The Millennium - God's Promise of a Transformed World

As I normally do on Sabbath morning, I like to review my notes one last time. I typically take some time as well to go through the e-news of what's happening in the Church of God around the world. And I was struck by an article that Victor Kubik had written. I was struck by the article because it really speaks to the sermon I want to give you today. And so I'm going to take the time. This is a little lengthy in nature, but I want to read this article to you. Again, you've got this in your e-news, but it really helps very nicely as an entree for my sermon today. This is the personal from the President, dear fellow servants of God, celebrating hope in a world without hope. The face did it to me. I've been a subscriber and avid reader of National Geographic for many years, but the cover photo of its August issue was heart-rending. A young child, cradled by his or her refugee mother, peers out, clearly anxious and bewildered. His mother jumped out of the boat from Myanmar and waded the rest of the way to the shore of Bangladesh. The photo deeply affected me because of what it represents for countless people at this very moment in time. The cover story, A World on the Move, tells the tragic gripping tale of the largest diaspora in human history, which is surging incomprehensibly. Just how big is it? How many people on this planet are on the move? The United Nations estimates that more than a billion people, one in seven humans alive today, are migrating within their countries or across international borders. This world catastrophe is taking place in the Middle East, in Africa, in Latin America, in Asia, basically almost everywhere in the world. It's hard to truly imagine or appreciate its shocking scope. One author of the National Geographic coverage, Paul Selipak, has spent 15 years walking with these people. He writes that millions are fleeing violence, war, persecution, criminality, political chaos. Many more suffocated by poverty are seeking economic relief beyond their horizons. These people, one in seven alive, tragically have little or no hope in this world. And the real solution to this global disaster lies beyond the grasp of human systems. Ironically, in a world seemingly without hope, we in the United Church of God, the spiritual assembly of God, confidently hold marvelous, breathtaking, magnificent hope.

In a few days, we'll hear these astonishingly wonderful words backed by the powerful authority of the living head of the church, Jesus Christ. And he quotes here 1 Thessalonians 4 from a new living translation. We tell you this directly from the Lord. The Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, with a trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.

Further, as the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, quoting the resurrection chapter, let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. Again, this is a new living. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed. It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die.

Our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. This is what the Apostle Peter commanded us to consider when he wrote the words, Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. First Peter chapter 1. This marvelous hope should fill us with excitement, wonder, and gratitude. These words of incredible promises kept the early disciples of Jesus Christ focused on enduring persecution, being victorious over trials of every sort, and loving one another despite human failings. Yes, we've all heard these wonderful words before, but in light of what is now going on in this world, can we lift up our eyes and open our minds afresh to fully appreciate what is being said here?

As we well know, ancient Israel often blew the shofar as a warning signal. This, of course, reflects one of the essential omissions of the United Church of God to provide a clear warning to the world of the dire consequences of disobeying and rejecting the authority of God Himself. The billion people presently trapped in the homeless refugee status reflect those consequences. When this supernatural blast encircles the globe on a future day of trumpets, the day symbolizing when Jesus returns in His Second Coming, these sounding trumpets will herald the ultimate regime change of all time.

In ancient Judah, the reign of kings was reckoned from the Feast of Trumpets, the first day of the civil calendar. The Feast of Trumpets also figuratively heralds the inauguration of Jesus Christ as King of Kings.

Note these powerful words of hope. Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. So thank you for bearing with me as I read that. There was more. I'm not going to finish reading the whole thing. But as I was thinking about the message that I have and what He wrote there, again, that didn't influence what I was going to give to you today, but it just augmented and added to it. We are so blessed as a people, counting today and going to the end of the Feast of Tabernacles.

If you're going to a site that has an opening night, a ceremony, service, I should say, if you're going to be staying for both services on the last great day, counting today and going to the end of the Feast of Tabernacles, we've got 24 days.

In those 24 days, we're going to have 15 church services. In about three weeks, we're going to have almost four months worth of church, learning about why you and I have hope, the return of Jesus Christ, the binding of Satan, a millennium where we don't have Satan, where we have the truth of God being freely taught to everyone on planet earth who's alive.

