Promises and Examples of Protection

Thank you very much. And it's interesting, the sun came out, too. I've got a little bit of trivia, something you might not have known before, and I wouldn't have known if I hadn't seen it on TV, but you know those transformers that you see on electric poles? As a matter of fact, I was standing by the front doors, and I saw one just across the street. They're about yea big around. Those have about two to three gallons of some type of oil in the bottom of them. Apparently, from what I understand, it's for coolant purposes. But I learned this from seeing part of an episode of the TV show, Doomsday Preppers. Okay, I'm not the only one that's seen this. Now, I'm not a regular viewer. Although I could be, I've seen a number of times, but not enough to know. So if I misrepresent the show, well, I don't have to apologize to you, but I apologize to them. It's funny, I don't know if many of you do this. Sue and I will be on the couch sometimes when there's nothing we want to watch on and we'll flip through the channels. And inevitably, whichever one of us has, the remote control will stop and spend time watching something that the other is. Look at this. What in the world are you? But I think this was interesting enough. We actually watched quite a bit of it. What happened? The show features people who are preparing for the end of society. That's why they call them Doomsday Preppers.

They expect a complete breakdown of society and the economy, and they're getting ready to take care of themselves and their families. I think each week they feature a different group of people. That's my understanding. And they have different styles. Some of them are working on building elaborate shelters. Others are working on stashing supplies of food or developing ways to grow their own food. Others are preparing to use various special weapons and training.

We flipped through once, and this fellow was teaching his kids advanced martial arts or something. We didn't watch so much of that one. But the episode that I did see a fair bit of, this fellow wanted to be prepared to grow his own food after the end of the world or society. He had a diesel tractor, but he knew that supplies of fuel would run down. He wouldn't be able to go down to the BP and fill up with diesel.

But he had learned that these transformers, apparently that oil that's in them, will burn well enough to power a diesel motor. Well enough. Now that the problem is, though, you might have noticed those transformers are all about 20, 30, or 40 feet up in the air. And they don't have spigots on them. So this fellow is like, okay, how can I get that? You know, it's safe where it's at now.

I don't need it yet, because society hasn't collapsed, but he wanted to be ready. So they followed him as he did an experiment. There were two or three of unused ones on his property, which I don't know how common that is, but his solution was to get some big buckets, set it under the transformer, pull out his gun, and just shoot three or four holes, and watch the oil drip down into the bucket.

And it worked! He poured the stuff into his tractor, and away he went. Now, it seems crazy, but, you know, my question is, is this just weird entertainment? Or is it the type of education that we need? A couple weeks ago, I gave a sermon on the value of preparation. So do we need to become doomsday preppers? Now, I talked about preparation, then turned it to preparing for the Feast of Cabernacles. But we know there are other things. And this time of year, this subject starts seeming more appropriate.

If you're like me, it's common this time of year to spend some time reading through the book of Revelation. And, of course, we like to get to the end of the book, when God will wipe away all tears, and there will be no more pain, no more sorrow. We want to think about the millennium, even, that comes well before that, but when God's way of life will fill the earth. But before that, there's a time that seems pretty scary. You know, those trumpet plagues don't sound like anything very pleasant.

It sounds like doomsday. So if we need to prepare, you know, there's some thought. Take some thought. And I thought about that, and said, that's a side, even if we didn't understand the meaning of those prophecies. Have you watched the news? I say watched, but nowadays you look it up online, you listen to the radio. As a matter of fact, as I was pulling in, I was listening to a news analysis preparing for a speech by the president on when and how we're going to make some type of attack into Syria. So what's interesting is the reports on the news and the prophecies we read that look like doomsday are starting to sound more and more alike, which is what many of us have been expecting and looking for for decades.

And it's so much so that you almost forget. I expect the news and prophecy to sound a lot the same, but it's always going to be more in the distance, or maybe not. So I want to point out something, though, along with those prophecies. And you see them not only in the book of Revelation, but throughout the Old Testament, in the major prophets, the minor prophets. Along with the prophecies of great destruction, we find also promises. Promises of protection. Protection. Will God protect us? How will He protect us? Well, I've got an answer to those two questions.

The answer to number one is, yes! God does promise protection. The answer to the second one is, well, it might depend. There are a number of ways that God has provided protection to His people in the past, and a number of ways we might interpret His promises for the future. So we want to look into the Bible. I want to spend some time today looking at these promises and examples.

But first, I want to look back again and establish for certain from Scripture the need for protection. Actually, before I go to Scripture, I'll mention, look at that news aspect of it. I brought to mind as I was considering this a few years ago, and it's funny how, you know, years passed by.

I'm not sure how many years ago. It was well before Connor was on the scene. Sue and I took a long weekend vacation to Las Vegas. That's a long story how we did that. It's not like we had some desire to go gambling or see all of that. We actually had some airline credit from having to make a change in our feast plans. And it was one of those years where it was a late feast, and so the next feast was... No, it was the other way. I think, like this year, an early feast, the next year's feast would come more than a year later, so we couldn't just save the credit for the next year.

And we were looking for where we could go, and hey, Las Vegas is cheap. And there's some cool things to see there. I could get sidetracked, but if you haven't gone there, you know, we spent the day we'd go to the casinos, and just, like, you go to, what is it, Caesars, and they've got some parts of it where it's like you're in ancient Rome, walking down a street, or you go into the Venetian, and they've got actual canals with gondolas going down them, and what looks like the sky's painted so you'd think you're outside in Venice.

It's just astounding. And, of course, one of my favorite parts was the four-story M&M store. Well, four stories of M&Ms and paraphernalia and all of that. So, anyways, you know, we were there about three days, and each day we'd walk till we were exhausted, looking at all these sites. And then we had a nice room at a hotel, you know, several blocks off the strip, and we'd settle down and relax, and we'd turn on the evening news, typically.

And there's where I was amazed. Report after report of armed assault, homicide, drug busts. Wow! I felt like, when I watched that, we were living in a war zone. It was bad. But what's weird is, in the few years since then, and it hasn't been that many, I've noticed we get the TV stations from Columbus, and the news reports from Columbus are starting to seem the same.

