The Last Great Day

You know, brethren, haven't we had a great feast? I mean, just think about it. A few months ago, we were wondering if we were going to have a feast. Then we'd be able to think, well, maybe it will be a virtual feast. We'll be at home, and we'll have video, and Zoom, and being in our pajamas, you know, all that kind of thing. But here we are, and it's just been a marvelous time, mostly because of what we've had spiritually. You know, on opening day, we talked about why have we come? We've come to worship our very special God, and we've done that. We've had tremendous messages all throughout the course of this feast. We talked about how we've come to fellowship with our very special brethren. And over the time that I know my wife and I have been here, you've been here, we've enjoyed fellowship before and after services, at various meals, activities. It's been wondrous. And of course, as we also mentioned on opening day, we've come here to be inspired by our very special future, very special future. And of course, today is the last of God's holy days. It is a great day, a very great day, where billions upon billions of people will be resurrected to have their first opportunity at eternal life. Truly a great day. I thought to begin my message today, I would just take a look at the fact—you know, again, we—I mentioned this on the first day—that one of the great biblical truths is that God is love. And I made mention as well that that truth in action is expressed through giving. We read—I'm not going to turn there—but we read John 3 in verse 16. For God so loved the world that He gave.

He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Our God is a giver. And one of the—there are so many great gifts that He's given to us. And some of the greatest gifts that He's given to us are the festivals. Let me just take a moment to briefly go through what we've covered this past year. And we'll just take this very briefly. We think about the Passover—how that our sins have been forgiven.

You know, if you are repentant, if you've accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, your sins have been forgiven. What does that mean in terms of a gift from God? Now, yes, we may have some consequences as a result of sin. Sin has its consequences. But in terms of our sins themselves, as Isaiah wrote, God takes those and throws them behind His back. A tremendous gift. We have been given the opportunity to have our consciences purged, being written in the Lamb's Book of Life. We have been given new life in Jesus Christ—a free gift from God.

You know, there are plenty of people who spend plenty of money to see therapists, to have the sort of discussions that we can have with God in Scripture, about a conscience being cleared or purged, about sins being forgiven, about a new slate of life given to us. We've got the Days of Unleavened Bread. We've got two of those. God wanted to make that an emphasis. You know, we talked about 2 Timothy, chapter 3. Several of us mentioned that in the course of our sermons and studies and so forth during the Feast. We made mention—I made mention about there in 2 Timothy, chapter 3—a formula for change. How God teaches us, convicts us, corrects us, instructs us in righteousness. We get sin out. We have His righteousness that comes in. That's a gift from God to know what sin is, to know what the wrong things are, to know what brings awful consequences, and yet to live His way that brings tremendous blessings.

We've got the Day of Pentecost, where God gives us His power to live this new life in Christ.

We understand from Galatians, chapter 5, the fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Those are aspects of our Father's character. And He gives us as a gift His Holy Spirit that you and I can begin to think on the same level and live on the same level as our Father and elder brother. We've got trumpets. Jesus Christ returns a second coming to establish the kingdom of God. We have an opportunity as the resurrected saints, as the bride of Christ, to make a real difference. We're living in a time when we've got a presidential election just around the corner.

And life is going to go on in this country, no matter who's elected.

But there's coming a day when you are resurrected that you, with your brothers and sisters, under God the Father and Jesus Christ, will have an opportunity to share the gifts of what we're experiencing right now, and even more so. An opportunity to teach others about this new life in Christ. The opportunity we have to really make a difference. We've got the Day of Atonement, where we have the gift of Satan and his demons being bound. We've got the gift that mankind, you know, we appreciate as the firstfruits what God has been doing with us. But here on the Day of Atonement, we have something much more where we've got the opportunity for universal reconciliation.

Satan's put away, and in a millennium, and a great way from judgment, they don't have to worry about him anymore. Then, of course, we've got the great gift of the Feast of Tabernacles. Talk about an opportunity for making real difference, where with God's help, with our brothers' help, Jesus Christ, we have the opportunity to rebuild society based on God's standards, based on God's law. These are tremendous gifts that God gives to us. And then we come to today, the last of the festivals, the Great Day. Because this day portrays a time when billions upon billions of people who've never had their first opportunity. It's not a second chance. It's their first real opportunity to understand the truth of God. It's a tremendous biblical truth. You know, this last summer, I made a point to go visit my kids and my grandkids, and my daughter wanted to take me over to see my parents' graves. She does a very nice job of taking care of that in my absence. And so we went over there, and we were taking a look at my mom and dad and their graves. But as we were walking to the gravesite, I noticed other graves.

