A Great Day of Salvation

I'm not sure I'm going to be able to hear a good-sized choir. I really appreciate the work that went into that. Thanks to Lisa McKinney for taking on the job of directing. I would be willing to bet that Ken Shoemaker is especially thankful because he got the opportunity to stand and sing. Having sung in choirs, I know that's a special pleasure.

When someone has to direct, sometimes you don't get to do what you'd like to. I appreciate that for all of you. It sounded wonderful. I got a message passed from my wife. I think in all that I was saying about services next week, I might have forgot to actually give the time.

If I did, it's 11 a.m. next Sabbath. Pardon me on that. The following Sabbath is also an abnormal time. The following Sabbath will be 10.30 with, of course, the day of atonement in between. On the Wednesday, that's September 26th, atonement services here will be at 2.30 without a morning service before. So I plan to go through all that, and then you know how it is. Well, the Feast of Trumpets is a big day.

Lots of excitement. I was pleased on my way down to Pressensburg this morning to hear a little blurb on the radio during the news mentioning that today it was Rosh Hashan on the Hebrew calendar. I'd overlooked the fact that the Hebrew calendar states the belief that this was the first day of creation. So the first day, the start of the civil year still.

And then, of course, it follows with 10 days of introspection leading to the day of atonement. Now, the number is not sitting in my memory that they said on the Hebrew calendar, this is your 5,700 and something. Which is interesting if that's correct. And if we are looking at 6,000 years of time for man, the time for Christ's return might be further off than we think. But I'm not going to worry about counting numbers or things like that. But it is a reminder that, as I said, today is a big day.

Big drama. Big things happen on the day that this mentions. I want to turn first scripture to Deuteronomy chapter 20 and read verse 4. Because the Bible has many exciting stories and many of them include miraculous deliverance by God. And this is just a reminder, I wanted to read the statement straight from scriptures and we can see some examples of that.

This is a clear statement from God to the ancient nation of Israel. It says, For the Lord your God is he who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. God saves his people. That's one of the things that he does. And I think it's important because I want to make a statement not introducing a new doctrine and I'm not suggesting a name change. But one of the things that we could call the Feast of Trumpets is the Day of Salvation or A Day of Salvation.

Salvation is certainly what God's plan is about. I've heard some ministers say that if you had to summarize the Bible in one sentence, it's God's plan of salvation for mankind, saving us from death. God has a plan to do that. And I think the meaning of Trumpets encompasses the greatest salvation. Now, some might ask, is that an overstatement? There are a lot of big stories of God's salvation. And the Bible has many of those amazing stories. I'd like to look at some of them as a lead-up to why I want to make a case for the meaning of Trumpets, including the greatest of these.

So if you'll permit me, I'm going to start off with a story that I'm not going to read straight from Scripture. Although it's a story from Scripture. This is a little bit of what you could call historical fiction. And that it's based on real events with real people, but the dialogue is somewhat created to give a more personal feel. So if you'll permit me, I think you'll recognize the story right away. It's called Eliyab's story. My name is Eliyab.

I'm what some call a leader in the tribe of Zebulun, but I don't feel like much of a leader right now. To be honest, I'm scared. We traipsed out here into the wilderness nearly a week ago. Food supplies are running low. We haven't really been able to get enough water for our families and animals, too. But the really frightening thing is that the scouts say the whole Egyptian army is coming up on us fast. There's nowhere to run. Even if we could hope to escape their chariots, the mountains are surrounding us on every side except the way the Egyptians are coming and the other way that goes down to a dead end at the sea.

