Four Prophetic Keys

Have you ever planned to go on a trip? Let's say you want to go to Florida, and maybe you've got to organize a hotel, where are you going to stay, maybe you've got to organize flights, or maybe you've got to prepare your car. There's a lot of little events that you kind of got to schedule and plan for to actually achieve your goal. That's normal, isn't it? We all do that, whether it's Florida or whatever it is, whatever it's like. Kathy and I, we're going to visit Brevard in South Africa, in Angola, and so we've got to plan a whole lot of things, and there's so much detail to plan. And if you don't plan these things, things will go wrong. They will go wrong, but you have to plan. Now, think of it from another angle. God willing, obviously, that will materialize. Of course, I'm talking God willing, right? But you're going to go on this vacation. You're going to get there. So you are, in a sense, laying out, let's call it, a roadmap or a set of activities of things to do and plan for it. And so at those dates and times, those things will happen, right? Because you plan for it. God willing, as I say, you know, God willing. And so those things will happen. Isn't that what we would call prophecy? Isn't prophecy, therefore, saying, this is going to happen on that day or at that time, and then a little later, that is going to happen? In a sense, that is prophecy. Prophecy is saying something about the future that is going to happen on a specific time or date. And so it's laying out a series of things to do or to achieve on certain times so that things are done properly and happening. Now, it's nothing different than what God has in mind. God has a plan. What is God's great plan? His biggest plan, mystery, that in which he has revealed to us to create sons and daughters of God, children of God.

That's his plan. He's got a plan to have a family. You know, if you have children, that means you are going to have a family, right? I mean, that's pretty obvious. And therefore, God has given us a family, as human beings, to help us understand a little bit better the love of God, because as a mother, you love your children. Or as a father, you love your children. And you plan for the best for the family. And what are we learning from this? It is the whole principle of how God is, of a loving dad. That's why it's so bad in this society when they run down dad or the family and they break down the family, because it is demonic, because you're actually destroying the image, imagery, let's call it that way, or the physical example which God has created for us to give us an idea of what God is. So if you have a loving dad, you will understand the love that the father has for us. Not fully, because even though you may have a very loving dad, nowhere will your loving dad have the degree of love that our father has for us.

But it helps us to see things from God's perspective. And that's why family is so important. Family is the nucleus of society, and family will be the nucleus of the kingdom of God.

So God has a plan for mankind, which is to have children of God to rule in the kingdom of God forever under Jesus the Christ. That's God's plan. So what is prophecy?

Prophecy is a road map showing us how God is going to achieve that end result.

Prophecy may also be saying, hey, if you disobey, you're going to get a smack.

That may be also part of the prophecy, too. So it teaches a little lesson, you know, hey, walk this narrow and straight path. But that part of prophecy, God does not want to do, God does not want to give us a smack. So that's why it says elsewhere, it says, if you judge yourselves, you'll not be judged. In other words, if you judge yourselves and you therefore correct yourself and put yourself in the right direction, God does not have to give you a little smack to put you in the right direction. That's what it means. So when we understand the family, we can start understanding God's plan and how God is doing things. And he will then want us to be fulfilling two roles, two basic roles in that family.

You remember what they are? Think about it. You know, when you read in Revelation 19, when it says that, there comes the King of kings and Lord of lords. You see, so we are going to be under Christ, serving under him as kings, because he's the King of kings. And we're going to be serving under him as the Lord, because he's the Lord of lords. Another word for Lord is basically priests or teachers or instructors, ministers or servants in that sort of teaching area.

And you also can read, for instance, in sections like Revelation 5 and 10, where it says, God has made and asked unto him kings and priests. So in that family role in the Kingdom of God, we're going to be a royal family. Now think about the royal family in England. There's a royal family, and the children in that royal family are going to be the inheritors, the heirs, that will then be the kings or different rulership positions within that kingdom.

And when we talk about the Kingdom of God, which is put it in modern words, which is the government of God ruling over the whole earth. When we think of that ultimate, final super government that will rule the earth, which will be the government of God or the Kingdom of God, he will have a ruling as part of his royal family. That's why we are a royal priesthood.

Right? Talks about we are a royal priesthood. We are the children of God, and we're going to be kings and priests in that family, and Christ being the high priest. And we're going to be priests under him, or servants under him, as the Lord of Lords. He is the high priest, and we are under him.

So it all fits together if we keep in mind the ultimate purpose of God for you and I.

It is so important not to lose that focus of what God wants to achieve with you and I.

There are in fact many parables then that Christ gave about a king coming and making servants, and telling them to serve in certain areas, and to rule in certain areas, and says, you wise servants, and because you're wise servants, then you will receive rulership of ten cities, or hundreds cities, and things like that. So you can see that in this earth we are to be wise stewards. Right? In other words, good disciples, good followers of Christ, practicing and living like we heard in the sermon, not being double-minded, but practicing and living the principles of God, which are basically based on God's law. And what is God's law? It's love. Because you don't love your fellow man if you steal from them. That's not love.

