Last Day of Unleavened Bread

So, tonight, we finish with these days of Unleavened Bread. In seven days, avoiding anything that is leavened. And it's just a lesson every year that God wants us to understand. But this day has a symbolism that is very important. It still remains.

We're going to look at this last day of Unleavened Bread, but from a bird's eye point of view. We're going to soar above just mundane things and little details. We're going to look at this day as the overall, the big picture that God has in mind as best as we understand it. But it's in the Scriptures. It answers the big question of why evil exists and how it's going to end. Philosophers have always talked.

If you've ever taken a class in philosophy, they always talk about the problem of evil. Why evil exists. And of course, they have hardly any clue to why it is. And by the way, this term evil is a term that hides a certain biblical truth that we need to understand. Because in the Bible, it doesn't talk so much about evil as something abstract, something very general. It actually tells us that what is evil is sinful. And so the biblical term for evil is actually found there in 1 John chapter 3 verse 4.

I'll read it from the King James Version. It says, sin is the transgression of the law. And so actually evil is another word for sin. And sin is another word for evil. For instance, during World War II, people talk about how evil was caused during that war. They mention how Hitler sent approximately six million Jews to their death. You can imagine that there are about seven million Jews in Israel. So it's almost the same amount that died during World War II. Now, when they talk about Hitler sending six million Jews, they talk about the evil that was done.

But actually, the cause of it was the breaking of God's commandments, of God's law, in particular the Sixth Commandment. And when all these Jews were murdered, it wasn't evil like some type of abstract term. No, it's the breaking of the law, God's law. But the world doesn't want to recognize the law of God. And so they call it just evil. What is evil? It's like some type of jelly or something that's very hard to grasp. But if you understand the biblical term for evil, it's the breaking of God's law, then it's very easy.

Because you can relate it to something concrete. It's interesting that the word study dictionary on 1 John 3-4, it admits the following. It says, in most cases, in the New Testament, the Greek here for the breaking of the law, Hanomia, means not the absence of the law, but the violation of the law.

So a lot of these modern translations, they don't like to use breaking of God's law because then people say, oh, well, should I keep God's law then? So they use the term lawlessness. And even this dictionary, when it deals with that term, it says it actually means violating God's law, but it uses lawlessness. Because they don't want people to identify God's law related to sin and to evil.

That's the way Satan always uses clever ways to get around the truth, the simple biblical truth. You can't produce evil without breaking God's law. And you can't break God's law without causing evil. Now, this last day of 11 bread answers the big question of when the sins of the world will be completely eliminated.

What a wonderful day! Can you imagine an earth with people and no one sinning, everybody respecting God's laws? There wouldn't be any need for the police. We wouldn't need locks on our doors. We would need policemen everywhere because nobody would be violating any of these laws. Everybody would worship God above all things. Nobody would make idols of God, make all these different symbols, including crosses to God. There wouldn't be one cross left on this earth. Then nobody would take God's name in vain, as you hear everybody doing nowadays. And of course, everybody would be keeping the Sabbath day.

They would be receiving spiritual instruction in God's Word. And then you go on. Everybody would honor their parents. Nobody would murder. Nobody would kill. Nobody would commit adultery. There wouldn't be any sexual sins in this world. And then you wouldn't have any robberies. Nobody would think about taking something that belongs to someone else. Or lying about things. Everybody would be truthful. And finally, nobody would be lusting after things.

So there is going to be one day, and I want to tell you about that day. These days of unleavened bread symbolize when all leavened sin will be permanently eliminated from the earth.

And there will then be an unleavened world with no sin. And that's when true happiness will take place.

Remember, unleavened bread symbolizes purity and righteousness, whereas leavened bread symbolizes sin and wickedness.

Let's go to 1 Corinthians 5, verses 6-8. I'm going to read it to 1 Corinthians 5, 6-8. Of course, this is something that we mention a lot, the Scripture, during these days.

Paul says, Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us.

Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

So Paul was telling the Corinthians, it's not enough to take the Passover or to start eating unleavened bread or remove the leavening.

You have to work spiritually inside of yourself to remove the sins that are still there.

Notice in the Good News Bible translation, it makes it a bit clearer. It says, It is not right for you to be proud.

You know the saying, a little bit of yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise.

You must remove the old yeast of sin so that you will be entirely pure.

Then you will be like a new batch of dough without any yeast.

As indeed, I know you actually are. They've been purified, they've been forgiven by Christ.

For our Passover is ready now that Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Let us celebrate the feast then, not with bread having the old yeast of sin and wickedness.

Again, term sin, wickedness.

It's important to remember that it's not just some type of wickedness.

No, we're talking about sin, breaking of God's laws.

It says, Let us keep it with the bread that has no yeast, the bread of purity and truth.

As seven is symbolic in the Bible of something complete, something accomplished, so it represents the complete removal of sin in the future, and the complete state of righteousness one day.

When will that be?

See, we have this hope that the world doesn't have. They're depressed.

I've had more people lately that are not part of the church that are saying, Is the world coming to an end? They see the handwriting on the wall.

They see the dangers like never before. It was like in the 1970s on, nobody really talked about these dangers, nuclear war.

But here, in the past two years, with the invasion of Ukraine and the president of Russia, warning the world, Be careful, because we can lose on the world these nuclear weapons. It changed the makeup of and the mindset in the world.

Let's go to 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 13 to see when the world will be removing the sin, the leavening, and righteousness will rule. 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 13.

It says, Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Yes, that's what we're looking forward to. A time, and remember, righteousness is defined in the Bible, Psalm 119, 172.

All of your commandments are righteousness. Again, going back to God's laws, they produce righteousness.

Sin is the cause that breaks God's law and produces cursings and negative things.

Sin cannot produce righteousness. Righteousness cannot produce sin.

There's a proverb that says, For the wicked, the way of the righteous is an abomination, and for the righteous, the path of the wicked is an abomination.

It's opposite poles.

So my aim today is to help you see the ultimate meaning of this last day of Unleavened Bread.

The de-leavening process that God is going to carry out, taking up the righteousness in Christ that is taking place now in the church, is one day spread to all of mankind. This isn't some exclusive club. It's just the first fruits, the first part of humanity that is getting this chance to live in righteousness that is in Christ.

He's the one that works in us. He's the one that produces the fruits as it has been brought out in the morning services.

So, number one, first, the cleansing of the world will begin when? When politicians get together and start a wonderful world? No, no. It's when Christ comes.

And all of these world governments finish. They're all leavened. They all have sinned, and of course, some with much more than others, but they're all part of the world system.

And so, the cleansing of the world will begin at the millennium, at the time when Christ comes back to reign for a thousand years.

And yet, during that millennium, it is only a start. It's not like everybody starts in the millennium, and everybody's de-leavened.

Everybody is converted. No, it's a process. It's going to take stages during the millennium for people to be converted.

Notice in Isaiah 11, verse 5, it talks about when Christ establishes His kingdom.

Verse 5, talking about Christ, it says, It says, Now, if a little child goes to a zoo and goes into the lion's cage, how long does it last? Not very long. It's going to get killed.

But these are all millennial conditions. Animals will come back to their original state of being tamed, of not being violent.

Even the whole anatomical features of these animals are going to change. The teeth of the lion will turn more like the vegetarian type teeth. Notice what it says here.

The cow and the bear shall graze, their young ones shall lie down together.

The lion shall eat straw like the ox. So it will become a herbivore. It will no longer be a carnivore. And we won't have carnivores.

We won't have mosquitoes to sting us, take our blood. Those little blood suckers that drive you nuts.

The first thing I want Christ to do when he comes back, out with the mosquitoes. But it talks about here, the animals will all be peaceful. Verse 8, The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole. So they're going to be serpents, but they're not going to have fangs.

