The Meaning of ‘Times’

Ron Weinland

Oct. 17, 2009

This sermon is a follow up to last Sabbath’s sermon which was the sermon given on the Last Great Day that was entitled ‘God’s Time’.  The sermon today is entitled The Meaning of ‘Times’  with this sermon focusing more fully upon the history and meaning of God’s revelation of ‘time, times and a half a time’.  So it’s important that we go back through and review some of these things because it’s difficult to put it all together and some have been doing that with charts and so forth, which is good because it puts a prod on us to get everything straight and it’s a challenge in some of this and I know it’s been difficult for some of you to do some of this and so, it’s good that we approach this subject in a different way than we did last Sabbath, because last Sabbath was more of an overview.  I wanted to cover as much material in history and bringing it all together as quickly into one sermon as possible and to leave that with you so that you could begin to digest it.  This Sabbath we’re going to go back and review some things and digest it a little more fully.  And hopefully be able to understand a little more of the thrust of exactly why these things are as they are and to get them more fully in our minds.

And so again, with this being on the website, again, I want to mention, since this is the introduction to the sermon here, and those who’ll be listening to the sermon later on – scattered and so forth and sometimes people come across these at different times that if you are following along in this sermon you are going to want to go to the website, the Church website, go to the publications section, click onto that and scroll down to the area where it says ‘The 50th Truth’ and in that section of ‘The 50thTruth’ where it says ‘save file’ or ‘download file’ or something of that nature, I can’t think exactly what it says... but right underneath that there’s another place where you can click onto it and it says ‘Time-line Chart’.  So that’s in the section with ‘The 50th Truth’ on the ‘Publications’ page of the Church website.  Click onto that and you’ll be able to download this chart and follow along in this sermon because it gets a little complicated because we’re dealing with some numbers and dates and it’s hard to keep all these dates straight – as a matter of fact last Sabbath my head was swimming a little bit.  That’s why I did this chart, because when you start going through all these dates and all the different times and so forth it puts you to the test – even in that sermon last Sabbath I had one day that was not totally right which I have to correct today, which is good because it forced me to look at and God to show and teach why certain things have to end the way they do and I think you’ll find that inspiring as we go along as well.  That’s what’s exciting about God’s way of life.  We’re ever growing, we’re ever learning and we go through certain things in order to go to the next step that He’s taking us to, of things where we don’t have the complete picture and He’s going to make something clearer to us – He’ll lead us through that process, just like the Feast of Tabernacles and what we’ve learned.  I think about the Feast of 2005 and all that God gave us in those sermons and, candidly, started giving us from the very trip we had in New Zealand all the way up through Days of Unleavened Bread – all the way through Pentecost, giving us a little bit more, preparing us for the Feast of Tabernacles so that when that came that year – then it was there.  But everything was getting clearer as we went along because I didn’t have those sermons in my mind for that Feast of Tabernacles.  I knew where God was leading us; just like the sermon on Melchezideck: I’ve mentioned it many a time... I didn’t have that until we were at the Feast, but I knew that God would give it at that time because that’s how He works.  I know that’s how He works with me – I’ve experienced that, I know exactly how God is doing those things and as He puts it in the mind, He even reveals at times how He’s going to reveal, how He’s going to give it, how He’s going to teach us.  So sometimes we just have to wait until He gives it and it’ll all be there.

It’s an exciting process to me how God works with us and teaches us and helps us to learn.  We’ve gone through a lot – even to learn this.  When you have these things more fully in your mind just like the sermons in 2005 at the Feast about Jesus Christ not eternally existing... if you understand the process of how God taught us, and how He’s taught us in so many ways, so many things at different times... when you’re able to look back now you can be in greater awe.  At the time you’re trying to drink it all in and we’re trying to unlearn some of the false things we had – striving to learn what is true, seeing things at different levels until it’s so deeply ingrained within us that by 2 years later you come across scriptures and you think, “how on earth could I have ever read that differently?”  Laura talked about a couple of scriptures here recently that popped out very powerfully so, that of ways of things that looks like we would have seen that.  But we didn’t.  They didn’t hit us in the same way, as powerfully as they did and this is how God works with us.  It’s ever learning, ever growing process and so it is with this.  As we go on and as you have this more deeply embedded in your mind, and as you see some of these things coming to pass – why the timing is as it is – what God has given to us now, it’s going to impact you in a very inspiring way.  It’s going to have a greater impact upon you just to see the process of how God led us through that to where we are – to the growth where we are and it’s obviously going to have a lot more inspiration and deep meaning to us than the world because the world can’t receive this.  The world can’t be moved and motivated by this, but what it does for us is build our faith, our strength, our boldness, our confidence in God and how He works with us as a group, as a Church, and individually.  It’s an inspiring thing.

So in last Sabbath’s sermon about God’s Time, we looked at how God established time from the very beginning of the 7 days of creation that led to the creation of mankind on the 6th day, and then of course resting on the 7th day and establishing the weekly Sabbath.  We discussed some of those things back in Genesis which I think it’d be good for us to go back and look at those verses again just to review them, to have them deeply imbedded in our mind.

We began in Genesis 1 to see that in the establishment of time God set up a calendar for mankind, for a keeping track of days and years.  That’s how verse 14 ends – it’s for keeping track of time – days and years.  That’s why it’s stated that way, but before that it states something a little differently.  He also stated that He established ‘times’ for the purpose of ‘appointed times’ such as the weekly Sabbath and the annual Holy Days and that He would use segments of time as ‘signs’ that He would give to mankind.  All for His purpose and His use.  That’s why those are stated there – not for our purpose and our use.  Yes, we use time, we count time, we do things with time, but this is something that God established for His purpose and His use.  He gave the calendar for days and years for us to keep track of time, to understand various things, but He gave the ‘signs’, and ‘appointed times’; something appointed from Him, that comes from Him, that He would give at different stages at life to mankind.