Looking back, things have been crazy for some time now, pretty much since that old fellow Moses showed up, started riling things up. Sure, he made it sound good at first. He claimed he'd been talking to the God of Abraham, and that we were all going to be freed from slavery in Egypt, that we would inherit a land of our own. It seemed too crazy to believe. I mean, sure, the old legends say that Almighty God worked miracles back in the days of our ancestors. But come on! You don't challenge Pharaoh and his taskmasters over some folk tales and traditions from 400 years ago. But this Moses and his brother had some convincing tricks that won quite a few people over. They turned a walking stick into a snake. They made a big jog of water turn into blood. And then they said, well, they would be the ones that go talk to Pharaoh. So what did we have to lose? Huh! Yeah, plenty, it turned out. Next thing we knew, the taskmasters took away our supply of straw and then lashed us with the whip when we didn't supply our normal tally of bricks. I should have known that Moses was trouble. But before we had time to get things straightened out and get back to normal, things got even more crazy. It seemed like the world must be coming to an end. There was no water for a week. Only blood flowing down the river. And then frogs were everywhere. No sooner did they die, we all came down with this lice. I mean, bad lice. All over. Things did get a little bit better after that, for we Israelites at least. We didn't get the flies or the boils or have most of our livestock come down sick. And come to think of it, it was amazing how that terrible hailstorm missed our area. And we had some light when it was so dark everywhere else that people just had to stay home. All that with our people being spared, well, it was enough to make me go along with it when Moses told us we had to kill a lamb and splash the blood on our door frames. Looking back at that time, it seems like some type of a dream. Something you expect to learn was never real. So many Egyptians just died that night. The next day, they practically pushed us out. Now, it took a few days of going further and further into this mountain desert before it started to seem gradually real again. But now, now those Egyptian soldiers carrying spears and swords, they look very real to me. What looks real is that we are all trapped. We're unarmed, and we don't know how to fight anyways. That army is just going to march in here soon and just slaughter us. Wasn't there enough room in the graveyards back in Egypt? Did Moses have to lead us out here so that our wives and children, all of us, could just have our dead bodies rot in the desert? Why? Why didn't I just stay home? I never liked making bricks much, but at least there was something to eat. And if we went along, we survived. But now, this must be it. I don't want to see my children killed. I don't want to die. Wait, wait. Moses is walking up over to that hill where he spoke to us earlier. It sounds like he's getting ready to say something. Don't be afraid. Stand still. See the salvation of the Lord. The Egyptians that you've seen today, you're never going to see again, ever. The Eternal will fight for you. Well, now he's walking over there holding out his staff, and I can't believe it. The water is opening up. It's just like walls standing there. I'll bet thousands of people could just walk right through there. This God of Abraham, the I AM, he must be for real. I thought we were dead for sure, but God is making a way for us to escape.

That's the end of the writing, the story. Now, before you think, does he remember which Holy Day this is? Remember, I wanted to focus on the desperation that we can sometimes feel when it seems like we're at the end. I wanted to present some of that real fear that I believe many of the Israelites probably felt. As I said, that part is fiction, but you could see how could they have felt much otherwise? Then, how powerful were those words? Stand still. See the salvation of the Lord. I just love that phrase. It always gives me a little bit of a chill and excitement. Now, in that case, God was saving an entire nation of people from slaughter by an enemy. But God sometimes saves on small scale. He could save a family, an individual. Have there been times when you, if you look back, you thought, boy, I wish I could have said something really dramatic. Like, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. There's a story that my wife's family likes to tell, and I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it here in a sermon before, but it's worth saying again because it goes to show how memorable it is when someone does think. And I don't know if he thought of it deliberately, but it's, as I said, my wife's parents and her older brothers, and I believe Sue hadn't been born yet, but they were traveling somewhere and got into an auto accident. Smash! And Mrs. Ward's face hit the windshield, I think went partially through at least, and came back and badly cut and bleeding all over. Three young boys sitting in the back seat, and Mr. Ward just turned, and he tells this lady, he said, this just came out of my mouth. He said, stand still, boys, and see the salvation of the Lord. And he got out to help his wife, and then talking with the person he hit and other cars stopping. The story goes, a well-dressed man came up and said, stand aside, I'll take care of this, and started bandaging her face. And took care of that, and meanwhile, Mr. Ward went and dealt with the other drivers, and the police were coming on the scene in ambulances. So, later, they're getting ready to leave, and he wants to thank the man that helped bandage up his wife. So, he asks, do you see where that man went? Well, we didn't see anybody. And nobody seemed to know who it was, or where he came from, or when he went. Most of them didn't see anybody at all. But when they got to the hospital, the doctors examined her, and they said, who bandaged her? Because they knew exactly what to do. Took care of her perfectly. And, of course, eventually she recovered, and what could have been a dramatically disfiguring, or even a deadly accident, left only the smallest scar. And it's a scar that I didn't even know was there, until they told me the story later. You have to really be looking for it to see it. But it's interesting, as I said, I call that to mind, because it's another case of God sending deliverance, salvation. And just beforehand, someone's saying that, stand still. See the salvation of the Lord. Who knows how many times that's happened to us when we didn't even know it? And surely many times when we do. I want to read another story of people being told to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, and the deliverance coming. As I said, I'm building up to something, but I think it's always encouraging to see these stories and read them. This one is in the book of 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles chapter 20.

I find it interesting. I wanted to read this story, and I was thinking, well, do I want to read the version that's in Kings or in Chronicles? And it's one of the few that's actually not in Kings. It's only in Chronicles. Unless it's in Kings somewhere disguised enough, I couldn't find it. But this is dealing with, of course, after the division in the southern kingdom of Judah when Jehoshaphat was king. And unlike Israel, who had mostly bad kings, Judah had several good kings.

Some not so good, but several were trying to follow God, and Jehoshaphat was one of those. But, of course, trouble came from outside, and I want to pick up reading the story at the beginning of the chapter. So this is 2 Chronicles chapter 20. It happened after this that the people of Moab, with the people of Ammon and others with them, besides the Amorites, Ammonites, I'm sorry, came to battle against Jehoshaphat. Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, a great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea from Syria, and they are at Hezion Tamar, which is En Gedi.

