A Pivotal Day

Thank you, Mrs. Shoemaker. That was very beautiful.

I had a little trepidation. Well, I guess you always have that when you come in on a holy day, wondering what we'll be covering in advance. Sometimes it's a benefit. When I'm down in Pressensburg, I don't have to hear somebody go through all my scriptures and such.

But it sounds like you've already heard a very thorough coverage of everything about trumpets. So it might leave me without a whole lot to say. But then again, I thought one thing I'll bet you didn't hear about this morning was corn noodles.

I got a similar reaction a couple days ago. Actually, I was sitting at lunch with Connor, and for some reason, he said, Daddy, say something silly. And that's what came out of my mouth for some reason. I've never tasted corn noodles. I don't know. And then he kept wanting things that are silly. It's hard to think of something silly at the moment. But you know, some words or phrases do just sound kind of funny. And others, if you say them over and over again, might start to sound funny or lose their meaning. And that's a way of me backing into mentioning a particular word that I might nominate for that. The word pivot. Pivot. If I say pivot, pivot, pivot, pivot. It's not hard to say, but after a while, it starts seeming to lose its meaning. And it'd sound weird if you say it enough times. I can't hear the word pivot without thinking of basketball. Because I think the furthest back, or the first time I ever heard that word was probably in the fifth grade, is when I was on an actual basketball team learning about a pivot foot. And I'm sure most of you understand a pivot foot is where you're allowed to put one foot down. And if that foot stays stationary, you can move around and change your direction. And that's what a pivot is. I learned later, in a general sense. Pivot means there's a stationary point, like my elbow could be a pivot, and then a change of direction from what else is there.

The reason I'm bringing this up today, and you might wonder, between corn noodles and pivots, what does that have to do with the Feast of Tabernacles? Well, I'm leading into that because I think the second furthest back, I can remember hearing the term, actually was probably the adverb form. Or was it adjective? I'm not sure which.

But the term, pivotal. Because I remember in a sermon by, if I'm right, I'm pretty sure it was Herbert Armstrong, called Acts 3, verse 21, the pivotal scripture in the Bible. Now, I was kind of young, so I thought, ooh, pivotal scripture, that must be pretty important. But what I knew of a pivot having to do with basketball, I thought, well, does that mean it's something like I can, you know, spin my Bible around because it's on the pivot? And you can see, I can't do it. I never could do it with a basketball very well, either. Well, that wouldn't make sense because that would involve attachment to the outside of your Bible. That can't have anything to do with a scripture. I thought, maybe he was referring to, you know, the middle of the Bible. Later I found out, you know, Acts 3, verse 21 is not the center scripture of the Bible. And I used to know which one it was. I think it's in Psalms somewhere. Does anybody have a better memory that the middle scripture, well, I can't... No, that's not it. Could it be the last scripture in the Old Testament moving to the New? Well, as it turns out, what Mr. Armstrong meant by pivotal scripture, he was speaking of the meaning. So let's turn here and read, which is, you know, as a probably, what, 11-year-old, if I'd have just done that at the time, I probably would have understood. Acts 3, verse 21. Actually, I'm going to start with verse 20 to establish who it is of whom we're speaking. It says, that he may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken of by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. Now I see it. I've seen it for a little while, but just think, this scripture looks back through all of the Old Testament, through the prophecies even going back to early in Genesis. We believe the first Messianic prophecy goes to the Garden of Eden. So it looks back all through there.

And it mentions that we're now at a point of time where Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God, having been sacrificed, having made the way for our sins to be paid for and us redeemed. But it's also looking ahead to the time when Christ will return for the restoration of all things, restoring the earth to the state that God intended all along.

And it reminds me, the point here that's only referred to by one word, until. That means an awful lot, doesn't it? Until is referring to that time when Jesus Christ does return to this earth. He'll become King of Kings, Lord of Lords. He'll take charge of all the governments in the world.

That is going to be a very dramatic turning point. Or you could call it one great big pivot.

I'm not sure if that's demeaning, having described the return of Jesus Christ as a great big pivot, but it is a very pivotal event in human history and human affairs.

For my subject today, though, I want to narrow it down a little bit more.

I want to focus down to why I'm discussing it today. One of the reasons I'm speaking of today. Because the Feast of Trumpets is largely about the return of Jesus Christ to this earth. Now, we do know that there are seven trumpets. It's not the Feast of Trumpets, but trumpets, plural.

And if you go through all of them, you'll see that they represent things that are sobering. Even scary.

We can read descriptions of great suffering, of mass destruction, death, and the millions of people.

