The Week After Christ Returns

We're all ready for the Feast of Tabernacles and be ready to go in that great time that God has prepared for us that helps us appreciate what His plan is and the time that we will be spending when we should be picturing the millennium when all of mankind will know God, will come to understand Him, and come to understand the joy that comes from living His way of life. It's every same thing that you and I should be enjoying and learning as we go through our lives today as God has called us. You know, a week ago we were here on the Day of Trumpets, and the Day of Trumpets has some significant meaning. It is a time where you see turmoil that ends in great joy with the return of Jesus Christ. But you have a clash of two civilizations. You have one age that's coming to an end, an age that will bring upon people tremendous, tremendous pain and suffering when they have to come to realize what their way of life and following the one who they have been following brings upon them. It's a time of misery. It's a time of pain. It's a time of suffering. As one age ends and one God of this age departs and a new King is ushered in. You have a clash of two ways of life. The way of life that people have known before is ending, and they will learn a new way of life going forward, just as you and I do when God calls us.

We learn our past way of life wasn't leading to anything except death, and God has called us to live a way of life that leads to life. So we have all these things that are going on at the time of the Feast of Trumpets. It starts very, very, well, very not so good, but ends with the tremendous, tremendous thing of Jesus Christ returning. And that will bring joy to the earth, and many people have died as a result of that when the world suffers it. And as we stand here, you know, a week after the Feast of Trumpets, when we think about what God is doing and where we will be if we follow God right until the time, when we become if we become what He wants us to become, when Jesus Christ returns, we'll be standing there with Him.

Let's look at Zechariah. Zechariah 14.

We see what will happen to mankind is they have been through an awfully lot. They've been through great tribulation. They've been through six seals. They've been through seven trumpets, seven vials.

They've seen the resurrection of two witnesses that they were very happy to see die. And then at the end of the sixth trumpet, the beginning of the seventh trumpet sounds, they're called up to heaven. And then they have someone come and just decimate, decimate the earth and everything they knew and everything they counted on is gone. If we pick it up in verse 12, Zechariah 14, we see that what humanity will be going through.

Judah will also fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be gathered together. Gold, silver, and apparel in great abundance. They will bring everything against the returning Jesus Christ. Zech also will be the plague on the horse and the mule, the camel and the donkey, and all the cattle that will be in those camps. So that will be this plague. And so humanity is standing there as they see this happen. And in verse 3, if we go back in the chapter of chapter 14, it says, The Eternal will go forth, he will fight against those nations that are assembled there 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.

Dropping down to last part of verse 5, Thus the Lord will come, and all the saints with you, all the saints with you. That's you and me and everyone else who God calls, who through their lives yield to him, be led by his spirit. That will happen. That will happen. And sometimes, as Mr. Clore even said, put yourself in the place of where God says we will be. When Jesus Christ returns and is facing a humanity that has been through so much, what will that be like? They will be broken. They will be humiliated. Everything they ever counted on has just been wiped away. They have no idea what just hit them. And Jesus Christ is standing there. They may be wondering, why am I still alive? What about all these billions of people who have died through all this period? Why am I here? And Jesus Christ will be standing there. They may not know who he is. They may know who he is, but they've been trained through their lives. Who needs God? Who needs God? Who needs his truth? His way is old-fashioned. His way, we don't buy you anymore. We do our old things now. We've rewritten the law. We've rewritten of what we do. And the world is a completely different place than what it will be when Jesus Christ comes. Everything they knew before is gone. And he faces, and they're facing, someone that they have no idea what's going to happen.

You and I are there with him. What will Jesus Christ do? What will he say to the people that are there? How will he handle that situation? The time has come for the restoration of all things, as we read in Acts 3, 18 to 21. They don't know that yet, but we know that. And when Christ returns, all things will be restored. They will be made beautiful again. Their world will grow into joy and happiness and peace and all the good things that people say they want. But it won't happen all at once. But he does bring healing to the nation. If we go back, go forward, one more book in the Malachi 4. We'll just read the first...well, you know what? We may just read the whole chapter. It's only six verses here. Last chapter in the Old Testament, chapter 4, verse 1 says, Behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly, will be stubble, and the day which is coming shall burn them up, says the Lord of Hosts, that will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear my name, the Son of Righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings, and you will go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.