So let’s go back to Genesis 1 and read this again.  In a beginning/In the beginning God, speaking of Elohim here in this case, the words that’s used, created the heavens and the earth. He makes it very clear in many places, just as a review here – in Isaiah and other places, and even in chapter 2 that it was Yahweh Elohim that did this.  He makes it very clear who in the God Family, what of the God Family, because there’s nothing in the God Family except Yahweh at this time.  So again here, ...created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.  We understand what is being said.  It says in Isaiah that God did not create it in tohu and bohu, but now it says it was in that state.  So something happened – that’s how Mr. Armstrong came to understand something that took place here in the angelic realm when Satan rebelled and did what he did and what happened to the earth – that it was Satan’s doings and that the earth became that way because of his rebellion and we know, even by science that something happened to the earth.  They think something like a winter... an asteroid hit the earth and because of it a nuclear type winter occurred.  It was something similar to that, indeed, it happened instantaneously, it happened quickly – that’s why they have found Mammoths frozen that have grass in their mouth still.  It was an in instant and it happened worldwide and so we see that devastation, even in science and so that’s what happened in this transition – in a little short blurb here.  The world doesn’t understand that in verse 1 and verse 2 you have distinct differences of time – perhaps by millions and millions of years – when God first created everything that’s out there and the earth.  That’s what’s so awesome out here sometimes.  Someone was talking at the Feast about how incredible it is to think about things in the universe - that here they’re seeing a star that’s exploding in the universe, billions of light years away.  They have the light of that explosion that they’re seeing in a telescope; something that’s taking place and you think it’s already over with.  If it’s 4 billion light years away, it happened 4 billion years ago.  We can’t comprehend that – something that God allowed to happen at that period of time of something He did for whatever purpose and reason, we don’t understand... and yet the light of it is just now reaching the earth to where we are able to see it through a telescope.  Incredible... time.

Going on... And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.  They were already here!  The waters were here.  The world reads this and they think this is the creation of everything that is there – no, no, no, no, it was already here. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. It was already out there, it’s just it couldn’t reach the earth.  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.  And so everything was set in it’s proper rotation here for what we’re building up to. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Verse 14 - And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs. I never understood that before.  What do you mean by signs?  ...in that respect, to this degree, in the sense of what is being revealed here in its full intent.  Ideas?  Yes. Different things?  Yes... but not to the degree of what we’re understanding now...and for seasons,  that word ‘appointed times’ as we read back in Leviticus 23 – that word that’s used to make it very clear that God set up the Sabbath, because by the 7th day He’d already started a process here for appointed times beginning with the Sabbath day.  And then He revealed things about appointed times in Leviticus, not just the weekly Sabbath, but the annual Sabbaths.  So all those things are there.  And then it says and for days, and years: just for the counting of time.

And so again, pointed out that ‘appointed times’ in Leviticus 23 – awesome to understand some of those words and how they’re used and what God is giving.

Then it was pointed out how that in Daniel 12:7 when the term ‘time, times and a half’ was given; that the word for ‘time, times’ was the same as that used in Leviticus 23 and the one in Genesis 1:14 here ‘appointed times’.  Awesome!  All these years, and I am one who generally looks up words.  I generally look at Greek and Hebrew and different words and verses continually, it’s been my habit for years and if I ever looked at this one here, the light didn’t go on.  It never clicked.  And you know, it won’t until its God’s time.  You can look at something and see something and have it not mean anything until God gives the meaning.  It’s an awesome thing to understand.  Anyway, it was time for the light to go on.   And so to come to this point in time and realize that this is the same word?!  ‘Appointed times’ that’s used in Leviticus 23?  That God established something here, His ‘time, times and a half’ is something that He has appointed, He is giving it, it’s from Him for a specific use and purpose!  Awesome!  But what does it all mean?

I’ll just back up a little bit here.  This is how God leads us because we have to address certain things and ask why and we don’t have the full picture until God gives us a full picture.  But I was impacted very deeply by what happened in Toronto and the timing of various things and what God was doing and where we are and just as we always do, wanting to know what does this mean?  And at that time, and thankful I even had some numbers mixed up because it was then that I realized this is not right... ‘time, times and a half’ at that point in time – I believed to be as we have always believed it to be – was 3½ years – a time was a year – 360 days, a time and then times was 2 years - 720 days... and then the 180 days behind that as a half a year.  And so that’s what we have believed as ‘time, times and a half a time’.  We’ve always believe that.  The one in Revelation and the one here in Daniel.

So anyway, that was in my mind at that time and I was trying to understand it in that context and realized this doesn’t fit and yet from that moment on I knew that God was going to show something here by the Feast of Tabernacles and even by the Last Great Day – the meaning of ‘time, times and half a time’.  I had no idea what it was, but I knew it was coming because of other things that have happened and how God works, that this subject was to be addressed, and I had no idea where it was leading.  I truly didn’t.  And it wasn’t until later that this thing about ‘appointed times’ being the word in Daniel – and well, that’s an awesome thing!  What does that mean?  You can’t help but understand when you see something like that for the first time – this has incredible significance.  Why would God choose to use a word like that for ‘time, times and a half a time’, something so important that’s given in Leviticus, something so important that’s given back in Genesis that’s from Him to mankind but now what does it mean.  I don’t know if it’s awesome to you, but it’s awesome to me because I’ve gone through the process and we’ve all gone through it really.

God was revealing that this period for ‘time, times and a half’ was an established time that He had determined for the end-time – literally: very powerfully so.  That it was an established time that He had determined for the end-time, because that’s what Daniel is all about.  The whole story of Daniel, everything that God gave to Daniel was about kingdoms that were going to exist on this earth.  Maybe some of you remember that telecast which was really inspiring where all of a sudden you saw this cubed object come out of the heavens and it smashed the statue at the feet and it came crumbling down – the Kingdom of God, and the examples and the analogies of those things that were pictured in Daniel’s mind – given to Daniel of these 4 great kingdoms of the earth that in time were all going to be destroyed, that one kingdom would take over another and we would go through this process over time... that last kingdom being the Roman Empire and that at the end then this cube would come down and strike this thing at its feet, the clay and the iron mixed together, and it would crumble... all the kingdoms of the earth would crumble.  It was about God’s Kingdom coming to this earth and that’s the whole story of the revelations of things given to Daniel.  It’s about the Kingdom of God coming down to this earth, when God is going to establish it, and by chapter 12, God gets down to the nitty gritty and starts plugging in some of the timing.  And He talks about ‘appointed times’ that Daniel... My oath, My promise to you that is being given through this angelic being is this... certain things are going to happen and in ‘time, times and a half’ it’ll be finished, it’ll be over.  That object that you saw that struck the statue’s feet and destroyed it will be completed.  God’s Kingdom will be established then on the earth.  That’s what it was all about.  Inspiring!  ...When you understand the whole story of what God is revealing and what God is giving.

So again, it was an established time that He, God, had determined for the end-time.  He is the one who appointed it for a specific use and purpose at the end-time here and that this period would involve the final events that would lead to the ushering in of the Kingdom of God on earth as I’ve just mentioned.