And especially the ones where the markers are those flat ones. You've seen those, where there's some sort of marble or granite or something, and then they've got the plaque on there. And I noticed a number of them, the grass had overgrown to the place there was only a little bit left. You couldn't tell a name or who was down there. And it got my mind to thinking. I've said back home in Aloyda, in Chicago, so many times—not every time, but so many times—when I'm passing by a cemetery and I see all those headstones, just think, you know what? Those people are going to live again. They're going to have an opportunity. Truly a great day. A truly great day. So, brethren, if you want to take notes today, the theme that I have for you is this. It's a little wordy today. I'll repeat it a couple of times for you. The last great day pictures a time when God offers His life-altering grace to all mankind. The last great day pictures a time when God offers His life-altering grace to all mankind. Now, He makes that offer. They don't have to accept it, but He makes the offer. And I'm hoping it's 100% that accept, but we'll have to wait and see on that. Now, to properly frame—I want to go through the meaning of the day today—but to properly frame that before we get to the meaning of the day, I want to give some context to this last great day. The context I want to cover with you is how loving our God is, how loving our God is, and also, what's grace? What's going to be extended to these billions upon billions of people? Now, obviously, both of those subjects can be sermons, many sermons to themselves, so we're going to kind of do an overview of both of those ideas. But we want to frame the whole meaning of this day with the fact that our God is a loving God, and our God extends grace in the beauty of what that is. Okay, let's take a look at this idea of God's love for us. Brethren, God's love for us is an intense, personal love. It's a hands-on love for people.

To God our Father and Jesus Christ, our elder brother, people are not a cause. People are not a project. People are not a photo op. People are not a sound bite. I'd like to turn to just a couple of examples with this idea. Let's go to Mark 7. And we're going to read this, and then we're going to come back and analyze Mark 7, verse 31.

Mark 7, verse 31. And again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, he came through the midst of the region of Decapolis, to the Sea of Galilee. Then they brought him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. And they begged him to put his hand on him. And he took him aside from the multitude, put his fingers in his ears, and spat on his tongue, spat in his fat, and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said, Ethethth, that is, be opened.

Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. Brethren, when we think about those who are to be resurrected, maybe we're thinking about, in my case, I think about my father. I think about my brother. You know, we've had discussions about people who've been in the church all these years, you know, four or five generations and so forth. Well, I guess I'm a multi-generation pagan.

You know, my family's not ever been in a church. I came into the church when I was 15 on my own. Later on, my sister came, and later on, I was able to baptize my mother. But when you take a look and you think about how God is going to work with all these billions, you think about your family members, or maybe next-door neighbors, or business associates.

When they come up, you want very much for them to be tenderly worked with, gently worked with, lovingly worked with, to be worked with a great deal of nurturing. And look what we see here. Okay, so they brought, verse 32, they brought to him one who was a death and had him in a speech. So this individual had some challenges in life. Just like those who were going to be coming up have had challenges in their lives.

And Christ took him aside from the multitude. You know, brethren, what we have here is a formula for loving service. Jesus Christ took this man aside. You know, when you've got these challenges that this individual had, it's easy to kind of melt away into the crowd. You know, Jesus Christ took him aside. He wanted this man to realize you're not just a part, you're just not a cog in a human machine here.

You're an individual. I'm going to, you know, there's plenty of people who want my attention, Christ could have thought. But Christ did say, or acted on the fact that he was going to take this man aside. They were going to lock eyes, and he was going to, you know, intervene in his life. He wanted to have this man's full attention. He gave this man his full attention. And notice, and he put his fingers in his ears, and spat and touched his tongue. He wanted this individual not only to be separated from the group, but he wanted to make sure this man understood.