They're not going to be aggressive. They're going to be playful like earthworms. Just be cuddly.

I don't know how cuddly an earthworm is, but I don't mind in my garden if I have earthworms. They don't scare me at all.

I kind of like them. They just wiggle around. They cause the soil. They break it up so the water can go down. They're very important.

And so it says here, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the vipers then. Nothing's going to damage it.

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

This tells us how righteousness will rain on the earth because that's the only educational system we're going to have.

We're not going to have any competing educational systems. It's based on God's principles, God's way of life, his feasts, his Sabbaths.

There's only one way, and of course people will learn that that is the best way.

All of this other going through services to hear these adulterated messages and all these false teachings, and it's all wrapped up in candy.

So, sugary candy, inside there's a little bit of cyanide there.

You can't avoid seeing that because they don't want to accept God's holy law to guide them.

It goes on to say, verse 10, And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people, for the Gentiles shall seek him, talking about Christ, and his resting place shall be glorious.

And so, Christ is going to come back, and he is the perfect being that never took any leavening while he lived, as far as sin.

He never participated one time. And he's going to teach all of us how to do it properly.

Notice in Zechariah, let's go forward into Old Testament, Zechariah, starting in chapter 3.

Zechariah is another one of these millennium books we have in the Bible.

It talks so much about the millennium. Zechariah chapter 3, in verse 8, It says, Talk about Jesus Christ.

And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

When Christ comes back, talking in particular about Israel, but that's where all the conversion begins to take place, around the area of Jerusalem.

Let's go on to verse 10. It says, There won't be any war anymore. People will enjoy fellowshipping together without any fear.

Nowadays, whenever you do something, you have to think, did I lock my car or not? Is it going to be there when I come back?

Are we going to have a smash and grab? Or even the restaurants? Now they're being broken into.

There is no peace, but at that time, people will be relaxed. They won't have that type of stress.

Let's go on to chapter 14, talking about the establishment of the millennium.

Verse 1, it says, Now all of this really could not happen until Jerusalem became a part of Israel, because prior to 1948, Jerusalem was just another Arab backwater little city, which nobody really cared about.

You looked at it at that time, basically had little little crops here or there. It was a very poor country, very underdeveloped.

But after 1948, when the Jews went back to it, they have turned it into a beautiful land, and nations lust after it.

We know what's going on there. We just saw what happened since the time of October 7th, about six months ago.

These feasts always fall at a time when Satan is very active, and it happened at the feast at that time, and now, pass over days of Unleavened Bread.

We see the fighting going on.

So it says that, So poor Israel. It's still always going to be invaded, attacked, hated. Look at what's happening in the college campuses nowadays.

Hate toward the Jewish people has multiplied.

And then it says, verse 3, Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations.

This is at the beginning of that great, well, the great tribulation period is when Israel's invaded three and a half years, and then God here steps in.

He is coming down in majesty and glory. The Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as he fights in the day of battle.

And in that day, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east.

And so what happens as a result, verse 9, And the Lord shall be king over all the earth.

In that day it shall be, the Lord is one and his name one. Now, not everybody's going to like that.

There's going to be resistance.

There's going to be false religions and people that are so brainwashed that they want to resist even Jesus Christ coming.

They still want their false God to show up, the false teacher.

And then in verse 12, it says, And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem.

So here Christ is not this very docile lamb that gives himself.

No, he's coming in now. He means business.

And all these nations that come, this is the time of Armageddon that is talked about in the Bible.

You want to know how they die? When they face him, as he has come and put his feet on the Mount of Olives, they come with all of their powerful weapons.

It says, So Christ is not going to put up with that. He's reigning, and he is not going to tolerate a fall.

He's going to be a great man.

He's going to be a great man.

He's going to be a great man.

He's going to be a great man. On his hand. So Christ is not going to put up with that. He's reigning, and he is not going to tolerate a false religion.

He tolerated it during his life, because he said he didn't come now to reign.

