The Next Age

Last time, we were here at the Feast of Trumpets, and I spoke on a message about the Day of the Lord. And that's a pretty heavy topic. We walked through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. A literal, tough time where people dying all around and the righteous are under the gun, as it were. God's sheep will actually go through the Valley of the Shadow of Death in the end time that is ahead, at the end of this present evil age. If you take Psalm 23 and just read it from that viewpoint, it's a beautiful, reassuring piece that God does take care of His people. He needs some of them to be martyrs. He needs some of them to grow in certain situations and be corrected. And others, He will feed beside the still waters. And there is safety and there is protection during that time. The end times are awesome in their scope, in the drama that will take place. The intensity that is there, Christ said, has never happened before, and it will never happen again like that. And that is a time of God's correction. Correction is not pleasant, but correction is necessary. Many parents shy away from correcting children because it's unpleasant. But God does not because it is very important. We find in 2 Corinthians 7, verses 8-11, God's view and the reality of good correction. The problem with parenting is, or any human device correction, is it's never perfect. It may be close, though. It may be productive. And it's the best we can do, and we learn. But it's never perfect. What God does is perfect. In 2 Corinthians 7, beginning in verse 8, Paul writes here to a church that he had to give some correction to. He said, even if I made you sorry with my letter, I don't regret it. I know when ministers have to correct members, it usually isn't pleasant. It usually doesn't work out well. Because usually what you get met with is a bunch of defense excuses. People then trying to accuse other people. The thing can melt down into a real mess. Unless a person has a right attitude. And here what we find is one who received it and said, you know what? You're right. I was wrong. I was wrong. And then correction works out very well. You notice when we went through the end time events in Revelation, those seven trumpets. And what we found was the correction was strong, but what was it met with? Resistance. Hatred towards God. No one would repent. And so you had to step it up a notch. It gets really, really ugly. But here we find in verse 8, though I did regret it, in other words, I felt bad about saying this and correcting. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice. The end product is something that is beautiful and something you can rejoice over.

Not that you were made sorry, but your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation. It is nevertheless difficult to be corrected, but that is the time in which we will grow.

Today we heard special music, Come, You Blessed of My Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Just listening to that beautiful melody and those words, you realize this is what God is focused on all along. From the foundation of the world, something very positive. Come, You Blessed, inherit the kingdom of God, which I've been preparing for you since I first thought you up.

First created, this is what we're looking forward to. It's almost like childbirth. I remember when one of our members here, Joanna, was pregnant with her first child. A little bit of trepidation had to go in and see her doctor, and things were coming along well. And then, you know, kind of ramp up and you get ready for a birth. And then the birth wasn't going well. Things got delayed. The baby somehow wouldn't come, and it was one day and then another day.

And, you know, there was pain, and it just wouldn't work. And she was pushing and trying and exhausted and finally, totally exhausted. And finally they did a check and found out she couldn't have that baby. That baby wasn't in the right position. It was sort of crossways or backward or something, and it couldn't come out. So I just remember being in the thick of it and praying for her. And then she had to have a C-section. You think, oh no! Somebody had to have a C-section.

And right after that, well, I'm feeling bad. She's excited! I started getting text messages and phone calls. Oh, she's thrilled! What's she excited about? Well, of course, the baby, you see. Here's the thing that the whole thing was about. It wasn't about the pregnancy. It wasn't about the nausea. It wasn't about the problems. It wasn't about the labor. It was about the baby. And the baby is a real delight, you see. And so it was really exciting. And she's been upbeat and excited. And so, yeah, you have to go through some stuff. In some ways, the tribulation is spoken of like a woman in labor. Labor pains. And you go through some things in order to have the child. But in the end result, when the baby comes, it's a wonderful thing. And so what that hymn, what that scripture in Matthew 25 talks about, yes, it goes through Matthew 24, the Olivet prophecy. It comes into Matthew 25, and then it says, look, this is what it's all about. This is the focus. There's really some beauty here. Following the messages of trumpets and atonement that is coming, comes the Feast of Tabernacles in the Last Great Day. And that is truly a new age. It's a beautiful time. It's a wonderful time. It's an age of God, an age of godliness, an age of happiness and peace and prosperity. I'd like today to take a peek into the near future and see what God says will be going on. We're going to be taking a look at the next age. So let's take a look at the next age. Not the one we're in, not the end of this present evil age, but the next age. And let's see what this is all about, these experiences. The story of the Bible is a story of covenants, a covenant made with various peoples at various times, and the people that God made those covenants with. We see Adam and Eve, we see Noah, Abram, Israel, various individuals that have had covenants. And the last one, Israel, had 12 tribes. Israel, his previous name was Jacob, had a covenant with God, and as we know, that covenant was not kept. And it was a sad thing. Many people have said that covenant is abolished, that covenant's done away. It's dead. The old covenant, they love to stomp it out, crush it, take your old Bible, rip off the Old Testament, throw it away. You know, as if that covenant is dead. Now for you and me, we are in a different covenant. We are in a new covenant, and it applies to only those who God has called, and only those who God will call and invite into that covenant. But as for the old 12 tribes, or 13, if you divide the tribe of Joseph into the two nations of Ephraim and Manasseh, we find that it is far from abolished for them, and they are in fact suffering consequences and will suffer greater consequences for the breaching of that covenant that is ongoing today.