And Jehoshaphat feared, I would view two, three nations combined their armies, and they're coming after you. He feared, and He set Himself, though, to seek the Eternal. He proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. Interesting. Well, let me read the next verse. So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Eternal, and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord, or the Eternal.

Notice He didn't send to other countries. He didn't depend on alliances with foreign countries. He knew where His real help could come from. And then in verse 5, And Solomon specifically said, God, we know that you don't need a house for the Lord, and that you will be a sanctuary for your name. And saying, if disaster ever comes upon us, sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this temple, and in your presence, for your name is in this temple, and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and say.

Now, He's citing back to the public prayer that Solomon made at the dedication of this temple. And Solomon specifically said, God, we know that you don't need a house to live in, but please put your name here, and listen so when your people are in trouble, when they come here and pray to this house that is dedicated in your name, that you will hear. Jehoshaphat must have been very familiar with that. He probably read it in the Scriptures.

And he says, God, this is what we set up. Now is the time. We need your help. And here we have it in verse 10. And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt. But they turned from them and did not destroy them. Here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of your possession, which you've given us to inherit. O our God, will you not judge them?

For we have no power against this great multitude that's coming against us. Nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon you. Now all Judah, with their little ones and their wives and their children, stood before the Eternal. Jehoshaphat set the right example and did the right thing.

He said, we're looking to you, God. We don't have the power to deliver here. We need you to save us. And he reminded him of his great promise. And all the people were there with him. And then God moved through his Spirit and one who was there. It turns out, probably a Levite, who was in the choir that served at the Temple, as we read, The Spirit of the Eternal came upon Jehaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiiah, the son of Jeil, the son of Madaniah.

A Levite of the sons of Asaph, and the sons of Asaph, were generally those serving the Temple by singing. And he said, speaking on behalf of God, listen, all of you Judah and all of you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat, thus says the Eternal to you. Do not be afraid nor dismayed, because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours.

But God's. Tomorrow, go down against them. They will surely come up by the ascent of Zeez, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the wilderness of Jirul. And you will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves. Stand still. See the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. He said, I want you to go down there, but you're not going to fight. I want you to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Do not fear of be dismayed tomorrow to go out against them, for the Lord, the Eternal One, is with you.

And Jehoshaphat bowed his head to his face to the ground, and all Judah in the heavens of Jerusalem bowed before the Eternal, worshipping him.

As I said, there's that phrase, but Jehoshaphat, I find it interesting, he did do one more thing. You know, he said, okay, let's go down and watch, but he said, we're not going to just stand still and watch. We're going to do something else as we go. Let's go to verse 18. Oh, I just read 18. Then the Levites and the children of the Kohathites and the children of the Korites, those of the Levites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high. So they rose early in the morning and loud to the wilderness of T'koa. And they went out, as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, believe in the eternal your God, and you shall be established.

Believe his prophets, and you shall prosper. Remember, we just had the seminar where we talked about how belief and faith are there, and of course, they're tied to obedience. When he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the eternal and who should praise the beauty of holiness. And they went before the army, and they were saying, praise the Lord for his mercy endures forever. And I, and it's, well, in some ways, it's easy for me to envision this because many years ago, I think I was about 19 or 20 years old, someone lent me an album by who, a contemporary Christian singer, as they called him then, a fella named Don Francisco.

I don't know if any of you are into that genre of music. You might be familiar. I saw pictures of him later. I thought, boy, what a hippie! Long hair and beard, played an acoustic guitar, but he would take stories out of the Bible like this and put them to a tune. And he made one for this particular event, and it's stuck in my memory ever since because part of the song goes, Jehoshaphat chose some singers. He told those singers to sing, and they praised the beauty of holiness, instead of shouting out a battle cry.

And all the way down to the enemy's camp, they sang to the Lord on high. They were singing, Praise ye the Lord, for his mercy endures forever and ever. Praise ye the Lord, for his mercy endures forever and ever.

Praise ye the Lord, his mercy endures forever and ever. Praise ye the Lord, our God, his mercy will never end. And the song goes on. You can see why it's a little catchy and it's stuck in my memory for 20-some years. But I envisioned them marching down and they probably got enthusiastic. Yeah, we're going to go down and praise God. They're not worried about their weapons or anything. And then what happens? God does deliver. In verse 22, when they began to sing and to praise, the eternal set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah.

And they were defeated. For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. So two of the nation's armies turned against the other one and killed them. And it says, then they turned on each other. They helped to destroy one another. So when Judah came to the place overlooking the wilderness, they looked towards the multitude and there were the dead bodies falling on the earth.

This is exactly like the story Mr. Evans told during Hezekiah's time when one angel came and killed 185,000 of them. When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies. Precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away. They were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much.

What a turn of events! Here they are fearful, we're all going to die, and army's going to come and wipe us out. And then they spend three days hauling away riches that God just deposits in front of them. God saves. I wonder when we're in danger how many of us think about breaking into psalm.