I came to pay the price, but the second time around, he's coming to rule. Notice in verse 16, and it says, "...it shall come to pass, that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem." Now, basically everybody that was involved in that war of Armageddon, they got completely destroyed. There are other parts that tell us that the blood will be as high as the horse's horizontal level. That's how... because if everything is dissolved, the flesh is dissolved, the only thing that lasts is the blood.

How many liters of blood? Do you have like five? No, like five or six quarts of blood. And you multiply that by a couple of million, and you're going to have blood all over the place. He goes on to say, "...and it shall come to pass, that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the king, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles." Now, Feast of Tabernacles is the time when we gather together and we all go to a place to worship God. And this is going to take place every year while Christ is there. "...and it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the king, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain." So, how do you like it? Just a permanent drought where all your crops completely dry out. The rivers dry out, the lakes dry out. How defiant are they going to be? Not for long.

Verse 19, it says, "...this shall be the punishment of Egypt." And the punishment, and the term here is actually the sin. The sin of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. The term in Hebrew is kata. It means sin and its punishment.

So, there's not going to be any evil because there's no more law-breaking that takes place. Although, like I said, it's going to be a process. You see here nations that are defiant after Christ comes. And that's going to take quite a bit of time before they change their mind.

Notice what the Bible Knowledge Commentary says about continuing in verse 20. And then I'll read that commentary. It says, "...in that day holiness to the Lord shall be engraved on the bells of the horses." Talking about in Jerusalem.

"...the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts. Everyone whose sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in them. In that day there shall be no longer a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts." This is what the Bible Knowledge Commentary, which is quite accurate. It says, "...in that day holiness will characterize millennial life, whether it be in public life like the bells of the horses, religious life, the cooking pots in the Lord's house, the millennial temple, mentioned in Ezekiel 40 through 43, or private life. Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah in the person's home will all be dedicated to God. In the Old Testament, a Canaanite had become symbolic of anything ceremonially unclean and ungodly. In other words, unleavened, or rather leavened, full of leavening. In Hosea 12.7 it talks about the dishonest merchant, which literally means the Canaanite. In the millennial temple, no such defilement will occur. So again, the removal of sin, the deleavening of the world is taking place. Now it's just within the church, basically, that we have this deleavening. In the churches of God community, there's that deleavening, but basically nowhere else that we know of.

So there will be a conversion of the earth by stages, carried out by Christ and those under him who receive authority to rule. Notice in Revelation 20, that's where we're going to dwell for the rest of this message, the last part of Revelation. Revelation 20, we see the deleavening process as God has established it.

It doesn't begin with human beings on the earth. The deleavening process starts with Satan getting him out of the picture. He's the great amplifier of sin. It's like having just this little tiny voice, and then you've got this thousand power amplifier, and you can hear that half a mile away.

Well, that's the way he amplifies sin. In Revelation 20, verse 1, it says, Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he cast him into the bottomless pit, in other words, a pit so deep you can't see the bottom of it, and shut him up and set a seal upon him, so that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years were finished. But after these things, he must be released for little and while. So the great leavener, the one producing the leavening in the world, that people take up, this is the author. He's going to be removed. And then, the kingdom of God can really start with Satan and his demons out of the way. Notice in verse 4, right after he's removed, it says, And I saw thrones, these are positions of authority, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God. So not everybody got beheaded, just these that were witness to Jesus, but also people persecuted for the word, keeping God's word, who had not worshiped the beast or his image. They're not keeping the false teachings of the beast and the false prophet. And had not received his mark on their foreheads. They are not part of that system, in other words. Or on their hands. They didn't do any activity that this false teachings produce. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. And so it's not just going to be Christ's reigning, but these who have been faithful, been keeping this during this lifetime.

