Will There Be Authority in the Kingdom of God?

Will there be authority in the kingdom of God? That's our title. Will there be authority in the kingdom of God? And how does Christ rule and love, and yet with a rod of iron? It says in four or five places in the Bible that Christ will rule with a rod of iron in the kingdom of God. Currently, we are hearing a barrage of out-Christ by some to defund the police. In fact, the Minneapolis City Council even said they would be ready to do away with the police department.

This banded all together. In Seattle, the left has set up a country within the city called Capitol Hill. Even now, the Black Lives Matter people are not so fond of that because it says it's stealing the limelight away from the message that they're trying to get across. And so, they call it Capitol Hill, an autonomous zone. In fact, they took over a police precinct there. The precinct in which the 911 cards came into. So now it's taking the police about three times longer to respond to 911.

And the president has said if the mayor can't take care of it, then he will. And the mayor says that she's not going to do anything. She thinks it's okay. Movies and television programs are being canceled. Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the New York Times was fired because he okayed the publishing of Senator Tom Cotton's op-ed presenting another view of the protests.

In fact, the narrative has consumed nearly all media outlets. Most all media platforms are providing a venue for those who advocate the overthrow of the current social, economic, governmental, moral, and spiritual order. Of course, not all of the protests are about that at all, and there needs to be changes made. That is a given. I think we all agree to that. But the stage has been set for anarchy to some degree. I used to teach a course called Introduction to Western Thought.

If you look at the cycle of government in the world, it goes in a cycle from autocracy to more freedom. Then, as more freedom goes on, there is generally a rebellion or revolt. You come to having a dictatorship and then a revolt against a dictatorship. It starts all over again. It's like cyclic. The government established by the U.S. and founding fathers has stood the test of time longer than most governments, probably longer than most systems have in history. But the narrative has consumed nearly all media outlets. Most all media platforms are providing a venue.

The stage has been set for years. One of the mantras of the hippie movement in the 60s, which many of us remember, was down with the establishment. The new age is dawning. The age of Aquarius.

We have had the age of Pisces. Of course, Pisces represented the fish, and some said that represented Christ. We've had the age of Christianity. It's failed. So now, the age of Aquarius. Make love, not war. Some of the slogans were alright, if you really understood them in their proper context and everything that they meant.

Nearly all mass movements are led by those who wish to impose their rule over you. From Satan's rebellion, when he rebelled against God, his tail drew one-third of the angels of heaven. He became the author of sin and death, a liar and a murderer from the beginning. Government officials in many areas are cowering and letting the mob run wild.

You must not speak against this. If you do, you become the object of their wrath. Now, I want to make it clear once again, and it will make it clear another time. If you would turn to Isaiah 59, that there are changes that need to be made. I, as a little boy, growing up in the state of Mississippi, my heart sank as I went to town. I was able to go to town. I followed the mule five days a week, but my parents gave me $3 a week.

I could catch the bus, I could go to town, I could watch a couple of Tencent movies, go to all the sporting goods stores, and go around and then come back home. For years, I was able to do this for a few years. We have now a situation in which evil is called good and good is called evil. We want to go now to Isaiah 59 and verse 12. For our transgressions are multiplied before you, our sins testify against us, for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them.

See, as a 12-year-old boy, maybe I was 13, I could go to town. I wasn't afraid that anything was going to happen to me. I walked a mile and a half to catch the bus, ran a little bus line from outlying areas into town, and then catch the three o'clock bus home.

Everything seemed to be well with the world. The 50s was a wonderful time in this nation, if you want to talk about a wonderful time. But yet, in the 50s, we began to see some of the seeds being planted that we are seeing coming to fruition today. They are germinating and springing up in many different quarters. So, here in verse 12, we see that for our iniquities, for our lawlessness, it says, we know them in transgressing and lying against the Lord and departing away from God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart, words of falsehood, and judgment has turned away backward, justice stands so far off, for truth is falling in the street, and equity cannot enter. It says in Matthew 24 in the Sermon on the Mount that because iniquity, lawlessness shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

So, this message is not just to the world. This message is for each one of us. We need to take heart, and especially our young people, that we and our parents need to teach them to stand fast with the Word of God.

