The Meaning of the Last Great Day

You know, this has been a wonderful feast. I haven't talked to anyone who has said, well, this has been a terrible feast. This has been a marvelous feast that God has given to us. We know that it's His gift. It's something that He has shared with us. He has fed us at His banquet table. And I think that we can all rejoice with that. I believe the emphasis has been on the seriousness of the times that we live in and how we relate to being prepared and getting ready for the future, and especially our responsibilities and duties as teachers. Again, I had a whole litany of thank yous here. I think I can skip that.

I would like to just say again, thank you for everyone here, and especially our young adults, our young teens. Many of them have shown their willingness and faithfulness to serve, to jump in, and to help. And we know it's not easy for a young person in this age to really serve God, so we appreciate that deeply. There was a conference once held in Jerusalem, Acts 15. The apostle Paul took the ruling from that conference to a number of churches afterwards.

In Acts 16, he came to Troats. And while there, God gave the apostle Paul a vision of the future. This turned to Acts 16 in verse 9. Acts 16 in verse 9. The apostle Paul, as we read here, says, a vision appeared to Paul, in the night a man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, Come over to Macedonia. Why? And help us! They realized they needed help. The Greek word simply means help or to sucker or to bring aid. In some way, they needed strengthening and they needed some help. In what way did Paul and his company give them help? Well, if you notice in verse 10, it says, Now, after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia and concluded that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

So the help that they were going to be bringing to that area was spiritual help. They were going to bring the fundamental truths, the basic teachings of God to them.

Paul recognized that the cure for man's problems is revealed in the Holy Scriptures, in the Bible. It's not something you can cocked in your mind. It's not some philosophy that a person dreams up, but it comes out of the Word of God, God's revelation to us on how to live, how to conduct our lives. I believe the same cry goes up from humanity today. People are asking, Help us!

People are crying out for help. They don't know where to go for help. We're able to help them today and to help those that God calls with the truth, with His way of life. What about the rest of the world, though? Do the Africans need help today? What about the subcontinent in the Far East? I think that all nations need help to eradicate the spiritual ignorance, the harmful lifestyles that they live, the destructive nature of their ways of life. So you'll find that there are many people out there, and God has yet to call many. When they are called, will they need help? When their minds are open, will they truly need help? I believe that that comes down to one of the fundamental reasons why we're here and why God has given us this last great day. What is the need for this day in God's plan? Why is there need for this final holy day, the eighth day? The Feast of Tabernacles is over. This is the eighth day. This is a separate festival. We all realize that billions have died never knowing Jesus Christ. Billions of people have died never knowing the true God or the good news of the coming Kingdom of God. When you stop and think about it, you've had whole civilizations come and go. What about the Roman civilization? What about the Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Egyptian? Those people never knew Christ. They never knew the plan of God. They never had a Bible. When you go back and you look at it, there was 1656 years from the time of creation to the flood. And yet when the flood came, God looked down and He found one man, Noah, who was righteous in his eyes. And God saved Noah and his family. All the rest of them died never having the opportunity to know God's way. God chose Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt. They came to the Promised Land. The other nations around them were all involved in idolatry. They did not know God's way. God chose Israel to be a light, an example, a pinnacle that would shine for these people. And yet, you find instead of Israel being a light, they followed the nations around them. Daniel, during the days that he lived, spoke to the heads, the rulers of Babylon and Persia. And yet, the vast majority of the people never heard any message from Daniel. And those leaders who did did not really respond to it. And so you find that the majority of people do not and have not had an opportunity to know God's truth. Have never been exposed to the Bible, never heard about Jesus Christ, do not know the right way to live, have gone through their lifetime living what they thought was the right way. And as the Bible says in a couple of places in Proverbs, that everybody does what seems right in his own eyes. People follow their own dictates. But let's notice in Acts 4 and verse 10 to begin with.

Acts 4.10, a very crucial scripture, says, Let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucify, whom God raised from the dead by him, this man stands before you whole.

A layman had been healed. Everybody knew that this man had been lame, and yet here he was, leaping and jumping had been truly physically healed. But notice verse 12.

It says, Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven, given among men by which we must be saved. You can only be saved through Jesus Christ. He is our Savior. He died for our sins. He shed his blood. He was a sacrifice. You cannot have eternal life believing in other gods. You have to believe in the true God. There are many religions on earth today, and they have their own gods or they have their concepts of God. And when they teach about their gods or what they believe, if it does not measure up to what the Bible says, it's not the truth. What this means is that ultimately the Jews, the Muslims, the Buddhists, the Shintoists, any other religion that you can think of, is going to have to acknowledge that the God of the Bible is God. That the gods that they have worshipped, the beliefs that they have held, the practices that they have practiced, that all of these have been false, and that there is salvation only through Jesus Christ. And you and I are going to have an opportunity in the future to teach them about the true God and who the real Jesus Christ is. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself, why does God have a 7,000 year plan?

