, see this religious, white, miracle-working leader standing in the holy place, is of sin. The son of perdition who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or is that worshiped, so that he sits as God, sits as Christ. I am the Messiah. He says, I am God.

He sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

See, this new age doesn't just show up, and the last dictator bow out. It's going to be a real struggle. We have to have our eyes open. We have to understand what's going to take place, at least in general.

Jesus said, as Daniel the prophet spoke about, let's go to Daniel 8, verse 11.

He even exalts himself as high as the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away.

In the place of his sanctuary, God's sanctuary was cast down.

So he is a false religious leader who essentially takes the place of, it looks like Jesus Christ, the prince, and declares himself to be that savior of mankind. And things go quite well, actually, under his rule.

If you look at Babylon mentioned in Revelation 18 and 19, you find that when she goes down, finally, people miss her, because things had been going really, really well. Trade, economics, the money, the luxuries, they had food to eat.

This guy came in and put together a package that some part of Western humanity, probably false Christianity, survived under for some time.

So it's going to work. It's going to be appealing. It's going to be declared as probably the fourth Reich or something in a similar vein.

And yet, we are to have no part of it. In verse 23, in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their fullness. You see what it's about? It's about sin. A king shall arise, having fierce features, who understand sinister schemes. His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power.

He's got a Satan, the devil there, giving him his power. And he shall destroy fearfully, and he shall prosper and thrive. You see? It's going to work out really well.

He shall destroy the mighty, and also destroy the holy people.

So in this transitional period, it's not going to be a period where things are pleasant, except for those who were able to go to a place of safety during this time. See, in Revelation 13, and I'm basing all of this on the Scripture today, what we're going to do is go through scriptural passages. There'll be several of them here. But that's what we want to look at. It's not my ideas or some concocted ideas. But what do the Scriptures say is going to happen during this transition from the present evil age to the kingdom of God here on earth? Revelation 13, verses 11 through 14 says, I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. He looks like Jesus Christ, but what's coming out of him is like the devil.

And he exercised all the authority of the first beast in his presence. That's talking about the socioeconomic power of the kingdom of the first beast. And he causes the earth and those who dwell on it to worship the first beast. Verse 13, he performs great signs that he makes fire come down from heaven in the sight of man. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast. Remember what Jesus Christ said? There's going to be signs and lying wonders. Even if possible, the elect might be deceived. But what is it that will keep you and I from being deceived? Sin. The man is against sin. It's a time of lawlessness, godly lawlessness, or lawlessness against godly principles. And we should have nothing to do with that. The mark on the right hand is about what you do. It's right or wrong, and this is wrong. The mark on the forehead is what you think. And thinking these thoughts would be wrong. And so the true saints of God that will reign with Christ will not have any part of it. It will be very, very clear to them.

This great event is the start of the great tribulation. If we look in Matthew 24, verse 15, as we understand Jesus giving this prophecy on the Mount of Olives, to mean, Matthew 24 and verse 15, he said, Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, and we just read about that individual in Daniel and in Thessalonians and in Revelation, then he begins to tell us what's happening here. Verse 21, For then there will be great tribulation. This is when the great tribulation starts, as we understand it from his own words. Then will be great tribulation.

We want to understand what this tribulation is about. The great tribulation is a sequence of events that we find in Revelation 8 and 9, and they're trumpets. A trumpet is blown and an event takes place. And during that great tribulation period, which we're not exactly how long the first transitional part is under this man of sin, it doesn't say when he's taken down. It could be two and a half years. It could be longer than that. It could go right up to the very end. But there are seven trumpets, and the first six of those are blown. They're in Revelation. And you can read about them. They are events that come down on this earth and the people of this earth. And it's a very tough time. But now we come to the seventh trumpet. And we know that when the seventh trumpet sounds, Jesus Christ begins the day of the Lord. Jesus Christ begins his age. He begins the entry of his age, where one age now is moving out while the other age moves in. And there's an overlap. There's a transition between the two.