And judgment has turned away backward, and justice stands so far off, for truth is falling in the street, equity cannot enter. Yes, truth fails, and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey, and the eternal saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

It talks about in Isaiah chapter 3 that people even come to the point that they don't even want to be in a leadership position. Oh, who made me a ruler? I don't want to be in leadership. I don't want to have that responsibility. I don't want to stand in the gap. I don't want to be there. I don't want to take the heat.

Just let it be. It'll all play out. And it's like the... it's turned now from being the frog in the water, and it gets a little warmer, and a little warmer, and finally it's boiling, and when it starts boiling, it's too late for the frog, and it may be too late for this nation.

I think maybe that Franklin Graham, if he didn't hear what we were saying about his first message on Fox, in which he said, the answer is just to turn to Jesus and accept him in your heart. You'll be saved. Now he's saying that this nation has sinned, it needs to repent, needs to get on its knees and turn to God.

He still has his altar call pitch within it, but yet he has changed his tune to a large degree. In verse 16, and I saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his arm brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness sustained him.

In other words, God is going to eventually intervene. He would rather that we fall on our knees and repent. He would rather that we turn to him. We live in a time in which insanity reigns supreme. And sadly, all these things continue to deteriorate in the long term.

We'll go now to 2 Timothy chapter 3. In 2 Timothy chapter 3. We need to start preaching. Someone sent me from another country a radio broadcast by Mr. Armstrong. It must have been done in the late 50s or early 60s, I think I might play as part of a split sermon here, maybe the first Sabbath in July or sometime. We really have hardly any preachers. I don't know of really any preacher. I'm not a preacher. In the church, we're talkers. But we need to move toward being more passionate and more fired up with what we're saying.

2 Timothy 3 verse 1. This know also that in the last days perilous time shall come, for men should be lovers of their own selves, coveted as boasters, proud blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinence, fears, despisers of those that are good. If anyone stands in the gap, they become a prey. They're the bad people. Traders, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure, more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such, turn away. Well, so many of the people today don't even have a form of godliness. What form of government works best? Much has been written on this issue through the ages. What form of government is best? Some have stated that democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others. Democracy literally means rule of the people. Demo people. We use the word demographics, how the people are distributed throughout the earth, and accuracy having to do with rulership, rule of the people. You hear from time to time the mantra, this or that will destroy our democracy. You might hear her saying it now. The Founding Fathers of the U.S. established a form of government, meaning that people would elect people to represent their interests. Of course, we have never had a strict democracy. As we said, democracy literally means rule of the people, where people would vote on every issue. It's impossible in a nation. It's pretty difficult even in a town, once you get past 100 or so, for everybody to be able to voice their... of course, they can vote for a certain issue or a certain person. But then that person represents them and their interests. Historically, the majority has almost always been wrong. Do you believe that? Do you know that? Historically, the majority has almost always been wrong. And we shall cite some examples. The sins of the majority resulted in God having to destroy the pre-flood world. If we look at Genesis 6, we're going to give several examples here, but we're not going to turn to every scripture, because there's so much I want to cover in this sermon today. In Genesis 6, Noah is about to build the ark, but before that, of course, God sets the stage. Verse 5, And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented him by repented and sorrowed him. It grieved him in his very being that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have from off the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air, for it repents me. It grieves me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And a few people, that is to say eight, Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their three wives were saved. Eight people.

The majority was wrong.

After the flood, in Genesis chapter 10, God gave the various descendants of...

gave the various descendants their inheritance on the face of the earth.

And so he divided the nations and set the bounds and habitations.