I can't believe how many shootings and, you know, attacks and things like that are happening. I'm guessing if you get Cincinnati stations, it's probably the same for many of you. I looked up some statistical reports. We actually had a few years of a decline in violent crime, but last year, the rate started going back up again.

It rose by 1.2 percent. Some of the most violent cities in the nation, Detroit, Michigan, and Oakland, and those cities, two out of every hundred people will experience a violent crime. Two percent doesn't seem like a lot unless you look around, you know, say you live in a neighborhood where there's a hundred houses, and you think, you know, two out of those, you know, would have violent crime. That's aside from the non-violent. In Flint, Michigan, it's up to 3 percent. And I didn't get a current percentage in Chicago, but from what I hear there, it's like there's a war going on.

I mean, the number of murders has been skyrocketing. And then, of course, that's just local crime. If we look at what's going on in the Middle East, the numbers of people being murdered are just insignificant compared to the hundreds, and now thousands, of people being killed in civil wars. And Syria, of course, we learned recently we've been seeing reports of these gas attacks.

But they're also out in the streets shooting each other. It's a violent, dangerous world. Things like that stir up the doomsday preppers. They start thinking, I've got to get ready. Look at what's happening. And I think, you know, what if they understood what we understood about biblical prophecy? Forget the newspapers. Let's look at what God tells us is coming.

Now, you can't...well, I should mention, this time of year, aside from reviewing for the Feast of Trumpets, you know, I like to read prophecies of the millennium. I like to get myself, as Mr. Warren mentioned, start looking on the good and happy. Prepare for the feast by reading of those prophecies. If you will, turn with me to Jeremiah 3. Jeremiah 3 and verse 17. The point I want to make, though, is alongside those prophecies, we usually see some accounts of, you know, prophecies of punishment before Christ returns.

Jeremiah 3 and verse 17. Here's one of the good prophecies, the things we want to focus on. At that time, Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Eternal. All nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the Eternal, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts. In those days, the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel. They'll come together out of the land of the north, to the land that I've given as an inheritance to your fathers. But I said, how can I put you among the children and give you a pleasant land, a beautiful heritage of the hosts of nations?

And I said, you'll call me my father and not turn away from me. I'm going to stop there because it's interesting, in all the good that's to come, there's some mention of some bad things must have happened. If they're going to be brought back to their heritage, there's some point they must lose their heritage.

It says, no more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts. That means, at some point, people do follow the dictates of their evil hearts. Why does that happen? Well, if we read, looking to verse 20, Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says the Eternal. A voice was heard on the desolate heights, weeping in supplications of the children of Israel, for they've perverted their way.

They've forgotten the Lord their God. And you know what happens when you pervert your way and you forget the Lord your God? For me, it's over a page in Jeremiah 4 and verse 20. I'm going to read several verses here. Destruction upon destruction is cried. The whole land is plundered. Suddenly my tents are plundered and my curtains in a moment. How long will I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet? For my people are foolish. They've not known me.

They're silly children. They have no understanding. They're wise to do evil, but to do good, they have no knowledge. I beheld the earth, and behold, it was without form and void. The heavens had no light. I wonder if Jeremiah is writing this down, saying, I saw this, the earth. There's no form to it, no light. I beheld the mountains, and behold, they trembled.

The hills moved back and forth. Revelation talks about the worst earthquake ever. I beheld, and indeed, there was no man. All the birds of the heaven had fled. I beheld, and indeed, the fruitful land was a wilderness. All the cities broken down at the presence of the eternal by his fierce anger. I said, we can see the good prophecies of what's to come, but nearby we're reminded of why we need God to come and restore the good things.

We're reminded of destruction to come. I want to turn to Ezekiel 5. I'm not going to spend the whole sermon looking at the bad news, by the way, but I want to set it pretty firmly in our minds.

And partly because, actually, this Thursday, I'm not going to focus on all those quite as much. I wanted to give some of this as what we would call meat and deuceism. Now, Ezekiel is one of the prophets that God had act out things quite a bit. It's actually kind of amusing because I wonder, God had Ezekiel do these things, I say play act or represent in symbolism certain things, and the people around him probably looked at him and said, what in the world are you doing? At one point he had to lay on his side for most of a year and set this plate in front of him and draw a picture of Jerusalem.

So, lots of weird things. Well, maybe I shouldn't say weird things. God told him to do them. But lots of out of the ordinary things. And one of the out of the ordinary things God told him is, look, get a razor, shave your beard and your hair of your head. Shave all that off. Now divide it into three piles. I'm not going to read through all this. Divide it into three piles. I want you to, well, before you do anything, take a little bit of it and stick it in your pocket. Now, it says the hem of his garment, but I think pocket might be good for everything. Take that first third and throw it in the fire.

Take another third, get out of the sword, chop it into little bits. Then the other third, take it and throw it out in the wind, and I'll draw a sword after that. Now, I imagine people were looking at this bald guy, going out throwing his hair in the wind and chopping it up with a sword. They might have thought, you know, we know he's lost his mind, but it had some deep meaning. And we're going to start reading in verse 11 to see that this wasn't just, I mean, it's nice to laugh and such, but when we see the meaning, it's pretty serious.

Ezekiel 5 verse 11, Therefore, as I live, says the Lord God, surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with your detestable things and all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. One third of you will die by the pestilence and be consumed with famine in your midst. One third shall fall by the sword all around you, and I will scatter another third to the winds, and I'll draw a sword out after them, and thus my anger will be spent.

I almost forgot that little bit he put in his pocket. He was told, take some of those and throw them in the fire, too. So even people originally spared of all this, not all of them were relieved of it. He said, Thus shall my anger be spent. I will cause my fury to rest on them, and I'll be avenged.