And then after that, what we refer to as the last great day, the eighth day of the Feast, we have tremendous hope. The world right now, one person in seven, is wandering the globe in search of something better for themselves and for their families. Many of them are starving, and yet you and I are being richly fed with the truth of God, especially this time of the year. You know, so many times, brethren, we talk about analyzing ourselves, examining ourselves around Passover time, but certainly any time of the year is good for us to reflect on where we are with our God, where we are with our walk with our God.

And certainly right now, with all of these services, we should be asking ourselves, where are we right now? How strong are we? How close to God are we? What should we be doing about this? Well, we've got a tremendous opportunity in front of us. So today, for those of you who like to take notes, here's the theme statement for what I or comment for what I want to give to you today. The Millennium, God's promise of a transformed world.

The Millennium, God's promise of a transformed world. Now, in Mr. Kubik's writing, his little article there, he talked about transformation a number of times. And today, we want to take a look at the good news. As you and I understand the good news, what's going to be happening just prior to the return of Christ, after the return of Christ, and going in even to the last great day period. So we're going to take a look at an overview of the tremendous hope and a transformed world that we have in front of us. Let's begin our journey today by going over to the book of Zechariah.

Zechariah chapter 14.

We'll be looking at a lot of different prophecies today, all these very beautiful prophecies. Some be a little sobering side, but again, they lead to something that's so very powerful and beautiful. Zechariah chapter 14 and verse 4. And in that day, obviously talking about a future event, a prophetic event, in that day, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley. Half of the mountain shall move toward the north, and half of it toward the south. Now, in your notes, you might want to jot down Acts chapter 1, verses 11 and 12, where the disciples saw Jesus Christ ascending to heaven from the Mount of Olives.

We drop down to verse 9, same chapter, Zechariah 14 verse 9. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day it shall be, the Lord is one, and his name one. So as he goes around the globe, as we see there in Matthew chapter 24, gathering the saints, gathering you and I, gathering those who have died, old and New Testament saints, people of God, as Christ goes around the world, gathering his people, his feet ascending there, him ascending to the Mount of Olives. And then we see in verse 9, he shall be king over all the earth. Jerusalem, as a headquarters capital city.

You might want to write in your notes Matthew chapter 6 and verse 10. I will not turn there. Matthew 6, 10. The model prayer. We pray this all the time. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

What we're looking at here in Zechariah is just that. The kingdom coming, God's will being done forever, just as it is in heaven. Same chapter, dropping down to verse 16. Zechariah 14, 16. And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came up against Jerusalem, and that we're talking here about people who came up against Jerusalem, to fight, to war, to kill, to get, that all those people shall go from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. So here we see a tremendous difference in these people. Why such a difference? Because of what we already read. Because of Jesus Christ returning with his saints to teach his ways, God's ways, Christ's ways, to administer the government over all the earth. And notice here in verse 16. And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations shall keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Notice it's not talking about just the Jews in the world tomorrow keeping the Feast of Tabernacles. It is talking about everybody. Everybody.

And you know what's interesting to me? I found it interesting. I'm sure you do as well. What I'm about to say is there's no new truth to you. But when I talk to various people who don't believe as we do, but who are religious, they'll say, oh yes, they kept those days back in the Old Testament. We don't need to keep them now. But yes, they will keep the days in the millennium.

So they have this big gap in our age today where they think we don't need to keep them. But as I was researching that particular idea, the Bible Knowledge Commentary and Expositors Bible Commentary, two very fine commentaries that we use quite extensively in our research for the church. You see them all the time when you're reading our literature. Both of those commentaries talk about how the Feast of Tabernacles will be kept in the millennium. Well, you and I, we all know that God's Holy Days will be kept through this age and into the age to come because they are steps helping us to understand God's plan of salvation. They are each of them beautiful. They are rich. They are full. And they give people hope as they understand the plan of God. Verse 17, Zachary, 14.

