When He Is President

The problems in today's world are looming larger and larger. On everyone's mind is an economy that is teetering, that some fear will collapse. We have oil and natural gas reserves that are peaking, and other alternative measures have come online. International funds are being traded, currencies are teetering, wild schemes are being invented to shore up markets around the world. Iran is closer to having the bomb, and the delivery systems by which to launch that bomb add a number of different countries. Tests have indicated that one of those countries might be the United States of America, with the idea of creating what is called a magnetic pulse, if nothing else. Something that will break and ruin every transistor and every electronic thing that is owned by any country, whereby an atomic or a nuclear or some type of a bomb like that would go off. Israel continues to be declared as an about-to-be-non-existent country, totally annihilated and erased. North Korea is enriching uranium and developing even better missiles, and it's known to be a provider to rogue states of its military arsenal. Russia has been moving strategic weapons around. China now can destroy satellites in space, and it has performed a spacewalk, is releasing satellites overhead. But brethren, thankfully, the presidential candidates promise to fix these things if you'll just elect them.

If only he or she were president, people think. Have you caught yourself thinking that lately? If only he or she were president, maybe you have a solution or two in mind, or you have a favorite person in mind that maybe you think they might have a solution.

Maybe to fix the economy, stop the greed, bring justice back into the judicial system, end discrimination, bring back morals and family values and work ethics, and put God back into society. You know, it's easy to get caught up in a we can fix it type of mentality. Or maybe you have some ideas in mind that if just the right person inculcated those ideas, things would turn around.

We begin to fantasize. If they were just the right president, then the issues could be solved. Well, today, this day, there is a new president preparing to take office. Right now, he is working on who he will have in his cabinet. He's selecting those who will assist him, who will help solve all of the problems. He's choosing members, and this day of Trumpet celebrates the day he takes office. And the world, as we know it, changes forever. We will see that when he is president, which is the title of the sermon today, that everything will be just fine.

The BBC News had a headline, Mapping the Key Battleground. CNN News this week also had a headline, Fails to Deliver Knockout Blow. Now, what war battle is being talked about? Well, it's who will win the upcoming election. And on everyone's mind, it seems, is who is qualified to be president? Who is qualified to lead?

And if you listen to talk radio or television or pick up a newspaper, the discussions are lengthy about who is qualified and who certainly isn't qualified. Or is there anybody qualified out there to lead? One of you this week sent me a humorous little email, and there was a picture of the Queen. And she says, since none of you are qualified to lead, we're withdrawing our Declaration of Independence, or your Declaration of Independence, and you're now coming back underneath the crown.

So we want you to learn a few things, like driving on the left, you know, things like that. But it just shows you how there is a frustration about a lack of leadership in the world. Who is qualified to lead? Well, hmm. You know what the Feast of Tabernacles, or maybe in your workplace or in your home community, you may have heard a government official or a corporate official say to you, you know what, you are a model citizen.

You represent this country very well. So, hmm, maybe it's you. Maybe you would make a good candidate in the election. After all, think of it. But you know, such a statement is actually blasphemous when you think about it. Why? You may have character, and yes you do. You may have ethics and morality. You may have spirituality. But all of these things aren't from your country of origin, are they?

They're from a different country. They're from a heavenly country. And for anyone to usurp those and take those from God and then say, oh yes, I'm a model citizen, or I could, etc., etc., for any physical country of origin would be a slap in the face to God. Because these come to us via God in us, through His Holy Spirit, God living in us. Now the Bible says, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these aren't model citizens of some physical country, these are the sons of God.

God gets the credit. That's found in Romans 8, 14. And in 1 Peter 2 and verse 9, it says, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people. You and I may live in our country of origin, and we visit other countries at various times, but are we really representatives of those countries? And are those countries really what made us what we are? When in fact God says that you are His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him, not your country of origin, the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

You who were once not a people, but are now the people of God. I think we should all come to the point where we say, I do not represent my country of origin, nor does my country of origin represent me.