I know what your challenges are. I know the handicaps you face. We're about to deal with those. The same way God and we, as the family of God, are going to be working with the multitudes who come up in that last great day. Put his fingers in his ears, spat in his tongue, spat and touched his tongue, and looked up to heaven. This man was not blind. His eyes probably were focused on Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, again, was telegraphing something to him.

He looked up to God where the healing was going to come from. And looking up to heaven, he sighed. Again, he wasn't to the place where he was blind. I'm sure you can see that Christ was sighing. Christ didn't like the idea that this poor man was going through what he was going through. And he sent him a fath of that as, be opened. And immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loose, and he spoke plainly.

So yes, what we see here is a physical healing. And we're going to have that in the Great White Throne Judgment period in that last great day. But I think, Greta, there's more here than that. There's coming a time when people's ears are going to be opened to understand the truth of the gospel message. The truth of God, their hearts and their minds are going to be opened. Their tongues are going to be able to sing the praises of God.

So what are we seeing here when we take a look at this? Well, we're seeing a lot of things. Well, we're seeing the love of Jesus Christ. But we're also seeing something else. We're seeing the grace of God in action. We're seeing love and grace in action in this example.

The same things are going to be taking place with those people who come up on that last great day. Let's take a look now at Mark 1. The other example I want to share with you. Mark 1.

Again, we'll read just a few verses here and then discuss.

Mark 1, verse 40. Now a leper came to him, imploring him, kneeling down to him and saying to him, If you are willing, you can make me clean. Then Jesus moved with compassion, stretched out his hand and touched him and said, I am willing, be cleansed. As soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

You know, brethren, we talk and we have these examples in the scriptures about lepers. And we kind of read through those and maybe we don't give it as much thought as we should. But you know, here's an individual and we don't know his background.

Was he born a leper? I doubt that. But here's an individual who, when he was born as he was growing up, probably had all sorts of hopes and dreams for the future.

Maybe he wanted to be a businessman, wanted to get married, have children, have grandchildren, wanted to do various things in his life. And then one day, he saw something on his body and he hoped he wasn't seeing what he thought he was seeing. And then it came to him, yes, I am seeing this. This is the beginning of leprosy. And his life changed radically. He was basically just fellowshiped in the sense that he was no longer allowed to go to services, religious festivals, religious worshiping and that sort of thing with a group. He had to live a life in isolation from his family, from his friends, from his neighbors, from work. People had to keep so many feet away from him. It's interesting when you read Alfred, what's his name here? Eldershem's book that, according to Jewish law, you had to stay six feet away. Six feet away. That's if there was no wind. If there was wind, then it was 100 feet or more. But also remember this. A leper, as he went through any place that was public, he had to cry out, on clean, on clean. Now, brethren, think about yourself for a moment.

We've got some beautiful people in this room. But we also have people who think that they're too fat, or they're too skinny, or they don't like their hair, or their nose, or their ears, or their feet.

Can you imagine what it... You think about your body for a moment, and your body image. Maybe you think that you've got something that is just awful. How would you like to go through a crowd just shouting that out? Big nose. Big nose. You know? As people here of God, you know, we're wearing our suits. The ladies are wearing very nice dresses, and, you know, everyone's trying to dress their finest. But a leper had to wear a certain kind of clothing that pointed them out as a leper. What did that do to their psyche? What did that do to them?

What did it do to them when people saw them, and the leper could see terror in the eyes of those around? What did it do? What did it do to you or me? And yet, this individual came to Jesus Christ. Christ's eyes were filled with love. Christ didn't divert his eyes. Christ didn't run away. Christ touched him. When was the last time this leper was touched by anyone other than another leper? Christ touched him. I can only imagine at that point he became a crying mess.

What do we see there? We see God's love. We see God's grace.

Now, I selected that particular episode because this last great day, it doesn't just picture our favorite grandpa or grandma who never knew the truth or the next-door neighbor we loved so much who didn't know the truth. There are society's lepers. There are the Joe Stylons. There are the Adolf Hitler's. They're coming up. And you can volunteer for whoever you want to take.

But they're coming up in that resurrection as well.

And there's where you really see God's grace, don't you?

You know, if God can work with an Adolf Hitler or a Joe Stalin, and of course, you're probably thinking, well, God has to work with me. I'm kind of a stinker. I'm kind of a rascal. You know, you can mention I baptized my mother.