And the majority rallied against God's command, to be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth. What did the majority do? They started building a tower. The Tower of Babel, or Babel. The Tower of Babel, Babel. Building the tower, God had to go down and confound their language, saying, nothing shall be restrained from them, which they imagined to do. So by confounding their languages, he forced them to go to their various inheritances. Today we have overcome the language barrier, the communication barrier, basically the transportation barrier. And so the natural boundaries, bounds, and habitations, the nations, no longer exist in the natural sense, because their computer programs can instantly translate the languages into whatever language you want it to be. And we have virtual, almost instant communication from any place on the face of the earth. And of course we have had the jet age, now the space age, and now the supersonic age, going faster than the speed of sound. So in a sense we've already returned to the Tower of Babel. The majority of Sodom wanted to violate the two angels that appeared there as men that God sent to deliver light in his family out of Sodom.

Oh yeah, the majority wanted them to come out so that we might know them. And finally they were beating on the door, and God blinded them. Aaron and the overwhelming majority of Israel made the golden calf as an object of worship, while Moses was upon the mountain, communing with God.

The golden calf, an idol symbol that reflected the idols in Egypt. Return, let's go back to Egypt. Let's return to those old gods made of wood, hay, stone, and stubble who cannot speak, who cannot walk, who much less can write or do anything and provide anything worthwhile. Absalom stole the hearts of all Israel in Israel, valuing against his father David. Only a few hundred remain loyal to David.

The majority cried out, Crucify him! Crucify him! The Prince of Peace, the Prince of Life.

How many men and women over the centuries have stood in the gap and encouraged people to stand in the gap in the face of evil? How many? Well, there have been quite a few. They're recorded in the Bible. We note young Queen Esther's stance against the evil Haman, who planned to destroy the Jews. Of course, if God had allowed that to happen, then prophecy could have been defeated. Because it was prophesied way back in the book of Genesis that God would raise up one out of the tribe of Judah.

We think about David standing against the giant of the Philistines. You come to me in the name of weaponry, and I am there praising David. But I come to you in the name of God. We think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. The statue had been made. They were commanded to bow down and worship Nebuchadnezzar's idol, his image. When they heard certain music play, they refused. They were thrown into the fiery furnace, and God delivered to them. We think of Daniel in the lion's den. God closed the mouth of the lions. What about John the Baptist when he told Herod, the wife you have now is not really your wife, for which he paid a dear price, his head delivered on a platter because of the evil Salome.

What about Jesus Christ standing, being accused of everything under the sun, tempted of Satan and all the people, all the while during his earthly ministry? The apostle Paul, one encounter after another, you can read about in the book of Acts, and all of the apostles, according to history, died in martyrdom. The Word of God makes it clear that if there is no leadership in the land, the people go their own way. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. As it says several times in the book of Judges, when there is no king in Israel, when there is no king, when there is no leadership, the people do what is right in their own eyes. To be effective for all people, not just the elite, not just the middle class, the lower class, the trailer trash, or the homeless, but to be a leader for all people, you must be based on that leadership must be based on godly principles. As we have said so often when we quote that first article of faith from Hebrews 11, verse 6, those who would come to God must first of all believe that He is, and then it says, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. God is not a respecter of persons, and we'll see that more clearly from Scripture. The peoples of the world, including the US, have set up under Satan its own form of government. Go to Hosea 8. A lot of people apparently are not aware of this Scripture when they talk about God setting up rulers. Yes, God does set up rulers at times, and He debases rulers at times. As in the case of Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel, God influences Gentile rulers at times to do His bidding, as in the case of Cyrus, who issued a decree that the Jews could return from Babylon to build a temple in Judah.

God has not selected the mayor of Big Sandy. I don't want to go into that, but anyhow, I know Him very well. In chapter 8, Set the trumpet to your mouth, He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Eternal, He being the one that God uses to punish, to bring Israel to their knees, because they have transgressed My covenant and trespassed against My law. Israel shall cry to Me, My God, we know You! Oh, we have still on our coinage in God we trust, and in all places in the house of representatives and also in the Congress, the chaplain, he can say a prayer before they begin the session. But public prayer, most any other place, is not permitted. Verse 3, Israel has cast off the thing that is good, the enemy shall pursue him. They have set up kings, but not by Me. They have made princes, and I knew it not. Of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off. Your calf, O Samaria. Remember Aaron made the golden calf from the gold that the people contributed to that cause, if you won't call it a cause, for that sin. And in Samaria, when Jeroboam became the king there after the death of Solomon, the northern ten tribes, they set up a calf. The golden calf became symbolic of idol worship. Your calf, O Samaria, has cast you off my anger's kindle against them.