But before we finish the meaning of the day, we also see that at the seventh trumpet, Christ literally returns to earth and another dramatic event happens.

There is a resurrection. We call it the first resurrection.

Thinking of that, what an amazing change. What a pivot. From people dying by the millions to people coming to life.

Thus, in the same way that we could call Acts 3, 21, the pivotal scripture of the Bible, I want to propose that we could call the Feast of Trumpets the pivotal holy day in the annual holy day calendar. It pictures a pivotal event in human history.

The turning from death to life, to the resurrection. Now, I should mention I'm not establishing a new doctrine by calling the Feast of Trumpets the pivotal holy day. This is my own personal interpretation, but I think I can back it up. Let's see how this is described in scripture. Now, despite the fact that most people in the world who call themselves Christian believe that there is no real need for a resurrection. Why do they think that? Well, they believe that everybody has an immortal soul and that there is no need for a resurrection, therefore. But the Bible teaches differently. We can read of some people expressing that understanding in John 11. I want to turn there.

John 11 is the story of Jesus Christ resurrecting to physical life his good friend Lazarus. Now, Jesus knew that Lazarus was going to die. I'm not going to read the whole chapter. We're going to break in at about verse 21. But he deliberately waited and didn't go to Lazarus' side until after Lazarus had died. And then he decided to go, knowing that he was going to work a great miracle.

Lazarus had two sisters, Martha and Mary, and hearing that Jesus was coming, Martha went out to meet him and they had this conversation.

In verse 21, Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Meaning, if you'd been here, you would have healed him miraculously.

But even now, I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Now, some people presume that she was hinting that he should resurrect Lazarus. And that's a possibility, but I see it a little bit differently because it seems that Jesus had to go out of his way to explain to her that he could bring him back to life. I always have seen this as Martha saying that even though you weren't here to heal him, I still believe in you. I still know that God hears your prayers. I still believe you're the Messiah. But Jesus then told her something sort of that she knew but didn't know the way he intended it. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said, well, I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. He'll rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Here we see that someone who was a disciple of Jesus Christ, who apparently studied and understood God's word, realized that a time was coming.

She called it the last day. So not yet, but at that time in the future, at the last day, people, or we might say good people, we'll make the differentiation a little bit later, but those people will rise from the dead. But Jesus wanted to tell her something else. And Jesus said to her in verse 25, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? She said, well, yes, Lord, I believe that you're the Christ, the Son of God, who came into the world. This shows us somewhat the pivotal nature of the event. Mary knew from what she called the Old Testament prophecy that a Christ, a Messiah, was to come to the world. Jesus was that Messiah. He is that Messiah, still. But Martha, before his crucifixion and then resurrection, she was still missing what I think probably, well, we're certain almost all Jews of the time were missing. They knew that a Messiah was coming. They saw the prophecies. But very few understood that a Messiah would be coming twice. That the first time he would come as the suffering servant who would give his life as a sacrifice so that all sin could be paid for. So they thought the Messiah was coming to bring a better life. They didn't see the sacrifice. They thought he's going to come and he's going to overthrow the Roman Empire and re-establish the Kingdom of Israel. That's why you can read early in Acts. After the resurrection, the disciples still came to Jesus and said, Are you at this time going to establish the Kingdom? And he said, No, it's not for you to know the time. He didn't want to tell him, Look, it's going to be a couple thousand years. He just said, It's not for you to know. But we now know that Christ didn't come just to bring a better life for those that would be in the Kingdom of Israel. He came to bring eternal life. Eternal life. And that's what he was beginning to explain to Martha. I think he didn't explain it fully because he knew that the Holy Spirit would be required for her to fully understand it. But Jesus said, Whoever believes in him, though he may die, will live. And we could add, live forever. That's what he meant when he said, He who believes in me shall never die.

Because if it weren't for the resurrection, what Jesus says here would contradict itself. On one hand, he says, A believer would never die. But on the other hand, he said, Well, the believer may die, but he will live. What? Well, it does make sense if we know that believers can die at the end of a physical life, but then can't expect a resurrection to eternal life.

So when he said, Never die, he means, in the long run, have eternal life. The physical death is really a mere, we could say, inconvenience in the long term. When it happens in the short term, it seems a lot more than a mere inconvenience. It's a great tragedy. But Jesus said, The resurrection will happen, and he was the agency of it happening. He told Martha, I am the resurrection and the life.