From what we can understand, the weekly cycle is a type of the 7,000 year plan of God, a day for a year. And why has God, during this first 6,000 years, why has God allowed suffering, violence, wars, misery, divorce, killings, mayhem, confusion, everything that you see about us on the earth today? You would think that God would have said, well, I'm only going to have a 5,000 year plan, or a 4,000 year plan. Guess what would have happened if there had only been a 5,000 year plan? You wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be here. We would not have a chance at salvation. But there is a good reason why God determined to have a plan the length that He has. God is the one, as we heard this morning, who determines the times. And as Hebrews tells us, God wants to bring many sons to glory. God wants to share His level of existence, His plane of existence, with many and as many as possible.

One day, God is going to carry that out. It's significant, it's been estimated, that there are anywhere between 50 to 100 billion people who have lived on the earth.

It's hard to imagine 50 billion people coming up in a resurrection and being alive at once.

And what do you do with them? This day pictures the great white throne judgment. It pictures the time of the second resurrection when God extends the first chance at salvation to most humanity. Right in the very beginning, mankind was cut off from the tree of life. When Adam and Eve took of the wrong tree, they were driven out of the Garden of Eden. There was a carob set there that prevented them from coming back and taking the tree of life. From that time forward, mankind as a whole has been cut off from God, has been blinded, has been deceived by Satan, the devil. Mankind has been cut off from spiritual knowledge. Man only can understand knowledge on a certain level, which is physical knowledge, human knowledge. And so for six thousand years, man has been trying to solve his own problems. And eventually, the human race will have to come to admit, we do not have the answers. We do not know how to end war. We do not know how to live abundant lives. We don't know the way to peace. And man is going to have to acknowledge that. I asked a question to start with. Why has God allowed suffering, sorrow, disease, wars, crime, murders, violence? Why has God allowed that all to continue, even down to our day today?

God has allowed mankind to try every form of government you can think of. He's tried every form of religion. He's tried every philosophy that a person can dream. He's come up with everything. Economic system that you can think of. Various types of culture that man has come up with. And guess what? None of them have worked. Can you point to any type of government that has solved man's problems? Has socialism, democracy, Republican, dictatorship? You can name them all. None of them have worked. None of them have brought peace to this earth. None of them have ended war, ended poverty, ended divorce, ended bad marriages, ended crime, ended destruction. None of that has occurred because of man's attempts. Man's attempts have been futile.

If God had not allowed man to try every form of government, every way of life, mankind would say, we haven't tried everything. I think that we can solve our own problems. I believe we have the key. I believe we know how to do it. And so God has allowed man to try it all. To live every way that you can think of. And finally, he comes to the point of total destruction of the human race. Matthew 24. Let's go over there. In verse 21, the Scripture is quite common. It's been referred to several times here. Matthew 24 and verse 21. We find right before Christ returns that there will be great tribulations such as not been since the beginning of the world until this time known nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. That means saved alive. But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened.

If God did not intervene, all flesh would be destroyed. Human race would cease to exist. And so God is going to have to intervene. And he's going to have to tell mankind at the beginning of the millennium, see if I had not intervened, you would have destroyed all life. And then here's the way, walk you in it, and man will be given an alternative. Those who come up in the great white throne judgment, as we learned this morning, Mr. Curt Patrick, will see a world that is vastly different, a world that has changed, a world that's been under God's government for a thousand years, and that has been blessed by God for a thousand years.

God will resurrect them, and he will say, look, this is a result of going my way. Do you remember your way? And people will remember back, and maybe they died in a war. Their last conscious moment was a bullet going through their brain, or dying in a car wreck. It could have been a sickness, a disease that they died from. And so human beings will remember the way the world was, and all the suffering and the misery, the pain, the violence, the wars.