You don't love your fellow man if you lie to them. You don't love your fellow man if you desire to have new things and lust to have new things. You don't love your spouse or people that you make commitments with if you're committing adultery, because you're breaking a commitment.

And that hurts. That's lack of love. So all these things and God's law is basically the standard there will be in all tomorrow. And that's why Christ, after He died, where He gave, in a sense, His final instruction before, after the end of 40 days that He was on earth, He gave an instruction. And let's just look at that instruction. It's like the final words that He gave to the apostles. Let's look at those final words, and that is in Matthew 28.

Matthew 28.

And right at the end of Matthew 28, and we're going to start reading in verse 18.

It shows that they worshiped Him, so He has a position that He can be worshiped.

You know, we are not to worship angels, but we worship God and only God. And so He is the Son of God, He's of that family. He's not the highest, but He is in subjection to the Father, and the Father is always higher. But He says, Jesus came and spoke to them. This was after He was resurrected just before He left, and kind of His last message, He says, all authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. The Father gave Jesus Christ all authority.

And then what Christ told the apostles and the disciples, He said, go therefore and make disciples of all nations. The focus that Christ has, Yahr, is that we are to make disciples. We are to be good disciples of Jesus Christ. And so if you think about the parables of the wise steward, what is a steward? A steward is a servant, is a disciple, is one that's following, doing what the master says, the master of the house, the boss, let's call it that, the manager. So what we are to do is to be good disciples. If you and I are good disciples, we will then be good leaders. That's what it says.

He says, if you're a good disciple, good and faithful servant, I'll give you 10 cities or 100 cities. So the real job that you and I have to do today is to be good and faithful disciples.

Now, Christ then told us a number of godly beatitudes in the Sermon of the Mount, for instance, about how to be good disciples. And if you look at them very briefly, we'll just gloss through them in Matthew chapter 5, we're starting verse 3, but he gives a number of perfect attitudes to be good disciples. And the first one says, we need to be poor in spirit. That means he's humble.

Now, why are there problems amongst people? Because sometimes we're not humble.

It's kind of, you really get down to it, sometimes we're just not humble. We just think we know it all.

And it's one of the biggest problems that we have. So right at the core of being or having a right attitude, a beautiful attitude, a beatitude, is to be humble. And then it says the next one is to mourn.

And to mourn is basically to repent. To mourn is say, hey, I've done this wrong. I am sorry. I mourn. I repent. I change. I'm going to live a different way. I'm going to live according to God's laws. And then the next one is to be teachable. To be nicked. You know, a nicked is like, it's like being tamed. You know, a tamed animal is teachable. Is nicked. Is teachable. Is malleable.

And so, if you are humble and you have repented of your past, you are now going to be malleable, teachable, malleable by God, because we are the clay. We are going to be malleable, or we are going to be nicked, and therefore God can work with us. And then what's next? It says, we're going to search for what? We're going to hunger for what? And thirst for what? For God's laws. For God's righteousness. That's the nickedness, that malleability, the teachability. How are we going to be molded? We're going to be molded by God's righteousness, which is basically based on the law of love, the law of liberty, as we are in the sermon. And so, that's what we're going to strive for. We're going to hunger and thirst. We're going to really desire that with our full life.

And then, we're going to realize that we've done things wrong, and we need God's mercy. And you know what? Christ said, forgive others so that you will be forgiven. So, we're going to learn to be merciful to others. So, when others step on our toes, or others try something, we just say, that's okay. Let it go. Let it go. And that's hard. This meant it's hard. But you know, brethren, Christ said, if you don't forgive, how can the Father forgive you?

We have to forgive. And that means we're going to be merciful. But where does it start? In being humble and repenting and be malleable and wanting to follow God's laws and then realizing that we need mercy and therefore we're going to be merciful. Can you see how they build up? And, if you may recall, I had a sermon going, or a series of sermons going through all those beatitudes in the past. Anyway, then, as we go further, we must not be double-minded as we are in the sermon. We must be pure in heart. We must be... There's a wording in Portuguese, a phrase, which I'm going to quote to them. Then I'm going to translate it. But in Portuguese, this is, which in English means bread, bread, cheese, cheese. Which means, if you are bread, be bread. If you cheese, be cheese. In other words, be honest, be pure in heart. Don't be a fake. That's what it means. That's idiom. Different languages have different things. That's one in Portuguese. That's interesting. But anyway, what it means is, don't be a hypocrite. And therefore, we're going to be pure in heart. We're going to be sincere.