There was my dad died in 1977. He was 55. My brother died three years later. He was 36. Both died of heart attacks. I'm a dell'esandro clan. I'm the longest living man at 68. But I remember going to visit my mom. I brought a pizza. We were going to just share a pizza and talk and so forth. And she was fasting. I said, Mom, I brought a pizza.

Not going to eat them fasting. Why are you fasting? Well, I need to determine whether I'm going to keep Christmas and Easter for the last great day.

It made a difference in her life. What do we see here? We see the love of God working in people's lives. It was interesting because the understanding of the last great day was a key part of my mother's conversion, understanding that day. Because my father and my brother were not religious people in any way, shape, or form. When my brother died, my sister-in-law was in the charismatic religion. Her pastor did the ceremony. He didn't explicitly point at my brother in his coffin and say, That guy's going to hell. But he all but said that. My mother leaned over and said, Randy, why can't he give us some hope? So this day means a great deal to my family. What do we see here? We see God's love. We see God's grace to open our hearts and minds. Baptized Mom, 1984. And I'm standing off from the baptismal tank. It was a horse trough. Mom went to go get dressed, and she comes back down. She sees me smiling. I'm standing off to the side. Randy, what are you smiling about? I said, Mom, for a change, I got to lay hands on you.

Okay, so that frames the idea that the people who are coming up in this last great day are coming up to have a God, to have Jesus Christ, to have you as the saints, the resurrected saints, show them a great deal of love and tenderness. Oh, there's a time for correction. There will be time for straight talk and all of that. But, you know, a lot of love, a lot of tenderness, a lot of compassion. Let's take a look at this idea of grace. Let's turn to a key Scripture in this whole discussion about the last great day, Acts 4 and verse 12. You can't speak on this day without turning to this Scripture. Acts 4 and verse 12.

Acts 4 and verse 12. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. No other name. The name of Jesus Christ. Well, how about all those people who never heard of Jesus Christ? All those people who lived prior to Christ? All those people who lived when Christ lived, but they couldn't have known about Him? And, of course, all the billions of people who lived and, of course, all the billions of people who lived since.

Salvation, we have to have God's grace to be saved. Now, what do you and I know about God's grace?

How are the people who come up in the last great day, the great white throne judgment period, when they're resurrected? How is God's grace involved? Let's take a look at Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9.

Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Grace, the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. You know, we've used the phrase, grace is unmerited favor. And there's nothing wrong with that definition, but it's not the most complete definition. Because grace is more than what God has done for us in the past. You know, there's a theological term you can use, justification, where your past sins are forgiven and you've got right standing before God.

Grace also includes how we live our lives. There's a religious sounding word there, sanctification, right living before God. Here in this section we've read verse 8 and 9, talking about our sins being forgiven, talking about it's the gift of God. But now look at verse 10, which is also a part of grace. For we are as workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Grace is the power to live graciously. We're not only to be the recipients of God's grace, we are to be conduits of that grace. In your notes, you might want to jot down Acts chapter 6 and verse 8. Acts chapter 6 and verse 8. I'm going to read this from the Amplified version. Acts chapter 6 and verse 8. Now Stephen, again this is the Amplified, Acts 6-8. Now Stephen, full of grace, in parentheses divine blessing and favor, and power, in parentheses strength and ability, in parentheses, were great wonders and signs, parentheses miracles among the people. Here's a man that was full of grace, but that grace allowed him to live a certain way, to be a great Christian. So when the people come up in this resurrection on this last great day, not only will the God family be loving and nurturing for them, they've got to teach them about grace, have them have a good understanding about grace. Let's go to 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 9. 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 9.

Brethren, grace is vital to the mechanics of salvation. If the people who are coming up on this day are going to receive salvation, they need to understand the mechanics of grace.

Verse 9. Talking about God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. Our calling, our holy calling, is according to God's grace. It's by God's grace that your hearts and your minds were opened. And I don't care whether you are a first-generation Christian like me or you're a fifth-generation Christian. God's grace still had to work in your heart and mind. If you were a fourth or fifth-generation Christian, you still had to allow God's grace to have you want to accept this faith, to live according to this faith, to accept this faith. It's no longer mom and dad and grandpa and great-grandpa's faith. It's yours because you see the beauty of it, and God, through his grace, has opened your heart and mind to just understand that. Let's turn to a scripture we read on Passover, Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 7.

Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 7.

This idea about the forgiveness, the justification, our past sins being forgiven. Ephesians 1, 7, and him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. According to the riches of his grace. There's a couple of scriptures here in the book of Acts chapter 20 that we need to turn to as well. Acts chapter 20.

Acts chapter 20 and verse 24. Notice how the gospel, you know, the gospel is a multifaceted topic, much like love. There are many different aspects of love, faith. There's many different aspects of faith. Same thing is true with what we can discuss. The gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of the kingdom of God. Notice here, Acts chapter 20, verse 24. But none of these things move me, do I count my life dear to myself so I might finish my race with joy and a ministry which I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God? Notice the name there, the gospel of the grace of God. God's grace has something to do with the gospel, doesn't it? You see that right there. We drop down to verse 32, same chapter. So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace. To the word of His grace which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

To the word of His grace, understanding the scriptures come by the grace of God.

You know, I gave a similar topic a number of years ago. I remember talking, as it turned out a number of years ago, it seemed like Mr. Fay and I, Mr. Fay and me, he always wanted to correct me on that. He was always right. I always got that wrong. I got to rethink that all the time, you know, you and I and you and me think. But he said, Randy, grace deals with every aspect of our lives. You know, we were talking on the phone about our messages on the last great day. I normally had the morning message and he normally had the afternoon message. Grace has to do with everything. And I've never forgotten the way he phrased that, just the way he said that just stuck with me. As a matter of fact, let's turn to Acts 17. Let's go back a few chapters. Acts 17. In verse 28, Acts 17 and 28, For in him we live and move and have our being. As also some of your own poets have said, for we are his offspring. For in him we live and move and have our being. It's by the grace of God we live. It's by the grace of God right now. You know, I may mention grace is expressed in a variety of forms. Some people have labeled one type of grace as universal grace. Universal grace. Every human being enjoys universal grace. You know, in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 45, I'm not going to turn there, but it talks about how the sun and the rain falls on the evil and on the good. The just and the unjust. We're sitting here and our hearts are beating. You know, from the moment that we, in the womb, our hearts were beating. We don't have to think about it. It's God's grace that allows that heart to beat. Now sometimes there are situations where that heart stops beating. For me, it was August 28, 2015. I was scheduled to come and to run the feast in Wisconsin Dells, but no, I had to stop and have a quadruple bypass. Crack opened my chest, stopped my heart. Poor little guy had to stop there on a machine that would allow my blood to be pumped, me to breathe for a number of hours. I think it was six hours. And then when they were all done, they harvested a vein out of my leg. And whenever they talked to you and say they've harvested something out of your body, that never gives you a good feeling.

They harvested this vein and they did their work and then it was time to start the little guy up again. And they started him up and he's been going pretty good since. You know, I've got to take medication to make sure he doesn't pump too fast or too slow. But, you know, I'm not going to do that. But, you know, he's doing his little guy's doing his job. That's the grace of God. That's the universal grace of God. There's what we call overcoming grace. You see that, I'm not going to turn here, but in Hebrews 4, verse 16, where Paul talks about the grace to help in time of need. Grace to help in time of need. So, all of that being said, we've taken a look now at, I think we've framed the subject for getting ready now to talk about the meaning of the last great day. We've talked about God's love. We've talked about God's grace. How God is going to deal with all these billions of people that come up. You know, we think about the Feast of Tabernacles that has come and gone. You know, from the sermons you've heard over the years on trumpets, what this earth is going to be like at the beginning of the millennium. You know, there's the prophecies in Isaiah that talk about how the earth is kind of stumbling around like a drunkard. You know, people thought, well, will the earth be knocked off its axis a little bit? Who knows? Here, not that long ago, that one earthquake in Japan, the islands were moved, I think, six or eight inches. These things happen in our lifetime already.

So, you know, we know that at the beginning of the millennium, this world will be in rough, rough shape. Wholesale loss of human life. You know, the scriptures in Amos that talk about how the Israelites, maybe one person in ten, will live through. Now, I don't know if that holds true for the rest of mankind, but tremendous wholesale loss of life. We see that in the book of Revelation.