You will trample the wicked. They will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this, says the Lord of Hosts. And then he's got kind of a reminder for us in the last two verses. Remember God's law. Remember who he is. And I will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers in those days, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Jesus Christ does come with healing in his wings, but healing doesn't happen all the time overnight.

Healing is a process. Healing takes time. Learning God's way takes time. You and I, some of us have been in the church for 30, 40, 50, 60 years, and we're still learning God's way. We're still being perfected. We're still growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. We're not there yet. We're not perfect. We've got a ways to go. And so the people who are facing there that day, they're devastated, they're broken, they're beaten, they have no idea what to do or why they're even there. In Luke 4, Jesus Christ talked about what he came to earth for the first time.

And as he stood there and read from the book of Isaiah, he read some things and he stopped short in an account in Isaiah, because what he came for the first time was one thing. And what he comes back for the second time is another. In Luke 4, verse 18, it says, He opened the book and he found this place and read, And then he closed the book and he gave it back and he said, Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. He was talking about his first coming. His first coming, at his time on earth, he was there to live a perfect life, to set an example, to give his life and to bring salvation to the earth, because with his life, with his death, and with his resurrection, salvation was assured. The hope of eternal life was a certainty. It wasn't just a hope anymore, it was an expectation. And he just stopped reading there, but that's what he came to do. That's what he said and he accomplished that at that time. But he stopped short of what is written in the book of Isaiah. So let's go back there to Isaiah 61. And he read verses 1 and the first part of verse 2 as he spoke and as he said, Today this is fulfilled in your hearing. But he didn't read the rest of Isaiah 61, 2, 3, and 4. But let's read this because this is what Isaiah tells us in Christ, what he will do when he returns to earth. And all these people are there wondering why, wondering what is going to happen, and how is he going to heal them? If I pick it up in the last verse of verse 2 where Christ left off, he said, To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, he stopped, and the day of vengeance of our God. That would be the Feast of Trumpets. The Feast of Trumpets that we just observed last week, the day of the wrath of the Lord. He says, To comfort all who mourn. I will be there, to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion. They're looking at a world that has become ashes to them. Everything they knew, gone, decimated. There will be mourning. What has happened? Loved ones have died. Everything, all their wealth has disappeared. There's the spirit of heaviness, as they have no idea what's going on, but they know they have been soundly beaten and soundly, soundly brought to nothing. Everything is in desolation. And Christ says, I'm going to comfort them. I'm going to console them. I'm going to replace these ashes that you feel with beauty. I'm going to take that mourning that you feel, and it's going to be turned to joy. And you're going to praise God, and that's going to replace the spirit of heaviness that you are feeling. And so, He does that. He does that. In the latter chapters of Isaiah, we see some chapters here that I think give us an idea of what God is going to do and how He is going to teach the people as He returns to earth.

And this time that's in between, maybe, between the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement, which comes some nine, ten days later in God's calendar, because the world needs to understand. If we go back to chapter 40 of Isaiah, you know, the book of Isaiah, it has so much in the beginning chapters. It tells us how Israel has, and God's people have turned against Him, how disappointed He is. There's a number of prophecies that are coming that are going to be, you know, that have been fulfilled and yet to be fulfilled. God talks about many things in the book of Isaiah, but when we come to chapter 40, He begins with the word comfort. And in this series of 17, 18 chapters that go from chapter 40 to chapter 58, we find God teaching people as if He's already in the millennium. And in chapter 40, verse 1, it says the very same word that we read, Jesus Christ, or that is in 61 in verse 2, or verse 3, comfort.

Comfort. I will comfort those who mourn. In verse 1, He says, comfort, yes, comfort my people, says your God. They need comfort. What has gone on? How does all this happen? You know, we don't need to turn to 2 Corinthians 1, verse 3, but there it tells us that God is the God of all comfort.

He comforts us in the things that happen in our lives. When we're sad, when we don't understand, when we've sinned and realized how we have transgressed against Him, and we feel that He comforts us. When someone dies, we often say and often do pray for God's comfort to be upon them because God's comfort is unlike anything else on earth.

And He tells us in 2 Corinthians 1 that He comforts us so that we can learn to comfort others. And so here in chapter 40, verse 1, comfort, yes, comfort my people. As God begins to work with the people, as Jesus Christ is standing there, and you and I are standing there with Him, we will learn two things that we should be learning today, but we will see how He is with people.