But there was another important revelation in Genesis 1 concerning God’s establishment of time to be used for appointed times and that’s the one in the expression in Genesis 1:14 that we just read that states: let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs and for appointed times.  And so in addition to the incredible meaning of the word for seasons, here again actually being appointed times, there is another word as we spoke about last week that is extremely important to understand and it’s this word for signs.  It is good to review these things and to have them more deeply imbedded in our mind.  This word in Hebrew literally means ‘a signal in the sense of appearing’, in other words the ability to see something, a signal, a sign, ‘to see as a sign’ that God would give because it has to do with time.  You’re able to see it.  There’s something that’s revealed in time that you’re able to witness and see and it carries also with it the meaning of ‘token’, as a token from God, ‘as evidence’, more powerfully so even ‘as evidence from God’.  God uses time to show certain things as evidence of His word being true – that He brings certain things to pass exactly as He says, exactly in the time He says.  It’s awesome, it’s powerful, and so when God says it – it shows His great glory, His great power to deal with mankind, to deal with time, to deal with situations in such a way as to mould and fashion so perfectly, so meticulously so that something is done exactly to the moment, to the hour.

I think of different things in the scripture.  430 years to the day. Awesome things that God has done through time in showing that this is His evidence.  In other words, “I’m the one that’s doing this,” God says, “I am the one fulfilling these things.  I am the one that’s bringing these things to pass.  Be in awe of me.”  That’s what God is saying.  “Understand My great power, My great might, the glory that I have.”  That’s what God is saying.  And so we are moved by those things.  We are in awe of those things as we grow and as we learn and God is showing some very powerful things at the end of the age of mankind.

And so again, the appointed times of the Holy Days are God’s signs and evidence; tokens from Him to mankind.  Do you realize that?  Even His appointed times – they are God’s token, His signs of things He’s going to fulfill.  The 7th day Sabbath...7 days... He’s going to bring it all to pass.  6000 years for man, another 1000 God’s... 7000 years, so when it’s all said and done God’s going to do it to the exact moment in time.  Awesome!  Something that is going to exist, that’s going to be, that’s going to come to pass.

The exact timing of Passover, as an example, is evidence.  The exact timing of Passover is evidence and a sign from God concerning the identity of Jesus Christ.  From the appointed time of the Passover to its actual fulfillment.  We’re given the Passover here as an appointed time.  When you read Leviticus 23, it’s an appointed time.  The Sabbath is an appointed time.  The Holy Days are an appointed time that God commands and He gives to us, but they are also signs and there are times of fulfillment for them.  So Passover... when did that take place?  When did all that happen?  Was it a sign?  Absolutely, of the power of God that exactly on that day, the meaning of it would come to pass at a specific moment in history, a specific moment in time – a very powerful sign.  Even going beyond that if you look from the appointed time of the Passover to its actual day of fulfillment – even beyond that – Christ gave a sign, as we talked about last Sabbath, of the only proof that He was the Messiah, that He was the Christ and that He would be in the heart of the earth, the grave, for 3 days and 3 nights – exactly to the day, to the hour, to the moment.  Incredible!

And on the appointed time of Pentecost... God also used Pentecost as a sign; as evidence.  Look what He did: children of Israel in the wilderness on the Day of Pentecost – He gives His law.  Evidence of His great power, the power to bring things to pass in His plan and purpose – everything is going to have fulfillment and so it is... it is literally a time set aside, it’s an appointed time, but God gives evidence that He’s going to bring to pass His plan in the meaning of those days.  That’s why days are so important.  That’s why the meaning of Trumpets is so important and now for us to understand even more how beautiful it is that God would choose the time of a resurrection of 144,000 and the return of Christ to be on a specific day that has greater meaning.  Evidence.  Evidence of appointed times.  And also, on Pentecost In 31 A.D. God poured out His spirit upon the Church and the Church began.  Evidence.  Evidence; very powerfully so, on that day of the power in Pentecost, of the meaning of Pentecost.  And so over and over again, not just appointed time, but God gives evidence and that’s how signs and appointed times work together for things through time.

And so the fulfillment of God’s Holy Days will serve as signs, as evidence of the true word of God and of His power and glory to bring to pass all that He has promised.  It’s what these things are about.  The power to bring to pass everything He says.  His word is true, what He promises will come to pass and people have experienced those things through time.  I think also of that which is so glaring, so obvious to us...God also appointed a time of 40 years.  That’s where we begin to learn about 40 as being a time of judgement from God, as having to be an important number in judgement; that’s God’s judgement.  And we see that with Israel, that they were to remain in the wilderness as a sign... a sign... was it 40 years?  Absolutely it was.  40 years – a sign – absolutely.  His judgement – absolutely.  That’s what we’re to learn from it – about His judgement upon them for their disobedience and then the fulfillment of His promise to bring them into the physical promised land, because that’s what followed.  That’s what He promised in the beginning and then He promised because of their disobedience that there would be a judgement upon them and He’s still going to bring them in the promised land as soon as that judgement is fulfilled. Awesome.  So 40 years of judgement with the deliverance that followed was a great sign – evidence of the true words of God.  See, the more we get this into our minds, a sign of the true evidence of God – this ‘time, times and a half a time’ is going to mean a whole lot more when it’s finished because I don’t know all that’s going to take place, but I know it’s going to be an awesome thing to go through and to experience.  Things that God is going to reveal and things that God is going to give and things that God has brought us to at this point in time.

Let’s go on to Daniel 12:7 now and read that verse again because now we find ourselves in the times spoken of by Daniel in verse 7, it’s good that we go back and review this.  Things are timely.  This is where we are in time.  We’re already in it.  We thought we were in it a while back but that’s how we learn, that’s how we grow, and we do it humbly so.  I think about things that Mr. Armstrong talked about...if we don’t see certain things when He brings us... even when it comes to correction, whatever it is in time, we’ll come to see it and you know what God’s people do?  They follow God.  They’re going to change accordingly; they’re going to do whatever it means to follow God, but the world doesn’t understand that.  The world finds fault with...I think of... I think of those who used to write about everything Mr. Armstrong did, tore it apart, tried to find fault in it; they’re still doing it to this day but they just don’t and can’t understand.    We can.  It’s an awesome thing.

