I Shall Return

Today I want to start the sermon by giving a little bit of a history lecture. Just a very short one, just a few minutes. It helps to set the stage for the material I want to cover with you today. The Philippine Islands are a group of 7,000 islands. 11 of those are sizable. They form a natural barrier between Japan and the rich resources of China, Southeast Asia, and the East Indies.

Manila has a very fine natural harbor, one of the finest in that part of the world. It's located on the island of Luzon. It's the largest and most populous island. In 1941, the Philippines were a possession of the United States. They were scheduled to become independent by 1946. But they were a far outpost from the states. They were 5,000 miles away from Pearl Harbor. They were 7,000 miles away from San Francisco. But Manila itself is only 1,800 miles from Tokyo.

During the time of the Second World War, the defense of the Philippines was the responsibility of Major General Douglas MacArthur. Douglas MacArthur was in retirement. They called him out of retirement to active duty to strengthen the defenses of the Philippines. It was obvious that war was coming. So they gave him that assignment in the summer of 1941. He took up the post with a commitment with an air force of 100 B-17 flying fortresses and other increased resources. It was on December 8 at 2.30 in the morning that MacArthur occurred the report about the bombing at Pearl Harbor.

As great a general as MacArthur was, and he was one of our finest generals, he did nothing about that for a number of hours. That later came back to haunt him. Ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese staged disastrous air attacks against Clark Field and Iba Field, both on Luzon Island, destroying half the heavy bombers and fighters of MacArthur's air force. The next day they struck at Kavita, the main naval base there, causing the ships that survived to flee to Java and Australia 1500 miles away. At that point, things looked very dire for the Philippines. On December 22, 1941, Lieutenant General Mashashura Homa and his 14th Army came ashore at Linga Yen Gulf, about 135 miles north of Manila.

This Japanese force at that point had 80 ships and 43,000 troops. Of course, they were going to be reinforced very strongly in the weeks to come. By December 23, 1941, MacArthur clearly understood the impending disaster. He had 60,000 unreliable Filipino troops, 11,000 better trained Filipino scouts, 19,000 Americans against Homa's hardened and well-equipped force descending upon them. To deny the Japanese victory over his troops, he ordered the withdrawal of forces on Luzon to the peninsula nearby that you have come to know as Batan.

Very famous. MacArthur's headquarters was transferred to the tiny island fortress of Corregidor. Corregidor is a little tiny island at the mouth of Manila Bay. They did that on December 24. During March of 1942, the Japanese continually received reinforcements, resupply, whereas the American and Filipino troops, their health steadily eroded. They were now reduced to a mere 1,000 calories or less per day. You and I take 2,000 calories a day for granted. Most of the time, we've got much more than that. These men were in the heat with battling malaria, in many cases less than 1,000 calories a day.

At this point, our force, the United States and Filipino force combined, was only able to muster about one man in five to actually man the defenses of the area. Recognizing the deterioration of the American position, President Theodore Roosevelt did not want MacArthur to die or to be captured, so he ordered him to evacuate Corregidor, to move to Australia. Of course, MacArthur objected, but he realized that that was probably for the best, even though he did not want to leave his troops.

He and his family and his staff departed on three PT boats and then made their way to Australia. When in Australia, MacArthur made a very simple statement. It's only a matter of a couple of sentences, but it's something that is one of the most repeated sentences that any general has ever said. He said, and I quote, The President of the United States ordered me to break through the Japanese lines and proceed from Corregidor to Australia for the purpose, as I understand it, of organizing the American offensive against Japan, the primary option of which is the relief of the Philippines.

I came through. I shall return. I shall return. Of course, you understand, if you remember any of your high school history, that shortly after he left in March, in April, General King had to unconditionally surrender 75,000 of our troops to the Japanese. The Japanese then took these men and, on Bataan, the peninsula there and marched them to the south end of that peninsula. It was known as the Bataan Death March. Ten thousand of those soldiers, if you fell, if you couldn't get back up on your feet, they either would take their rifle and beat you over the head and kill you or ban at you.

