The Sabbath After Christ Returns

Well, we're here on the Sabbath between the Day of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement. And as we get into the fall Holy Day season, the Holy Days come pretty quickly. And the events of the world that these days picture happen pretty quickly. You know, we've spoken over the last few weeks about the time of Jacob's trouble, the great tribulation that will come upon the whole world.

We spoke about the seven seals and the seven trumpets and how the world will be literally decimated. And then out of all the turmoil and all the woe and all the agony that the world has brought upon itself, Christ will return as we pictured on the Feast of Trumpets. And there will be victory and there will be a new age that dawns. The day of man and the day of Satan's sway over the earth has passed and there will be a new time ahead.

Back in Revelation, Revelation 1, I wanted to start with a verse back here in verse 7 because I want us today to think about the time we're in.

We're here in the ten days, you know, between the day of trumpets and the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement. And I want us to think about that time when it literally is right after the return of Jesus Christ and what it will be like in those days.

We've talked about these events that will occur. We've talked about what the millennium will be like for all the years that we've been in the church. We know some of those things, but today I want us to put ourselves in the time that will literally be just a few days after Jesus Christ's return.

What will it be like then? What will it be like for the people of the world? What will it be like for us? Because monumental things will happen, tremendous changes in our lives, and we just may be in awe as we watch these things unfold. You know, the Jews call these ten days between the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement the days of awe. And if you read some of their websites, they have a right concept in that the world will be doing some self-examination, and they have to change their ways, and they have to reconcile with God. They call them the days of awe, and there's nothing wrong at all with those things.

We should always be examining ourselves and getting in line with God and reconciling with Him and repenting and drawing ourselves closer to Him as we understand and implement into our lives the detail of His words and what we learn year by year. But the Jews have the word, the description right. I think these ten days after Jesus Christ returns will be days of awe. The world, the world that is alive at that time and has remained alive through everything that happens will be in awe at what they happen.

I think for those of us who endure to the end and who are the saints and who Christ resurrects in that first resurrection, we may be in awe during that time when we see what we've always read about coming to pass. Well, let's look at Revelation 1, verse 7 and kind of get a picture of the world at that time, what exactly they will be, what they will be feeling like.

Revelation 1, verse 7 says, Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. Everyone will see Him coming out of the confusion and out of the chaos and out of the hatred and out of the misery that the world is. With everyone that's gathered together to fight Christ, every eye will see even those who pierced Him. Even the Jews who have denied Jesus Christ always, who never accepted Him as Jesus, as the Messiah or the Savior they've been waiting for.

Even they will see Him. Even the houses of Israel, the nations of Israel, who knew that Jesus Christ was the Savior, but they denied Him. They called His name, used His name, but they did everything different than what He said. The people that Jesus Christ Himself said, Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do the things I say? They'll see Him. They will have been, this will have been preceded by three and a half years of the witnesses talking, telling them of God's plan, telling them what the government that they're yielding to, the government that they're bowing down to, who really is the leader of that.

They will have heard some of these things, and when they see Christ coming, the tribes that says, All the tribes of the earth will mourn. The Jews will mourn. Israel will mourn. The Gentiles will certainly mourn. They don't want to see Him coming. They've rejected Him. They've rejected everything He's ever tried to do. And everyone's got their part to play in this, in rejecting Him. And they will mourn as He comes in, but He will come and He will decimate them.

Billions of people will be dead. Blood will be everywhere on the earth. Through the seven trumpets, the trees will be burned up, grass will be burned up, sea will be blood. All the things and all the gods of earth will have been decimated. He will have been victorious and ended all of them. And everyone that everyone, everything that everyone relied on, the beast power that was the marvel of the world, we will bow down to Him.

We will take the mark of the beast. You will protect us. You will provide for us. That's all gone. The beast has been done. They've seen Him. Or they know that He's been cast alive into the lake burning with fire as it tells us at the end of Revelation 19. Everything they counted on, everything that they had their stock into, everything is gone. Nothing is there except Jesus Christ who has returned victorious and who stands before them on the Mount of Olives. And they mourn. There will be some who rejoice.

The hosts of heaven will rejoice. We who were there will rejoice. There may be some in Israel who rejoice because their captivity is over and the time of trial that they've had to endure for three and a half years, it'll be over. And they may rejoice and they'll find a time of repentance as God hopes all the world will. But the world will see Him. They'll see. They have no choice but to follow Him. What kind of a leader will this be? They've been misfed information about Jesus Christ and God the Father forever.

They may see Him as a vengeful God. After all, He comes in riding on a white horse. And He kills all these people. They may have read about the Old Testament things where people were killed and they think, what a harsh and an awful God. And they're not at all comparing it to the harshness of the people that they've worshipped and the governments that they've followed. Christ does come in like a lion, like the Lion of Judah. But when He presents Himself there during those first ten days, when He's there and they're looking to Him and wondering what comes next, what vengeance is He going to take on us who have lived through this mess that we've been through, that mankind has brought upon Himself?

What will He do? Well, maybe. Maybe just maybe we have some clues in the Bible of what Jesus Christ will do when He appeared to people the first time and what that will be like. Let's go back to Luke 4. And as we do this, again, I want you to think and I want you to place yourself at that time, just a few days after Jesus Christ returned. If indeed we have followed God the way we have been called to do, we will be spirit beings. We will be standing there with Him. We will have come with Him to earth.