Daniel 12:7 - And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, this is an awesome thing that took place – an angelic being standing there that he was able to see; at least that’s what we understand to this point in time.  And it says, and he swore by Him, awkward Hebrew translation because it’s better stated that it was given as an oath from God.  It’s an oath from God: that’s what he’s saying here – this is an oath from God – this is the true word of God; that’s what he’s telling Daniel – not only the true word of God, but it’s an oath that God is giving in His word.  Remember in Hebrews when it talks about, ‘by two immutable things what God has done’?  That its ‘impossible for God to lie’...some of the unstated part there is when He gives an oath, it’s impossible for Him to lie.  It’s absolute.  See?  It doesn’t even state it all – it doesn’t even have to state it all because by saying that as it does, we understand; we comprehend what the two things are.

Going on here, who lives forever, in other words, it’s from the Eternal God, from Yahweh, that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; something’s going to happen at the end here when it’s all said and done that it’s going to be a for appointed time, two appointed times, if you understand how this works, time, times and a half, and a half of that – half of a time. And so it goes on to say, and when He shall have accomplished, again, very awkward translation because it is not what it says in Hebrews – that is man’s interpretation of what it’s saying.  It makes it difficult sometimes when you read things in the English and you read something like that and you think then that God is causing something to exist here and that He is doing all this and there are things that God allows, but the very word here – this whole expression, when He shall have accomplished, is the same word as finished at the end of the verse here.  They are the exact same Hebrew words, and yet it’s easy to read something into this, what is being said and so when they translate they don’t understand what God is saying, they don’t understand the truths of God, they don’t understand the plan of God and so there are some things, especially in prophecy that are not well translated, they really aren’t.  If they’d just use exactly what was there, they’d have been better off, but then they wouldn’t understand it.  They think they understand this this way.

It basically gets talking about when certain things are finished, are accomplished, concerning the scattering of the power of the holy people then all of these things shall be finished.  All of what things?  Everything that God has revealed to Daniel.  When this cube comes down out of the sky, smashes the statue at its feet, destroys all nations of the earth, and God’s Kingdom is established – that’s when it’s all finished.  That’s the end, that’s the beginning of God’s Kingdom on the earth.  Before that there is going to be a period of time of ‘time, times and a half’ and up to that point in time there’s going to be another great thing that takes place and there are types of things that are accomplished through time.  We have gone through many scatterings in time, if you want to look at literal scatterings.  You know, physical Israel went through a scattering, dispersed on the earth, or scattered on the earth.  We relate really well with that because we think of what we went through as a Church, and so a type for us is that we were scattered and we relate to that, but there’s a greater fulfillment of this.  Through time if you understand what it’s talking about here, of how God’s people have been treated, the things that God’s people have had to go through thru time...for 6000 years, the things that they have had to address in their lives.  A word here that means ‘dispersed’ or ‘broken’.  It’s kind of like the one in Revelation that is translated as beheaded, for those who were beheaded, and the word means ‘cut off’, how we’re cut off from the world, how we’re different from the world, how we’re oppressed by the world, how the world comes down on us of how... what does that do to you?  ...and the battles you go through.  Well, it’s literally the way God’s given to us to be moulded and fashioned – because of that stress, it’s because of that pressure that the world around you... you know that you’re different: it attacks, it seeks to destroy, it makes things difficult, it makes things hard.  You miss flights, flights are cancelled... those are small things, but we learn to laugh at those because we learn to expect it.  Problems with the internet -eh, c’est la vie, so what, let them have their little fun, the perverted little minds, you know, so what!  We just roll with the punches.  God is with us, we’re going to continue forward, things are going to work out, you just take it in stride and you keep battling until it’s over with.  And so we fight and we battle and our strength comes from God.

I think of things that Mr. Armstrong went through.  I think of how the analogy was given toward the end of his life – how that sometimes rather than being destroyed in one fell swoop, or attacked in one fell swoop, which they can’t do anyway, that what they strive to do is... the example was given of a big bull, an ox.  Think about some of these huge oxen and how wolves will come along and slowly but surely try to wear it out, try to wear it down, just keep fighting and that’s how we feel sometimes, and the only way we survive and make it is God gives us strength to continue on.  They may try to wear us out, they may try to wear us down but the power is God’s.  And it’s a part of what it’s talking about here.  It’s talking about what God’s people have gone through in time and a dispersing, or a breaking, trying to break us down, of that which has been pressing on us from the very beginning of time.  We go through a lot, but what the spirit world doesn’t understand is that this is the very process whereby God makes us stronger.  If we didn’t go through these things... you know, I look at people’s live at different times and I hurt for people – what they have to go through.  There are times when I’d like to intervene and address certain things and do certain things within the Church but I don’t because God doesn’t.  It’s like the millennium.  He’s not going to be tapping on everybody’s shoulder every time they get ready to sin.  He’s not going to tap on everyone’s shoulder and correct everything as it happens to make people do the right thing because there are choices and it’s because through that pressure is how you grow... its how we mature.  If you didn’t have those things happen to you and God solved your problems as you’re going through it, then you wouldn’t be able to address things in your life and be able to make the changes that need to be made.  And because sometimes we go through certain things it forces us to examine things more closely so that we can see our selves, how we can better address things and deal with things in life and it puts a lot of pressure on us, truly does.  A lot of pressure.

A part of Daniel is a story of a point in time when this all ends.  ...blessed are those who come to the 1335 day.  We came to understand what it meant about a sealing.  An end of a period of time of oppression, of hardship, of pressure, of that pressure cooker for God’s people.  There are others who are going to live into a new age who are still going through some of that pressure cooker now, but the world is going to be made a whole lot better soon.  But we still have things we’re going to have to fight and deal with aren’t we?  Our human nature... it’s always going to be there.

Beautiful pictures of the things God gives to us sometimes and that’s what it’s discussing here because it’s about the holy people.  It’s about the holy people of God, through time, those that God has worked with, through time.  It hasn’t been easy.  It has been hard, it’s been difficult: but because we are cut off from the world, because we’re different from the world and because we are truly on the opposite end with this world – going a different way, not going down the stream with the rest of the world, we’re going upstream, we’re fighting against the current – and we do that and because of that, through that very process God makes us stronger.  And so, again, that which is in us; that which we are, our pride, what normally would have been our own personal power, our own personal strength – has to change to where it’s God’s strength and that which is within us has to be taken out of us.  And so we go through many things – those things have to change in order to be, indeed, God’s holy people.  And so for 6000 years... that’s why the 144,000 are unique and different from the rest that will come into God’s family and why the government of God is a foundation there that’s unique to God and God’s plan and purpose and what He’s establishing.

