A Shout of Joy and a Cry of Terror

Thank you, Marcel and Gabe and Mr. Graham. Very beautiful. Love the passion that Marcel has when she sings that song. I've heard her sing that before. Adds a lot to our celebration on this holy day.

Welcome to the 2026 celebration of the Feast of Trumpets. I don't know about you, but this is my fifty-fourth Feast of Trumpets celebration, and I feel good about that until I think of my beloved wife. She's coming on her sixtieth Feast of Trumpets because I think she was twelve, thirteen years old when she began attending services. So for her, it's a lot of years; for me, it's also a lot of years.

This happens to be, next to the Passover, which is very meaningful and rich in meaning, my favorite of all of the holy days because of the significant meaning that it has for all of us, and it also has a meaning for the world.

So as we traditionally do, let's begin by going to the scriptures that introduced and established the meaning of this day in Leviticus twenty-three. So if you will please turn there, we will take a look at Leviticus twenty-three and begin in verse one. Always a great place to start on any holy day celebration.

Leviticus 23:1-2

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.’”

So we are celebrating God's feasts, the ones that He ordained, the ones that He claims ownership of. And then drop down to verse twenty-four.

Leviticus 23:24-25

Speak to the children of Israel, saying: “In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.”

Now seven is the number of perfection. I'm going to bring that back up in just a few minutes. In the seventh month, on the first day of the month—something that's first has very special significance to God—you shall have a Sabbath rest, a memorial of blowing trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. And the only offering we make today is being a living sacrifice to Jesus Christ and coming to His presence on the days that He has established.

The word “memorial,” you'll notice here in the New King James Version, it says a memorial of blowing of trumpets. The Hebrew word is zikron teruah. Teruah literally translates into a loud blast, something that's shouting, an acclamation, a signal. Now it can be very neutral. That blast, that shout can be joyful according to circumstances, or it can be very serious and fearful according to the circumstances. It's neutral. But what it does convey is something that's very loud, that's blasting, shouting, an acclamation that gets one's attention. So it can be joyful, it can be a victorious shout, it can also be a fearful shout.

I'm going to give you a couple of examples in my life. Fifty years ago was a very important day. Exactly fifty years ago this summer was a very important time for me in my early teens. I had applied to attend a college that existed, that was founded by Herbert Armstrong, the Worldwide Church of God, called Ambassador College. And in my teens, I had been denied twice the ability to attend the college, and it was quite discouraging the second time. The letter told me not to bother applying again because I wasn't the quality they were looking for. So that was a little bit hurtful, but I just continued working, continued doing the things that I needed to do, and I skipped a year and married my beloved wife.

And in the early summer of nineteen seventy-six, I came home for lunch one day where I worked. I was able to come home for lunch and then go back to work, and the mail was there, and there was an envelope that said Ambassador College on the outside. And my first inclination was that it was good news because the envelope was stuffed. The previous letters I got, the previous “get lost” letters, were just one page folded, trifold in an envelope, nothing. This had additional information, so I opened it up and I read what it said, and it said, “You have been accepted as a student to Ambassador College,” and not only that, we will be providing you housing so you won't have to live off of campus.

Now, at that time in my life, and at that moment, I gave out a loud shout. That was a shout of joy. We lived upstairs, and there were probably twenty-five steps. We lived in a home up-down, probably twenty-five steps up, and I think I got to the landing with two steps. That's how excited I was. I immediately called my wife. She was joyful. I called my mother. She wasn't joyful. But that was one of the most exciting, joyful times of my life, and I remember it as if it was yesterday, and I literally shouted for joy after the rejection and after all that I had done to work hard to get to that point. It was very fulfilling. That was a shout of joy.

Now let's look at the opposite. A number of years ago, my beloved wife and I went to the Feast of Tabernacles in Costa Rica, and we decided to go zip lining. Now, the ziplining in Costa Rica is very, very high. You keep walking, walking, walking, and you literally are above the trees of the rainforest when you zipline. And I got to the top, and I noticed that the wire on which your life and death depends, which is about as big as my little finger here, was attached to the tree with just one U-shaped nail. If you're an electrician, think of a beefy Romex nail, and that is what separated me from life and death. Of course, this is Costa Rica. There's no safety requirements, there's no safety procedures. You're basically on your own.