What the day of the Lord transition really is, is a systematic destruction of Satan's system. If we look at it from that perspective, it's a systematic takedown of everything that this global society has been in the last 6,000 years. And that's what the seventh trumpet is about. It's about the replacement, the destruction, the disassembly, the total takedown of the age that is evil. And it's a replacement of it with new stuff, even the animals and the plants. A new mindset, a new God, a new leader.

The timeline here is, the seventh trumpet is blown if we go to Revelation 11, verse 15. You see, this trumpet is blown, and it declares the end of one and the beginning of the other. It's not the termination like one just goes away.

But it's saying, look, your time is done here. And now my time is starting. And so what's going to happen is a disassembly of what you've had and an assembly of what I'm bringing. Revelation 11, 15 says, Then the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.

That's the goal. This is where it's headed. Today we're talking about the transition of getting it there. Verse 18, the nations were angry about this. And your wrath has come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged. The time of the dead here that's being spoken of is the saints who have died, those who will become the firstfruits. Remember, it's at the last trump. The trump will sound, the dead in Christ shall rise. And going on, And that you should reward your servants, the prophets and the saints who have died faithfully, and those who fear your name small and great, and that you should destroy those who destroy the earth.

Paul talked about this trumpet in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51. Where he said, you know, I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, we shall not all die, but everybody that is faithful to God will be changed. And when is that? 1 Corinthians 15, 52 says, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, can you twinkle your eye?

I don't know how you twinkle an eye, but you girls are probably better at it than us guys. But just that fast, whatever a twinkle is, that's the dead are resurrected at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. So part of the dynamics, notice the timing of this, part of the dynamics during that three and a half year period when the seventh trumpet sounds and Christ's kingdom now is making in advance, it is done with the saints being resurrected.

Let's go to Revelation chapter 19. The book of Revelation is scattered about here and there with insets and certain things referring to other areas. It's not chronological in all cases. Chapter 19 of Revelation contains some information here that is crucial to what we just read about in 1 Corinthians 15, the last trumpet, the dead will rise, which we read about in Revelation 11, when the seventh angel sounded in the time of the dead that they should be judged takes place, and that he would reward his servants. We see here in Revelation 19 verse 7, Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready.

And to her it was granted to be read in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. This is part and parcel of the age of Christ moving in at the end of the present evil age. The saints participate. Let's show you how, through the words of Jesus Christ in a lesson he gave in Revelation chapter 2, verse 26. He says here to his church, to the faithful in the church, Revelation 2, 26, And he who overcomes, he who wins, in other words, wins this battle, Paul talked about, I have fought the good fight and I have won, I have finished the race, he who overcomes, and keeps my works until the end.

To him I will give power over the nations, verse 27, He shall rule them with a rod of iron, they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels, as I also have received from my Father. So we see a coexistence and a cooperative element there of the resurrected saints who are now the firstfruits coming with Christ to do this day of the Lord work. That's how it appears here from prophecy.

It's possible that these events take place right at the end of the Great Tribulation period, right as the day of the Lord is beginning. And how do we know this? Well, let's look at what Paul said in 1 Timothy 4, verses 7-8. We often miss some of the details because we're focusing on other things. We think, oh, Paul said, I fought the good fight, you know, I finished the course. Crown of life's laid up for me. That's great. I want to be like you, Paul. But do we notice some details there? I'm going to read this from the modern King James. It says essentially what the new King James version does. He says, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day. On that day. And not only to me, but notice, to all who love His appearing. Remember what I said before, God wants to know our allegiance. Which appearing do we love? Do we love what's coming as sort of a sequel to our current evil age? Another sort of false messiah, but he makes it all work, and you can buy into this and save your life? Or do we love the appearing of his son, which we've already read, the rest of humanity opposes, and they hate, they detest it?