They'll know that I, the Eternal, have spoken it, in my zeal, when I have spent my fury upon them. Having God's fury spent upon you doesn't sound very pleasant. I mean, as I said, if you're a doomsday prepper, that sounds like doomsday. That's tough stuff. Would a hoard of food and a good bomb shelter protect you from this? Well, you know, I suspect there are a lot of doomsday preppers who might say, Huh? Maybe I can handle that. I mean, to talk about a sword that's talking about warfare. They're preparing shelters and hiding places to ward off soldiers. You know, famine and disease? They're preparing a hoard of food and the freeze-dried stuff, getting the fuel out of the electrical transformers so you can farm. You know, some preppers might think, I can handle this. But, well, I'm just portraying their thought. Of course, well, I think of the numbers. A third? I think we're past 300 million in the United States. Probably way past that. But if it were 300 million, just think. 100 million people dying of disease and pestilence. 100 million being killed in warfare. And then what's left being scattered, you know, taken into slavery around the world. You know, we used to talk about that more in the church. Just because we don't talk about it as much as we used to doesn't mean it's not in the Bible anymore. That's pretty serious stuff. And as I said to preppers, some of them think, you know, okay, now that I know what's coming, I'll get ready for it. I want to turn to one more Scripture to remind us and anybody who potentially thinks they can be ready, you know, that they aren't ready. Zephaniah. We don't turn to Zephaniah very often. It's not Zechariah. Zephaniah is, I think, between Habakkuk and Haggai. I remembered it was the two H's. I'm only going to read a couple verses. But you think, and it's funny, before I read this, or after I read this, I'm reminded, sometimes when, you know, if you have little children, which some of us in here do, they can push your buttons enough to where you're like, I've had enough. And it's funny, there's a certain tone of voice I get that I don't do on purpose, but when I use that tone of voice, Connor stops. And he, you know, he knows something bad is about to happen, which is good. Sometimes his reaction reminds me to control myself, because I've pretty much lost my temper. Well, I think God had that tone of voice when he said this. Zephaniah 1 and verse 2, I will utterly consume everything from the face of the land, says the Eternal. I'll consume man and beast. I'll consume the birds of the heaven, the fish of the sea, and the stumbling blocks along with the wicked. I'll cut off man from the face of the land, says the Eternal. When he wrote this, I think it was the point where we're saying, I have had enough. I'm going to cut them all off, consume everything. I don't think doomsday preppers can be ready for when God reaches that point. And just think, I haven't turned to the book of Revelation. I'm not going to right now. We'll save some of that for Thursday. Actually, as I said, I'm not planning on going through those, but I think Mr. Call might go through some of it, and it might come up in the sermonettes. You read through the trumpet plagues and the last vials. You've got things like the sea turning to blood, darkness, hail and fire coming from the sky, the sun and moon turning to blood, boils, locusts. No bomb shelter and no stash of food is going to provide protection from these things. No special weapons training is going to be enough.

But God can. And God will. That's where I want to come back to that point. We can read in the Bible, along with these prophecies of destruction and terror, of divine protection for those who live by God's word. Those who love Him and ask for God's help, He promises that He'll give it.

I said previously, there seem to be a variety of ways that in the past God has provided protection. And so we can look at promises and see that they seem to fit in with some of those ways.

So I want to shift gears now, and now I'm done talking about all the bad stuff. Let's look at God's promises of protection.

God is, even though He might get that tone of voice where it's like, uh-oh, and you freeze up, He's also a God of great mercy and love. He doesn't like to punish. He likes to forgive and protect. If you'll turn with me to Psalm 91.

Psalm 91, and we'll read the first, actually first several verses.

This is a very inspiring section of Scripture, and it's good to follow up what we just read with this.

The first type of protection, I'll get to this later, but I call it protection in your own skin. God can protect us wherever we are, no matter what's going on just outside of our own skin, He can give us that protection. Psalm 91, I'm going to begin in verse 2. I will say of the Eternal, He is my refuge and my fortress. I think, was one of the Psalms we just sang based on this one? When we sang it, I thought, that fits with my sermon really well.

I will say of the Eternal, He is my refuge and my fortress. My God, in Him I will trust. Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler, from the perilous pestilence.

A third might die of pestilence, God will protect you. He'll cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you'll take refuge. His truth shall be your shield and your buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day.

So you don't have to worry about warfare or weapons, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand. Imagine right there, within reach, right at your hand, ten thousand fall down, but it won't come near you.

Only with your eyes, you'll look, you'll see the reward of the wicked, because you have made the Eternal, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling.

He shall give His angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways. Now, this promise was so well known, and famously, Satan quoted this to Jesus Christ when he was tempting him, saying, if you're a son of God, throw yourself off to temple, the angels will lift you up. Well, Christ said, no, we're not to tempt God.

He didn't say, this applies only to me.

That was a Messianic Scripture, in a sense, but then again, it's for all of us, because Jesus Christ didn't throw Himself off. It wasn't only Him that the angels would lift up and protect.

God's protection is there.

And it's interesting, God doesn't need any sort of shelter, any type of weapons.

He is the shelter.

And I want to go to the classic example of this, and I know you all know it. It's found in Daniel chapter 3. I still want to read some of it. This is the famous story, we often call it a children's story, of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I think in every collection of children's Bible stories, this one is there because it's so inspiring. But it's not a story just for kids, not by any means.

As a matter of fact, I thought maybe to bring that to light or to make sure we think of it in a different way, I could try to use their original Hebrew names.

These men that were associates of Daniel, their original names were Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael. And I wrote it down. I always try to remember their names, but I often forget. Usually it's Hananiah, Azariah, and that other guy.

And Mishael is the one I can't remember.

But you know the story. King Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled this empire, all these peoples, he decided to build this great image. And everybody's going to worship my image. In this great ceremony, we're going to get everybody together, play the music, and everybody will fall down together. It will be like a scene in a movie if they had movies then.

But as the story goes, of course, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael thought, wait a minute, we don't bow down to idols. We've read the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt have no other gods. Thou shalt not make any grave in image. So they determined in their mind, I'm not going to do it. Even though there was this threat of being burned up if they didn't. So the music played, everyone fell down, and there's those three guys.

Word got back to Nebuchadnezzar. He wasn't very happy about that. So these men were arrested, they were brought to the king, and here's where we're going to pick up reading. Beginning in verse 14. Nebuchadnezzar is confronting them, and remember, this is the emperor who has all this power. Now imagine... I know it's funny you can have your convictions, but when you're brought in front of somebody with authority who's so sure of himself, it's easy for even the most convicted person to start to wilt when they say, you are going to do what I say.

