Why Keep the Feast of Trumpets?

Perhaps some of you remember—don't mean to blast at you there—in years past, we would often ask the question, why are we here? Remember that? See a few nods. See some that aren't nodding. Why are we here? And I think that's a good question to ask. I think that's a good question to ask, an appropriate question to ask, because I think it helps us to begin to refocus, if you will, on why we do what we do.

Why are we holding a meeting today? It's not the Sabbath, is it? Oh, I guess it is. It's an annual Sabbath, but it doesn't fall on the seventh day of the week. Today's Monday. Why are we here today? Why is this a day that we're meeting together? What is the purpose of this meeting, this special meeting that we're having today? I think in this world of instability that we have, I think it is actually, it's good to begin to reflect on why we do what we do.

The title of the message, the first message this morning, is why keep the Feast of Trumpets. Why keep it? So what I'd like to specifically do today is I want to give you seven different reasons. I mean, there's more than seven, but this is all that I've got time to share with you today. Seven different reasons of why we are here and why we are keeping the Feast of Trumpets.

So let's begin with the first one. It may seem basic, but it is extremely important, and it's a foundation that God uses to begin to build on. The first reason why we're here is that God commands us to be here. He instructs us to be here. Let's notice Leviticus chapter 23. Let's go back there. We'll probably spend some time almost every holy day in this particular chapter because it's an important one that God gives to us because it has in its context all seven of God's holy days.

All seven. And so, it's a summary here of some of the things that He commanded. Leviticus chapter 23, we'll pick it up in verse number one. God's in the process of beginning to work with His people Israel. He's going to call them out and for them to be a shining example, to be, in a sense, have an evangelistic role in beginning to emulate the Creator God, the God of the heavens and the earth. And so, He says and instructs Moses to tell His people in verse number one, He says, and the Lord spoke to Moses and said, I want you to tell my people, I want you to speak to the children of Israel and say to them, the feasts of the Lord.

So, these are God's feasts. They are not anything that any human being thought up. They came from the mind of God Himself. Things that He had thought about for a very long time. Carefully thought of, carefully designed, even with the heavenly bodies. Anyone tried to see the moon last night? There wasn't one to see. It was a new moon, and it is a new moon, every feast of trumpets, which means, symbolically, that it's a dark time. The feasts of trumpets, in a sense, represents a time when things have gotten very difficult, very dangerous, very troubling in the world.

A dark time. But as you may have heard the phrase over the years too, it's always darkest just before dawn. So, we come to the very darkest time of human history, of all human history. There'll never be a time like it. It's just the time that Jesus Christ returns. And, you know, part of His role, among many things, is He's the Captain. He's the Captain of our salvation.

He's going to actually save mankind so that no flesh are destroyed, that all mankind isn't wiped out. Because there does need to be human beings during the thousand-year period to be taught the ways of God. If God didn't intervene, there would be no flesh alive. Also, the heavenly signs that we talk about. I think many of you know that when the Feast of Tabernacles begins Sunday evening, September 27th, you'll look up into that sky and you'll see a full moon, won't you? By that time, Jesus Christ has returned and begun to fully take control and implement ways of righteousness and a government that will bring peace to all of humanity and it will be shining bright.

It will be shining bright. I still remember the story of a young lady that kind of grew up in the church and decided not to attend for a while when she got of age. Her dad went to the Feast and on that very first night, she stayed home and she looked up at the sky and she saw that full moon and still has meaning to her this day. I shouldn't be at home. I should be there at this holy convocation that God talks about.

So verse number two, the Feast of the Lord. So there are His feasts, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations and so we do. We proclaim them to be holy convocations. And of course, now God's people today are known as the Israel of God, the body of Christ, the church, is known as the Israel of God. And that's in Galatians 6 and verse number 16. You can turn there if you like. I'm just going to reference it. But these are still God's festivals for His people, whether Old Covenant, New Covenant. They are for Israel. They are for His people.

And they're holy convocations. And so that means that He is here. He is here and has called us to appear with Him, to come before Him. And so we obey. We obey. We do as He's instructed us.

Let's jump to verse number 23. We'll talk about this festival today. Leviticus 23 and verse 23. You remember this one? Where the Lord spoke to Moses and He said, I want you to speak to the children of Israel and tell them that in the seventh month and on that first day of that seventh month, and that's today, that's today in the Hebrew calendar, you shall have a Sabbath rest.

And so we don't work today. We come to this holy convocation. God is here. He's called us to assemble before Him. And you shall do no customary work. And you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. And the Hebrew word that's translated here, blowing of trumpets, it's actually one Hebrew word, it's teru'ah.

And it means clamor. It means acclamation of joy. It has several different meanings in the context in which it is in Scripture. It can mean alarm. Clamor of trumpets, alarm. Joy, jubilee, loud noise, rejoicing, shouting, so it's a loud day of loud commemoration and acclamation. It can be a time of celebration, an announcement of a king. It can be time of a battle cry in a military context.

And it has to do with the blowing of trumpets. Now, God says that we are to be here in the first day of the seventh month. And of course, God's people do what He commands. They do what He instructs. You know, in most cases, we first obey God and then we begin to understand later. And that's why God says the very first basic reason is He instructs us to be here. He commands us to be here because He's going to teach us things. And we will learn over time, every year that we begin to rehearse this festival of trumpets, we begin to get a deeper understanding of what it pictures because it pictures so many different things.

So many different things. There's so many different avenues that we as ministers or we that speak about this particular meaning of this day, we could go in so many different directions. You can't cover it all. But thankfully, you know, we continue to rehearse every year. And you probably heard the analogies like the peeling of an onion.

You begin to understand little things that you didn't understand before or enhances your understanding. Okay, I thought I understood that, but I see there's a little bit of a deeper layer there on that particular understanding. So hopefully before this day is over, you'll have a little bit more understanding of what this day pictures. You know, God says I want you to be there even though you don't understand it first, but the understanding will grow.

