How Strongly Do You Desire the Coming of God's Kingdom?

What have you been thinking about this week? Have you been thinking about solving the problems that exist in the world? It's been on the minds of many people around the world. The solution to some is a resurgence of Britannia, an empire that once ruled the world and brought greatness to the world, if somehow that could only be restored. To others, it's the restoration of America, an empire that succeeded the British Empire, that made the world knuckle down and play nice with the advent of the atomic bomb and the nuclear weapons that have proliferated to what has been dubbed as a mutual agreed destruction or mad to where the Soviets with their 20,000 to 40,000 nuclear weapons won't attack the United States with its 20,000 to 40,000 nuclear weapons, and they're afraid of the Chinese with their 20,000 nuclear weapons.

India and Pakistan, who used to fight and war, now won't fight and war against each other because they both have a few thousand nuclear weapons. Nobody has wanted to touch Israel because of its undisclosed number of nuclear weapons. Nobody's going to deal with North Korea because of its nuclear weapons. But we see in the world the threat of a state that would use almost anything to cause destruction and annihilation of its own people, its own self, on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons.

And some are saying now what we need is to attack, to demolish, to somehow set back that program, to get rid of it. It's urgent. It's got to happen in the next six months. Or the balance of these powers that are sort of stalemated and stagnated could be broken, and violence around the world could escalate with not just people strapped with bombs to their bodies, but strapped to missiles and anything else they could with nuclear weapons. So the eyes have been on the world seen in these last days.

As the consequences of man's greed erode its ability to engage an economy that keeps the people happy and keeps the people contented, we have people around the world in many countries now that are agitated and fomenting out through the Middle East, where people just basically live in sand. They don't have what it needs to eat, to enjoy a life, and yet they see all around themselves the profits from oil going to rogue dictators, they've been overthrowing them. It's chaos out there. It's chaos today in the news.

It's going to be chaos in the future. And you might have been sifting through and sorting through and saying, hey, we've got an election coming up. Maybe we could solve it this way. Or hey, we've got a military opportunity to take something or someone out. Maybe we ought to do that.

Or these economists out there, if they would just wake up and start balancing budgets and get the genie back in the box, somehow we could promote a type of lifestyle for the world that would be peaceful, would be harmonious. But in the absence of that, we look forward to the coming Messiah. The coming Messiah. Today we're celebrating the Feast of Trumpets. There's a warning that comes with the Feast of Trumpets. It's not a day about music.

It's a day about war. It's not a day about one trumpet, the seventh trumpet when Christ returns and solves everything. It's about trumpets, plural. About calamities. About a time that is the worst of times it will ever be prophesied several times in Scripture. The worst of times that humanity will ever experience.

Today we are celebrating something. What is it we're celebrating? What are the expectations that we have? Are we hoping that Christ will come and sort of a scene that you could almost draw and imagine with beauty and it's just going to, poof, we're going to step into beauty and millennial scenery? Is that what we're looking for? Is it a solving of what we have now? Sometimes we as humans, well, if I just fix that, I just fix that. I'm listening to the radio, I'm watching TV, I'm watching the news, and I just can't believe that this guy would do that.

We want to fix it here and now and not necessarily buy in completely to what the Feast of Trumpets is that we're to be celebrating. I'd like to talk to you today about the Messiah, or, as Jesus will teach us, the Messiahs. There will be several. About aligning with the right Messiah and rejecting the wrong ones, because the temptation will be very, very strong.

We can begin with Jesus' own words in the model prayer outline he gave us in Matthew 6, where he said the first words were, your kingdom. Now, there's something profound about your kingdom, just those two words, your. See, God has a kingdom that is unadulterated with any other organization, any other communion of people or angels or anything. It's his, your. And it's a kingdom.

It's a kingdom that God has always had and will always have. It is him, by him. He created, he has his mind permeating this kingdom from beginning to end, your kingdom. And today, we ask that it come. We celebrate that on the Feast of Trumpets, but how serious are we in that celebration versus wanting maybe the kingdom of a certain group of nations or our friends or our ancestry or even some other kingdoms that are available. If you go back to the two trees that we see in the Garden of Eden and look at those in a greater context, you have the one tree where God has always existed. And that tree has life. It is a tree of life and it has continuance forever, as you see twice in the book of Revelation, Chapter 22, Tree of Life mentioned twice.