But of course, not Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael. Here in verse 14, Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, is it true, and he used their other name, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you don't serve my gods or worship the gold image I've set up? Now, if you're ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, sultry, and symphony with all kinds of music, if you fall down and worship the image which I've made, good!

But if you do not worship, you'll be cast immediately in the midst of the burning fiery furnace. And who's the god that's going to save you from my hands? And it's like, I don't see any god here. You know, listen, you do this or else, and he thought he was being generous.

I'm giving you another chance. You hear the music? You fall down? Everything's okay. But if not, who's going to save you from me? Look, there's the furnace right there. And I love their answer. They said, oh, Nebuchadnezzar, we don't need to answer you in this. I think some translations say we don't have to think about this.

If that's the case, our god whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he'll deliver us from your hand. So if it's the case, our god can save us, and he will. But if not, be it known to you, O King, we don't serve your gods. Now, you imagine, this guy who's used to having everybody do what he says, you know, just his whim. Here are these kids, they probably seem to him, saying, look, God can save us, even if he doesn't, we're not going to bow down and worship at that thing.

Nebuchadnezzar says it was full of fury. The expression on his face turned angry. He was so mad, he didn't know what to do. One thing he did decide to do is to heat up that furnace, make it seven times hotter than usual, and get my most valiant soldiers to tie these guys up and throw them in.

The furnace was so hot that as these big burly soldiers went up to throw them in, it killed them. As you've read that before, that's why I'm summarizing. We'll go ahead. So, you know, it burned, you know, killed those men, and then something happened. Go down to verse 24. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished. He rose up and stood up and looked. He said to his counselor, didn't we throw three men into the fire, bound? And they said, yes, of course, king. Look, I see four men loose.

They're walking around in the midst of the fire. And he's saying this as he sees the dead men next to the furnace who died just from being that close to it. They're walking around and they're not hurt. And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. I've always wondered how he knew what the Son of God looked like, but maybe someone who can walk around in a fiery furnace, that must be how they look. So Nebuchadnezzar went to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and he said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out here.

He probably said, please. And they came out from the fire, and the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king counselors gathered together. So everybody gathered around to look at this. They'd never seen anything like this. As I said, remember the dead bodies of the men who threw them in the furnace are still laying there. And they saw these men on whose bodies? The fire had no power. The hair of their head wasn't singed. Any of you men ever got the hair on your head singed? I mean, if you've had an experience like me with either a gas grill or charcoal, especially if the charcoal won't burn, you throw a little gasoline on there.

I wasn't planning on talking about that. I remember my senior trip in college. We went someplace and we had this grill, and so we decided to get the fire going, and we weren't patient. So when we left it, I had no hair on any of my arms. It singed them right off. But these guys in that fiery furnace that was hot enough to kill the soldiers that put them in, their hairs weren't singed. I lost where he was going.

You know, their garments weren't affected. They didn't even smell like smoke. There was no effect. That's why I call it being protected in your own skin. Or maybe I should say protected in your own clothes. You know, their clothes weren't damaged. God can, and He does protect. If He chooses, He can allow destruction to come right up to you and still not hurt you. He can let the circumstances get so unimaginable.

10,000 dying within reach, and still not you. That's something to think about. God's promise of protection. Sometimes, though, God sets a wider area of protection.

There are some cases in Scripture of God telling people, Go home, and that's where I'll protect you. Matter of fact, let's turn to Isaiah 54 for a preliminary Scripture. Before going to an example, I want to look at one of the prophecies of protection, and then look at examples. Isaiah 54 and verse 14.

It says, In righteousness you shall be established. You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear. And from terror it shall not come near you. There's times when it just isn't allowed to come near. For Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego it came right up to the edge of their clothes. But there's times God says, I'm going to protect you, it's not going to come near. The first Passover is the classic example of this. I'm going to look briefly at that, and then look at another one. Exodus 12.

I don't mean to rush through this, but we do spend some time on this every year in the spring as the Passover comes. We don't often read about this account this time of year, so as I'm talking about protection, it's good to remind ourselves that God has always been in the business of protecting His people. And in this case, He chose a particular way to do it. Exodus 12, beginning in verse 21.

So put that blood over there, go inside, and don't come out. It sounds like you've heard people say, I don't care what you hear, don't come out. And that's true. He said, For the Lord will pass through and strike the Egyptians. When He sees the blood on the lentil and on the two-door posts, the eternal will pass over the door, not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.

And you'll observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. So God said, put a mark, and anybody that's in that house is going to be protected. The destroyer won't come in. Now, there were similar instructions. Well, these two cases are similar, but I find it interesting.

This is the case where God is coming and punishing people that weren't inside the zone of protection. I want to look at the example of Rahab the harlot in the city of Jericho when Jericho fell. This wasn't a matter of God coming and punishing people, but something was just going to happen to the whole city, and he decided to set a zone of protection around this one house. We're going to go to the book of Joshua if you want to turn there to chapter 2.

But I'll summarize what happened. If you remember, of course, the Israelites had come to the Promised Land. Moses led them right up to the river, and then he reached the end of his life, and God appointed Joshua to take over. Joshua knew he had to lead them in, but he also knew there was this large fortified city just over the river.

What are we going to do about that? We're not the trained, experienced soldiers that they are, and we don't have siege equipment. What are we going to do? Well, before doing anything else, he decided to get some information. Good military procedure. Get information when you can. So he sends two spies, or we could call them two scouts, swim across the river, go check out Jericho, and let us know what we're facing. The two scouts go in, and they check out the city, and they realize that word has come to the leaders of the city, that they're there, and they're hunting for them, so they end up hiding at the house of a prostitute.

But this prostitute, Rahab, has some smarts. She realizes that these guys serve the real God, so she does protect them, and she asks for protection in return. We're going to pick up the story in chapter 2 and verse 12. This is Rahab speaking. Now therefore I beg you, swear to me by the eternal, since I've shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father's house, and give me a true token, and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sister, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.

So she figures, while I'm being bold, I'm going to ask for protection for my whole family. And so the man answered her, Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this business of ours, it shall be when the eternal has given us the land, we'll deal kindly and truly with you.

Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall. She dwelt on the wall. I'm glad that they re-emphasized that. Her house is part of the wall.