It says basically when this is finished, then the rest will be finished.  And isn’t that the story of Daniel?  That’s exactly what the story of Daniel is.  He starts out by breaking it down... 1335, 1290 and we just keep going through the process here until we come to understand ‘time, times and a half a time’ and that’s where we are.

So in all of this there is specific timing that is revealed to Daniel as to when and to how all will be finished, fulfilled – because that’s what the word means.  When it’s finished, when it’s fulfilled – when God’s people have gone through all they needed to go through to be fulfilled... what is that about?  What is being fulfilled?  What’s the greatest thing being fulfilled?  That thing that’s described as a cube that’s coming out of heaven to smash the feet of all the kingdoms of the earth; to destroy it; God’s Kingdom – what’s it made up of?  God’s holy people, the Kingdom of God, the temple of God, 144,000 and Jesus Christ at its head.  Awesome!  See?  When that’s finished; when God’s work is finished in them – to bring them to who they are, to what they are, then things’ll take place and then it will all be  accomplished, it’ll be finished.  That’s what the words mean themselves.  Very beautiful when we understand a flow of things that indeed are given here.

What’s first in order? 144,000 – The 1335 days – when they’re sealed and this ended the time of Laodicea.  So the first in order that Daniel gives is things that must take place of events and timing because it’s not all answered here, this is a quick thing that God gives as an oath and He said things that are going to be accomplished and then He goes on to say... to break it down and to show in the verses that follow the process of breaking it down.  And so God has led us through that whole entire process and the first in order here was the 1335 days when the 144,000 were sealed.  We came up to a point in time here of certain things that have taken place.

To me, it’s an inspiring thing to understand when God says that there is going to be a certain amount of time here and that there’s going to be a period of time that certain ones are going to be blessed – that come to a certain time.  And that’s because we’ve come to understand what it means in Revelation that certain ones are sealed and waiting.  And so again, I’ve mentioned before and I don’t know that we all understand this: that’s when Laodicea ended, we’re not in the Laodicea era anymore.  It ended on Trumpets of 2008.  It was over with then.  Everything that happened concerning the 144,000 was fulfilled on that day.  It’s accomplished.  God’s work is accomplished to that point in time.  All the oppression, all the hardship, all the difficulty of things that people have gone through... doesn’t mean it’s over with because you know what?  God continues to mould and fashion because we’re still human beings.  There are things we can still be moulded and fashioned in and He knows us.  He knows what we’re going to go through in time here, the different experiences we’re going to have and how He’s going to put the finishing touches of things on us, but as far as being in His Kingdom, as far as being a part of His Family, and not only that, but being in a specific place – that’s all planned out for the 144,000.  Just because people live on and continue to live on – that doesn’t change anything.  God knows... just like He said to Abraham, “Now I know you.”  But Abraham lived on and God continued to mould and fashion things in Abraham for the future! ...for a plan and purpose that He had.  And so He’s doing that even now, but as far as a timing was concerned – this was a major timing of the end-time here, of what has been taking place concerning God’s government and concerning the Laodicea Church:  that we entered into a new period of time, a period of time that now is about the Church for the future.  Their main battle is still going to be Laodicea through time, as we’ve talked about in sermons, and during the millennium.  But again, to understand that a new period of time has started because God is finished with one and so people are being drawn and called into the Church – and it’s not to fulfill any of this; it’s not to be a part of this; part of God’s government – it’s to be a part of a future government that’s going to be added to God’s government as time goes along: that which will come out of, through the millennial period.  So it’s an awesome plan; an awesome thing that God is accomplishing and doing and so the Church continues on and people are continually being drawn into the Church, but their purpose for God’s government is for another time, see?  And so we’ve already started into that.  We’re not there in the millennium yet, but everyone that’s being drawn – that’s what God is drawing you into – those of you who are going to live on into that period of time; those of you being drawn now – that’s the period of time He’s calling you into – a new age – to be a part of a new era, a new group of people.  Unique in time.

And so again, Laodicea was over.  It’s ended as far as the end-time is concerned.  Everything that God said about Laodicea ended.  Awesome to understand that.  The timing is very specific from Daniel.

And the second matter in order that follows is the 1290 days which concerns the opening of the 7th Seal as God has given by revelation to His end-time prophet.  That’s exactly how it came.  There’s no other way to receive it.  And so again, it’s a matter of 1290 days and understanding the meaning of that which took place on November 14th, 2008 and the beginning of a process that started and we understand some things about that 30 minutes of silence.  30 prophetic days, 30 prophetic minutes if you will.

So thirdly here, God reveals a final number that is in sequence in the end-time that’s about the revelation of His two witnesses whose job of witnessing will last for 1260 days.

We see and understand those dates and that timing for the end-time that leads up to the return of Jesus Christ on Pentecost of 2012.  Nothing has changed there.  Nothing is changing there.  That is it.  2012 – Pentecost.  But on the Last Great Day of this year God revealed even more concerning the oath that He gave concerning His appointed times for the end-time and that He promised in prophecy that was given to Daniel.  His oath contains the evidence, the sign, which will be given through time of what will be given through what He reveals in ‘time, times and a half’ because that’s what God’s giving as His sign, as His evidence that His word is true and what He has said will come to pass.  We’re going to see some awesome things accomplished and done during this period of time – the time that leads to all being finished, accomplished, just as He promised – when the Kingdom of God will be here.

So what was given on the Last Great Day is the revelation of the meaning of the period of ‘time’ in Daniel.  The period for a ‘time’ is not one year, it is not 360 days, it is 280 days.  That’s the meaning.  It’s 280 days.  So ‘times’ is twice that which equals 560 days, and ‘half a time’ is 140 days.  The entire period of ‘time, times and a half’ is 980 days – not 1260, although, isn’t that an amazing thing to understand something... that all these years that we believed it was 1260 days, in actuality as far as the time span, that’s how long it is, but not to understand God’s plan and how He’s performing it.  We haven’t understood that and so God’s just letting us know and learn more: that He wants the world to see; that He wants the world to understand why things have happened exactly as they have happened.  That’s why no evidence of fulfillment has been given to date concerning what will occur during the final 980 days – that’s why nothing has been given and seen as evidence.

We see Thunders, we see things taking place... we see certain things even concerning the 1st Trumpet, but the world doesn’t see it nor believe it...especially now because of what God did during this 280 day period – because they feel like – “Oh, it’s getting back up there now – look, we hit 10,000 this last week.”  Unemployment is still 500,000 a month, going down the tubes, but it’s like it’s getting better, you know.  False hopes, false dreams – that which man builds upon – incredible!