That tree and its roots and its systems and its fruits and everything associated with that tree is of one tree and one tree only. And the fruit of that tree doesn't have any other kind of fruit on it, just one fruit. Now, you and I are invited to choose between a couple of trees. Just as we're going to see, we're invited to choose between some messiahs, some solutions. Jesus himself didn't just throw us into this situation. He participated in that. He set us an example of what we should do with these choices. You recall that he was the one through whom the Father created all things. We see that in the first chapter of John. He came to this earth and was tempted in all things. One of the things he was tempted in is the very thing that you and I are tempted in, and those in the end time will be tempted in. He was threatened with being killed by Satan. Now, it's a terrible thing when you fall in the hands of Satan, but when God the Father gives Satan the permission to kill you through a crucifixion, that is a terrible thing. And we saw Jesus Christ praying the night before that process began and sweating great drops as it were of blood. It's a terrible thing to go through. Satan tempted him, he said, listen, tell you what, you know what I get to do to you, essentially. You know it's coming down here. Tell you what, just switch trees. You can still have the millennium. You can still rule the world. You can still solve all the problems. You can still have the vengeance over the nations.

Just come over to my tree and worship me. It's a better solution for you as a human being. It's a short-term good deal. Now, let's go to Hebrews 11. And we'll see that this offering comes up once in a while. Hebrews 11, you and I may not have experienced it in our lifetime yet in this dramatic a way, but we sure see the times that precede the seventh trumpet will bring that to many, if not most, of the true people of God. Hebrews 11, verse 13, says, Now, I don't know about you, but when I embrace Steve Kennedy, who was in Yuma today with the congregation there, he usually picks me up off the ground.

Now, when he embraces me, he's got a hold of me. So, when you're assured of these promises, you're assured of what God is about, and you embrace them, you're not going to let go.

Nothing's going to pry you loose, just like Jesus said, no, away with you.

And they confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. This tree isn't really what the earth is about. This tree isn't what society is about. This tree has nothing to do at the roots of our nation, of these other empires, of Christianity. Nothing whatsoever to do was never part of the true tree. And these individuals who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. They seek something else. And truly, if they had called to mind that place they had come out of, they would have had opportunity to return. And Jesus was physical. He would have had opportunity to stick around. You and I, if we are presented with choices that keep us out of trouble, we might take those choices. We might be against lying, but when the police says, how fast were you going, you think, well, here's an opportunity. And when the beast says, you know, I'm going to kill you if you don't worship on my day, you say, well, here's an ability, an opportunity.

And when Satan says to Christ, hey, if you do this, I won't shred you, I won't torture you, he says, hey, here's an opportunity. He was tempted in all things. But these, verse 16, desire a better that is a heavenly, and the word country is not in the Greek, but a heavenly, let's say, tree, a heavenly father, a heavenly realm, something that is identified with the true God, the true way.

Therefore, God is not ashamed to be their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

It's very important, as you and I come towards the times of the end, and we see things beginning to gel, that we know where we stand, what we support, and what we truly embrace and will not let go of, because there will be other opportunities. And today in the sermon, what I'd like to discuss with you is, how strongly do you desire God's kingdom to come? How strongly do you desire God's kingdom to come, as opposed to what might solve our problem, fix my economy, help my bills, help me feel better, help me live, etc., etc. Let's take a look today at Messiah's kingdoms, and see from Scripture who we should identify with and how strongly we need to identify with.

There are various kings and kingdoms. In the news recently, we have seen a map with Islamic countries around the world on the same map, all at the same time doing the same thing. And for the first time, I would say, since the Ottoman Empire was dismantled in 1924, in the end of the organized power that used to be over in the East, in the, I should say, the Near East, these countries have been broken up, scattered, dismantled, and yet this week, for the first time in my living memory, we saw them all doing something at the same time. And yet, they have no leader, they have no king.

It's a shell, it's almost as it were a foretaste of something that could be, that can be.

In Isaiah chapter 11, the whole chapter of 11 is about the king of the north and the king of the south, and it teaches us who they are. It goes through a lot of detailed prophecy to explain who the king of the north and the king of the south will be at the end time.

That king of the south has no king, and thus that map was only a visual representation of what can and no doubt will be. At the same time, there is a king of the north, and there is no king of the north today. And yet, more and more, we are seeing an alliance being stressed and strained, and yet a power emerging that ultimately the Bible says from that region will come, a king of the north, a consortium of ten, doesn't say nations, but kingdoms. Whether they're ancient kingdoms, we don't know. Whether they're just nations, we don't know. The Bible talks about things in an unclear way. But there will be a kingdom, and that kingdom will have another leader riding on top of it. Now, what's interesting about these things is these are going to be messiahs.

You might not have realized that we've had a messiah. God in heaven, according to more people than we have members in all the Church of God community combined, attended a funeral this last week for the messiah, for the messiah, who has begun a thousand-year reign here on earth.