How long will it be, ere they attain to innocency? For from Israel was it also so the workmen made it. Therefore it is not God, but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces. For they have sown the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind. It has not stalked, the bud shall yield, no meal, no food. It's just a dead, dumb, island. If so be it yield, the stranger shall swallow it up. Even if it does amount to anything, we're not going to permit it. In this present age, God has given humankind the freedom to govern themselves. From the Garden of Eden to the present time, God has instructed humankind in the way of righteousness. He instructed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, not to be the prerogators who take to themselves the prerogative of deciding good and evil. Basically, every generation from Adam and Eve to the present, God has had at least one voice, sometimes several, at least one voice crying out in summary, saying, This is the way. Walk you in it. God cries out today through His word and His faithful servants. Revelation 3, verse 19. A message to the seven churches. A message to Laodicea. Can we stir up the Spirit, as we heard in the sermonette? In Revelation 3, verse 19, As many as I love, I rebuke, and chasten, Be zealous therefore, and repent. The things that we see happening across not just this nation, around the world, should stir us to action in our hearts and minds to realize these are not normal times. And being holy surely is not normal. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will suck with him and he with me. It says, any man. I read this scripture in different contexts. I got a letter from some person somewhere, some church member apparently, who took me to task, saying that I was equating church members with people of the world, or something like that. The Word of God is to all people, is first and foremost to the Church of God. If God is knocking on the door of the hearts of any person, if they will respond, here's what he will do. I will come into him and will suck with him and he with me. To him that overcomes, will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I am also overcome, and sat down with my Father in his throne. At the present time, Jesus Christ sits on the right hand of the Father on the Father's throne.

In the time in which he is given the kingdom, all enemies are destroyed, and the Father makes his enemies, puts to him, God and you will sit on thrones. He has made us kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.

God is knocking on the door of all people who will listen to him. If they can get somewhere where they can hear the precious Word of God. You know, there's coming, as it talks about in Amos chapter 8, there's coming a time of the famine of the Word. They shall run to and fro to seek it, but shall not find it. Now is the time. Today, if you would hear his voice, harden not your heart.

At the same time that God has had faithful men and women stand through the gap, stand in the gap over the centuries, he has allowed Satan to be the God of this present evil age. God has worked and is working through a very few in this present evil age. We look at the miserable state of the world today with all its woes and wonder, what would it take to turn people around? What would it take? Would it take a virus that's killing a lot of people? Would it take an economic turn down in which the world is thrown into another Great Depression? Would it take some great terrorist act that you cannot even imagine? Would it take, and you fill in the blank, what would it take? It seems that we have been already filled with what would it takes, but there is a lot more coming. A lot more coming.

It seems that people want all restraint removed, and at the same time, they mystically think.

Now, the next three or four minutes here is pay close attention. You already are, I'm sure. They want all restraint removed, and at the same time, they mystically think that someone else will provide them with food, clothing, and shelter, not to mention televisions and cell phones. Just live in la-la land all the time.

We're awash in an age in which so many view themselves as a victim of the system or of some organization or person. All of us, I don't care who you are, have been mistreated at times. Some much more than others. Some because of the color of their skin. Some because of their religious belief. Some because of their political views. Some because they're fat. Some because they're ugly in the eyes of men. But God looks on the heart and not on the outward appearance. Some because they're poor, they don't have anything, because they're homeless. Or whatever state it might be. But God says not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

As they play the victim, they look to those who promise the most to deliver them. Who can promise the most? Who will deliver the most? Their plight in life is because, they think, of the system. That is to say that there has not been, as we've already said, awful, ungodly prejudice against races of color. Back to my story of when I, as a boy, 12, 13, 14 years of age, would catch that bus into town, and I would go to the various little department stores. It was like Woolworth and SH Crest, Western Autos, sporting goods store. And there would be, in Woolworth and in SH Crest, water fountains. One had white, one had colored. I was wrong. I was wrong as it could be.