But again, nothing of great fulfillment could be manifested before because none of the final events of the 7th Seal can occur until this final period of time – that we just happened to be in now – that just started.  It started after Trumpets of this year.  And so, again, as God states and divides it in what is called ‘time, times and a half’.

So why did God reveal that the length of 280 days is what establishes the measurement of time that He has given for the meaning of the period of time as given in Daniel for ‘time, times and a half’?  Well, when the 1st Seal of Revelation was opened; when the end-time began as outlined in the opening of the 7 Seals of Revelation first starting with prophecies regarding the Church, there was a period of 280 days that followed, that revealed the man of sin to the Church – that was God’s sign.  280 days – as evidence of His judgement.  It’s powerful to understand that and we’ve never had a period exactly like that until the end-time – and amazing!  ...with the 1st Seal!  Starting with the 1st Seal so that we could learn something from this, so we... so God could bring us to understanding through time; so we could be inspired about what God brings to pass.  Others can mock and make fun of it as much as they want – I feel sorry for them.  Nothing is changing; it’s still coming.  I just am thankful to God for His mercy, truly.

So this revealed God’s sign for judgement upon the ‘man of sin’... that was our first learning, our first teaching, our first training, our first beginning of understanding of something that God was using here as a matter of judgement, as a matter of evidence that He was going to give of something He is doing, that He’s directly involved in.  It was God’s judgement of punishment that was to be upon the ‘man of sin’.  This might be good if we look at the graph now as I think this is a good exercise to go through some of this to help get it more deeply in our minds.

On the 1st chart here you’ll see Dec 17, 1994 and Sept 23, 1995 because from December 17th it was 280 days later that the man of sin died, to the day and to the hour.  7 X 40.  And we came to learn something from that as well. 7 X 40 is God’s judgement.  The children of Israel – God’s judgement and 7... how appropriate, how incredible... the one (Tkach) who tried to turn things away and a number that’s used for that which is complete – the 7 days, the 7000 years, complete.  It’s a number that’s used for something that is complete in a very powerful way, it has greater meaning to it.  And the number 40 – judgement, and how appropriate, again, for the ‘man of sin’ who tried to turn the Church away from the 7th Day Sabbath.  Incredible what God did!

Exactly to the Sabbath, to the same time of day – he died.  Incredible.  God’s judgement upon the ‘man of sin’.  That was the beginning of our learning – of understanding that God was giving something as evidence of what He did – of His judgement.  It’s a good lesson, but we couldn’t put it all together yet.

So again...

And that’s why I mention last Sabbath and today to get a little more specific and a little more to the point – because this is what it is... from December 17th and those 280 days to Sept 23rd if you will, to that Sabbath was 280 days.

Now beginning with the next day that follows, September 24, 1995 to May 30 – up to the day of Pentecost, up to that day... May 30, 1998 was a ‘time, times and a half a time’ for God’s Church.  It’s the use of the phrase as mentioned in Revelation.  It’s not 3½ years.  It’s exactly what the definition is in Daniel; it’s the same period of time and I believe with all my being as God has given it that this was the time referred to in Revelation 12:14 where God said for that period of time He gave protection upon the Church in order to re-establish it.  Because those of you who went through that, you remember what took place and a ‘flood’, because that’s the picture in Revelation, a ‘flood’ Satan cast out upon the Church and we went through so much for so many months as a Church.  We were scattered all over the place, all over the world.  It didn’t happen on Dec. 17th.  It started on that day – a flood out of Satan’s mouth upon the Church.  God gave him the power and the freedom to have free reign to exercise these things through doctrine, through teaching, through those that were being worked with already – starting with Mr. Tkach, because He was the one who was placed in the seat of authority over the Church and God allowed it to be so.  He didn’t prevent it.  He allowed it to be so to let people go their own course, to show what people can do even with the impregnation of God’s spirit; how you can turn your back on God, how you can begin to fall asleep spiritually, how you can come to a point in time where you quit fighting your own battles and fighting yourself and fighting against your own nature and begin to kind of coast.  That’s what lukewarm means.  You coast.  You go through the motions of religion, but you’re not changing!  You’re not addressing things in your life!  You’re not trying to change who you are!  The day we cease to change who we are is the day we stop growing!  And you can’t grow under those conditions; under a Laodicean kind of spirit.  A lethargic complacent spirit.  We become complacent and we don’t fight self.  You’ve always got to fight self.

That’s why I said on the Last Great Day what I did and throughout the Feast at different times – to all who are new.  Don’t think these things can’t happen to you.  Don’t shake your head and think that I just don’t understand how people could have done these things because if you were there you would have done it as well!  Don’t ever let yourself get lifted up with how great you think you are!  ...or how much you think you know!  Don’t ever let that happen to you – because I see it happening in the Church with new people – see?  And that’s understandable because that’s human nature.  But that’s the message that’s going to be given throughout the millennium.  Don’t let that happen to you!  Ask God to reveal to you what you are, who you are.  God says you can’t know your own heart and mind.  He says it’s deceitful, desperately wicked.  Oh, we don’t think our hearts deceitful above all things and desperately wicked... well, if you don’t believe that then you’re calling God a liar!  It’s like saying “God, you’re a liar!  I’m not like that.  I can see other people who are a little bit like that – but not me!  My heart is not desperately wicked.  I like to do good things.  I like to treat people nicely and I get upset when people don’t treat somebody nicely.”  And we don’t understand how badly sometimes we treat people; see, because we think we’re good.  God says we’re not.  And we finally come to a point in time when we see it in ourselves more deeply.

Ask God to open up the cesspool a little bit, to open up the manhole cover that’s running full of sewage below so you can get a great big whiff of it; but ask Him to be merciful to you so He’ll shut it again and so you can breathe and live, because if you saw everything all at one time, you couldn’t survive.  You’d become so depressed you wouldn’t continue to fight the fight.  If you could truly see your human nature, to the degree it’s taken me 40+ years to see mine... if I saw it all at once, if I really could have seen it... and God could have shown it.  He could of put it right there in my mind to see it all – I wouldn’t have tried.  I can’t tell you how often I am so thankful that God inspired Paul to write what He wrote, “oh wretched man that I am...” because if he hadn’t have told the rest of the story, I wouldn’t be able to see how God can save me because of what I see in my human nature – the selfishness of human nature.  I hate, I loathe selfishness.  And as I’ve mentioned in the past that can be a damaging thing too, you have to be careful of that knowledge because if we see it in ourselves... oh boy can we see it in others too and that’s where we have to be careful – see?  Because they don’t understand what you understand; they don’t see what you see...and you can’t take it out upon them.  You can’t judge them in the same way, see?  And that puts a challenge on you as one of God’s children, it truly does.