Let's go to Jeremiah 3 and verse 13. Jeremiah 3 and verse 13.

Here we pick up, sort of stick ourselves into the middle of what's going on with the tribes of Israel and what God is saying to them as we come up to the end times. Return, O backsliding children. See where God's focus is here? The covenant is very much alive, and God wants them to return to it, to return to Him. Why? Because He says they are backsliding children. The descendants of Israel are the children of God. They are one group of the children of God, the physical group that He called out to be a model nation, to show that His way of living works.

And they've been backsliding. They've left Him. He said, Return, says the Lord, for I am married to you. And He says, I was married to you. He says, I am married to you. Verse 20. Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, and so you have dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel, says the Lord. If you want an understanding of how God views this departure, this treachery, this backsliding, all you have to do is read the book of Hosea.

And you'll see time after time how God goes back and forth and back and forth to try to restore His relationship with Israel. He never gives up on that relationship. So we come again to the end time. We read in Isaiah 58 and verse 1. Isaiah 58 and verse 1. Cry aloud, Spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and tell My people their transgression, and tell the house of Jacob, which is Israel, their sins.

So one of the warning messages that the church has been entrusted with and that the two witnesses will be entrusted with is to tell God's people today, as it says right here, tell My people or His people. Well, He's got two groups, doesn't He? Spiritual Israel, the church, but the old physical Israel as well, their sins. And the house of Jacob, their sins. They need to realize that they are breaking a covenant that God made with their ancestors. In Ezekiel 33 and verse 7, there's another familiar passage about an end time warning that needs to go to the house of Israel.

Ezekiel 37 and verse 7. So you, Son of Man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. When I say to the wicked, what are wicked? They are covenant breakers. They are lawbreakers. O wicked man, you shall surely die. Yes, in this end time that's coming up, it's going to be the time of the Gentiles.

And the Judah, the descendants of Judah, and all the other twelve tribes beside them are going to suffer. When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die. And you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way. That wicked man shall die in his iniquity. Now this is not to the general world because the general world has never been in a covenant with God. They've never known. They've never been called.

God is not holding His laws and His Bible and His commandments against them. He's holding the ones He made the covenant with. These shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. Verse 9, Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul. So our responsibility there for those who are the teachers and the preachers of righteousness, that we do need to warn those who God has covenants with.

We do that effectively within the church. It's hard, though, however, to get a warning out to the greater nations that comprise the descendants of Israel. And therefore, the result is the Great Tribulation, or the times of the Gentiles. In Jeremiah 30, verse 6, Ask now and see whether a man is ever in labor with a child. Of course, that's silly, isn't it? Men are never in labor with children. So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor, and all faces turn pale?

Verse 7, Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it. And it is the time of Jacob's trouble. Time of Jacob's trouble. Jacob being the 12, the 13 tribes of Israel. And it says, But he shall be saved out of it. Now, we came up through this on the Feast of Trumpets, talked about this. Let's go to Isaiah 10 and the first six verses. Isaiah 10, beginning in verse 1.

We see what happens to those covenant breakers, physical Israel. They begin to get a glimpse here. Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, who write misfortune which they have prescribed, to rob the needy of justice and take what is right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey and that they may rob the fatherless. What will you do in the day of punishment, in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your glory? Without me they shall bow down among the prisoners, and they shall fall down among the slain.

