The Great White Throne Judgment

Happy Sabbath! I would like to thank all those who provided such wonderful music for us throughout the feast. It really does make a difference when we all get to praise God by listening to you praise God, and it really adds something. Also, I want to thank the McCoys, anyone whose coordinated feast site knows that there's months ahead you're working on it. Then every day is a real exciting day, because you never know exactly what's going to happen. And some days you feel like anything that could go wrong will go wrong. But, you know, it is amazing when everybody has the right spirit, and everybody's working together. It always works out. It's just amazing. And you see where God's spirit is involved. My wife and I have enjoyed being here. We've never been in Lancaster before. I've driven through here when I was a kid. We'd go from East Pennsylvania to the Poconos for the feast. And that was just, wow, what an excursion across the Pennsylvania turnpike. And I can remember, I was just thinking about some of my, yesterday, some of the experiences I had as a kid. I do remember, I think I was about 14 years old, and we went to the Poconos. And at 14, you're really, you know, you want to be accepted by the other kids. And especially girls. And you have no idea what you're even supposed to say to those weird creatures, but you're supposed to talk to them. And the first day, some people came up and started talking to me. And, of course, the Pennsylvania accent, especially in the East, was very pronounced. And they kept asking me to say words, resay things. And, you know, I kept talking, and finally I thought, oh, no, this is going to be terrible. And, you know, what am I going to do? And all the kids think I'm weird. And then the next day, a group of girls came up, and they said, would you say, woulder? I said, do you mean water? And they all just laughed. We just love talking to you. You have the greatest accent. And I said, oh, this isn't bad at all.

I think I actually mispronounced words all week long, just so that I could, you know, say, do it. So here we are at the end of another Holy Day season. It started with the Passover. Where we're all brought back, as I say every year, to ground zero. Without God, we're nothing. Without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we're nothing. God brings us back to that point. And we celebrate the fact that Christ did become our Passover force, and that He was resurrected for us. And then we go through that time where we realize, okay, we have to repent. We have to get the sin out of us and put the way of God into us. We go through the days of Unleavened Bread. And then we go to the Feast of Pentecost. And we realize, without God's Spirit, we can't do anything. And so we celebrate the receiving of God's Spirit. And then we look forward to, and we celebrate the Feast of Trumpets on Jesus Christ's returns to bring God's kingdom to this earth. And the Day of Atonement, and the Day of Atonement where we realize that what it means, that atoning sacrifice and the fact that Satan is removed from influencing us because he is the originator of sin. And then here we are for seven days, and we celebrate Christ's reign on this earth. Now, what I just said is basically the gospel. But there's an element missing. And here we are on the eighth day. And in the Old Testament, that's all it's called, the eighth day. And there's not a whole lot of information about what it actually means. It's only now because we have the New Testament that we can put the pieces together, and we can begin to understand what this day is really all about. Because this is actually the focal point of what God is doing. Everything he's been doing all along, from the moment he kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden, is headed towards this point. All the other Holy Days are just steps to this point. Because this is what he's really interested in.

Why are we here? What does this day mean? I want to go to a couple of verses we usually don't think about on this day, but there's two points here I want you to really remember as we go through this. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15 is the resurrection chapter. We read a lot of this around trumpets, and we know that the saints are resurrected at Christ's return to become glorified spirit beings with a spirit body and to reign with Christ.

1 Corinthians 15, verse 20. But now Christ has risen from the dead, and he has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. That goes clear back to Passover, the wave sheaf offering, the days of Unleavened Bread. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. When Adam was kicked out of the Garden of Eden, humanity became separated from God. We entered into a deteriorating environment. I mean, no one was ever going to die from a hurricane in the Garden of Eden. There was never going to be an earthquake. We're in this deteriorating environment. And from that point on, humanity has been under the rule, the cruel dictatorship, of Satan, who wants to destroy us.

So because of Adam, that happened. But because of all the things we've been celebrating in all the holy days, or what God is doing through Jesus Christ, something else is happening. But each one, verse 23, well, let's read verse 22 again. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But each one in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, and afterward those who are Christ that is coming, because he was a type of firstfruits, and then the second type of firstfruits. We talked about that in the Bible study.