He will be giving us whatever positions we've qualified for during our lifetimes. All those things we've read about, the talents that we were supposed to be multiplying, the things that we were supposed to be doing with our lives, they will be reality and we will reap what we have sown in our lives. It'll be there. How diligent we were, how committed we were, how loyal we were, how we yielded to Him and chose Him and not put anything ahead of Him.

Put us in that time frame. You know, much like when Christ took Peter, James, and John into the vision of Matthew 17, and they were found themselves in vision in the kingdom of God. And Peter moved by what he saw. In Matthew 17, verse 3, said, Lord, it's good. It's good for us to be here. What he saw, what he felt, what he knew of that time and that moment motivated him and inspired him and from that time forward, I think Peter was a different person.

And James and John. We can say, Lord, it's good for us to be there. Lord, this is inspiring. Lord, this is what we will live for. God, we will follow You. And we want to be there at that time that Christ returns. We want to be there for those days right after the return of Jesus Christ. We want to be there with Him, and we want to be there for all eternity.

In Luke 18, or I'm sorry, Luke 4, and verse 18, when Christ was on earth the first time, they handed Him, as He was in the temple on the Sabbath day, the book of Isaiah, and He read. And perhaps as He's there with the people, and He's facing them, and they've seen Him as a God who is fierce, a God who is a warrior, a God who means what He says, and a God who has fulfilled everything, He will begin to show Him that He is the merciful, loving God that we know.

Verse 18, He may quote from Isaiah 61, as He did here, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, and there will be plenty of brokenhearted on that day. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, and there will be plenty who are captives in that day who will be set free and who will no longer be beleaguered under the yokes that they've operated under with the beast power. He sent me for recovery of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

That's why I'm here. To proclaim liberty. That's why I'm here. To do good by you. To help you appreciate the creation that you have. To do what God wants you to do. I've come, as it says in Malachi 4, I believe it's verse 2 or 3, I've come with healing on my wings. I've come here to heal you spiritually, to heal you physically. It is a life that goes on from here that is going to be so far different than anything you've experienced in your life before.

For those of us who are standing there with Christ that day will know what He will be saying. We'll be, I think, in awe as we hear these things and as we watch the people and we watch their humble selves as they're not sure what to think but that they know they are totally captive to Him and we see those words and we know that they're words of truth and that there will be life breathed into the world in a way that it has never seen since the days that Satan entered into the world and took man apart from what God's purpose for Him has been.

We know, and we could turn to Jeremiah 20 or 9 or 11, maybe Christ will say, you, the thoughts I have of you, they're good thoughts, not of your demise, not of your destruction. It's not my will that any of you die but all of you come to repentance, all of you come to realize what is the will of God and that is all would repent and have eternal life. I have good thoughts of you. I want you to be here. I want you to thrive.

I want you to experience. I want you to enjoy the time that now is beginning as I stand before you. Maybe he'll repeat what he did in John 10 10 when he said, I have come that you might have life and you might have it more abundantly. And the world that's gathered then at that time, the Jews that are there at that time, Israel at that time, they may not know what he means. They'll come to understand that. Maybe they've heard those words before. I've come that you might have life and you might have it more abundantly, words that we live by.

And if we've been living God's way of life, if we've been appreciating what he has given us, we understand just how abundant that life is and how good it is.

The world will have yet to experience that. They will have yet to have the opportunity to know what you and I know. He may introduce himself as the Savior that they rejected. He may introduce himself as the Messiah, who is Jesus Christ, who died that they've always heard about. So many rejected, but he is him. And he may even quote Isaiah 9 verses 6 and 7 where he says unto us a child is born unto us a Savior is granted. And unto him he will be called wonderful counselor, prince of peace, and the government will be on his shoulders forever and ever. Because this government, this change in power, and the world remember we'll have seen a couple of changes in power, the nations of Israel and the leaders of the world today will have been decimated. They will have just been exhausted a few years before this. And now the beast power that ruled the whole world that the world was in just awe at. Now it's been brought to nothing. And now here's this new leader that's there and he's saying my governments last forever. No more change. No one is going to come and upend me. No one is going to take this government away and put something else in place. This will last forever and ever. And peace and prosperity, let's take away the prosperity, priests and abundance and harmony will be for all of creation, all of mankind, not just a few select nations, but everyone. You and I will hear those words. They'll hear those words. We'll know that they're true. We've lived them. We've known them. We've talked about them. But it'll be different on that day. It'll be different on that day because we'll be there. It will have occurred.

And it may have occurred in our lifetimes. Maybe most of our lifetimes, maybe not, but it will occur. And it will be there, not just something we read in the Bible, but we will really be there.

And we'll be in awe, I think. And we will be glorifying God and we will be praising Him.

The world may not at that point. They have a lot to learn over the course of the next several days and the rest of their lives. And Jesus Christ will talk about the government. And there's some things that He will probably talk about early on because, you know, with Him there will be a multitude of people, 144,000, that have come down to earth with Him, the firstfruits that we call them, the bride of Christ they've become by this point. They're the ones who live their lives in total submission to God, who have yielded to Him and who have put Him first and not counted anything more important than Him. And there they and we will be. And Jesus Christ will probably announce, just like any leader who comes in and forms a new government, you learn more about what they plan to do. You know, when presidents take, when we have a change of office in America, you wonder who's going to be the cabinet, who's going to be the people, who is He going to appoint. As kings come in, in autocratic societies, who are the people we have to pay attention to, who will be there? And Jesus Christ may well introduce some of the people that are on that platform there with Him, or wherever it may be. One of those people He may introduce is King David. King David.