You just didn't survive. Ten thousand of our men did not make it. Mary's uncle is a survivor of that march. He was on a Bataan Death March. He was able to survive.

As it turned out, the nurse that nursed them back to health, they got married after the war.

So, as the men saw MacArthur leave on those PT boats, they were very disheartened, very discouraged.

They viewed MacArthur like a father. MacArthur, in his early life, grew up in the Philippines.

His father was a military man. As a matter of fact, Arthur MacArthur, Douglas's father, and Douglas MacArthur are one of the only teams, I don't know how many there are, I think there's only just a few, where both the dad and the son won the Medal of Honor.

The father won the Medal of Honor in the American Civil War. Two and a half years later, as the war became a war in our favor, in October of 1944, MacArthur came back to the Philippines. He returned.

Now, with that in mind, as a backdrop, let's take a look at Acts 1.

You see, brethren, in Acts 1, there's another band of soldiers, in this case Christian soldiers, who were disheartened at the departure of their general.

Let's take a look at Acts 1. Verse 4, And being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you have heard from me. So here we're talking about waiting for the day of Pentecost. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked them, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

So Christ is now crucified. He's about ready to ascend to heaven. And the men still don't get the point. They still aren't getting it. Now, they don't have God's Holy Spirit like they're about to have in a few days. God's Spirit is working with them, not in them, but they're still their fear for foggy on the main mission here. Verse 7, He said to them, It is not for you to know the times of the seasons the Father has put in His own authority.

Pause there for a moment. So here you've got these Christian soldiers. They will be Christian, technically, in a little bit. But they didn't know when their general was going to return. They had work to do. Just as it took another two and a half years for MacArthur to get back to the Philippines, our soldiers had work to do. They had a mission to accomplish. Verse 8, You shall receive your power, you shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria to the end of the earth. Here's their mission. Now when He had spoken these things, and while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. So they watched their general go off, just as the people in the Philippines watched MacArthur sail away from Corregidor.

Verse 10, While they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, obviously angels, who said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand up gazing into heaven? The same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manners you saw Him going into heaven. So what you see here is Jesus Christ saying to the troops, I shall return. He's saying it through the angels, but He's saying it nonetheless. Now if you want something even more to the point, let's turn to John 14, verse 3. John 14, verse 3.

I'm going to be reading this from the Weymouth translation, John 14, verse 3.

And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will return. I shall return and take you to be with Me, that where I am, you also may be. So as Douglas MacArthur said, I shall return. Jesus Christ said, I shall return. Brethren, I'll be with you three more Sabbaths between now and the Feast.

It is my intents today to give you some thoughts about trumpets, because I'll be up in Flint. Some of you will be in Flint as well. But I'll be up in Flint for trumpets. I'll be with you on atonement. I'll give you a full sermon about that. But this week we'll talk about the Feast of Trumpets. Then my other two sermons will talk about the Feast itself, and then the Eighth Day, or the Last Great Day. But I want us to think a little bit differently today. You and I think about the return of Jesus Christ. You and I think about all sorts of things that are encouraging to us. We think about all the events that are going to take place around that return. But we think about the coming Kingdom. We think about things from our perspective. But today I want to broaden our horizon a little bit. I want you to think about the return of Jesus Christ from Jesus Christ's perspective.

When Jesus Christ is coming with His armies, with His host, what's going on in His mind? We know what goes on in our mind. We know what we think about. We think about the wonderful world tomorrow. We think about all these wonderful prophecies. We think about all these positive things. And rightfully so. We want to hold on to those things. Nothing wrong with that. But what is on Jesus Christ's mind? What is His perspective?

