Trumpets

Well, that was fantabulous. Thought I'd coin a new word there for you. Since I'm a wordsmith, you know, as Mr. Taylor said, by the way, it was Rachel's fault, not mine. And now I understand why Rachel didn't do as well when she wrote that out, you know. She's only been baptized. She just got baptized. So there you go. And when I heard the, you know, out there, the sirens. Did you hear those sirens when they went by? I thought the jig you is up. You know, I'm going to be arrested. But no. But anyway, hopefully that's not going to happen, at least in this day and time we're in.

It might be in the future. We don't know what the future is going to bring, do we? All of us may be due in time before all is said and done in the future. But it was the morning of August 24th, and no one was prepared for what was going to happen that day. All the signs were there, but they went unnoticed as being signs of anything that was impending. And they went unheeded. Business continued as usual.

People went about their day. It was a place where the wealthy played. Bread was made like any other day, and the smell of it wafted through the city, like always. Merchants opened their doors and sold in the streets, and people milled around with excitement, as they did every day in the city. There were tremors, but they were frequent, and they had become accustomed to these tremors. After all, it had been a long time since there was anything that major had happened, and they were lulled into a sense of security by it.

It was just the area where they were. It had been nearly 2,000 years since the last eruption of Mount Vesuvius, but it erupted that day August 24th, and it wiped out Pompeii and the surrounding area in 79 AD, when an estimated 16,000 people were killed instantly. They were buried alive in ash and soot that came upon the city. And I think certainly Pompeii, and the eruption that took place there is a testimony to the world, and oftentimes the unheeded warnings that the world does get. And I think it goes down in history, is one of those great events where the warnings were there. All the warnings were there, but they were not heated by people.

There was nothing that they did about it. They went about their business as they normally did. But then today, as we have heard, is a memorial of blowing of trumpets, as we have been shown in Leviticus 23 and other places as well.

It was, of course, a day that was to be a holy convocation. It was to be a sacred day, a holy day, where people were to assemble and to gather together for a purpose, even as it is today. You know, one thing did take place on this day, and that was the blowing of the shofar, which we've already heard. And, of course, that loud, shrill sound of the shofar could be heard on the trumpets, on the Feast of Trumpets. In this ancient time, shofar was blown as an alarm for war.

It was to make people alert. It was to alert them to an approaching army and to warn them of what was impending. It is interesting, over in Isaiah 58, in verse 1, when it talks about the kind of warnings that we are to give today, it says that there in Isaiah 58, in verse 1, cry aloud and spin up. Lift up your voice like a trumpet, and tell my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet, brethren, today, people generally do not want to hear about warnings, do they?

They don't want to be warned about what is coming. They don't want to be warned, particularly about themselves. They don't want to be told about their sins and the need to turn around and to change. Yet, this whole nation needs to do that very thing. Most don't want to hear, in fact, that there are harder times that are going to come. We like to hear that good times are coming, like the roaring twenties. When that came, people thought there would be no end of the party. But eventually, we know it came with a great depression. But again, people don't want to hear that harder times are coming.

But, brethren, I think we're going to find that as we draw closer to the end of this age, that people are going to begin to sit up and take notice in a way much more than they are right now, today. I think people are already beginning to sit up and take notice, because any thinking person ought to be able to see the world is in real trouble. This world is in trouble. I was watching, in fact, a news item on the subject of Ebola. And they now are projecting that 1.4 million cases are going to result. That's from the CDC, by the way. And they sort of lowballed it the first time.

They were saying 20,000, by the way. And then they said a half million. Now it's 1.4 million. And I think it's going to go much higher than that. I hope they can stop it. I hope they really can avert it. But if it goes much higher than that, we can probably bank on the fact it's going to be here in San Francisco, pretty soon. It's going to be here one way or another. It's going to be in every major city in America.