There's something here about we're going to be given eternal life on that day, the day of the Lord. And not to me only, but those who love His appearing. When He appears, we must love Him. We must love what He stands for. This period of time is marked by a special prophecy in Matthew 24. We don't have to turn there, but it says, And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come. I find that particularly interesting that Jesus stated it that way. The gospel is going to be preached to all nations, and then the end. The end of this current evil age, the beginning of Christ's rule on earth, is going to take place. We find this fulfilled in Revelation 14, verses 6-8. The very thing happens, again, as long as we're seeing it here correctly, looking at Revelation 14 and verse 6, it says, Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. The gospel is preached to everyone on earth, Christ said. And then the end comes. In verse 8, another angel follows, saying, Babylon, the great, is fallen, is fallen. That's the end. And it comes right there. So we begin to see Babylon-ish system. Babylon represents not only religion, but also the type of society and governance that's in at least the Western world today, which the Bible pretty much focuses on. And this begins the day of the Lord, the time of Christ. Now, the day of the Lord may represent a year. If you use the numbers, I forget where it was in numbers, but somewhere in numbers it talks about a day for a year. You could say, okay, great tribulation, two and a half years. At that point in time, Christ comes for another year with those seven last plagues, the seven bowls, and He really inserts Himself there. But we know that those seven last plagues are short, they're brief. They may not even last an entire year. So nobody can really date that or know for sure. But we do know it's a terrible time. As it says in Malachi 3, verse 2, who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and a launderer's soap. He's going to come and refine sin out of the earth, Satan out of the earth, and like a launderer's soap, He's going to clean out what has been here before. He's going to build on something fresh, something that's clean. There won't be rebellion to God's will, and there won't be religious deception. There's an allegory that sums up the day of the Lord. Obviously, we don't have the time today to go through all the events of the day of the Lord. And so there's an allegory in Revelation 14, beginning in verse 14. We can see an overview of what's going to happen. Revelation 14, 14 says, Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and one who sat on the cloud, one like the son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. So this is an allegory of what He's coming to do. He's going to come and clean out.

He's going to come and prepare things for His era, for His kingdom. Verse 19, So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. God is coming. He's going to punish. He's going to get rid of sinners. He's going to get rid of rebellion, and He's going to get rid of false religions, and the false God that goes with it. Verse 20, And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and say, which city? And blood came out of the winepress, up to the horse's bridles, for 1,600 furlongs. Now, 1,600 furlongs is exactly 200 miles.

Now, there's various guesses as to what this means. But, Adam Clarke says, the city, and the city of focus, it's talking about Babylon the Great, and the empire that has been the latest revival of Babylon, has been Rome. And Adam Clarke says, it's been said that the state of the Roman Church is said to extend from the city of Rome to the city of Poe, which is exactly 200 miles.

Matthew Henry commentary says, it's also about the length of the Holy Land, about 200 miles. Nobody seems to know exactly what this means, but what it's saying is, there's going to be a lot of problem. There's going to be a decimation, as it were, of what is. Jesus Christ is coming back to do away with what is. It's the end of Satan's age. Revelation 15, verse 1, it says, Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete.

So when the day of the Lord comes, He brings these seven last plagues, and in them what He's going to do is completed. And what we're going to see with these seven last plagues is the dismantling, the removal of all that Satan has constructed in this present evil age.

It's going to come down. There are seven pains, as it were, that come. But they all seem to have specific reasons. The first is pain for that which this system, this false God, and the people who followed this false deceived leader, inflicted on the prophets, on the saints, and on Jesus when He was on earth. And so, painful sores come upon them. The seas and the rivers in the next two turn into blood, which seems to represent the blood that was shed by those same individuals, the prophets, the saints, the apostles, and Jesus Christ.

Not in payment, but as a representation, in other words, showing that this is what you've done, and this is what the response is. This is what the result is. Next, we see the sun darkened, which is the object of worship of humanity. If you look at almost any religion, it's about the sun. It's about something to do with the sun, the sun God, the sun God, about a Sunday worship, etc. He takes aim at the sun, He puts it out. The sun, first of all, sears them. The thing that they love, that they worship, now it burns them with intense heat.