Because we are not of this world. We were, but we are no longer. We have come out of it. We have been begotten from above. We have a mentality that has been instilled in us, not because we are so wise, but we are so foolish that God chose us to be wisdom through His inspiration. And He gets all the credit. Let's take a look at part of our calling over in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 18. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 18.

All this is from God. Whatever you and I are, have in our life, whatever we can think, whatever understanding that we have, that even society around us can't grasp. This comes from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ. He stitched us together through the stripes of Jesus Christ. Before that, we were nothing. And He gave us the ministry, the service, the serving duty of reconciliation, of reconciling God and man. That is what we are called to do, ultimately. In verse 20, we are therefore Christ's ambassadors. See, we are not ambassadors of our country of origin. We are not part of this worldly politics.

We are not even called to know how to have the solutions. We, in fact, are ambassadors of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. Webster's dictionary defines the word ambassador as the highest-ranking representative appointed by one government to represent another. We actually have a much higher calling than getting into the petty politics or the chicanery of trying to fix mankind's end result of breaking God's law.

We are here to represent one era, one kingdom, one government to another era, to another kingdom, to another government. Our job is to represent the kingdom of God to our country of origin as we live there, as we show God's fruits among the people where we live. The model citizen of the first century was who? You took any human being and said, you're the model citizen!

Wow, you just really represent our country! You represent our country well. You know, that's what they said about Jesus Christ. Hey, you! You come up here, you represent our... You're a model citizen! We want you to take us to glory. Fix our problems here. Fix this situation we have with the economy and with the Romans and with taxation and with subjugation.

You're the man! What did Jesus say? He said in John 1836, My kingdom is not of this society, this cosmos or society. And you and I are to be Christ-like. We are to grow up into Him. We're to have the mind of Christ. And what is Christ focused on today? What do you think is on the mind of Jesus Christ?

Do you think it's the economy and how to fix it? Do you think it's reforms? Do you think He wants to put prayer back in schools? Do you think He's itching to get those Ten Commandments uncovered on the lawns of the state houses?

I mean, it sounds good on the surface and it certainly wouldn't hurt, but what is on His mind? You know, the human devised solutions that any of us or any of them would come up with are impetuous. They're short-sighted, they're impetuous little quick fixes for something that runs a lot deeper. And the things that run a lot deeper are the spiritual causes that brought the effects about in the beginning. Sometimes you and I think, well, I know how to fix it. I've got an idea. They just did that. They just did this.

You might have hurt yourself in the last few weeks saying, well, look at this problem. Why would they do that? That's dumb. They should do this. Just do that. Sounds good. After all, you've got God's Holy Spirit. You are godly. You know cause and effect and blessing and cursing. You know prophecies. You know things that are ethical and unethical and a lot of other things beyond that. But remember, we even as humans will tend to look at the effects and try to solve the effects. And the real lesson of the day of trumpets, the Feast of Trumpets, of the great trumpet plagues that come upon humanity in the day of the Lord, is that we don't have a clue as to how to solve this world's problems.

For instance, you want to fix the economy and stop the greedy. That's ridiculous because our economy is based on capitalism. It is greed. You can't fix it. That's what it is. Capitalism is, I want what you have and I will create the means by which to get what you have and pile it up on my side. Get money from you and profits from me. The leaders of our country, if you look at all the leaders of our country, remember how much money it takes to win an election and become a leader in the country? The leaders of the country are corporate officials or corporate lawyers.

That's how they got where they are. This country is a country that supports corporations. I've heard it said it is illegal in the United States for a country, not for a corporation, not to make a profit. You can't have that. So the corporate people in the government have the lobbyists from the corporations and the special interest groups that come in, and they want to make it easier for corporations to make more money, and therefore all these things that we are seeing that are problems are legal.

No one broke any laws. You see, nobody is going to jail. They're not rounding up anybody who's spent billions of dollars or sold mortgages to the wrong people. It was legal! So how are you going to fix something that the basic cause is sin? Or bring justice back to the judicial system?

That's a laugh, because it was never based on justice. How would you put something back in that it wasn't based on to begin with? The justice system is based on men and women taking upon themselves to decide good and evil. That started with Adam and Eve. That's what the judicial system is based on. The basis of our judicial system is one person deciding what's good and evil, and his or her decision thereby becomes law.