And so, again, these are things that any thinking person can look out there in the world and see that are happening. And these are not the only things. You know, we could go through a litany of all the places in the world where there are troubled spots. But again, people don't want to hear that. They don't want to hear these things. And in a lot of ways, they're like those that were there when Mount Vesuvius erupted and in one day wiped all the people out.

But you know, God's Word that we had, that book that's sitting right there in your lap, brethren, is given to us to warn us. To give us a warning, not just, of course, that, but to give us instruction about what we ought to be doing. But God wants us to be warned. He wants us to be knowledgeable of what's coming so that we can understand what, in fact, we are to be doing and what we're to be applying. Now, some, I have no doubt, are not ever going to heed. It's not going to make any difference what you say, what the Church of God says. They're simply not going to heed. We see that, of course, in the book of Revelation. But people, there are people, and unfortunately, even sometimes in our midst, brethren, people that want to be soothed, they, you know, they want that spiritual pablum, that baby food, as it were, so that they can be lulled into that false sense of security. You know, some just don't want to hear the truth. And what is really coming, and what is going to happen, and how it's going to demand from us more than we ever thought in the future.

When we thought we were on pretty good footing, firm footing, we may find that what the future is going to bring is going to demand to us far more than we even thought. You know, the Bible gives us information so we can be prepared, so that we can be ready, and we can survive what is ahead. And again, often people just won't heed warnings of the future, and they won't be moved to make the real changes in their lives before it's too late. Now they delay and delay and delay. Well, brethren, I want to talk to you here about this message today. We've heard, of course, about the hope, you know, of the Feast of Trumpets, the resurrection that God has promised to us. But we need to know also the Feast of Trumpets and that blowing of the shofar was a part of this. This is a day to give us warning, too, as God's people, to be warned as God's people so we can be prepared. We can be moved to be prepared, and God gives that to us through this memorial of the blowing of trumpets. And we, on the other hand, is the disciples of Christ and followers of God, who are called by God, should be different than this world. Oftentimes, the world doesn't really want to listen. They don't want to hear what the truth is, but, brethren, we should. We really should. I know there were those that basically had the attitude, particularly in our former association, back in 1995, that said, well, you know, if that minister is going to get up there and talk about, you know, those bad things are going to happen, and that crazy book called the Revelation, I don't want to be there. Well, they're not here today, are they?

They're back where they were, and some of those same people, by the way, that took that posture, that took that approach, or now back in the world, and all snug, you know, in that world that that the world is out there, and many of them, of course, being lulled to sleep wherever they may be.

But, brethren, why are we here today? Why are we here today? There are many reasons we know what this day pictures. It pictures the resurrection. It pictures the return of Jesus Christ.

It pictures, again, the fact that we are to be warned as God's people. Let's go to Leviticus 23. I think we'd be remiss not to turn to this, but in Leviticus 23, and it says, And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, The feast of the eternal which you shall proclaim, to be holy, convocations, these are my feasts. You know, again, people often say, as we know, and I know you're not the uninitiated, but but you know God's truth, but many people think that these days that you're keeping, oh, you're just a, you know, you're a New Testament Jew, basically. That's what you are. Well, we are New Testament Christians. We are Christians, and we keep God's festivals because God commanded us to do it. Going on, though, let's notice here. Six days shall work be done. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Solomon rest, a holy convocation, and we are not to work on it as it says, it is the Sabbath of the Lord at all your dwellings. It's amazing that mankind hasn't figured out when the Sabbath is. I think of all the encyclopedias, biblical encyclopedias that have been written, but all the experts in Greek that can wow us with their understanding of everything about the Old Testament, but they, in all of their wisdom, in all of their knowledge, in all of their understanding, they haven't even discovered when the Sabbath was.