Now, again, we talked about setting the stage, looking at what happened with MacArthur, I Shall Return, and all that. But let's even get down even to more what the world stage is. I talked to you here a few Sabbaths ago about the fact that we are living in a dangerous neighborhood, this world of ours. Getting more dangerous by the moment. Russia walks into Crimea, just simply takes it. Something like that has not taken place since World War II.

Russia walks in and just slices off a piece of territory.

China, now. China recently, one of their warplanes, buzzed the US Navy a surveillance jet. Actually did a barrel roll over it. So, so close that the two men were able to see each other's faces. Very, very close. The Pentagon called that situation provocative. China is now threatening to take islands it doesn't possess in the Far East.

You see, when America retreats, when America says we're not going to act, then you've got the bullies like Russia coming out and the Chinese bully. Well, if Russia could take Crimea, we can take these islands. Then you've got these people over in the Middle East, ISIS or ISIL.

Whatever term you like to call them by. We've seen, hopefully we've not seen, but we know that two Americans have recently been beheaded. And they threaten to come to this country and do all sorts of things to this country. And there are those that say, well, what can they do to this country? You know, what can they do?

You know, brethren, the jihadists do not have to stage a 9-11 attack to be effective.

Recently, two homegrown Americans, a little close to Mary and I, they came from the same part of the world as she comes from, two homegrown Americans from Minneapolis-St. Paul were killed in battle as they fought on the side of ISIS.

Now, what would happen in this country if all around the country you had these terrorists in America kidnapping Americans, dragging them off to some house, some basement, some warehouse, beheading our people, putting it on YouTube, and this happened in Michigan and California and Ohio and Indiana, and all around the place?

It wouldn't be hard to do that. What do you think would happen to our country?

You know, there would be all sorts of tremendous upset, to say the least.

Our society, brethren, it's amazing. Just last week or so, I've seen a couple of things that just made me shake my head.

We're developing a whole generation of Americans who really don't appreciate who we are.

There was a high school Advanced Placement History class, and in this class, they hardly mentioned George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, some of the people who helped found our nation. But when they mentioned those men, they mentioned those men and all their faults, all their weaknesses.

In other words, this is a message from the left in our country about, you know, America's really a sick country. America is the problem in the world. So we've got a whole generation of Americans who simply don't have an appreciation for who we are.

You've got the have-nots demanding from the have, because somehow they feel they're entitled to your money.

The nation's motto, out of many, one might soon be changed to, if I don't have mine, I want yours.

But in this system of government, even though it's the best in the world, this is what Trumpets represents.

Trumpets represents a time when God's government will take over, and we desperately need God's government.

But once again, as we're looking at Trumpets, and we're looking at the return of Jesus Christ, I want to look at the return of Jesus Christ through His perspective, from His viewpoint.

I've got three points for you today. They're really very simple.

They revolve around a statement, I shall return. But we're talking from Jesus Christ's perspective. Christ says, I shall return, and number one, I shall return to rescue my bride.

I shall come, I shall return to rescue my bride.

This is so much on the mind of Jesus Christ.

Let's begin our discussion here by going to Revelation 6.

Revelation 6.

Here we've got the sixth seal. As you're aware, the book of Revelation is divided into seven seals. That's seven seals divided into seven trumpets. Seven trumpets in the seven last plates. But here we have the sixth seal, the heavenly signs being spoken of. But there's something interesting here, because it sets the stage for the return of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 6, verse 12. I looked when He had opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops, and its light fakes when it was shaken by a mighty wind. Now notice verse 14, key verse.

Then the sky receded as a scroll when it's rolled up.

You know, right now you and I can look in a nighttime sky. We see a few stars. We see the moon. But, brethren, there's coming a time when God is going to pull that black curtain.

He's going to unfurl that. He's going to roll all that back. And what you're going to see is Jesus Christ Himself.

He's going to make Himself seen by the whole world.

Notice as we continue on with this discussion here, verse 15. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave, every free man.

In other words, everybody hid themselves in the caves and the rocks of the mountains and set them to mountains and rocks, fallen us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne.