We write him off. Oh, he's the head of the moonies, some young moon, and he died. That's not the way a large number of people worldwide see him. They see him as God come to earth, living here in two forms, Father Moon and Mother Moon. Father Moon in the physical died this week but has gone to heaven, but continues to inspire, and the personification of Mother Moon is the continuing messiah bringing a thousand-year reign of peace on this earth. Now, why do I mention that? It seems kind of silly. The Islamic world is waiting for the 12th Imam. They are called 12ers. They are largely the Shia side of Islam, but the Sunnis also believe in the 12th Imam returning. We'll get into that in just a moment.

The fourth Reich is expected by many to come back and be a thousand-year reign on earth, leading a group of nations in Europe and Eastern Europe and in that region. Let's go to Matthew chapter 24 and notice something that Jesus says. It'll be very, very clear here so that we can be apprised and aware because he says, you're my friends and I'm going to tell you everything. Matthew chapter 24, he says in verse 24, for false Christs. All right, let's pause right there. That word's kind of ambiguous. Let's reveal it for what it is. It's a couple of words that were not translated in 1611 in the King James Bible when it was translated into English. They were left in essentially into the Greek. In the 1611 Bible, which you can look up online, you'll find that the word Jesus was not translated. It was just left as the Greek word, eosus.

I-e-s-o-u-s. It didn't touch it. Over time, about 50 years later, the letter J was invented. And in later publications of the English Bible, the King James Version, they changed the I to J.

The O was dropped out. And there's a corruption that went on in this as-of-yet-untranslated word, Greek word eosus, kind of lingers on to us as Jesus in the Bible. So is Christos, or Christ.

In the 1611 version, the Greek word Christos had already altered somewhat to Christ, C-h-r-i-s-t.

But it's a Greek word, Christos. Just as the English word for eosus is a word, Christos, for eosus is Joshua, doesn't mean much to us. We don't really identify with that.

So the English word for Christos is the anointed. We might say the anointed one, and we don't identify with that. But what he's trying to tell us here is, in the Greek, for false Christoses, will appear. What's a Christos? We identify actually much better with the Hebrew translation. The Hebrew translation of Christos is Messiah. For some reason, we know what Messiah is, and it's a Hebrew word. So what he's saying here, if we use the Hebrew word, is for false Messiahs and false teachers or prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. There will be false Messiahs, plural, in the end time. And notice, they will have power on this other tree with its God and its system from the fall of Satan and a third of the angels who became demons, the building up of that through Adam and Eve, the representation of that false way that comes down through time, through Babel, Babylon, all the empires, the false empires, the false religions, and standing at the end time, we see these false Messiahs will show great signs and great wonders. They will have miraculous power. Notice what he says next. See, I have told you beforehand. So as we come to the Feast of Trumplets and say, yes, bring on the Messiah. I'm all for the kingdom of God. He says there's several and they're all working miracles and they're all promising thousand year reigns and they're all going to save the planet. They're all going to come with warfare, just like I'm coming with warfare. And if possible, they'll deceive the very elect.

Back in the first millennia, there was a man named Muhammad over in the Middle East.

And from him, through him, and after him was developed a book of the Koran.

And along with that came other prophecies and individuals who prophesied certain things after his death as to what happened to him and what would happen from there. And I believe some of those prophecies were inspired from one tree or the other. One of the prophecies said that Muhammad would have 12 imams that would come from him. And so there were 12 imams.

Now there's two branches, two main branches of Islam, and the two branches of Islam look back in history and they say, well, some came from Fatima, but some came this way. Some had to be bloodlines, some could be because they were popular, because, you know, revelation would have made them popular. So there's some division there. But what generally is agreed with various versions is, the 12th imam, who was either to live in the 900s AD or did live, according to the Shi'a side, to the age of five, and then disappeared, will reappear at the end time.

At the very end time, he will reappear. Some of the Shi'as believe that that five-year-old boy, when he disappeared, he was taken to heaven and reserved there to come back at a certain time. And this 12th imam will be the great Messiah. Once he returns, Jesus Christ will also return and assist him in bringing all nations under Islam, and a thousand years of peace will result.

Other versions say he has lived the entire time. Others say he has been born already and is living now, but nobody knows who he is. So again, there's variations to the theme of the expectation of the 12th imam. He's called the Mahdi because the 12th imam, part of his name was Al-Mahdi.

And so Mahdi kind of sticks as a term. But 12ers, as they're referred to, are everywhere. And there's a huge expectation that, yes, the Islamic world is in disarray and it's fragmented, but the Messiah is about to come. And he will come in and everybody will gel and anybody that does not submit to him must be killed. And then, and only then, will peace in a millennial reign take place. It's a big expectation for that. One detail of that prophecy we should be aware of is that 12th imam will not come until massive destruction hits the earth, including the Islamic people. And it doesn't matter where it comes from, so the Islamic people are just happy to be part of the annihilation. And that is why many people are happy to strap on bombs to themselves and blow up as much, create as much chaos as possible, or get nuclear weapons and toast as many people as possible, themselves included.