To me, I think that shows the utter ignorance sometimes of mankind. Or is it more the resistance of mankind to do what God commands him to do? But verse 4, these are the feasts of the eternal, not the feast of Israel. These are the feasts of the eternal. And it's holy, he says, holy complications which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. So this is what we are to do. So this is what we are to do. And again, the ministry of Jesus Christ, brethren, would be in direct opposition to what the Bible itself says if we did not talk about the full meaning of the feast of trumpets. And we don't want to be guilty of that as God's people.

We certainly don't also want to be remiss of talking about the great hope of this day and the only hope the world has, in fact. And that is Jesus Christ returning.

But we need to be warned on this day as well. And that means every man, woman, and child here needs to be warned. I need to be warned. I need to be warned about what is coming. And the day draws nigh, brethren.

Well, the time is going to come when we won't have any more time to labor and to work.

But we have to work now while we can't, while the sun is shining out there. And we ought to be preparing now while we can, brethren, as God's people. Well, God's church, ever since I've been in the church, has taught us to listen to what God says and obey what God says. Because it's the only way for us to grow. It's the only way for us to change. The only way for us to overcome and build holy, righteous character. That's the only way we can do it. And then to be born into the kingdom of God, or the family of God.

And, you know, through the holy days we learn God's plan, what God is doing. Remember Jesus said, you know, if you were a servant, you would know what I'm doing. But I call you my friends. So you know what I'm doing. You know what I'm trying to accomplish. And what I am about. And God is about to do some very bold things in the future and allow things to happen that are going to be mind-boggling to us. So that we, though, through the plan of God, brethren, can know what the future is going to bring. And we can know not only that, but we can know what it holds for us. If we can remain steadfast and until the very end. The Feast of Trumpets marks the climax of what we preach as God's people, as God's church.

But it's pivotal to His plan, you know, picturing Jesus Christ's sudden, when He will be sudden, brethren, when it happens, Jesus Christ's sudden intervention to stop man's mad race to His own annihilation.

Well, this day looks to that time when God is going to intervene in the nick of time to save man from Himself. And we are like a train, you know, that is running down the tracks. It's going to be a massive train wreck. That's the world that we live in today, brethren, the way it is going. Maybe I watch news too much. Maybe I go and I dig out of the news that I see, those things that pertain to prophecy, but I see, again, this scenario that is really becoming more and more clear as to where we are in Bible prophecy. But this day, again, pictures a pivotal time when Christ is going to stop it, man's mad rush to oblivion.

It pictures the very beginning of the establishment of God's government in the beginning of the world tomorrow. When God sets that government up, it's like Isaiah 9 says, unto us a child is born, well, Christ is going to be a king. This is when He's going to take the role of being a king of kings and the Lord of lords. This is when it all begins, brethren. This is when all you and I have worked for is going to come to fruition. You know, I was listening to the choir and I thought, how beautiful, how wonderful to hear our brethren sing together like that. And I'm thinking to myself, what will it be like when we hear a million angel choir and they sing to glorify God? Now, by the way, you know, we try, don't we, you know, to sing? And I do think that you sound wonderful, as Mr. Taylor was talking about, you know, as well. I think you sound wonderful, brethren, to hear you sing. I love to hear God's people sing. I really do. And I love the choir. You guys are really doing a wonderful job at it and it gets better and better, which is what should happen. But imagine what it's going to be like, brethren, to hear a one million angel choir of angels, by the way, who have it created in them. I mean, they've got this incredible musical ability. You know, you're talking about, you know, there's maybe one in a million Mario Lanzo or Pavarotti or Crusoe or there's one in a million. How about a million angels that have equal ability in whatever, you know, ability they have. What kind of choir will it be? Of course, like the music of angels, won't it? It will be so beautiful. And imagine what it's going to be like when God's government is set up, when his kingdom is established, and Jesus Christ is enthroned.

And hopefully, brethren, you and I will be right there that day to hear all of that and to be inspired and to be amazed of what, in fact, God is capable of doing. But this day pictures that day.

