Righteous War and Peace

Brethren, why are there wars? In James 4, verse 1 and 2. Let me just turn to it. Hebrews, James, chapter 4, verse 1 and 2. It says, Do they not come from your desires for pleasure, their war in your members? And so basically it's highlighting that we have a carnal mind. We have a mind that desires certain things, and then we have in fighting, particularly that's what's happening in society today. There is a carnal mind, and that carnal mind is then pressed or pushed or influenced by Satan, and then there are wars in this world. That's a big problem and the reason of wars in this world.

We also read in Romans 8, verse 7 and 8, that man without God's Holy Spirit is continuously on the way of looking his own way and wanting his own things. Romans 8, verse 7 through 9 says, The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. And so then those who are in the flesh cannot please God, but you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not ease. So obviously there's one Spirit, so the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the same Spirit, there's only one Spirit. And so the problem in the world is humanity as a whole, humanity does not have God's Holy Spirit, humanity hates God's law, humanity has a carnal mind, and on top of it, Satan is the God of this world.

We read in John 8 verse 44. Let's just turn there. John 8 verse 44. John 8 verse 44. We read, you are of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He is a murderer from the beginning, and he does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.

And when he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own resources, for he is a liar and a father of it. And so Satan is a murderer from the beginning, and he's caused a lot of problems in mankind, and he is the God of this world. We also read in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 4, he is the God of this world.

And so how will we have peace on earth? How will we be able to have peace on earth? Think about this way. God has to first stop man's evil destruction and worldwide warring capabilities. God has to destroy the capabilities that mankind has of destroying themselves. And in parallel, he has to establish his government on earth. That's kind of first step. Second step, he needs to put Satan in jail, the God of this world. He has to imprison Satan.

And thirdly, then God has to work on changing man's nature, the whole of mankind's nature, from a carnal mind to a godly mind, a divine mind. And so how will God bring peace on earth? These three steps are pretty important. If we connect them to God's plan, as it's revealed in God's end-of-the-year Holy Days, we have also these three steps. The first one, where I mentioned stop man's evil destruction and at the same time establish the government of God on earth, that is symbolized by the Day of Trumpets, which includes seven prophetic trumpets that pre-announce righteous war and ultimately peace and the establishment of his government on earth.

Then the second one, which I mentioned is God needs to imprison the deceiving God of this world, which is Satan, and that is pictured by the Day of Atonement. And thirdly, God then has to work on changing man's nature from carnal to divine. And to do that, we have symbolically the symbolism of God's Feast of Tabernacles, when God will be working with mankind and will be teaching God's way, and God's way will cover the whole earth, and we'll hear a lot more about that during the feast. Today, brethren, I want to focus on how God starts intervening and ultimately—let's put it a little phrase, the Abitini inverted commas— breaks man's arsenal and destructive capabilities.

How does God start intervening and ultimately come to the point that it will stop man's evil destruction and worldwide warring capabilities? In other words, that will be on a crescendo, till a final—let's call it also between inverted commas— ions silence when Jesus Christ then returns and establishes his kingdom on earth. And so today, I want to talk about that first phase, that first part, which links it to the symbolism of the Day of Trumpets. Brethren, this has been prophesied in the Old Testament. Briefly, just turn with me to Isaiah 9. Isaiah 9.6-7 And we read, And it says in verse 7 So the outcome of him taking on the government of earth, being the world governor, bringing God's kingdom to planet earth, the outcome of that will be peace and there'll be no end.

And so, brethren, that has been prophesied, and it's been prophesied in Daniel 2, that you and I will have a part in that. God willing, that we are there. Daniel 2, verse 44. We read, And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.

It was the kingdom of God, and Christ's rule as the king of kings and lord of lords. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people. It will not be left to other people. And it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. And then, in chapter 7, still in Daniel, chapter 7, verse 18, chapter 7, verse 18, But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.