And it shall be that whoever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts. On them there shall be no rain. Now, I probably should have added a little earlier that we're not talking about every single person in the world going to Jerusalem. That simply couldn't take place. But there'll be representatives of the various nations coming to Jerusalem. But if they don't come, God's got to get their attention. How does He get their attention? Well, I'll tell you one way you get my attention. My attention is very much gotten when I go to the fridge and there's nothing in there. I understand that real quickly. That makes me want to get in the car and go someplace and buy some stuff. So God will get the attention of those people because at the very beginning of the millennium, as you're well aware, we're going to talk about on trumpets. This world is a mess.

This world can hardly get out of its own way, so to speak. Isaiah talks about how it's going to tauter like a drunk man, where Christ tells the angels, don't hurt the green things because these people won't be able to breathe anymore. So it's going to take a while for this to take place. The whole world is not going to be converted on day one of the millennium. It's going to take a while. And one of the things that's going to help people see is what we see there in verse 17. The nations are going to quickly learn that their existence depends on the great God. If they want blessings, they obey God. If they don't want to be blessed, don't obey God. See what happens. See, you know, and God in His mercy will allow them to have some crops. He doesn't want to allow them to just die. But they're not going to prosper like the other people who are obeying God, as they should be obeying God. So let's take a look and drill down deeper and deeper as we go through the sermon about this transformed world. The first thing I want to highlight is, in this transformed world, the saints will be rewarded. The saints will be rewarded. No new truth there, but it's such a beautiful thing for us to think about. Let's go to Revelation 11. Revelation 11, verse 18, The nations were angry in your wrath as come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that you should reward your servants, the prophets, and the saints, those who fear your name, small and great. You should reward your servants, the prophets, and the saints, those who fear your name, small and great. You know, brethren, in this world, you and I have been richly blessed. We may not be richly blessed with all the money we would like. I think that's a good thing. But we've been richly blessed spiritually. We've been richly blessed with the relationship of God the Father, with Jesus Christ, our elder brother. We have been richly blessed by understanding the truth of God. You know, just this last week, I had my last day of playing golf with my golfing buddies, the Baptists, and they're wonderful guys. You know, we talk doc, we talk religion, you know. But I'm just so thankful, and I'm looking forward to the day, or maybe I get a chance to really help them more than I am currently. But I'm so thankful God has opened my mind. You're so thankful God has opened your mind to see these beautiful truths, to understand the real purpose of life. The real purpose of life. We have, you know, those fellows are wonderful. You probably work with a lot of great people as well. My family members who are not in a church, I often marvel, why didn't God call them? Why didn't God call them? But God called me. Maybe he likes to be a bigger challenge. I don't know. But we've been so richly blessed. We've been richly blessed with what we have right here, our brothers and sisters in the faith. And as you go to the Feast of Tabernacles, you're going to meet different people from different church areas, and you'll start asking them about their lives, and you'll share your life with them, and vice versa, and the various things you've gone through, they've gone through. But we're brothers and we're sisters in the faith. But here we see something even more, where we're resurrected as spirit beings, and everything is augmented. We have eternal life. And why does God give us eternal life? God gives us eternal life so we can serve in the family of God. We'll have all sorts of spiritual challenge ahead of us, and we appreciate that. Let's go to Revelation chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20, and verse 6.

Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. That's going to be you. Oversuch the second, death has no power. Aren't we grateful for that? But they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with them a thousand years. Now, in your notes, you might want to jot down also Revelation 5.10, because not only will we be priests, we will be kings. We're going to reign on the earth. We're going to be administrators. We're going to be educators, teachers. You're probably thinking, well, how can I possibly rule? I've never ruled over my city block. How am I going to rule? Well, brethren, you have been learning to rule all your life. All of us have. As you and I have been converted, we've understood that we need to rule our mind, to bring every thought into captivity. We need to rule our emotions, not let our emotions get the best of us. We've learned that we need to rule our nature, and we need God's help for all that, don't we? We can't do that by ourselves.