I admit I usually don't. But it might be worth thinking about, you know, when we're confronted with mortal danger, especially when now we want to bring it, as I said, we've been looking back, but what's lying ahead for us? Dangerous times lie ahead, and the Feast of Trumpets symbolizes in part the most dangerous period in human history. There's going to be horrible plagues during that time. Now, I'm going to summarize. I believe last year on trumpets, I went through the seals and the trumpets, and I just want to, I'll mention that this is in Revelation 8, but I'm not going to turn there, but just to remind you of the trumpet plagues. The first one is hail mixed with fire, and a third of all plants burned up. Then the second trumpet, a third of the sea turns to blood, and one third of all life in the seas dies. The, I'm sorry, that was the second trumpet. Did I say third? The third trumpet, all the fresh water turns bitter and deadly. The fourth trumpet sounds, and the sun and the moon are struck with darkness for a third of the time. The fifth trumpet sounds, and it says, a smoking pit opens with a plague of locusts. People have probably been debating this ever since John put ink to paper. Were they real locusts? Were they physical? Were they spiritual? Now we look back and say, did John see battle helicopters and tanks? The only thing he could think of to say was they were locusts, but whatever they are or will be, they have the power to hurt and destroy. It says they can torture men, but not cause them to die for five months. People are going to wish they could die it so bad. And then the sixth trumpet sounds. Four demons are loosed and kill one third of all mankind. I think that's similar to saying one angel went out from God and wiped out an entire army. Here four demons kill a third of the planet. That's billions of people. And then there's news of a 200 million man army marching from the east. All that sounds pretty bad, and we're just skimming, making it sound as palatable as possible. We get into real detail. It's horrifying. When we think of that, when we see it coming, how likely are we to start singing? Let's turn to Matthew 24.

As I said, I didn't want to read through all those, but I'll read just a briefest summary. In the Olivet prophecy, Jesus Christ gave a prophecy of what was to come without as much detail as John later would give, or as God would give to John. Matthew 24, starting in verse 21, He said simply, Then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world, till this time known or ever shall be. It's going to be the worst time ever. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. No one would survive unless it's cut short. But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened. I think of this as a very important part of the Bible. I think of that when it's about to be the worst time ever, almost everybody's going to die, and He says, but for the elect's sake, they will be shortened. I almost expect Him to say, stand still, see the salvation of the Lord. He doesn't say quite that, but if you'll turn to Luke 21 in a parallel account, He says something that's almost as moving. And so I thought I wanted to insert this because it's also a very stirring phrase. Luke 21 and verse 28, as I said after, I guess this is a parallel account. Describing all the things that will happen through history and at the end of the age. And Jesus told His disciples, now when these things begin to happen, look up. Lift up your heads because your redemption draws near. Just look up and know it's almost here, your redemption.

God saves His people. We're going to be saved. Now, I'll mention this. I gave a summary there in Revelation 8 saying that the trumpet plagues, I only described six of the plagues, but remember there are seven trumpets. And of course, that outline in the book of Revelation, there's the seals, there's a scroll sealed with seven seals that no one can open until the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the one that we know as Jesus Christ, opens and He starts opening them, revealing these things. And the seventh seal, as it's open, reveals these seven trumpets. And each one brings these plagues. And now the seventh trumpet will have more plagues. It'll be revealed to contain seven last plagues, bowls or vials. Let's go to Revelation 11.

I'm going to mention now, in case I forget later, because I know I forgot this morning, we're going to leave Revelation and come back to it two or three times. So, when I leave Revelation, if you want to stick a finger or a marker or something in there, I don't think we'll come back to Revelation 11, but we'll be nearby. Revelation 11 and verse 15, now we get to the seventh trumpet. 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. This is the beginning of God's reign on earth, the kingdom of God. That's where we can look for real salvation. That's the salvation we preach to the world when we talk about the gospel, the good news of the kingdom of God. And it proceeds, of course, and the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is, and who was and who is to come, because you've taken your great power and reign. The nations were angry, and your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged. That you should reward your servants, the prophets and the saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth. Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. There were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail. I said, the seventh trumpet sounds, and there's this declaration, the kingdoms of men have become the kingdoms of our God. He's going to reign. I'm not going to try to even attempt to sing this, but if you've heard Handel's Messiah, there's that great piece in there where they sing this, and with this great crescendo as the voices build. Well, like I said, I can't even hope to imitate it, but in your memory, if you know it, just think of how moving it is. It gives me shivers whenever I hear it.

But of course, then follow the description of those plagues that are part of that seventh trumpet. But I don't want to focus on the death and destruction. There's a lot of that, and it's going to be very bad, but the two other very important things happen at the seventh trumpet. Let's turn ahead to Revelation 19.

Revelation 19, beginning in verse 11.