I mean, these are big, thick walls, so the walls themselves are buildings. And there's a window from her house that goes out to the wall. That's how she was able to let them out. But we'll skip ahead and see a little bit of that they did put some conditions on their promise of protection. They didn't want to promise, hey, we'll spare you wherever you are.

You know, if your brothers or sisters are out on the street, we won't kill them. Because for one thing, they didn't know for sure what was going to happen. So they say, okay, you got to do this. Verse 18. Unless when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down. So we'll know which house is yours. And unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father's household into your own home.

So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of this house into the street, his blood will be on his own head. And we'll be guiltless. But whoever is with you in this house, his blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on him.

So they make this promise. This house is a safe zone. Anybody in here is going to be protected. We won't kill anybody that's in here. But if they're outside, no promise of protection. I still wonder, did they know what God had planned? I suspect not. Remember, during the Days of Unleavened Bread, I went through the story that Jesus Christ Himself appeared to Joshua and said, Okay, here's what I want you to do. Get everybody together and start marching around the city. And on the seventh day, I'm going to have you blow the trumpets and shout, and the walls are going to fall down. I wonder if these two men probably said, the walls are going to fall down. We promised Rahab that her house would be safe. I wonder if they were a little worried. Maybe not. Anyways, the story goes, they did circle the walls on the seventh time, on that seventh day. They circled it once for six days, on the seventh day, going around seven times and not saying a word. How eerie it must have been, just the sound of the footsteps. And then the trumpet blast, and people shout, and the walls fall down flat, except for one little portion of the wall, that God miraculously made the walls fall, but he miraculously spared that house that was a part of the wall. And he sent those two men, if we turn over to chapter 6 and verse 22. After this happened, Joshua turns to those two fellows. He probably had them nearby. He says, Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the country, Go into the harlot's house, and from there bring out the woman and all that she has as you swore to her. And the young men who had been spies went in, and they brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. And they brought out all her relatives and set them outside the camp of Israel. But they burned the city and all that was in it was fire. So the whole city gets destroyed, and all the walls, except for that one section.

I think how many doomsday preppers would love to have this type of promise? Your house is the safe zone. No destruction can knock it down, no matter what. Because that's what a lot of them are preparing for. They want to make their house this place of protection where no harm can come. God did that. He's done it in the past. He did it for the Israelites in each one of their homes. He did it for Rahab and kept her family safe.

Of course, some of the doomsday preppers want to run away. Forget staying at home. I want to go someplace far and hide. And that should resonate with us. Traditionally in the church, we've leaned that way. I shouldn't say lean that way. We've taught that. And not without founding. And I want to go to discuss some of those scriptures and that promise of going to a place when God says, Go there and that's where I'll protect you. But it's worth us knowing if and when God gives instruction, Go to this, stay in your home and I'll protect you there, We want to be prepared to do what He says. Let's look at one more scripture along that line. In Isaiah chapter 20... No, Isaiah 26. I apologize. Isaiah 26 and verse 20. So I was starting to transition into my next point, but I did want to read this one more scripture first.

Isaiah 26.

As I said, we looked at two examples from the past. This is a prophecy, and I can't say exactly when this prophecy will be, or perhaps already has been fulfilled. Verse 20, it says, Come, my people, enter your chambers, shut your doors behind you, hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation is passed. For behold, the Eternal comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will also disclose her blood, and shall no more cover the slain. This is one place where God says, I'm coming to punish. Get in your house and close your doors and stay there. Similar to what the instructions given to Rahab and to the Israelites.

But I don't want you to think that I don't have respect for our traditional teaching. There are times when God outright does tell His servants, Get going! There's a place out there in the wilderness where I want you to go, and that's where I'm going to protect you. I'll do it there. So we want to keep in mind, there are times when God designates a specific place, whether it's at our home or elsewhere. But even when He does, I guess the underlying thing I want to make the point is, wherever a place is, it's God that provides the protection, not the place itself. Let's turn to Psalm 61. Psalm 61, we'll read verses 2-4.

Psalm 61, beginning in verse 2. From the end of the earth I'll cry to you, When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that's higher than I. For you have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy. I'll abide in your tabernacle forever. I'll trust in the shelter of your wings. And all these references to you and yours, speaking of God, God Almighty. And this is one of David's Psalms. He's saying, lead me to you, you're my shelter. And the imagery is very strong here. I'm going to go to another scripture that draws on this. But remember, through most of human history, especially in the era before gunpowder, the main way that a village would prepare for protection from the enemy would be, they might have walls around their city, but in the middle of the city they'd usually build a tower, or they'd often call it a citadel. A very strong structure with thick walls and often kind of high, where if there's news that an enemy's coming, or a band of marauders, often this was protection not for the Persian Empire coming, and they can knock down anything that gets in their way, but a band of just thieves who ride into town and want to burn things and steal. But if you hear that's coming, everybody run into the tower, lock the doors and gates, get up high, you can pour boiling water or throw rocks down on them. That's been protection for most of human history. And that's what David was referring to here. Let's also turn to Proverbs 18.

Proverbs 18 and verse 10. Now think of that, that citadel, that people when they hear of danger run too, but we want to look at stone walls aren't our protection. Now stone walls can provide a certain amount of protection, but there's something better. Proverbs 18 and verse 10 says, The name of the eternal is a strong tower. The righteous run to it and are safe. Imagine that. And of course the name is symbolic of God Himself. So God is your strong tower. And imagine the danger coming and the righteous, they run to that place, to God as the shelter and there's where safety is. God provides the protection.

So let's look at an example or two of times in Scripture where God has told His people, I want you to go to a particular place. First one is in 1 Kings 17. 1 Kings 17, and we'll start looking at the story of Elijah.