And so it was my turn, and I stepped on that platform and attached to the zip line, and they pushed me off of that platform. And I screamed and screamed like I have never before or since screamed in sheer terror my entire life, especially when I looked down and I saw the tops of trees pointed, looking up at me as I'm sailing through the zip line. So that's an example of terror, and that's how I exactly felt. Now it was fun when I got to the other platform and had lived. But during the process was sure and complete terror.

And this day, as a contrast, represents phenomenal, incredible joy for you and I, but it also represents birth pangs for the world and what it's going to have to endure because of human sin.

You may have noticed on the news that the day is called by many Rosh Hashanah, which literally means in the Hebrew, the head of the year, and most modern Jewish believers today believe this to be the Jewish New Year. And it's not. The new year began in the spring in the month of Abib. This isn't the Jewish New Year. It's something actually they picked up when they went into captivity, and they lived in Babylon. They picked up the idea to have the New Year start when the Babylonian calendar started. That's where the roots of it came from. And by the way, they also inherited a couple of pagan names that Jewish months are called to this very day that they acquired when they were in captivity in Babylon.

But God instituted instead the first month of the year to be in the spring. It's called Abib, which means green ear. It's in Exodus chapter twelve and verse two. So the biblical name for this day isn't Rosh Hashanah. It is Yom Teruah, which means literally the day of shouting or blasting. And again, that shouting or blasting can be joyful or it can be fearful. It can be terror. It can be warning.

The original text of the Hebrew Bible commands observing the ripening barley crop, not calculated astronomical equinoxes, but looking, observing the way the barley was ripening. That was the way that the Hebrew year began. And sometimes the barley ripened before the spring equinox, and that's okay because the word spring equinox, by the way, isn't in the Bible. It's not a biblical concept. So that is how the Hebrew year began, and then counting the seventh month on the first day of the month was a very special time we know of as the Feast of Trumpets.

There were two types of trumpets used. First one, like this beautiful set piece here. Isn't that—that was one lot of bull, wasn't it? Look how long that thing is. That was a lot of bull, that one. But that's a shofar, and this gave rather a piercing sound, usually used as a command for people to be aware of a fear, perhaps alarm. Sometimes it was used to gather people together. So this was one of the two types of trumpets that were used. And of course, the other one were two silver trumpets that were instructed in Numbers 10, and those silver trumpets also had numerous uses, and those were blown on all of the holy days. So the silver trumpets were also trumpets of celebration, and depending on the staccato and the rhythm, they signaled to Israel certain things: to gather together, or to begin the march, or be afraid because we're ready to go into war or prepare for war, sometimes again even to celebrate the festival. So they could be good sounds, they could be sounds of joy, they could be sounds of warning.

Let's first focus on the joy that this day pictures. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 50, if you will turn there with me. It was the Apostle Paul who helps us to understand that only the New Covenant reveals this day to be a resurrection. The old covenant offered only physical blessings, not a resurrection, and when you read the words in Leviticus twenty-three, it says nothing about a resurrection on this day. It doesn't explain per se what the shouting or the trumpet blast represents, whether it's good or bad. It just says this is a day, a memorial of a shouting or a trumpet blast. It's the apostle Paul who helps us to understand the new covenant reveals this day to be a resurrection. So let's read what he wrote here.

1 Corinthians 15:50-57

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We won't remain dead forever. Those who have died in the faith throughout a couple of millennia now didn't die in vain. Instantaneously, at the last trumpet—and we'll make a connection with Revelation 11 in a few minutes—at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal, this flesh, this mortal coil that we have, must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.” No longer sadness over death, because it'll be gone. It won't longer affect us, and eventually, as God's plan unravels, death will no longer affect humanity ever again.

If you have eternal life, what sting does the potential of physical death mean to you? It means absolutely nothing. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of people come out of their graves and are resurrected at the return of Jesus Christ. So grave, where is your victory? Paul asks.