And it's like when you're a child or as a parent, you begin to teach your children and you tell them to do certain things and the children don't understand why until later. Oh, maybe dad and mom weren't so maybe smarter than when I thought. I thought I knew quite a bit more when I was 1617 and 181920. But now I see why they told us what they did. It's no different with our Heavenly Father as he begins to teach us the lessons of these holy days and particularly specifically today, the Feast of Trumpets.

Oh, I'm beginning to understand more. You know, when I first began to keep the Sabbath, I was a little rebellious, but I understood as I looked at the Scripture that there was a fourth command that tells me that I should observe as holy a seventh day. We've been raised Presbyterian. I was keeping Sunday. My mom and dad were called before I was. And at first, I rebelled, but then I saw.

It does say that, doesn't it? Okay. It does say that. And so I thought this was going to be too restrictive to me and what I wanted to do and what my lifestyle was. But I began to observe it. And I began to keep it.

It's around probably about 12 years of age when all this was beginning to transpire. And I've been keeping it with my family since 1972. Because God said to do it. And you know, over the years, now it's been about, if my math is right, about 43 years of Sabbath keeping.

I'm getting to be older and grayer. But I've learned what a blessing it is to keep it. And I've understood more perfectly about what it pictures. Because that's one of the feasts. That's the first one that's listed in Leviticus chapter 23 is the first weekly Sabbath.

That's the first festival that God speaks about there. And it's been not only a great blessing to me, but it's been a great blessing to my immediate family. It's been a great blessing to my wife and our children. It's been a great blessing for the congregation. There's been so many benefits. Things that we have learned as we continue to come every seven days and get refocused, if you will, to get back on that narrow path that Jesus Christ talks about.

What a wonderful blessing. What a wonderful benefit as He continues to carefully guide us as the chief shepherd. Jesus Christ said, and I'll just refer to this again. You can look it up if you like. Jesus Himself said, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. That's in Mark chapter 2 and verse number 27. You know, you and I weren't made for the Sabbath. The Sabbath doesn't have precedence in that sense. We weren't made for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for us.

It has benefits, and that's why God did what He did. But we don't always see that when we start out, do we? We don't always see a lot of things when we start out, and that's why we're here on the Feast of Trumpets, because God said that we should do this. Let's go to a second reason of why we're here. A second reason, and this is an important one, they're all important. The heavenly trumpet announces God's appearance and presence.

The seventh trumpet, which is the last of the seven, it's the last trumpet, announces God's appearance and presence. Both. And that's important, and we'll talk about that, why that's important here as we go forward. Let's go to Matthew chapter 24 and verse number 1. Matthew chapter 24 and verse number 1.

This is, of course, Jesus is a prophet, and this is the Olivet prophecy. It's the prophecy He gave while He was on the Mount of Olives, which is why it's called the Olivet prophecy. And He was a prophet, so He's giving a prophecy. Matthew chapter 24 and verse 1, then Jesus went out, He departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to Him to show Him the buildings of the temple.

Pretty impressive is what they thought, and they said, look at Christ. Jesus, look at these wonderful buildings. Can you imagine you're going to show Jesus Christ who created the heavens and the earth? Okay. You're going to show Him these buildings that man made. You know, that's really something. We're often impressed with what man does or creates, and we fail to see the enormity of what God has made and created. Verse number 2, and Jesus said to them, do you not, do you see all these things? I tell you the truth. Not one stone is going to be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down. Now He said this as He sat on the Mount of Olives, as it says in verse 3, and that must have been something pretty special in a way. He may be thinking about the future. He's telling them all of this while He's sitting on the Mount of Olives, and if you're familiar with the geography there in that part of the world, the Mount of Olives is a mountain, and it sits a little bit higher than the mountain that the temple sat on. So, in a sense, you actually look down on the temple and can see it very well from the Mount of Olives, and there's a valley in between.

And, of course, Jesus Christ is prophesied that in the future His feet would stand on the Mount of Olives. So here He's giving them a prophecy about the future, and He Himself, as Zechariah chapter 14 and verse 4 says that when He comes, His feet will stand on this very mountain where He's giving this information on the Mount of Olives. So verse 1 of Matthew 24 shows us that He departed from the temple. He went up to the Mount of Olives in elevation just above the temple. And it was at this location on the Mount of Olives that His disciples asked Him a question.

He says that He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, and they said, tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? Good questions to ask. I'd like to focus for a moment on the word coming, because I think that's important. The word coming in the Greek, it's the Greek word perousia. I'll spell it for you. It's an important Greek word for us to understand, and I'll talk about that, why that is in a moment.

Perousia is spelled P-A-R-O-U-S-I-A. Perousia. Perousia means this, and it ties into point number two. Perousia means appearing and presence. You appear, and then you're there. Vines' commentary says this about this word, this word coming in this Greek word perousia. Vines' commentary says a presence. It denotes both an arrival and a consequent presence with.

You know, that Greek word perousia is used several times in this chapter, four times. It's here in verse number three. It's also in verse 27 and 37 and 39. It's important, I think, to understand this Greek word and what it means, because it is this Greek word in which the doctrine of the rapture is mistakenly built. They look at this word. They think he's coming. He's going to grab a certain group of initiates and take them away.

But this word means arrival and presence. You arrive, in other words, you appear, and then you are there. You're present. It's unclear how much the disciples understood about the arrival of his return to heaven and later his arrival back to earth. But one thing they did understand, that he would have a perousia, a powerful appearing, and a presence. Let's drop down to verse number 27 here in Matthew 24, because he makes it even more amazing about this perousia.

As the lightning comes out of the east, and I'm still quoting, and is everywhere visible as far away as the west, so also is the coming of the Son of Man. It will be visible to all people everywhere. Everyone will see it. It will be obvious to everyone. Verse number 28. For wherever the carcasses there were the eagles be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation, of course the tribulation is a terrible time on the earth. There will never be a time like it. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, so it suggests when the tribulation is over that the sun will be darkened. So there will be some heavenly signs.