This last century has been estimated that we've had over a hundred million, I think one estimate was 150 million people who have died in warfare. There have been people who have died down through the ages in warfare, and God will say, remember the way it used to be? Here, God will have a clear example to show them, this is what happens when you go my way. And then God will teach them, and they will have to make a choice, and they'll probably have a lifetime to make that choice. For most of them, it will be their second chance to live, but it will be their first chance for salvation. They'll have a chance to get it right. How many times have you said, if I could only live my life over again? Knowing what I know now, if I could just do it all over again, what a difference it would make. What if you could go back and do it all over again as far as a marriage? Do it all over again as far as child rearing? We have five sons. I look back, and I think of all kinds of things I would do differently and rearing my children. If you could only do it again, if you could go back and redo relationships, jobs, all of this, well, these individuals will have that opportunity. Many nations, many people, have died by the billions, the majority over the centuries without any hope for the future. Most of them have never heard of the hope that you and I have. Let's go over to Ezekiel 37. Ezekiel 37, verse 11. This is talking about the time in the future when God is going to resurrect all of Israel, but notice their attitude. He said to me, Son of Man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off. How many people today have died without hope for the future, without knowing what the future holds for them, or if there is going to be a future? How many live in the third and the fourth world today who have no hope of a productive life? All that implies a proper education, healthy children, a wonderful marriage, mental and emotional, physical and spiritual needs that are met. My wife's mother is buried in Olly Branch, Mississippi.

In the graveyard, there is a monument. And on this monument is a testimony to the life of one family. This is only one family that has lived on the face of the earth. Billions of others have lived and shared a similar experience. On this one monument is recorded the death of a number of children.

One child died with cholera. A second child was born dead.

Another child died of pneumonia. Other children are listed. There were several children. Finally, there is a record of the mother and the wife who died.

She died very early in life after having given birth to all of these children.

She had experienced much anguish, much pain, much sorrow. She had seen almost every one of her children die after they were born. The husband and father eventually pays tribute to his beloved wife. And at the bottom of the monument is this phrase written, Here lies all my hopes, all my dreams, and my reason for living.

What a sad commentary about one life, one family, what had happened to them. All his hopes, all of his dreams were buried there in that ground. And here was a monument to it. How futile, how anguished, are the thoughts that are expressed there.

No probability he died without hope of seeing his family again, not understanding about the second resurrection and without hope.

Brethren, you and I are going to help bring that hope in the future.

Many have died in this world also leaving behind what I would call loose ends, incomplete lives and incomplete relationships. In many cases in this world and society, family relationships have not been beneficial and productive. We've all had loved ones who've died. In many cases, leaving so much unsaid, unforgiven, undone, unventished. Who do you want to see in the second resurrection? Who would you like to see resurrected and be able to converse with?

Perhaps as a woman you had a miscarriage and you would like to know about that child. Maybe your mate died early. Maybe a child was killed in an accident. Perhaps you never got to know your parents. Maybe a brother or a sister or grandparents died prematurely. We've missed out on all kinds of relationships. We deeply yearn to make connections with them. I would love to see my dad and my mother again. When your parents are gone and they're no longer with you, you have no one to go and talk to from that perspective. It makes a tremendous amount of difference. My dad never understood the truth. My mother did. I would love to be able to see my dad resurrected and sit down with him and say, dad, you remember that crazy religion? It was right. Here we are. And as Mr. Kirkpatrick said, glow a little bit. Go through a few walls. You explain that I'm a spirit being, but I can materialize. I can go from the spirit world, that dimension, to the physical world and be there with them. Many of us would love to be able to sit down with someone that we've been close to or we missed out as far as a relationship and sit down and talk to them.

What happens to the millions of abortions, miscarriages? Well, we're going to see that today is a day of hope. Today is a day when God will keep his promises, when God will show his faithfulness, and when God will show his patience. This is a day that reflects God's wisdom, the depth of his love, the depth of his commitment to the human race. Actually, it's a day that shows that God will fulfill his plan as he has said he would. You see, God's in a profession. He has a job.

That profession is the saving business. God is not a loser. God is not in the losing business. God is in the saving business. Salvation has to do with rescuing people from sin, rescuing people from Satan the devil, saving them from death, and ultimately giving them eternal life on the God plane. This is what God is in the business to do. Remember John 3, 16, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Why did God do that? Well, so we could be in his kingdom. Let's go over to 1 Timothy 2. 1 Timothy 2, verse 3.

Now, I want you to see what God's desire is. Beginning in verse 3, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, verse 4, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. This is God's desire. This is his hope. This is why God created the plan of salvation. This is why God brought the physical universe into existence so that you and I would have this opportunity, this chance to be in his family. All mankind, according to God's plan, will have the opportunity to be saved, to come to the knowledge of the truth. That simply has not happened as yet. Is God a respecter of persons? God would be a respecter of persons if he gives you and me an opportunity for salvation and does not give it to all humanity. You find that the majority of people who have lived have not had that opportunity. 2 Peter 3, verse 9, goes right along with what we just read. 2 Peter 3, verse 9, where we read that the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but he is long suffering toward us.