For all of his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. Verse 5, Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger. So Assyria is going to be used against the nations of Israel. And the staff in whose hand is my indignation, I will send him against an ungodly nation, against the people of my wrath. I will give him charge to seize the spoil, to take the prey, to tread them down like the mire of the streets. And so we recognize where this is going to come from, and we realize what strong nation is going to bring it on.

But the end of the tribulation is shown in the 24th chapter of Isaiah, in verse 5. Isaiah chapter 24 and verse 5. When we see that end time closing, notice what it is like. Notice how it is described. Isaiah 24 verse 5, The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants, for they have transgressed laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. See what this is about. And they would not repent. And therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt.

Therefore the inhabitants of the earth dwindled, and few people are left. This is not talking only about the world at large. This is talking in particular about the descendants of Israel. Yes, the world at large is going to suffer a catastrophic loss of population. But few people are left, is in reference to those who have sinned and broken the everlasting covenant at the end of verse 5. This few is referred to as a remnant in several places in Scripture.

Ezekiel 6 verse 9 speaks about the remnant. Ezekiel 6 verse 9. I believe this is in reference to one of the groups of 144,000 that you read of in Revelation. I can't say for sure. There are two groups of 144,000 mentioned. One is described by name as 12,000 out of each tribe of the 12 tribes of Israel.

And another one could refer to the spiritual firstfruits. It is a general number of the spiritual firstfruits. Mr. Armstrong, when he was alive, was uncertain at the time of his death as to what that meant. I think in general, we in the church try to combine them both and assume that they fit the same thing. But quite possibly, what it's referring to here, and it's just my speculation, Ezekiel 6 verse 9.

Yet I will leave a remnant so that you may have some who escape the sword among the nations, some from each tribe. Remember those 12 tribes in Revelation were sealed so that they could not be killed, so that some of them would live through. And here, in fact, is what happens. A few live through and are scattered through the countries. Then, verse 9, those of you who escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, because I was crushed by their adulterous heart, which had departed from me, and by their eyes, which had played the harlot after their idols.

They will loathe themselves for the evils which they had committed in all their abominations. They will come to repent. Yes, correction is hard, but notice here, they will loathe themselves. Once their eyes are truly opened, and they shall know that I am the Lord, and I have not said in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them. In Jeremiah chapter 3 and verse 14, we find how God is going to do this. Once the indignation is passed, and once we have a group that for some reason God has sealed a few from each of the tribes and brings them back, notice what he does in particular.

Jeremiah chapter 3, beginning in verse 14, And I will take you one from a city. Notice how few are left. You have a whole city. Imagine the city where you live. One left there. Or I will take you two from a family. Out of your whole family, just think of all your family. Two out of your family are left. And I will bring you to Zion. You know, that is... that's not many. That's not many. And a small remnant of those who... those descendants who God had made that covenant with will come again into the Promised Land in a way very similar that they did the first time.

Let's go to Romans chapter 9 and verse 28. Romans chapter 9 and verse 28. Here the Apostle Paul speaks or quotes passages that speak of this.

He says in Romans 9 verse 27, Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel, the nation, the people, the 13 tribes of Israel. Though the number of the children of Israel be as sand of the sea... Just think how many today Israelites there are around the world. Though they be as the sand of the sea, as was promised to Abraham, but his descendants would be like the sand of the sea. Notice, only a remnant will be saved. Only a remnant of that great number.

Verse 28, For he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth. It's going to be a small, small period of time. It's a short work. But then he's going to finish it and cut it short in righteousness. And as Isaiah said before, verse 29, Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.

But you know, the God of the Sabbath, the Lord of the Sabbath, is the Lord of this day. What is this day, picture? What does this day remind us of? The Kingdom of God. The coming thousand-year millennial reign, especially. Before, as there are six thousand years that man has lived in this present evil age, there are six days in a week. And as there is the seventh-day Sabbath that we worship on, so is there the millennial thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ. And so the God of the Sabbath has left us a seed, they say.

And we will not become like Sodom and Gomorrah. We won't be totally extinguished. In Isaiah 10 and verse 20, It shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, as such have escaped of the house of Jacob, will never again depend on him who defeated him. Israel, the twelve tribes of Israel, especially the ten tribes, have depended on Assyria ever since they were first put into captivity.