See, because before you can become a lifeguard in the ocean out here, you know how hard you have to train. Anybody here ever was a lifeguard? Okay, Dave. I was one. Okay, Steve. But we had to go through such an intensive training. And of course, we have Shelly. She's still working with teaching everything. But we had to go in that pool, and we had to swim the equivalent of a mile just waiting. Waiting without touching the bottom. That long. Just because you have to be willing to not only swim in the ocean and with the waves, but you got to do it carrying somebody else.

And so this is the same thing here. It's not that everybody's so strong and dedicated. Spiritually strong. Those that have persevered to the end, practicing the commandments of God, putting them into practice, you get then to teach others because you learn to do it first. You went through the trials. You went through the tests. You went through the temptations, and you overcame. And so now you're able to teach others. That's the way God works. He doesn't care whether it's a woman or man, what age we are, what condition we're in. You either are trained and qualify, or you don't. And so here it's talking about those that are going to rule, and of course, with Christ in us. The Holy Spirit says, verse 5, but the rest of the dead, those that aren't part of the first resurrection, that's about 97% of all mankind, did not live again until the thousand years were finished.

And then referring to that first stage, this is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. See, that part in verse 5, this is the first resurrection, should be in verse 6. It should start verse 6, because it's just a parentheses. The rest of the people aren't in that first resurrection. And then he further defines, it starts out, this is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. It's a tremendous blessing and privilege. Over such the second death has no power. You don't have to worry about being judged negatively and dying a second death. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years.

So we're going to be part of that de-leavening process of the world. We're going to be able to teach people the right way of life. And of course, we know what sin is. We know the damage it's done to us. And we can tell them, look, don't go that way. We know. You avoid it. You have to overcome it. Just like we had to do it.

And then it goes, okay, so this is the first resurrection. But even at the end of the millennium, the Scriptures reveal that not all of that last generation will be converted.

And those who are converted in that last generation will fall prey to the devil and will become leavened again. They will become a sinful and rebellious people. And they will be killed by Jesus Christ at that time. Notice in verse 7, it continues here. So basically, the thousand years is completed, but then there's this little gap, which all this happens when Satan is loosed. And that's after the millennium, but before the second resurrection takes place.

So it says, verse 7, now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison. And we'll go on to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, which is symbolic of the rebellious nations to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.

So you see, even if you have a millennial setting, even if everything is fine, that doesn't mean you automatically are going to repent. You still are a human being. You're still subject to temptation. And believe me, Satan will have worked it out for a thousand years thinking how he's going to get this done. He's got a lot of time on his hand to plan the strategy that he will use, and he will be successful. It says, verse 9, they went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. So they came from all parts because that's where the headquarters is.

That's where Christ is governing with his saints. And they want to overthrow. Satan probably promises them so much that they don't get a chance to do so unless they try to overthrow Christ and the saints. It says, verse 9, they went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, Jerusalem. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them, just like it happened before.

Another time, you know, everybody melts into nothingness. They just get disintegrated. Verse 10, the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet, it should say here, were. Because they've already perished. There's no real Hebrew, I mean Greek, verb here. And they, talking about Satan and his demons, will be tormented day and night forever and ever. And so that's the end of Satan's fate, as far as the Bible tells us. It's a very sad and very, they are going to have to face what they have done.

And so eventually they just won't be part of any part of God's plan of salvation. And then we have what is called the second resurrection. So the millennium has taken place. There's a rebellion that takes place at the end. And now we begin with the second resurrection. Then, which means that this is a new start, then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was no found, no place for that.

And of course, Jesus is the one who's going to judge the living and the dead. And I saw the dead. See, these people were not up in heaven. They didn't have an immortal soul. These are the dead, small and great, standing before God. This is their time to come back to life. And books were open. The term is biblia in the Greek. It talks about the Scriptures. And another book was open, which is the Book of Life. Basically, when God calls a person, he uses these two books. He uses the Scriptures, and he uses the Book of Life. That is what a person who's converted. First, you have to be converted by God's Word.

You have to repent. You have to change your life. You have to be baptized, have hands laid on you by a faithful servant that is keeping the commandments of God. God doesn't allow for a minister who is breaking his law to represent him.