And so, it has been prophesied that Christ will come, will establish the kingdom of God on earth, and you and I will have a part ruling under Christ. And then finally, that period which is described when we're ruling on earth, which is the Feast of Tabernacles, then there'll be a time of changing mankind's carnal mind to a divine mind or divine nature. And so, that was prophesied.

But what I wanted to focus today, let's get back to my purpose today, is how God starts intervening and ultimately break man's arsenal and destructive capabilities. And then Christ comes, as he breaks that, and establishes his kingdom on earth. All this is symbolized by the Day of Trumpets. And so, I want to draw a little analogy that God allows man to build himself up for his ultimate self-destruction. And the analogy that I want to draw is a simple one that I think you all can relate to.

It's like a boil. You know, when you have a boil, for instance, in your leg, and this is sore, and it's sore, you can't squeeze it, because you're going to make it worse. You've got to allow it to come to a head. And then, that old dirt of that boil comes out and you can treat it. And God, in his wisdom, in that analogy, is allowing mankind to build this up, and then it gets better, and build it up, and gets better, and gets better, and build up, until he's going to come to a point to a head where Christ is going to destroy this boil, quote-unquote, this man's arsenal and destructive capabilities at his coming.

And therefore, what we have in the meantime is what's described in Matthew 24. And in Matthew 24, verse 6 and 7, Matthew 24, verse 6 and 7, we read, And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars, See that you're not troubled, for these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet, For nature will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, And there shall be famines and pestilence and earthquakes in various places. We see that happening today. If we don't see it, you know, oh, you say, Well, it's been happening all the time. It has. It gets worse and gets a bit better. Then it gets worse and gets a bit better. It gets worse and gets a bit better. Then worse and gets better. Till it's going to come to a boil. So, and we can see that that is going to happen. And there are many prophecies that builds that up and shows the destruction of Israel, because that is God's people. And we read that, for instance, in Daniel 12 verse 7, because these nations hate Israel. And so in Daniel 12 verse 7, Daniel 12 verse 7, I want to emphasize on this sentence, the power of the holy people will be completely shattered. Now, it was the holy people. It's Israel. So there's going to be a crisis that these nations will then get to a point that will destroy the holy people, Israel. And you may ask, oh, well, who is the holy people? Well, we could look at it two ways. Physical Israel and spiritual Israel. Now, the problem is today most people don't even know who physical Israel is, because it's not just the Jews. And so there's going to be a time that Satan will attack physical Israel to ultimately destroy spiritual Israel.

You'll attack physical Israel to ultimately destroy spiritual Israel. And we can see that prophesied, for instance, in Revelation 12. Now, Revelation 12 is a scripture which is basically a very brief, synoptic version of the war between Satan and the church. But understand that the church, which is spiritual Israel, came out of physical Israel. In other words, Christ, which is the head of the church, he came out of physical Israel being specific from Judah. And so we read in Revelation 12, verse 13, it says that, and you read in a context, you can see in Revelation 12, verse 9, that Satan was cast out of heaven because there was a war, and Michael and his angels fought with him. You can see that in verse 7. And then he was thrown to earth. And then in verse 13, it brings it to you, it says, And when Satan, the dragon, saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.

And this is like a link verse between old Israel, the old covenant and the new covenant. And so it's got a dual meaning, the woman gave the child, which is physical Israel. Christ came from physical Israel, but he persecuted the woman. At the end time, the woman will be spiritually Israel. In other words, the woman is the church. And we can see, as you read that, that he is going to persecute the church. And so what do we have? The Bible then talks about a great tribulation to occur. And so, brethren, I'm trying to give this picture in a way that it's generic, it's simple to follow, basically saying that things are going to get worse. Satan is going to encourage these nations to destroy the power of the holy people. It will affect first physical Israel, but when physical Israel gets destroyed, then it can destroy spiritual Israel. You see, think about it. Once physical Israel, which is basically the nation that upholds freedom of religion, and that is gone, so there's no more freedom of religion. And that means now, as nations, they can attack spiritual Israel. The door is open. So the power of the holy people will be completely shattered, physical and spiritual. And so there will be, therefore, when that power is shattered and Satan then persecutes the woman, that's when the Bible refers it as the great tribulation. And if you turn to Revelation 6, 9 through 11, Revelation 6, 9 through 11, we can see there that first seal, and you see the effect of that on people that are following God. And it says, how long? And it says, well, until the time has been completed. And it says, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren would be killed as they were, was completed, like it happened in times past. So there's going to be a great tribulation. As we study this in more detail, we know that the great tribulation is for three and a half years. I gave a sermon a few months ago, giving you a general overview of Bible prophecy. And we know that there's going to be that great tribulation. And we know that during the great tribulation, the time will be cut short.