And therefore, this is going to be genuine. It's not hypocritical. It's not a put-on. It's genuine.

And then, in verse 8, we are not just going to be peace lovers, because there's a big difference between a peace lover and a peacemaker. Big difference. Peace lover is one thing. A peacemaker, sometimes to be a peacemaker, you have to do things that are not pleasant. But that is a challenge there. And then, we'll be sons of God, because that's what God is. He's a peacemaker. He is working, reconciling us to Him. He's a peacemaker. And because of that, some people are not going to like it. And they're going to kind of dislike you and leave you and or turn against you. But hey, you've got to do that. So those are beautiful attitudes. That's what it is to be a Christ-centered leader. Because for you to be a leader, you have to be a disciple. And for you to be a disciple, you have to be like Christ, a proper disciple, using these beautiful attitudes.

And so, for us to go on that road map, that prophetic road map, to become children of God, we're going to follow these attitudes in our lives. We've got to follow that in our lives. So there is a road map that you and I have to follow in our living ways. Not easy. The Beatitudes give us a beautiful road map, which then says, as we see in verse 8, blessed are the pure in heart, because they will see God. And then blessed are the peacemakers, because they shall be called the sons of God. So if you go that final step and do that, you will be called. In other words, you will be the children of God.

So that's that road map of that plan that God has for us individually. But that road map, in a sense, is a prophetic road. It's a prophetic road.

Because there are steps that God gives us in that prophetic road. So today, Brethren, I'm giving you four identifying signs to understand Bible prophecy. Why am I doing this?

So what? Well, it's because there's going to be a lot of people coming out with weird ideas. And really try to confuse you. And picking up a, but this, or this means that, or that means that, or that means that. But if you can keep the focus, Brethren, that God has a plan that you are going to be children of God. And individually, you and I have to go through this road of the Beatitudes.

Let's call it that. But as a big plan, what is the plan that God has?

The plan that God has is a plan of salvation.

And that plan is identified to us by the meaning, or the ultimate meaning, of what it is to have rest. And one word, rest.

But it's another way. It is amplified by the Sabbath and the annual Holy Days, because they point to rest. Because when you and I are in the kingdom of God, without fear, without pain, without a shoulder ache, or an elbow ache, or a headache, or a back ache, or a toe ache, or whatever it is, and there'll be no more crying, no more tears, and no more pain.

That's rest. That is genuine rest. Peace and rest. Because that's what God is, is a peacemaker. And that's the end goal, to be sons of God, to have or achieve eternal rest.

So we need to understand that and put that in picture. So the first key to understand Bible prophecy is to understand what is all about this rest of God, which is amplified by the Sabbath and God's holidays. So let's touch that briefly. Let's touch that briefly by starting to read in Genesis chapter 1 verse 26.

Genesis chapter 1 verse 26.

Then God said, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness.

And so now we have the Father, the highest, talking to who then was the Word, the one that He created everything through, which then became flesh and became known as Jesus Christ. And they were saying, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness.

And so in verse 27, so God created man in his own image, and in the image of God, He created him, male and female.

And so at the end of that chapter, you see that when He finished God creating everything, creating everything, He said it was very good.

Now what it means is, now let me give you an example. You all probably have or have tried a little bit of computers. And you probably remember a computer of 15 years ago, the first little IBM PC that came out, which today will probably be in a museum. And you'll probably remember the first Windows and then whatever, which was very archaic, and then came Windows this and Windows that and whatever it is. And so what we have is like we had version one, and then we've got something better, which was version two. Then we've got something better, that's Windows 3. Then we've got something better, and then we've got Windows 7 or whatever it is.

And but when God created, He created version, final version, perfect from day one. He did not have to create version one, he says, this man is a little bit faulty, I can have a version two, which is a little bit better. And I can have a version three, which is an improved version.

And now I have version seven, which is really, no, it just shows man's mind and God's mind.

Man's mind, we have to make something, and then, oh, I can make it a little bit better, oh, I can make it a bit better. In other words, man's mind goes along the process of evolution, and we're going to make it better or evolve to something better, because our mind's not big enough. God's mind, He can think it through, and He's going to make perfect from day one, and He does not need evolution, because from day one, it's perfect. And so He created man and woman from day one, perfect.

You could not have a version two of Eve, because version one did not please Adam. No, Adam said, no, this is it, this is it, this is it. So it just shows God is so big and so powerful.

But now the question is, after He created all the physical things, God was tired. He had to take a rest. Was He tired? Was He exhausted? No, He wasn't, but He rested.

Why? Because He rested for us to teach us a lesson. Because, yeah, we look at the Sabbath, which is an analogy of the seventh day of creation, and then for a rest, but that is not the ultimate rest. It's symbolic of a rest to come.

It's a symbolic of a rest to come. So turn with me to Hebrews chapter four.