So I said, this is still part of what happens when the seventh trumpet sounds. John says this, Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name was called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. I'm going to stop there and mention, this is, I'm not sure if I want to say one other thing or two other things that happened. Sure, there are plagues, but then Jesus Christ returns to earth. He comes as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He's the Messiah. Now, when he came the first time, his countrymen were looking for the ruler and conqueror then. They misunderstood the Scriptures that said he had to be a sacrifice. But now he's going to come as a ruler and a conqueror, and he's going to be followed by these armies in white. We understand that those armies in white will be the saints, those who are dedicated to God, who are resurrected or changed to spirit. That other important thing that happens at the seventh trumpet is the resurrection, the first resurrection from the dead. Let's read in Scripture, and remember, we're going to come back to Revelation, but let's turn to 1 Thessalonians 4.

1 Thessalonians 4, and we'll begin in verse 16.

Here's a parallel account of what we... Well, of this seventh trumpet. I was going to say what we just read, but we haven't got into that much of what Revelation says about the resurrection. But let's read it here. 1 Thessalonians 4, and verse 16. For the Lord himself would ascend from heaven. We did just read about that. I looked and behold a white horse, and him who sat on it was faithful and true. He'll descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. Thus will always be with the Lord. Now, the thus doesn't mean always in the clouds and the air. It means because we've become spirit, we'll always be with him. The saints will rise, now resurrected to life, and spirit bodies meet Jesus Christ in the air, and then follow him as he comes down and lands on the Mount of Olives, and followed by the saints arrayed in white robes, the symbolic, the white robes are symbolic of the righteousness of the saints. But that's an exciting thing of what the Feast of Trumpets means. And by the way, this is specifically the seventh trumpet, because we just saw in Revelation that Christ returns at the seventh trumpet, not at the earlier trumpets, and that this is when the dead in Christ rise. Let's see another account of it in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians 15 beginning in verse 50, and we did read this recently in the Kingdom of God seminars, but you can't get too much of something like this. What's going to happen at that time of the seventh trumpet? This is the most exciting and important thing that's going to happen. Now, this I say, brethren, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. That's the seventh trumpet. That's why we're talking about this on the day of trumpets. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and will be changed. This corruptible must put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible is put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that's written, Death has swallowed up in victory.

Now, I've heard many times, and perhaps it was just me, I've heard this described many times, and focus on the fact of people being changed. And I think, obviously, the Apostle Paul, when he said we, he expected Jesus Christ to return while he was still alive. It turns out, he was correct in many things, but his time frame was a little bit off. And that's been true for many of us in the church. There have been people who expected to be instantaneously changed, who have since passed away. My thought is that the number of Christians, well, out of all the number of Christians who have ever lived, those who will be alive at Christ's return, as a proportion, will be relatively small. I hope it's a large number, but the majority of those who are going to be changed will probably be dead, and then resurrected. And that's what I wanted to focus on. It's not a bigger deal to be instantly changed from flesh into spirit than to be resurrected as a spirit body. That's the experience that most Christians will have, and perhaps most of us, especially if this is the year 57, whatever, we might have quite a bit of time.

Now, of course, and I'm not saying, well, we're all going to die, and we're going to have tribulation. And I'm not saying that it's going to be far off the way world events are happening. It could happen very soon. As I said, I get to listen to the news quite a bit when I'm driving in Eastern Kentucky, and there's protests going on in the Middle East. There's talk of the nation of Israel dropping a nuclear bomb on Iran, and who knows what could happen? As Mr. Evans said, we need to be prepared. We need to be ready. And I don't want to insinuate that God won't save you or me from the great tribulation. There are prophecies of safety, of a place of safety, of protection. God can, and He does, save His people. That's why we read about God saving the Israelites and Moses' day when they were afraid, and that army of Egyptians was coming down at them, and God parted the Red Sea. We read about His salvation of Judah during Jehoshaphat's reign, when God just miraculously turned the enemy armies against each other, and they wiped themselves out. God has saved people many times in this current era, and many of you have stories to tell. And I hope when I say that, that they pop into your mind. It happens, and it's wonderful when we sit around together and start sharing some of those stories. I imagine God has saved all of us, probably even times that we never knew about. And maybe He'll tell us eventually, and I'll say, you remember that time? Here's what you didn't know. He might have saved us from heavy things falling on top of us. From auto parts breaking down at the wrong moment, which makes me think, don't buy an old MG. I remember when I was a student in Big Sandy, one of the students had one of those old MG's, and you always saw the hood up, and him working. You never saw it driving. How many times has God prevented us from contracting dangerous diseases? All kinds of things. I'm speculating on this, but the thing that I want to get at is, if and when God saves us from death in this life, that's a temporary save. He saves us, but that's temporary. It's only a short-term fix, a patch over. Let's go to Hebrews 9, verse 27.