The whole world has heard of King David. If they've ever heard of Jesus Christ in the Bible, they're here with King David. It'll be like, this is David. You've heard of Him. King David. He was a man after my own heart. He slew Goliath. He was king over Israel for 40 years.

I said in Him, a kingdom and a throne that lasted forever and ever and ever, and I came, and I'm taking that throne that still existed today. It has to be like, King David? You don't think the world, when they hear King David is there, they're going to be in awe? Maybe we'll be in awe. King David, who we always read about, He's here and we're alive with Him.

The Bible tells us in Matthew 19, He's going to be here. Matthew, no, not Matthew 19. In Jeremiah 30, right after it talks about Jacob's trouble, it says, King David will rule over them. He'll be king over Israel. That'll be His position. Wow! King David. That's who we will report to. He will be the one. They may be in awe. We may be in awe. It tells us in Matthew 19 that those 12 apostles, Peter, James, John, the rest of them that you can name, they're going to be kings over the tribes of Israel. They're going to be there. Resurrected, not just names anymore, not just pages that we read about, but living human beings that you and I will see. You and I will talk to that the world will say Peter, James, John, Matthew, all of them are here. What is this? This panorama of history.

They'll be in awe. I think we'll be in awe when we're introduced to those people we've always heard of, and it will happen. Not just stories, not just things that we read about, but reality.

In that day, right after the return of Jesus Christ and then forever and ever.

Other people that we've read about Abraham. It doesn't tell us what Abraham is going to do in the millennium, but we know he's the father of the faithful. Certainly, God has something in mind for him. Moses, he's called the humble, the most humble man who ever lived. He's the one who led Israel under God's direction and inspiration. Out of Egypt, he had two or three million people under his command, and God showed him the government. Choose captains over 100, captains over 50. Set up your government that way. God has something in mind for him and all the other people that we've heard of. I know he's got something in mind for you and me. You and me. Jesus Christ said in John 14 too, if I go, I go to prepare a place for you. I've got something in mind for every single one of you, and I will come again and you will be with me. He knows today what he wants you and me to do, but the ball's in our court. Will we do it? Will we become men and women after God's own heart like David did? Will we become humble like Moses? Will we believe like the apostles? Will we be willing to sacrifice everything like the apostles for the truth that God has given us? We show him where our hearts are day by day. In that day, it will all come to roost what we have done. We will reap the results of. It'll be an interesting time for you and I and everyone, for David and Abraham and all the people that are there. Because you know, when we're human beings on earth, none of us, none of us would we ever expect anyone to bow down to. In fact, if anyone was ever going to bow down to us, we would tell them, just as Daniel was told when he was bowing down, get up. There's one we bow down to, and that's God. Only one we worship. Now the world will have gotten used to worshiping a man. Most of humanity who has ever lived has had to worship men and the kings that were there.

But God says something interesting back in Revelation 3.

Revelation 3, to the group of people who adopt the attitudes of this church, if you will, that he writes to, that he calls the Church of Philadelphia, and the attitudes that they have.

Nothing negative is written about the people who are of that attitude, of that church.

They are the ones who walk with God, maintain the faith, go where he says to go, walk through the open doors that he opens, and they follow him.

Verse 9, Revelation 3, he says this. He says, Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan. Those of that church, those who worship Satan, and the whole world, will begin to realize we've always followed Satan. We've been deceived.

They may not understand it in those first 10 days. They'll understand it over the course of their lifetime. I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, who have said, we follow Christ. We're following his law, but they don't. They do something different. Who say they are Jews and are not, but lie.

Indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet.

In that day, you will be part of the God family. You will be part of the barbed bride of Christ. It will have happened in those first few days after Jesus Christ returns. And people will be looking at you and me and Abraham and Moses, and they will see this is part of the family of God. These are the people. This is the God that we worship. And he says, I'll make them bow down at your feet. You and me. How strange will that be? How strange will that be? But God says, if you follow me, if you remember the lesson of the parables of the talents, if you multiply what I've given you, if you don't just sit on the status quo and sit on your laurels and say, hey, I've always done this and I've always done that, and I'm tired and I've done enough, if you don't give in to the attitudes of complacency and apathy that's all over the world, if you don't give in to that but you remain zealous for the coming of the Lord, you know what? He says, I'll make you kings and priests. Some will roll over 10 cities, some will over five, some even more. It's all up to us. He gives us the tools we need. We have to supply the commitment and the loyalty and the dedication to him today. If we're going to experience what it's like those few days after Jesus Christ returns to earth, those few days right when he returns and then the rest of eternity that goes along with it, the question is, will we be there? Do we want to be there? Will we say, as we think about those things and as we put ourselves into that position today, it's good. It's good for us to be there. This motivates me.