Because, you see, it's an honor for them to give their life for Allah. And so there's no stopping it. There's no reasonable way to, once the warfare armaments get big enough, there's no way you could say, well, if you do this, I'll do that. They're like, great, that'll bring our Messiah.

There's another Messiah the Bible prophesies. If we go back to Revelation, let's turn back here to the 13th chapter of Revelation. We see that this 12-nation beast empire has a source that is not the tree of life and all that's associated with that. Verse 4, they worship the dragon who gave authority to the beast, the dragon. This is of the kingdoms of this world. This is of that long ago counterfeited mindset mentality religious system.

And when we drop down in verse 6, he opened his mouth and blasted me against God. So what we see and what may not be seen, unless a person is really paying attention, is this individual in this system is declaring itself to not be of what you and I have been called to live and stand by and stand for. Remember, if you read in Ephesians chapter 2, this church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets with Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone. It is built in the tree of life with the one who has life. It's about light. The other is a kingdom of darkness and it is not built in any way, shape, or form on the Father or Jesus Christ.

In verse 7, it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them.

Now, here's where the pressure starts coming in.

You know, we read over in Daniel that the power of the holy people are completely shattered, that they are given in to the hands of these ill forces at the end, just as Jesus Christ was turned over to the Romans and those who wanted to kill him. And these individuals, verse 7, were overcome. And verse 8, all who dwell on the earth are given an option.

If you worship this system as opposed to another system, you'll have opportunity. You come down to verse 11, we see the one who now rides atop that has a religious role.

Jesus said these false messiahs, this one including, would have the ability to do great signs and wonders, deceiving if possible, even the elect, if you're looking for miracles.

There it is. We've also seen here that he's given power to kill those who are of the truth, so there's a little extra pressure. Pretty soon you realize, look, if I want to live, I need to switch trees. I need to be okay with this messiah, this messiah, by the way, who's standing in the temple in the holy place, declaring that he is Jesus Christ, performing miracles. And he's saying, I can live if I follow him. Works pretty good, doesn't it? And he's starting a millennial reign, and he's in the Holy Church.

Well, in verse 11, this man standing in the temple, it says, had two horns like a lamb. Yep, you could be deceived, but he spoke like a dragon. If you listen to what's said, it's going to be violating the law of God, something Jesus did not come back to do. He said, I did not remove even a flick of the law.

But everybody else is going to worship him in verse 8.

Verse 13, he performs great signs so that he even makes fire to come down from heaven.

And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by the signs. Do you walk by sight?

There's your sign. If you walk by sight, that's it.

In verse 15, in the last part, we see he would cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand and their forehead.

Now, there's a scenario that way back in Mr. Armstrong's day became obvious to him that we're seeing beginning to play out now that would indicate that the mark of the beast is probably Sunday observance, and little more than that, on the surface at least. As you know, the Islamic world is coming with a force, and it's coming with an alliance that will ultimately form it into a king of the south caliphate. A caliphate is more than just an empire. It is the only empire. Nothing else can exist, you see. It must eliminate anything else. So we see that on the one hand. Here we see another one here that says in verse 15, whoever won't worship the beast must be killed. Ah! Messiah number two, who won't spark the most? Messiah number two, who won't start putting numbers on him? Or maybe these are two and three, if you want to count the moon organization. And who knows how many others will be popping up? But if we just focus on these two for a minute, we can see that both are going to annihilate anybody else who doesn't follow them. Now, the day of prayers in the Islamic world is Friday. And as you know, the Islamic religion is burgeoning and popping up throughout the world and growing. Mosques are everywhere.

Here we have an individual who represents the European, and the religion will be Christian. And its day of worship is Sunday, two days different. There can be a cleansing—this is my own thought, maybe some others—there could be a cleansing of getting rid of the what we call terrorism in the West and these prisals and reprisals that take place by simply declaring that everybody must keep Sunday or die.

What would that do to the world? You might see people suddenly start changing locations, going home. What would that do to the Jewish people around the world who meet on the seventh day Sabbath? What would that do to you and me who meet on the seventh day Sabbath? It might solve one problem for one nation, or the other says, no, you can't be Christian, you must meet on Friday.