We need to be a warrior, as we heard earlier today, in a proper sense. We rule our wallets. We rule our checkbook. All of these things we rule. We rule our time. And as you have shown yourself to be faithful and properly ruling the time in your life, and all these other things that represent who you are, you've learned valuable principles that God is going to augment when you're a spirit being.

A priest, a teacher, as I made mention. Here we've got 24 days coming, and we're going to have 15 services. 15 services. I know what that feels like. I've got four sermons in the next 12 days. But thankfully for me, I can prepare ahead of time. So I guess I've got to prepare the next day.

So we have this tremendous opportunity, and Christ is going to be faithful to fulfill His promises to the church. Let's take a look at Daniel chapter 7.

You know, we read in Revelation 19 about the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Daniel chapter 7, verse 27. And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him. So here we see what some have said, is this the wedding gift for the bride of Christ? Interesting thought. Is this the wedding gift for the bride of Christ? Here we see the generous love shown to the bride of Christ, where the kingdom, the dominion, the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High.

In this transformed world, you will be tremendously rewarded. You're being rewarded, you and I, we're being rewarded right now, but even more so in the world tomorrow. 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

I have occasion to read this scripture just this last Monday at a funeral.

Mr. Glenn Josephson, who some of you know, or Jean Josephson. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 15. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. We shall be changed. Part of the reward is this new body that we will have.

We will be transformed from flesh and blood into immortal spirit beings. So in this transformed world, one of the first things we see is the saints receiving their reward. A second thing we see in this transformed world is that all Israel will be restored. All Israel will be restored. Let's take a look at Jeremiah. Jeremiah 23 Jeremiah 23, verses 5 and 6.

I'm going to read this in a new Revised Standard Version. The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch.

Talking about the Messiah. He shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell in safety. So what they never did in this flesh is stay as one kingdom. They will be restored as one kingdom in the future. In the future, God wants unity. There's not going to be a northern tribe and a southern tribe. There's going to be Israel. Let's go to Ezekiel 37. Ezekiel 37 Ezekiel 37, verse 21.

Then say to them, Thus says the Lord God, surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them. They shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. Unity in the kingdom. The restoration of the nation of Israel as one nation under the reign of the Messiah and, of course, under him David. Same chapter, 37. Go down to verse 26.

Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them. God loves His people. He wants to be at peace with His people. Now, His people have something to say about that. They need to be people who come to repentance. And, of course, God is going to help orchestrate that. Christ will help orchestrate that. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them. I will establish them and multiply them. I will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacles also shall be with them. Indeed, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. The nations also will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore. So here at Christ's Second Coming, we see that the nation of Israel will no longer be split in two. They will now be one nation under God. But not only that, after the millennium, there is that period of time we call the last great day. When those people are resurrected, they too will be a part of either the northern or the southern kingdom. But now those people will also be a part of one nation under God.

And then finally, I'm not going to turn there, but in your notes you might want to jot down Revelation 21 verse 3, where after all is said and done, we've gone through the millennium, we've gone through the Great White Throne Judgment period, when all is said and done, God Himself comes down and lives with people. Again, one nation under God. Israel will finally be the nation God wanted them to be from the outset. What did God want from the outset? Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5.

Here's what God has always wanted for His nation.

Matthew chapter 5, read lettering in my Bible verses 14, 15, and 16. You are the light of the world. Israel will be the light of the world. A city or a nation that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. So finally, in the millennium, this is going to take place. In this transformed world, all Israel will be restored. Let's drill down even further to the next point in my message. Not only will they be restored, not only will they be one, not only will they be a light, but in this transformed world, Israel will help the nations learn God's ways. They've learned it. They are in the process of learning it, but they are also to be teachers, just like we've learned it. And we are to be teachers through our example.

Let's take a look in the book of Jeremiah to a prophecy that is so good that God Himself says, you know what? This makes me happy. Jeremiah 33.

God says, this makes me happy.