This inspires me. This I need to get to work. God has called me to something so great that we can taste and that we can feel as you look at the things going on in the world around you. It's not a matter of when. I mean, it's not a matter of if. It's a matter of when. When all this is going to occur. When will it occur? Oh, Jesus Christ will have a lot to do during those times. There will be a lot going on in those 10 days between the time of Jesus Christ's return and the day of atonement, which we'll talk about on Wednesday, another point where he will establish his government forever and ever. And he'll be there and he will talk about where the seat of his government is. Because every government has a seat. Here in the United States, we look to Washington, D.C. That's where the government is. In the time before Jesus Christ returns, they'll look to a society that the Bible calls Babylon. This is what Babylon says to do. This is what our religious leader says to do. He says, fall down and worship the image of the beast. He says, give everything to him. Yield to him and follow him. And he'll have power over us like we can't even imagine those of us who live in America today. And so many will believe him and hopefully none of us here would take that mark of the beast because we will have the vision and we will have the desire and we will have the inspiration to continue following him and we will know that it might hurt and it might be painful and it might be uncomfortable and it might be just downright tribulation to say no to that. That we have a vision of what's beyond that and that we don't choose the now rather than the eternity. The choice that we have a lot and the choices that we make.

When we make decisions day to day, are we choosing now? Are we choosing our comfort now? Are we choosing our convenience now? Or do we have eternity in mind when we make the choices that we do every day? In that day, Jesus Christ will let them know that Jerusalem, Jerusalem is going to be the seat of the government. Jerusalem, of all places on earth, Jerusalem, you know, the years leading up to that, Jerusalem is going to be a powder keg. Today it's a powder keg. Just look at the controversy surrounding it in a time of relative peace. There's all sorts of factions in Jerusalem, this group pulling at it, this is our holy place. No, this is our holy place. No, this is our holy place. We want to worship here. No, you can't. And the Bible says as the time grows closer and closer to Jesus Christ, Jerusalem will be the lightning rod. Armies will surround it and there will be all these things happening and Jesus Christ will stand there in a land that's been decimated. And he's going to tell them Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the capital of the world. I have always loved Jerusalem. And that will be the seat of the government. Some of us have been to Jerusalem.

Others will not be in Jerusalem until that time. And those of us who have been there who may remember the things of Jerusalem, it'll be nothing like we remember it being. And what it will become is nothing like it is today. Back in Isaiah 2, and Isaiah has an awfully lot to say about the coming of Jesus Christ and the establishment of his kingdom on earth. In Isaiah 2, Isaiah 2, and in verse 2, words that you will hear at the Feast of Tabernacles here in another week and a half or so when you're there, but words that we can look at today, putting ourselves in that time in those days of awe, those introductory days after Jesus Christ is there, and you and I will be standing there and hearing these things and seeing these things come to pass. It will come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the eternal house shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow to it. Not just a couple, all nations. A worldwide capital. Not just a regional capital, not just a the capital of a kingdom that covers this amount of territory, but the whole world will flow to it. Many people will come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways and we will walk in his paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the eternal from Jerusalem. That's where directives will come. That's where we look for education. That's where we look for the law of the land. That's where we look to the leaders who will be there during that time. Jerusalem. Jerusalem. City of conflict. City that so many religions claim as their own, but then that day it will be just one religion. That all nations will look to. City that will be decimated. City that will mean more trial, persecution, tribulation, the abomination of desolation, armies surrounding it. And out of it, when Jesus Christ returns, as he's there, it will be Jerusalem is the capital. Jerusalem is the capital. Back in Zacharia, Zachariah 8. Get a little bit ahead of ourselves here.

In Zachariah 8, God gives us a vision of what Jerusalem will be. It's not a picture of what Jerusalem is today, not a picture of what it's been for quite a while. In Zachariah 8, you know, perhaps Christ will paint the vision that day. This is what my vision for Jerusalem is.

This is what it will become. And they may sit there and think, Jerusalem?

Not Jerusalem. That isn't at all what we see of Jerusalem. Zachariah 8, verse 1, the word of the Lord of hosts came saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, I am zealous for Zion with great zeal.

I've got an energy for that area. I have always loved that area. With great fervor, I am zealous for her. Thus says the eternal, I will return to Zion and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.

There will be a temple there. Ezekiel 40 through 48 defines that and describes that temple that will be there, the seat of the government that all the world will look to. Christ says, I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth. Not the city of truths, as the world might say it today. Not the truths of the Muslims or the truths of the Catholics and Protestants or the truths of the Jews. It will be the city of truth, one truth. Not many truths that people claim are the truth. Just one. Just one.

Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth, the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain.

And then he paints a picture of what it will be like. Not the war-torn, strife-centered place that it is today and will become. Old men and women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem. Each one with his staff in his hand because of great age. The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. A time of peace, not a time of terrorism.

Not wondering as I go out in the streets is there going to be a rocket fired from Gaza. Will there be someone else who's upsetting? Do I have to worry about who's walking next to me and what they might do and what they might pull out of their pocket and end my life?

It'll be a time of peace. It'll be a time when people dwell together. Unlike Jerusalem today, unlike really most cities in the world today, that will be the time of the picture he paints.

This is where the law will go out. And you and I will be listening to those words. You and I will be part of it. And you and I will be part of the implementation and the education that goes on to a world at that time of what it means to have peace. What is the way to peace? What is the way to harmony? What is the way to abundance? Because we know those answers today.