It might solve a problem for there, but look who gets caught in the middle, those who follow the teachings of God. Times of the Gentiles will not be pretty on anybody in the house of Jacob, physical or spiritual. These are tough times that are coming. Let's go now to Daniel 11 and take a look at a prophecy of the end time, but we'll preface it as Daniel, as God inspired Daniel to, with a little bit of history. Daniel 11 is what I would term the most detailed prophecy in the Bible that has the details attached to it. This prophecy, let me give you just a little bit of background, this prophecy would be like someone in the Middle Ages, maybe even the Dark Ages, sitting in a rainy hut over in a soggy Europe where the plagues are killing people by the droves, and being told that one day in the future, hundreds of years from now, an empire will arise that will circle the globe, and that empire will do well until such time as the king of Assyria will try to bring it down, but it will not succeed. And so it will do well once again until the king of Assyria tries to bring it down, but it will not succeed, but it will then fail. And another empire will take its place, and that empire will be strong and will subdue many nations.

But that empire will eventually have a king, a young king who was not faithful to his wife, but he will create great exploits, and the king of Gog will come against him in order to annihilate him, but he shall withstand him, and he shall not prevail. And this king shall proclaim great exploits, including standing on the moon, but he himself shall not see it, and his brothers shall attempt to proliferate in the kingdom, but they shall not remain. And the one after him shall war in the east, but that war shall not succeed, and one who lies will become king, and he will be removed. And later there will be one who does this and that. You see? You can put names with those. You can put faces with those today, looking back. But sitting in a saggy, shaggy hut, a soggy hut in the 1500s in medieval Europe, would that mean anything to you?

And so when we look in Daniel the eleventh chapter, we see here a discussion of, from Daniel's time in 500 BC, events that take place forward in his time. It's important for us to realize that, for instance, in verse 3, a mighty king shall arise, Alexander the Great. This is after the Medes and the Persians are eliminated. And he will stir up against the realm of Greece with a million-man army, you see?

This mighty king will do according to his will. He'll be broken up into four winds. He had four generals. The four generals then got replaced with generals he didn't choose. Those two, those four generals collapsed into two generals. And from here the story in verse, well, starting in verse 5, you'll have this great dominion of the king of the north. It extended from Syria all the way to India.

And then you have a king of the south in verse 6, who Bernice, the daughter of the king of the south, got involved with in 246 BC. This is as far away from Daniel as the United States has been a country, way down the line. And now we start seeing the king of the north and the king of the south.

You had in the king of the north a succession of salucid dynasty leaders. Usually they were salucidists or entiocas that, the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, the succession of these leaders. In the south in Egypt you had the Ptolemy dynasty. Ptolemy one, two, three, four, five, six. If you come on down here you'll see what happens to the king of the north, king of the south. You get down to verse 17. You see Cleopatra. What's important here, by the time you get to Cleopatra and Ptolemy the fifth, Cleopatra was friends with who?

Mark Antony. We begin to see some of the Roman influence begin to come in.

The Greece, the empire of Greece under the Ptolemies, sorry, under the salucids, was the empire for a long time. But what we're going to be taught here is in verse 18. After this, he, Antiochus III, will turn his face to the coastlands until take many. He's just, you know, really going along fighting the king of the south. But a ruler shall bring reproach against them. This is Scipio from the Roman Empire. The Romans start now to do this and that. You get down to the bottom of the page. Verse 30. We're with Antiochus Epiphanes and some of the exploits he has in verse 34. Ships from Cyprus. If you look in your margin, you'll see they are ships from the west. They're Roman ships. Antiochus Epiphanes was the last of these rulers before, as we read in the second part of verse 32, the Maccabees revolt and declare independence. Great day for the Jews. The Jews had independence. There was no king of the north over them at that point, but it didn't last very long. Maccabees' period ends at the end of verse 32, and something dramatic happens. It skips in verse 33 to the New Testament period. It skips right up to Jesus Christ, the New Testament Church. What's happening there? And let's see what we see. Verse 33.

Those of the people who understand shall instruct many. The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, has come. Yet for many days they will fall by the sword and the flame. Wow. That passed quickly, didn't it?

Then you move right into the second century under the persecution and then the false church.

Verse 34. Now when they fall, they'll be aided with a little help, but many shall join them by intrigue. A false religion using that name will come in and try to mix in with this.

Verse 35. And some of those of understanding shall fall to refine them, to purify them, to make them white. We need to identify with what I'm calling today this tree, this kingdom, this God, this spirit, this mindset, and only with that. And if we are in, if we fall, if we are tested, it doesn't matter because we are made white, purified, until the time of the end, until the time of the end. Then we see in verse 36, the king. Now you see the king has changed.