We can get a more thorough explanation of that resurrection if we turn to 1 Corinthians 15. Of course, we call this the resurrection chapter. 1 Corinthians 15. This reminds me, I've been enjoying when I go into the classroom at ABC. I've learned Mr. Antion has memory scriptures each week. He'll change those out in sometimes memory chapters. Sometimes it's a little, the students will have fun asking me if I know what they are. Often times I do, but I'm embarrassed.

Sometimes I don't. But this is one, we pretty early remember resurrection chapter 1 Corinthians 15. Now, we won't read the whole chapter, but I'd like to begin in verse 22. 1 Corinthians 22. Paul says, For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Or in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order. Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ at his coming. At his coming. That's when the Christians will be made alive. That explains why many Christians over the last two thousand years have died and are still dead.

We'll say more about the timing momentarily, but it is clear that there's a set time. Each in his own order. Christ first, then those who are Christ that is coming. But along with the wind, Paul describes how. If we drop down to verse 35. Someone will say, well, how are the dead raised up?

With what body do they come? Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. What you sow, you don't sow that body that shall be, but mere grain.

Or instead of grain, we could use the word seeds. Perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as it pleases, as he pleases. To each seed its own body. All flesh is not the same flesh. There's one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies. But the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

So Paul is showing there are different types of things. There's one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and yet another glory of the stars. For one star differs from another star in glory. Now the reason he's saying all that is in verse 42 he says, So also is the resurrection of the dead.

Now he's showing there's a difference. The body is sown in corruption. It's raised in incorruption. It's sown in dishonor. It's raised in glory. So there's a difference. It's sown in weakness. It's raised in power. It is sown in natural body. It's raised a spiritual body. And then he stops and says, There is a natural, or we could say physical body, and there's also a spiritual body. As it is written, the first man Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. That's referring to Jesus Christ.

Remember, Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural and afterward the spiritual. And that's the way it is for us. We live as human beings, physical in the flesh, and look forward to a spirit life in the future. The first man was of the earth made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven.

As was the first man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust. And as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man. So the way we can fulfill what Christ told Martha is that upon resurrection, Christians are raised from the dead, but not in the same type of body that was planted, but a different body, a spiritual body.

The resurrection of Christians is to spirit life, eternal life. There will be no second death for those people. And that's what's required for the destiny that God has in mind. Let's look ahead to verse 50.

Or actually, that's where we ended up in verse 50. Now I say this, brethren. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery. I wonder if Paul or in person he'd say, Listen, I'm going to tell you a mystery. Here's a secret. We won't all sleep, or that is die, but we will all be changed.

That means even if you haven't died yet, if you're still flesh and blood, you can't be in the kingdom of God. It takes spirit. Therefore, God will make the change. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and that's about how long I guess the resurrection or that change takes.

Like that. But when will it happen? At the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. That brings us again to today, the Feast of Trumpets. And again to that part about the pivot.

You've got death swallowed up in victory. What a turning point! This mortal, meaning something that dies, must put on immortality. Something that will not die, that cannot die. And when? At the time that the last trumpet, the seventh trumpet, sounds. That's when the turning point happens. That's why we commemorate this day. Let's read some more of this in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.

1 Thessalonians 4. And I will confess, these are many scriptures that we read normally as part of a funeral service, because they are appropriate. And I thought it would be nice to read them on a happy occasion. And remind us of the greater context in which they apply. 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 13. I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep. It's a way of saying, those who have died, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. Now, he's making the point, we do have hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. Now, you might say, bring with him? Are they in heaven with him now? Was there a rapture and we didn't know about it? No. Now, they can't be with him, otherwise he wouldn't have said they're asleep. Which means dead. They wouldn't need to be resurrected. But we'll see what happens. They aren't with him now. In verse 15 he says, Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds and meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord. And he adds, let's comfort one another with these words. They are some of the most comforting words we could ever hear. But we could back up. Some people have taken the scripture out of its overall context and interpreted it to mean that we'll always be in the air. Some people would say that means the dead will rise, Jesus will be there, and then they'll go to heaven and stay always in heaven. Is that what it means? I don't think so, because for one thing, Christ won't be staying in the air. So neither will Christians. We could ask, you know, okay, they meet him in the air. Where is he going to go? And presumably the people with him. That's a question to which we can have a very precise answer. It's found in Zechariah chapter 14. Zechariah 14, I'm guessing many of you already had this in mind. Matter of fact, many of you, I don't know if you've read this this morning, but that's okay. We're going to read it again. Zechariah 14 in the first verse. Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst, and I'll gather all nations to battle against Jerusalem. The city will be taken, and the house is rifled, the women ravished. Half the city will go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Now, this is a dual prophecy. This happened long ago, but we believe also several of the trumpets before the seventh will encompass this. But then we've also read that when the last trumpet sounds, Christ will return, and the dead in Christ will rise. And in verse 3 it says, Now, that day, not some time, some indefinite time, but the day that he returns, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives will split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley. Half the mountain shall move to the north, half of it to the south.