You know, it says of you and me that we're going to be teachers. That's part of what the future is. We will be teachers there. When people are there and they're about to make a wrong choice, they have a wrong attitude, and going to sin, it'll be you and me who will be tapping one of the shoulders saying, no, no, no. That's the old way. That's what you're overcoming. That's what you don't do anymore. This is the way. Walk you in it.

And so we will learn. We are disciples of Jesus Christ. And so when we are disciples of Jesus Christ, we study His Word, we come to know Him, but we study Him too. How does He do it? How is He around people? How does He respond to them? How does He interact with them? And I think in this verse we begin to see He gives them love. He gives them comfort. Comfort? Yes, comfort, my people. Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her. Her warfare is ended. Her iniquity is pardoned. She has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The consequences of what you've done, you've received. But those days are over. Trumpets has come. Jesus Christ has returned. The war is over. The punishment is over. Your sins are forgiven. And Jesus Christ comes to usher in a new way of life. And as He goes on in chapter 3, they may wonder, well, why? Why all this suffering? Why all this death? Why all this destruction? And it was to prepare the way of Christ's return.

Sometimes people, you and I included, you just don't get it until we hurt. And as you, you know, rehearsed during the days or during the Feast of Trumpets, mankind just doesn't get it. Through six seals, through great tribulation, through seven trumpets and seven bulls, they just don't get it. They never repent. They never turn to God. No matter what He throws at them, they have steeled their hearts and steeled their minds.

It's like we will not do what you say to do. And so in the end, Christ returns, and now they are a humbled people that are there. And so He says in verse 3 and 4, you know, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

He is returning. He will bring peace and joy to the earth. This had to happen. And this was the way He was going to be brought in. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low. Pride has to be wiped out. The pride that keeps us from repenting and yielding to God. The pride that keeps people from yielding to God and thinking their way is best. Humility has to reign, as you heard so very well in the sermon at preceding this.

Humility has to become part of it, but that's a huge, huge, huge thing for people to get over their pride. The glory of the Lord, verse 5, shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. And so the time of Christ is there, and He comforts His people.

He comforts them. As you go through the chapters here, well, before I even turn more, the other thing that God says here or begins to do here is He begins to teach them about man. Now, maybe they are standing there and they're thinking, why did I survive this?

What is my life going to be like now? Why did all those people die and I'm still standing? What about them and why did they have to die? Maybe they've been very well trained to think it's a cruel God. It's a cruel God. He just kills. But they don't know the plan of God. You and I know the plan of God. We know that there is salvation possible for every man, woman, and child who has ever lived, but they don't know that.

But here in verse 6, He begins to explain a little bit about how mankind and what his purpose on earth is, something that has been so hidden from the world and from most of humanity. Verse 6, He says, the voice said, cry out. And He said, well, what do you want me to say? What shall I cry? And He says, all flesh is grass and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers, the flower fades because the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Man is here for just a short time. This physical life is just part of what God has in mind for us. We live our 70, 80, 90, 100 or however many years God allows us to live, but then we die.

All the people who have ever died will live again. You and I know that. Humanity doesn't know that. They have no ideas. They're standing before Jesus Christ and us who are there with Him. What's going to go on? But He begins to teach them about the plan of God. What is this physical man? He's here but just a short time. And they have to understand that to see there is hope and that God is good. He does have a plan that is for all of mankind and not just a select few. And He begins to teach them in that way and that continues.

Just like it continues with us as we go through each holy day and understand more and more about God's plan and the perfection it is. And the beauty and the peace that it brings upon us as we understand those things. And as we go through more of the things that will happen between now and the return of Jesus Christ, there's still that peace. There's still that surety. There's that perfect establishment that comes from knowing God's truth. And they have to understand that too.

There is a purpose and their lives have a purpose beyond just this physical life that they're living. And as you go through chapter 40, we see God continuing to talk about the comforts and what He is going to do them because they have to be reassured. They have to understand this isn't a bad thing that's happened to them. They don't know that at that point, but He continues to reassure them as you go through these chapters in Isaiah. Let's look at chapter 41, one chapter over, in verse 10.

As He's speaking to people that are assembled there and He brings back Israel and tells us to their promised land, He says, Fear not. Same thing He tells us. Don't be afraid. I'm with you. Fear not. I am with you. Don't be despayed. I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. And then all those, because the nations, the Israelites who have been there, have been through some horrific times of modern Israel. They've seen what they thought were their friends.