Then comes the end. When he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power, for he must reign, Christ must reign, until a couple of things are completed. For he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet, the last enemy that will be destroyed is death. The plan isn't completed until Christ has subdued every enemy of God, until Christ has destroyed all authority, all power, except what he's doing. And he's destroyed death. I want you to remember those two things, because what we're going to do today is basically create just a timeline.

A timeline that leads up to what is this day? Because if I just call it the eighth day and if I go back to the Torah, I don't know what it means. But we know it has to mean something that happens after the millennium, because we know what the Feast of Tabernacles means. So we can take all the scriptures and we can put them together, and we realize, oh, it's about the reign of the Messiah.

Even Jews, and some Jewish groups have begun to understand or have understood that the Feast of Tabernacles is about the Messiah's reign. So we can put all that together, we see it. And then the thousand years is over. So what is this all about? Let's read the rest of this old passage here.

He says in verse 27, for He has put all things under His feet. God says that about the Messiah. He says, all things are put under Him. It is evident that He who has put all things under Him is accepted. In other words, God is subjecting everything to Christ, but God the Father is not subject to Jesus Christ. It's talking about their relationship here.

Now, when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him. Now, this is real important that God may be all in all. God will be in everything. The Kingdom will be prepared and Christ will present it to Him and He will be all in all. That's a remarkable statement. A remarkable statement. But those two things have to happen first. So, here we are at the end of the millennium. Let's go back and look at how the millennium starts. We know Jesus Christ comes back and He stands on the Mount of Olives.

We know that there's a resurrection, but let's go back and rehearse a little bit of that. Let's go to Revelation chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20.

Just a timeline today of how these events fit together.

In fact, in many ways, I'm just rehearsing everything we've talked about for the last seven days and what was covered this morning. Okay, this is how it fits. Verse 1, because Revelation 19 is all about Christ's return, the destruction of the beast and the armies. It says, He must be released for a little while. It's very interesting. Jesus is exerting His authority and He's defeated Satan. But all things, all authority hasn't been destroyed yet. He says you get a little piece of the action in the future to fulfill God's will, not because Satan always thinks he's fulfilling His will and he's not. So he says, okay, I will now put you in jail for a certain amount of time and then you will be freed. Remember, this is all part of God's plan.

What we have here is, of course, the resurrected saints then are with Him. Verse 4, And I saw thrones, and they who sat upon them, and judgment was committed to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and not received his mark, and their foreheads are on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. I read recently a commentary on this that said that this is only talking about martyrs. Only martyrs get to reign with Christ for a thousand years. But all you have to do is read 1 Corinthians 15. Now, we just read a couple of verses. Read all of 1 Corinthians 15, and it's obvious that at Christ's return, at the sound of the trumpet, in the twinkling of an eye, all the saints, those who are alive, and those who have always lived, will be resurrected. That first resurrection, according to the apostle Paul, is that we will receive a spiritual body. He said, well, let me explain that. He said, the body you have now is like the moon, and the body you have then will be like the sun. I like that explanation by Paul, but what's interesting is he didn't know the science behind what he was saying.

The moon is just a rock that reflects light. The sun is a ball of energy. But he just looked at the two and said, okay, we're sort of like this, but we're going to be like that. So he's trying to explain to those people in Corinth who the idea of a spirit body was very strange. In the Greek world, there was spirit and there was matter, and they were two totally separate things, and a body meant you were made of matter. And he says, no, you can have a body made of spirit. That would have been really strange. So he's trying to explain it to him. So we know this resurrection here is for all the saints, and it is a spiritual resurrection. It is not a physical resurrection. He goes on now, verse five, but the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. And this is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who was part of the first resurrection over such the second death has no power, but they shall we preach to God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. Okay. So the first resurrection, those people cannot suffer the second death. The rest of the dead can suffer the second death. But who are the rest of the dead and what is their fate? And that's what this day is about. Who are the rest of the dead and what is their fate? That was touched on this morning, and I thought it was a perfect lead-in to what I'm going to talk about today, because once again, it's just the timeline. Let's go clear back to Deuteronomy 30. We're going to come back to Revelation here in a minute. Parts of Deuteronomy 30 have been read a couple of times here this week. I just want to read some of the first verses here. Because remember, what we're dealing with is we understand the Feast of Tabernacles. So what happens afterwards? Because the eighth day is not part of the Feast of Tabernacles. It's a totally separate festival. It's not only a totally separate one. It is the focal point of everything. From God's viewpoint, this is it. This is what He's working for. And everything He does. Verse 1 of Deuteronomy 30. And it shall come to pass when all these things come upon you. Now, this is part of the Blessings and Cursings chapters. He says, now, in the future, when you've received blessings from me and cursings for doing what's wrong, what's amazing about this? They haven't even gone into the Promised Land yet. They've wandered around 40 years. They're about to go in. And He says, now, by the way, when you get there and you really, really mess up in the future, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among the nations where the Lord your God drives you. What do you mean? We haven't even been in the Promised Land yet. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You won't be there forever because you're not going to do this well. As Mr. Dick said, Israel has a perfect record. Right? Failure after failure.