It's a short scripture, but rather than quoting it, we're seeing it, reading it ourselves. It's appointed for men to die once. After this, the judgment. I'd like the old King James, I think, says, It's appointed for all men once to die. Brethren, God doesn't do slipshod. Miraculous...

Let me back up. I skipped a place in my notes. A miraculous salvation by God does not cancel that appointment that we all have with death. It's coming. All those Israelites that followed Moses through the Red Sea later on died. And those singers that accompanied Jehoshavat singing, Praise ye the Lord! They were saved that day, but none of them are alive today. And the same goes for the apostles, Peter, Paul, Matthew, all of them. John died eventually.

Now let's go to skip over a page, Hebrews 11, verse 13. I think this sums up the people I've just been speaking of. These all died in the faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off or assured of them, embraced them, confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. This is where I wanted to say God doesn't do slipshod work. When I say He saved them but it was only temporary, it's not because He couldn't save them better than that. He plans to save all of His people in a way that's much greater. That's much better than being saved now. It's great to be saved now, but there's something even more. A salvation that so far only one person has experienced. That's being brought back to eternal life, the resurrection from death.

That's what we want to focus on. And I wonder, looking back many years ago, and I know we have some people who have been in the church long enough to know when we had thousands and thousands of people, and we focused a lot on the tribulation that we expected to come and wanting to be saved in a place of safety. I wonder if many of those who were with us then focused so much on that that we lost sight of the bigger thing. And so that when we didn't flee in 1972 or 75 or then 82, and however many, whatever recalculation of what date seemed appropriate, some people said, well, it doesn't matter. And they drifted away. Now, I don't want to impute anything to anybody, but if anybody did have that way of thinking, they set their sights too low. They were thinking too small. Now, I don't want to say that a place of safety isn't important, and I certainly don't want to be martyred. Being persecuted doesn't sound like fun, but scriptures show that that is exactly what's happened to many Christians in the past and will again in the future. If you'll go to Revelation 6, I want to establish that living or dying in this present time isn't the ultimate issue. Now, it's nice to be saved. Revelation 6, beginning in verse 9. When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God, slain for the Word of God, and the testimony which they held. They cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge Your blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then a white robe was given to each of them, as it was said to them, they should rest a little while longer, meaning they're only speaking symbolically, they're still resting in the graves, until both the number of their fellow servants and of their brethren who would be killed as they were was completed. Now, I don't mean to imply that this is a prophecy for all Christians, so please don't think I'm saying, No, we're not going to the place of safety, we're all going to be killed. But, and of course, actually, yeah, if I get a choice between martyrdom and a place of safety, I'm going to take the place of safety. I'm all for that. But it's important for us to realize both of these things are temporary. Death is temporary because God is going to resurrect every single person to life, and we're working to be in that better resurrection. But a place of safety is also temporary, because real and permanent salvation comes in that better resurrection. That's when we'll finally have it made. I like to say the phrase, we'll have climbed the mountain, because life is an uphill struggle, it's a battle all along, and when finally you reach that summit, you've done what you have to do, you know, you've completed it. And that's, you know, that's completely without regard to whether God saves us physically or not. Let's look back in Hebrews 11. I should have told you to keep a finger in Hebrews 11 as well. I'm not sure if we have enough fingers for all the places I want to go back and forth to, but Hebrews 11 and verse 32.

This is another well-known scripture, but while we're talking about God's salvation, let's remind ourselves of some that He has saved. What more shall I say? Time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson, Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. That reminds me, it popped into my mind this morning, I was thinking we've got a children's book for Connor that tells the story of Daniel and the lions, Dan. It shows Daniel is thrown into this den of lions and King Darius is worried, like the story in the Bible. He comes in the morning, Daniel, did God save you? And it shows Daniel standing there next to the lions, and he says, look, I'm not even scratched! And he's smiling, and the lions are smiling. That's what makes it so memorable, those cartoon lions, and they're grinning.

God worked salvation. That's a wonderful, exciting story, and I lost my place. And stopped the mouths of lions in verse 34. Quench the violence of fire, escape the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of aliens. Women received their dead, raised to life again. And that did happen. There are cases, a few cases of resurrection, but back to a physical life. Once again, a temporary save. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. Now, I want to clear up something. Well, I'm not saying you're confused. In the past, I was sometimes confused. I thought, oh, did they not allow God to save them? Because that would get them in the better resurrection? What this means is, they were tortured, and they didn't accept deliverance by their torturers. Someone torturing them, saying, well, if you'll give up the Sabbath, I'll stop torturing you. And they said, no, I'm not. Or, you know, last name against God. No, they wouldn't accept deliverance temporary by their torturers, they were going to hold true to the truth because they were looking for real salvation that they knew would come in the resurrection. I guess that became clear to me. I don't know if many of you have seen the movie Braveheart. That's one of my favorite movies, even though it has a lot of... well, I like sword fighting and stuff. But if you've seen the movie, you know towards the end, William Wallace, the great freedom fighter for Scotland, finally gets captured. They bring him down to London, and they put him on the rack and torture... They're trying to get him to accept allegiance to the King of England and stop fighting for Scotland, and he won't do it. He keeps silent. They put him down, and they start cutting on him, and I don't want to get grisly about it, but they literally start disemboweling him while he's alive. And the torturer says, I can make this all stop. Just swear fealty to the King. And when he's too weak, he says, just touch the insignia on my robe. And he won't do it, of course. He remains true to his cause, was freedom. We've got a much higher cause. He's true to the truth, to God, the creator of all things. Not accepting that type of temporary deliverance. We're looking for the real deliverance that'll come in the resurrection.