We’ve gone through a lot and we have to go through a lot to get to where we’re going and we have to recognize that we have a continual battle in front of us to fight, to change, to conquer, to overcome, and so going back to this period of time of thinking what happened...  During that 280 days that followed what Mr. Tkach did, the Church went through so much, but we were so weak!  We were cut off from God!  Every one of us, when this happened on that day we were already cut off from God.  God spewed us out of His mouth.  That was it!  Spiritually!  Cut off from the flow of God’s spirit just like the Church that’s scattered out there today.  They have the impregnation of God’s spirit... incredible to understand this, but cut off from the flow and growth in their life – stagnant, dormant, until God revives it – in His time and His choosing, which He has the power to do, which we have evidence in the Church of God – which we couldn’t understand these things if we hadn’t already experienced and witnessed these things.  It’s like what happened in the very beginning of the Church as the gospel was going out, not to just Jews, now it’s going out to the whole world – all other peoples in the world and then they had to acknowledge – God’s doing this.  When God gives evidence of things you’ve got to acknowledge it and you better learn from it.  If you don’t – well, you’re out.  So we’ve learned from it through this process.

For 280 days we went through a lot and it was a time of judgement – not just upon the ‘man of sin’, but upon the entire Church because of what we did.  We were all guilty.  It shook us, startled us, caused us to begin a process of repentance, but God saw it through for the entire period of time and allowed to transpire what had to transpire and we had to make decisions of different things and we were tried through that period of time as to what we would do and slowly but surely we began to get back on track.  Slowly but surely, some began to respond to God in different groups in different areas out here – being humbled by what had taken place and starting a process of repentance and acknowledging sins, and a need to get back into a right relationship with God – because we were shaken to our core.  The Sabbath, the Holy Days were almost taken from us but we were doing it really at that point in time at a very physical way, relying upon our own abilities and so forth that God allowed us to experience and go through.  But we finally came to a point in time where He gave us protection – where He said no more; because if Satan were allowed to continue to go on with the other Seals that followed...?!  We’d have all been destroyed.  None of us could have survived.  But slowly, as we responded to God He brought us to repentance; He drew us to repentance depending on how we responded to Him and His purpose for us and His calling.  It’s His calling, it’s His doing.  He began to awaken people from that spiritual sleep and bring us to a point in time where He said, “for a ‘time, times and a half’ you’re going to have protection from Satan.”  Why?  So you can become strong again.  So you could become fully grounded again, so that His spirit can begin to work within us again, so we can get back on track again and it was going to take a ‘time, times and a half a time’ 980 days to do this.  I’m moved and inspired by this because it brings us up to Pentecost, May 30, 1998 – the time where I believe with all my being God had re-established the Church under one body once again – the first Feast we had was in 1998.  We then began to plan ahead.  We began to do things that we couldn’t do the year before, we weren’t ready, we weren’t there yet.  We couldn’t stand up yet.  We hadn’t come to those choices and those decisions to say, we’re going to do what we have to do to follow God – regardless of what everybody else thinks out here.  The last thing I wanted to do or be was a small little group out here, a little splinter group and all the reputation that so many of these little splinter groups had.  I did not want to go down that road; I resisted for a time – ‘time, times and a half a time’... we weren’t strong enough.  I wasn’t strong enough and I had to go through a lot of things to bring me to that point and that time because when you start planning for the Feast, you have to plan a little ways ahead and by this time, of all days to choose, that God gave... Pentecost.  He started His body again in the sense of working through one group; before that we were all scattered in different areas in different places and slowly but surely God began to draw us back together as a remnant and began to work with us.  It’s an awesome story; an awesome thing to have experienced – that God did.

And so again, we didn’t understand all of that.  I’ve always believe that it was a particular date, but I believed it because of 1260 days, which works out too from the time of the beginning of the apostasy, but I didn’t understand the matter of judgement – that it was on Mr. Tkach... and upon us, and that finally God intervened.  Two wings of a great eagle that protected us from Satan so we could be re-established once again, so that we could begin to be shown certain doctrines again and become grounded, starting with the Passover – that’s the one God led us to first.  What an awesome thing to understand.  The major thing that God led us to in the beginning, to fight this fight, to become strong in, was a matter of Passover being on the 14th – and He gave us more understanding.  He gave us more than we’d been given before.  We came to understand ‘bane ha erebyim’ you know, ‘between the two evenings’, what it meant.  From sunset to sunset – duh!  We didn’t grasp what God was saying about Passover – that it’s fulfilled – not just the night time portion, but in the daytime portion and that what Jesus Christ fulfilled fits into everything that happened on that day in Israel, in the sacrificial system and as they prepared for the sacrifices that were going to be offered upon the altar at sundown... amazing!  And so we’ve had to learn things about our Passover.

Then He led us to Pentecost – one doctrine after another – amazing!  I am truly in awe of what God does and how He moulds and fashions us because it’s His doings.  We can’t do it.  He does it.  It’s a matter of our yielding ourselves to the process.

An important part of history to understand what happened to us and only by God’s protection did we come to a point in time where we could be established as one body now, and under one government within the Church – one Church – as it’s always been.  Before that we were still scattered, of the things that we’d gone through and what we experienced. So again...

That’s what led to understanding of the 50th Truth – was this thing right here – God kept bringing it back and finally we began to understand more, see?  God doesn’t just put all the truth in your mind all at one moment.  Sometimes He does.  Sometimes there’ll be a verse, a chapter or whatever and (snap) there it is, but as He’s teaching and leading us and guiding us into certain things, He gives a little bit at a time because it’s like building blocks, just like we all go through and He adds a little bit more and it’s like how Mr. Armstrong talked about a puzzle: you put the pieces in the right place and it gets clearer, the picture get’s clearer.

We’re going to go on here about the 280 days as it’s revealed in the timing of the 50th Truth just to take us through a part of this now...   We’ve been brought up to a period of time where, again, it started with where God put the 280 days in my mind.  It wasn’t a matter of Trumpets, the importance of Trumpets.  It wasn’t a matter of the 1335 days.  It wasn’t a matter of any of those days, it was the 280 days and I had no understanding.  What on earth does this mean?  So slowly but surely it all unfolded and things about Trumpets and things about Pentecost and what God was revealing – because that was the farthest thing from my mind as it was from yours – that Jesus Christ is going to return on Pentecost?  Anyway, it’s what it led to understanding of those things and the timing involved in those things.