You know, God's plan reveals God is planning and God is preparing, you know, for the future. He's been doing that for 6,000 years. You know, ever since he began to call anyone, you know, from Enoch, to Abel, to Noah, all the way through, all the patriarchs he's been planning, he's been preparing. And when he called you, he was planning and he was preparing for the future.

Do you realize, brethren, how much preparation is going in to what is going to happen? It's pictured by this day. It's already going on right now. Because we're not the only ones that ought to be preparing. We're not the only ones. You and I should be preparing like God is preparing. You know, there's a... it's interesting if you go down and you see the preparation that's going on. There's global preparation going on for the kingdom of God right now when the real Feast of Trumpets is going to take place. Well, look at the world events and see what is happening. God is preparing. Number one, brethren, God is preparing. Number two, the church is preparing. The church of God is preparing.

And, you know, we are working as smartly and efficiently as possible to prepare a people. After all, that's one part of the motto we have, isn't it? Preaching the gospel and preparing a people. But, brethren, it's not all up to the church. No, the church can prepare and prepare and prepare. Number three, you and I need to be preparing individually as well. Preparing for the future, our role in the future, learning God's way of life, learning what the word of God says.

The world is preparing as well, brethren. Number four, how do I say that? The world is preparing. Well, the world is preparing because there are wars going on out there, famines that are taking place, diseases that are going on right now as we speak, and one that is beginning to erupt right there in Africa. There's strife, about everywhere you look. There's crime, there's pollution, there's stockpiling of weapons, there's deceit, there's lying. And man, of course, has come to the capacity to wipe all human life off the planet. You know, and what does it say, in fact, in the Moffat translation, if Jesus Christ did not intervene, basically man would do that. He would wipe all life. There would be no one that would be saved alive. And number five, brethren, Satan the devil, you can be sure he is preparing right now. He's working day and night preparing. And you know, he has more than enough time to work on you. That's a part of this preparation. And unfortunately, mankind is working sometimes in conjunction with Satan and the demons. Unbeknownst to most of them, maybe some are even aware that they are working in conjunction with Satan. But they're working in concert at a feverish pace toward Armageddon. You know, the Bible says that in Revelation 12 that in the end of the age, Satan is going to be angry with the church. And because he knows he has a short time, he comes to make war against the church.

I think, brethren, that time is shorter than you and I even remotely imagine.

Paul, by the way, the Apostle Paul said, well, in the first century of the church, in the book of Romans in chapter 1, he talked about this one thing. He said, you know, he said, God is clearly evident by the physical things that we see that are manifested. Imagine that now we have had an explosion of scientific knowledge, but man still refuses to acknowledge God. No matter if he's able to view into the interior of a cell and see how much design is there that must have demanded a designer, man refuses to accept that there is a Creator God. He's willingly ignorant, as Romans 1 says, and he'd rather a whole lot rather worship the creation rather than the Creator. He would rather do that. And man resists in believing God and what God says. It seems like that is the way it is. That's the way science is these days. In fact, if you are a professor and you don't believe in evolution, you probably won't be a professor very long, if they find out, and particularly if you make your views known in the classroom.

Now, you can probably attack God. You can be an atheist. You can rip the belief in God apart every which way. But if you were to stand up and say you believe God is a Creator, you would be booted out of most universities. You might be able to stay actively involved in education if you were in some backwater college, but probably not any major college or university. So the world resists, brethren, believing, as the world is ripe for what is coming in the future. But are you, brethren, and I, are we true believers? The difference between those who believed and those who don't is that the true believers listen and they obey. Is that the true believers listen and they obey. And you know what? Those people are listening, they're happy, they're joyous, they're balanced people. Well, they are the type of people that are very faithful to what God says, and they're normal people. They're not abnormal people. You know, they are normal people like, you know, many people in the world who are not necessarily resisting God. There are people like that that are striving. They're striving as much as they understand to obey God. But by and large, we find that most people, again, are not doing that, but they're doing the opposite. Let's go to Nehemiah chapter 8. Here's a time, uh, anciently when, you know, Israel had gone into captivity, Judah in this case, and they came back from captivity, and they were re-establishing their understanding of God's way because they had lost it. They had turned away from God, and they lost those things, but when they came back, they were very, very eager. And it took, in fact, going into captivity for Judah, into Babylon, for them to wake up.