Hebrews chapter four.

Hebrews chapter four.

Not James, Hebrews. I'll turn my Bible into James.

Hebrews chapter four.

Therefore, since the promise remains of entering His rest, what it remains of entering His rest. What do you mean by that?

I mean, didn't Adam and Eve enter the rest on the seventh day?

Don't you and I enter a rest every Sabbath on the seventh day of the week? Don't we enter this rest? Yes, physically we do.

But spiritually, there's more to it than just this physical thing. Remember, the physical things are an analogy to reminders of the spiritual. Like a physical family, it's an analogy to remind us of the spiritual family of God. And so everything, physical God, created it to show us His power and divinity, as you read in Romans one. The physical points it to the spiritual. Like even the tabernacle, you remember, reads the physical tabernacle. It said it was symbolic, was a shadow of things which are heavenly. So the Sabbath rest is symbolic of something spiritually, bigger.

So, since the promise remains of entering His rest, it is a promise for you and I. It's a promise for mankind that we are going to enter a rest.

Let us not fear any of you, lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed, the gospel was preached to us as well as to them. It was the good news. The good news of this rest was preached to them, but they didn't understand it. They didn't grasp it. It went over their head.

They just didn't get it. But it says, hey, let us not fall into the same thing and just let it go over our head. Then allow it to sink in. Allow it to sink in.

But the word which they heard did not profit them. Why? Because it didn't sink. They just went in one ear and went out the other.

Not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. In other words, it did not allow their minds to go with the faith, with the belief that it's something future. And therefore, verse 3, we who have believed do enter that rest.

As he has said, so I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.

But you and I enter that rest.

Now, to God, when he says something, it's as if it's already happened, even though it may not happen.

It's like if you plan a vacation to go somewhere, and you commit to that, you invest, you put your money into it, it's as if you're already there and you can visualize yourself as if, well, you know, but even more so God, for him, it's already happened. That's it. I mean, it hasn't happened, of course, but to him, it is as if it has happened. So he can talk about it. It's a fact, because he's got the power to make it happen. He's God. He's got the power to make it happen. So we will enter that rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

And it was, yes, the works. In six days, everything physical was created. Then they had the Sabbath rest, and yes, every week they had the Sabbath rest as a reminder of creation, but God said, I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest. And you can see where that comes out there. If you look at your margin, it says that comes from Psalm 95. So that was in Old Testament. So they shall not enter my rest. Verse 4, For he has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day.

Yes, in this way. And God rested on the seventh day from all his works. Yes, we know, we read it. We just read it in Genesis. God rested from all his works on the seventh day.

And again, in this place, he says, they shall not enter my rest.

So is it contradictory? That's what he's saying. Is it contradictory? No, because one is physical, and the other one is the spiritual rest to come. The physical is an analogy of the spiritual.

Verse 6, Since therefore it remains that some must enter into that rest, and to those to whom it was first preached, do not enter. Why? Because they don't obey. That's what he says, because it is obedient. Again, he designates a certain day saying in David, today, after such a long time as it has been said, today, if we will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. In other words, if you hear God's word, don't be stubborn.

Don't allow this. Don't allow that stubbornness in your heart. Don't harden your hearts. Verse 8, For if Joshua had given them rest, who was Joshua? Remember Joshua was the man of the Moses? Remember? So Moses took them 40 years through the desert, and then the person that took them into the promised land, which was supposed to have been their rest, the promised land, was Joshua. But if Joshua had given them rest, because they did go to the promised land, then you would not afterwards have spoken of another day to say, they will enter my rest.

Therefore, verse 9, therefore remains, therefore, a rest for the people of God.

Therefore, it remains a rest for the people of God.

What is our rest? What is our rest? Our rest is the spiritual symbolism of this. What does it mean?

First, it means when you and I are resurrected and become spirit beings, or you and I are still alive and become transformed, we will then become spirit beings, and therefore we will have rest, because that's our real promised land, which is eternal life in the kingdom of God.

Number two will be when Satan is put away, representing the day of Atonement, and there will be peace on earth because Satan will be pulled away, there will be rest on earth.

Number three, it will be the wonderful world tomorrow, the millennium, with people living for a thousand years on earth, and they will be in a rest. Number four will be beyond that, on the last great day, the symbolic of the Holy Days, the last great day, when there will be the great white throne judgment, and people will then be given the opportunities they never had of understanding the truth, and they will repent and will be able to then live forever in the kingdom of God.