And the so-called separate but equal in so many areas of society, including schools. And we have come a long way in some of those areas. God created the genes that produced the races. God is not a respecter of persons. He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He is the God of all. Now look at Romans chapter 3. In Romans chapter 3, it's the main chapter that you go to in baptismal counseling, in which you talk with people, discuss with them how a person is justified before God. What we want to view here is verse 27 and following. Romans 3, 27.

Where is boasting then? It is excluded. Not by what law of works, no, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the ethnos? Yes, all nations, all people. Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing it is God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith. Now quickly go to Revelation 7 and verse 9. A verse that you probably haven't heard read in a sermon in all your life, maybe. In Revelation 7 and verse 9, well, to save time, I want to just read 11. And white robes were given unto every one of them, and it was said unto them that they should rush yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also should be killed as they were killed.

I'm reading from the wrong chapter. It is Revelation 7 verse 9 that it won. And I beheld and lo a great multitude, this verse, let it sink in deeply. And I beheld and lo a great multitude, which no man can number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands. Clothed with white robes with palms in their hands. Yes, God is the God of all peoples. We must all examine ourselves and not play the role of the victim. We cannot look to those who promise them the most to solve their problems. So who will produce and provide? Will ideology alone provide for even the most basic needs? Oh, I believe such and such. I believe this, I believe that. See, somebody, as I say, has to put food on the table. Regardless of your ideology, someone has to produce and provide. Now, here is the cold, hard reality. If one takes on the frame of mind of the victim, that is, by thinking, freedom and independence is attained through ideology, they, wittingly or unwittingly, knowingly or unknowingly, become slaves to the slave masters who promise to offer their false sense of freedom. Oh, I have liberty. I have freedom for you. I have this ideology. I have this plan. If you follow my plan, see, there's only one plan that really provides true freedom.

And that is the plan and purpose of God and Christ. When all is said and done, we must all individually stand before the judgment seat of God and give account to take on the role of the victim and look to someone or something that promises the easy way, reminds me of Romans 14 and verse 11. I'm not Romans 14 verse 11. Scratch that. I want 2 Peter 2 verse 10. There's hardly any place in the Bible we've already read from 2 Timothy 3 that describes, which is also read from Isaiah 59, which describes, hardly any place in the Bible that would excel 2 Peter 2 beginning in verse 10, of the current state of the peoples of the world and their thinking. 2 Peter 2 verse 10. But chiefly then that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise government. Oh, we want to defund the police. We want to defund this and defund that. And we want another program. We don't want to examine ourselves and really look at what we can do. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, having bring not railing accusation against them before the eternal. You know, Michael, when disputing with the devil, for the body of Moses, this is in Jude, said only, the Lord rebuke you. But these as natural, brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not and shall utterly perish in their own corruption and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness that they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime. Spots they are in blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you. Having eyes full am an adulterous, better translation, and they cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls. A heart they have exercised with covetous practices, having children of curse. This almost describes to a tee where we are today. Which have forsaken the right way, gone astray following the way of Balaam, the son of Bozar, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but was rebuked for his iniquity, the dumb donkey speaking with man's voice forbade the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest, to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lust of the flesh, through much wantedness, those that were clean escape from them that live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption, for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. To whom you yield your self-service to obey his servants, you are.

To whom you give yourself over to whatever ideology it is, you better be careful. There's only one road to true freedom. Let's go John 8 and verse 29.

John 8 and John 8.29. He that sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I do always those things that please him. As he spoke these words, many believed him. Then Jesus said unto the Jews which believed unto him, If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. It is the truth of God. Sanctify him through your word. Your word is truth. That's the only way to true freedom. The plan and purpose of God in Christ. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, were never in bondage to any man. How say you, you shall be made free. Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, saying, You whosoever commit sin, as the servant of sin, and the servant abides not in the house forever, but the son abides ever. If the son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. That is the way to true freedom. He who wants to be truly free must walk in the perfect law of liberty. There are many evil spirits. The demons are running while they are running amok. If you read the Gospels, you will see one encounter after another that Jesus had with the demons.