Betray them. Everyone has turned against them. They're the scourge of the earth as Satan pours out his wrath on God's physical people. And all those things that happen to them, to the elite as well as the common class, as well as to the lower class, it says in Isaiah 9, they all become oppressed and they are captive and they have lost everything.

And God says, He teaches and tells us that we come to understand. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. He's there for us. Chapter 43, one of my several favorite verses in the Bible. In verse 2, in verse 1, he says, For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I am God. You are. I am your Savior. And you can, as you go through, you see God continuing to reassure the people, I'm with you.

Now, if we turn back and keep your finger there in Isaiah, we'll come back. But there's a few Psalms that kind of parallel what God is saying in those chapters as one of the things He does is comfort and console the people who have come out of a very difficult time.

In Psalm 13, David writes something that would apply to you and me as we go through our rough times, but also to this time that the people are coming out of as trumpets, as Jesus Christ has returned. And as people have been in captivity, they've been enduring wars and suffering and the tribulation they have.

Psalm 13, verse 1 says, That's a Psalm that we can remember. That's kind of a song that the people who are coming out of there may be thinking, How long will this endure? How long will this go on? But they learned and will learn you always trust in God. His mercy is sure. His salvation is sure. He hasn't forgotten. And His plan certainly will come about that He will be there for all of mankind.

Let's go back to Isaiah 40.

The world at that time, they've heard of God, perhaps. They've forgotten Him as they've been under the beast power.

This is discussed in Revelation 13. They've been told that He's the Savior, that He's the salvation of the world. They've been told that this is the religion and this is the truth, whatever manifesto they are living by that day. God has been blasphemed. He's been taken out of the picture. He's been ridiculed, and they've been told you don't have to listen to Him.

Just listen to them. So if we look at chapter 40 as we go on here, as God talks about these things are going to happen.

In verse 9, He talks about salvation. First 9 is kind of a praise verse, right? It's like, thank you, God. Thank you, God, for delivering us. O Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength.

Lift it up. Don't be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God.

Verse 10, Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and His arm will rule for Him. His reward is with Him in His work before Him. There's a lot of work to be done. There's a lot of rebuilding that has to take place. There's a lot of teaching that has to go on. He will feed His flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with His arm and carry them in His bosom and gently lead those who are with young. He'll do all those things. He'll take care of them. He'll nurture them. He'll be gentle with them as they learn the things, just as He is gentle and caring with us. You might be thinking of Psalm 23 as we just talked about this, but let's go over to Ezekiel 34 for just a minute.

We see Ezekiel talk about this as well when Jesus Christ returns and what He will do. In Ezekiel 34, verse 11, Of course, these are the words that God gives to Ezekiel.

And we know where that cloudy and dark day, that day of gloom, occurred.

Physically, yes. Spiritually, with an exclamation point, they will learn the way of peace. They will learn the way of joy. They will learn the way of life. Verse 16, I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick, but I will destroy the fat and the strong and feed them in judgment.

They will learn what it means to be people of God. The caring. The caring that God has as He reminds them that He alone is God.

They've been through a time where they've been told, forget that God, forget that Bible. It's out of date. The rulers of the world at that time don't ever turn people to God. In fact, if you believe in God, believe in the Bible, you will be sought out as people who deserve nothing but death. What's one of the signs of the bad kingdom at that time? Drunk with the blood of the saints. If you believe in God, you are persona non grata in that world.

So God has to reassure them, and we'll teach them He alone is God. And as we go through those chapters in Isaiah, speaking to a people that has come back, that God has ended the war, that is, He is working with and growing them and developing them through a process much like you and I are going through today. To grow them into who they need to be, He reminds them over and over who it is that He is. Now, you're probably still in Isaiah 40 with your finger there. Let's go back and look and see how He reminds them, I'm God.

There is no other God besides me. And we could spend the next two sermons talking about how many times in the Bible God reminds people, I am God, and there is no other. Verse 12 in Isaiah 40, as He talks to them and as He teaches them, He can pay attention to the order in which He does these things.

Kind of reminds you when He was speaking to Job in those last chapters of Job, and Job is going through all this trial, and God finally has to remind him, Where were you, Job? I'm God, and there is no other. And so He continues on that.

Verse 15, Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket. They're counted as the small dust on the scales. Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing, and Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor is beast sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before Him are as nothing. He's proven that. They've seen it. In an instant, all the accumulated people, armies, weapons, all the brilliance of the world of what they've created, wiped out in an instant. All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted by Him, less than nothing and worthless. To whom, then, will you liken God? There is no other.