It was about seven hundred years before Christ. They were taken captive by Assyria, and they've been with Assyria ever since. Ever since they moved down through Greece and came around and up and inhabited Europe, Assyria has always been there. And they've always depended on Assyria. Right now today, they're depending on Assyria. Assyria has the best economy, it has the best money, it has the best manufacturing, it has the best skills, it has the strongest economy. And the Europeans, I'm sorry, well, the Europeans, but the Israelite-ish nations that are in Europe, are depending on the Assyrians, who have tried to conquer them twice in the last century, but now they're all back again, depending on Assyria.

Well, they won't depend on them anymore. But instead will depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant will return the remnant of Jacob to the mighty God. For though your people, O Israel, be now as the sand of the sea, if we look at the map of the world, just think, for a moment, about how many Israelite-ish descendants there are on this planet. You know, if you just look for a second at the map.

Of course you have a little island of Britain. Britain, of course, has Australia, New Zealand. You have the United States and its protectorates. But those are just two. It's actually one tribe, the tribe of Joseph. When you look around the world today, you read the United States and Britain in Prophecy. We see that this world has millions, millions upon millions, of the descendants of Jacob, of Israel.

And to think of them being brought down to a small number is almost incredible. Historically, the Church has listed some of the tribes and the probable countries that they inhabit today. I mentioned, first of all, Joseph's son Ephraim, England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. Canada, I forgot to mention, north of the United States there. Then we have Manasseh, another son of Joseph, whose descendants came to the United States. Judah, the Jews, you think of the nation of Israel, but the Jews actually are probably in all the countries around the world.

Reuben is associated with France, especially northern France. Dan with Ireland. Gad with Switzerland. Zebulun, Holland. Other tribes settled into Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway. Some of the descendants of Zebulun moved to South Africa and populated the country down there. If we go on here in Isaiah 10, verse 22, continuing, though they now be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them will return to Palestine. Now, when we look at all these countries and you keep them in mind, I want you to look at something.

Close up here of an island, I want to show you. That island right there. That's Vancouver Island. That's where my daughter, Rayan, was born. Vancouver Island. It's kind of a small island, very pretty. There's Vancouver Island next to Palestine, the modern state of Israel. Same size. You're going to take all those nations that we saw and the remnant will fit very easily within there and have a lot of room to grow. Begin to see what's going to happen here.

In Jeremiah 31, verse 7, we begin to see the change that takes place as what this day that we are now worshipping on, the Sabbath, and what the Feast of Tabernacles pictures. In Jeremiah 31, verse 7, for those few who are brought there, thus says the Lord, sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations, proclaim, give praise, and say, O Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the ends of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and the one who labors with child together.

A great throng shall return there, and they shall come with weeping, and with supplications I will lead them. And I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way in which they shall not stumble. God is going to begin a beautiful life for people.

It starts in tragedy when they come weeping. But He says, For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. God has a very strong relationship with the physical lineage of those whom He first called and put so much of the Old Testament, He put so much of His time and effort into them. In Micah 7, verse 18, Who is a God like you, pardoning our iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?

He does not retain His anger forever because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which you have sworn to our fathers from days of old. God is going to have an atoning, an atonement for them, and forgiveness of them. He's going to bury it in water.

Ezekiel 37, verse 21. Let's take a look here. Ezekiel 37, verse 21, of how God brings them back and what He does with them. Then say to them, says the Lord God, Ezekiel 37, 21, Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone. I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land. So here now God is giving them their own land, free of charge. This is just like after the Exodus. He brought them into the same land. And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all.

That's David. And they shall no longer be two nations. They won't be split into the northern and the southern kingdom, the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel. Nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. Verse 23, They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions. They won't have that mindset like we see going on in the world today. But I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned and will cleanse them. You know what? It is often the nations of Israel, of the descendants of Israel, that are creating the abominations today.

You look at where the smut and the evil and the sin and the murder and the various licentious things that are going around the world come from. And you can just walk through country by country by country. And they are the descendants of Jacob. They are the ones that are pushing them. And these are detestable things. But he says, you won't be defiling yourself with those anymore. But I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned and will cleanse them.