It's one of my favorite stories in the Bible, perhaps because when I was in choir we sang the oratorio of the Elijah, and the music is so powerful and spectacular. But the story stands on its own. 1 Kings 17, And Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, this is the king by the way, As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there won't be dew or rain these years, except at my word. So basically there's going to be a drought. A lot of people are going to go hungry. And then the word of the eternal came to them saying, get away from here, turn eastward, and hide by the brook of Cherith which flows into the Jordan. So God didn't say, just go into the wilderness. He said, here's a particular place. And he gave them specific directions. Go to this brook where it joins into the Jordan, and it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there. So go there, you'll be safe, and I'll feed you. And he went and did according to the word of the eternal. He went and stayed by the brook Cherith which flows into the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. Interesting. And of course, nice. Makes you wonder, it could be different ways. God sent manna for all the nation of Israel. Here he has birds fly in, bringing, you know, what's it, bread and meat? Sounds like he's bringing in a baloney sandwich. And I don't mean to be, you know, flipping about it, but God provided in a miraculous way. Now if you read on in the story, eventually, I guess the ravens, they'll keep coming as long as God sends them, but eventually the brook dries up because there's this drought. And I'm not going to read through the story, but you know what happens. God says, okay, the brook's gone. I want you to go to this particular city where a widow lives, find her, and there's this great act of faith because he said, go there and ask her to fix you some food. And Elijah sees her. She's gathering sticks to build a fire. He says, oh, go fix me something to eat. What respect she had because he said, well, okay, well, you know, now I didn't read. I'm trying to remember because she's going and he said, oh, no, he says, get me some water. And she's going to get in some water. He says, oh, bring me some, bring me some bread. I don't have any bread. All I've got is a handful of meal and some oil. I'm going to fix the last of our food and my son and I will eat it and then starve to death. And he says, well, go ahead and do what you say, but make me some bread first.

Talk about faith because God had told Elijah, no, that barrel of meal or flour is not going to run dry. The oil won't run out for as long as the famine stays in the land. And it worked that way. He stayed with that widow and her son, and God miraculously provided that food, and that was a safe place. The widow's home was a place of safety for Elijah to go to and be provided for and protected for as long as necessary.

Rather than look for other examples in the past, though, I want to turn ahead and look at some prophecies of God saying, go to a particular place for protection. And the book of Revelation describes some of those. These are some scriptures you might have been waiting for me to get to. I want to go to Revelation 12.

Of course, the book of Revelation is where, if you want to talk about doomsday and doomsday prepping, it has the description, as I said, of all the trumpet plagues. The hail and fire, the plague, the angels being loose from the River Euphrates, the locusts, everything, but also of protection. And some of these do seem to indicate a particular place. Revelation 12, I'm going to skip down. There's a couple of parts we could read, but let's start in verse 13.

Now, when the dragon saw that he'd been cast to the earth, we know the dragon symbolizes Satan, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. The woman, depending on which interpretation you're putting in, can represent the nation of Israel, but more appropriately, the church. And the woman was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness to her place. There's a particular place that she's to go where she's nourished for times, times, and half a time.

It doesn't say how she's nourished. It might be manna, it could be ravens bringing in the sandwiches, but for three and a half years, or times, times, and half a time, the serpent spewed out water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.

But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened up his mouth and swallowed the flood that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Now, we've devoted a lot of time and energy to examining and interpreting this.

The general interpretation, some look at it as the true church going into hiding, starting about 325 AD at the Council of Nicaea, and then applying the day for a year principle for three and a half years, leading up to, usually we say 1585, which was the time when Protestant England finally separated itself from Catholic Europe. 1585 was the year that the small English navy defeated the great powerful Spanish Armada. And so that's one way of looking at it. But others put the interpretation of three and a half years more literally and talk about the church literally going to a place of safety in the wilderness and staying there for three and a half years while Satan is wreaking havoc on the rest of the world, and apparently on some members of the church who aren't there.

And of course, we often say, you don't have to choose. There's plenty of dual prophecies in the Bible. I wouldn't be one to say it can't mean both. We can find some support for the idea of this being a prophecy of the end time and of the church if we turn to Revelation 3.

Revelation 3, beginning in verse 10, as we consider the message to the church in Philadelphia. I'm not going to read the whole message, but here's a promise of protection. Revelation 3 and verse 10. Because you have kept my command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of trial, which will come on the whole earth to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I'm coming quickly. Hold fast what you have, that no one take your crown. That coming quickly part seems to indicate that this is certainly the end time.

This is during the time when Jesus Christ is about to return to this earth. And of course, he says, the protection from the trial that's going to come on the whole earth also seems to fit with the prophecies of Revelation, severe trials coming on the whole earth. And that's what much of the book of Revelation is devoted to. And this is a trial that's going to come on the whole earth that doomsday preppers aren't going to be ready for. And it's funny, I don't mean to make fun of them, although from what I've seen to the show, sometimes they are.

You could make a little fun, but I don't mean to do that. One of the things I've thought over the years, people have spent a lot of effort trying to make, to analyze who's the church of Philadelphia.

And some people spend a lot of energy focusing on who's not. There's a lot of finger pointing that's gone on over the years. I think people that do that tend to overlook some of the important things that are here. One is that those who are promised that protection are done so because it says, you've kept my command to persevere. Persevere in what? Well, I think what it's saying is that command is to stick with it. Stick with God's way of life. Obey the commandments. Live the way of love, of give.

Those who persevere in doing that will have God's protection. And those who don't, well, they haven't earned that. But it also says, because you've kept my command to persevere, I will keep you from the hour of trial. We never want to forget that whether God does it in your home, whether He just protects you inside your skin or sends you to a particular place, God is the one providing the protection.

He's the citadel to which we run. But He can and does sometimes send us to a specific place. Or He has people in the past and He may again in the future. There are several scriptures we've looked at along those lines. Let's look at Isaiah 16. I said, I'm not going to spend my time saying, this is the interpretation. Well, I want to look at the scriptures we've looked at in the past to indicate a particular place that it does seem to fit.

Isaiah 16 and verse 4. Okay, I hear the turning stop. It says, Now, people have argued over who that could be, but it could indicate. Well, people have said, well, this is talking about Israelites when the Babylonians came and conquered them, and some of them escaped to Moab and they were kept safe there. But we might also say, hmm, where is Moab today? We believe the modern-day descendants of Moab are primarily in the nation of Jordan.

Ammon, Jordan, taking its name from Moab's brother, Ammon, and Moab and Ammon principally being living in the area that's now Jordan. So, could this apply to that? Let's turn to another prophecy in Isaiah chapter 33. Isaiah 33 and verse 15. Verses 15 through 17. I think that's interesting. That sounds almost like the ravens bringing bread to Elijah and the water, or the ancient Israelites having manna and water coming out of a rock.