He says, and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice according to all that I command you today. You and your children with all your hearts, with all your soul, that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. And if any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you and from there He will bring you. That the Lord your God will bring you to the land of your fathers possessed. Your fathers possessed? I mean, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob never really possessed it. They wandered around in it. He said, this is so far in the future after you've become a nation and then you will be destroyed.

He says, and the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it, and he will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. And then here's what's really important. And the Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live. That's the new covenant. That's the promise of the new covenant. We see that throughout the entire Old Testament. He tells them, there will come a time I will have to bring you back because you will fail. And when you do, I will, you and your descendants, will all come up together. They're all going to be alive. And he says, I will introduce the new covenant with you. This has to be physical. The first resurrection is a spiritual resurrection for those who already have a circumcised heart. So he has to be prophesying something that's physical here because they're going to live in the land and they're going to receive, which we know the circumcised heart means God's Holy Spirit. Now let's go to a passage that's always read on this day. Let's go to Ezekiel 37. This is the problem that we're presented with in terms of, we have a first resurrection and we have a second resurrection. What happens in the second resurrection because it's not a spiritual resurrection, it's a physical resurrection. And it's interesting, Ezekiel 37 creates a lot of problems, especially in the evangelical world. So I've actually read convoluted attempts to make Ezekiel 37 a fulfillment of when the Jews were brought back into Judea in 1948. It doesn't work. It doesn't work here. Verse 1, The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the spirit of the Lord and sent me down in the midst of the valley and it was full of bones. And he caused me to pass by them all around and behold there were very many in the open valley and indeed they were very dry. And he said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? Now Ezekiel teaches us an important lesson here. If God ever asked you a question, he's not asking your opinion.

Ezekiel said, oh, you know, that's a good question. I think I have the answer to that. If God ever asked you a question, he's not asking your opinion. I have waited for all these years for God to ask my opinion on certain things and I finally figured out he doesn't care.

It took a long time to figure that one out.

But he says to him, so I answered, oh Lord God, you know, good answer. I have no idea, but you know.

So he tells him to prophesy to the bones and they'll come together. And Ezekiel, in this vision, he sees all the bones come together and then flesh comes on them. And then all the organs form. These are human beings. And then God says, you think they can live again? You know.

Verse 9, he says to me, prophesy to the breath, prophesy, said a man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God, come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, so they may live. And so he did and people started breathing and these huge amounts of people, innumerable people stood up. They came back to life. Then verse 11, then he said to Ezekiel, said a man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off. Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, behold all my people, I will open your graves. So this is a resurrection. You know, the vision he saw, now he says this is really what this is all about. All those generations of people that failed and failed and failed and failed are resurrected. But it isn't the first resurrection. These people did not receive God's Spirit. They weren't converted.

They still have a job they're supposed to do. He says, they say our bones are very dry, our hope is lost. Then verse 12, Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, behold my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. And then you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up from your graves. And then notice, and I will put my Spirit in you, circumcision of the heart, just like back in Deuteronomy, I will put my Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, says the Lord. This has not happened. And it won't happen at the beginning of the millennium. Because at the beginning of the millennium, the saints are changed into spirit. It doesn't happen during the millennium, so it has to happen afterwards. That's what this day is about. It is about a physical resurrection. The rest of the dead don't live until the end of the thousand years. Now, we can read this and say, well, what about everybody else? Israel is just a group of people God's working with to start the process. The focus of this day is everybody. If nothing more, this day shows us every person to God has value. Every person, the guy in Philly today that O.D.'s and they find him tomorrow, has value to God. The person who starves death, we don't think about people starving to death. People starve to death all over the world every day. There's some street corner someplace in Africa or Asia where some child starves to death today.