They will learn that. And He will remind them, All your idols, all the things that you counted on as you were there in life, whether you were there in the Old Testament times, the idols of gold and silver and carved out of wood, or the idols of the modern day, whether it's our weaponry, whether it's the economy, whether it's our government, whether whatever it is, the gods that we have, none of them delivered. None of them could stand all we need and all we have and all our trust should be in God.

That's where it lies. Let's look at chapter 43 for a moment. 43 and verse 10. You are my witnesses, says the Eternal, and my servants whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am He. Before me there was no God formed, nor shall there ever be. After me. Verse 11. I, even I, am the Eternal, and besides me there is no Savior. Over and over He reminds them. Over and over we are reminded there is no other Savior.

Our trust must be in God. He is the only one who can deliver. We might think and we might hear great things as we go from here until the return of Jesus Christ, or until when the troubles begin. As we hear today, this one has an answer, this one has an answer. They seem to be worlds apart. Don't trust in man, God said. Don't trust in governments. They're not going to bring the answers.

They don't have the answer. Only God has the answer, and the direction the world is going is headed toward what we read in the Bible. What we talked about in trumpets, that's where it's going, as sure as you and I are sitting here. That's where it's headed. And it's just a matter of time until it's there, and you and I are in that. And then there, when Jesus Christ returns, what will that be like? When everything that we've talked about, everything that we've waited for, we see the mass destruction and these people who are there.

We will be witnesses. We will be saying, there is only God and no other. You know, God shows, as He talks about those things, He reminds them of prophecies that everything He ever said came true. One of the proofs of the Bible, when we're talking to people about the truth of God and the Bible, is look at fulfilled prophecy. Every single one came true. There's no source on earth that can claim that. Of course, there's no other book that is truth except the Bible.

And so everything that God says, He says it in chapter 45. You can read there. You can read it in chapter 55. Everything I say, God says, it's going to happen. My word will not return to me void.

It will happen. And people will see that. They'll look into the truth and they'll see, yeah, no other God. Buddha wasn't able to predict. Whoever these other gods were, our little gods of silver and gold, our governments, our leaders, led us into error. They didn't lead us to truth. Only God and His truth leads us to truth. Let's go back to the Psalms again. Psalm 13. Psalm 14 speaks to this as well in the time where people will have to learn who God is again. Psalm 14 verse 1, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God.

That will be the whole world at that time. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none who does good. You know, we begin to see that in the world around us as we watch the terrible things that people come up with, the ideas they have, what they champion as, you know, in a time where really and truly people are calling evil good and good evil.

Those verses are alive today like they've never been before. Those verses will become even more clear as time goes on. And when God says there is none who does good, I believe it. The people of God will be there, but in the world, they've all gone astray. The Lord looks down, verse 2, from heaven upon the children of men, not the children of God, but the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, if there are any who seek God.

They've all turned aside. They've together become corrupt. There is none who does good, no, not one. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? Who eat out my people as they eat bread and they don't call on the Lord? They're devouring them. They're against the physical nations of Israel. They're against the spiritual people of God. There they are in great fear, for God is with the generation of the righteous.

That's who God is with. You shame the counsel of the poor, but the Lord is His refuge. Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion. Oh, it will. Jesus Christ will return to the Mount of Olives. As you'll doubtless read over and over at the Feast of Tabernacles, the law will go forth from Zion.

God will pour out His Spirit on all people, and they will begin to understand. They'll have the same opportunity to understand the truth of God that you and I do, but it will take time. It will take patience. It will take comforting. It will take teaching and continual teaching as they grow out of the way they are, because just because they receive God's Spirit in that day doesn't mean that all of their sins, all of their attitudes, all of their ideas just automatically disappear.

It didn't happen for us. The day I was baptized, I still had things that I had to work on. I didn't become perfect at baptism, but the process began. And when the people are there and God pours His Spirit out, the process will begin. They will begin to understand who they are, and this needs to be repented of. This needs to be thrown out of our lives. We need to become more and more like Jesus Christ. And the process will begin. It won't happen overnight. But through that thousand-year period, it will be there.

It will grow. People will grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, and the blessings and the goodness of God's way of life will happen. We will be there every step of the way with them. They must turn to God. They will be taught that.