Don't have to worry about evolutionists then.

Don't have to worry about things happening a little at a time then.

You know, you're not going to have people wanting to argue theology about whether God exists or not.

Because God, when this is unfurled, when you see the heavens being rolled back, they're going to see something that's so fearsome they want to hide.

What is it that they see? It says here, they see the face of Him who sits on the throne.

I want you to remember that phrase. We're going to get into more of that in a little bit. But let's see what makes them so afraid. Let's turn to chapter 19 of Revelation.

Revelation chapter 19 verse 11.

Now I saw heaven opened.

The people are going to be able to see into the heavens with things they have never seen in the past.

I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse.

And we're talking real white here. We're talking something that Jesus Christ would ride on.

And He who sat on Him was called Faithful and True and unrighteous as He judges and makes war.

So Jesus Christ is sitting on this brilliantly white stallion.

His eyes were like a flame of fire. Keep that in mind.

Here Christ has got fire in His eye.

This is not coming into Jerusalem on a donkey with palms on their feet in a humble way.

This is Jesus Christ with fire in His eye. Why?

Because He is sick and tired of watching His bride being hounded, being persecuted, being murdered, being hurt in every way for 6,000 years.

Talking about the Bride of Christ in the Old Testament, the Old Testament Saints, and the New Testament Saints.

He says, you know, enough is enough. I've given mankind 6,000 years in this experience, in this experiment.

He says, time, guys, to ride.

Now, this is much better than John Wayne. He's got a much bigger army.

Verse 12, on his head were many crowns. In other words, he has many different positions of authority.

He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood.

We understand the analogy there. His name is called the Word of God.

Something we see in John chapter 1, verse 1.

And the armies in heaven, clothed in filing and white and clean, followed Him on white horses.

Brethren, think about this for a moment. The sky is rolled back. The heavens are rolled back.

People are saying, hide, from what? They see Jesus Christ on that white stallion.

And as far as the eye can see, they're seeing all these white stallions, these white horses, with all these troops, these angels, they're all in beautifully dressed white.

And Christ has got fire in His eye.

Think about it for a second. You men. If somebody was torturing and beating and hurting your bride, wouldn't you have fire in your eye?

Or if somebody was hurting your kids, your family, wouldn't you have fire in your eye?

Now, Jesus Christ can do this in righteousness. And He's going to do just that.

He's going to take His army and He's going to ride. He's going to ride.

Verse 15, Out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, with it He should strike the nations, and Himself will rule them the rod of iron.

No playing games at this point.

You know, let's go over to Revelation chapter 1, just to reaffirm something. Revelation chapter 1.

Revelation chapter 1 verse 7, Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him. No secret rapture.

Christ's not coming in the back door. He's not sneaking in. No. Every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. Now, that's not a reference to the original soldier who put the spear up his side. This is talking about those who are sinners. Not just the righteous in some secret rapture. No, we're talking about every human being. As we saw in Revelation 6, we're seeing in chapter 19, we're seeing in chapter 1. Storing all throughout. Every human being is going to see this.

Now, let's go to Matthew chapter 24. The Olivet Prophecy. Matthew chapter 24 verse 30 and 31.