It just burns them intensely. Then He turns it out. And now they have darkness. It's like the darkness that Satan has put mankind in spiritually, and the darkness that everybody loved to promulgate and develop into endless religions around the world that kept anyone from understanding God's way. Six thousand pound, I'm sorry, six hundred pound hailstones finish it off. When you look at the buildings, the structures, what man has made, God uses a combination of the greatest earthquake ever to come, and that will ever be, and six hundred pound hailstones to smash and pulverize every physical aspect of this present evil age into oblivion.

Now, when that's all done, Satan encourages and leads the armies that are remaining on earth to come to battle and war against Him, against Jesus Christ. So there's a final show down at J-town, you might say, at Jerusalem, and everybody's coming there for this big show down. The armies of the world gather at Armageddon, the valley, and they want to fight Jesus Christ.

Now let's go to Revelation 19, verse 11. We'll see another dimension here. Timing is just a little different. We saw that the bride had already made herself ready. We saw when, probably, the bride was resurrected and made spirit beings. Now we see in verse 11 of chapter 19, I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse. Here you have the armies drawn up for battle, now the visible return of Jesus Christ. And he who sat on him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. But remember, what we read in Revelation 2 was, he's also going to give the saints power over the nations, to have that same power that the Father gives him.

And if we notice in verse 14, the armies in heaven clothed in fine linen white and clean followed him on white horses. Remember, those armies or those individuals on fine linen white and clean were the saints in verse 7 and 8, that had made themselves ready, the bride of Christ. Now here's an interesting thing.

As we examine this period of transition, we're seeing now the final pulverization of the earth. We've seen the decimation of all the religions. We see the last thing to happen is the armies that are left come to fight with Jesus in Jerusalem. He and the saints now come in. Let's go to Matthew 24, and we'll see these same events. Matthew 24, verses 29 through 31.

Matthew 24, beginning in verse 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, not the great tribulation, the tribulation of those days, which seems to be referring to the plagues of God, the bowls, the seven last plagues, one through four, have taken place, because he now mentions five. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, which I assume is plagues one through four, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds. Here he comes with the saints writing in the clouds, with power and great glory. But he doesn't come alone. Notice the next sentence. And he will send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his elect. Wait a minute. Didn't we find that his elect were already gathered at the seventh trumpet? Resurrected, anyway. Is this talking about resurrecting them or gathering them together to ride with him?

Let's just read this. He will send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Sounds like they are already spirit beings, already being trained, already to ride and reign with Jesus Christ. They've been spirit beings since the seventh trumpet was blown. Let's go to Revelation 14, verses 1-4.

I just mentioned that because, you know, we can get the idea that nothing happens to the saints until Christ rides in, and suddenly, you know, we pow, meet him on the cloud as he's descending to earth, and kind of wonder how are we going to have that meal with him he talks about? How are we going to have any relationship with God?

How are we going to have any development training for the events that are going to take place? There just may be some other things here that, through this glass we see darkly, aren't always described so easily. In Revelation 14, verse 1, he says, Then I looked, and behold, a lamb standing on Mount Zion. You see how Revelation is here a little there a little, it spreads around. He's now just come in with the saints, and finally, you go back to Revelation 14, and he's standing on Mount Zion.

And with him 144,000, having his father's name written on their foreheads. These are the ones, if you go to Revelation in the description to his church, who have the father's name written on them, and Jesus' name, and the city of New Jerusalem's name. All those names are written on these individuals. Verse 4, these are the ones who are not defiled with women, meaning false religions. For they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from among men being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.

This is the first time humans are ever called firstfruits. It's after they have become spirit beings. And they, like the first fruit, Jesus Christ, they're in 1 Corinthians 15, I believe it's verse 20, they are now called firstfruits and reign with him. It's at this point, finally, that battle takes out those who oppose him. The beast and false prophet are captured and thrown into what's called the lake of fire.

And then we come to the removal of the thinker, the idea man, the god of this world, as it's called in 2 Corinthians 4.4, or the father of murders and lies, as Jesus described him. Revelation 20, verse 1, it says, I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. You can only imagine at this point in time what things on earth must be like.