I've always enjoyed this. Sometimes it's like, in case you didn't know what a valley was, the mountain will split half over here, half over there. And what's in between is a valley. And then you'll flee through my mountain valley, for the mountain shall reach as all, yes, you'll flee as in the earthquake in the days of Uzziah. I wanted to get to the end of verse 5. Thus the Lord my God will come, and all the saints with you. To me, then, it's clear, neither Jesus nor the saints are going to stay in the air. As we read in 1 Thessalonians, they'll meet Christ in the air, but then Jesus is going to go to the Mount of Olives. He's coming, and it says, all the saints with Him. They'll go there with Him. And what's He doing there? He says that He's going to fight the nations. That's what we read in Revelation 11. Let's go there. Revelation 11. We'll read verse 15.

And remember, of course, in the Feast of Trumpets, there are six trumpets, and then the seventh marks the return of Christ. And that's what we read here. Revelation 11, verse 15.

If I could suddenly transform myself into a choir, I want to sing the version of that from Messiah. How many of you hear that music when you read that verse? It's very thrilling. Now, I'm not going to continue reading here, because there are some chapters that are not a part of the direct chronology. You might call them parenthetical chapters, or we have often used the term inset, that break the chronology to show some other things. So I want to skip ahead to chapter 19 to continue with the chronology. The seventh angel sounds, and I don't want to forget to say, among those insets, we also see the fact that that seventh trumpet includes what we call the seven last plagues that will be poured out in very quick succession. They're symbolized by seven vials in the Old King James, bowls in the New King James. I should have checked my 26th translation to see what other containers we can use.

But seven last plagues will pour it out, and then, Revelation 19, verse 11, we get to the pivotal point, I would say.

The name is called the Word of God. This reminds me of John 1, verse 1, where the Word was with God and the Word was God. That's who this is. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. I'm going to stop there. We know it says he'll go and he'll tread the winepress and defeat the nations. But, of course, I've been focusing on these armies in heaven. Some scholars have looked at this scripture in isolation and concluded that this must be angels. And if you looked at it by itself, it certainly seems that it could be angels. But we've just been reading that when that seventh trumpet sounds, the dead in Christ will rise as spirit beings. They'll meet Christ in the air. And we saw in Zechariah that the saints, that is, raised Christians, not angels, will come with him. So it seems most likely that that's who is described here as the armies in heaven. We have more support for this back in chapter 7 of Revelation. Because we saw that they're clothed in white, linen, fine and clean. Revelation 7, verse 9, we'll get a look at how they obtained those special, we could call them, uniforms. Revelation 7 and verse 9, I'm aware I'm breaking into a passage here, but I want to get to the description. After these things I looked and behold a great multitude, which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hand, crying with a loud voice, saying, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne of the Lamb. Let's move down to verse 13, because we get an explanation here. One of the elders answered, saying to me, who are these arrayed in white robes? Where did they come from? And John gives a very judicious answer. Sir, you know. I think you know. I've learned to use that type of thing. I'll get a lot of times a question from Connor, and I'll say, well, why don't you tell me? Because a lot of times he's looking for an answer like corn noodles or something like that. But anyways, John says, well, sir, you know, meaning please feel free to tell me who these are arrayed in white robes. And he says, these are the ones who came out of the great tribulation and washed the robes, made them white in the blood of the Lamb. So, this is spiritually speaking symbolic. I don't advise anybody who wants to keep their clothes white to put them in blood. But the blood of Christ washes away our sins, and so symbolically that's portrayed as white clothing. Therefore, there before the throne of God and serve him day and night in heaven, and he who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They'll neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them nor any heat. That's telling me that these are now spirit beings. They can never get hungry again. They can't get thirsty. They don't have to worry about heat. When they were flesh and blood, those were concerns. But as Paul was saying in 1 Corinthians 15, the physical body is what's put in the ground. A spirit body is what arises. Now they're different. For the Lamb who's in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