You're going to put justice back in from what source? Indiscrimination. Well, that would be nice, except that's the human mentality. When you say indiscrimination, you may as well talk about taking lobotomies, you know, removing brains. Because, think of it, male, female, discrimination, age, younger, older, discrimination, height, taller, shorter, discrimination, weight, heavy, skinny, the color of the collar, blue, white, language, income, high, low, accent, nationality, race, skin color or shade within a race, religion, politics, even the diet.

There were people here discriminating in the Bible, and they certainly do today, over whether you're a carnivore or an herbivore, whether you're a meat-eater or a vegan. You know, Paul had uprisings in his congregations about discrimination in the church about that type of thing. You want to bring God back into society.

Well, guess what? God was never in society. Remember, this is Satan's society. He is the God of this world. You have a little bit of truth mixed with a lot of error, but that doesn't mean God was ever in the society. It's never been God's society. Satan has been the God of the religions. Whether they've borrowed some of God's laws or commandments or whatever, it doesn't mean that God was ever in the society.

Stop the wars. Are you kidding? What despot do you want to be a slave to? Hitler in World War II? No, that was a good word. You know, Idi Amin? Well, we don't want him. Russia? Well, no, we can't have them. Shall we all cave into Iran? No, no, not them. Stop the wars. You know, as long as godliness or godlessness is permeating the cultures of this world, there will always be wars. And some of those wars will be considered to be righteous wars because real evil despots are trying to subjugate people and lands. So it doesn't matter what the issue is, when you try to fix it by solving the effect, it doesn't do anything.

Trumpets and what this piece means, what it pictures, the events, all that's involved, rises above all the issues, above all the problems. It takes us above every squabble and idea of how to fix it. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6 and begin looking at the kingship, leadership, presidency, whatever you want to call it, of the sovereign god that is coming to begin a new age. Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6 says, Here comes humility, turning into greatness. Unto us a son is given. Here is somebody that responds to and is subject to a father. And the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called wonderful, counselor, mighty god, everlasting father, prince of peace. And of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. Now those are encouraging words, those are big words, but it doesn't happen just by saying that. There is a huge mind of God and a mentality and a process that knows just what to do, just how to do it, and just when to do it. And believe me, Christ sees all of the problems. In Isaiah chapter 59, beginning in verse 14, Isaiah 59, 14 through 21, notice what God himself says.

Isaiah 59, verse 14, justice is turned back.

And righteousness stands afar off. Truth has fallen in the street. Equity cannot enter. So truth fails, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. It's not a fair playing field. It's not a fair world. There's nothing right about it. Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. You want things fixed? God knows what needs fixing. And he saw that there was no man, and he wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his own arm brought salvation for him, and his own righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head, and put the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. He not only has the ability, but he has the zeal to go out and see it, to the last person, to the last deed, to fix it all. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay. Fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies. The coastlands he will fully repay. So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun, when the enemy comes in like a flood. The Spirit of the Lord will lift up to standard against him. The Redeemer will come to Zion, and those who turn from transgression in Jacob says the Lord. No, he has a perfect and great overview of the problems and the causes of those problems, the solutions to those problems. And this is the one whom we celebrate today, the God who is the wonderful counselor, everlasting Father, and ultimately Prince of Peace. The Feast of Trumpets foretells the Day of the Lord. Now we as humans tend to think of what's coming as sort of a continuation of what we've had in the past, only a little different, a little worse. We tend to see civilization is going on indefinitely through the next thousand years, pretty much the same. But the animals will be tame, and the deserts will have things growing in them. But you know, that's really not what happens.