Today, it is like all the demons have left and gone to heaven or somewhere. It is like they are not even on the scene, but they are. And of course, I have talked about how there have been articles talking about how the Catholic Church is looking for more exorcists.

This demon activity has so greatly increased, not to say one way or the other, what they do. But in today's godless society, no one dares speak of the devil and his influence on human behavior. They don't even believe in a spirit world. The Apostle Paul knew what he was talking about when he writes in Ephesians 6, verses 10, 11, 12, long and there, that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against wickedness in high places. Satan the devil, Satan and his demons, coupled with human nature, which seldom resists the promise of a free lunch.

No work, all play, coupled with very nice, coupled with really every vice known to man. In recent decades, our federal government has legislated and funded program after program to ameliorate, that means to soften, to make it easier, the consequences of sin instead of solving the major reasons for the condition of our socio-economic order. For example, with females who get pregnant and don't want their children, well, we will have federally funded abortion. We also will have, at government expense, many other things. If you do get pregnant, then we will provide daycare, we'll provide schools.

We'll also provide a welfare check, and it goes on and on. So instead of saying, look, you need to obey what God says, God says, don't commit fornication. God says, don't commit adultery. God says, you need to have a strong family structure. The family structure is given in 1 Corinthians 11, verses 1-3. First verse, Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ.

Then he says, that I would have you know that God is the head of Christ, and Christ is the head of man, and man is the head of woman. God has ordained a structure, the nuclear family. You hear that term, that means a family centered together with husband and wife. The breakdown of the family is one of the major reasons why we are where we are. So the government has funded all kinds of programs to, you don't have to pay the penalty for sin.

In the problem with AIDS among the homosexual community, the LGBTQ or whatever it is, with AIDS, let's not teach that you should not do this. Let's provide a vaccine, a medicine, so that if you do and you get sick, you won't have to pay the price. You could go on and on with examples of what the government has founded. Once again, one of the principal factors to break down in the nuclear family. God is the author of marriage and family. He established the principles that lead to maintaining the social order. In the kingdom of God, the evil spirits and do-your-own-thing behavior is going to come to a screeching halt.

Satan and the demons will be cast into the bottomless pit. Revelation 20, you would turn there. Revelation 20, verse 1, of course, this speaks of crowns being cast. Of course, the saints will have crowns. And I saw an angel come down from heaven. Revelation 20, verse 1. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having a key to the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand.

And he laid his hand on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, cast him into the bottomless pit, shut him up, and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled. And after that he must be loosed to little seas. And I saw thrones, and they that sat upon them, if you overcome, you'll be made a king and priest, and you'll get one of those thrones.

And judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The government of God will be based on spiritual principles. Satan and the demons will be dealt with up front, the beginning of the millennium.

Now we go to Isaiah 30, verse 19. Will there be authority in the kingdom of God? We have briefly talked about and described some of the things going on in the world today, some of the principles that we need to be aware of, some of the things, pitfalls that we need to avoid. What are we going to do in the kingdom of God? In Isaiah 30, in verse 19. And the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. This is a millennium. You shall weep no more. He will be very gracious unto you at the voice of your cry, and he shall hear it, and he will answer you.

And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet shall not your teachers be removed into a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers, and your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way. Walk you in it when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left. And you shall defile all the coverings of your graven images of silver and ornament, of your molten images of gold. And you shall cast them away as a minstress cloth, and you shall say unto yet, Get you from here.

Then shall he give the rain, and it continues some of the blessings of the millennial rain. Yes, your teachers will not be moved into a corner. You shall see your teachers. You'll see them, and you'll hear a voice. This is the way. Walk you in it.