And unfortunately, I think that's what it's going to take for people, uh, in our current, uh, modern-day, uh, world before they wake up as well. Let's go to Nehemiah chapter 8. Nehemiah chapter 8, but it says, now all the people gathered together as one man in the open square.

This is that news in front of the Watergate. This isn't Washington, D.C., by the way, uh, but in Jerusalem. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men and women in a hall, all would hear with an understanding on the first day of the seventh month. In other words, today, which is the first day of Tishri, by the way, on the Hebrew calendar that we're meeting today. So here they gathered on the Feast of Trumpets. I'm not sure exactly what they fully understood about that, but at least they were there, weren't they? This is then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Watergate from the morning until midday. You think this is going to be a long sermon today? This was a long one. Before the men and women and those who could understand, and the ears of the people were attentive to the book of the law. See, this is what people do when they believe. And it took them going into captivity before they became believers. They were ready to listen to what God had to say. It's amazing what people will do when they suddenly are believers. And many people I've visited with over the years, there's a different attitude when you come upon somebody who really is a believer. You know, they want to hear God's word, they can just gobble it up. And they want to hear it so badly. How many times have I been on visits?

I remember one time with Mr. Mickelson and I, we went visiting down in Burns, Oregon one time. There was a family down in Burns, Oregon that they were being introduced. This was, of course, in worldwide days. And anyway, I think this was the first visit Mr. Mickelson and I ever took together.

I'd become the pastor there in Boise, and you know, he was assisting there. But we went down there, and I think we got there at a decent hour, it was like after work, like seven o'clock.

And we left about two in the morning. I ended up getting home, I think, at four. I apologized to Mr. Mickelson, I'm sorry we got home so late. Or was that early? I'm not sure. Whichever. But I said, we've got to go tomorrow as well, but we'll be home earlier. And went to see somebody else. Unfortunately, we rolled in at 5 a.m. But the same thing, people used to gobble up the truth.

They were so desirous of hearing the truth, you didn't have to coax them into it. In fact, you know, it's like when you're ready to leave, they got a hold of your pant leg. Let me ask you one more question.

Well, yeah, but I gotta go, gotta go, you know. And, you know, they keep wanting to ask the questions.

I found it very interesting that when we were over at in Zambia, at the Lusaka youth camp, by the way, we had ministers up doing a Q&A session. We finally had to tell the young people that we need to quit. Because they had question, I'm telling you, brother, question after question after question that came in. And, you know, we just went on and tried to answer as many as we had, but I think they were like after a couple of hours, two and a half hours. This is after church, by the way. We had services and then it was Q&A. I thought first we would have a hard time getting them to ask questions. Well, once they started asking, they couldn't shut up after that was over. But they were believers and they wanted to hear. They wanted to know. In verse 5, in Ezra opened the book and the sight of the people, for he was standing above all the people, and when he opened it, all the people stood up. They stood up. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. Then all the people answered, Amen, Amen, while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. And you know the story and the account here, people were weeping and Ezra had to tell them, Nehemiah, had to tell them, look, this is a special day. It's a day to rejoice. This is a day to be happy. And they had to be, again, they were probably tears of joy, I would imagine, just from hearing the truth, hearing the words of God. And again, they wanted to hear it because they were believers. They'd been convinced, this is what I need to do. And they were sobered because they understood what was declared to them.

Well, brethren, when we live in a time of chaos in this world, and we continue to believe, no matter what, we prove something to God.

Well, because God wants to see, brethren, how we will respond when we're under duress.