Matthew chapter 24 is a summary of the things we see in Revelation. It's a summary. It's kind of like the cliff's notes of prophecy here. It's just a summary. But notice the discussion about the return of Christ. We've already taken a look at that in Revelation chapter 19. But here in chapter 24 of Matthew verse 30. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven. Now, remember back in Revelation chapter 6, I said, remember that one portion we talked about, they saw that sign in heaven. Here we see the same thing. What is that sign in heaven? It's people seeing Christ. Everybody! That's the sign. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven. And then all the tribes of the earth, not just people waiting for the resurrection, all the people of the earth, carnal, converted. Then all the tribes of the earth will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. So here you have this tremendous army coming on these brilliant white stallions. A tremendous visual. And they're coming around the planet. Coming around the planet. Verse 31, He'll send His angels with a great sound of trumpet, and they will gather together as elect from the four winds from one end of the heaven to the other. Brethren, what is Jesus Christ thinking at that point? What is Jesus Christ thinking at that point? You know what we're thinking at that point? We're thinking, hey, I don't have to worry about death ever again! I'm in the kingdom! There's Jesus! Here I am! How about that? We're together here! But what Christ is thinking about is His family. You love being with your family. You miss your family. All of us in this room have people we've loved who have died. All of us. And we miss those who have died. If somebody were to give you a note right now and say the person you love most who's now dead is out in that lobby, you would get up and you'd run out there. Jesus Christ, what's in His mind as He's going around this planet. You know, He's saying He's rescuing His bride. But think about it. He says, now Abraham's no longer in a dirt! Isaac and Jacob and Moses and David and Sarah! They're alive! I can actually talk to them again! We can communicate! We can have fellowship! Sarah and Rebecca and Rachel and Esther and Deborah! Peter and Paul! Mary, the one who bore Jesus! James and Judas, half-brothers, and you! Jesus Christ is thinking, I'm so glad death doesn't have a hold on my bride anymore. So glad about that. I'm so glad that I can resume my relationship with them. That they're not going to be hurt. They're not going to be persecuted. Because they are now spirit and nothing can touch them. She's my bride and nothing's going to touch her. 1 Thessalonians 4 As I was putting this together, I was thinking about this. 1 Thessalonians 4 Notice something here that's really interesting when you view this particular verse from this perspective. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 17 Then we who are alive remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Now verse the last sentence here. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Think about how Jesus Christ views that. Think about the people that you love so. What would you feel if you could always be with them? Death had no hold on them. That's what Jesus Christ is thinking about. I'll be with the Abrahams and the Isakson and Jacobson and the Saras and the Rebekas and the Debras. And nothing will separate me from them ever again. I'll be able to resume my loving relationship. Death, nothing will be able to separate me from them. Let's take a look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15. The resurrection chapter. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 Let's notice Christ rescuing his bride. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 51 Behold, I tell you in mystery we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment. And a twinkling and I at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible. And we shall be changed. Again, brethren, think about this from Christ's perspective. When you love somebody, it hurts when you see that they are aging. When they have got the crippling effects of aging. When they've got debilitating illnesses, the ravages of disease. Their mind doesn't work like it once did. They forget you're your mother or your father and they forget your name. They forget they haven't had you as a child. It's really difficult. But Christ is saying, you know what? These people will be raised incorruptible and shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible is put on incorruption, this mortal is put on immortality. Then it shall be brought to pass saying death is swallowed up in victory. Death is swallowed up in victory. So, brethren, Jesus Christ says, I shall return. And he shall return to rescue his bride. Let's take a look at my second point of the three. Point number two. Christ says, I shall return to reward my bride. Not just to rescue the bride. I shall return to reward my bride. Bride. Today, when performing a ceremony for the ceremonies you've seen in the past, when you see a wedding ceremony, they're always very nice to watch. And at the end of the ceremony, typically, the bride and the groom, they both exchange rings. The rings are a token of their affection from one another.