And the moon will not give its light. The dark time. A dark time.

The stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heaven will be shaken. Well, what kind of power are we talking about? I think the book of Hebrews says, you know, I've shaken the earth, but now I'm also going to shake the heavens. Verse number 30. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all of the tribes of the earth will mourn. This is not going to be secret. All of the tribes of the earth will mourn. They're not going to be happy with this. It means the new government is coming. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and with great glory. Wow! There's going to be a lot of things happening, isn't there? He'll be coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, which you can see as He is coming, as He is arriving. You'll be able to see it. You'll be able to comprehend it. It's not going to be in secret. Verse 31. And He will send His angels with the sound of a great trumpet, so there'll be things you can see. There's going to be things that you can hear. And they will gather together His elect. We're talking about God's people. We're talking about the Israel of God, whether New Covenant, whether Old Covenant, the people of God.

They will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Not one of them is going to be missed. Verse 31. Or I guess we just read that one.

So, brethren, this is a time where He brings His saints. When He brings the true body of Christ, also known as the church, with Christ as the head, He brings them together. And He brings them together eventually onto Jerusalem. It talks about when He comes, His feet are going to be standing on the Mount of Olives in Zechariah 14. And it says, when He comes, all of the saints will come with Him. That's in Zechariah 14 also, the very next verse, verse 5, for reference. And it is going to be a magnificent thing to think about and a magnificent thing to be a part of, and a magnificent thing to see. And everyone will know when this takes place.

Let's go over to Acts chapter 1 and verse 9. Acts chapter 1 and verse number 9.

A little bit more about how He appears and then, of course, that He remains. His presence is here. Parousia. Acts chapter 1 and verse number 9.

The context here is Jesus has been crucified, resurrected, and now He's been with His disciples for a period of time. And now He's going to return back to be with His Father. It says, when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up and a cloud received Him out of their sight. We know He comes in a cloud, He leaves in a cloud. And so, you can imagine the scene. They see Him as they watch. He rises up into the air until He gets as high as the clouds, and then you can't see Him anymore. Verse 10. And while they look steadfastly toward the sky, or towards the heaven, as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, as their angels, who said, men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? Well, I think I can understand why they're seeing this, or witnessing this. But they have a message for Him. Why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven. He's going to come back. He's going to come back in the clouds, the way that you saw Him leave into the clouds. He'll come back in the clouds. Let's go over to Revelation 10. Revelation 10 and verse 5.

Prophetic book, talking about the things that will happen, the reality of the things that will happen in the future. Revelation 10 and verse 5. It says, An angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven, and he swore by him who lives forever and ever.

So he swears by him who lives forever and ever, the one who created the heaven and the things that are in it, the one that created the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it. Notice how it says He created the heaven and all the things in it and the earth and all the things in it. How many things is that? It's everything we know.

And so we see His power. We're here, really, at His pleasure, as other Scriptures tell us.

And the sea and all the things that are in it and that there should be delay no longer. So there had been delay. There had been a delay for a while, but that delay was about to end.

Verse number 7, but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when He is about to sound, so He hasn't sounded yet, but He's about to sound, it says the mystery of God would be finished as He is declared to His servants the prophets. You see, there was a delay. We won't have time to go there, but you can maybe write this in your notes. Revelation 7 and verses 1-3 talk about events were delayed so that God could seal in the foreheads of His people so they wouldn't be hurt by some of the things that were going to ready to be displayed, in a sense, things that were about ready to come upon the earth.

And now that delay ends, though, here in Revelation chapter 10. There is delay no longer, and they continue with the opening of the seventh seal. Remember that scroll that no one could open, except for Jesus Christ was qualified. This is the last seal now that is being opened, and it says that the mystery of God would be finished. When that last trumpet sounds, it will be finished. Today, God's purpose and mystery isn't understood by a lot of people that are living on the earth at this time. They don't have an understanding of the good news of a coming kingdom of God to the earth. It's a mystery to them. But when that last trumpet is about to sound and that seventh seal is open, and when all the seals are open, then you can read and you can understand. And the mystery is over. The mystery is over. The trumpet of the seventh angel announces Christ's return, and that ends the mystery. It will be a mystery no more. The seven seals are open, and revelation will begin to be understood.

How all that works out time-wise, I'm not sure. It's going to take some time to learn it, but it's over. The secret is out. The mystery has been revealed. Everybody will know. So that second reason is it helps us to understand that Jesus' appearance and presence will be there. Trumpets helps us to understand that. Let's go to a third reason. Third reason. It's to remind us that the heavenly trumpet announces God's direct intervention on earth.

Part of the reason for this festival is to remind us that that last trumpet, that seventh trumpet, announces God's direct intervention on the earth.

This festival helps us to understand that this is going to be a turning point in human history. It will never be the same after this day is fulfilled and Jesus Christ returns.

It's going to represent the present age ending. That's the only age we've ever known. It's going to end. The age of Satan, if you will, the age of Lucifer and his influence over man, the age of man, man's had an opportunity to make his own choices as well. And we've learned from those choices, both good and bad. But it's going to be the end of the present age of man in the beginning of a new age, a new age of God, when God himself is going to play a much more direct role in what's going on in the earth.

You know, the previous Holy Days that we've observed already, the spring Holy Days, they constitute really more our own personal responses to God. You know, God, in a sense, has had pretty much a hands-off policy for the most part since the Garden of Eden, but he has reserved to himself. He still has overall control, but he's also stepped back a little bit, but he's reserved. At certain times, he will intervene. He's worked with people. He's worked with Noah. He's worked with Abraham. He worked with the prophets. He's working with the body of Christ. He worked with the children of Israel and all those things, over time. But the day of trumpets begins to reveal, or heralds, a direct intervention all the time with everyone on a global basis, a dramatic turning point in history that depicts so many things, but the very beginning is the return of a Savior, Jesus the Christ.

God will directly intervene on the earth. Let's look at Daniel 7, verse 13. Daniel 7 will go to verse 13.