So those four areas are the rest that is to come, and that is why, brethren, when you look at the Leviticus, you look at the Leviticus, Leviticus 23, it talks about the Passover, verse 5, which is a peace day, but it's not a holy day. It's not a holy day. It's a peace day, but it's not a holy day. Then, in verse 6 and 8, it talks about 11 bread, and it's two holy days there. So turn with me to Leviticus 23, verse 6 and 8. Leviticus 23, verse 6 and 8. It says, on the 15th day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So that's the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And then for seven days, you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, you shall have a holy convocation. Yes, it will be a holy day, a holy convocation. You have a convocation, and you shall do no customary work on it. And then it says, on the seventh day, says the end verse 8, shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it.

Yes, these are holy days, but they only step towards that rest. Unleavened bread is not that final rest yet, because it's when Christ comes back, when Satan's put away during the millennium, and eternal life after that. That is the rest to come. Then, if you look a bit further, then we've got Pentecost in verse 15. And it says, and you shall count yourselves from the first day after the Sabbath. That's the Sabbath during the days of Unleavened Bread. From the day that you brought the sheep of the Wave Offering, seven Sabbaths, or seven weeks, shall be completed. And you count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath, which is a Sunday. And then you shall offer, and then it says a little bit later in verse 21, and you shall proclaim on that same day that it is a holy confrontation. It is a holy day. And you shall do no customary work on it. But again, that is the stepping stone to that ultimate rest. The rest to come. That's Sabbatismus that we read in Hebrews 4 verse 9. That is a rest to come, a Sabbatismus, a rest to come, which represents a future completion of the spiritual creation.

Now, as we go then a bit further down into trumpets, on verse 24, it says, They speak to the children of Israel, saying, the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath rest. A memorial of Lord Trumpets, a holy convocation, and you shall do no customary work.

But Yahya adds the word rest, because it's pointing to that symbolic rest to come. And the same thing on the Day of Atonement. If you look at that in verse 27, it's talking about an attempt today, you shall have a Day of Atonement, shall be a holy convocation. And then you look a bit further in verse 32, it shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest.

Again, it emphasizes the need to rest, because it points to that rest to come. And then we look at the Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day, the Last Great Day, which is on verse 39. And on the 15th day of the seventh month, then you shall have gathered in the fruit of the land, and you shall keep the Feast of the Lord for seven days.

On the first day, there shall be a Sabbath rest, and on the eighth day, a Sabbath rest. So what we have here is a pointing to that rest, which in the end will probably be a year of Jubilee. And if you look at two chapters later in verse chapter 25, where it talks about on the Day of Trumpets, you will blow the trumpets, and it will be Jubilee, and it will be clear liberty to the land, because Christ comes and will probably be a year of Jubilee, because we don't know when the years of Jubilee, we lost the count of when that is.

And so, no man knows the day or the hour, so we don't know when that is. And therefore, it very probably within the year that Christ comes will be a year of Jubilee, and that will be rest, declare liberty into the land, onto the earth. And so, Brekha, if you and I don't have the perspective of God's plan of His Holy Days, and looking that there is a rest to come, represented by when Christ comes back, bringing rest to those that are living, and it get transformed, or those that have died, and get changed, or we look at the rest when Satan is put away, or look at the rest of humanity that will happen in the world tomorrow, the wonderful world tomorrow for the millennium, and look at the rest beyond the Great White Throne and all that.

If we don't have that picture, we can get confused with prophecy. Because if we have that picture in mind of what is God's plan, then other little ideas that come up, if they don't fit that picture of the ultimate rest, which is the rest to come, then they don't fit the puzzle. You know, I mean, if you do puzzles, I'm sure you all have done puzzles, and you look at the picture, oh, they could fit yeah, could fit there, but I'm not so sure I'll leave it a little lighter, and then you work on others, and you start putting the puzzle, and then you say, oh, this one will fit yeah!

Well, it could have fit the day initially, it could have fit the day, but you weren't quite sure, but now, ha ha, it fits yeah! You see, now, when we put this big puzzle together, understanding the first identifying key to understand Bible prophecy, which is understanding God's plan of salvation for us to be children of God, and that will be the ultimate rest. That helps us, helps us to take other ideas that don't fit that and reject them. It helps us to, when people come out with different ideas, different doctrines and things, if they don't fit that plan, we just reject them.

She says, no, that's not right. So that helps. So that is the first key or identifying key to understand Bible prophecy. Then the second one, and I want to show you something else about this, Reverend, is that we do have a study guide, a Bible study guide, that goes into these holy days in great depth to help you understand the plan of salvation of God.

This is important. Use this as a guideline to study the Bible, and then you'll understand it a little bit better. And today we were reading that we sang a song which was 111 in Ahem, and it said, For the people of our loving God, there remains a standard rest. It is beautiful.

It says, Let us keep the Sabbath holy, a day of worship and release, and a shadow of what is to come. We sang that. It's important when we sing our hymns, we think about what they mean. It's a shadow of what is to come, God's government of peace, the kingdom of God, governing and ruling on earth. That is beautiful. And so when we look at this, we can see everything fits together. So that's the first key. The second key, which is very important as well, is understanding who is Israel. Who is Israel? Now, the world thinks, well, the Jewish people are Israel.