So they've been resurrected as immortal children of God. That's what happens to Christians when Christ returns at the seventh trumpet. So these people that we're reading of probably might well and should include us. Now I will point out, I know I didn't read before verse 9 a description of 144,000, and there's 12,000 from each of 12 tribes, because I didn't want to get into dividing up and saying, who's in which group? The point is, you can have the white robes and be with Christ. God's people are resurrected and begin working with Jesus Christ right away. It's good that we read these scriptures and know, because I can imagine you come up on the ground, you meet Christ in the air, and suddenly you take off. Where are we going? Oh yeah, I remember Zachariah 14. We're on our way to the Mount of Olives. Follow Him. He knows the way. It's special to be a part of this group. And keep in mind, we're discussing events that happen on the day that's represented by this day. The Feast of Trumpets represents all of these things happening. Let's turn back to Revelation 20, a few pages over, to remind us of how special it is to be there on that day as part of this group. Revelation 20 and verse 4. Because they'll do more than just go to the Mount of Olives and fight. That's just the beginning. Verse 4, it says, Now, the rest of the dead didn't live again until the thousand years were finished. We'll talk about the rest of them later, but this, this is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is He who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power. But they be priests of God and of Christ and reign with Him a thousand years. And of course, this reminds me of just what we read in 1 Corinthians 15, of a resurrection to immortality. Those who are in this resurrection will never have to worry about dying again. Now, the next resurrection, which we call the second resurrection, that we believe will be a resurrection to physical life. And I'm not going to go into an explanation of that today because we've got some other holy days coming up. And we'll look at that in depth, especially on the last one of the season. Today, we celebrate the Feast of Trumpets. And the particular aspect of that day that I want to focus on again is that first resurrection. The resurrection to eternal life. Christians who have died in the past, or those who may be alive when Christ returns and have His Spirit in them, will become immortal spirit beings. Now, do we know who will be included in this special event? Well, I just, to some degree, describe to, hopefully, all of us. But I want to change gears a little bit and discuss, or look in the Bible, to see some people that we believe are named who will be in that. This is going far back because it doesn't describe or give names in the future. And I want to look at some of them because of some particular lessons that I think can be learned from them. The first person I want to turn to might not be the first one you'd think of. I thought of him because of a passage that is also one we commonly read in funerals. So if you'll turn to Job 14, the book of Job will consider the man Job, Job 14.

Because it seems that Job had insight and understanding as to what is in God's plan for the future. And he was fully expecting to be part of that first resurrection.

This section we could read almost as a dialogue. And I wonder perhaps it might have been. Now, first Job is speaking to God. In verse 13 of chapter 14, he says, Oh, that you would hide me in the grave, that you would conceal me until... Interesting. That's the same word that was in Acts 3.21 that represents that particular time, that until, that pivotal moment in human history when Christ returns. That you would hide me in the grave until your wrath is passed.

That you would appoint me a set time and remember me. And here, as a break, almost as though he suddenly realizes, I'm not sure if these people I'm speaking to understand what this is all about. And perhaps that's true. Remember in the book of Job, his friends came from afar to supposedly comfort him. And they ended up criticizing him and saying, Well, you must ascend to deserve all these terrible things. So, as though Job stops to explain, he says, Well, if a man dies, will he live again? And his answer is, all the days of my hard service, I'll wait till my change comes.

That change, once again, referring to the being planted physical, but being raised and not physical. You shall call, speaking again to God, and I'll answer. You will desire the work of your hands. Now, we know from Paul's explanation, again, in 1 Corinthians 15, what Job meant by that change. And he was confident that God would remember him in that grave. When Christ returns, Job was expecting him to be raised to spirit life as a son of God. And I say, was Job being a little overconfident? Was he trusting in his own righteousness? Well, that is something that can be debated. But we can't assert that God himself, in the beginning of the book, told Satan, you know, he challenged Satan in a sense that, Have you considered Job?

There's no one on earth like him who fears God and holds his integrity. So, God said that Job was blameless. Job knew he was living the right way of life. If you look across the page in Job 13, one of the lessons I want to see that Job exemplifies. Job 13, verse 15, speaking of God, he says, Though he slay me, yet I'll trust him. Job was saying, I don't care what God does to me, I still will trust him. And he says, Even though I'll defend my own ways before him, he also shall be my salvation.

I'm going to stop there. Because we see a little bit of a dichotomy. Job still wants to defend his ways. And that's the lesson, one of the major lessons from the book. If you read through, you'll see that Job needed to learn the lesson that his own righteousness didn't obligate God to give him anything. It's good to be righteous, but he needed to learn to trust God. Because at one point, God says, look up there at the clouds. If you're good or bad, what are you doing to them, let alone God who's way above them?