The king is no longer the reign from Alexander. It's the Caesars. When it says the king in verse 36, it's talking about the Caesars. He does according to his own will. Roman Caesars did whatever they wanted. He shall exalt and magnify himself above every god. There were other gods that the Romans had, but the Caesar was worshipped as God. He was a living god. He shall speak blasphemous against the god of gods. Notice that anything to do with that Roman Empire and the succeeding Holy Roman Empire and what's coming at the end and those that we've read of in Revelation are blaspheming against the god of gods. Just as it says there in Revelation 13 chapter, that the mouth would come out led by Satan and would blaspheme God. In verse 37, he shall not regard the gods of his fathers, nor the desires of women. He won't be worshipping others gods, and he will be homosexual. The first 14 and 15 Caesars were all homosexuals, and they looked to themselves as God. Nor regard any god, for he shall exalt himself above all emperor worship. Verse 38, in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses, honoring the empire, the Roman Empire. But things change. Fast forward to 313 A.D.

and the empire began to weaken. Helena, the Caesar's mother, began to convince him that this other religion called Christianity was important. And here we see, in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses and a god which his fathers did not know, the Pope, the Papal system. He shall honor that god with gold and silver, and now the Papal system became part of the Roman Empire. It was then called the Holy Roman Empire. Verse 39, thus he, the Roman emperors to come, shall act against the strongest fortress with a foreign god, with these Popes, which he shall acknowledge and advance its glory, advance the glory of the Popes and advance the glory of the kingdom.

And he shall cause them to rule over many, he will cause the the Caesars to rule over many nations, and they will divide the land for gain between state and religion. Now, verse 40, here we are at the time of the end. See what's happened here that's important for us to understand when somebody says the king of the north, king of the south. We need to understand what they're talking about. At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, and the king of the north shall come at him like a whirlwind. Let's pause here and go back to Matthew 24 for just a moment, because there's something Jesus says here in Matthew 24 I find very interesting.

When he says in verse 24, for false messiahs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive if possible the very elect, this is a warning he's telling us in the next verse that we should pay attention to. And he's saying, I wouldn't have said this if it weren't important, but I'm telling you this. See, I have told you beforehand. In verse 22, unless those days were shortened, there would be no flesh saved alive. Nothing would live. This is where this is going. These messiahs are going to kill anybody that doesn't follow them, and there's too many of them declaring that they are the ones that have to be followed. In verse 23, then if anyone says to you, look, here is the messiah. Hmm. If anyone says to us, look, the messiah has come. Here he is.

Or there, do not believe it. You and I are told here, pay attention. You'll know it by their fruits. You won't know it by what they look like. You may not even know it necessarily by what they're saying. You won't know it by the signs. You won't know it by the location. Here's a couple of examples. Look down in verse 26. Therefore, if they say to you, look, the messiah is in the desert. It's interesting that he would say that. The Mahdi is expected to show up in the desert for a group of people who have a holy place in Mecca.

That's an assumption.

Look, he's in the desert. Is that what that statement means? I don't know. But isn't it interesting of the two messiahs that we know about in the Bible and the one that there's so much expectation growing for? One is in the desert. Or, he says, don't go out there. Or, look, he's in the inner room. Where's the other one supposed to come? The Holy of Holies. The inner room. The holy place.

Don't believe it. Because, he says in verse 27, for his lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west. So also will be the coming of the Son of Man. That's what's going to happen.

You know, in the parallel chapter, this parallel account of this in Luke, which is in Luke chapter 21. So notice something Jesus says over here. In verse 27 of Luke 21, then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. That's what we're looking for. Not somebody in the desert, not somebody in the temple. We know where our person is coming. But notice, verse 28. Here's the encouragement. After perhaps years of going through what this world and its systems have to dish out to Sabbath keepers and to the true saints, whom Satan has his crosshairs on and some will be delivered into his hands. Jesus said finally, verse 28, now when these things begin to happen, interesting choice of words, the things that he's been talking about, when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near. The Feast of Trumpets isn't just about the return of Jesus Christ, the return of the true Messiah, the right Messiah. Jesus came, he lived, he died, he went back to the heaven, but he continues to come into a new temple to those who are being led by his Holy Spirit. And those he will never leave. He is with them. He is working in them. He is loyal to them, no matter what they go through. For instance, in Luke chapter 21, notice what he says in verse 12, before all these things they will lay their hands on you and persecute you delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for my namesake, but it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. You see, when these things happen, I'm with you. I haven't left you. We're in a... You're my children. I'm your friends. No matter what you go through, I'm there. Therefore, verse 14, settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer. We're in this together. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist. Sounds great until you read the next verse. You will be betrayed even by your parents and your children. You will be betrayed even by your parents and brothers, relatives and friends. They will put some of you to death, just like the ones in Hebrews 11, just like himself, just like the apostles. We are in this together. We go where we go, and that's the way it is. Talking with Mr. Earl Romer last night, he said, bring it on! We shouldn't be fearing, oh, what's going to happen to me? Maybe I have to work my way out of this. Maybe I have to say yes to this and do things I don't want to do, you know, in order to survive.