And that is true. The Jewish people are Israel. But it's just like saying, to me, the people that live in Kentucky are US citizens. Yeah, it's true. But you know, there are people that live in California and also US citizens. And there are people that live in Texas and they're also US citizens. I was going to make a joke about that. So you see what I mean?

Just because you're from Kentucky, and yes, indeed, you're a US citizen, does not mean that all US citizens are people that live in Kentucky.

So does not mean that all Israelites are Jews. Yes, Jews are part of Israel. But you remember, there were 12 tribes. In fact, 13. But anyway, there were more than the tribe of Judah.

And so who are the other tribes? Nowadays, we look in a map and we go there to the area of Palestine and see the nation of Israel. Okay, and that's those are the Jews. And immediately, we kind of associate, well, that's Israel. But that's not the whole of Israel. That is just a portion of the Jews, because there's many Jews in the States. There's many Jews in many other countries around the world. So just a portion of the Jews. And the Jews are only a portion of Israel.

Now, it is important to understand who is Israel. Because there are many prophecies addressed to Israel. Many prophecies addressed to Israel. And we have a very comprehensive Bible study guide identifying various nations beyond the nation of Judah, which are also Israel. Like England, which is Ephraim, and the United States, which is Manasseh, and others.

So it is important to understand that, because if you don't understand that, when it's talking about, I'll do this with Israel and with Judah.

Yeah, many places say, I'll do this with Israel and Judah.

Then, who's that? It's not just Jews. So it is important to understand that, because then you start picturing prophecy in a slightly different way. With the right, let's call it compass, the right perspective. You see, God shows no favoritism. Let's just quickly look at Romans, starting Romans chapter 2. Romans chapter 2. God shows no favoritism. So people think, oh well, these are like favorite people. They call them, you know, God shows favoritism. But no, but God shows, as we heard in the sermon, that there's no partiality. So if God tells us not to be partial, why would God be partial? There's no partiality. But you know, God can decide to work with this person first, and then with that second, and that third. In the end, they all will achieve the end result, but He chooses to work with one first and the other second.

But in the end, they all will achieve or will inherit the kingdom of God. But it's just a question of, each one is on order, and it's His decision. He is the potter. He can decide how to handle the clay, and He says, well, I'll work with this clay now, and then once I finish this, I'll then work with that clay, and I'll do that. And when I finish that, and I work with the other clay, and I'll do that. That's His choice. That's not favoritism. It's just saying, well, I'm doing this one first, with this piece of clay, yeah? And I'll do that with that piece of clay. So He's decided to do certain things with Israel first, and they messed up. They really messed up. If you want to look for a nation that messed up, look at the Jews. And Israel, because it's not just the Jews. Israel, too. And so, if we read in Romans chapter 2, verse 11, it says, for there's no partiality with God. For as men as they have sinned without the Lord, they will also perish without the Lord. And so, God will be very fair, and then He says, you know, and He works with the Gentiles. And it says, in verse 16, in that day, God will judge the secrets of man by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel. So there is a plan of good news, of rest, of being children of God.

But He's got that plan. But in the end, He will treat everyone the same way. He's not partial. He does not discriminate. Well, all have the potential to be children of God. He's the family of God. There's no Jew or Gentile. We all.

But God is merciful. And God, therefore, has a road map of working with people, some first, and then others, and then if they're messed up, then you'll bring others in, and things like that. He's got that plan. And that's what He does. He reads in Romans 2, verse 1.

It says, you know, you can't be judging others, you know. But if you look at verse 4, it says, Oh, do you despise the riches of God's goodness, forbearance, and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance. You see, brethren, I think the problem is, we think we're very patient, and then we say to God, Why aren't you sorting it out yet?

Do you know what we say? We are not patient, because God has been more patient than us.

That's really, God is more patient than us, and He is giving it a little bit more time. For what reason? To lead people to repentance. God knows better the time frame. He knows when it's the right time or not. He's super wise, super clever, and therefore He has not rejected Israel.

He has not rejected... Look at in chapter 11, verse 1. Look at in chapter 11, over Romans, still. I say then, Has God cost away His people? Has God rejected Israel? He says, No! How many Israelites?

God has not rejected, but God is now working with the remnant. Why? Because the Israelites messed up. So God is now working with a few people from different nations, which is the elect, the chosen ones, that you make of as a nation, which we are not a nation. In other words, people from this nation, that nation, that nation, that nation, that nation. He made us a nation, a spiritual nation, and then He's working with us. But the rest are blinded. Look at verse 7. It says, What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks, but elect has obtained. There was the Israelites have messed up. They are not entering that rest. But the election, the few that are in the church of God, if they remain loyal to the end, they will receive that promise of rest. But the remaining, the rest were blinded. What do you mean they were blinded?