But Job did understand something that we need to make sure that we learn and never forget. While Job was in his darkest time, in his most severe trial, and remember, he'd lost his family, he'd lost all of his wealth, he had gruesome sores, he was in misery. During all that, Job maintained a hope of the resurrection. He knew that God will carry out his plan. There will be a resurrection when Christ returns.

Severe suffering didn't cause Job to doubt that. And that needs to be us, too. Whenever we find ourselves in a grinding, horrible trial, when it just seems to be almost so bad that it's beyond our endurance, like Job, we need to keep in mind that what this day represents, that in God's plan, we need to trust him to carry out with the Feast of Trumpets pictures, that Christ will return, that he will raise his children to life. Now, let's move on. I want to consider, actually, one of the few places in the Bible outside of the book of Job where you read something about Job.

It's in Ezekiel, Chapter 14. This will actually help me to make a transition to speaking of a couple of other people. Job, not Job, Ezekiel. Ezekiel 14 and verse 19. As I said, for each one of these people, I want to note that there are some particular lessons that I think are important for us. Ezekiel 14, now again, God, well, I shouldn't say again, God is speaking through Ezekiel, warning of great punishment for sin that's going to come on the people of Israel, and much of this is dual prophecy, so it could apply to the nations in which we live.

God here says, if I send a pestilence into the land and pour out my fury on it, in blood, and cut off from it man and beast, even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I lived, says the Lord God, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness. Now, I'm intrigued by this. Now, this isn't specifically meant to be a statement that these three men will be in the first resurrection, but it does seem to say that when God wanted to look through history to find examples of righteous men, He chose these three, and He made a point, He was making the point that they were so righteous, but even thus, it only affected themselves.

One of the great themes of Ezekiel is about individual responsibility. Ezekiel again and again says, the child won't be put to death for the sins of the father, or the father will be put to death for the sins of the child, but he also says they won't receive good for the other. We each have to do our own part, and we have to rely on God.

Now, we've considered that Job was planning to be in that first resurrection, and we can see what an example of faith and trust he was. It's interesting, as I said, with that, knowing that about Job, the righteousness was something God says all three of these men had in common. Let's note something more about Daniel. Daniel, if we turn to Daniel 9, I want to see, as I said, remember I'm looking at men that we are fairly certain God has indicated that he knows they'll be in this resurrection, and we'll see some other traits about them that are useful for us.

Daniel 9 and verse 20. Now, this is prelude to one of the longest prophecies in the Bible. Well, actually, this is the prelude to the 70 weeks prophecy, and later we'll get to the other. But Daniel 9 and verse 20, Daniel says, While I was speaking, praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the eternal my God, for the holy mountain of my God, yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in a vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering.

Now, he says, man Gabriel, as I'm sure he had the appearance of a man, but we know from the wider context that he was an angel. And he, that is, Gabriel informed me and talked with me and said, O Daniel, I've now come forth to give you skill to understand. At the beginning of your supplications, the command went out, and I've come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved. Therefore, consider the matter and understand the vision.

God wanted Daniel to know that he was greatly beloved, and he was going to give him special insight. Let him be the one who would write down certain things. And I want to move ahead to see something else in the 12th chapter, near the end of Daniel's writing. Daniel 12 and verse 8.

Now, Daniel had been given prophecies that pretty much covered the history of mankind, particularly in that area of the world, from his own time down until the very end, when Christ would return. And he says this, Daniel 12-8, Although I heard, I did not understand. And then I said, My Lord, what will be the end of these things? And he said, Go your way, Daniel. The words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.

Basically saying, Daniel, you're not really meant to understand this. Later people will understand. And then in verse 13, But you go your way till the end, for you will rest. That's the way of saying, your life is going to end, you'll die, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.

This is pretty much a promise. Daniel is going to be resurrected when Christ returns. And what else did we see here? Daniel was greatly beloved. Some important things here. Daniel was greatly beloved. He was pretty much told, you're going to be in the first resurrection. And yet at the same time, it's quite clear that he didn't understand the meaning of many of the prophecies he himself wrote down.

And that lack of understanding did not prevent Daniel from having that hope of being raised in the first resurrection. I'd like to submit to everyone here, if you're here, you're one of the called out ones of God, you too are greatly beloved. And if you lack some understanding of end-time prophecy, that's not necessarily going to keep you from being in that first resurrection. Now, I want to stop and also say I'm not saying that studying and understanding prophecy doesn't matter or that it's unimportant.