You may remember in Leviticus twenty-three, verse twenty-four that I mentioned in the original instructions that this feast is on the seventh month, the first day of the month. What happens to us when we are resurrected and changed from mortal to immortal, from corruptible to incorruptible? We will be perfect. That's why this day was instituted on the seventh month. Seven is the biblical number of perfection. Now, what day of the month would you expect the firstfruits to be resurrected to perfection? The first day. So that's exactly why in Leviticus 23, this particular day that represents for us, for those of faith, our resurrection into immortality and eternal life, was to occur in the seventh month that represents perfection and on the first day of the month, representing God's firstfruits.

Paul states here that at the last trumpet, that seventh trumpet sounded in Revelation eleven, the dead in Christ are raised and literally instantaneously changed into immortality, and Paul further proclaims that this is a time to rejoice and be thankful. God will give us the victory over death. The victory is the gift of eternal life, and that is promised to you and I. And that is why for all of us this should be a day of profound inner joy and thankfulness and gratitude that of all the billions of people that have ever lived on Earth—the latest estimate I saw recently said that a hundred billion people have ever lived on Earth—so of all of those people who have ever walked on the earth, how many were called by the Father to repentance and faith and given the gift of the Holy Spirit? A very small number of all of those. They're yet waiting for their time. They're waiting for their day. They're waiting for their opportunity. But our opportunity has been now, in this lifetime.

Let's go to Matthew chapter thirteen and verse three. And I'd like to take a look at the parable of the sower, because we may not realize this is not just a beautiful parable, but it's also part prophecy. And you are fulfilling that prophecy each and every day.

Matthew 13:3-8

Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

The parable of the sower is a parable about those who respond to the gospel. A sower is Jesus Christ. And he sowed, and some fell by the wayside, the gospel message, and birds came and devoured them. There was basically no response. And how many hundreds of millions of people in the history of the Church of God, the last seventy years, hundreds of millions of people saw a radio program or read an article in one of our magazines or perhaps talked to a church member for a while and it didn't stick. It was a one-off. Maybe they were interested, maybe they had a conversation, maybe they read an article, they saw a TV program, and they have no interest. This is what this is talking about. They fell by the wayside. There's no response in their lives.

Some fell in stony places, where they didn't have much earth, and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of the earth. But when the sun was up, they were scorched because they had no root and they withered away. The sun here is symbolic of a trial or tribulation that they go through. They start out, but they have a personal trial, and they go through some persecution, some tribulation, and they just shrink away, they give up.

And some fell among the thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. Those are the cares and distractions of the world in which we can easily become overwhelmed, even those of us of faith. Can be overwhelmed by the cares and all the distractions that this world throws at us.

But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop. That's you. Some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. And he who has ears, let him hear. Let's drop down to verse twenty-three as Jesus himself explains about this particular seed that fell on good ground.

Matthew 13:23

But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

And you know what? God has been working with you, and that's what you are doing each and every day. Taking the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that Helper that's available, and changing who and what we are, internalizing the fruit, including love and joy and peace and longsuffering and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control. And every time we work on ourselves and catch ourselves and repent of something we've said or done and promise ourselves not to repeat it and grow and literally change our thinking—repentance means to turn around and walk in another direction—and as we do that throughout our lives, we are fulfilling exactly what Jesus said here in this parable.

And this isn't salvation by works. Only God's grace through faith can we be saved. This scripture is referring to those whose lives were transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. They internalized the fruit of the Spirit in their lives, and by doing that, they yielded a crop a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Now, picture that growth and development in the twinkling of an eye being magnified and purified so that we go from mortal to immortal, from corruptible to incorruptible, and are literally changed and purified and made spirit, using all that we developed in our lives. I think that's something we need to think about. God magnifies those qualities.

1 Thessalonians chapter four and verse thirteen. Let's see something else regarding this particular day. Paul again writing about the resurrection and the allusion to the meaning of this day.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Think of the meaning of this day, Teruah, from Leviticus chapter twenty-three and verse twenty-four. With the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God—there again another connection to Leviticus twenty-three—and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always, from that point on, we will always be in the presence of Jesus Christ.