Maybe we don't have a chance to implement them on a worldwide basis, but there's coming a time when you and I, under the direction of Jesus Christ and God the Father, will have that opportunity. And you and I will be there teaching people. And they'll be looking to you and me as leaders and asking us questions. What did you do when? When that thought came into your mind, how did you overcome that? Because you know it's not going to be that all the things instantaneously leave people's minds. They aren't going to instantaneously become perfect people.

Just like you and I, at the time of baptism and the receipt of God's Holy Spirit, we don't become instantaneously perfect. We work with it the rest of our lives. And so it will be in that time, too.

They'll have questions. They'll be having things to deal with. They've all grown up in an unholy society. They've got thoughts. They've got proclivities, just like you and I do. And they will spend their time allowing God to weed those out. They'll be looking to you and me.

They'll be looking to the leaders of the world. How do we implement this? How do we make this happen? What is it that God wants us to do? Well, just like any king that comes to earth, he will have his law. You know, the beast power that comes to earth, he's going to have a law, the land that's so far different than anything you and I have ever experienced in our life. It's not going to be the Constitution of the United States. There's not going to be freedom for everyone. There's not going to be freedom of speech. There's not going to be freedom of religion. There's not going to be freedom to carry arms. There's not going to be all those freedoms that the United States has been founded in. What's coming, and when that government takes control, it's going to be a very autocratic society. It will be a dictatorial society. This is what you will do, and we have control of everything you do. And if you don't do what we say, you're not going to buy. You're not going to sell. If you take the mark of the beast, your life will be good.

But if you want to follow this God, if you want to follow His commands, then you're going to have a price to pay. He's going to come in, and He's going to set His law. And when Jesus Christ returns to earth, He's going to set up into motion His law. The people of that time may wonder, what is He going to do? What kind of a God is this? What is He going to require of us?

Is He going to be brutal and dictatorial, just like the person before us? Or will He be more liberal, like the nations of Israel and the Constitution that were there, where we can do anything, say anything, get away with anything? And He'll introduce the law. It may come as a surprise to some of them when He says, you already know what the law of the land is going to be. Won't be a surprise to any of us. We already are living by it. But we may be surprised when we see the look of surprise on people's faces when they realize we've always had the law of the kingdom in our homes. Things that have been read to us, things that have been preached to us for three and a half years by the witnesses that we may have heard over the airwaves or on the internet even before that. Things that we may have heard from friends or relatives who were living by that way of life, and we just kind of scoffed at it and said, you know what? That law is so far past.

That was an ancient law. We don't have to pay any attention to it. We've grown beyond it.

And they may be in awe when Jesus Christ says, this is the law of the land.

And we and you will live by every word of it. By every word of it. The same thing that you and I are supposed to be doing today. The same thing that we are supposed to be learning as we understand the much of the word, but also the little things. As God says, he was in faithful and little is also faithful in much. The details of his life that we implement and that we put into our lives day by day, year by year, decade by decade, as we learn, as God opens our minds, they will have the same experience. That's the law of the land. It's there. They may be surprised because they've always been taught anti what the Bible says. Anti God. Don't do what God says. You don't have to pay attention to that commandment. You don't have to pay attention to that law. Just do what you want. As long as you're good people. As long as you have the right idea in mind. As long as you're not hurting someone else. And they'll learn the law of God is exact. It is demanding, but it is the way of peace. It is the way of abundance. It is the way of harmony.

It is the way of everything that mankind has always said he wanted.

We better understand that if we're going to be teaching it. Jesus Christ understands that. God, the Father understands that. The apostles understood it. King David understood it.

Abraham Moses understood it. We'd better understand that if we want to be there in that day.

If we truly want to be there in that day. If it excites us. If it motivates us. If it inspires us to think on those things and to have that vision. And maybe as Jesus Christ talks to them, he'll echo some words just like he did in his sermon on the Mount. If we turn back to Matthew 5. Maybe as he talks about the law of the land and the law that will go forth from Zion, the law that everyone is going to Jerusalem to hear the Word of God, to be taught his way of life.

Maybe he'll remind them of something that has always been there for them to read.

But they just kind of discounted it and took another approach to it. In Matthew 5, 17, he may say and remind them, you know, I told you this. I told you this. Don't think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn't come to do away with the Bible. I didn't come to do away with the way of life that I prescribed for you. That was determined before the world ever began. I didn't come to do away with it all at all. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill it up.

To now that you will keep it spiritually as well as physically. For assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law, till all is fulfilled. Until the purpose for physical man is completed.

Till the purpose for the physical earth is completed, it was always in place. It's still in place. Mankind, your leaders, your religious leaders have always led you away from that law. They've always made excuses for it. There's others who I've maybe you'll say I've called over the years who made excuses. They couldn't do it or didn't want to do it. Those who will be there with him will know. They will be living it. They will have proved and shown God in their lifetime that they're committed and that they will live by every word of God.

Maybe Christ will say those words. If we go back to Deuteronomy 6, words we read today, words that will be taught then as the world or the earth goes through a worldwide education effort, all those nations that mourn, the Jews, the nations of Israel that have been released from the captivity that they were sent into, the Gentiles that follow Christ, they'll be taught. The law will go forth from Jerusalem. You'll all have the word of God. You need to study it and you need to learn it. And it needs to be the primary education tool in your homes as well.