And it says here that the Book of Life was open. And so people are going to have a chance to repent, to de-leaven their lives. And believe me, I've always kind of had this image of this long ruler with the zero at the middle. This is all negative numbers, negative one. And this is zero, and then it goes positive. This is the ruler of spiritual character. And basically, most of mankind, they're over there in a 150, minus 50, minus 150, minus 400. And so they're going to have to change their lives to get to zero and then start out.

We had to do the same thing. When God called us, we weren't in the positive part. We started out with the negatives, and we had to change our lives, get to zero, and then start the way of righteousness, the positive numbers. So this is what will happen to them as well.

But in this second resurrection, this will be a time of partial conversion. Not everybody is going to accept. Not everybody is going to want to change their lives. They have a choice they can make, but not everyone is willing to repent, to be converted, to be baptized, have laid hands on them. Neither will they have their names written in the Book of Life. It's not automatic. From our study paper that's on ucg.org, we have a section there where it says, Resources, it has all the study papers, doctrinal papers, that we have.

There's one called the Resurrections. And I like to read from the section on the second resurrection. It says, When Christ returns, God will offer His Spirit to, quote, all flesh during the millennium, and He will continue to offer His Spirit during the time period of the second resurrection to those who were never given, quote, eyes to see and ears to hear.

In other words, Old Testament Israel, Sodom, Gomorrah, and the billions of others who have lived.

How long will this second resurrection last? There is one possible mention of its duration in Isaiah 65, verse 17 through 24, 25.

Notice in Isaiah, let's go real quickly here.

65, starting in verse 17.

It says, For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.

And then it says, verse 19, I will rejoice in Jerusalem and join my people. The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days. For the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner, being one hundred years old, shall be accursed. And so there's an indication that that's a one hundred year period where people have an opportunity, a hundred years. And you'll have one person, a child, that will grow up, have a hundred years to live in this millennial setting, and will accept the way of life of God. And we have the sinner who, after a hundred years, still refuses to follow God's way. It shall die. It says, he shall die.

Now again, we're saying this is the best understanding because this is the only scripture. So this paper goes on to say that the probable meaning would focus on the first of possibilities. The great white throne judgment will last for a hundred years. The church has thought that this will be a testing period of one hundred years, during which billions of children and adults would have an opportunity to become converted and inherit eternal life. Therefore, the death of the, quote, sinner, being one hundred years old, has been considered to be the second death.

God certainly could do things this way, if he chooses. And this takes us to the third resurrection. This will be the final cleansing. This will be the complete de-leavening of the earth.

Notice in Revelation 20, verse 13, It's interesting again that some translations of Revelation 20 in verse 13, it says, Then the sea, after they've been judged, it talks about here that the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. That's all the second resurrection. It says, Then the sea gave up the dead who were in it. This is another resurrection. And death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them, and they were judged each one according to his works.

Yes, they were judged, but the book of life is not open to them. These are the people that either having knowledge of the truth, turn back knowingly, premeditatively, and this is their fate. It says, Then death and Hades were cast into a lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. So basically the only ones that are living now are God's children that have been resurrected either in the first or in the second. They're the ones that are ready to welcome God the Father as he comes down. Chapter 21, the next verse, verse 1, says, Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. So he looked, and it was a different earth altogether.

There was no sea.

And then John, I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem 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, talking about God the Father, is with men or humans that have been transformed. And he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God. And God, talking about the Father, will wipe away every tear from their eyes. This is the time when God will have a personal talk with everybody. He'll explain everything that we had questions about in our lives. Why did this happen? Why was this a lie? He knows the answer.

And there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain. There won't be any more sin or consequences that produce these negative results, for the former things have passed away. Then he who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. And then it says in verse 7, He who overcomes shall inherit all things. And I will be his God, and he shall be my Son. Brethren, that's when finally there won't be any more sin on the earth. And that's the great message of the last day of Unleavened Bread.