And as we know in Zechariah chapter fourteen and verse four, it says that in that day, the very day we're talking about, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. So if we are always with the Lord, then we are returning to earth with Him for a very important mission.

At the last trumpet, all the faithful children of God throughout history who previously died will be raised from the dead to meet the descending and returning Jesus Christ and join Him as He returns to earth to rule. And then that wave will be followed by a much smaller wave who are still alive during the return of Christ, and we will be changed to spiritual, incorruptible, and joyful spiritual beings, no longer in this human flesh. I think again, that is something for us to ponder.

Psalm chapter forty-seven and verse one, if you'll turn there with me. We're still looking at the joyful side, the contrast of what this day represents.

Psalm 47:1-8

Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples!
Shout to God with the voice of triumph!
For the Lord Most High is awesome;
He is a great King over all the earth.
He will subdue the peoples under us,
And the nations under our feet.
He will choose our inheritance for us,
The excellence of Jacob whom He loves. Selah

God has gone up with a shout,
The Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
Sing praises to God, sing praises!
Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
For God is the King of all the earth;
Sing praises with understanding.
God reigns over the nations;
God sits on His holy throne.

Think about that for a second. Think of the meaning of the day of Teruah. So at the sound of the trumpet it literally signals the return of Jesus Christ to this earth, and this is exactly how we will feel at that moment. Have you ever thought about that? We will clap our hands in pure joy. We will say, “The Most High is awesome. Look what He has done for me. Look at the inheritance that He is giving me for all eternity because of His grace and His love and His compassion.” So it'll be a time of joyful shouting and exaltation for the glory of God, and that's how we will feel when Jesus Christ returns.

But something else unfortunately happens before this beautiful psalm is fulfilled. We sang a hymn this morning written by Mr. Graham and an awesome refrain when Christ shall come again, and verse after verse rejoicing when Christ shall come again. This will happen and that will happen. But brethren, there's something else that must occur before all of that joy is revealed throughout the earth, and that is the birth pangs, the labor pain of a new world being created on the earth. Because when Jesus Christ returns, He is returning to face rebellion. The people of this world will be convinced that He's a space alien, that He is coming to conquer the world, that He's outside of this world, that He's dangerous, that He's evil. And He's coming back, but He's going to have to come back as a warrior because the people who remain on Earth after the great tribulation and the curses of the Day of the Lord, the people are angry, they are unrepentant, they are bitter. And they are preparing and will prepare to fight and battle with Jesus Christ.

Let's read about this. Zechariah, one of the minor prophets, the first chapter and verse fourteen, if you'll turn there with me. Now I think we need to understand that everything we're talking about the Bible alludes to is very fast, instantaneous, that it literally occurs in what a short period of time that we would call a day. It says regarding the first resurrection, in the twinkling of an eye. That's fast. That's instantaneous.

And let's see what Zephaniah tells us about Jesus Christ returning to earth to battle the peoples, the kings, the nations of this world, and the armies they are assembling and gathering at Megiddo. Let's see how long that this tells us.

Zephaniah 1:14-17

The great day of the Lord is near;
It is near and hastens quickly.
The noise of the day of the Lord is bitter;
There the mighty men shall cry out.
That day is a day of wrath,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of devastation and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
A day of trumpet and alarm
Against the fortified cities
And against the high towers.
“I will bring distress upon men,
And they shall walk like blind men,
Because they have sinned against the Lord;
Their blood shall be poured out like dust,
And their flesh like refuse.”

What is noise? It's shouting, it's acclamation, it's what this day represents in a negative sense. Bitterness. The noise is going to be fear and sorrow and terror. That day is a day of wrath—not a week, not a month, not like when the United States goes to war that supposedly was going to last thirty days and was now what, six months? It's not a pretty picture, but before there can be a time of peace that we all long for and that our hymns look forward to, before we can have the thousand year reign of Jesus Christ, there are going to be birth pangs in this world because some people just will absolutely, positively refuse to repent and change who they are and change their thinking. And Jesus Christ needs to eliminate that.