You know, an earth that's had the greatest earthquake ever, talks about mountains being dropped down and valleys filling in. It talks about, you know, just the greatest shaking that has ever taken place. Hail stones sort of finish it off. And a battle, a climactic battle between Christ and the saints and the powers that be. And now we find this strong angel comes, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan and bound him for a thousand years.

So during this next age, during this thousand years, and I use it loosely in a way, if you look at a thousand years as a day, like the six days of the week, during the Sabbath reign of Christ, that day, during the sabbatical age in which righteousness will dwell, this individual is shut up, a seal is set on him so that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years were finished.

Now, Christ and the saints can do something. Now, a real true new age can begin, an age where the physical earth can be created by godly beings with creative powers, if God allows that to happen, into a true garden of Eden. With new species, obviously there are going to be new species of animals, or certainly changed species of animals. There will be few lives of any kind, animal, probably vegetable, or anything else left on the planet at that time. Remember, it says, woe to all the inhabitants of the earth and even in the sea.

That means all the animals, and the bugs, and the birds, and the fish, and the humans. It's just not going to be a lot there, if there's anything left. And yet, God is a great creator. God is a lawgiver. And God is the author of love, agape love, and he really cares for the few humans that are going to be left.

And he really cares about bringing in a true utopia, the likes of which you and I can't even imagine what it's like any more than we can imagine what the animal world will be like, because we have no experience.

A new, wonderful age.

In Micah chapter 1, verses 1 through 4, we'll finish this up with a glimpse at this age. Just try to imagine it from an overview perspective. Micah chapter 4, beginning in verse 1, So we're going to find that the mountain, prophetically, is the kingdom. The kingdom of God's house will be established on top of any other kingdom. And it shall be exalted above the hills, even the countries and the small nations. And peoples shall flow to it. And many nations shall come and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us His ways. Absence of deception will exist. And absence of false knowledge and absence of disinformation will fill the earth.

And we shall walk in His paths. His paths means loving, harmony, for God, mankind, and nature, which has never existed since the Garden of Eden. It just has never been on this earth.

We have no idea. The things that we use in our everyday life are products of warfare. They were developed for warfare. What could be developed for agriculture? What could be developed for honest communication and transportation and help? We have no idea. We've never had time for that. We're too busy building our towers of Babel and our war machines.

There are spears and pruning hooks. What could be developed as far as harvests of good food, natural food, healthy food? Good for everyone. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation. There's going to be no destruction of what you have. There's going to be no stealing or taking. Neither shall they learn war anymore. But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree. How many of you have vines and fig trees? We're kind of short on those. We're all scrambling around trying to get some work, get some funds, try to stay alive. We don't have time for these wonderful luxuries. And no one shall make them afraid. No fear. No fear of any kind. It's a different world.

In conclusion, a transition of age is coming. That period of time is going to be ugly. It's going to be brutal. But it will be complete. You can read more about it in our booklet, The Book of Revelation Unveiled. It will be a full, thorough removal of this present evil age.

And the earth will transition into a paradise under Christ's rule and that of the firstfruits with him. I'd like to conclude with a related concept from Jesus Christ. It's found in John 16, verse 21. I know it's difficult when we look forward to times that are not pleasant. When we look forward to pains and travail.

And yet, Jesus understood that. He said in John 16, verse 21, A woman when she is in labor has sorrow because her hour has come. You and I might think, wow, I was born at the wrong time. Well, not really. Not really at all. Because humanity has always been in chaos and warfare and bloodshed and agony. It's just been the history of civilization. But there is an hour that's coming that's going to be full of sorrow. But notice what he says. But as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a human being has been born into the world. There is a new age coming. It'll be tough seeing it get here. But once it is here, it is going to be so exciting and so joyous and so worth it all that it really is not worth being worried or overly concerned about what must take place in order for it to arrive. So in the meantime, focus on being a person of Christ-like service, serving and loving others. Pursue godliness and righteousness every minute of your life, because that's what he tells us to do. And pray, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.