He's not willing that any should perish. So God's desire is that no one perish, but that all should come to repentance. Have all had a chance to repent yet? How can you repent unless God calls you? How can you repent unless your mind is open? How can you repent unless you know what sin is, the breaking of God's law? How can you repent unless God grants repentance to you? The majority have not had that chance as yet, but all will have a chance to eventually repent and to know the truth.

What about babies who have died prematurely? What about abortions? What about those who've never heard of the name of Jesus Christ? What about all the past civilizations, as we talked about? There is a promise from God that everyone will have that opportunity.

So what does religion say today? Popular religion. What do they tell you? What is their answer to this dilemma? Well, they don't really have a good answer to the dilemma, but the popular teaching today is this is the only day of salvation. You have your chance now when you die, that's it. You're either going to go to hell, purgatory, maybe Olympus and Pontium, heaven, and you've had your chance. There are those who also teach that one religion is not any better than the other, that everybody is going to go to heaven. It doesn't matter what kind of a religion you are, everybody's going to end up in the same place. Then there are those who believe in universal salvation, that is, everybody will be saved. It doesn't matter who you are, everybody will be saved. There will be nobody who will be lost. Then there are those who believe in reincarnation. You just keep coming back until you finally disappear. Almost all the world has died without understanding the truth yet, but they will understand. Let's go over to Ezekiel 16, the book of Ezekiel 16, verse 53.

This is a real head-scratcher when you look at scriptures.

Ezekiel 16, 53. God is talking to Judah, and He says, When I bring back their captivity, the captives of Sodom and her daughters, and the captives of Samaria and her daughters, I will also bring back the captives of your captives among them. In verse 55, When your sister Sodom and her daughters returned to their former estate. Now, stop and think what these scriptures say. The people who used to live in Sodom and Gomorrah are going to live again and return to their former estate where they used to live.

Samaria and her daughters will return to their former estate, and you and your daughters will return to your former estate. So this is talking about people who have been dead, who have died at different periods of time, all coming up at the same time. Notice the New Living Bible. Verse 53 again, Someday I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and Samaria, and I will restore you too. And verse 54, Then you will truly be ashamed of everything that you've done, for your sins may them feel good in comparison. Now, we know that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and yet God said that Sodom and Gomorrah, when they compared their sins to the people of ancient Judah, that they felt good about themselves. So here are people who come up at a time, and they are going to have a chance to be converted. It says, Yes, your sisters Sodom and Samaria and all the people will be restored, and at that time you also will be restored. Sodom and Gomorrah had died a long time ago and perished. The house of Israel had perished 125 years prior to this time, likewise. And so it's talking about people being resurrected to their former estates, and resurrected to physical life, and being able to repent. Now, when is this going to take place? I think most of us know that that's what this day pictures. The mystery lies in understanding this day. Let's look at a principle back here in Isaiah 49, in verses 14 and 15.

Isaiah 49, verses 14 and 15. Verse 14, this is talking about the beginning of the millennium.

Israel thinks that God has forgotten them because they've gone through the tribulation and all the suffering of the tribulation. And we read here, Zion says, The Lord has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her nursing child and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, but I will never forget you, God says. You women, if you've had a baby, and that baby is nursing, can you wake up one day and just forget that you had a baby? Obviously not. Your whole attention is focused on that child. And so it is with God. When you apply this principle, God will not forget to resurrect any human being who has ever lived.

What if God forgot to resurrect your parents? What if he forgot to resurrect your brother, your sister, your friend, grandparents, somebody you were looking forward to? And you would ask God, where are they? I see all of these billions of people, but where are my parents? And God will reply, well, you can't expect me to remember everything, can you?

I mean, is that the way God is going to treat it? Obviously not. In fact, Isaiah 40, and Isaiah 40, verses 25 and 26, Isaiah wrote that God calls all the stars by name.

Sometimes I can't even remember my name. And how often do we meet somebody that we met at the feast the year before and we say, I know your name and you can't remember their name. There are literally billions of galaxies. Each galaxy containing billions of stars.

Do you and I have a vocabulary of billions of names and God calls them all by name?

God is not going to forget anyone who has ever lived. How do we know that God will not forget anyone? Because He promises. And that's a fact. God cannot lie. If God makes a promise, if God says it's going to happen, it will happen. And so, John 5, 28, let's notice in John 5, 28, the promise that God gives to us. Do not marvel at this. The hours coming in which all, that means everybody, who are in the graves will hear His voice. They will come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. So, God will not forget anyone in the second resurrection. He says, all will come forward. So, there will be a resurrection to life, the first resurrection, and a resurrection to judgment, actually, as the word can be translated. God will not forget anyone. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 22, also makes the same point. 1 Corinthians 15, 22, For as an Adam all die, even so in Christ all, everybody shall be made alive. But each in his own order, so it shows not everybody is resurrected at the same time. There is an order, progression to the resurrection. Christ's first roots, He was the first one.