Daniel was also a prophet, and he shared some things about the coming Kingdom of God.

Daniel 7, verse 13.

God had given Daniel many different visions to help him to understand the reality of a coming Kingdom. And then he shares them with us here in Scripture. Daniel 7, verse 13. He said, I was watching in the night visions. And if you hold one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. We get the clouds of heaven again, don't we? It's consistent throughout Scripture.

One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven, and he came to the ancient of days. Now, there can be only one of him. There's the Son of Man, which is actually more a New Testament term. You don't see that very often in the Old Testament. It's one of the few times we see it in the Old Testament. All the time, Jesus refers to Himself as the Son of Man in the New Testament. So we know the Son of Man refers to the one that is Jesus Christ. And then the ancient of days has to be the one that we know as the Father. And they brought Him near before Him. Then it was given to Him a dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.

You know, there's been a lot of world empires that have had a lot of influence over the years, almost in charge, if you will, or leading over the then-known world. But it wasn't everyone. But in this case, it's going to be everyone.

All people, all nations, all languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away.

Once it comes, it doesn't end. And His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed. You know, we know from Daniel 2 that when all these different kingdoms have been set up over the centuries, these world-ruling kingdoms, that they all had an end.

They didn't continue, whether it be Babylon, whether it be Mediate of Persian, whether it be the Graco-Macedonian Empire, whether it be the Roman Empire, they have or will be turned over from one group to another.

But when this final kingdom is set up, it is not turned over to anybody else. It continues permanently. Let's go over to Isaiah 2. Isaiah 2.

It's a Scripture that probably is pretty well known to many of us here.

It's a marvelous and inspiring section of Scripture.

Isaiah 2.

Picking it up here in verse number 2.

Isaiah 2.

Now, it shall come to pass. It hasn't happened yet, but it's going to.

It shall come to pass that in the latter days, towards the end of the age, that the mountain of the Lord's house. Now, we talk about mountain and biblical prophecy. Mountain is symbolic of a government. Mountain is symbolic of a nation. How do we know that? Somebody just make that decision? That a mountain means a government. That a mountain means a nation. That a government or a kingdom. Well, keep your finger here. Let's go back to Daniel 2. Should have kept you in the book of Daniel.

Let's notice from Scripture itself, if you've never seen these Scriptures and understand that mountain refers to governments or kingdoms, then let's understand that together right now. Daniel 2.

Let's let God's Word tell us.

Remember that golden image or the image of gold that Nebuchadnezzar had made? The head was gold and the breastplates silver of a statue of a person. And he saw this in... Well, actually, he didn't make it. He saw this in a vision.

And Daniel begins to explain what all of this means. Daniel 2.

Verse 34. And Daniel is telling Nebuchadnezzar what he saw. Nebuchadnezzar was this head of gold. He was the leader of the Babylonian empire, which was a world-ruling empire at that time.

Verse 34. You watched while a stone was cut out without hands. So he's seeing this happen. A stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. And then the iron and the clay and the bronze and the silver and the gold became like dust, like chaff. From the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away so that you couldn't see anything. Nothing was left. Just poof with your lips and all that dust just disappeared. All these great world-ruling empires.

And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain. So there we have that word, mountain, here. It became a great mountain, and it filled the whole earth.

Notice, not heaven. This kingdom, this mountain, is going to be on the earth.

Let's jump to verse number 44. He gets to tell the interpretation of what this means. And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven is going to set up a kingdom. So this mountain is God's mountain. It's going to be reflecting His kingdom. In the days of those kings, the God of heaven is going to set up this kingdom, and it's going to be, remember, on the earth. It's going to fill the whole earth.

And the kingdom shall not be left to other people. There's not a group of people that are going to take over this kingdom as they did the other prior four world-ruling kingdoms. For eventually they ended, somebody else came and began to rule. Not this one. It shall not be left to other people. It shall break in pieces and consume all of these kingdoms, and it is going to continue to stand forever.

All right, let's go back to Isaiah 2. I kept my marker there, so I'm able to turn back pretty fast.

Isaiah 2.

Now it shall come to pass. In the latter days, notice that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on top of the mountains. In other words, over all of the other mountains. And boy, is that going to change things. That is going to change things in ways that we cannot even comprehend. We get clues in the Scriptures here of what that's going to be like. But the reality is going to exceed that even more.

It shall be exalted above the hills. And so if a mountain refers to a great kingdom or government, hills can refer to lesser nations, lesser governments. And that's how God utilizes these words to help us to understand.

It shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it. That's an inspiring part about this, as it seems like they want to go voluntarily.

They want to come. They want to flow to it. And notice verse 3, And many people shall come. And they're going to say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He's going to teach us His ways.

Can you imagine when the people of the nations of the earth want to learn God's ways?

Certainly isn't that way now, is it? Not at all. They want, they're starting to see things. They want to know more about what God's ways are.

So that means then, also, that they don't want their own ways.

And so we are privileged to do that today, aren't we? God's called us today. Our day of judgment is now. He's opened up our eyes to His ways. And we have the opportunity to do that now.

Don't we?

Scrap our own will and follow God's will, His ways.

He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths. And of course, that means you're doing something. Your feet are heading in a certain direction. Your life is heading in a different direction from your own ways.

For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Of course, Jerusalem talks about, it means the city of peace. So peace, we'll begin. We'll talk about that a little bit later. Verse number four. He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plowshares. You know, as they want to learn God's ways, and they voluntarily decide to want to learn God's ways, they say, what am I going to do with my sword?

I know I can change it, that metal content, into an instrument for agriculture. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Neither shall they lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war anymore. Brethren, we long for that, don't we? That peace between nations, between human beings, between people.

Especially when we see the world today so destabilized, so unsettled, all of the fighting, with seemingly no end in sight. So this is really a very encouraging prophecy of a reality that's coming. Let's look at Revelation 11. Let's go there. Revelation 11. And this is where the seventh angel sounds. Remember, Revelation 10 said that that angel is about to sound. Now, there's a break in various scriptures in between Revelation 10 and Revelation 11, but now we get to the point where that seventh angel actually sounds. Revelation 11 and verse number 15. Revelation 11 and verse number 15.