Jeremiah 33, starting here in verse 6.

Behold, I will bring it health and healing, physically and spiritually. I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. Again, physically, spiritually. I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return and will rebuild those places as at the first. Again, unity. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against me, and I'll pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against me. This doesn't happen unless people come to see themselves properly. This doesn't happen unless people repent of their sins. God doesn't just forgive unless we repent. What we see here is a repentant nation.

Now verse 9. Then thou shalt be to me in name of joy. God here is saying, this really gives me joy. Seeing this process in action, seeing what they've done in years gone by and generations and millennia gone by, but now look at them. It's like for those of us who are parents or grandparents. You teach your kids, you do a good job of teaching your kids, but they're their own free moral agent. They go their way. They do their thing.

And sometimes, hopefully lots of times, they come to see that the advice you gave them was actually pretty good. And you see it on their faces when they think maybe they come to some epiphany on their own, but you've been teaching that forever to them. And this is kind of where God is. He says, you know, look at this. Then it came, shall be to me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before all the nations of the earth, who shall hear of all the good that I do to them. They shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provided for it. God says, this gives me the time to rejoice. He's happy to see these people learning the truth, learning the way. Let's go back to Zechariah, this time chapter 8.

Zechariah chapter 8, verse 22 and 23. Yes, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem. So it's not just a trickling of people. It's going to be many people. And unlike today, where God calls just the weak of the world for the most part, it says here, strong nations, many people, strong nations, shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, in those days, 10 men from every language of all the nations, not just Jews seeking other other Jews, men from every language of the nation shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. You keep those funny days. You enjoy those funny days. Well, they're not going to think they're so funny. When they reflect back on the world they came out of, and the woe and the misery, and they take a look at the beauty of the plan of God and the Word of God, as David said, how he marveled as he meditated on God's ways on his bed at night. And you and I have done the same thing. The people in the world, when this is revealed to them, it will be an epiphany to them. Isaiah 11, one of the most well-known verses in Isaiah. We quote this quite frequently. Isaiah 11.

Isaiah 11, verse 9. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Now, I have to admit, I'm excited to go to the feast this year. I'm excited every year. I enjoy going to Wisconsin Delves. It's not very exotic, but they're just something about delves. I've been there so many years in my history of the church. The first first anointing I ever did, the first first feast I went to after I was ordained on trumpets of 79, coming up on 40 years from me in the ministry this Monday. But when I go to the delves and I get out of my car and I sniff the air, I say, this is God's feast. But I've seen a lot of smiling faces. I mean, you know, there's the most jaw. All the restaurants you enjoy going to. This is the feast. And we understand it as we look for feasts. We know the love you have for that area. But I'm looking forward to my other home away from home. This will be my third trip to Hawaii, Mary's fourth trip.

One of the things we like to do is we like to go snorkeling. And there's a fairly famous place there called Black Rock near the Sheraton. And Mary and I go out there. I don't know how deep the water is when we're out there. I'm thinking it's well over 100 feet. But because the salt content of the water there in Maui, anyway, is so high, we go out there two hours at a pop. We don't have any flotation. We just have our masks, our goggles, our fins. And we go out there two hours at a time. And all that water, and you know, if you get close to the coral, you see all these schools of fish, multicolored fish. They're all around you. The coral is beautiful. The sunlight's coming down through the crystal clear water. Did I say I like going to Hawaii?