But that's a parallel. But it goes on in 17 to say, your eyes will see the king and his beauty. They will see the land that is very far off. That seeing the king and his beauty might be a parallel to that scripture and revelation that said, behold, I come quickly. Who is the king? It's Jesus Christ. And in his beauty could refer to when he comes back to reign and power and authority. Many people have read the scripture and said, hmm, we believe the modern descendants of Moab and Ammon are primarily in the country of Jordan today.

There happens to be a natural fortress-like structure in Jordan today carved out of the rock. It's named Petra because Petra means rock. This talks about the fortress of rock. That fits with that Moab-Hide-My-Outcast. Moreover, let's turn over to Daniel 11. I was just going to refer to this, but we might as well read Daniel 11, verse 40. 40 and 41. I said, I know there are more scriptures that tie together, but these are some of the principal ones we've looked at over the years.

Daniel 11 is called the longest continuous prophecy in the Bible because it picks up about the time of Daniel and goes all the way to the end. There is this big gap. In verse 40, we know we're talking about the time of the end because at the time of the end, the king of the south will attack him. That's the king of the north. The king of the north will come against him like a whirlwind with chariots, horsemen, and mighty ships. I'm guessing that this is the time of the end, chariots represent probably tanks and armored personnel carriers and such. He'll enter the countries and overwhelm them and pass through. He'll also enter the glorious land, the promised land where Jerusalem is. And many countries shall be overthrown, but these shall escape his hand, Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. Now, that's led people to say, hmm, why would Moab, probably now Jordan, not be overthrown? One possible explanation, and it's only one possible of others that people have brought up, could be, though, that because God has led his people to a place of safety that's located there. And that's where he's protecting them, so he wouldn't let these armies from the king of the north come and overthrow that land, or at least that part of it.

As I said, I think there are scriptures that fit together, and those of you who are old-timers, look at me, I know you're nodding, and the idea of a place of safety and it being Petra is not, I'm not introducing something new, I'm presenting something that's been around a long time that we don't talk a whole lot about. And partly we don't, because other interpretations have been offered that it's hard to disprove. There's ones where you say, oh, it could be that way. There's none of the scriptures that say, by the way, before 1975, you're all going to get on jet airplanes and fly to Jordan, and that's where you'll be protected. It doesn't say that, but it does say what it says. And as I said, I've heard different interpretations, but I've never heard anything that, to me, absolutely disproves that there isn't going to be a place of safety or that that place of safety won't be in Petra. I've often said I think it'd be one of the greatest ironies because enough people have sort of stopped talking about it. If God said, you know that thing you stopped talking about a couple decades ago? Well, you need to go visit. The thing is, I don't want to go down that line anymore, because I said, maybe it'll turn out that it's right, and if so, I hope I'm there. Maybe it'll turn out it's not there. Ronald Kelly years ago gave a prophecy where he was joking and making fun of prophecy, and I did not at all approve of that, but he made a strong case looking at prophecies for the fact that Vail, Colorado would be the place of safety. And he said it'd be a lot more fun, and maybe it would, but that didn't hold up all that well. The point I want to make, though, is God can't exercise a number of options if he wants to protect someone.

He has in the past, and whatever way it is, wherever God chooses to protect his people, it'll be God providing the protection. It won't be the place. Now, Petra might be a nice place for protection, but like all the doomsday preppers getting their things ready, you go back to Zephaniah chapter 1, and God says, I will utterly consume everything. It doesn't matter where you're at if God's not protecting you. We used to say, if it's Petra where God wants us to be at, you know that, and planning to get there, if you're not close to God and living his way of life, he won't let you get there.

If you didn't know anything about it or how you'd get there, but God wants to protect you, he'll bring you on wings of eagles, literally, if he needs to, but I trust God to do it. I'm going to cite this. Genesis 15 and verse 1, God appeared to Abram before he changed his name to Abraham, and he said, I am your shield and your exceeding great reward. I love that. God said, I'm your shield and I'm your reward.

So, I focused on the second half of that more than the first. You know, at times in life when you're worried about what you're going to have or how you'll take care of yourself or what's going on, and when God says, I'm your reward, you know me, you've got everything you need. If you stop and you make yourself believe it, that's very satisfying. But not only is God our reward, he's our shield. He's the place where we run to to be safe.

So, that's something, you know, if I were a doomsday prepper, I'd take great comfort in that. I'd say, why? I'd stop worrying about building my bomb shelter. Because God's my shield. I don't need, you know, I don't need a bomb shelter. And I don't have to worry about how to get that oil out of those transformers. Although I still was tempted to try that. Except I don't have a diesel tractor, anyways. But before I turn away from the idea of God making a place safe, I want to mention two other places that God does promise that he'll make safe.

Now, it struck me more than once, and I've read this more times than I'd like lately, but in the book of Job, there's a scripture we read regularly in our funeral service. And it sounds like it fits a lot of the ones we've been reading. Let's go to Job 14. Job 14, and starting in verse 13. I'm about to do what I did a lot of other times. I always think I'm going to end early, and then I start talking, and I'm pushing up at the end. Job 14 and verse 13.

Job's talking to God, and he says, Oh, that you would hide me in the grave. Now, the Hebrew word that's translated hide here could be also translated protect. It could say, Oh, that you would protect me in the grave. That you would conceal me until your wrath is passed. That you would appoint me a set time, and then remember me. If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service, I'll wait till my change comes. Now, to be honest, in my mind, as long as I can remember, I've connected this with the idea of safety during the Great Tribulation.

And I think the reason for that is, you know, my grandmother, who first taught me about the truth, she had this aversion to the Great Tribulation. You know, she was a frail lady, and this goes back even to when she was in her 60s. I remember her telling my sister and I, I hope I die before the Great Tribulation, which sounds a little morbid, but what it was is she didn't want to have to witness the horrors that were going to happen.

She said, I just hope I'm dead and in the grave, because she was aware of this, you know, or that you would hide me in the grave. And as it turns out, she didn't want to have to see that, and she won't. You know, she's now in her own personal place of safety. My grandmother died at the age of 95, pretty much of old age, which, when you think about it, it's kind of ironic that I said back in her 60s, she was saying, I hope I die before the Great Tribulation.