Now, sometimes those rings are quite humble. Some people will use a simple little band. Some people can't even afford that. God, when he's wanting to shower gifts and rewards on his bride, he's not constrained. God doesn't have to go to a jeweler and say, now, what can I afford? What's my budget for this? He doesn't have to get to the angels and say, okay, how are we doing? How's the money coming along in the kingdom here? He doesn't have to worry about those kind of restrictions. Jesus, Christ, God the Father, they are going to reward us. We've already seen one of the great rewards we receive, and that's eternal life. Eternal life. Now, to steal a little bit of the sermonette material, you and I are not given eternal life as a reincarnated cockroach. We're not given eternal life as a sea slug. We're giving eternal life as a spirit being in glory. In glory. Colossians 3.4 So we're going to have eternal life, but we're not going to be under a rock someplace. We're not a glorified maggot. We are an enhanced spirit being. Right now, you appreciate the fact you've got eyes. You can see with ears you can hear with. You've got the senses of taste and touch and all of those things. But just think about how to the... You and I can't even begin to think about how enhanced the senses will be for us as spirit beings. The things we'll be able to see, the things we'll be able to hear. We want to hear beautiful music. We've got to go someplace and plug in a CD or something like that. As a spirit being, we want to hear beautiful music. We'll just look over to our angelic choir that follows us around and say, Hey, guys, strike up the band. You know, trombones. You bring in all the instruments with you guys. I really want some good music here. And they're happy to perform. And you're happy to listen. Music like you've never heard in your life. Enhanced spirit beings. Colossians chapter 3 and verse 4. When Christ who is our life appears. I quote this every time I do a funeral for a member. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in what? In shame? In embarrassment? No. In glory. You shall appear with Him in glory.

Let's go back to Revelation chapter 1. Revelation chapter 1.

Now, I know that this section I'm about to read you is highly symbolic in nature. But I think it does give us a clue as to what it means to be resurrected in a state of glory. Revelation chapter 1 verse 13. And in the midst of the seven lampstands on one like the son of man, clothed with the garment down to the feet, and girded about the chest of the golden man. You know, we will be working with physical human beings. God wants us as spirit beings to be able to, as Christ did, to show ourself to the physical human beings, as physical people. You know, you ladies aren't going to have to find out where Chico's is in the world tomorrow. Make sure you get all your dresses and stuff. God's going to have all this for us. His head and his hair were white like wool, white as snow. His eyes like a flame of fire. We're looking at a being here that really exudes beauty. Feet like fine brass, that were fine on a furnace. His voice of the sound of many waters. And now verse 16. He had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword.

And his continents was like that of the sun shining in his strength. Now, Brooklyn, that's a picture of glory. You know, after you and I are out hard on a Sunday working on the house, we're mowing along, we're doing all sorts of stuff. We've got twigs and stuff in our hair. You know, we've got sweat all over the place. I don't think that we walk in the house and our maid says, you know, you look like glory. But in the world of glorified state, let's look at Isaiah chapter 9, verse 7. Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 7. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and justice. From that time forward, even forever, the zeal the Lord of hosts will perform this. Breh, you think about the time in your life when you were just beside yourself with happiness and joy. It could have been on your wedding day, it could have been on the day that you had your son or your daughter born or both. There are times in your life, we've also known our share of trials, but there have also been times in our life when we've had tremendous joy. Think about what that's going to be like when you have this joy and this happiness, only exponentially more so in the future. And you've got it for all eternity.

All eternity. It shall never end. It talks about the increase of government, the increase of your happiness, the increase of your joy will never end.

Now, I can go on and on, but let's take a look at one more aspect about rewarding the bride over here in Matthew 25. Matthew 25, starting in verse 14.

Yes, we've been given eternal life. We've been given eternal life in a glorified state. In that glorified state, we have eternal life that's full of happiness and joy for all time, forever. And we will be rewarded because of how we have overcome. You know, brethren, we are given salvation by the grace of God. We don't earn salvation.

We do earn our reward. We are rewarded according to our works. We're not talking now about salvation. That is a free gift. But let's take a look at chapter 25 here, verse 14. Matthew 25, 14. For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country. That far country is the kingdom. That man represents Jesus Christ, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. Well, we are the servants, and those goods are God's Holy Spirit. And to one he gave five talents, some had more of the Spirit. To another he gave two, some had less of the Spirit.

To another one, to each according to his own ability. Notice the word ability. We all have God's Spirit, but we also all have our own individual abilities. And immediately he went on a journey. Just as Christ went on a journey, he went to heaven. He's been there for the last couple thousand years. Then he would receive the five talents, went and traded with them and made five other talents. Likewise, he would gain two more also.