And it's just so much fun. Of course, they always tell you to not only look down, but look out. You know, when you're looking down, you see all the things I just made mention. But the last time we were there, I was looking out, and I saw five very dark figures, large figures, coming toward us. Mary and I. I'm trying to get to Mary, and she's enjoying herself. She's paddling around looking down and happy as a lark. And I don't know what I'm seeing coming at us, but they're big, and there's five of them. And eventually, they get right below us, probably about 20 feet below us. Five rays, circling right below us. And each one of them probably was a good three or four feet in diameter. And these particular rays, you know, they give you all these handouts there in Hawaii as to how to identify the different things. And these particular rays were supposed to be really very docile unless they were frightened. So I thought, okay, I still couldn't get a hold of Mary, and I'm looking at these things right below us. And then I noticed that some diver goes below them and starts taking photos. I'm thinking, I want to go back to the Old Testament for just a minute and strangle that guy, because I don't want those things coming straight up on top of us. Point of all this. Point of all this. There's a point. I'm not going, you know, funny here. Sea Nile. When you are in the water, there aren't big gaps in the water. Now, there are rocks, there are seaweed, there's fish, but there aren't gaps in the water. It's all water. When the Bible here is talking about how the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, what we're talking about here, no gaps. Every person on planet earth will have an opportunity to know the truth of God, to be taught by one of us, to be taught by Christ. There will not be a single individual mist as we evangelize the world. And that's something, brethren, that is breathtaking. And when you think about the last great day, when you think about the people in your life that didn't know the truth, and, you know, if they were to walk through those doors, how you would get up in your seat and run through those doors and hug them, people, family members, next door neighbors, teachers, people from school, truly an amazing time when all those people are resurrected, and we will have an opportunity to teach them as well. Everybody, small and great. Nobody's forgotten by our great God. He's no our God is all inclusive. Nobody will ever be forgotten. So in a transformed world, Israel will help the nations learn God's way. Good segue to here. In this transformed world, next point, we've got the fruit of right knowledge, the fruit of right knowledge. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 55.

Isaiah chapter 55 verses 11 through 13.

In this transformed world, the fruit of right knowledge. Isaiah 55, 11. So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and I shall prosper in a thing for which I send it.

Beautiful words. God's word will provide a solid foundation for living. It's going to go forth from Him. We will also teach that word as God in Christ's assistance. It says, it shall not return to me void. There will be fruit that will be born as a result of people. Satan, of course, being bound. No false teachers. No false anything. Everything is true. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please. And what does God please for people to understand His truth? In your notes, you might want to jot down 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 15 through 17. It talks about God's word. And of course, the word there was being spoken of by Timothy. It was the Old Testament. It made one wise for salvation. How God's word was there for teaching or doctrine. It was there for conviction. It was there for correction. It was there for instruction and righteousness. We've gone through all this. That's what God's word is there. It shall not return void. It shall accomplish what I want, what I please. It shall accomplish teaching, conviction, correction, and instruction. Verse 12, For you shall go out with joy, and shall be led out with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you. And the trees of the fields shall clap their hands. So here in verse 12, you've got an analogy, perhaps, of even nature enjoying the change that we're seeing in the world. Some people think that's an spiritual analogy for what we saw here in verse 11. Verse 13, I always enjoy. Instead of the thorns shall come to Cypress Tree. Instead of the briars shall come forth the Myrtle Tree. And it shall be to the Lord for a name, for everlasting signs, so it shall not be cut off. You've got any weeds in your house? You know, when we were living in Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor area, maybe some of you know what this thing is. But we had this weed it was about, it was a real stringy little thing, about like fishing line in terms of the diameter, just really stringy. It would go under the surface and then pop up various places. When it would pop up, it would wind itself around whatever plants you had, whether it be a tree or a rose bush or whatever. Those things were hard. I mean, you almost felt like you had to dynamite those things to get rid of them. I mean, Mary and I were putting poison on the leaves when we can find the leaves, other leaves. It was just, but the curse for Adam and Eve, weeds. The blessing instead of the thorn shall come to Cypress Street. Again, there's a physical spiritual analogy here going on. But it'd be nice not to worry about weeding. Before I go to the feast, I'm gonna have to weed my flower bits. There's a lot of things I would rather do kneeling some other way than doing that. Isaiah chapter 60. I can see I'm not going to finish my notes today. I've only got five pages.

Isaiah chapter 60.

Here we're talking about, as a result of right knowledge, the increase in prosperity and crime and corruption ceasing. Isaiah chapter 60 verse 17.