This is something that you just don't talk about one day of the week. It's not something that just parents read and the kids go through their life doing whatever they need to do and we just kind of give it maybe lip service here or there but don't think about it and live it every day.

Deuteronomy 6, verse 6, these words will be taught. These words will be expected to be in the homes today. And you know what? There will be a lot of people who are watching a lot of people and helping a lot of people live God's way. In Isaiah 30 it says, you know, when they're going to make a wrong move, someone's there to say, this is the way. Walk you in it. Don't forget to do this.

You haven't spoken of God today. He's part of your life every minute of your life. Deuteronomy 6, these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.

Not just something that you do physically, but something that you live by that becomes you. You shall teach them diligently to your children. Not just mere memory. There's nothing wrong with memorizing verses. There's nothing wrong with memorizing the commandments. There's nothing wrong with memorizing anything we do or anything we read in the Bible. But if all we're doing is able to recite it, it hasn't had the effect it needs to have. It needs to be in our hearts and that begins at home. Teach them diligently to your children. Diligently. And the people then will be taught. This is what you talk about at home. You shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. Doubtless they will be taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, but the primary textbook will be the Bible. It tells us how to live. It gives us the answers to life. It gives us the answers to the situations. It tells us how to live a happy and productive and blessed life. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand. Everything that you do will be guided by those principles and they will be as frontless between your eyes. When you think about what to do, you will think about what it says and you will seek in the Word of God. In the law of God what to do, that is what you will do. People will be taught that. You and I will be teaching that and we need to be able to say we did that. We did that in a world that was anti-God, anti-Bible, anti-everything. How are we going to teach it if indeed we don't do that in our lives now? How are we going to teach it? How do we have any credibility if we're not doing it now? If we're not living it now? And when we're there on that day, if we're there on that day, when we realize what we've done, what we've lived, knowing all these things that we know, because I'm not telling you anything new today but I'm trying to put you in a position just days after Jesus Christ returns. Romans 8 talks about the whole earth groans waiting for the revealing of the sons of God. People who really did what God called them to do, really did it and really put him first and really followed these objectives because they really will be taught. They really will be done. And you and I, along with the others at that time, we will be teaching those things.

Bind them as a sign on your hand. They shall be as frontless between your eyes. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Live them. Do them. Make them part of you and make sure your children know that way too. That's how the world will change. That's how eventually the world will become a peaceful and harmonious and productive place to be under the leadership of Jesus Christ and under the leadership of those who he puts in the positions of rulership at that time, many of which will be filled by people who are alive today, who are sitting in the churches of God today. It'll be a time of awe. It'll be a time when we realize, I'm glad I learned when I had the opportunity, glad I did it, I'm glad I'm here. I'm glad I'm here and that I didn't blow my opportunity because the things of that day or that time seem more important than what God said to do.

Back in Isaiah, Isaiah 11, it's not something that's going to be taught just in Jerusalem, just to nations.

It's not something that's going to be hidden that people talk about once in a while, that that they hear about maybe only on Sabbath days or on holy days. In Isaiah 11 verse 9, Isaiah 11 and verse 9, it says, they won't hurt or destroy at all my holy mountain.

The verses leading up to that are the millennial verses that you've heard and that you think about and that we have pictures of that we may be able to symbolize in our minds. The days when wolves dwell with lambs, little children will play by a poisonous viper's den and parents aren't going to worry about it. Things that we read about and you think, isn't that a nice thing to think about? The world is going to be like that. On that day, the world will be like that.

The spirit of violence and animals will be gone. The very nature will be gone. It'll be a different world. We'll see that at that time. The world may not see it in those first 10 days. They'll begin to see it. But I wanted to talk about verse 9. They won't hurt or destroy at all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

It will be everywhere. Not just in select churches, not just in select cities, not just in people who choose to follow God, but the whole world will know that way. It will be taught everywhere.

Habakkuk says the same thing in Habakkuk 2. The world, as they hear these things, as they understand Jesus Christ, they may be a little bit in awe. They may be in a little bit of shock. They may be in a little bit of disbelief because, again, what they've been led to believe is you don't have to keep what the Bible says. You don't have to pay attention to all 10 commandments. You don't need those annual festivals. And back in Elizabeth, it was 23. You don't need to do those things and be like, really? We need to? We're going to be taught to? We're going to be required to?

You know, somewhere in the first few days after Christ is on earth, there will be a Sabbath day that comes about. A Sabbath day, just like you and I are observing today. It'll be between that time he returns and the day of atonement that's coming up.

What will that Sabbath be like? Much of the world that will be alive at that time, not you and me, but the physical human beings, they won't have kept the Sabbath. They will have been told the Sabbath's done away with. That was Old Testament-type stuff. That's just for the Jews. You don't need to pay attention to that. There's a new Sabbath day you keep. In fact, the beast power will probably require a different Sabbath day. And he will eschew everything in the Bible, and he will have minimized it. Just as the world minimizes everything today, they'll be taught there's a Sabbath day.

How will Jesus Christ handle that? For you and I, it'll be a matter of routine because we keep the Sabbath every single Sabbath. And we're learning how that the Sabbath is a delight to us and how to keep it the way God intended it to be. The world will have no idea. They'll be standing there before Jesus Christ, and somehow he's going to let them know because he's not going to let the Sabbath pass and think we'll deal with that later. We'll take that at another time.