Most of my sermon today is based on end-time prophecy. I do think we should study prophecy. But I am saying if you have something a little backwards or you misconstrue some things, that's not something that keeps you out of that first resurrection. Or that perfect understanding puts you in. We'll see that it's other things that make that difference. Of course, seeking God and being close to Him, having His Holy Spirit is the most important. We'll move on, though.

We'll see in Ezekiel, God grouped Noah, Daniel, and Job together. We've just looked a little bit at Job and Daniel. How much do I need to explore the story of Noah? We pretty much know that. From a child, you hear the story of Noah. So I'm not going to go back to Genesis. Now, we can say that it took a lot of faith for Noah to begin building this huge boat. Some people speculate it was out in the middle of a plane or a meadow or whatever and start stocking up food for every kind of animal.

There's some indication that it took 120 years to build this thing. Imagine what it was like after about 80 years of his neighbor saying, Hey, how's it going up there, Tarzan? Sorry, I couldn't help borrowing from Bill Cosby a little bit. Let's turn to Hebrews 11. As I said, I don't want to go to Genesis and review the story, but I want to look at some conclusions. Hebrews 11, of course, is another chapter that has a name.

We call it the faith chapter. Hebrews 11 and verse 7 Referring to his faith by faith, Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of righteousness, which is according to faith. I wanted to get especially to that. I love that phrase, an heir of righteousness. We don't generate righteousness. God gives it to us. We can inherit it. And then he builds it within us.

And Isaiah 65 is where it tells us that our righteousness, the best we can do, is like filthy rags compared to God's righteousness. But we...well, maybe I should ask the question. If Noah was an heir, can we also be heirs of righteousness? And the answer is yes. The Bible specifically says so. Let's turn over a little ways to Romans 8. Romans 8, beginning in verse 14. And we'll see what it means to be an heir of righteousness. Romans 8, 14.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, or the Spirit of being a son, as the Greek means, by which we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffered with Him, that we may also be glorified together. What happens to children? To heirs of God? We'll keep reading.

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly awaits for the revealing of the sons of God. I believe this is different wording, but still describing what we read about and talked about earlier. A great turning point in human history. A great pivot. When Christ returns, the creation will stop waiting in expectation because at the seventh trumpet, the dead in Christ will rise, and they'll be born children of God.

God's Spirit will be dwelling in them. Well, not only dwelling in them, they'll become composed of Spirit. Change to Spirit-born children of God. What a massive, amazing turning point. We've read that Noah, Daniel, and Job will be in this group. But what we just read here in Romans seems to indicate that all who are joint heirs with Christ should be in this group.

Again, that's us. That's you and me. We should be joint heirs with Christ. We should be there at that pivot. We should expect to be there. Knowing, of course, that we're not perfect yet, but we're being perfected. God's Spirit is working in us and changing us, making us into something better.

And while I'm on this subject, I do want to consider one other person that the Bible does plainly say will be in this resurrection when Christ returns. Partly because there's a very important lesson, again, for us, in that person's story. We'll go to Ezekiel 37. Ezekiel 37, beginning in verse 21.

I'm going to start after the Great Resurrection. I mentioned that there's a resurrection to flesh and blood. As I said, that's a subject for another Holy Day. But I want to mention something that's happening here.

On the mountains of Israel.

And David, my servant, shall be king over them. They shall all have one shepherd, and they shall walk in my judgments and observe my statutes and do them. And you can say, is this figurative language? Does he mean someone like King David? Someone that's a type of King David? I'll say, no. Let's go over to Jeremiah chapter 30. This is one of the cases I've been mentioning to students at ABC, that there are some things the Bible says over and over again, but you get the point.

It wasn't just poetic language on one occasion or two. God says it over and over because it's going to happen just the way He says it. Jeremiah 30, verse 8, It shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I'll break His yoke from your neck and burst your bonds. Foreigners shall no longer enslave them. They'll serve the Lord their God, and David their King, whom I will raise up for them. There's nothing mysterious here. It's talking about the first resurrection. David will be raised up. David will be in that first resurrection, and he'll serve as King over Israel.

Now, of course, he'll be underneath the King of Kings, who is Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but David will have that certain domain. He's one of the very few people that we look forward to in God's Kingdom that the Bible tells us what he's going to be doing. He'll go through the millennium, and then at least for some time afterwards. During the period that we call the Great White Throne Judgment, David will rule Israel.

A few other people that we sort of know of, the Twelve Apostles, Jesus told, you'll each rule over one of the twelve tribes, obviously serving in a hierarchy lower than David. Now, it's interesting. We could go on to speculate positions of many other people.