Jesus says, no, no, no. Verse 17, you will be hated by all for my name's sake, but not a hair of your head will be lost by your perseverance. Possess your souls. If you look at the Greek there, the word means perseverance. We're not sitting around waiting. We're persevering in righteousness, and we have to persevere when you're being hated, and they're going to kill you, and you're being betrayed. Persevere. We're of this tree, if we truly are, and that Spirit is in us, and that's our real Father in heaven. We're always of this tree, and we're not going to get polluted, and we're not going to change, and we're not going to be corrupted. We're embracing. We're holding on to the tree, to the trunk of the tree, and nothing's going to pry our cold fingers off of it, no matter what. And it really doesn't matter what. Now, let's go back to Daniel the 12th chapter.

Well, let's go let's finish up a little bit of the prophecy at the time of the end in verse 40. We see the king of the south shall attack him, and the king of the north shall come at him like a whirlwind. This is yet in the future. There is no king of the south. We know basically who the south is going to be. Just turn on the news and watch the map. It pretty much reveals itself all around the world. That's pretty much there. It's interesting how prominent a role Egypt played, and yet how no king. You know, today it's Hezbollah saying, go do this, and nobody's doing much. The other day it was Al-Qaeda, one of the Al-Qaeda groups, saying, yeah, everybody go do this, and nobody did very much. You've got other groups, Muslim Brotherhood, you know, let's do this, and nothing's really coordinated. There's no king. There's the south, but there's no king yet.

So the king of the south, at some point, and this may be when the Mahdi has instantly almost jellified and solidified a just a strong, a strong people of a mind to go forward with what the next step was, annihilating those who are not of that faith. Well, response is pretty swift. Well, that ain't going to work because we're not converting king of the north sets.

So he will come down there, a little more coordinated attack, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships, and he will enter the countries. He will overwhelm and pass through them, this whole Middle East, and he will enter the glorious land, the Palestine, and many countries shall be overthrown, but these shall escape from his hand. And they're listed as three countries, three ancient peoples that occupy what is modern Jordan. Whether Jordan has a, an allegiance as it does now with the king of the north, those who will comprise the king of the north, or whether it has a greater allegiance that you better not touch it because maybe some other big nuclear power somewhere else or protecting it, we don't know. It's also thought to be that the area of Jordan could be a place where the people of God are in a place of safety for a while. But anyway, these things are very unclear. We'll know once they happen.

He shall stretch out his hand against the countries and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

He shall give power. He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, things economic. This will be an economic powerhouse.

Verse 44, but news from the east and from the north shall trouble him. You know the east and the north of Palestine, you have the most populous countries of the world, India, China, Russia, some of the big superpowers of the world with the biggest number of weapons. And that will trouble him. Therefore, he will go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. You don't go out and solve anything when you, you just go out and infuriate. And thus, the nations of the earth start retaliating and ultimately everything comes back to the hard Megiddo, the valley of Megiddo, for an end time push there that will be turned against Christ.

You see in verse 45 that he will plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain, between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean there in Jerusalem. We're going to have the false messiah during the times of the Gentiles in the temple. And he's going to be there. And yet he will come to his end and no one will help him. Find that back in Revelation that Babylon the Great will fall. It will fall. Eventually come to nothing. Now, when we look at all of this that's coming on and we pray, your kingdom come and the Feast of Trumpets and Jesus Christ return, these are preludes that we've talked about so far. And it's challenging. It's difficult. But if we persevere, if we know who we are, if we are uncorruptible with God's help and inspiration, and we pursue to the end, Jesus, whoever endures to the end in godliness, in in the right tree, tree on the right side, he'll be saved. In chapter 12, at that time, Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people, and there will be a time of trouble, such as there never was since the beginning of time. And your people shall be delivered, everyone who was found written in the book of life.

Here comes payday, payback. Here comes what you and I really will long for and do long for, the return of Jesus Christ, but also something else associated with it.

A time where everyone who's founded written in the book of life, faithfully, will be resurrected. Verse 2, And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, not everybody, but many, some to everlasting life, some to everlasting contempt. And those who are wise, and Jesus talks about the ten wise versions and the foolish ones, they are all at night, they're in a dark world, but they go with Him, those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament. You know, we always talk about how bright God is and how bright Jesus Christ are. He is light. And if we turned off these physical temporary luminaries that we have, lights in the building, the sun, the stars, turn it off, you'd have one source of light, you'd have God. But here, He says, many of these will shine like the brightness. They will take on the attributes of the God family. And those who turn many to righteousness will shine like the like stars, big suns, you know, somewhere out in space that radiates so much light, forever and ever. That is the wonderful thing, the great thing. Jesus said, when you're going through these and these things get near, look up, for your redemption is near. In 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 51, do you know what's there? The seventh trumpet. The seventh trumpet is when Jesus Christ comes back. You can look at the other trumpets. The first three attack environmental things. The fourth takes out a quarter of those living on earth. You come up to the fifth and sixth and the destruction is very devastating.