But during the course of one thousand years, God, the family of God, helped to do things, to teach people, but also God is going to... And we see it at the end, you know, some of the scriptures we see in Revelation where mountains are being leveled and islands are being moved around. God is changing the typography of the world so that this world, after a thousand years, will be one big breadbasket, one big Garden of Eden. I think I may mention here in Wisconsin, probably over in Dells, scientists have found, or geologists have found, that under the Sahara, there is a freshwater supply greater than the Great Lakes. But it's so far down, it's not economical to get to. But we see in Scripture about, you know, the pools coming up and so on and so forth. God has a way of getting at things, and God's not worried about expense. So this whole world is going to be a Garden of Eden. So that shows the love of God. It shows the grace of God. Now let's take a look at the meaning of this day. The meaning of this day.

We've seen the dilemma that the people of the world have. We've read Acts 4 and verse 12, where it says, where there's, nor is there salvation in any other, for there's no other name under heaven, given among men by which we must be saved.

People who don't understand the truth don't know what to do with that Scripture. And you know, brethren, you may not have, and I certainly don't have, a PhD degree. I don't know what my IQ is, but I do know what that verse means. And so do you, because we've been given the gift of God's Spirit. Our minds and hearts have been open. We know that there are other answers in Scripture. Let's start taking a look at these and look at the clues God has for us. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 2 again. Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians chapter 2 verses 11 and 12.

Therefore, remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, were called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. So are all people lost because they weren't living in the right era or because they didn't have the ability to know who Christ was?

Are they all? Of course not. God doesn't intend for everyone to understand His truth at this time. We understand that. We understand that. If God wanted everybody to understand, they would understand. Correct? Yeah, they would understand. But God is fair. God loves people. God wants the best for everybody. And so there are more scriptures for us to read. But let's go back before we get into a lot of those scriptures or a number of those scriptures. Let's go back to Leviticus 23. Again, we're taking a look here at the meaning of the day. We want to make sure we touch base with Leviticus 23. Leviticus 23, starting in verse 34 here, Speaking to the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, you shall do no customary work on it. For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day, on the eighth day, you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it. You drop down to verse 39. Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered the fruit of the land, you will keep a feast to the Lord for seven days. On the first day there shall be a Sabbath rest, and on the eighth day a Sabbath rest. The eighth day, of course, we've made mention that we call this the last great day. Why? Well, it's the last... there's a number of explanations. There's not my point here to go through all of that, but it's the last of God's holy days, and it certainly is a great day. And there are other scriptures we can read from John 6 and other scriptures, but we're not going to go through all that right now. So how is God working with mankind? Let's do a little detective work. Let's go to 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3.

2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 9.

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise of some kind of slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

God wants everybody to have their opportunity. Not a first and a second chance, no. Everybody gets one chance. Billions upon billions of people have never had that one opportunity. Not yet. Their time is coming. As a matter of fact, let's take a look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

The resurrection chapter. 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 22 and 23.

1 Corinthians 15 verse 22. For as an Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive, but each one in his own order. Christ the first-roots, afterwards those who are Christ, that is coming. So there is an order of resurrections. And again, a lot of people don't understand that. Oh, they may think, well, there's the first resurrection and there's a, maybe a resurrection to the lake of fire. Maybe they see some of that. But do they see that there are three resurrections?

God in His love for us has opened our mind to understand that. To understand there is an order of resurrections. Let's understand that more carefully. Let's go to Revelation chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20.

Revelation chapter 20. We'll start here in verse, we'll start here in verse 4.

Revelation chapter 20 and verse 4.

And I saw thrones, and they had sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus, and for the word of God who had not worshipped the beast nor his image, and not received the mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived in a reign with Christ for a thousand years.

Okay, so we understand there's a first resurrection. We've got 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. We've got 1 Corinthians chapter 15. We've got Matthew chapter 24 and verse 27. It talks about how when Christ returns, the saints are going to be resurrected. He's going to come like lightning from the east to the west. And the saints are going to meet him in the clouds. But here we see, again, another discussion about this resurrection. But notice verse 5. But the rest of the dead, the rest of the dead that lived again until a thousand years were finished.