Afterwards, those that are Christ, that is coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers a kingdom to God and the Father, when He puts an end to all rule, all authority and power. So, we also find that all are not resurrected at the same time. Now, how is God able to keep a record of all who have lived? Have you ever stopped to think about that? How does He know when somebody dies? How does He keep a record of our thoughts, our memory, our character, our form, our shape? Maybe some of us would rather, God will forget our form and shape, character maybe.

How would you go about keeping a record of all the billions who have ever lived? Well, Job 32 and verse 8 gives us an inkling. I won't read that, but you can just jot it down. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 talks about the same thing. Job 32.8 tells us that there is a spirit in man. There is a spirit component that unites with our physical brain, and our physical brain produces the mind that we have. It is a non-physical component in the brain. It is a spirit essence. It is called the human spirit. The spirit in man by itself does not see, cannot hear, cannot think by itself. The brain sees through the eyes, hears through the ears, sees through the eyes, and it can think because it is empowered by the spirit. The spirit in man is the depository of memory and character. The spirit in man is like a mold. Probably, it also contains our DNA, our genetic pattern. It retains every human form and shape. Of those who have died, no longer alive. So that in the resurrection to judgment, those who have died shall look as they did in this life. Shall retain whatever character was established, remember everything that was stored in their memory. All of that will be there. Spirit in man is like a video tape or a DVD that records all of our knowledge, all of our life experience. The recorder can be destroyed. The body can be destroyed. But the tape or the spirit still exists. The Bible says when a man dies, our body goes to the ground. The spirit returns to God who gave it. And so the spirit returns to God. And with those of us who partake in the first resurrection, the Holy Spirit unites with the spirit in man. And then there is a new creation that is formed. And this is what God will resurrect at that time. Acts 24 in verse 15 gives further information, gives more light on this topic.

Paul here said, I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. The just will come up in the first resurrection. The unjust, those who have not had a chance to know the way to go, will come up in the second. As we heard this morning, Hebrews 9, 27 says it's appointed and all men wants to die. That's appointed. We're human. We will not live forever in the flesh. Human beings die. It's a chemical electrical existence. We will die. We return to dust. It doesn't say that it's appointed and all men to die twice. The second death involves a choice on a person's part. A rejection of God's way, total rejection of that way, and to go a different way. After death comes judgment. Judgment does not refer to a final condemnation. That's what the world tends to think of when they think of judgment. They think judgment means that we are brought up and condemned one way or the other. You either go up or you go down is what they think. But judgment is a period of time when tools are given to come to know God and it's a period of time of evaluation. You and I are being judged right now for how we live, how we keep this feast, how we conduct our lives, how we interact with one another, our relationship with our God in heaven. 1 Peter 4,17 explains this clearly. 1 Peter 4,17 says, where the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. That's the church of God. That's us. And if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? So the church today is being judged. You're judged once you know the truth on how you respond to it, how you live. The great white throne judgment pictures a massive future judgment period. It is the opportunity for the conversion of the masses.

Let's notice Revelation chapter 20. God revealed to John in Revelation 20, beginning in verse 4, that there would be a sequence to the resurrections. Notice, beginning in verse 4, Revelation 20, I saw thrones and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Now I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and the word of God.

What happens to you when you're beheaded? You're dead, aren't you? So here are people who are dead. They had not worshiped the beast or an image, had not received his mark on their ford and their hands. They lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Again, this is the first resurrection. Those who are resurrected at the beginning of the millennium. That's us, the bride of Christ, the firstfruits to assist Jesus Christ. But verse 5, we read, the rest of the dead. Now who are the rest of the dead? Those who have not understood, those who have not had their opportunity for salvation. The rest of the dead did not live again until a certain period of time, until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. So the Feast of Tabernacles that we just finished observing pictured the millennium. This is the eighth day that pictures the last great day following the Feast of Tabernacles. It pictures the great white throne judgment. Verse 11. Go over to verse 11 here in the book of Revelation. I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, okay, here people are dead. Remember the rest of the dead didn't live until after the thousand years. I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. Aha, you're dead, you stand, you're alive. So they've been resurrected. They're standing before God. The books were opened. That's the books of the Bible, as we'll see. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. So we're going to be judged by what's written in those books. Now, I want you to notice it says the books were opened. This implies that these people are resurrected, and for the first time in their lives, their eyes are open to the truth. Remember what happened back in Genesis chapter 3? This touched on that very quickly. Genesis the third chapter, verses 6 and 7. This again is describing Adam and Eve in the garden. And the woman, we read, saw that the tree was good for food. This is the tree of knowledge, good and evil. That it was pleasant to the eye, a tree desired to make one wise. She took of the fruit and ate, and she gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened. Open to what?