Neither wasting nor destruction within your borders, but you shall call your walls salvation and your gates praise.

Ezekiel chapter 36. Ezekiel chapter 36.

It takes more than just mere knowledge to produce lasting peace and cooperation. It takes a whole lot more. Spiritual change is necessary. We understand that, and that, of course, will take place in the millennium and beyond. Ezekiel 36 verse 22.

Verse 23.

As these people who were not going the right way, as they begin to repent and go the right way, and people around the world see this, especially as we're talking about Israel and Judah, the one nation now, and people seeing the marvelous transition, transformation in our lives, then it says here, Verse 24.

Right there at the beginning of the millennium.

So here we're talking about people who are transformed by spiritual conversion.

Spiritual conversion. There is a cleansing here.

In your notes, you might want to jot down Ephesians 5.26. The washing of water by the Word. You might want to jot down Hebrews 9.13-14. It talks about this Old Testament purification with water, how they mix that with the ashes of a heifer that's being spoken about in Hebrews 9. But how we are cleansed by the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

And not only these people. Let's go to Isaiah 60 again.

Isaiah 60.

But this will be taking place. These changes will be permanent. These changes will be lasting. These changes will last throughout subsequent generations. Isaiah 60. Also, your people shall all be righteous. They shall inherit the Lamb forever. The branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. So it shows here God in the diligent work He does in helping the people understand. Now notice verse 22. A little one shall become a thousand.

A small one is a strong nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time. So what we're looking at there is multiple generations. Each generation carrying on the tradition of righteousness. Go back to chapter 54. Isaiah 54.

You know, we've got a name for a certain group of people born at a certain time on this planet right now. We've got the Millennials. Well, there's going to be a whole different kind of Millennial.

In the world tomorrow. We're looking at some of them right here. Isaiah 54. Verse 13. All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. Great shall be the peace of your children.

I tell you what, I don't get a chance to see my grandbabies very often, but when I do, I almost have to anoint them after kissing their cheeks so often. But you know, you take a look at those beautiful, we've got them here, beautiful little children, even beautiful teenagers and young adults in terms of personality and every other way. And we want the best for our kids, our grandkids. We want the very best, and God is going to have a time when this world has right knowledge and there'll be the fruit of that right knowledge.

One last point.

In this transformed world, spirituality will spread. Spirituality will spread. Isaiah 56.

Isaiah 56. We're not just talking about Israel. When it's not talking about a certain type of person in a certain nation, this goes to all nations. It goes to all peoples. Chapter 56 of Isaiah, verse 6. Also, the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath. It's interesting how these things keep on popping up. The Sabbath, the Holy Days. And hold fast my covenant. Even them I will bring into my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar.

Will there be sacrifices in the millennium? All the major prophets talk about it. That's obviously a subject for another time and place. And there's a reason there will be sacrifices in the millennium. It's a teaching tool. It doesn't reflect poorly on the sacrifice and the shed blood of Jesus Christ. But it emphasizes and looks and points to it. But there's more to say on that subject. We'll do that some other time. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar. For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. Not just Israel. All nations. What is it saying in Galatians? Let's go to Galatians.

This will be the last scripture I'll turn to today, Galatians 3.

Verse 28.

There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

There is one family. It's called the human family. And we are all a part of that. And spiritually, we're all brothers and sisters. Now, that's not to say we don't have our differences. We do. And we should honor and understand those differences and enjoy those differences.

I enjoy the differences I see in my upbringing. The joy of being Italian. The joy of being German. The joy of being Welsh. Of course, you know, other people with other things to offer in terms of their inheritance. But we're all one in Christ Jesus.

So, brethren, today we've taken a look at what Mr. Cubic wrote about what's happening on this planet. One person in seven is wandering this globe in search of hope. We've taken a look at not even all the scriptures I have down in my notes here. We've taken a look at just so many hope-filled scriptures. That you and I cling to. That means so very much to us. Let's you and I rejoice. At the mercy and the grace God has shown us by revealing His truth to us.