It says, "...and the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord, referring to the Father, and of His Christ, referring to Jesus, and He shall reign forever and ever." We're talking about a direct intervention in the affairs of everything that's happening on the earth. It's at this time, that this day portrays, that God is a direct intervention. Verse 16, and the 24 elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces, and they worshiped God, and they said, We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is, who was, and who is to come, because you've taken your great power and you have reigned. But, suggest He hasn't been reigning directly over on a global basis until up to this time. You're beginning to reign, and they are excited, and they're giving thanks about this.

So, the seventh trump of the seventh angel announces Christ as the King of the earth, and it's a mystery no more. And it says that Christ's return, it says all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they're going to mourn because they're getting new management. All the leaders of up to that time are going to lose their jobs, if you will. All the leaders of the nations up to that time, they'll find themselves out of a job, and new leaders will be replaced. They'll be replacing them.

First, at the end of verse number 17, it says, You have taken your great power and reigned. So, God has held off for quite a long time, for thousands of years, for several millennia, and now He's taking that step. Verse 18, And the nations, how do they respond? They're angry.

They are angry, and God's wrath has come. So, God has waited patiently for Jesus Christ to eventually come and descend Him, and now Christ has come to take action. Let's go to a fourth reason. The fourth reason we keep the Feast of Trumpets is the heavenly trumpet announces also God's judgment has come.

God's judgment has come. We talked about God having direct intervention on the earth, and it also announces that God's judgment has come.

Let's go over to Revelation 11, verse 18. Revelation 11, verse 18.

I guess we were there. The nations were angry, and your wrath has come. And notice, And the time of the dead that they should be judged. So, on the seventh trumpet, there's going to be judgment. It's the time of the dead that they are going to be judged.

Keep your marker here or your finger here, but let's go over to Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1. Let's try to explain this, hopefully fairly clearly. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1.

Further, when the New Testament refers to the dead, it usually indicates those who have not yet been freed from their sins and are headed for the second death.

Let's notice that. I think Ephesians chapter 2 helps to explain that. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse number 1.

Paul is writing here a letter to the brethren at Ephesus, and he tells them this in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 1, And you he made alive who were dead.

In other words, the Ephesian brethren were formerly dead before they were converted. And notice in you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins.

Verse 2, In which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.

He says, you know, we were as good as dead before God began to open our eyes, and we began to respond to God. We were as good as dead in trespasses and sins.

Let's go over to 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 1. 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse number 1.

See that Christ is the judge of the dead.

Paul is writing to Timothy here that Jesus was chosen by the Father to be the judge of the living and the dead. Let's notice that from Scripture, though. 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse number 1.

Paul says, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and at His kingdom.

So we see here that Scripture says plainly that Jesus Christ is going to be the judge, not only of the dead, but of the living there, as it clearly points out. So Christ's return begins a process of judgment. Now for the church, we're being judged right now.

But God is going to have a process of judgment for the rest of humanity.

And that's when it begins, when He returns. Let's go back to Revelation now, verse 11 and verse 18. We rehearsed that at the Feast of Tabernacles, the last great day as a separate festival, the white throne judgment, how other people are going to have an opportunity, in a sense, for a time of judgment, a period of time, when they begin to understand and then have to make choices based on what God has revealed to them, just like you and I do right now. Revelation 11 and verse 18.

The nations were angry, and your wrath has come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged. And then He says, and that you should reward your servants. So this isn't one of my reasons, but this is another one for trumpets. It pictures the time when God's servants are going to be rewarded.

That you should reward your servants, the prophets and the saints, and those who fear your name, small and great. So God's servants will be rewarded. The prophets, the saints, and those who fear your name, small and great. So the body of Christ, the ecclesia, the church will rise to meet Christ, as He descends from the heavens.

And then they join Him, and He descends to the Mount of Olives, and we'll hopefully be with Him.

They will be judged during their lifetime, and they will have been accounted faithful.

And so they will rise and meet Christ in the air.

And sometimes I wonder, and maybe you wonder too, who's really in the church? Who's really a part of the body of Christ?

Then we will know.

Then we will know. When that seventh trumpet sounds, there will be no doubt. Who is really part of the body of Christ?

His saints will rise from their graves. Those faithful saints who are alive at that time, they'll rise to meet Christ at His return. They'll gather together in the clouds, meet Him in the clouds. And they will be changed.

They won't be flesh and blood any longer.

Can you imagine what that's going to be like?

Fully composed of spirit. The new spiritual body.

That is really going to be something.

That's going to be something. Let's go over to 1 Thessalonians 4 in verse number 13.

1 Thessalonians 4 in verse number 13.

1 Thessalonians 4 in verse 13. 1 Thessalonians 4 in verse 13. 1 Thessalonians 4 in verse 13. Such a meaningful section of Scripture that God gives us that we can rehearse today. Basically explaining the mystery.

How God is going to work things out. In the manner in which He's going to do it.

1 Thessalonians 4 in verse 13.

He says, I don't want you to be ignorant, brethren. I want you to understand. I don't want you to be ignorant concerning those who have died, those who are asleep in the grave.

Lest you sorrow as others that don't have any hope.

Because if we believe that Jesus died, and He rose again from death, He rose from that sleep, even so God, referring to the Father, will bring with Jesus those who sleep in Him.

God the Father is going to make this happen. Verse 15, for this we say to you by the word of the Lord. What I'm about to tell you is not my own words, they come from God.

I'm going to tell you that this is the word of God, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means proceed those who are asleep.

You know, he had to straighten them out. I suppose a lot of them thought, you know, my dad is gone, he's dead, he was faithful, he's in the grave in Christ.

But I'm going to see Christ first.