Notice, we drop down to the very end here. Verse 23. His Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a few things. I'll make you rule over many things. Enter into the what? Enter into the joy. That joy forever. That happiness forever. For eternity and the glory. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Now, brethren, here is a reward for you. Whether you have the same amount or the same level of a gift, let's say like a Moses or a David, but if you take what God has given you and you do the same thing that Moses did with his or David did with his, your reward will be the same.

There's nothing stopping anybody here in this room from having a tremendous, tremendous reward before God, but it depends upon us. How are we overcoming? Are we overcoming like a David? Are we overcoming like a Moses? Are we overcoming like a Peter or a Paul? Or are we somebody like other people in the Scriptures who didn't do so well?

That's up to us. That's up to us in what we want to do. But if we are the bride of Christ, there's nothing stopping us, and that's the point here, the positive point, there's nothing stopping us from having this tremendous reward. And then what do we use the reward for? For serving, for giving, for putting yourself in a position to do even greater service. It's a different mindset. We don't want reward so we can just consume it on ourselves.

We want to be rewarded so we can be a better servant. The greatest servants in the universe are God the Father and Jesus Christ. They're the greatest servants that ever have been, ever will be. We want to be just like our dad and our elder brother. So we looked at Jesus Christ, two different things here. He said He shall return to number one, rescue His bride.

Number two, I shall return to reward my bride. And number three, lastly, I shall return to rebuild with my bride. I shall return to rebuild with my bride. You know, when a man sees a woman who he wants to marry, he courts her, he rescues her from all the other gentlemen out there. She accepts that. He rescues her from all those other guys who are just simply not worthy. He tries through his life to reward his bride, to give wonderful things to her, to make life as easy as he can for her.

And then, you know, also during the course of life, they build a life together. And this is what Jesus Christ wants with His bride, to rebuild the universe that has been marred by Satan. Revelation 5 and verse 10. Revelation 5, 10, And it is made as kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth, kings and priests. A few weeks ago, a couple of weeks ago, I gave a sermon about how there's going to be warfare, or an attempt at warfare, in the millennium, after the return of Jesus Christ.

That there will be people wanting to descend a vast army, not just a few. We're not talking about a few hard heads. We're talking about a vast army that's going to descend upon the Holy Land, with murder in their heart, hatred in their heart. And of course, God's going to have to take care of that group. But it shows you that in the millennium, and we've known these scriptures, we just don't tend to focus on those. We know that when Christ comes, He said, you know, if you don't come to Jerusalem to keep the feast, I'm not giving you rain.

We tend to think, as soon as Christ comes, everything is this great. That's not the case. And so here's where you come in, and I come in. We're spirit beings. We're teachers. We're priests. We've got people who are going to be really hard-hearted, hard-headed. We went through last time, and I gave that sermon talking in Revelation 16, two different verses in chapter 16. How when people are being beset by all these trials and tests by God, did they say, Father, I repent, forgive me? No.

They blasphemed God's name. Some of those same people live into the millennium, and we're going to have to work with them. So we've got a challenge on our hand. And you know what? You and I are up to the challenge. We're up to that challenge. God is always wanting... Do you feel challenge as a human being right now? Do you feel challenge living in society as a Christian? Of course you do. God always wants us people to be challenged.

And so we're going to rebuild society through education. You know, just the other night I was watching TV, and they were talking about Common Core. They were talking about how kids today learn math. And I said, What do I know about Common Core? I don't have any kids that are going through that anymore, through school anymore. They said, Well, here's how they learn how to add. Very simple. The lady had a...

She did a really nice discussion. I couldn't tell you how she did all this, but she had a whiteboard. She said, We're going to show how we teach a child in grade school to have 9 plus 6.