If you turn with me to Matthew 24, Matthew 24, verse 21 and 22, Matthew 24, verse 21 and 22.

And so we know it's going to be three and a half years. But how will the time be cut short? It says, yeah, for then will be great tribulation, verse 21 or Matthew 24, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, nor ever shall be.

And unless those days shall be shortened, no flesh would be saved, but for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened. And how will they be shortened? Well, what we see is there's going to be heavenly signs after two and a half years. And those heavenly signs are described in Revelation 6, verse 12 through 17. And that is the sixth seal. Revelation 6, verse 12 through 17.

Revelation 6, verse 12 through 17. And there we can see the heavenly signs. And it says, and it says, He opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black, and the moon became black, blood, the stars of heaven fell, and so on.

Brethren, this is a period of one year before the end of that Great Tribulation. So we have the Great Tribulation for three and a half years, but the intensity is cut short for the elect's sake one year before the end. Otherwise, there will be no body saved alive. And so that intensity is cut short. And how is it cut short? By the heavenly signs. What are the heavenly signs? It's the sign that God starts to intervene in that last year. That's what the Bible refers to as the Lord's Day, the Day of the Lord. God starts intervening during that period. Now, right at the end of Revelation 6, verse, that chapter, which is verse 16 and 17, and it said, those people, which they see these heavenly signs, and they said to the mountains and rocks, fallen as and I does, from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.

For the great day of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand? That last year, of the three and a half years of the Great Tribulation, will be the great day of God's wrath.

That's when God starts intervening in world affairs, in a very active way.

And that is where the fulfillment of the day of trumpets falls in, comes in.

So, God's intervention in world affairs, with terrible events that will follow, which symbolize the seven trumpets, these are, after the two and a half years of the Great Tribulation has started, and which therefore has been cut short by one year, in other words, the intensity and the power and how it affects a number of people be cut short, because those people will be sealed.

We'll get to that in a moment.

Now, let's look at a few scriptures to prove that that is for a year. That day of the Lord is for a year.

In Isaiah 34 verse 8, we read, For it is a day of the Lord's vengeance. Yeah, we know it's the day of God's wrath, it's the day of the Lord's revenge, the year of recompense. Can you see that day is equated to a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

Also, you know, scriptures like Numbers 14, 34, about the twelve spies, that they went to spy the land for forty days, and because they rebelled, then they were punished for forty years, and a day for a year, and they stayed in the wilderness for forty years. So this is a scripture that symbolically a day is counted for a year. Also, in Ezekiel 4 verse 6, you know the story about Ezekiel lying on one side for forty days, and that represents a day for a year. You can read that in Ezekiel 4 verse 6. So a day for a year is very biblical, very example, and Yah in Isaiah 34 says, that day of the Lord's Revenge will be the year of recompense to the world, where God starts intervening and starts destroying and weakens the world and its war machine. How God will do that? But we'll look at that in a moment, because that's part of the trumpets.

But what happens before that day of the Lord? As we saw in Revelation 6 verse 12 to 17, it's the heavenly signs, and then there's going to be the wrath, the day of the Lord. That is supported biblically by Joel 2 verse 31. So let's turn to Joel 2 verse 31. Daniel, Isaiah, Joel 2 verse 31. And now we read, he says, the sun shall be turned into darkness, the moon into blood.