You see, rebellion is a cancer that has to be removed or it just goes underground and returns again in a generation or two. Just a small analogy. Many of us who lived through the destruction of the Worldwide Church in 1995 know how painful it was. For those of us who lived with it, it was like experiencing a divorce. An organization that we loved, that we supported one hundred percent with our tithes and our efforts and our prayers and our attendance and poured our hearts out to that organization for it to change so dramatically in nineteen ninety-five. But do you know the same thing had happened in 1979 at Ambassador College, and I was there? The same thing. I had one professor teaching that Moses didn't write the first four books of the Bible, that four different individuals authored the books of Moses. That there were two Isaiahs. That Jonah never existed. And I could go on and on. And this was being taught at Ambassador College in 1978 and '79.

And as diligent as the founder of that college tried to be in rooting all of that out, the people who believed in that simply went underground. And they remained employed in the organization, and they just got quiet, and they waited for their time to come, and their time came with a vengeance in nineteen ninety-five. Why? Because that spirit hadn't been totally rooted out. It had been allowed to continue, and it simply got quiet and went underground, waiting for the right time to return.

And if Jesus doesn't come back to this earth and destroy all wickedness and evil and rebellion against God, people would just simply go underground, and we wouldn't have a beautiful one thousand year millennium of peace on earth. In one generation or two that attitude again would resurface and destroy everything God is trying to do.

Like labor pains, and this is what the Earth will be experiencing. That metaphor was said by Jesus and others in the New Testament referring to that time immediately following the Great Tribulation that the world will be like giving birth. And it'll be like labor pains, short but powerfully intense.

Let's read some difficult scriptures for us to read, especially with our twenty-first century sensibilities. And in our world, in our culture today, we don't like to think of negative things. We don't like to think of people dying in large numbers. We mourn when a single American soldier dies in Iran, right? Or in the Middle East. It's just what our culture has developed into. But the scriptures are true, and God has a purpose for everything that He does.

Revelation 16:12-17

Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

“Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”

And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.

Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!”

So one unclean spirit like a frog comes out of the mouth of the dragon. It represents Satan. Out of the mouth of the beast, a second unclean spirit like a frog comes out of the dominant political power that will exist at that time. And the third unclean spirit, like a frog, will come out of the mouth of the false prophet, which is the religious authority that will control most of the earth at that time. Meaning the nations, though He will arrive quickly like a lightning bolt, they will be unprepared for the arrival of Jesus Christ.

This will be after the first resurrection, but those who are left on earth, who God loves and God is working with, there's an instruction here, and it says, “Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments.” Someone who's prepared, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. Armageddon, meaning the mountain of Megiddo. That's what that phrase means.

So we have a set piece here for a great battle, and even though it's been a joyous time for God's elect, because they have been changed in the twinkling of an eye, it's also going to be a time of unprecedented terror for those who are godless and rebellious against Christ. Back in Revelation nine, it talks about two hundred million warriors crossing the Euphrates, and perhaps they will also be part of this army that's gathering.

So let's keep that in mind, and now let's go to look at some New Testament scriptures to see what Jesus Himself said about this time. Matthew chapter twenty-four and verse twenty-one, if you will turn there, please.

Matthew 24:21-22

For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.

I want you to notice why Jesus Christ returns. He returns because of you. He returns because you are precious in His sight. He returns because you have the spirit of God, and He loves you intensely. This world is on the brink of complete self-annihilation. And as Jesus approaches the earth, the first thing He will do is remove His chosen elect from the crisis that is developing in the world to protect them and change them into incorruptible spirit by gathering them in the sky.

What's the Great Tribulation all about? Unfortunately, it's man's inhumanity to man. And in the coming years, even though God's people will be given certain protections, we must understand that it's because of His precious people, you, His elect, that He will return to Earth in the nick of time, or else humanity is totally on a path to destroy itself. There's so many ways we can destroy ourselves off this Earth. We could do it through nuclear. We can do it through biological agents, and now, being as creative as humanity is, we've even invented a new way that no one ever thought before.