Don't they have value to God?

This day shows us every human being has value to God. Now, not every human being will accept that value. Our value comes from Him, so we have to... He gives it to us. Some people actually will not accept the value of God that God gives to them. We'll talk about that in a minute too. But everyone has value to God. He wants to give every one of His created beings value as His children.

This day expands this out. It's not just the church. It's not Israel. It's everybody that ever lived as valued as valued to God. That's what Jesus means when we go to Matthew 11.

Another passage that causes a lot of confusion with very sincere and very good commentators who study the Bible. And they're not sure what this means. It's one of the passages that was used hundreds of years ago to create the concept of purgatory. Because what do we do with this? Matthew 11 and verse 20. Talk about Jesus here. Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. Woe to you to raisin. Woe to you with Sidia. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But they say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. I mean, Tyre and Sidon are not Israelites. So in this time of judgment, it's going to be easier for them than you. He goes on. And for a Jew listening to this at the time, this would have been a horrible insult. And to you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works were done in you had been done in Sodom, one thing you knew as a Jew, you were better than Sodom. Okay. Matter how bad you were, you were better than Sodom. If this work had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. Those people would have had some response but I say to you, there shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. So you come up with purgatory and that there's different levels of punishment. Some last forever, some last for shorter times. To try to explain this. What he's saying is, it's going to be easier for people to repent. And, you know, let's just look at the Sodomites, the people from Sodom. He says, it's going to be easier for them when they're resurrected. And they see who God really is. They see what God can do. Then for some of the people who followed God and were self-righteous about it. That's a warning for us today, too. It's a warning for us today, too. Every human being has value. Now, not everybody receives it, as I said. But this day opens our mind. We can look at people that are despicable in many ways. Instead of hating them or saying, good, I hope you go to hell.

I've got a few emails from Beyond Today viewers. Disagreed with something and hope I go to hell. I almost write back, oh, we're all going there. But I realize that's not the nice way to handle this. They will have no idea what I'm saying. So I just, you know, try to write something nice back.

Let's go to Revelation 20 again. Revelation 20. So we're just looking at how do we answer the problem? The rest of the dead do not live until after the thousand years. Okay, well, we find places where there's a physical resurrection. But they're not just raised and judged. You can't be raised and judged immediately if you are given the opportunity to repent and become part of the new covenant. It takes the process of repentance. It takes the process of going through baptism. That's not going to go away. It takes you to the process of receiving God's Spirit and having God's Spirit change you into what God wants you to be. The meaning of all the Holy Days still apply. There's still a need for the Passover. There's still a need for the meaning of unleavened bread and leavened bread pouring out of God's Spirit. It's just when they keep the Feast of Trumpets, they'll be actually celebrating an event that's already taken place. During the millennium, when they keep the Feast of Trumpets, they'll be commemorating an event that's... we're looking ahead. They'll be looking in the past. And they'll be observing the Feast of Tabernacles. But what will their focus be? What our focus should be this day?

This is the focus of God. Somehow, we have to have God make this part of our focus, that we're looking for this day, that we see every person as having value and we want them to be there. Now, that's not justifying sin. You know why? You and I do not have the authority to forgive sin that's against God. Only God can forgive sin that's against Him. So we can't justify anybody's sin. We can hopefully help lead them to God. So we're not making light of sin. We're not justifying sin. What we're looking at and saying, that person could be a child of God. And that's the way we see them. They could be a child of God because God made them and in God's eyes, He sees someone He wants if they'll accept His value that He wants to give to them. So let's go back to Revelation 20. And this was read this morning. Now, I want you to think about what we've been talking about here in terms of all authority. Right? Christ will reign until He has subdued all authority. Absolutely subdued it. I mean, it's not there anymore. And the last thing He destroys is death. Then He will give the kingdom to the Father. Now, I stress this because sometimes this timetable gets all messed up. People will mess this timeline all up and they'll have all different things happening out of order. But from what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, no, these things have to be fulfilled. By looking at what Paul says, then we look at Revelation and Revelation 20 and 21, 19, 20, and 21 are in order.