And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. Now this doesn't just come automatically. It's not just because, well, he brought them back and this time it's going to necessarily be different. It's not because the animals will be tame. It's not because there will be rain in due season. There are specific things that will make the world tomorrow such a great place as compared to today.

We read of the cause in Jeremiah 23, verse 3. Jeremiah 23, verse 3. But I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their folds. And they shall be fruitful and increase. So here they come back. But notice verse 4. I will set up shepherds over them, and they shall fear... Oh, sorry. Who will feed them? Shepherds will be set up who will feed them. They'll have a different diet.

This is the diet that everybody is getting today in the world. You know, Satan is just broadcasting a satanic diet. And the end result is terrible lives. But here we're going to have shepherds, teachers, who will do God's will and teach God's way. They will feed them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking, says the Lord. It's cause and effect. It's always been cause and effect. It still is cause and effect.

It's cause and effect every day in your life, in my life, in their lives. We don't understand sometimes what others can't see. Why don't you understand and realize that what you're about to do has been done a billion times before by lots of other people, lots of other couples, and they've been miserable from it. Why are you going down the same road? Well, thankfully, we have been called to a different covenant. We have an understanding and light and truth that is not available. In Isaiah 30, beginning in verse 8, we take this a little further now, and see a little bit more as to how this is going to happen, what exactly is going to happen.

Let's go to verse 18. Verse 18, Therefore the Lord will wait that he may be gracious to you, and therefore he will be exalted that he may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Cause and effect. Blessed are those who wait for him. For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. You shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry, and when he hears it, he will answer you. So this is God's way of working with people.

He says in the next verse, Though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity, there is a time of trial, there is a time of correction, the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore. But your eyes shall see your teachers. You and I have been called to serve the great shepherd. The great Prince of Peace is calling assistance, you might say. We have been asked to be shepherds along with him. He said shepherds will lead them in truth. That's going to be the firstfruits. And these here are called teachers. Teachers that are working directly with them.

People who see them with their eyes. It says in verse 21, Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk in it, whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left. It's so important that Christ has assistance. The other day I was saying to my wife, I think it was after Trump, it says we were driving home. When you think about Jesus Christ and all that he will be doing as the millennial phase takes off and goes, it's like a man who is launching out in his life, his career, his business, whatever, and he needs a helper.

He needs a wife. And I told Mary, I said, It's interesting that God has created you ladies to be perfect helpers, a perfect complement to a man's needs, to want to help, to not only want and desire to help, but have the ability to help. I mean, incredible helping capabilities, the way you can think and multitask, the way that you're sort of always sort of reviewing.

I even remember when one of my daughters, Michelle, was real young, and I was doing a project, and she could hand me the next tool I needed before I needed it. That was amazing. It was like, wow, she knew what I was going to be doing next, and she would hand me the tool for that. Now, one thing that a man doesn't need is a woman with a competing mind, a competing career, competing... She has her own life mapped out. She's off on a different quest, off on a different mentality. Then you just have two people coexisting and maybe actually rubbing or friction against each other.

Christ doesn't need a church that knows more than He does. He doesn't need a whole bunch of helpers who got important in their own eyes, that sort of inflated themselves and think they have all the solutions. Now, what we see here and what it looks like is, He needs a bunch of people who are like-minded, that want to love and serve and help, as we heard in the sermonette today, who want to jump in and help in an emergency situation, and all they need is the guidance and the tools and the direction and the opportunity.

It's like a young lady that is gifted and talented in so many ways, domestically, mentally, creativity. All she needs is a palette on which to serve and help and use her skills. She needs the opportunity. So what we see here, God, through His Son Jesus Christ, is going to be solving things and raising up another generation of Israelites, and helpers will assist Him.

And it's interesting in Revelation how those helpers are described as the bride of Christ, a group of people described as a woman who is totally capable, totally willing, totally desirous to give and to help and to serve, and elevated to spirit beings, will have the intellect, they will have the wisdom of God, they will have the timeless knowledge that God can fill our minds with.

All we need is the opportunity and the direction, then, to assist. It's a wonderful thing that humanity will be given direction, and we're going to find that the result of that is very powerful, very powerful indeed. You can read on down through much of the rest of this chapter. Verse 23, He will give the rain for your seed with which you sow the ground, and the bread of the increase of the earth, it will be fat and plentiful, and that day your cattle will feed in large pastures. It's going to be a good time.