He'll be preparing them for the Sabbath day.

You know, when he let Israel out of Egypt, before he ever had Moses come up to Mount Sinai and receive the Ten Commandments, God taught Israel about the Sabbath day.

You remember reading all about that in Exodus 16. And he talked about the manna, and he kind of hit them where they were they lived. They were in the desert. They had no food. And he said, you know, six days this manna will be here. And you don't gather any for the second day. Just have what you need today. But on the sixth day, gather enough for the seventh day because there won't be any man on the seventh day.

And some people believed and followed, and others didn't. They went hungry that day. They learned a lesson. The Sabbath day God expects us to keep. It is a sign between him and his people. It is a time that he dedicated back at the time of creation that this would be the time people would come and dedicate it to God.

And they would think of God, and they would worship God, and they would convene together, they would be together, they would be taught on that day. It's a special time where the time where the entertainment, where the work, where everything else that happened the other six days of the week stopped.

And we pause and we remember who we are and who God is. And we dedicate the time to him, not seeking our own will, not seeking our own pleasure, not doing our own thing, but doing what God says to do. And maybe on that Sabbath day, maybe on that Sabbath day, him, maybe you and I, depending on what Jesus Christ says to do when you work with these people, first fruits, pride of Christ, and you have them together, teach them what the Sabbath day means.

It's not just a time to rest. It's not just a time to not do work. There's meaning behind it. It has a picture behind it. Maybe he'll go back and he'll remember, recite even Genesis 1.31, in six days, I created everything and Christ can say, I was there. I created it by my hand. It was created. And everything was perfect. Everything was very good. Man, beast, nature, God, all lived in harmony. It was a perfect creation.

It was perfectly designed for mankind. And all he had to do was choose God. All he had to do was follow him. But he chose another way. He chose another way to do things his own way. He chose to make himself God a decider. He chose to follow Satan and do his way. And here's the results of all of that.

But he will remind them, when we think of the Sabbath, we think of a time when back at creation it was designed for perfect harmony before and between everything that lived on earth. Creation, earth, nature, animals, people, God. In perfect harmony. In perfect harmony at that time until Satan was introduced.

And mankind made the wrong decision. You know, one of the reasons that Jesus Christ comes back to earth, it tells us in Acts 3.19, it says, heaven will receive him until he comes back to restore all things. And in those first days when he's on earth, he'll begin to restore all things. They will go back to the point where they will live and the ultimate result or the ultimate goal is that there will be perfect harmony on earth.

And maybe on that Sabbath day he will remind them, that's what the Sabbath day is. And the people who keep the Sabbath, they picture that time. And the people who keep it today picture the time of the millennium when everything will be at peace and in harmony again. And we look forward to that time and when the Sabbath arrives, we think about God. We think about his plan. We think about what his purpose is. We think about what Jesus Christ died for and why he is coming back to earth and what you and I have been called to be part of during that time.

That will begin right after he returns to earth. And he begins to put these things into a motion, into a world that has so much to learn. A world that will be in awe. A world that will be dumbfounded.

Maybe even we, as we see it all happen. But with God's Spirit and the training he's given us, we'll be able to do what he calls us to do. We're in Isaiah. Let's go back to Isaiah 66. Isaiah 66.

The Sabbath isn't anything that's going to be just for a few years in the millennium and then done away with the Sabbath. As long as mankind is on earth, it was created at the creation time. It exists until the time. And as long as there is physical man on earth. Isaiah 66, verse 23, it will come to pass from one new moon to another. They'll be taught that sun, that moon in the sky. Those lights are there for times and seasons, appointed times. They'll keep the Holy Sabbath. They'll keep the annual Sabbath. They'll understand or learn the plan of God and how it unfolded throughout mankind's history. It shall come to pass from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another. All flesh shall come to worship before me, says the Eternal. They'll all come to worship before me.

Just like you and I, if we're keeping the Sabbath holy in the way God says, we'll come before Him, and worship before Him every Sabbath, every Holy Day, just as He said to do. Well, God will begin to restore all things. He will begin to set the world straight. Another thing that He may do at that time, or maybe it'll last a little longer, but certainly when He comes into power, He'll have some things in mind for people.

I mentioned Malachi 4, verse 2 or 3 before. It says, The Son of Righteousness comes with healing in His wings. And He will implement the things that will bring spiritual healing to the world.

But there's also a physical people that are living at that time, just as we are physical people today. And He'll bring physical healing to the earth as well.

You know, it's God who heals. It's God who heals. Only God who heals. We may do the things that we do. We may eat differently. We may rely on medicines.

It's God who heals. And Jesus Christ will heal back in Isaiah 35.

You know, when Christ was on earth the first time, the Bible tells us that everyone who came to Him with afflictions, He healed.

He healed leprosy. He healed the blind. He healed the lame. Every disease that was brought to Him, He healed.

Those who had emotional problems, mental issues, demons, He cast them all out. If people came to Him and looked to Him, He healed them.

He didn't send them someplace else and say, you know, go this and do that. He healed them. There were things that He said to do because sometimes when we look to God, we do what He says.