As I said, being saved from death would be nice, and I'm certainly willing to have God save my skin anytime he chooses. I think I've quoted recently, I've been reminded that there's... It's said that Winston Churchill, during World War II, when there were threats on his life, said, I am always prepared to be a martyr for my country. However, I do prefer that it be postponed, if possible.

But we want to be prepared for that, but have our eyes on the eternal prize. In Revelation 7, verse 13.

Revelation 7, beginning in verse 13. One of the elders answered, saying to me, Who are these arrayed in white robes? Where did they come from? I said, Well, sir, you know. He said, These are the ones who have come out of the Great Tribulation. So they were in the Great Tribulation.

They washed the robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Symbolically meaning their sins are clean. Therefore, there before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They'll neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore, nor the sun shall strike them, nor any heat. They'll be spirit beings. For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to the living fountains of water. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

I suppose if I'm ever being tortured, burned at a stake, or cut up, I'll probably shed some tears and cry mightily. I'm not one of those to suffer in silence. But it'll be interesting if I can remember God promises he's going to dry those tears. The Bible shows specifically in Ecclesiastes chapter 9 verses 5 and 10. I'm not going to turn there, but the Bible shows that when we're dead, we're totally unconscious.

It says, the dead know not anything. You know, on the day we die, our thoughts perish. It's like being in a deep, dreamless sleep, unaware of the time that's passing in between. Well, that's an important thing for us to remember, because we won't be aware of the time between what could be a grisly demise in our resurrection. I think of the tribulation and suffering. I sometimes think of my grandmother. And I know, well, you probably don't get tired of hearing about my grandmother, because I usually have nice things to say about her.

But one of the things I remember, she was the first in my family to come into the church. And even in those days, back when I was 11, 12 years old, and she wasn't an old woman, she wasn't expecting death soon. But even then, I remember her saying, I hope I die before the great tribulation. And the thought of the plagues and of the torture and things like that, I think scared her.

She didn't want to go through that. And even a place of safety didn't really drive that from her mind. And of course, as she passed away a few years ago, you could say, well, she did die before it happened. But I wonder, did she really? The things she went through could have amounted, you could say, amounted to a great tribulation all her own. You know, her body gradually weakened. She lived to the age of 95 and was healthy for most of that. But in her later 80s, she developed what the doctors called fibromyalgia.

She had pain throughout her body. It hurt to move. It hurt to lay still. She lost a great deal of weight during that time. And then about the time I moved back to Ohio, she developed a case of shingles. And I'd never seen someone, if any of you have had it, there's some commercials on TV now for a new vaccination. And one of them says a retired firefighter. And he says, I've never felt a burning like this. It's like having someone put hot coals on you.

Well, I can believe that because I saw my grandmother. We took her to the doctor and she'd be laying there just groaning in pain. I thought, there's nothing in a tribulation that could be worse than what she's going through. And as her health failed, she became isolated. She outlived most of her family, so she was lonely. She couldn't fellowship with the brethren.

I don't think torturers in the great tribulation could have made it much worse on her than that. Yet her faith never varied. She never for a moment lost sight of where she was going, what her calling and purpose was. She's kept her sights firmly on being born into God's family. And I think of that. I know many people. I think when they reach an advanced age, death isn't so scary to them. It's still a little bit. And I certainly don't criticize anybody if they're a little fearful when it comes to death.

It's just not a pleasant thought. But, you know, the persecution, the great tribulation, the longer you've been in this life, the less intimidating that is. And couldn't we all learn from that situation? I don't think that I'm ready to just ignore any pain or fear yet, but it's a goal. I want to get there. I want to get to the point where I'll keep my mind on the big picture of God's plan and then see my life fitting into it as one small part.

You know, what if you're in grave danger? Someone was threatening you, or you were about to have a fatal accident, and you heard God say these words. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, and then you died.

Well, what would happen is the next thing you would experience would be what we read in 1 Thessalonians 4, 16. At the trumpet of God, the last trumpet, you would rise of spirit being. You would say, well, he was right. There's the salvation of the Lord. You know, the Lord would ascend with an archangel in the trumpet. God would have saved you, even though technically you did die in between. But you wouldn't be aware of the time passing, and that includes everyone who was ever tortured to death for the Word of God. And likewise, anyone who was not healed of a fatal disease or was in a deadly auto accident. They all lead to that better resurrection. Let's read Revelation chapter 20.