We read in chapter 40 of Isaiah that the crooked ways must be made straight. They've got to be taught those things. If we look at Isaiah 43.

Isaiah 43. Now verse 22, God talks to His people, the ones that He has blessed, the nations of Israel who are there. He tells them what they've done. You haven't called upon Me. Chapter 43, verse 22. You haven't called upon Me, Jacob. You have been weary of Me, O Israel. You didn't want to hear anything from Me. You're tired of Me. I'm old news. You had your own way of doing things. You haven't brought Me the sheep for your burnt offerings. You haven't honored Me with your sacrifices. I haven't caused you to serve with great offerings, nor weared you with incense. You've brought Me no sweet cane with money. You haven't satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices, but you have burdened Me with your sins. You have weared Me with your iniquities. You've worn Me out. I've watched you sin. I've watched you turn from Me.

But there's a Savior. And there in those chapters, in chapter 53, you see the picture of the Messiah, how He suffered that Savior, Jesus Christ, who came to earth as they will learn. Yeah, He came, and He suffered all those things that our sins could be blotted out when we turned to Him, and we begin to live the way of life that He wants us to live.

And in verse 25, He says, I even I, who blots out your transgressions for My own sake. I won't remember your sins, but He tells them to turn to Him. Turn to Him. That's in chapter 44, verse 22.

I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me. It's the Old Testament way of saying, repent. The same thing that Jesus Christ said, the very first words, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The first thing that John the Baptist said, Repent, turn to God. You've turned away from Him. Turn back.

And they'll learn, and we'll teach them, the same thing that God teaches us. Turn back.

And yet it will take time for those attitudes and those mindsets to be purified, just as it is with us. We're all still in the state of purification if we have that hope that God has laid before us.

If we look at Zechariah 14, we see that, you know, while God pours His flesh out on all people, some just aren't going to obey. We don't need to do that, right? A Feast of Tabernacles example here in Zechariah 14, verse 16.

It shall come to pass that everyone who has left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

They will be keeping the Holy Days. And it will be that whatever the families of the earth don't come up to Jerusalem to go to the place God chooses to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, to worship the King, on them there will be no rain.

If you don't want, there's consequences for not following God, for disobeying Him. If the family of Egypt won't come up and enter in, they will have no rain. They will receive the plague which the Lord strikes the nations who don't come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This will be their punishment.

There's consequences for sin. There will be consequences for the sin in the millennium as well.

People will be taught God's way. They will be taught the way that God wants them to live.

They will be taught to trust in God.

And all the time passed in the old age that ends with the return of Jesus Christ, and the new age begins, they will be taught trust in God.

Don't trust in yourself.

Let's look at Isaiah 47. Isaiah 47 and verse 10.

He's pretty blunt.

Verse 10 says, You have trusted in your wickedness.

You trusted in your way, in your ideas.

You have trusted in your wickedness.

You have said, no one sees me.

Your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you.

Lying on yourself and your own ideas and your wisdom and how smart am I?

And what a good idea I have.

It's warped you and you have said in your heart, I am, and there is no one else besides me.

Oh, that's the state of the world.

That's the state of the world. Everyone's got their idea.

We're the only ones who have the answer, and they deceive themselves.

Therefore evil shall come upon you.

You shall not know from where it arises, and trouble shall fall upon you.

You won't be able to put it off, and desolation will come upon you suddenly.

Suddenly. They trust it in themselves, but we need to learn to trust in God.

Throughout this section of Isaiah, over and over, it says, listen to me.

Listen to what I have to say. Pay attention to what I have to say.

In chapter 51, there's three of these, listen to me's, that you and I would pay attention to as well. 51 verse 1, again, this is speaking of a time when it appears God has, Christ has returned, and they are being taught what he wants them to know. Listen to me.

You who follow after righteousness, that should be you and me. You who seek the Lord, look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.

Look to Abraham, your father, to Sarah, who bore you, because God talks about us as children of promise.

I called him alone and blessed him and increased him. God will comfort Zion. Look to God. Trust in him.

Verse 4, Listen to me, my people. Give ear to me, O my nation. The law will proceed from me.

I will make my justice rest as the light of the people. My righteousness is near, my salvation has gone forth, and my arms will judge the peoples.

Verse 6. I'm going to go ahead and read verse 6 here, because here God begins to paint the vision of what is going to happen.

Look on the earth beneath, for the heavens will vanish away like smoke. The earth will grow old like a garment, and those who dwell in it will die in like manner.