And it says God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they could not see, and ears that could not hear, to this very day. Why? Because if they were not blinded, and if they really knew, God could not show mercy to them. But if they are blinded, and they did it in innocence, in that sense, in ignorance, should I say, in ignorance, then when God shows them the truth in the great white throne judgment, so get back to that plan of God, understand the plan of God, understand the holy days, understand what is the great white throne judgment, that lost great day, and as you keep and observe it here from here, you understand it a bit better. So then, He can show them mercy, because they were blinded. He can open their eyes, and they can then understand, and say, oh, why did I get it then? You see? So He can show them mercy.

They blinded temporarily. Look at verse 11. Romans 11, 11. Shall I say to them, if they stumble that they should fail, did they stumble? Were they blinded? Did they fail the Israelites of the Old Testament? They failed so that, therefore, they condemned forever? No, certainly not. But through their fail to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to us. Gentiles of different nations, we are coming into God's Church, and they, one day when they will be told the truth, they will then be able to be grafted back in. You read there, it says, you read then in verse 17, it says, if they are from the natural vine, and they are broken off, they are not lost, because God is taking Gentiles and grafting them into the vine. Now, if God can take Gentiles and graft them into the vine, can't He take those Israelites and graft them back into the vine? He can! That's what He's saying there. And look at it, therefore, in verses 26 and then it says, and so all Israel will be saved. That means those are rebellious, stuff-neck Israelites that died in the desert for 40 years, they will be saved.

When it says all, it means, generally speaking, all. There may be one or another that will not want and will reject it, right? But generally speaking, all. They will come to repentance when it comes to the time of the great white throne judgment. They'll be grafted in, and there is hope for it. God has not rejected Israel, but it does say each one in His own order. Don't you read that in 1 Corinthians 15? Christ the first fruits, then those that are at His coming, and then the rest at the time of the end when then at that time then Christ will give the kingdom to the Father, but it says everyone in each own order. God shows no partiality that all will have a chance. They don't have a chance. Why? Because they were blinded. They were blinded.

And so, when we understand who is Israel, there is a hope for Israel. God has not rejected Israel, and we understand the role of Israel that God has laid out for Israel. Then we start understanding a little bit of prophecy, because they are promises for Israel, and they are promises for the future.

And therefore, when we look at things happening with nations which are Israelite nations today, they cannot be part of the Gentile kingdoms. They can't, because they are Israel.

Unless God specifically wants one of the Israelite nations there, but He clearly says that you use the beast to punish Iphraim and Manasseh. So, Iphraim and Manasseh cannot be part of that group.

And so, that helps us to understand prophecy, and that's why we in the church said, well, England will sooner or later leave the European community. But you see, when you understand that, then you read Jeremiah 31, 31. Look at Jeremiah 31, 31. And there are wonderful scriptures that people don't even begin to understand it, generally speaking. Jeremiah 31, 31. Jeremiah 31, 31.

We all, the days are coming, says the Eternal, when I will make a new covenant.

Now, people say, well, the new covenant is what we have today, and indeed, it is we are the new covenant. But you know what? You and I in the new covenant are only the tuk-to, think about it, the beginning, the first fruits of the new covenant. The real new covenant is still to come in the wall tomorrow, because it says, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I'll make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Now, who's the house of Israel?

Because there's the house of Israel and the house of Judah, and the days are still coming.

32. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the days that I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, says the Lord. In other words, God is going to make a covenant with the Israelites, which includes Americans and British and French and all those nations that are of Israel like to send, including the Jews as well, the whole of that mankind, which will then from there will expand to the rest of mankind, because God is going to work through Israel first, and through Israel then will use Israel to reach the rest of mankind. That's what we read in Romans 11. I didn't go through that, but it says if, imagine when you read that in Romans 11, it says the blessing of Israel will be the blessing for the Gentiles. How much more a blessing will that be? Because God will work through Israel, the Father, through Christ, through the first fruits, which is a resurrected in the those in the first resurrection, through physical Israel, through all the nations, with one purpose, to make all mankind sons and daughters of God. That's the great plan. It all fits into this beautiful puzzle. So when we understand that, then we say, this is the covenant, I'll put my law in their minds, and I'll write it in their hearts, and I'll be their God, and it shall be my people.

And they shall no more teach each man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, oh the Lord, for they already know they will not have to preach them God's truth, because they will know. And that's in the world tomorrow, people will know the truth, and in the stairs, the nations will know the truth like water covers the sea. It'll be beautiful. It'll be beautiful. But you see, the Church of God is only a partial fulfillment of that. The whole world will have this new covenant in the world tomorrow. It will go to the whole world, first to Israel, but to the Gentiles as well.