This week, a man who's the chief alignment science officer at Anthropic, that's an AI company, his name is Evan Hubinger, he stated, quote, that there's greater than a ten percent chance that AI could lead to human extinction within the next decade if alignment for superintelligence isn't solved. Only man could create something brand new to destroy ourselves from off of this planet. Other leaders in AI—and that's developers and safety researchers, policymakers and industry observers—here are terms that they used this past week. These are smart people in the industry. They're not ministers. These are people in the industry who know AI. Here are some of their phrases. Quote: “Essentially gambling with lives.” Here's another: “The trajectory of uncontrolled superintelligence to a Chernobyl-sized catastrophe.” Someone else said “irreversible disempowerment.” Another, “Terminator-style extinction.”

Think of all the creative ways that we design to destroy ourselves from off of this earth, but because of you, the elect of God, He isn't going to allow that to happen.

Matthew 24:23-31

Then if anyone says to you, “Look, here is the Christ!” or “There!” do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.

Therefore if they say to you, “Look, He is in the desert!” do not go out; or “Look, He is in the inner rooms!” do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

So in the future, there are going to be some individuals who have unexplainable miracles, real miracles they can produce, much like Pharaoh's sorcerers could throw a stick down just like Moses and it would become a snake, a living snake. They will perform literal unexplainable miracles, Jesus says, but don't fall for it. Everyone will see Christ arrive with power, but some will be prepared, and most He'll appear like a thief. Where did He come from? I wasn't expecting that to happen. Now?

There are ten translations who don't translate this “eagles,” but translated “vultures.” Of those ten translations include the New Century Version, the New International Version, and the New Revised Standard Version. So what is this carcass? It's the stinking mass of human civilization that dares to war with Jesus Christ. That's what this carcass is.

Not like He came the first time, not as a babe, gently, not as a servant, not as someone who comes just humbly, willing to be slapped, like at the time of His crucifixion, willing, accepting to be abused. He's not coming that way this second time. And again, that is you. What wonderful and exciting news.

Let's now conclude in Zechariah chapter fourteen, beginning in verse one.

Zechariah 14:1-5, 9

Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,
And your spoil will be divided in your midst.
For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;
The city shall be taken,
The houses rifled,
And the women ravished.
Half of the city shall go into captivity,
But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

Then the Lord will go forth
And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle.
And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,
From east to west,
Making a very large valley;
Half of the mountain shall move toward the north
And half of it toward the south.

Then you shall flee through My mountain valley,
For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal.
Yes, you shall flee
As you fled from the earthquake
In the days of Uzziah king of Judah.
Thus the Lord my God will come,
And all the saints with You.

And the Lord shall be King over all the earth.
In that day it shall be—
“The Lord is one,”
And His name one.

So they gather at Megiddo, which is a number of miles outside of Jerusalem, and then they come and attack the city of Jerusalem. And this is the return of Jesus, and a terrible event occurs, and those armies are literally in a split second wiped out, completely wiped off the face of the earth.

These are the faithful Jews living there at that time. God loves His people, and He'll provide a way of escape for those who are physical and still there. In other words, you'll be running for your lives full throttle. Thus the Lord my God will come and all of the saints with you. That's you. That's me, right there with Jesus Christ, to serve humanity forever.

We're His army, but we don't get involved in the battle. The scripture says that metaphorically, that like a sword comes out of His mouth and literally wipes the armies off the face of the earth. So we're not there for battle. We're there for the following introduction of the kingdom to provide instruction and peace and love and to teach people God's way of life. And you and I have that incredible blessing.

So on this Feast of Trumpets in 2026, let's remind ourselves that for us, for those who are in alignment with God, it will be the most exciting, joyful experience you will ever have in your entire existence into eternity. It will be the game changer of your existence for those who are in alignment with God. For those who aren't in alignment with God, that day will be the most horrible, filled terror-ridden event that they will remember. If we remember something as simple as 9/11 twenty-five years later, they will remember that day when those who were in rebellion against Jesus Christ were punished and paid a terrible price for their rebellion against God.

I wish all of you a joyful and fulfilling Festival of Trumpets.