Will we give up on His way of life? Or will we continue to apply ourselves? Will we do those things that are expected of us according to the Word of God? You know, God wants to see how committed you and I are to living His way, no matter what happens all around us. And then He can see if our belief is real. Whether or not our character is real as well. One thing is for sure that we found out about in 1995 was who believed and who did not believe. Because it was so easy, wasn't it, back in 1995 when here you had the administrative approval to throw out the laws of God. Don't have to keep the Sabbath anymore. Don't have to keep those old holy days. In fact, you can go eat lobster. You can go out and eat unclean foods. Because now they believe that Christ cleansed all meats. So it would have been easy for people then to sort of follow along to do that. But brethren, it took a little bit of character to resist. It really did. And it still takes character today. In a time, though, when the world is increasingly rejecting God, brethren, God wants to see where our hearts are, what we're willing to do. And what we will do is God's people. Will we continue to do it no matter what happens? No matter what occurs? No matter what it costs, brethren. Because it may cost us a whole lot more in the future than it has cost us since 1995. It may cost you your life, these things that you believe.

But either they're real or they're not real. Either the character is real or it's not real, brethren. But be warned that that's what God wants to find out about you and what he wants to find out about me. Because what he is offering to us, brethren, is far, far more important than we can even imagine it is. Well, we're going to be sitting by Jesus Christ who is going to be our husband. We're going to be with him for all eternity. And we must be, brethren, like Jesus Christ, who did not compromise no matter what he faced, even with the loss of his own life.

He wants a wife, by the way, from the church that's like he is. That committed. Hello to it. Ezekiel 33. Let's go over here to Ezekiel 33.

We'll prophet Ezekiel over here. Ezekiel 33. He says again, the word of God came to me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of your people and say to them, when I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman. And when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

And so, you know, the church is sounding a warning. Today's a warning to all of us. I hope I'm speaking to you as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. I hope we're all brothers and sisters here.

But if we have somebody that makes that warning, gives that warning, then it's on our own head if we don't do something about it.

It says, he heard the sound of the trumpet, but he did not take this warning. His blood shall be upon himself, but he who takes warning will save his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and it says the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity. But his blood I will require at the watchman's hand. So woe be to the ministry of Jesus Christ if we do not give warning.

No warning, Will Robinson. Can you remember that old, you know, space program? Warning! That robot that used to give the warning. You know, I'm not a robot, but I think, you know, I'm one who has the responsibility to sign the alarm.

I don't have a shofar up here, so the best thing I have is my voice to warn you.

And it says, so you, Son of Man, I've made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Therefore you shall hear a word from my mouth and warn them for me. So the warning really is not from the ministry. It's not from the church. The warning is from God.

God is warning you and me, brethren, to do something with what we know before it's too late.

We ought to do what we do with our might, as it says in Ecclesiastes 9, verse 10. For there is no reward in the grave where you and I are going to go, if indeed, you know, Christ's return is farther away than we think. Verse 28. Let's go to verse 28.

It says, For I will make the land most desolate.

We haven't seen that, though, in this country, brethren. And we're sort of arrogant, I think, about it. We think nothing can happen in America. But it says, her arrogant strength shall cease. That false sense of security is going to come to an end. And the mountain of Israel shall be so desolate that no one will pass through. And then they shall know, God says, I am the Lord, when I've made the land most desolate because of all their sins, all their abominations, which they have committed. Then they're going to know. Brethren, do you, do we know, God, the world is yet to know God. The world doesn't know how God works. Do we know how God works?

As for you, Son of Man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses. When they speak to one another, everyone's saying to his brother, please come and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord. So they come to you, as people do, and they sit before you, as my people. Here's a warning to all of us, brethren. And they hear your words, but they do not do them. We will be to us, brethren, if we do not do them, if we do not live by them. You know, God desires to see what we will do with what we know, what we're aware of.