But my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be abolished. That kingdom stands forever and ever and ever.

Trust in me.

I'm going to fast forward a little bit. Turn with me to chapter 56.

But as you walk through, you see God beginning to teach them the commandments of God.

He teaches them over and over, the first commandment. There is no other God besides me. That gets repeated over and over and over.

He teaches them the second commandment. Don't bow down to any idols. No idols. Don't make it for yourself. Anything that stands between you and me. No idols.

And in chapter 56, actually let's go back to 48 for a second. Then I'll come to 56. 48.

And verse 1, He begins to speak about the name, His name, and the reverence that we should hold it in.

Chapter 1, verse 48, says, Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth from the wellsprings of Junah, Who swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth or righteousness.

They're not doing it because they're calling on God. They use it flippantly. They use it as an excuse. They're taking My name in vain.

And then other places we read about people taking God's name in vain. And He begins to teach them about the Third Commandment. And in chapter 56, He teaches them about the Sabbath day.

Verse 1 of 56 says, Verse 4, And within My walls, a place and a name. Better than that of sons and daughters, I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. Also the sons of the foreigner, who joins themselves to God to serve Him, and to love the name of the Eternal, to be His servants, Everyone who keeps from deviling the Sabbath, and hold fasts My covenant. No other God besides God. No idols. Don't take My name in vain. Teaching how to obey God. Keep the Sabbath holy. Teaching them how to worship God, which will be the foundation of their lives.

We're in chapter 55. I want to read verses 6 and 7 here because it's such a notable thing for us. 55 says, As people learn God, as they follow, as they put into practice the way of God, those ashes that are there at the time Jesus Christ returns will be turned into beauty. He talks about, you know, the deserts will bloom like the rose. There will be water abundant for everyone. As people learn God's way of life, all the devastation turns to something beautiful. They will no longer be mourning. They will be rejoicing over God. There will be joy that fills the earth. That spirit of heaviness is going to disappear, and what they will replace it with is praising God for the good life that He has given them.

Verse 4, you don't need to turn there in Isaiah 61, it says that they will rebuild the waste places. The world will need rebuilding. Everything will be gone. There will be physical rebuilding that God will lead. He talks about the houses that they will build, the vineyards that will be there, and how beautiful life will be. But that's just the physical rebuilding. The waste places will be rebuilt. The spiritual places will be rebuilt. All the waste and all the lies and all of the error of the former way of life will be erased, and the foundation of the world will be reinstituted under Jesus Christ with you and me teaching that way as we go as well. Without the proper foundation, there can't be joy. There can't be peace. There can't be God's way. The same foundation that God has given you and me that the church teaches and that we should be teaching our children, that needs to be there. I didn't turn to, I think it's 55, 13, where God says He'll teach children. It's not 55, 13.

It is 54, 13. 54, 13. He'll be teaching children. He'll be teaching them the right way, the way that you and I need to be teaching our children so they don't depart from the way that they will go.

And when you see the word taught there in verse 13 of chapter 54, it really is discipled. It goes back to discipling again because what God will be doing and what we'll be doing is making disciples of all the nations. They will learn God's way. They will see how God is. And just like you and I are disciples today, learn who God is and how He is working to become like Him in every aspect of our lives. So that will be the way it will be in the kingdom that we'll be teaching the very way it should be among us today as we count these things and as we observe God's way, as we go through these holy days each year and look and see how He teaches us and increases our understanding of His plan.

I hope that we're seeing more and more the perfection of it and understanding how important it is for us to be very in tune with God, seeking Him, turning to Him, having our life committed to Him so that He can get us ready for what He wants us to do.

As we've been through the day of trumpets and as we keep the day of atonement, as we go to the Feast of Tabernacles, going and rejoice. That's exactly what God would have us do. It is a time of rejoicing when all mankind is living by God's way of life. He tells us to go. He tells us to be where His people are, people of like minds who are there for the same reasons we are to have a taste of that kingdom, to leave the world behind us and everything behind us. Because when that millennium comes, that whole world is gone and to enjoy it. So as we go, keep the meaning of these days in mind. Let that always be in front of you. Enjoy. Enjoy the things that are there, but be there and be before God every day of the Feast. Let Him lead you and guide you. And bear in mind what it is that He has in mind for us and that one day He will return and you and I will be there working with Him and with the people who live over into that time.