Well, you can see, that's the heavenly signs, as we read in Revelation 6 a moment ago. And this is, that is before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And so, Revelation 6, the sixth seal, is explaining that is the heavenly signs, and that happens before the awesome day of the Lord, before the day of God's wrath. Now, if you have that graph I showed you in that sermon about two months ago or so, about the general perspective overview of prophecy, you'll see that clearly described there if a picture is useful to you. So, what do we have? Let's just recap so you don't get lost, you don't get confused. God is going to sort the world's problems, like a boil coming to a head. And so, there's going to be wars and rumors of wars, it's going to get worse and worse. Then, Satan gets thrown out of heaven, and he is angry, and he then encourages these nations to do whatever they can to destroy the power of the holy people. In other words, destroying physical Israel to ultimately destroy spiritual Israel. Then, what we have is part of the church will flee to the place of safety, which we covered previously. And then, part of the church will then go into the Great Tribulation. You can see that in Revelation 12, and go back to that sermon, I covered that in more detail, as I mentioned a few months ago. So, what do we have? The Great Tribulation starts, and during the Great Tribulation, which lasts for three and a half years, the first two and a half years, there is great trial on God's people. And a number of people will repent during that period. A number of people will repent during that period. At the end of two and a half years, the heavenly signs occur, says, now God says, that is it, I'm going to start intervening. And then, after that, we've got that one year of God's wrath. Right. So, in Joel 31, where I was reading a moment ago, it shows that these heavenly signs occur before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. Before that last year, and that last year, it culminates with Christ's coming at the end of that year. And so, and that last year is symbolized by seven trumpets. Therefore, the day of trumpets, plural. Right. And then it says in verse 32, we're reading now, Joel 2, verse 32, and it shall come to pass, that is, during that period, that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. What do you mean? It means that during those great tribulation, the first part of the great tribulation, those two and a half years before the heavenly signs, people will repent. People will repent, and they will call the name of the Lord. In other words, they will turn to God. In fact, a lot of people will repent. A lot of people will repent. And it says, they shall be saved. It doesn't mean ultimate salvation yet. It means they'll be protected, delivered from the things that are going to happen in the past. Or, I mean, in the future, I mean to say, in the future, they shall be saved. From what? From God's wrath! Because God is going to punish the world in that last year of the three and a half years of great tribulation. That's the time of God's wrath. He's going to punish the world. But if those people have repented and turned to God, why should He punish them? No. They'll be sealed. They will not be punished. They'll be saved from that destruction. And therefore, if we now go back to Revelation 7. Revelation 7.

Revelation 7. Because that's just after the end of Revelation 6, right? Which it says, the great day of His wrath has come. In other words, that one year is going to come. But before that, those trumpets sound, because the sounding of the trumpets is on Revelation 8, verse 1, which it says, the seventh seal in verse 1, 8, 1, and 8, verse 2 says, and angels were given seven trumpets. So these are angelic trumpets. It's not human trumpets. It's not a human shofar. These are angelic trumpets. And so, before that happens, before that happens, we have chapter 7 in the middle here. And chapter 7 is the sealing. The sealing of who? Those who repent during the first two and a half years of the Great Tribulation. Because as we saw in Joel, they'll be safe, they'll be delivered, they'll be protected, they'll be sealed from God's wrath, they'll be protected from God's punishment. And as an example of that, let's look at Revelation 7, verse 13 and 14. Revelation 7, verse 13 and 14. Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, who are these that now are in white robes? How many people think, oh well, they're spirit beings? No, they're not. Because you and I should be standing in white robes today before God's throne, because we have been cleansed, spiritually speaking. And you and I have access to God's throne. You read that in Hebrews 10. We have access by a new and living way to God's throne through the blood of Jesus. And our sins have been washed, and we are now white. And so these are physical human beings, and it says, these are the ones who came out of the Great Tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

So these are people, human beings, physical human beings, that are going through the Great Tribulation, and now they have repented. They call upon the name of the Lord, as we saw in Joel 2, verse 32.