If we look at Isaiah 55 and verse 8, we find that a spirit being in the family of God thinks totally differently than you and I ever could. We're too limited. We can see a little overview. We can look as through a glass darkly. We can see certain prophetical benchmarks and hallmarks and pillars of what's going to happen. But as far as the detail of the future, we don't really see that clearly. Here, he says, Isaiah 55 verse 8, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways, says Jehovah. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. Yes, this Feast of Trumpets foretells a day of somebody else, a day of somebody who has never ruled the earth before. It's never been his society. It's never been his creation. This creation does not represent God. It does not reflect his nature. Oh, it's detailed, and it can show us many wonderful things that he made for us. But the animals and the insects and the birds and the humans that are here do not reflect the nature of God. Wherein he said, Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. Here we see a world in which everything is eat or be eaten. It stings, it bites, survival of the fittest. Well, there is coming a different day. And the day of the Lord as opposed to any other one's day or events is going to be unique. And whenever there have been days of the Lord, they have really surprised humankind. Nothing like the one that's coming. Let's go to Luke 17 and read what Jesus said about this coming day.

Luke 17 and verse 26. He says, And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man. Notice what he's saying here. They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage. Humanity has gone in a direction, a consistent direction. Ever since Adam and Eve, things don't really change. We expect a continuation of the same types of things. And he described some of the typical things that go on. Until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. A flood? Are you kidding? What are you talking about? A flood. There's no... floods can't happen. You're living, you're giving in marriage, you're going about your business, and all of a sudden a flood fills up the whole world and covers the top of the mountain. What was that? We weren't expecting that. That's what the Day of the Lord is going to be like. Or as he goes on. Or, verse 29, 28, likewise, as it was in the days of Lot. They ate, they drank, they bought. In other words, it went about normal human life, the expectations of human life. Until the day that Lot went out of Sodom, when it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Wait a minute! It doesn't rain fire, it rains water. You know, you have moisture, it goes up in the air, makes clouds, and down comes water. What's this fire? And brimstone. This is... And so, he says, even so, verse 30, it will be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. It's going to be a different day. It's going to be different events. It's going to be the beginning of a different time.

We can see an overview of this in Ezekiel, the seventh chapter.

Ezekiel chapter 7, you find this day of the Lord has many events that punish mankind for sin and gives him an opportunity to repent.

Verse 1, Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, And you, Son of Man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel. An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. That's it. You think it's going to keep going. Just as Ezekiel here is writing from Babylon, talking about the end of Jerusalem, the end of the kingdom of Judah, it's done. So, the type in prophecy is the return of Jesus Christ and the end of civilization, as we have known it. And I will send my anger against you, I will judge you according to your ways, and I will repay you for all your abominations. I will not spare you, nor will I have pity, but I will repay your ways, and your abominations will be in your midst, so that you know that I am the Lord. Verse 5, Thus says the Lord God, A singular disaster, Behold, it is come, and end has come. The end has come. It is dawn for you. Behold, it has come. Everybody says, Oh, no, no, no, we're going to keep going in the year 25-25. You know, we just keep going out there. Nope. Doom has come to you, who dwell in the land. The time has come. A day of trouble is near, not the rejoicing in the mountains. Now upon you I will soon pour out my fury, and spend my anger upon you. I will judge you according to your ways, and repay you for all your abominations. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. Verse 10, Behold the day, behold the day, it has come. Doom has gone out. It just goes on down with problems, problems, problems. Verse 14, They have blown the trumpet, and made everyone ready, but no one goes to battle. For my wrath is on all their multitude. The sword is outside, and the pestilence and famine within. Whoever is in the field will die by the sword. Whoever is in the city, famine and pestilence will devour him.

In verse 19, they will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be like refuse. Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. The silver and gold will not satisfy their souls, nor fill their stomachs, because it became their stumbling of iniquity. A stumbling block of iniquity.

See, Jesus Christ isn't coming back to fix the economy, so the people are going to have a greater stumbling block of iniquity.

He talks here about events that will take place on what this feast portrays. If we go to Revelation 8, beginning in verse 1, I'd like to ask you, where do you think the mind of the firstfruits of those who will be resurrected at the return of Jesus Christ? Where will the mind of the firstfruits have been?

I guarantee you, it's been on their mind that the kingdom of God and of Christ is coming, and they are part of that. It's not been on their country of origin. As we see here in verse 1, when He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. And then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar, and he was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended before God from the angel's hand. So as the seven trumpets prepare to blow, it is God and the saints, and their prayers, sighing and crying and desiring for God's kingdom to come, that come together in concert as Jesus Christ begins to solve this world's problems. In verse 7, we begin to see the sounding of four trumpets.