They're in order. And so what we have in verse 7, now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison. He's not totally subdued yet. He's allowed out for a little bit. And he will go out and deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle. That's the power of Satan. I don't know. He influences us even with God's Spirit more than we realize. I don't think we really understand how much He does. God protects us, but He's still playing games with us all the time. All the time. I can't imagine a world where people get up every morning and there's no games being played with their mind. When Satan's released, he takes. Who knows how the Satan's released? The sand of the sea. That's a huge number. He takes human beings and he deceives them. And they decide that somehow they can overthrow Jesus Christ. And he does it all over again. But as was said this morning, that's part of God's plan. People have to be tested. They have to choose. When this event is over, Satan is removed forever.

Subdue all power, all authority. Satan is gone from influencing the kingdom of God forever.

So we see what Paul said starting to really be fulfilled on this day. Then we go to verse 11. And I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, and whose face, the earth and the heaven, fled away. There was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. I remember many years ago, I saw a little tract. Remember when they used to have little biblical tracts people would put out all over the place? You know, little pamphlets so you could read. And I remember seeing it. It was so stunning. I picked it up because it was called the Great White Throne Judgment. And on the front was what was supposed to be Jesus Christ. And he's this huge being sitting on a huge throne. And in all honesty, it looked just like Abraham Lincoln at the memorial. And he's sitting there. And when you open it up, there's people in a line that just goes off, you know, as far as you can see. And he has two levers. And when he wouldn't want, you'd see people screaming and falling into hell, you know, burning down here and Satan stabbing him and things. And then the other one, you'd see them turn into like a ghost and go floating up towards heaven. And he'd just stand there doing this. That's not the Great White Throne Judgment.

All these people that have been resurrected are not, you know, judgment by God at this point is not, I'm going to judge you, as some people say, on what you did in this life. Oh, you never knew about me. Say you're going to hell. Or, here's what is interesting. You are a good person. So even though you're Hindu, you get to go to heaven. Right? That's the way this works. No, it doesn't. Every person comes through Jesus Christ to God their Father and either accepts God as God or does not. And they have the chance to do it. They have the opportunity to do it, which is an amazing thing about God. Once again, the perfect love, perfect justice. Perfect love says you didn't have a chance because you were under Satan. You were separated from me and you lived in a deteriorating environment. You died. So, you died in battle because you were fighting Attila the Hun. You died in battle because you were an Egyptian warrior in 2000 BC. You died in World War I. You think of the millions and millions of people that have died in wars and they come up. And he says, now you get to choose. That takes time. It takes time to make that decision to learn, to repent, to receive God's Spirit and have God's Spirit work in you as God, as the Master Potter, makes you into who He wants you to be. And some people still will refuse that value. There is the capacity in every one of us to simply tell God no. No, your way really doesn't work.

Because I'm not getting what I want. You know what we say when we say to know God, no to God? No, because I'm a better God than you are.

And as many of you have heard me say before, we're just dirt gods. Right? We're just dirt gods telling the God, the real Almighty God. We know how to be God and you don't.

And there are still those who will do that. That's a reality. We do not believe in universal salvation. But we do believe everybody gets a chance. You realize how special that belief is. Talk to somebody who thinks, you know, Uncle Bob, who was a drunk and a derelict, that he's going to hell and he's burning in hell forever. And they think that. Or my baby wasn't baptized. My baby wasn't baptized. So my baby doesn't get to go to heaven. And talk to those people. This is amazing understanding. It is the focal point of what God is doing. We get so tied up in our little stuff we're doing. We are, I tell you, the grace we have to be part of the church right now is amazing. I mean, you and I didn't become part of the church because we decided to, right? God had to call us first. We had a decision to make, but He had to do it. None of us initiated this relationship. None of us. He initiates everything. If He doesn't initiate it, we don't get it. That's the thing with the world today. He has initiated a relationship with most people. But they still have value to Him. So He will initiate a relationship with them when it is their time and Satan's not around anymore. And they know what it's like to live under that way. When you've died and been resurrected, that has to have a profound effect on the way you think. You know, you die and then you're resurrected. How where that power come from? I imagine there's lots of people going to be resurrected and think they're in hell. Because that's where they probably thought they were going.