And they shall be saved. In other words, they will be delivered. They will be protected. They sealed. I mean, as an example, you see a little bit further in Revelation 9, verse 4. So let me just jump ahead. Revelation 9, verse 4 is talking about one of the trumpets, which is the trumpet of locusts, which I'll cover a little later. But just to emphasize to you the point that these are living beings, because of physical living beings, in Revelation 9, verse 4, it says, there's a time of these locusts, and they will not harm the grass, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God in their foreheads.

That means those physical human beings, so they are physical human beings, they will be sealed. That means protected. Whatever they are, they're not in a place of safety. They're all over the place. Oh, yes. Before the Great Tribulation, part of the church was put in the place of safety. That's a different issue. But now we're talking about people that have repented during the first two and a half years of the Great Tribulation.

And those people are physical human beings. And when God brings through Christ the punishments of the seven trumpets, those people will be delivered from those punishments. They will not be punished by God's wrath. Why? Because they call upon the name of the Lord. Why should God punish His children when they are His children? He's going to punish the world, not His children, not those that have repented and had their robes washed by the blood of the Lamb. And so we see, therefore, that we now come here to a period just before the seven trumpets are blown, where these people are sealed. And understand there are two groups of people that are sealed. A lot of people get confused. Revelation 7, there are two groups of people. In Revelation 7, verse 4, talks about a number of Israelites, physical human beings, Israelites that are protected. And in Revelation 7, verse 9, it says, Then there is another group of people which defines a great multitude, but it's not of Israelites, it's of all the other nations. It's Gentiles.

And so the people that are sealed, and they'll be protected during the Day of the Lord, are physical human beings. There will be 144,000 physical human beings that are Israelites. And there'll be a great multitude of people of other nations, of Gentiles. And they'll be protected. Why? Because they've repented during the period, the first two and a half years, of the Great Tribulation.

Sure, the Great Tribulation continues, but its strength and capability has been cut short for those elect's sake. And so we can see how Scripture fits in. And therefore then, we get the point of the trumpets.

Now, we need to understand that trumpets are sounded before an event happens as a warning and a proclamation. You see, there's a warning. The trumpets, and then the action occurs.

Look at Amos chapter 3 verse 6 and 7. Amos chapter 3 verse 6 and 7.

Amos chapter 3, just before Obadiah. And if that's difficult, just before Jonah. Right? So, Amos chapter 3 verse 6 and 7. If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? Why? Because it's a warning. Something is going to happen now. Right?

Right. If there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it? If God is bringing that calamity, and God inspires his people, his priests at that time, physical, to blow a trumpet, right? God is giving a warning for something to happen. In this case, we're not talking about physical human beings blowing a trumpet. It's talking about angels blowing a trumpet. So it's not a physical shofar. It's something spiritual. I speculate, and again when I speculate, I have no authority. But imagine, as my speculation, if the whole world, all world, will hear the sound of a trumpet, the whole world will say, what is going? Because it's a warning from God. An angelic trumpet blowing that the whole world will hear. Again, I speculated. The Bible doesn't say that, but it could be. And then in verse 7, now it brings an interesting additional component here in verse 7. Surely the Lord does nothing unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets. Nothing about it. There's a trumpet, a warning of the event that's immediately to follow. In other words, it's a proclamation or a warning. But before the trumpets, the saints, God's people, receive a revelation that this is going to happen. That's what it says. Before God does, he's going to reveal it to his people. Then there's the trumpet, and then there's the destruction. So we see a series of interesting steps to consider. Before the blowing of the trumpet, God reveals it. God reveals, then he blows, and then he acts. So where do we get the revelation from God about this? In the book of Revelation, he's revealed it to us already. Look at Revelation 1. Revelation 1. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants, which is you and I, to reveal to us in other words. That's why it's called the book of Revelation. It's called the book of Revelation 1. He's revealed his servants, things which must shortly come to pass, and he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John. So God gave it to Christ, Christ gave it to an angel, and an angled angel gave it to Apostle John. And now we have that revelation.