Well, it says their eyes were open. Verse 22 tells you to what? The Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us to know good and evil.

Their mind was not open to the truth, but to good and evil. And for the last six thousand years, man is set under the tree of the knowledge, good and evil. Man is not totally despicable, totally evil. It's good and evil. But it's good on the human level, not from the way God tells us to live.

They had knowledge influenced by Satan the devil.

Now, we heard this morning, and I won't refer to this again, but I'll just refer to it, but won't read it. 1 Corinthians 2, verses 9 through 12. 1 Corinthians 2, 9 through 12. That spiritual knowledge is revealed knowledge. God has to open your mind to see it, otherwise you will not see it. We understand knowledge on a physical level. That's through the five senses. That's all physical knowledge. We've got wonderful knowledge. We can make microphones, electricity, computers. We can send men to the moon. That's all physical. Spiritual knowledge, people are blinded to that. Jesus Christ in Matthew 13 said they had eyes to see, but they didn't see. They had ears to hear, but they didn't hear. So they could see, but they couldn't see spiritually. They couldn't hear spiritually. So the books are going to be open. That's the books of the Bible are open to their understanding. The book of life is open. Why would the book of life be open? Because they are going to have their opportunity to have their names inscribed, written in the book of life. They will have their chance, and they will be judged from the books, judged by their works, by the things that are written in the book. Okay, in James 2.12, we read. See, a lot of people, when they read that scripture, they think, well, God's just keeping this record, and He's going to drag the record out from their first life that they've lived, and He's going to judge them by what they did and throw them in the lake of fire. But James 2.12 tells us this, so speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. So we are judged by God's law, by what's written in the scriptures. John 12, in verse 47. John 12.47, Christ said, If anyone hears my words and does not believe, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. So I said, God's in the saving business. He who rejects me and does not receive my words as that which judges him, the words that I have spoken will judge him in the last days. So the words of God, the Bible, the scripture, the law of God is what will judge us. So these people will have the books open, and they will be judged by how they respond, how they live, according to God's law. Judgment comes to a person when God calls you, opens your mind, extends to you the opportunity of salvation, and you are then judged by how you respond to it. And at the end of your life, you either receive your reward for what you do. In Romans 11, in verse 25, Romans 11.25, the mystery of God explains why God has done things in a certain way.

Mr. Curt Patrick explained that very vividly. I thought he gave a wonderful message this morning on the questions that people will have. But notice in Romans 11.25, I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery. The word mystery means hidden truth. You wouldn't be ignorant of this truth, this hidden truth, lest you should be wise in your own opinion. That blindness, in part, has happened to Israel. So they will be blinded until, only until a certain time, the fullness of the Gentiles come in. And so all Israel will be saved. So God will, at some point in the future, extend salvation. They will be saved. As it is written, the deliverer will come out of Zion and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Then notice verse 32. This was read this morning. It is a profound statement. For God has committed them all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all. If God could have done it a different way, he would have. But in this way, in this manner, God can have mercy on every human being who has ever lived. And God will extend that mercy. The great majority of people will respond to this opportunity to salvation. By God, by doing it his way. Human beings have experienced the wrong way. When they are resurrected after the thousand years of God's government, they will have quite a contrast. And they will be able to see the truth. Because their minds will be open. And you and I will be there. Stop and think about it. All of the firstfruits, probably all of those who lived during the millennium, that we will be there. And we will be able to train, teach, and guide them. Now, Matthew 11, verse 20, also reveals that the people of ancient Palestine are going to be resurrected again. And that there will be a day of judgment for them. Matthew 11, verse 20, then he began to rebuke the cities in which most of his mighty works have been done because they did not repent. He said, Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For the mighty works have been done in you, have been done in Tyre and Sidon. They would have repented a long time ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. So Tyre and Sidon are going to come up in a judgment period. And it's going to be the same time that the generation that Christ lived in. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades for the mighty works which had been done in you, had been done in Sodom. It would have remained until this day. But I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment. So notice, there is a future day of judgment coming, a great white throne judgment.