And, of course, Mr. Armstrong did that in his book, The Wonderful World Tomorrow, What It Will Be Like, with great elaboration. It's interesting to look at. You might wonder, well, will it be this? Will it be that? And then, what am I going to do? He gave a parable about some people being over more cities, some over fewer, some... I don't know. But right now I want to pause and think back to David. These prophecies were given many years after his life had come to an end, hundreds of years afterwards.

And God said, David will be raised and reign in his kingdom. This is significant because David is a person whose sins we know pretty well. They were substantial. And I say this many times. I don't want to run David down because, you know, he was going to be in this resurrection. He's going to be in a position of authority and power. But the Bible does tell us that during his life, he committed adultery and murder.

He had a terrible family life, a bad relationship with his kids. But you know what? He was able to repent. He was able to turn his life around dramatically. That alone is a pretty big pivot. From sin and self-deception and hurting other people to obeying God and devoting your life to him, preparing to be in his kingdom. And through God's mercy, God's love and grace, that notorious former sinner certainly will be in the first resurrection. That should be encouraging to us, too. Because we have that same hope. No one in this room has committed a sin that's too big or too grievous to be allowed to be forgiven by Jesus Christ.

And to be prepared to raise up in that first resurrection. And that could put us in pretty good company. Now, I always hesitate to say that I know for sure of anybody that will be or won't be in that resurrection when the seventh trumpet sounds. Repentance is required. God's Spirit is required. And he alone is the judge. That's why I singled out some people that the Bible gives us a pretty clear indication. There are a lot of other people that it doesn't, so I don't like to speculate. But of course, there are at least some people that we really might be as confident as we can be.

And we certainly want all of us to be. It seems from what we read in the Bible that God is planning for most Christians to be in that first resurrection. That's his intent. That should be our intent. What a change in world events. Again, what a big pivot. Worldwide devastation, chaos, and death. To people being restored to life. It seems that happens a lot of times when I'm up here.

What a joyful event it's going to be when people are coming back to life. Assuming that you're there, who do you look forward to also rising up? Many of us have thoughts of that, and I think today is a good day to think of those things. I'm excited, personally, I'm excited at the thought of my mother and my grandmother coming up. You know? Especially my mother, it's been quite a while. I can't wait to introduce her to my wife.

Because I met and started dating Sue long after my mom was gone. I think my mom will be pleased. That's a compliment to Sue. What's scary is when they start telling each other stories. I might excuse myself for that. But I'm also very anxious for both my mom and my grandmother to meet Connor. At the time my grandmother's life came to an end, Sue and I were presuming that we'd never be able to have children.

So I'm looking forward to this. It's going to be very exciting. And all of us, I'm sure, have people like that. People that we look forward to seeing when that seventh trumpet sounds. When the dead in Christ rise. It's okay to look forward to that and be confident that you'll see them. I think sometimes of that cave, in what used to be called the Land of Canaan, thousands of years ago, in the book of Genesis, it describes Abraham had lost his dear wife after a long life together, and he went to the children of Heth and purchased a cave for a burial place.

He put Sarah's body there, and then later his son's Ishmael and Isaac buried him. And then we can read Isaac was buried there and Rebecca, and later Jacob and Rachel. And I can wonder, were there others? But when that trumpet sounds, can you imagine them walking out of that cave and getting reacquainted, or some of them meeting for the first time and sharing stories? How many other places around the world will there be similar reunions of people who we don't read about in the Bible, but they might be buried close to one another or find each other soon afterwards?

I have to remind myself, they're going to come up with spirit beings and meet Christ in the air, so maybe the reunion will be up there. I don't know how much time we'll have for such things. I don't know how much time we'll have at that particular moment. Afterwards, we're going to have all the time there is. All the time there is to spend with the people we love who will be brought back to life.

It's fun to imagine, to guess and speculate. And all the more so, because our speculation is based on understanding prophecies and promises that are sure, they're certain. We know, and we know that we know, that Christ will return to earth on a day that's represented by this day, the Feast of Trumpets. That will be a pivotal event in human history.

It will mark the end of mankind's rule on the earth and the beginning of Christ's rule. It will mark the conclusion of the great tribulation of punishment, suffering and death, and the beginning of new life. The Feast of Trumpets commemorates in advance the resurrection to spirit life of those whom God has called to be born into his family.

Those saints are going to meet Christ in the air. They're going to go with him to the Mount of Olives. They're going to help him establish his rule over the earth, and then they'll reign for a thousand years. What a great day that is going to be. And thus, what a great day today is.