To warn and cry aloud. To warn and cry aloud. And that's what the Church is doing, warning and crying aloud. Look at Ezekiel chapter 33. Ezekiel chapter 33. Ezekiel chapter 33.

We read in verse 2. Son or man, speak to the children of your people and say to them, When I bring the sword against the land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory, and make him their watchman, then he sees the sword coming upon the land. If he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, then it's upon their own head. But if the watchman, look at verse 6, does not blow the trumpet, there's a problem. That's our job today, to be a warning to the world. That's our job today. Then we read also in Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58 verse 1. Isaiah 58 verse 1.

Cry aloud, spare not.

Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Tell my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Brethren, this is an instruction to the church's ministry to tell the brethren, because it's my people, it's God's people.

And as the church's ministry, we have a responsibility to cry aloud and warn the brethren that things are going to happen, and that we need to repent. And that's why then it goes into fasting. Why? Because you've got to change. It's not just an outward thing that you do, it goes through the whole thing about fasting, and then it goes on to the thing about keeping the Sabbath. Because a lot of us take the Sabbath regrettably a little too casually, and we need to be careful. We need to be careful. Cry aloud. And so it says, we've got to turn away from these things, turn our foot away from these actions that God is not well pleased with. And you read more and meditate about what it says about fasting and the Day of Atonement, what we must change, and also about how we observe the Sabbath. Then it focuses on those two key points, in the point that we as ministers have to cry aloud to God's people.

So, God has revealed to us, through the Book of Revelation, that there's going to be terrible things happening. We have been, the Church, for many years and now and again, we give sermons on prophecy to remind us of these things. Then there's going to be a time when God is going to actually intervene through seven major sets of actions during that period of one year, which are the seven angelic trumpets.

And therefore, God, through that, is waging righteous war against sinful mankind.

It'll be a righteous war, because those people that are calling upon the name of the Lord, they'll be saved. So, it's under the sinners. And so, God is going to start intervening and breaking down man's, as I called it earlier on, in between inverted commas, man's arsenal and destructive capabilities. And that'll be in a crescendo, until it culminates on the last trumpet. When Christ comes back, He finally destroys those armies and He establishes Kingdom on Earth.

You see, brethren, we read, therefore, starting in Revelation 8 and 9, Revelation 8 and 9, we read about those seven trumpets, Revelation 7 and 9. Let's just glance through you very quickly in a general overview point, those seven trumpets, in Revelation 8 and 9.

And you can see in Revelation 8 verse 7, it's got the first angel sounding, that's the first trumpet, which affects the Earth. So, it's affecting, let's call it the underbelly of these nations, affecting the Earth. Then in verse 8 and 9 is the second angel sounding, the second trumpet, affecting the sea.

That is salt water. Let's put it that, salt water. And then, the third angel sounded, you can see that in verse 10 and 11, which then destroys a third of fresh water. So, we have the Earth impacted, we've got the sea, we've got the fresh water impacted, and then it's got the fourth one, that is in verse 12, which now, it impacts the heavenly bodies, the sun, the moon, and the stars. So, the other ones, earlier on, were just signs. Now, it's actually impacting seriously. And then we read in verse 13 of verse 8, verse 13 of chapter 8, and it says, there's still three more to go. You see, we had the first four, there's three more to go, because it's seven. And that's why it says, woe, woe, woe. Three more to go. Three woes to go. And so, in Revelation 9, 1 through 12, Revelation 9, 1 through 12, talks about the first woe, which is the fifth angel that sounds. It's the fifth trumpet. And then it talks about this event of the locusts that I mentioned to you. Basically, brethren, we've got two excellent booklets about this subject, the Book of Revelation Unveiled at Last, and the Middle East in Bible Prophecy. I want to draw your attention to this booklet on page 71 and 72, 71 and 72 of the Middle East and Bible Prophecy. And it's talking about these woes. And it says, it talks about news from the east and the north will trouble him, and he shall go with a great fury. And these actions by the end time King of the North appear to be connected with the fifth trumpet or the first woe of Revelation 9, 1 through 11. So read that, because it says that the beast, in other words, the king of the north, apparently attacks the powers of the north and east, and that is that first woe, which is the fifth trumpet, the locusts. And you read there that those people will be hampered for a number of months. In other words, for about five months, you read that in Revelation 9 verse 10. They'll be impacted for five months. After that, they kind of settle down, and then you have the counterattack. By whom? The nations of the north and east against the beast power. And when you read that in Revelation 13, I'll be about nine, verse 13 through 21. Revelation 9 verse 13 through 21, we have the sixth angel, the sixth trumpet. And that is that army of 200 million. It's the army from the north and east. And again, read how this is described in our booklet.