Then, across the page here in Matthew 12, verse 41, we see that the Gentiles will also be resurrected at this time. It says, the men of Nineveh will rise in the judgment. So again, he uses the word judgment with this generation. So you have different generations coming up at the same time. They will condemn this generation because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And indeed, a greater than Jonah is here. And the Queen of the South will rise in judgment with this generation and will condemn it. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

And indeed, a greater than Solomon is here. The Jews of Christ's day will be resurrected at the same time as Sodom, Nineveh, Tyre, Sidon, all of these people will come up. Different generations will come up at the same time. They will be resurrected and resettled according to their old estates.

Now over the century, different people lived in different areas of the same territories. Different civilizations, different time periods, different people, different cultures, different religions, different customs, different traditions, different ideas. How would you do with somebody who was resurrected from the time of Babylon? What would you do with somebody who was resurrected before the Flood? You see, there are going to be all kinds of ideas, philosophies.

God is going to have to begin to sort all of this out because if you have 50 billion people coming up, and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah said, this is where we used to live, and the people of today said, oh, this is where we live. All at once you've got a boundary dispute. Who's going to live where? And so God is going to have to begin to resettle them. The millennium will be a period of time that will help us get ready for the billions who will come up in the white throne judgment.

50 billion people come up naked or clothed. The Bible doesn't say, but they're going to come up and 50 billion people are going to have to be clothed. 50 billion people are going to have to have housing. 50 billion people are going to have to be fed not just one meal, three meals a day, seven days a week, and on and on and on. Where will the food come from? Where will the housing come from? Where will all of this?

They will be resurrected with their old ideas, their old concepts, their old religions. There will be hatreds and animosities. If a Jew and Arab comes up next to one another, will they automatically love one another?

They're going to have to be taught the right way. They will not fully understand the magnitude of what is going on, but we will have to explain it to them. They're going to be taught God's way. They will be taught about Jesus Christ, salvation, and they will have a lifetime. Will they live normal lives at that time? It will be their second chance to live, but their first opportunity for salvation. Will they be married during this period of time? I would think so. They will have the opportunity to put God's way into actions.

Are there going to be billions of eunuchs running around for a lifetime? I don't think that's God's way and purpose. They will rear children, although if we understand the Scriptures, there will not be babies born during this time, but there will be literally billions of babies who have died, children who have died prematurely, abortions, miscarriage. If, and this is a big if, if the spirit in man enters a human being at conception, then all aborted babies' miscarriages will be resurrected as new babies, because the blueprint will be there.

That is, if it does at conception. Let's go over to Ezekiel 37. Ezekiel 37, more than any other chapter in the Bible, paints the picture of what is going to happen at this period of time. Beginning in verse 1, Ezekiel 37, the hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the spirit of the Lord, set me down in the midst of the valley in his full bones.

Verse 2, then he calls me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley, and indeed, they were very dry. He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? So I answered, O Lord God, you know. Ezekiel wasn't sure, but he said, God, you know.

Again, he said to me, prophesy to these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. We're all familiar with the spiritual, them bones, them bones, them dry bones. Well, that's taken from this chapter. It says, Thus says the Lord God to these bones, surely I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live. So here are dead bones and they become live. I will put sinew on you, bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and breath, and you shall know, or you shall live, then you shall know that I am the Lord.

Prior to this, they had not known the true God. Once they're resurrected, they will come to know God. Remember 1 John 2.4, he who says he knows him does not keep his commandments as a liar. They will come to know the true God.

So verse 7, I prophesied as I was commanded and as I prophesied there was noise. Suddenly a rattling bone came together bone to bone. And indeed I look and the sinew in the flesh came upon them, skin covered them over, but there was no breath in them.

And he said to me, prophesied to the breath, or to the wind, prophesied, Son of Man, say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God, Come from the forewind, so breath, breathe on these slain, that they may live. This is describing a physical life. This is not a spiritual resurrection.

Bones, sinew, flesh, breath of life. Verse 10, So I prophesied as he commanded, and breath came into them, and they lived and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army. And he said to me, Son of Man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. So it pictures all of Israel being resurrected. Indeed, they say our bones are dry. Our hope is lost.

We ourselves are cut off. So all Israel will be resurrected. And as we read back in Romans, all Israel will be saved, the majority. Verse 12, Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. If they come up out of their graves, this is the resurrection. It is the second resurrection. 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. And I will put my spirit in you. You shall live. And I will place you in your own land, and you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, says the Lord. So these people then are converted. A physical resurrection to life, the Great White Throne Judgment. They then receive God's Holy Spirit and they live. As we heard this morning, the millennial atmosphere will carry over into the Great White Throne Judgment.