You know, the third of humanity dies, but people don't repent for their sins. And then we come up to the seventh. But here we see in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 51, something that you and I can look forward to, not just look forward to, but have high, high expectations for with regards to what we're celebrating today. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 51, in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, the seventh trumpet, the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. We go to the seventh trumpet back in Revelation.

Let's notice in Revelation chapter 11 events that take place here, events that you and I, if we're really of this tree, if we really love God, if we're really of his mindset, this is a great day. This is a great day of expectation. Sure, it has travail like a woman's going to go through childbirth, but at the end you get the baby.

Well, here's the baby. Let's go to Revelation in chapter 11 and verse 15.

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 Messiah, okay? Our Lord's Messiah, God the Father's Messiah, different Messiah, and he shall reign forever and ever. Now, in the next few verses, what we read is what we should feel.

If you feel this way, then I hope and pray that we, if we feel this way, we will be ready as a bride prepared, waiting for our husband, not in any way adulterated with any other women referring to religions in any way, shape, or form. Notice what the 24 elders say here in verse 16.

And the 24 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. Jesus Christ is. He lives. He lives in you and me. Who was. He has existed forever with his Father. He was the creator of all things, and he died. And who is to come. He is coming back as the Messiah. He says, And you have taken your great power and reigned. The nations were angry. That's the ones over here. That's all the chaos that's going on. That's the games, the mind games, the, the, the, the payoffs, the deals. You do this, I'll do that for you. You can live a little longer. But they were angry. Your wrath has come. And the time of the dead that they should be judged and that you should reward your servants, the prophets and the saints and those who fear your name small and great and should destroy those who destroy the earth. Right there. The seventh trumpet when Christ comes is also our day of salvation. You see in chapter 14 when the trumpets blown, I looked on and behold a lamb standing on Mount Zion and with him 144,000 having his Father's name written on their foreheads.

They were redeemed from the earth at the end of verse three. And these, verse four, are the ones who were not defiled with false religions, for they are virgins, the wise virgins. These are the ones who follow the lamb wherever he goes. Only the lamb, only that true tree. Being first fruits to God, this is the first time that anyone is called first fruits, is at their resurrection. They are the first fruits to God and to the lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God. Let's notice something about them. We find it over in Revelation chapter 20 in verse four. He says, I saw thrones and they sat on them and judgment was committed to them and I saw the lives of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the Word of God. These are the ones who were friends, true friends, not fair-weather friends. These are the ones who went to the wall. Some of them got beheaded, who had not worshiped the beast. Who was the beast? Another Messiah. Or his image, his empire, you see, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands, not broken God's laws. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. These are defined in chapter 19 in verse eight. To her this church, his wife, was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Now another thing that we often don't equate with the Feast of Trumpets is the fact that Jesus Christ now comes down, he subdues the nations, he crushes them with a rod of iron, as it says in Revelation chapter 19. But as soon as it says that, it says the armies in heaven, armies, the mass of people, the group in heaven, followed him on white horses who had his name and the Father's name written on them, and who were dressed in white linen. That's us.

We see in Revelation chapter 2 in verse 25 that one of the roles that we will have at that time is the vengeance that sometimes humans wish they could enact. You know, there's terrible things that will be happening on the earth, horrible things that people have done to people, and somebody needs to come in and stamp out unrighteousness. And as we read already, would remove those who destroy the earth and the people in the earth. Here in Revelation chapter 2, realize part of this prophecy that we celebrate today is in verse 25. Hold fast what you have till I come. You hang on.

And he who overcomes and keeps my works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations.

He will rule them with a rod of iron. They will be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels, as I have also received from my father. That's going to be a shared role. The light will be shared, the power will be shared, the day of writing the wrongs, that sometimes you'll see something on the internet, forward this to everybody, you know. You just want to write the wrong. The writing of the wrong will take place. And as Jesus himself says, you and I will participate.

The only question is, is which Messiah will you follow? Which Messiah do you want to come and reign for a thousand years? There are several available. There are several who will woo us and want us and try us and test us. And God wants to know. God wants to know who are really His.

So as we celebrate the Feast of Trumpets today, let's realize that it's a sober day in the events that lead up to and through these times of war and these sounds of alarms that are coming.

But once again, if we are rooted and grounded in agape love, in loving God with our heart, soul, and might, and loving our neighbor as ourself, we shall stand. And we shall stand with Him on the Mount of Olives. And we will be given light and power, and we will forever be with Him on that day.