And so what do we have? One third of mankind is destroyed. And when it describes there that it is by things like hyacinth and sulfur yellow and fiery red and fire, smoke and brimstone, and over that short period, that's seen verse 17 and verse 18. A third of mankind is killed. Brethren, that's a lot of people. A lot of people. So this appears to be an atomic warfare coming from the nations, the other side of where today is Iran and Russia and China and Korea and things like that. It seems to be an atomic warfare that will be triggered at that time. And that will be terrible. So you think what do we have? The beast attacks the north and east. The north and east counter-attacks the beast. Now what do you have? Hey, it's either you or me. We're gonna go and we're gonna blow each other up. That's when Christ has to intervene. That's when that boil comes to an end. That's the seventh trumpet. That's when Christ has to intervene. And you see that in Revelation 11. Starting in verse 14 says the second well is passed. Now comes the third well, which is the seventh trumpet, that lost one. And it says, verse 15, that the seventh angel sounded. And it says the kingdoms of the swold, the nations of the swold now become part of God's kingdom. That's what it says in verse 15. Christ now comes and those nations belong to Christ. And it says the nations, we're angry because they feel there's invasion from outer space. You read that in verse 18. And so they kind of gather and they want to fight Christ. And that's why it says there's a number of events that goes on which describes the resurrection, describes the reward of the saints. In other words, when the saints have to stand before Christ at the judgment and they'll be rewarded and the destruction of those that destroy the earth. You read that in verse 18. And the destruction of those that destroy the earth. That's what is deemed as the seven lost plagues. And so, brethren, trumpets announce godly war, righteous godly war to eradicate man's arsenal and destructive capabilities. That will be in a crescendo during that last year. And finally, when Jesus Christ comes, he will take over the rule in the world. The next thing that's going to happen, Satan is going to be imprisoned. And then mankind's carnal mind has to be changed by teaching God's way in the world tomorrow, which is represented by the Feast of Tabernacles.

You see, brethren, so what about you and I now? What about me, myself, you, us? Again, I get back to Luke 21. Luke 21, verse 36. Luke 21, verse 36. Watch therefore. Who do we watch? Sure, we're watching all these things around us, but we've got to watch ourselves. That's why in verse 34, say, stay key to yourselves. We've got to watch ourselves. Why? He says, and pray that you may be counted worthy to escape. Brethren, we need to look at ourselves. We've got a bit of time. We don't know how much time, but it's very little time. And we've got to look at ourselves and change now. Change now. As he says, cry aloud and tell my people. And then you think about the meaning of the fast and the Sabbath and those examples he gives in Isaiah 58. We need to look at that now, brethren. And then he says that you may escape these things.

You know, it's that you'll be able to go to the place of final training or place of safety, right? So, what he says, and to stand before the Son of Man. Now the word stand, think about it, can have a dual meaning. Stand means your resurrected stand, right? But stand means that you and I have to stand before the judge, Christ, and he's going to judge us and reward us according to our deeds. And then he'll give us responsibilities. You look after five cities, you look after ten cities, etc. And then he comes and destroys those that destroy the earth. You read that in Revelation 11, verse 18, which I made reference to you a little earlier. So, brethren, we need to watch ourselves now so we can stand with Christ, resurrected, being the first fruit, but also receiving the reward that God will give us. And therefore, with assignments and responsibilities laid out as we have been prepared for today, to rule in positions under Christ in the wonderful world tomorrow.