It'll be to the whole world. You see, so understanding who Israel is helps understand a little bit Bible prophecy. Those are the two big ones I wanted to emphasize. There are others that I have mentioned too, the other two that I just want to re-arlight, that I've mentioned too in previous sermons. One is understanding the two women of Revelation. There's two women in Revelation. One is the Church of God, Revelation 12. And then the other is the great evil woman of Revelation 17, the Mother of Olives. So you've got the Church of God, a small group that God is working with, and then there is the rest of the world that God is allowing to be influenced by that woman. But they're not lost. They're not lost because there is a hope, because God wants all mankind to be saved. But they're just blinded. One day they'll understand, and then they'll come to the truth. You see, Satan is now working the world, deceiving the world, as you can read in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 4. He's deceiving the world. So that people don't see the truth. But one day everybody will see the truth. And God is merciful. He's giving time because he wants everyone to come to repentance. And like he says, so all Israel will be saved, so all the Gentiles will be saved. Now, I don't mean every single person, because there'll be some people that will go to the second death, but those are the ones that choose not to change, not to repent. And so that is the third identifying slide, is understand who those two women are.

And the fourth thing is understanding. And we've got a booklet, Understanding Bible Prophecy.

And in this booklet, we've got principles about Daniel 2. And then furthermore, we have this booklet, Bible Study Guide, about the final superpower. And I've got some extra copies of these booklets at the back there, if you don't have. In this booklet, there is a nice picture there about Daniel 2. And what it means is, a lot of people get confused who's the beast. And I'm not covering that. I've given sermons about that. They're on the web about who's the beast. You can look up. But you can look at these Bible Study Guides and study the Bible with it. And I might cover some of them again in the future. But the point is, the beast will be these ten nations which represent the ten toes. The important is, they're part of the same statue.

There's a continuity in the statue. This is the point that we've got to understand, because there's Babylon, and then from Babylon went to Persia, and from Persia went to Greece, and from Greece went to Rome, and from Rome was the restoration of the Roman Empire and the Justinian and others. Those five restorations restored under the direction of the Catholic Church. And then finally, one to come, which is the ten, but they are a continuum. And so that is important to understand they are part of a continuum. It's not somewhere around in the blue. It says, oh well, the beast is American. Well, it doesn't fit this statue, because America is outside of the statue, because these are Gentile kingdoms, not Israelite kingdoms, for one. You see, so it is in the You see, so it is important to understand that. And I also gave sermons, and I use the chart, which you may recall, that explains all these things in clearly with the different sections of Daniel and Roman and Revelation etc. And so there's a continuum there. So using these four big, let's put it, guidelines that help you to anchor, you then are going to be able to not be misguided with false ideas, because there's going to be many false ideas that we're going to deceive many people. Regrettably, that's prophesied to come.

So what we gotta keep in mind is that God is going to go to have children, sons, and daughters of God. God is training us today to be those top leaders in the kingdom of God.

The best training for you to be a leader is to be a disciple, a good disciple, a good steward.

And the best training there is to have the right Christian attitudes or beautiful attitudes, or the attitudes as we saw. Once we have that, and we work through that, don't be deceived.

Stay firm in the truth, and then you will be able to grow in the grace of God, because it's the loving kindness of God that He has as a Father, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is who we ought to imitate, and put that in our lives. And that is what we need to do. And so when we look back, what can we say about God's plan? Look with me in Romans 11.32.

Romans 11.32.

Romans 11.32. There's a conclusion of this chapter. It says, God has allowed people, he says, verse 32, has committed them all to the obedience. Yeah, the whole of mankind is going and going wrong, but He's doing it in mercy, because you'll show mercy to everybody.

He wants everyone to come to repentance in His time. You know, there's no better school than the school of hard knocks, isn't it? When you go through it, and you have gone through bad times. And when God shows you His rest, you will not want to go back.

So that's what God is doing. He's allowing mankind to go through the school of hard knocks.

Why? Because we stubborn. We stubborn. So, okay, get your nose in the mud, but God is merciful. Then He will show us the truth, He will give us the rest, He will be merciful towards us, so we all can be sons and daughters of God.

It says, verse 33, oh, the depth of the reaches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways, first, finding out. For who has known the mind of the Eternal? Or who has become His counselor? Or who has given to Him, and it shall be repaid to Him?

For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things to whom be glory forever. At that time, when we see this and we'll become, we'll be children, sons, and daughters of God in the Kingdom of God, you and I will bow down our knees and thank God for His great plan and how He's done it. How so clever and so full of wisdom and so full of knowledge His plan is. And as it says, to Him be glory forever. Amen.