I remember when I first started teaching school, I was determined that at least they were going to pay attention. And so we had this little boy back there cutting up, and I went back there and I said, Son, you may not work school, but while you're in here, in this classroom, you're going to play school. And so he did. At Ambassador College University, whatever we want to call it, Ambassador College, I was teaching this class, this is here at what we call the Science Lecture Hall, sometime in the 90s.

I had this class right after lunch. You tend to doze off after lunch. I had this one guy that sat back there about 10 minutes into it. He went down. Class after class.

And so I did that to the class, and I walked slowly back, came behind him, and grabbed his chair and said, Boy, why don't you wake up? And he didn't sleep anymore. Of course, if you did that today, you might be arrested for assault. I don't know. Now, something that might surprise you, let's go to Isaiah 66. In Isaiah 66, what about observing the Sabbath? Oh, they want to preach, they want to teach. Oh, all the commandments are enforced with the Sabbath. Sabbath has been done away with. We have the rest in Jesus 24-7. But I want to read what the Bible says. I don't want to just take the word of what some preacher might say. In Isaiah 66 and 21, All flesh come to worship before me, says the Eternal. You may not really believe, but you're going to at least be there. This is what it says. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me, For their worms shall not die. This is talking about the Gehenna fire that burns continually there in the valley of Hennam, just south of the Temple Mount. And where you get this, the maggots and so on continue to live because it is the garbage dump of the city.

For their worms shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. Yes, there is the fire burning during the millennium. 3-23 again. And it shall come to pass from one new moon to another, from one Sabbath to another. Shall all flesh come to worship before me, says the Eternal. Now we go quickly forward to Zechariah. In Zechariah chapter 14. Zechariah, Zepheniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, something like that.

Zechariah chapter 14.

Begin in 16. It shall come to pass that everyone that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go from year to year to worship the king, the Lord of hosts, and keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Have the holy days of the Feast been done away? Oh no! They will keep the Feast of Tabernacles, and it shall be that whoso will not come of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the king, the Lord of hosts, even upon them, shall be no rain.

If the family of Egypt go not up and come out, that they have no rain, there shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen. If rain won't do it, if drought won't do it, then we'll have a plague. We have tremendous upset weather patterns throughout the world, and natural calamities from volcanic eruptions to earthquakes, tsunamis, and all of that happening today. If drought won't do it, then the plague. They won't come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses holiness unto the Lord, and the pots of the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts, and all they that sacrifice shall come and taketh them and sieve therein. And in that day there shall be no more Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts. Some people, some ignorant people, might read Canaanite there and get the wrong idea. Canaanite became a metaphor for that which is unclean. Since God is not a respective persons, we know that this is not referring to a specific peoples. God is not a respecter of persons. Romans 2.11. I want to go to Isaiah 34 and verse 16. Isaiah 34 and verse 16. So, Canaanite means that which is unclean. No unclean thing shall enter in. It does not. We've read Revelation 7 and verse 11 about all nations' kindreds tongues given white robes. Now we want here Isaiah 34 and verse 16. Seek you out of the book of the Lord and read one of these, and no one of these shall want her mate for my mouth. It has commanded and his spirit, it hath gathered them, and he that cast a lot for them, and his hand has divided it unto them by line. And they shall possess it forever, from generation to generation, shall they dwell therein.

Now look at verse 1. Come near you nations to hear and hearken. It is nations, it is not just one. The kingdom of God, everyone may not internalize righteousness, but everyone will have the opportunity to come to know the Father and the Son. Look at Isaiah 35. Isaiah 35 and verse 1. The wilderness of the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose.

It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, and they shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God. Verse 8. A highway shall be there in a way, and it shall be called a way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it. No unclean thing will come into the city. That is what the word Kenanite means there in Zechariah 14 that we just read.

But it shall be for those, the wayfaring men, though fools shall not err therein. Everyone is going to be taught the way of righteousness. Now we want to go back to Isaiah 11. Isaiah is a book that, even at Ambassador College and University, it really wasn't taught in the great detail. When I took at Ambassadors what they call Second Year Bible, the first year I was here in 69, we were required to outline Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.