Then it says this is the first resurrection, that last sentence, going back to verse 4. But the rest of the dead. Oh! Verse 6. Blessed and holy is he who is part in this first resurrection, over such a second death as no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with them a thousand years. So there's another resurrection alluded to here. Let's look at same chapter, Revelation 20, verse 11. Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, and who's faced the earth, and heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. Now again, brethren, the wording here is much different than we see in 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Corinthians 15, Matthew 24, verse 27. Here we see something alluded to earlier in this chapter. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were opened.

Well, those in the first resurrection already had the books opened. This group never had those books open to this point. Now, what books are we talking about? The word here, I think, is Biblia. The books of the Bible were open to them for the first times where they could really understand. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. This had never happened to this group before. So this can't be the first resurrection we're talking about. It's another resurrection where people never had an opportunity to understand the Bible or have their names written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. They've got to live their lives as well. Just as you have got to live your life, and you've got to live your life according to what we see in the Bible, so do those people. They don't automatically—they're not automatically resurrected and turned into spirit beings. We don't want to see Adolf Hitler resurrected and turned into a spirit being without him deeply repenting, correct? Correct. So Revelation 20, verses 11 and 12 refer to the second resurrection. A resurrection to mortal life for those who died in spiritual ignorance. Their time of salvation is yet to occur. Now let's look at a parallel scripture, a beautiful scripture over here in Ezekiel 37.

Ezekiel 37. And we'll start here in verse 3.

Ezekiel 37, verse 3. And he said to me, Son of Man, can these bones live?

Bones. Physical. So I answered, O Lord God, you know. Again he said to me, Props I to these bones and say to them, O dry bones. These bones are dry. They've been down there a long time. You know, isn't it amazing? Every human being who's ever lived, God is going to resurrect. People who lived thousands and thousands of years ago, whose bones have long since turned to dust, who have been forgotten by society, been forgotten by history, been forgotten by their own relatives. But God knows where they are. God has saved that spirited man that was them.

And God is going to recreate them physically and set them on the earth again.

Props I to these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones, surely I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live. I'll put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and you shall live. Then you will know, you shall know that I am the Lord. Notice these people are not being resurrected to spiritual life. God is giving them the breath of life. God is giving them the spirit in man. God is putting flesh and bone together to give them a physical existence.

A tremendous picture here. Again, this is not the first resurrection.

We drop down to verse 11. Then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Of course, this represents all of mankind as well. They indeed say, our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off. Well, no. I mean, that's the way they think about it, but that's not what God has in mind. God's not resurrecting them to cut them off. God has something very powerful in mind for them. Verse 12. Therefore, prophecy and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up from your graves. That gets a person's attention, correct? That gets a person's attention. Verse 14. I will put my... it doesn't say, but I will put my Holy Spirit in you. You know, they've got to do their part. You know, they've got to repent and accept Christ as their Savior, just like we do. But the possibility is there. I will put my Spirit in you and you shall live. I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, says the Lord. You talk about a tremendous gift, the gift of the Holy Spirit being offered to billions upon billions of people. Truly a great day. A great day. But we're not done. Let's take a look here at verses 26 and 27, same chapter, Ezekiel 37, verse 26. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them, and I shall be an everlasting covenant with them. I will establish them and multiply them and set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle shall also be with them. Indeed, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. As God has offered you the new covenant, they will be offered the new covenant. They will have their opportunity. It's up to them whether they accept that opportunity and accept the way of God, just like it's up to us to do the same thing.

But the last great day, brethren, pictures a time when God offers his life giving, his life-altering grace to all mankind. Truly, truly, brethren, a last great day when billions upon billions can possibly be added to the family of God.

Brethren, that's it. I'm done. Let's take the education we received here at this feast. And we've had a tremendously good spiritual feast. People back home say, well, how was your feast?

I'm going to say, you know what? The messages we received in Pee-Waukee, Wisconsin, were wonderful. I felt I was educated. I felt I was inspired. There were times I felt I was corrected, and that's good. That's good. Educated and inspired, corrected. We've gained so much at this feast, but let's go home, brethren, and remember something. You and I have been called, and we are to be dedicated to being about our Father's business. Let us go home, but let's not forget what we've learned here at this feast, and let us be about our Father's business.