Just like in our spiritual healing, we know that it's Him who saves. It's Him who is our Savior. But we have to do the things He says if we expect that salvation to come. Isaiah 35, let's pick it up in verse 5. The eyes of the blind will be opened.

Maybe in those first few days, Jesus Christ will look and He will heal some people. Maybe He'll tell you and me, you now have the power. You go out and you heal these people. You show them what is in my heart. You show them the goodness that is there and how we want them to live full, abundant lives. The eyes of the blind shall be opened. The ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. The lame shall leap like a deer.

And the tongue of the dumb sing.

There will be worldwide healing. There won't be the sicknesses. There won't be the ailments that we have in the world today. That's a part of this world. This world that lives apart from God. In that day, people will be taught the laws of nature. They will be taught how to live, how to eat, how to do the things that God had designed the human body to do.

And there will be healing. He's also going to heal the earth. It's going to be decimated. It's going to be laid to waste. But early on in verse 1 here of chapter 35, we see that even the earth has healing when it's under the powers of God. And when people begin to live through the agricultural laws that God had designed for earth, the wilderness and the wasteland will be glad for them, and the desert will rejoice and blossom as the rose. It will blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing.

And so many verses you read about what the world will be like at that time when it's released from the bondage of what Satan has put us under today.

When it's released, and Jesus Christ comes to make all that possible. Healing in his wings. But the people will look around and they will see, excuse me, they'll see the billions that are dead.

They'll see the billions that are dead. They'll see the blood. They'll see the desolate cities. They'll see the cities that have been destroyed. They'll think, what do we do? Where do we go from here? It's hopeless. Everything we thought we had, everything we had built up, everything that was by our power is gone. There's nothing left. It's all been destroyed.

But there will be hope that Jesus Christ gives them, just like Jesus Christ gives us hope today, and something to look to. And he will announce and he will make sure people know there is a worldwide rebuilding program that's going to go on. People aren't just going to sit idly back and watch Jesus Christ snap his fingers and boom, there goes a building. Boom, there goes agricultural plenty. There goes this and that. People are going to work just like you and I work today. They're physical human beings. God created us to work and to accomplish things. And he may have people that he puts over this worldwide building process, people who know that skill that he has used today, just like he used people of skill to build temples and to build tabernacles back at the time that Israel came out of Egypt.

In Isaiah 58 and verse 12, Isaiah 58 verse 12, Isaiah 58 talks about fasting. And on the Day of Atonement we'll be fasting and we could read ahead of time about the type of fast God wants, not just, Well, I've got 24 hours, I have to hold my breath and not eat and not drink and look forward to the time the sun sets on Wednesday night. There's something we're supposed to be getting out of the fast, something we're supposed to be learning from that. Isaiah 58 verse 12, he says, To those who fast, those who are afflicted, those who have the humility and who have followed God, those from among you, That's you and me, those from among you shall build the old waste places. You shall raise up the foundations of many generations and you'll be called the repairer of the breach. You'll build back structures. You'll build back houses and people will live in them. In Micah 4 it says it won't be the way you built them. There's not going to be endless skyscrapers. There won't be condos of people that are piled on top of each other, and there will be everyone sitting under his own vine in his own fig tree. There will be a nice life for people. They'll be able to enjoy the land and the life that God has given them. It'll be done his way, not the way mankind has done it. It'll be a good time for everyone. He says you'll be the restorer of the breach. You'll help reconcile God back to that and reconcile man back to nature and to the restoration of all things, the restorer of streets or paths as it might be translated to dwell in. You'll do that. A few chapters over in Isaiah 61.

We quoted from Isaiah 61, 1-3 earlier.

Actually, Isaiah 61, 1-2. Let's look at verse 4. It says, They will rebuild the old ruins. They will. They've got work to do in the early days. There's things that are going to happen. They shall rebuild the old ruins. They shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations. You'll do that. It'll be an active society. It'll be a working society. It'll be a physical society. You'll be there. You'll be overseeing it. You'll be part of it. It'll be an exciting time. There'll be a lot going on.

And in those days after Jesus Christ returns, when He is comforting the earth, when He's giving hope to the earth, when He's installing His government, and when He's telling them what will be and how it will be, over time, maybe not initially, they will come to see, we pray, the wisdom in His ways. You and I who are there are going to just be absolutely fascinated, energized, excited to do the things that God has called us to do and to see the realization of what He called us to do if. And you can fill in the rest of the if you've heard it talked about many times, if.

The thing is, is that vision? Motivate you to find God and want Him more desperately, more diligently to be there when He returns. On that Sabbath day after Jesus Christ returns, on those days that Jesus Christ returns.

In verse 3, in Isaiah 61 verse 3, it says, Christ will come to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Why? That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified.

As we live our lives today, are we letting Him grow us into trees of righteousness? Do we glorify Him in all we do? Or are we more interested in glorifying something or someone else? Do we do His will?

Because God is looking for people who will glorify Him, just as Jesus Christ glorified the Father.

Oh, Jesus Christ will come and we'll be there when we see the world, recognize Him, listen to Him, and we're part of that. As He begins to implement His government, as He begins to make pronouncements about what will be with the good intention of all mankind, and as He establishes His government and takes hold of the nations of the earth that He has conquered, there's one more thing He will do that will ensure His government. We'll talk more about that on the Day of Atonement.