It's going to be a very positive time. Likewise, the oxen and the young donkeys that work the ground will eat cured fodder, which has been winnowed with the shovel and fan. There will be on every high mountain, on every high hill, rivers and streams of water in the day of the great slaughter when the towers fall.

Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold in the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord binds up the brews of His people and heals the stroke of their wounds. What's coming isn't just a little different than what is now. It's going to be delicious.

It's going to be beautiful and wonderful. And at the Feast of Tabernacles, you'll hear many of the descriptions about what the time of the Millennial period will be like. But I'd like to look at Ezekiel 37, verse 24.

As we continue looking at what that new era will be like, that new time that's ahead, Ezekiel 37, 24, David, my servant, shall be king over them, and they shall have one shepherd. They shall also walk in my judgments and observe my statutes and do them. The very thing that God is going to spank Israel for not doing now, they will be doing then.

And a lot of that is because of the teachers and the lack of blindness and the lack of Satan the devil, which is part of what the Day of Atonement is about. And then they shall dwell in that land that I have given to Jacob, my servant, where your fathers dwelt. And they shall dwell there, they and their children and their children's children forever. And my servant David shall be their prince forever. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will establish and multiply them, and set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them. Indeed, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

And the nations also will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel when my sanctuary is in their midst forever. So now we begin to not only look at the twelve tribes of Israel, but we see now the other nations are beginning to recognize and witness what is going on. In Isaiah 28 and verse 5, we see a mindset that changes within them.

Isaiah 28.5, In that day the Lord of hosts will be for a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of his people. For a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment and for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate, referring to peacemakers. Now there's peacemaking and proper judgment, and godly judgment begins to take place.

Going on to chapter 46 and verse 3, Isaiah 46 and verse 3. Listen to me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been upheld by me from birth, who have been carried from the womb. Even to your old age, I am he, and even to gray hairs I will carry you.

I have made and I will bear, even I will carry and I will deliver you. I bring my righteousness near, it shall not be far off, salvation shall not linger, and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory. If we look at a map of the ancient Palestine area, we see the allocation that was given to the twelve tribes. What you find here is an obvious problem. Because modern Israel only inhabits a small portion of that.

That today is covered partly by Egypt, by Jordan, by Syria, and a small part of it by Lebanon. In Zephaniah chapter 2 and verse 9, right towards the end of the Old Testament, it says, Therefore as I live, says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, surely Moab will be like Sodom, and the people of Ammon, like Gomorrah, overrun with reeds and saltpits, as a perpetual desolation, the residue of my people, the remnant, here they're called the residue of my people, shall plunder them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them.

If we look at the map of the modern times, you can see here, just comparing the two. If you look in the modern map, you can kind of catch either the Dead Sea at the bottom, or the Sea of Galilee at the top, or the Lake Ginnir-Soret at the top, kind of watch those as we go back and forth here, you can see where things are. See at the top right, Syria has that land.

The top left is Lebanon. Coming down, Jordan has everything to the right side of the Dead Sea, and if you want to be accurate, all the striped area on the left is also Jordan's territory. So if you go to the far left, where it says Gaza Strip, you can see a small lined area there that is always in the news, it seems, the Gaza Strip. And then to the left down here and below is what Egypt controls.

So the only thing that Israel controls today is this area right here. And if you just watch that area of modern Israel today, you can see that it's not very much. Even that is very small when you compare it to Vancouver Island. So there's a problem. But the Scripture we just read in Zephaniah 2 and verse 9 says God is going to take those nations out. The Bible reading program says the territory of Ammon, Moab, and Edom, which is mainly modern Jordan.

Interestingly, that section over there to the right that they are that they anciently inhabited is where the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are said to be located. And if we read Zechariah chapter 2 and verse 9 again, notice once again how this is stated. Zephaniah chapter 2 and verse 9. Got a fan up here. Blew it over to Zechariah. Zephaniah 2 and verse 9. Therefore as I live, says the Lord of hosts, surely Moab shall be like Sodom and the people of Ammon like Gomorrah.

In other words, those people are going to eliminate, just be eliminated, just like the people in those cities previously had been eliminated. And it's going to turn out that God is going to resettle the tribes of Judah back into their original land. The Edomites were descendants of Esau, and they continue to dwell in various parts of the Middle East.