Because, well, I may see Christ first, if I'm still alive when He comes back. You know, I'll see these signs, and I'll see Him first.

That's not what the word says here, is it? It's not what it says. He said, no, no, you are not going to proceed those who are asleep.

Here's how it's going to work in verse 16. For the Lord Himself is going to descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, we've talked about some of these things already, and the dead in Christ are going to rise first. They're going to be spirit beings first.

And then we who are alive and remain, if we're alive in Christ, we'll be caught up together with them in the clouds, there's that phrase again, in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Wow!

Therefore, comfort one another with these words.

Remember in the Old Covenant, that the firstfruits were given to the priests? Remember that? The firstfruits were given to the priests? These are firstfruits. Jesus Christ is a priest. He's a high priest. We shall always be with the Lord. The firstfruits will be with the Lord forever.

And the rest of the dead will not live again until the thousand years are over. And that will be their opportunity for judgment.

So Christ, when He comes, He's going to start that process of judgment, not only for those that are alive during the thousand-year period, but those who were raised from the dead in a second resurrection after the thousand years are finished. But that's when it begins. The judgment for the rest of humanity.

God's a Savior. Jesus Christ is a Savior. He has a desire that everyone be a part of His family.

Jesus is coming back as salvation's captain to try to save mankind in a period of time of judgment. Let's go back to Revelation 11 and verse 18 and notice the last few words of that verse. Revelation 11 and verse 18.

It says, "...and should destroy those who destroy the earth..." God's going to wait, maybe until the last minute, so that if He doesn't intervene, mankind would wipe all life from the face of the earth. You know, a long time ago, Satan or Lucifer, as he was known at first, was in charge of the earth. And he became filled with pride and started to change him. His character's sin does do that, as we know from the days of 11 bread, how sin corrupts and changes us.

And it started to change him. He became filled with pride. He became filled with selfishness. He became filled with selfish lust.

And over time, pride over time leads to war.

It leads to war. And war, of course, leads to desolation and destruction.

And pride over time does that. And when Christ returns, the whole earth is going to be filled with pride.

The result of pride and lust is always war, as James pointed out to us. I'll just reference James 4 and 2.

And as the result of that war towards the end of the age, there's going to be desolation. And God is going to step in and stop it.

Let's go over to Matthew 24 and verse 1. Matthew 24 and verse 21.

In Christ's return, mankind is going to be filled with pride and lust. It's going to get bad. We're headed in that direction now. It's only going to get worse.

Jesus is going to step in. He's going to destroy those who have been destroying the earth. And if He didn't step in, there wouldn't be any mankind left to be a part of the thousand year beginning of the kingdom of God.

But He's going to wait, perhaps to the last minute, perhaps so that human beings will know that if God had not intervened, it would all be over.

Matthew 24 and verse 21. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, nor ever shall be a dark time.

And unless those days were cut short, unless they were shortened, there would no flesh be saved.

Different Bible translations, I think, make that a little more clear. The Moffat translation adds the word alive, that no flesh would be saved alive. The New Living Translation is also a good one. It says, in fact, unless the time of calamity is shortened, not a single person would survive.

It's pretty serious stuff. They would destroy all human life from the earth, and God says, I don't want it to go that far.

I'm going to step in. I'm going to destroy those who are destroying the earth, who would ultimately culminate in total destruction. I'm going to stop them before that happens.

But for the elect's sake, for the sake of God's people, those days will be shortened. So there will be an elect upon the earth at that time, and God will stop them for the elect's sake. Let's go to Revelation 19, verse 11.

And I saw heaven open, and again, we see the picture of Christ returning. Heaven opening, and behold, the white horse, and he who sat on him is called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. And so a time of judgment begins. Enough of this nonsense, and now I'm going to step in, and I'm going to try to save mankind right there, right then, when it comes to even human beings, and I'm going to start the process of judgment for human beings that have not yet begun to understand my way, and they're going to have an opportunity.

And he has to step in, judge, and make war.

He is the judge.

And when he came the first time, he didn't come to judge. When he came the first time, he came to give the Father's instruction and to give the Father's teaching. And as we shall see, he gave us an example of character that we should imitate Him. We'll cover that here just in a moment.

And so he comes back to judge.

Verse 12, "...and his eyes are like a flame of fire." So this is how he looks now, not when he was in the flesh and blood on earth. "...And his head were many crowns." And he has a name written on that no one knew but himself, and he is clothed with a robe dipped in blood. So he'd been in a fight.

And his name is called the Word of God, and the armies in heaven are clothed in fine linen, white and clean, and followed him on white horses. Interestingly, their garments are not stained. Only his are.

Verse 15, "...now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, so he merely has to speak." He merely has to speak. "...And with it he should strike the nations, and he himself is going to rule them with a rod of iron, and he himself is treading out the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And on his robe and on his thigh is the name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords." And so we see that he will judge. Enough is enough. And I'm going to start a process of judgment among human beings.

Let's go to the fifth reason. And we keep the Feast of Trumpets. See, I'm running out of time.

We need to learn from and understand his first coming in order that we may be ready and prepared for his second.

We need to learn from and understand him in his first coming that we may be ready and prepared for his second.

Most in this world don't keep the Feast of Trumpets. Most of them have never heard of the Feast of Trumpets. So there's no way for them to learn from its meaning. But we, on the other hand, have been rehearsing this year in and year out, many of us for many years and possibly decades. And the second coming of Jesus Christ, we know, is going to be very different from his first.

When he came the first time nearly 2,000 years ago, the Son of God preached a kingdom, a gospel of a coming kingdom of God. He did it in relative obscurity. He did it at that time. He was flesh and blood in the weakness. Unflesh and blood, he was scorned. He was rejected by men. And he suffered, eventually, an excruciating death, didn't he?

Now, few people at that site could see the power and majesty that he had at that time.

Yet, looking forward, at a point ahead of us, he's going to return. And he's going to come with fierce might and power and supremacy. And he's going to subject all human governments to him, and anyone who opposes him will be crushed, and he's going to rule from then on forever. And he's going to rule in absolute righteousness.