Try that sometime. Isaiah has 66 chapters. Ezekiel has 40-something, Jeremiah has 50-something. Try that. In Isaiah 11, verse 9, And his rest shall be glorious. It will be for all nations. Look at Isaiah 49, verse 7. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One. To whom man despises, to whom the nation abhors, he came to his own, his own received him not. To a servant of rulers, kings shall see and rise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose you.

The Father's Holy One is unmistakably identified in Psalm 16, verse 10. I've already said it's Christ, but let's look at Psalm 16, verse 10, then we'll go to Acts 2. What are we doing? We're identifying the Holy One, His Holy One.

His Holy One is Christ. In Psalm 16, verse 10, You shall not leave my soul in the grave. Now go quickly to Acts 2, verse 27. We've slowed down a bit here, but these scriptures, to get them in your mind and your memory, are very important. Let's start in verse 25. For David spoke concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is at my right hand that I should not be moved.

Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad, but also my flesh shall rest in hope, because you will not leave my soul in the grave. Neither will you suffer your Holy One to see corruption. Verse 31, he, seeing this before, spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul, his life essence, was not left in the grave. Neither did his flesh see corruption. Now what about, he will rule the nations with a rod of iron?

In Psalm 2, verse 9, what does that mean? That he will rule them. That sounds really harsh. That wouldn't go over all that well. That wouldn't be politically correct today, would it? Ruling the nations with a rod of iron? Of course, a lot of people say we don't want that old God of the Old Testament.

We want Christ, the loving God. In Psalm 2, verse 9, we need to read into this. Psalm 2, verse 6, Yet will I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree, the eternal descent unto me, You art my son. This day have I brought you to birth. I recently spoke about that and talked about Paul using this scripture in Acts 13, verses 30-34 of the resurrection of Christ. Ask of me, and I shall give you the heathen for your inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. This word here that is translated rod is Shabbat. S-H-E-B-E-T. It's translated 140 times as tribe. 34 times as rod. 10 times as scepter. And 2 times as staff. Miscellaneous 4 times. Total of 190 times. It means a branch, an offshoot, a scepter, or a shepherd's implement.

It also has to do with a mark of authority. So what this is talking about is that God is going to rule as a shepherd with a staff with a mark of authority. Now it is stated 3 times in the book of Revelation that Christ is going to rule with a rod of iron. Revelation 2, verse 27. Revelation 2, verse 27. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken, just like I read from the psalm, shall they be broken to shivers even as I received in my father.

It is also stated something similar in Revelation 12, verse 5, and Revelation 19. 15. That rod will be based on the laws and statues and judgments of God. Go to Isaiah 2, verse 1. In Isaiah 2, verse 1, we'll see what will be the Constitution, what will be the rule, the rod, the staff, the authority that will govern the people. Now, as we have already noted, it will be enforced. You will have your teachers will not be removed in a corner if Egypt doesn't come up to keep the beasts of tabernacles or any nation.

And all flesh shall appear before me from one Sabbath to another. Now we are in Isaiah 2, verse 1. The word that Isaiah the son of Amaz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established from the top of the mountains, shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow into it.

And many people shall go and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He would teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people.

They shall beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. The government of God, the ruling by the rod of iron, will be based on the Ten Commandments. In the summary of the Ten Commandments, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and the second is light, and to it you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love, peace, and righteousness are going to reign supreme. Our High Priest Melchizedek, and one of the names of Melchizedek is the Prince of Righteousness and the Prince of Peace.

It's going to reign supreme. However, as we noted, the consequences for breaking God's immutable spiritual law will be administered. The people may not internalize the principles of righteousness, but they will not be allowed to disrupt God's social order, spiritual order, His authority, His word, His teaching. So, brethren, we are having our opportunity right now to live under the government of God and the Church age by choice.

There's no voice behind you saying this is the way except the word of God, the law of God, and God's ministers cry out, This is the way, walk you in it.

So be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever man soweth, that shall also reap. And, brethren, we want to reap the fruits of righteousness and peace forever and ever.