How many of us, perhaps in the church, have cried over a child dying prematurely? And over the fact that they would miss out on the millennium, would not be in the period of the millennium? Well, what we find, the millennial atmosphere will carry over until that time.

And they will be resurrected and they will have their chance and their opportunity.

We will have a chance to teach our family, our children, to tutor our children who have died before, our loved ones and our friends. Who are you, again, looking forward to as far as somebody that you would want to see in that resurrection and be able to teach or train or to converse with?

What will be their reaction when we first manifest ourselves to them? And you appear before them and say, hi dad or hi mom or gramps or whoever it might be. They look at you and they're shocked and you're able to sit down with them and begin to have a time of unfinished business for billions, an opportunity to finish business, to talk to them, to establish relationship. Imagine the family I described earlier that's buried in Olly Branch, Mississippi.

When they come up, the man, his wife, his children, they're all standing there. They look around at one another. They've been healed and someone comes up to them and says, welcome to the world tomorrow. Welcome to the time of judgment, the time when God is going to give you an opportunity to live again.

Let me explain to you what you didn't know before and begin to talk to them. They'll have a chance to live, to love, to live life to a full. Brethren, it's going to be a wonderful opportunity. You and I understand the purpose of this day. During the Feast of Tabernacles that have just passed, there's been an urgency, I feel, in the sermons to help prepare the bride. Have we stopped to think about the responsibilities that we will have in the different groups that we'll have it? That you and I as a firstfruits will be the bride of Christ. We will help serve, assist. We will be made compatible with Him. There are four steps that God is working through. The present, the millennium, the white throne, judgment, eternity. What will be the emphasis during those time periods? Now the emphasis is on the firstfruits, our getting ready, being prepared to rule in the millennium. In the millennium, we will be preparing for the great white throne judgment. The white throne judgment, we will begin to prepare for eternity. And each phase is given a goal to strive for. The ultimate goal is the kingdom of God, but there's a responsibility that we will have in each one. By the end of the millennium, the white throne judgment, I believe that human beings, the human race, will understand a little more about the calling of God than we do in this life, because progressively they will learn more. They won't have to guess what a spirit being looks like or the possibility of what a spirit being can do because we will appear to them and we can disappear. And they will realize that there is a different world, a different dimension out there. There will come a time when the three groups will finally be merged into the family of God and we truly will be one family united together forever. The first groups is one group. We will come up in the first resurrection. Those who are born into the family who lived during the millennium will be the second group. And the third group will be those who come up in the second resurrection. All of us will have an opportunity for salvation. All will have that chance. Those who reject God's way will be thrown in the lake of fire, which is called the second death, and cease to exist. In Revelation 21, we read, beginning here in verse 1, about this time when all of the human race has had this opportunity. It says, I saw a new heaven and a new earth, the first heaven and the first earth, were passed away. And there was no more sea, and I, John, saw the holy sitting, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And notice how it's going to be for all eternity. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain for the former things, that means the first things, the physical things, the world as we know it today, have passed away. And he who said on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

A new time. New things that our minds have not been exposed to yet, that we can't even begin to comprehend. Do you think that we, with our infinite minds that we have today, can truly comprehend everything that God has in store for us for eternity, the work, the responsibility, the family relationships that we will have? He is going to be directly in charge of the family. Verse 7 says, He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I'll be his God, and he shall be my Son.

But then you find those who are the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderous, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, all liars shall have their part in the lake, that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. All those who reject God's way will die a second time and cease to exist. Brethren, what will we do for all eternity?

Well, we don't know completely, but let's finish by reading one final scripture here. Hebrews 2, verses 6 through 8. Hebrews 2, verses 6 through 8 says, But one testified in a certain place, saying, What is man, that you are mindful of him? Why is God concerned about us? For the Son of man, that you take care of him, you made him a little more than the angels, you crowned him with glory and honor, you set him over the works of your hands, and you have put all things in subjection under him. The expression, all things, means the entire universe. It's the same expression that Jews back in Hebrews 1, 2, where it talks about Jesus Christ has been appointed heir of all things.

Romans 8, 16 says, We are joint heirs with him. We will jointly rule with Christ and be joint heirs of the whole universe. We will have eternity to get to know God and His Son. We will have eternity to get to know every member of the family of God. And we won't forget their names. We will remember them, and we will work with them. Truly, God has a wonderful plan of salvation for all mankind, and God is going to bring it about. So, brethren, let's make sure that we take the words of life that we've heard here at this feast and put them into practice. The whole creation, all of mankind, and all past generations are waiting on us.