So this physical resurrection takes place where people have the opportunity to actually choose, to actually make a decision, whether to submit to God or not.

Something Mr. Dick read the other day, I hadn't thought about for a long time, when he's sorting through Israel, when he calls them back, when Christ comes. And they're passing under the rod and some don't go in. Some don't go in. Some here won't go in.

Let's go to verse 19. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Not his works in this life. His works now that the person has been resurrected, introduced to God. And what they do now, with this call to conversion, to receive a circumcised heart. The death in Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. I've often wondered how many people actually reject God. But there's going to be people who do. There are going to be people who do. No, you don't know what you're doing. This is the second death. Remember the people in the first resurrection cannot experience the second death because they're changed into spirit. Only these people that come up in a physical resurrection can experience a second death, which is totally annihilation. And he says, anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Now, Paul says there's two things that Jesus has to do before the kingdom is given. The kingdom is given to the Father, and God becomes all in all. All authority and power must be subject to Him. At the end of verse 15 here in chapter 20, Satan is no longer around. The demons are no longer around. Their authority has been broken, their power has been broken, and they're not around anymore. They are removed from the kingdom of God. All human beings who rebelled against God, who had thought that they had power and authority, thrown into the lake of fire, the surface of this earth will be totally, as Peter says, burned up. The surface of the earth will be totally burned up. And all the human beings who want to hold on to their power and their might and their ideas will be burned up.

He said the last thing he must do then is destroy death. If all the rebellious have been thrown into the lake of fire, who's left? Nothing but spirit beings. Nothing but the children of God. There is no more death. Have you ever wondered? I used to worry about this when I was younger. Okay, so God makes me spirit. What if I sin? I'll be spirit. I'll go insane. I mean, that's what's right. That's what it does. You want to believe Satan? Insane. Oh, no. God, if I could go into your kingdom and go insane and live eternity insane, I don't want to be there. How do I not face that possibility? And then I read this. Oh, he will be all in all. You realize God doesn't take his spirit away from you when you are changed. You now enter into a bond with God through his Holy Spirit. If God can't sin, you can't sin. We will be connected to God. He will be all in all. Oh, I find that is a huge relief.

It won't be part of our thought process. It won't be who we are anymore. Because we will be his children in that literal sense forever. His DNA, if you will, will be in our DNA. His spiritual DNA will be our spiritual DNA. That's what he's doing here. He's making sure he doesn't get a bunch of insane children forever. It won't happen. So that means at the end of this verse, all authority is destroyed but his. All death is destroyed. No one dies anymore. So what happens next? Chapter 21 verse 1, because this now is the focal point. This is why God has done all this. This is what he's accomplishing.

John says, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first earth and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, the throne of God, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them, and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then he who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he says to John, write, for these words are true and faithful. So he says to John in verse 6, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirst, and to him who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my Son.

I talked about how in the first sermon, how God expects us to give everything. It is to receive everything. What is not included in all things? See, I don't even know what it means. Because everything I have I will give to you. What does that mean? Everything God has? Yes, I will give you everything. You see what is happening here? Exactly what Paul prophesied. When all authority is subject to Christ, there is no more power or authority except His. When all death has been destroyed, and there is no more death, the Father comes here and Christ presents Him the kingdom.

Because that is what He has been doing for all these thousands of years. Preparing the kingdom for His Father. He gives Him the family. Now the Father is interacting with us now, but that means we get to interact directly with the Father then, well before then, because we'll be changed at the beginning of that thousand years. But this is for all humanity. All humanity gets to now know God and know Jesus Christ. And there is no sin. It doesn't exist. It can't exist. Because who we've become, who He's made us to be.

The eighth day, the day that many people say really has no meaning. It just sort of attacked on day at the end of the Feast of Taberna. It's more than that. Go home. Go home excited, not just thinking about the return of Jesus Christ, not just thinking about all the things we think about and look forward to. But this day. Because this is the viewpoint. This is the focal point of God. He wants us to be there. Why? So we can help participate in bringing the entire family of God together and be there with Jesus Christ when He presents it to the Father. And God becomes all in all.