But, brethren, there's a huge difference. Isn't there between his first coming and his second coming? And there's a lesson in that for us.

We must learn from his first coming in order that we will be ready and prepared for his second coming. What do I mean by that?

Because, brethren, in a similar way, we can learn and understand. If we can learn and understand from his first coming, then we're going to be ready and prepared for his second coming.

Now, most of professing Christianity doesn't know Christ. They don't know Him the way that He really is. The reality of who He is, the one who came the first time, is the same one who's coming the second time.

He's the commander of heaven's armies. And though many couldn't see the power and majesty that Jesus Christ had, because He had power and majesty when He came the first time, in His first coming.

Now, they will see it in the second coming. There is a power and majesty in His second coming, but they did not see the power and majesty of His first coming, and it's important for us to see it so that we can be ready for the second coming. What do I mean by that? I'm touching on some things I hope to wrap the package together here.

As we touched on earlier, Leviticus 23, verse 23, talks about memorial the blowing of trumpets, which means many things. An acclamation of a coming king, and also be prepared for a coming battle. A war. An alarm of war. It's a military signal.

Those who will stand with Christ at His second coming will have learned from Him and His example in His first coming so that they will be ready for the second coming and be ready also to take arms with Him in a military context. But there's one thing that God wants us to understand, and this isn't well known. We really have to truly understand the power and majesticness that He had in His first coming.

And really, it reveals for us why Christ had to come the first time like He did. The real power of God, the real power of Jesus Christ, is not revealed outwardly. Now, He has obviously that power to do things outwardly. But brethren, it is actually seen from within. God's power, His greatness, is actually in His loving and righteous character.

Let's turn over to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. Typically, in the spring holy days, especially Passover, we go through this particular chapter. We read it sometimes in its entirety in the context of the spring holy days, it's in the context of His first coming. He's taking on the sins of man by dying in place of man, paying our death penalty for us, and then He goes off to heaven. But this chapter really describes the power and majesticness of God. The same one who's going to return as a conquering king is the same individual that's described here in Isaiah 53. Let's take a look. We begin in verse number one. Who is believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

So again, initially, in relative obscurity, were it not for the work of the apostles, were it not for the work of the Holy Spirit, and the growth of the Word since that time, Jesus might be relatively unknown.

Verse 2, For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness, and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. There's no greatness that man can see or define, no handsomeness, nothing that would draw you or I to Him, nothing that stands out, no form, no comeliness, and when we see Him, there's no beauty that we should desire Him.

Nothing on the outside that we can see, nothing on the surface. Verse 3, He's despised and rejected by men. This is something that we've got to understand. For the most part, in this age, the Gospel message, which includes, of course, everyone being freed from the slavery of sin, that they treat Him with despite. He came to take away the sins of the world, and yet was treated with despite, with harshness, with hatred, with anger, callous anger, and it should tell us, really, about the religious nature of the age in which we live. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. I think there's a reason why God instructs us to be acquainted with grief, that we can grieve with others, that we can mourn with them, to visit the sick, to be afflicted, help the fathered us, help others. Be familiar with that. Not be uncomfortable with it. People of grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised and we did not esteem Him. We did not initially see His power and majesty. The power of His character.

Verse 4, Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. He was wounded, not for His own transgressions, but for ours. He was bruised, not for His own iniquities, but for ours. The chastisement for our peace, so we could have true peace. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him and by His stripes were healed.

Brethren, talk about a self-sacrificing nature.

This is the God that we're talking about. This is the power of the character of the God that we're talking about here.

A self-sacrificing nature, the willingness to pay for sins that were not His, and to receive a punishment that He never earned. This is the character and nature of this coming and this conquering King.

And this is the character and nature that we have to imitate before He returns. The same nature that He has.

Verse number 6.

We've got to imitate His nature as we prepare for the sound of the trumpet. Verse 6. All we like sheep had gone astray. So it doesn't matter who we are. We've all sinned. We've all gone astray. We've turned every one of us to His own way, our own righteousness, our own way of thinking. And therefore God, the Father, laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Even that night, those that were closest to Him, they abandoned Him. And He forgave them after they repented. And He had trained them specifically to go forward with the message of who He really is, and who they really need to become themselves before the kingdom of God can come, before we can be a part of it. Verse 7. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, and yet He opened not His mouth.

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shears as silent, and He opened not His mouth. In this age, that individual will be seen as incredibly weak, wouldn't they?

Powerless. But, Justic, are you kidding me? Why doesn't He stand up for Himself? Why doesn't He utilize that power that He's got? Why doesn't He say something?

And yet, this is the example that He has given to you and me in this flesh and blood existence that we have now is to emulate that character. That's the power. It's the inner righteous loving power.

Are we beginning to touch upon that understanding?

Verse 8. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? He was cut off from the land of the living, and for the transgressions of My people, He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked, but with the rich at His death, because He has done no violence. Nor was any deceit in His mouth, and yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. It pleased the Father in a sense to watch Him, His own Son, be crushed for our sins.

Brethren, such is the power of God.

It's much deeper. It's much more meaningful, maybe than what we've seen. It's much deeper than just having the power to cast lightning bolts because He has the power to do that or to shake the heavens or the earth, where people can say, oh yeah, that's God. No, brethren, this is also God, and the power and majesty of God that we see in Isaiah 53.

There's a power and majesty in this man's character, the character of a conquering king.

He has been put to grief. Let's jump here forward. Verse 12, Therefore, because of his character, because of his willingness to sacrifice himself for others, because of his loving-kindness, because of his mercy, because of his generosity, as a king we would call it benevolence.

Benevolence.

Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the great.

He shall divide the spoil with the strong. Because he poured out his soul unto death.

That's the kind of rulers that God is going to have in His kingdom. They're going to have this type of character. He was numbered with the transgressors. He wasn't a transgressor. He bore the sin of many, and he made intercession for people that transgressed God's way. That's true majestic power, brethren.