Revelation 20, and we'll read verse 6.

Revelation 20, and we'll read verse 7.

Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such a second death has no power. There will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years. That certainly sounds better to me. That's what's in store for every person who dies in the faith.

I wonder what it would be like if you were with someone at their deathbed, as they were about to die, and you could think to say, just stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Because the next thing they would know, if they died right then, was they would be resurrected in a spirit body. They wouldn't be aware of any time in between. They would be experiencing real salvation, that resurrection to spirit life. As I said, the stories of God's deliverance of Israel are very exciting. I love reading those. But this is a more important one and a more personal one. You don't find this sentiment very often, but we do in one particular place, it struck me in 2 Timothy. If you'll go with me to 2 Timothy 4. And we'll begin reading in verse 6.

Here's the Apostle Paul had served a long ministry, and he groomed Timothy to be a minister and an evangelist, and wrote to him a couple of letters, and this is the second one. So we've, at this point, Timothy is already established in the job, but not so established that he still can't get some words of advice. And Paul senses it end nearing. Matter of fact, he says it very clearly. 2 Timothy 4, verse 6. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.

I fought a good fight. I've finished the race. I've kept the faith. And this is coming from someone who did. Paul says in other places that he was thrown into the Colosseum to face lions, and God shut them out of the lion. Paul was stoned and left for dead. Or, we speculate, perhaps even he was killed in the stoning, and then God resurrected him. Once again, a temporary save. He was shipwrecked. He was attacked many times. He was shipwrecked on that island, and a snake bit onto his hand, and the natives were watching him fall down dead.

He just shook it off. God saved Paul over and over again. Paul knew each one of those was a temporary save. Now, near the end of his life, he's saying, I fought the good fight. I'm looking forward to the real salvation. Finally, there's laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day. Not to me only, but also to all who love is appearing. Now, before I was working on the sermon, I always thought, well, this is a scripture you might refer to during a funeral service.

I didn't really envision reading it in a Holy Day sermon. But then I thought, what did he just say there? He said, finally there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day. Which day? Well, at the stoning of the seventh trumpet, when Jesus Christ returns and the dead rise again. That's the day of salvation. A day of salvation. We know that there will be another resurrection after the thousand years, when everyone will have their chance.

But we look forward to that real salvation the Apostle Paul did. He was looking forward to that crown given to him on that day. That's the day that Paul was looking for the fulfillment of the meaning of the Feast of Trumpets.

That's going to be the day of the greatest salvation ever. As I said, I love reading the stories in the Bible of God saving his people from destruction. That story of Daniel and the lion's dead. I had it in my notes to refer to it here, but I couldn't help but think of that cartoon. And you know, later in the same book, there's the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Or is it Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael who were told, once again, they could have accepted deliverance, bow down and worship this idol. If you don't, you're going in the fire. I said, we don't even have to think about it. We're not bound down to no idol.

And so bundled them up, heat up the furnace, and they go. And the men that threw them in were even killed. But not them, God saved them. And apparently, the one who became Jesus Christ walked with them. There were four walking around, and they came out not even smelling like smoke. And of course, there are many other cases of that. I think there's one exciting one where before David becomes king, when Saul is ruling, and Jonathan, Saul's son, is out there with his armor bear, and there's a whole platoon of Philistines.

He said, well, let's go up and take them on. God can save with a couple of guys as well as he can with two, and work this great salvation. And of course, aside from the Bible, there's all these stories in our lives. You know, of God's salvation. Stories of wheels coming loose off of cars, but not flying off, but staying there, and coming to a sliding stop. Of people getting sick, but having hands laid on them, and they recover. When no one expected that.

I've heard the story, and I've never placed the details, or remember them, of burglars breaking into the house of a young single woman. And rather than attack, or suddenly they turn, and they run away. Later, when the police get them, they say, why did you run out of there? Are you kidding? Did you see that big guy standing behind her? And the police ask her, well, there's no big guy in my house. Now, they didn't, maybe she didn't see the angel behind her, but the burglars did.

Now, we would all benefit from remembering and telling these stories. It's good to think of God's salvation. God steps in to save us. But one of the important messages of the Feast of Trumpets, is that God offers His people the ultimate salvation. When the seventh trumpet sounds, when the trumpet sounds, Jesus Christ will at last return to this earth as King of Kings. And the dead in Christ will rise up from their graves. And yes, a few, whoever are alive at that time, and have God's Spirit will instantly be changed into spirit beings, and they'll rise too. At that time, those people will be spirit-born sons of God. At that time, from then on, they can't be hurt. They can't suffer pain. Can't die anymore. When I think of that happening, and believe me, I want to be one of those people. That brings to mind this phrase.

Stand still. See the salvation of the Lord.