The first angel sounded, hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

And you thought you wanted to fix the environment. You know? We don't tend to think like God, do we? His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. We think it's fixing the environment. He's coming, and the trees and the grass are going to be burned up. And then the second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. And the first angel said, let's clean up, let's start overfishing. Let's get those long lines out there. Let's protect the coral. Let's protect the plankton.

The third trumpet blows, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers, and on the springs of water. And the name of the star is wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter. And then the fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so the third of them were darkened, and a third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night. And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpets of the three angels who are about to sound. Again, we find God has a way of solving problems that really would take our breath away. I look at that, I shake my head. As a human being, that doesn't make sense to me. That's not how I would go about trying to fix. And therefore, I must humble myself and say, God, I don't know. Your will be done, not my will. I trust you. I am absolutely trusting of you. And I realize, I don't have it. And I won't have it, ever, in this lifetime. Not until I'm resurrected, a spirit being a member of the family of God in the divine state, will I ever have the godly intellect and the perfection to know what a god being knows. We're not called to know that now. We're just called to submit and show that we desire to be godly. In verse 13, we see that three more angels are about to sound. In chapter 9 now, the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star falling from heaven to earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit, and he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. Now, we're worried about some hydrocarbon and some coal, dirty coal and other things like this. Then out of the smoke, locusts came upon the earth, and to get them was given power as the scorpions of the earth have power. And they were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth or any green thing or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God in their foreheads. They were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. And their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. Unbelievable pain and suffering, says in verse 6, In those days men will seek death and will not find it. You'll want to die, but they can't find it. They will desire, but death will flee from them.

In verse 12, one woe is passed. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things. Verse 13, The sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. So the four angels who had been prepared for an hour and a day in a month and a year were released to kill a third of mankind. You like this God of the world? Well, here's four of His fallen angels that are so bad. You just really want this? You really don't like me? Well, evidently, here's a taste, and they kill a third of mankind. Verse 18, By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, and by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. Verse 20, But the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not go worship demons, and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood which cannot hear, see, or walk. And they did not repent of their murderers or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

The problem, the cause, still remains. The cause in humanity, the corrupt mind, still remains, even after all of this. Now, if we pause here for a second and ask the question, well, if he or she were president, if they get to be elected president, I think they'll really make a difference. You see where that fits now?

It really is meaningless, isn't it? Would there really be any change at all in society? We see in verse 20, and we'll see again, that they would repent. They were all about gold and silver, all about murderers and sorceries, sexual immorality and thefts. That's what drives them. We are to come out of this world. We're not to be a part of that. We're to repent daily and be seeking God's mind.

The solution is actually found in the seven trumpets. We have a progression in Revelation of seven seals and seven trumpets, and the seventh trumpet brings in the seven last plagues. And we often see these things from a non-involved perspective.

Just reading some of this, you might think, ooh, what happens to me? Ooh, that's God doing all these powerful things. I feel a little disconnected. I feel a little small. I'd like to take a look at Revelation chapter 5 and verse 1. Revelation chapter 5 and verse 1. I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.

In verse 8, now when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song saying, you are worthy to take the scroll and you are worthy to open its seals. For you were slain and you have redeemed us to God by your blood, out of every tribe and every tongue and every people and every nation.

And you have made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth. Right from the beginning of these end time events, right at the beginning of the day of the Lord, the saints are stitched together with Jesus Christ. Through our intent, our prayers, our desires to be godly and part of the kingdom of God, we have a place. In chapter 19 and verse 11, now I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse.

Jesus Christ now comes riding in on the white horse and he is a powerful being and we can just imagine him riding in on his white horse as the king of kings and Lord of lords. But that imagination is flawed. Flawed. Let me show you why. We imagine it from a wrong perspective. I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he who sat on him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war. In his eyes were like a flame of fire, on his head were many crowns and he had a name written that no one knew except himself.