Now, there's an example here of Jesus Christ in Isaiah 53, for you and me.

Let's notice 1 Peter 2, verse 18. He set us an example to follow. 1 Peter 2, verse 18.

In the context of our lives now, how do we apply this?

How do we learn this? How do we learn to develop this true power and majesty of character that Jesus had?

2 Peter 2, verse 18. 2 Peter 3, verse 18. Servants, and He calls us what we are. We're slaves. We're servants. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and the gentle, but also to the harsh. Yes, be submissive even to the harsh master. Now, that sounds like absolute nonsense to people of this world, doesn't it?

Why do you stand there and take that?

Stand up, man. Show some backbone. Don't be stepped on by that individual.

We look passive and weak.

So did Christ.

So did the conquering King.

Brother, it doesn't matter who we are. We all answer to someone, don't we? There's only one person that probably doesn't answer to anyone, and that's the Father. Even Christ answers to the Father. We all have someone to answer to. So we're all, in a sense, servants, submissive to someone. Verse 19, For this is commendable if because of conscience towards God, one endures grief. What?

Suffering wrongfully, just like he did. Isaiah 53. It's not that we're weak, brethren. It's that we are strong enough in our conscience towards God that we will endure this kind of thing for now.

We recognize He puts us through this.

So that we can grow and be ready.

Through much tribulation that we enter the kingdom of God.

We recognize He puts us through all of this for our own growth, for our own development, our own sense of discipline, our own preparation, our own readiness. Jesus did the same thing. At His first coming.

Don't have time to turn there, but Hebrews 5, verses 8 and 9 said that Jesus learned by the things that He suffered and was made perfect. It's hard to imagine that Christ wasn't made perfect until after He came the first time with the things that He went through.

He became ready Himself to be King of kings.

And if we're going to be kings and priests with Him, we need to get ready and be ready. Verse 20, for what credit is it if you're beaten for your faults that you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God, just like it was for His Son. And notice verse 21, for to this you were called. Really? Okay. We were called to suffer. We were called to endure grief. For this we were invited. For this we really decided that we would embrace the invitation.

Hopefully we all knew what we were getting into when we were counseling for baptism.

Brethren, true power and majesty is sometimes not well understood. In reality, it's true character. It's described pretty different, isn't it, when we look at Scripture. It mirrors more His first coming than His second. Verse 21, for this you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in His footsteps. There we are.

Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth. Who when He was reviled, He did not revile and return. And when He suffered, He didn't threaten.

I'm not going to get even. He committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. So the cause, the purpose, the plan meant more to Him than the insults and the suffering that He had in His first coming.

I'm going to have to jump ahead here in my notes.

Brethren, I'll just read some of this to you because I think it's important. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18. It says, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, to those who are perishing. But He says to us who are being saved, it's the power of God. The foolishness of the cross to others is the power of God. What Jesus Christ went through the first time is the true power of God.

Sometimes we don't think of it that way. 1 Corinthians 22, verse 22. The Jews request to sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block into the Greeks' foolishness, but to those who are being called, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Foolishness to those stuck in the ways of the world, the power to us. Further, power and character has to precede power and outside force. Power and character has to precede power and outside force.

I'll say that again.

Now Moses, remember? Acts 3, he thought he was ready. Boy, he had all this military training in the Egyptian lifestyle, and once he discovered who he was and that maybe God was going to use him to do that, once he discovered who he was and that maybe God was going to use him to save his people and bring them out of slavery, God says, really? Another 40 years of training. Forty years with sheep. Remember that? Went into the wilderness for another 40 years before he was ready. Brother, we need to be in the process of being prepared for this coming power, because Jesus would later say, all power is given to me in heaven and earth. Now, I have been given to him until after his experience in his first coming, and it will not be given to us unless we follow the example of his first coming, the character. God's not going to give us that power until we've suffered enough, until we've been humbled enough to know that we will never, ever use that kind of power in a wrong way, ever. The same is true of Jesus Christ. God knew he would never use that power that was to come in a wrong way. I've got to go through a couple of points here pretty rapidly here. Years ago, I heard a story of a couple ministers who gave split sermons on this day. One of them gave a message, Trumpets needs war, which it does. Another one gave a message that Trumpets brings peace, which it does. And even though these were contradictory, they still actually were very complimentary messages. Because really, the meaning of Trumpets depends on where you stand before God, doesn't it? Where do you stand before God? One last scripture. I'm going to give you the sixth point, which I don't have time to cover. Trumpets means war. It helps us to understand Jesus Christ is going to return. We'll have to fight and bring judgment to this world. And the seventh one is Trumpets brings peace. Let's go to Isaiah 9, verse 6. Isaiah 9, verse 6. Trumpets is going to bring peace. It says, verse 7, we'll pick it up here, for time of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. So once it starts, this process of peace just continues to grow. And it will never end. Further, these seven points here, seven reasons for why we keep the Feast of Trumpets. And there's many more. God commands us to be here. The heavenly trumpet announces God's appearance and his presence. The third one is to remind us that God is going to intervene directly in the affairs of the earth. The fourth one is Trumpets announces God's judgment for the earth. The fifth one, we need to learn from and understand his first coming in order that we may be ready and prepared for his second. That Trumpets means war. It does have an alarm of war, but also it's the beginning of what's going to bring peace. Trumpets brings peace. Brother, as we rehearse the Feast of Trumpets every year, let's not miss the reality of what's coming. It's not always going to be like this. Eventually, Jesus Christ is going to return. Eventually, there is going to be a new age. Eventually, there is going to be a kingdom of God that comes, and everything is going to change. There's going to be a healing, not only physical, but a spiritual healing that's going to take place. And he wants you to be there. He wants all of us to be there. That's why he called us to be a part of that. So let's hear the trumpet, the sound of the trumpet, and let's prepare and be ready for the coming King of Kings in a new age in the kingdom of God. It's going to be a little short. John will be a short little. I wanted to have an opportunity to...