In fact, the Edomites are considered to be in part the Palestinians that are there today, either in whole or in part. But at that time what we're going to see is a different society, a totally different society. And that different society will work and produce. They'll have time, they'll have relationships, they'll have peace.

That's a wonderful thing. You and I oftentimes don't even know that ourselves. We don't go out and produce, we don't dig in the ground to make a living, we don't see the seasons, we don't feel the earth produce, and then have food that we can eat and share and maybe take to the Feast of Tabernacles. And if the way is too long, convert that into money. Now, we have a different society, and ours isn't so well suited to human life.

In Isaiah 37, verse 30, this shall be assigned to you. You shall eat this year such as grows of itself, and the second year what springs from the same. Also in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. It's really going to produce well. It's going to be fun to put in a crop and then harvest that crop, and you probably have too much to bother sowing in a crop next year because you've got so much left, but the land produces another crop from what you sowed last year. You know, that's a lot of bounty, that's a lot of being taken care of. And also sowing and reaping in the third year.

Planting vineyards and eating the fruit that's your own. I don't know how many of you have planted vineyards. I've seen a few around. People tend to get buried in grapes or oranges or grapefruits or especially lemons or things when you have fruit. But some people have orchards, and others will grow various vines that produce things. And it's a wonderful thing when you see that actually growing and coming out and picking it and enjoying it, rather than going to the grocery store and simply buying it off the shelf, that somebody else has grown. And you're not really sure what the quality of it is. But it begins with Israel, as we've seen. In Micah chapter 4 and verse 1, Micah chapter 4 and verse 1, Micah chapter 4, Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house, the kingdom of God, shall be established on top of the mountains, literally and physically. Literally, it will be established among all the nations. Mountains are prophetic terms for nations. But also, it will be on top of the mountains of Israel. Jerusalem is up at the top. It's fairly high where Jerusalem is. And that's where God is going to establish His throne. And the people shall flow to it. Verse 2, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. What we find then is this begins to spread and it begins to go global. It says in Zechariah 3 verse 9 That everyone will invite his neighbor under his vine and under his fig tree. Relationships. Probably a certain amount of ease. One thing that we lack in this country that the East Africans have all over us is time to have relationships. Time to come and sit under a tree and talk, to eat. And they just can't believe that we don't have things like that. Of course, they can't believe that they don't have any physical things, which we run around and busy ourselves with all these material things. We don't have time for relationships. Somewhere in there, there's a balance. We can learn from each other, but certainly we can learn from God and do it well.

In conclusion, I want to read Jeremiah, a few verses in Jeremiah chapter 3, because it sort of summarizes what we've learned here today about the future. Jeremiah chapter 3 and verse 14 We do look into this future as through a glass darkly, but some of the indications are that there's going to be beauty and harmony and peace and joy and abundance. And we are to save our festival tithe and go to the feast and have joy and abundance and see beauty and share. Jeremiah 13 verse 14 Return, O backsliding children. We have seen that the children of God have gone away from Him and broken that covenant. Says the Lord, For I am married to you. I will take you one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And in those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north, to the land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers. And remember what the key, the key to the success of the millennium is verse 13 or verse 17. I can't really see here. Jeremiah 13. Just give me a second. Oh, 15. And I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. Notice here the shepherds have three things said about them. Shepherds according to God's heart. David was a man after God's own heart. He's going to be the king. Now we have shepherds. Christ called the first fruits, or said of the first fruits that they would rule over cities. They have to have a heart like God. They have to be people after God's own heart. That's the first thing. The second is who will feed you with knowledge. They have to know. They have to know God's way. They have to know all about it. They have to be able to teach it. And the third thing is understanding. Understanding comes through doing. We have to be people who are performing godliness. Do you want to help? Do you want to be one who steps in and helps with the emergency that's ahead? Well, grow the heart of God. Develop the knowledge of what godliness is. And the understanding of living it that goes along with being a child of God. And finally, in verse 17, At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, And all the nations shall be gathered to it, all the worlds, all the nations, Shall be gathered to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem, And no more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts. I hope you all have a very enjoyable feast of tabernacles. And in your rejoicing, let's remember the great plan that God has and his need for godly shepherds.