If you hold your finger right there and go to Revelation chapter 3, Revelation chapter 3 and verse 12, this secret name that nobody knows has a link to you and me. It says, He who overcomes, to you who are focused on the spring festivals of Passover, of the forgiveness, of repentance, of marching out and overcoming your sins and being part of the fruit that is harvested in the festival of the first fruits whose timing is today, the return of Jesus Christ.

To you, he says, who overcomes? I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of my God, the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven from my God, and I will write on him my new name.

So when we see Jesus Christ come, he has a name that no one knows except it is also written on the saints. Verse 14 of Revelation 19 now. And the armies in heaven, the armies, the word there armies from the Greek means the troops, in heaven the clouds where the saints meet Christ in the air, clothed in fine linen white and clean, followed him on white horses. Now let's go just back to verse 8 of this chapter. To her, to the bride, to the saints, it was given, it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.

And so here in verse 14 we have the troops meeting Christ in heaven, clothed in this fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. See why our perspective is wrong? We're there with him. He has many crowns. We're probably receiving some of those crowns. Paul said there's a crown stored up for me. We come in with him on white horses. We meet him in the air. We have his name written on us. Then he goes on, verse 15, now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should strike the nations and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron.

Now hold your finger there. Let's go back to chapter 2 and verse 26. He who overcomes, again, he who focuses on the spring festivals, which are our festivals, brethren, they're about the first fruits. They're about the calling, the understanding, then the repentance, the daily change, the life of coming out of sin and ultimately producing fruit that's harvested at the harvest of the first fruits. He who overcomes and keeps my work to the end, to him I will give power over the nations at the end of verse 27 as I have also received from my Father. And what will we do with that power?

Just as it says there at the start of verse 27, he shall rule them with a rod of iron. They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessel. So we go back to Revelation 19 again and when it says, he himself will rule them with a rod of iron, he's doing that with us on white horses, with his name written on us, and he's sharing the power.

And on his, verse 16, he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Revelation chapter 11, verses 15 through 18. Revelation chapter 11, we'll break in at verse 15.

We see here the seventh angel sounding, loud voices in heaven, the kingdoms have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever. And then in verse 18, once again, the nations were angry, your wrath has come, the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that you should reward your servants, the prophets and the saints, and those who fear your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth. There's rewards for the saints and punishment for the evildoers. We find this in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 51.

Where it says, 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. That's when these things take place. That's why we are already changed, those who have met the qualifications, the criteria to be resurrected and to ride in with Christ on white horses and rule with the rod of iron. For the trumpet will sound, the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. In Revelation 17 and 14, we see the other part of this. Revelation 17 and 14. These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them. For He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. And those who are with Him are called chosen and faithful. See what happens on this day? This day is a day of solving the world's problems God's way. The Father will direct it. Jesus Christ will do it. The bride will assist Him. And there's an ultimate involvement and intertwining of responsibilities that takes place between Christ and the saints. In chapter 15 and verse 1, we see that seventh angel sounds, and the seven last plagues begin. Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous. Seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete. In the next chapter, chapter 16 and verse 1, we see these meted out. Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.

So the first went out and poured his bowl upon the earth, and a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became as the blood of dead men, and every living creature in the sea died. Every living creature in the sea died. To you and me, that would be a catastrophe. That would be a sad event. But to a God being with creative powers, that just creates more opportunity for a new world, for a new creation, for a creation modeled after God and his attributes. Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the water saying, You are righteous, O Lord, the one who is and who was and who is to be, because you have judged these things. For they have shed the blood of the saints and the prophets, and you have given them blood to drink, for it is their just due. And I heard another from the altar saying, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments. Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God, who has power over these plagues. And they did not repent, nor give him glory. Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and they did not repent of their deeds. And 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.