She thought it was going to be very soon. She lived out her life, you know, and as I said, died pretty much of natural causes, and she's in a safe place. But if a converted Christian dies in an auto accident, or of some disease, or he's killed in a violent crime, would he be any less in a safe place, waiting for the resurrection? I want to read another scripture along those lines, Isaiah 57, Isaiah 57 and verse 1, and this might be one that many of you already know from memory.

It says, The righteous man perishes, no one takes it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, but no one considers, the righteous is taken away from the evil. He'll enter into peace, they'll rest in their beds, each one walking in his righteousness. That fits with what we read in Job. Sometimes when the righteous are taken away, now we're disappointed, we miss them, but they're taken away from the evil that's all around us.

They're going to miss the doomsday that we're going to talk about on this coming Thursday. Let's read one more along those lines in Luke chapter 21. Luke 21, beginning in verse 16. Now as I read this, I'm going to read 16 through 18. See if you see the contradiction. Here is part of the Olivet prophecy. Jesus is talking to the disciples, and he says, You'll be betrayed, even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death.

And you'll be hated by all, for my name's sake, but not a hair of your head shall be lost. Now, if you ever stop and say, wait a minute, how could some of us be put to death and not a hair of our head is lost? I mean, does that mean they're going to preserve our hair while they kill us? No, no, of course, the obvious answer, though, is for those Christians who die of tribulation or are killed for their beliefs and persecution, whatever the case, they instantly enter into their own personal place of safety.

Their next moment of awareness will be rising up in a spirit body, ready to be at Christ's side, you know, to take part in the job of the millennium, ruling and teaching. To the Almighty God, who has the power to give life and take it away just like that, a person dying is negligible. He's not worried about the hairs of our head. I mean, he might preserve it, but I'm saying, you know, his goal isn't, oh, we've got to protect you from the great plagues. And that's what I think some people have gotten caught up.

They've thought, okay, you know, I've got to understand the prophecy so that I get ready and I'm not in the great tribulation, as if that's the most important thing. I mean, it's important, and by the way, understanding this doesn't make me eager to have someone put me to death. I don't, I'm not quite like my grandmother was, but I don't want to see the great tribulation. I'd be happy to be sitting in a cave in Petra and having, like, a force field, keeping all that out of us.

But I've also said, you know, that could be me. And it says, some of you will be put to death. Okay, if that's what it takes for me to be in God's kingdom, I want to be the one that says, not a hair of your head, but will be lost. I want him to, you know, be the one that's safe in the grave and will be brought up, not one who's not kept safe because my focus was on the wrong thing. And I hope that's all of us. Now, God's protection is great.

None of us wants to suffer. But most of all, we want to be in God's kingdom. He can give us life like that, and He will. At the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the dead will rise, and they'll, you know, it won't matter what happened before then. God promises protection and preservation for His people. He doesn't say He'll do it the same for all of us. He doesn't say if it's a particular place, all of us will be in the same place. Although, as I said, I don't want to argue that particular is because, you know, I'm not as well versed as some people here on all the Scriptures pointing to Petra, or some might have some Scriptures pointing to others, I'd rather take the broader view and say, God will get me there if He wants me there, and if He doesn't, He'll use me to serve His purpose.

We need to believe Him. Trust it'll keep His promise. But there's another promise, by way of prophecy, that God would create a greater place of safety. I want to end with looking at that.

If Petra is to be the place of safety for three and a half years, it's only three and a half years. That's a blip in the history that we know, let alone eternity. What comes after that, though, is going to cover much more territory. Let's go back to a Scripture we read earlier, Isaiah 11. Mr. Warren read this. I want to focus on just the last Scripture that he read, Isaiah 11 and verse 9.

What's going to happen when Jesus Christ comes and rules the earth? What's it going to be like? Isaiah 11 and verse 9, along with all the other things we read, it says, "...they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain." Not hurt or destroy. That sounds like a pretty safe place. No one's going to get hurt. No one's going to be destroyed. "...for the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Eternal as the waters cover the sea." Everybody's going to live God's way. God's going to protect us. Now that's the place of safety I want to be in.

And the good news is that I can. And so can you. By the way, if you're not sure that he says his holy mountain and all my holy mountain, remember that prophecy in Daniel 2 where Nebuchadnezzar saw the idol, and at the end in his dream this rock cut out without hand, snatched the idol, and then the rock became a great mountain that filled the whole earth. That mountain is God's kingdom. It'll fill the whole earth. Of course, that's the scholar part of me, wants to tie the Scriptures and prove.

I think you already knew God's kingdom is going to fill the whole earth. The whole earth is going to be a safe place with no hurting or destruction. And that's where God wants all of us to be. That's our ultimate place of safety in the world with Christ ruling over it.

That's what the gospel of the kingdom of God tells us. He has a plan for all mankind, and he's going to bring it to completion. And we have a place within that plan. The doomsday preppers do have some things right. As I said, you can argue about the special weapons they have or where they're going to get their tractor fuel. They do have some things right. They know there's bad times ahead. And they know that we'll want protection, that we'll need it. But they're setting their sights way too low in their thinking about how they're going to gain that protection.

We don't need to rely on bomb shelters, weapons, supplies of freeze-dried food. And by the way, it's not bad to have freeze-dried food or an electrical generator. I mean, I don't have any freeze-dried. I've got a lot of canned goods.

But we don't have to rely on that. Or, as I said, shooting holes in the bottom of transformers. We need to rely on the God who made all things. He can protect us. He can protect us if we happen to be thrown into the hottest, fiery furnace. He can protect our clothes from even being burnt. He could shield our homes.

He could have us go in our house and make that a safe place where nothing can get at us, even if it's part of a wall that's falling down. And he can...he promises to protect those who love and obey him. He might send us to a particular place. And if he wants us there, he'll make sure we know how to get there, and he'll get us there. And he'll go further than that. He's gonna...one day, hopefully not long from now, he's gonna make the whole world into a safe place. The whole world is gonna be a place of safety when we celebrate the fulfillment of the other Holy Days coming. So let's look forward to that time, brethren, and make sure we're all there.