Well, you know, 9 plus 6. You and I memorize that kind of stuff. We know that stuff. No problem. Oh, but now a child in school? Well, they really don't understand 9s. And so we're not going to use 9. And so they drew down below the 9. We talk in units of 10. So she drew a 10 under the 9. Now, the 6...well, that'd be kind of scary, too. And so she drew a couple of little lines. She said, Let's take that 6 and make it a 1 in 5. And so they had a 10 and a 1 in a 5. And I said, How do we get to 15 here? You know, it looks like we've got 16 here. And there's a lot of talking about how we need to do this, that, and the other thing. And I thought, Man, if I was going through school today, I'd be 25 years old and still second grade.

I just didn't get it. I just memorized the stuff. They made it like you had to be Einstein to go through school today. That's why so many parents hate Common Core. It's a weird way of teaching. We're not going to teach like that in the millennium. Chances are in the millennium there's going to be an awful lot of homeschooling, that sort of thing. Learning at mom and dad's knee. I don't know what we're going to do with public education. But certainly learning will be much different. And you and I are going to be the ones who help orchestrate that. We're going to rebuild society. Isaiah 35, verse 1. Isaiah 35, verse 1. The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. Brethren, we read that scripture, and this is what we think about, but right at the return of Jesus Christ, that's not what the world is. Remember, when we go through on trumpets and we talk about everything that's going to happen, it gets to the point where God has got to tell the angels, don't hurt any more green things. So much of the earth has been destroyed. The mankind is having a hard time even getting a breath of air. It's not going to be clean air. It's not going to be what we even have here now today. It's going to be air that's polluted with probably nuclear particles, maybe chemical weaponry. It's going to be an awful atmosphere. Isaiah, there's a prophecy here in Isaiah about the earth cottering like a drunkard.

The earth is going to be a horrible place. You've seen some of these apocalyptic movies, Mad Max and some of that stuff. That's the world. It's kind of like what the world would be like. So you and I, spirit beings, are going to have to be there, Christ and his bride, to rebuild society. And from a human perspective, it's going to take a while. It's going to take a while. This doesn't happen overnight. There's not going to be a lot of crops that first growing season. I don't know exactly what God's got in his mind. He made us have to simply produce supernaturally fruit, and things for people to eat. As he did on a number of occasions in the New Testament. But finally, the earth will get to be blossoming like the rose, and we're going to have our hand in that. Final scripture for today is over here in Revelation 21.

By this point in the history of mankind, actually there is no more mankind. Either man has become a spirit being in the kingdom of God, or man has been thrust into the lake of fire. At this point, there's only spirit left.

Chapter 21 of Revelation, verse 1. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea. Totally different thing. The lake of fire will not be just one place outside of Jerusalem. When you take a look at 2 Peter, chapter 3, it talks about the whole world becoming this molten mass. This whole world will be the lake of fire. God uses fire to purify things. Man has touched every aspect of this world. This whole world is going to become like the sun. That's going to be God's way of purifying this physical planet. Because sin was here. So here we see a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth, have passed away, they died. Then I, verse 2, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Why can New Jerusalem come out of heaven? Because this earth has been purified. And I heard a loud voice from him, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them. Why? Because we will be God in the same level as God, not the same power, same level as God the Father and Jesus Christ. They'll always be over us in power and authority. They've got an eternity head-started of us. But we, just as all of us are identical in terms of all of us are physical beings in the world tomorrow, all of us will be spirit beings, or be equal along those lines. He will dwell with them, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. Verse 4, God will likely every tear from their eyes. Well, there's no need for tears of sorrow in those days. There might be tears of joy in terms of looking at it from that perspective.

There will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor more pain for the former things that passed away. So, brethren, when it comes to the feasts of the trumpets, whether you're going to be over in Ann Arbor or in Flint, or thinking about the return of Jesus Christ, it is easy for us to think about the return of Christ from our perspective. But let's also think about the return of Jesus Christ from His perspective, from our elder brother's perspective, and appreciate just what He's looking forward to with His new bride.