No warnings that God is giving to us, brethren, not that we all run and hide up in the mountains, restore our food away, to save our own skin, but whether we'll be sobered spiritually. You know, Christ talked about those that try to save their lives are going to lose them.

Well, we've applied that in a spiritual sense, but it can mean all, so from a physical sense.

Well, my purpose today, by the way, is not to give you all the prophesied bad things that are going to happen, but just to warn you that they're coming. There are many prophesied events to happen prior to the return of Jesus Christ, and the book of Revelation tells us these things are going to happen. We know, of course, all of us are familiar with the first seals that are going to be open. Revelation 6, again, I'm not going to read them to you. Go through them laboriously like that, but we know that false prophets are going to come on the scene. You know, is that happening in the world? It has been for probably 2,000 years. And maybe there's an explosion of false prophets more than ever before, even in the churches of God. We have people that are rising up and claiming that they're prophets. Well, there are prophets, some of them, but not P-R-O-P-H-E-T-F's. They're P-R-O-F-I-T-S.

But there are false prophets that would emerge. And, of course, that's pictured by the white horse of the apocalypse as well. We have war on this planet, unlike any other time in the history of the world. You don't need I say more. We have famines that are to take place, and these are prophesied to take place. They're pestilences that probably will increase the famines, by the way, if they are to continue unabated. And, of course, the fifth seal that is open is a time of martyrdom, a time of tribulation, and difficulty that is going to come upon the earth. It might impact us. Probably, though, it is talking about those in Revelation 12 that are the remnant left behind when the church flees into her place that it talks about there in Revelation 12.

Hopefully we will be accounted worthy to escape those things that are coming. That's why God says we should pray that on a daily basis as His people.

But the persecution is going to come, and tribulation. When the sixth seal is open, the heavenly signs take place, and the seventh seal, of course, is comprised of seven trumpet plagues.

And trumpets one through four, so I'm really giving a brief scenario of what's going to happen in the end of the age, is going to cause such havoc upon this earth, the likes of which we've never seen before. And even our scientists, of course, see things coming. Of course, they blame it all on global warming. But, you know, we have not only injured the earth and the sea, but of course there are changes that are going to take place, great climatic changes, that will take place, that it will be a time when the oceans will reel, and, you know, the roar, as the Bible describes, in the end of the age. And it'll be a time when, in fact, the trees, the green foliage, the rivers, and so forth, are going to be impacted by what is described, again, by these trumpet plagues. And it will be darkness upon the earth, probably having to do with volcanic ash being thrown up into the air, you know, or other reasons as well. Then you have trumpets five through seven, and those are also called the woes. And you know what a woe is, don't you? You ever stepped out in front of a, almost stepped out in front of a car? What do you do? Woah!

All right, the world's going to look at what is going to happen for the future, and they're going to say, Woah! But I think then is when people are going, you're going to see people coming through that door more often. They're going to say, oh boy, you know, I'm a believer now. I hope they will be believers, and they will be ready to change. But the woes are going to take place, and the third woe is a woe when there's going to be seven last plagues that will be upon the earth. And of course, all of this is described in Revelation 9 through 11. But let's go to Revelation 1. Revelation 1, Revelation 1 over here. In Revelation 1, here in verse 1, it says, the revelation of Jesus Christ, and this is, by the way, a revealing, not something enigmatic that cannot be understood, but a revealing of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants, you and me, rather, things which must shortly take place. Notice that word shortly here. Shortly take place. In other words, when this would be understood, when this would be grasped, and of course we know what the key to the book of Revelation is.

Well, that, of course, would involve a sermon in itself. But we have the key to the book of Revelation that unlocks it to show that we are, you know, in the end of the age. But shortly take place. And he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ to all things that he saw. But notice verse 3 here, brethren. Blessed is he that reads, and those who hear the word that says of this prophecy. Notice that key, vital thing? Blessed, he could have put it this way.