In verse 16, they gathered them together in the place in Hebrew called Haar Megiddo, or the Valley of Megiddo, the plain of Megiddo. In verse 17, 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, and there were noises and thunderings and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. Now, earthquakes, interestingly, are about topography. They're about land masses. They're about shifts in the earth's crust. And it's a total deduction, but this earth right now can sustain, it's assumed, about six billion people. The way it's set up, you only have so much arid soil, you have a lot of mountains. On the leeward side of mountains, you have deserts. On the windward side of mountains, you have lush rainforests. There's just a lot of this earth that is unusable, and most of it is underwater. And so here's the greatest earthquake that ever takes place. And perhaps it provides a land mass that would sustain 60 billion people that would be resurrected at the second resurrection. Wherein, during the thousand years, God and the saints can recreate or create this earth into the Garden of Eden type of atmosphere that's forecasted. God knows what he's doing. We'll just have to get there and see what that is.

In verse 20, every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hail stone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, since the plague was exceedingly great.

And now we skip to chapter 19, verse 19. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse, and against his army, who is you and me and the saints. And then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast, and those who worshipped his image. And these two were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone, into that valley of Hinnom outside of Jerusalem, the fire, the garbage pit. They were tossed in the trash.

And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. And then it's over. It's done.

In chapter 20 in the first three verses, we find that the God of this world is bound. And in verse 3, He cast him into the bottomless pit, shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years were finished. Satan has to be removed, or all of this is in vain. The Feast of Atonement, or the at-one-ment of God, involves the removing of any other mindset that would take us away from God, take mankind away from God. And the result is astonishing. The result is amazing. We read of in Isaiah 2, verses 2-4. Isaiah 2, verses 2-4. If you want to fix the problems of the world, the timeless problems of the world, in four verses they're solved. Four verses. Let's read them. Well, actually, three verses. Isaiah 2, verse 2.

This is talking about the kingdom of God, mountain referring to a kingdom, prophetically. The kingdom of the Lord shall be established on top of the mountains. It will be above any other government, any other nation. And shall be exalted above the hills, even the smaller countries. And all nations shall flow to it. Verse 3. Many people shall come and say, get this, come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths. There it is. Solved everything. People from inside will say, hey, I want God to teach me, and I'm going to be a godly person. Wow! For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. You know, you don't have to solve the problems. The people, the mind of the people is busy solving those problems. Notice, nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. And every problem on earth suddenly is vanished. It's gone.

It's a wonderful, wonderful thing that God is doing. Who would have thought of it? Who would have ever thought of doing it this way? Do you ever hear this on TV? Do you ever lie on your pillow at night and kind of dream up? Well, this is what I'll do. Do you ever come up with anything like this? I never have. But it requires all of these events, all these steps. In the meantime, the question for us is, are we being faithful as first fruits of the kingdom of God every day? Are we getting up every day and being faithful? Isaiah 56, verses 1-2 says, So says God, keep judgment and do righteousness. This is what you and I need to be doing every day. Keep judgment and do righteousness. You discern from God's Word what is right and what is evil. For my salvation is near to come and my righteousness is near to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this and the Son of man who lays hold on it, who keeps from defiling the Sabbath and keeps his hand from doing any evil. What should we be thinking and doing each day? In Matthew, chapter 6, verses 9-13, Jesus Christ tells us what to think and what to do each day. It's in the model prayer outline that he gives us. And it begins like this.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done. And it goes on from there in repentance, in pursuing godliness, in looking to him as the one who is the King of Kings. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. It's not about us. It's not about our mindset. Closing, when we see problems facing humanity, we need to be thankful for God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. We need to be growing as model citizens of a heavenly kingdom of another country. In Hebrews 11, verse 13, we're reminded that the faithful are identified strongly with another country. Hebrews 11, verse 13, These all died in the faith, and they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. They didn't fit in here. They weren't hooked to their country of origin. No? They were strangers and pilgrims. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. Verse 16, But now they desire a better that is a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city of new Jerusalem for them. Brother Trumpet celebrates the rulership of the greatest leader that will ever reign. And when he is president, when he is king, when he is the ultimate ruler, everything will start from scratch. Everything will be done right. In preparation for that day, let's be submitting to God and submitting to his kingdom, and striving for the nature of God to be put into our lives. By doing so, Jesus Christ can bring us into his government from square one, beginning with our prayers, and right to the day that we are involved in solving all of this world's problems, God's way.