And so, just to make a long story short, beginning with Dec. 25, 2007, we have a period of time of 280 days that leads up to Trumpets.  It doesn’t include that day, but it leads right up to it.

The day that follows is a High Day of God, a Holy Day, when an announcement is going to be made – announcements are going to be given – officially by God if you will.  That’s how it’s given: as a sign for us to understand as evidence of something that God says to us is taking place but primarily this is to Satan, to a demonic world that it’s starting, that your time has come to an end.  This is it.  Now there’s going to be a transition in government and yours is going to be taken from you and that which you have mocked and that which you have brought to be the epitome of your mocking, the height of your mocking of God – Christmas... because it is.  See, Christmas has gone through transitions in time and we were talking about it at the Feast, how that the picture of Santa Claus today, it came from a Coke advertisement, the modern day picture we have today – so much for advertizing, but who was behind it?  And the things about St. Nick in Europe and I believe a Cardinal... anyway, he’s all in red and this funny looking little hat. It’s a little different in Europe than what it is here in the States and some of the things that they have as pictures of the past.  A lot of them have the old fat man too; but that comes from the United States.  This is what Satan led the world to in time – his day, his mockery, the day that he wants everyone to believe that Jesus Christ was born, the day that he’s used in a very powerful way to sway mankind away from what is true and what is right concerning God and things about Jesus Christ that God never wanted us to focus upon concerning Christ.  But he succeeded, and so of all days – far more than even Easter – Christmas... that’s his day – far more than any other day and God has used that timing to reveal something.  That He gave a timing of judgement up to Trumpets when He would finally give a pronouncement that this is your time, it’s over, and He’s going to bring it to pass.  And God is.  We believe that, we know that.  So when this is all finished, at the very end, it’s all finished, but the beginning of it starts right here – at this period of time.

That led up to Sept 30, 2008, Trumpets of 2008, Trumpets and the sealing of the 144,000.  Feast of Trumpets – not the beginning of blowing of Trumpets, but it was the Feast of Trumpets and it was the sealing; it was the 1335 days.  So if you look at the next chart down below:

Again, it gives all these dates in order, all the way to the end to Pentecost of May 27, 2012.  And so again...

The understanding of God’s judgement upon Satan...

Because that’s what that 280 days is about, as much as it was upon Mr. Tkach and upon the Church candidly.

...revealed in Trumpets of 2008,

It was revealed before that because God had mercy upon us as a Church and He gave it to us before that, but officially, as far as God is concerned, and the day it was spoken of with the revelation that God gave concerning the timing – was for this period of time.  It began with this day here.

...it’s the 1335 days of Daniel that’s spoken of, the very day that leads up the very day of Jesus Christ’s return and the resurrection of the 144,000...on Pentecost...

So all these things in this time ordered chart here to show the breakdown of what happened on Nov. 14th then...

...the Seventh Seal was opened (followed by 30 prophetic minutes of silence – Rev. 8:1) we know all these places... with 1290 days then to Pentecost.

And then we came up to the last date that’s mentioned twice concerning the two witnesses. It is not the beginning of ‘time, times and half a time’ as we had believed in times past... although the numbers still come out the same – but we lose meaning in what God has given and what He’s giving as evidence and what He’s giving as a sign – and it’s not in the 3½ years.  This is the beginning of the job of two witnesses and another thing we’ll notice here as well.

Turn over to Revelation 11 because this period of time is mentioned twice concerning the end-time and they’re both right here in Revelation 11.  We follow a sequence of time – the things that God said by oath that He would accomplish in His ‘time, times and a half a time’ and He shows the order of what leads to that – 1335, 1290 and certain things that are stated there that we recognize by Revelation 12 that fit into that as 1260 and so forth.  And this is where we are in Revelation 11.  It says, And there was given me a reed like a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them who worship therein.  There are types of these things that have happened through time that God has given to the Church but there’s one great fulfillment of these things that take place and this is a type of some things that have taken place at different times.  Notice what it says,  But the court which is without the temple leave out, in other words, cast out, don’t let it be a part of it, that it can’t be a part of it, it can’t be brought into it in essence is what it’s showing here, and don’t measure it; it’s not a part of it.  A part of what?  ...for it’s given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot, as it says here, forty two months. Which is 1260 days and... prophetically.  I believe that God has given even more here to understand; because of what we’ve gone through, where He’s brought us, what we’ve experienced.  I think about things about measuring the temple.  What is the temple of God?  It’s the Church of God.  It’s about the Church.  How do you measure the Church?  Do you understand what it’s talking about when it’s talking about measuring?  How are we measured?  The thing that’s been said over and over and over again.  The thing we’ve been told to go back to over and over and over again.  Isn’t it interesting?  God has added to the 50th Truth but we have no new truths, in the sense of a new truth being added to it.  We have 50 truths that brought us up to a period of time here, of things that God had revealed to the Church – awesome!  Incredible!  ...that the last great one given just before this is to take place – He gave us everything that was needed to measure the Church.  It has been mentioned it in times past that before anyone of our past can become a part with us again, what do they have to do?  Be measured by what God has given to us.  They will be measured by it because they’ll have to receive it all in order to become a part of it.  They’ll have to repent of holding onto, when they’re told, the trinity, the last part of the trinity that must be shaken: that Jesus Christ has not eternally existed.  See?  They have to accept that; they have to come to understand that.  They have to come to a point in time where they believe with all their being Jesus Christ is returning on Pentecost, not on Trumpets.  See?  That’s how they are measured.  And they cannot be a part of the temple unless they meet that measurement – otherwise they’re still cast out; they’re still not a part.

This is a unique way that this is all phrased here because it’s unique to the Church of what happened to the Church.  That’s why I said something I did a little while ago.  A unique thing to understand about people who are out here and were impregnated with God’s spirit – a life began and a life grew and then a life became stagnant.  That’s why we have certain physical things in life that sober us deeply when we think of miscarriages.  The reality is there can be miscarriages of those who receive the begettal of God’s spirit.  Just because you receive the begettal of God’s spirit does not guarantee you will be born into the God family.  You can be miscarried.  I hope we all understand that.  You’re not there until you are there.  You’re not born until you are born and so the thing we went through as a Church is a very dangerous state – but thank God He’s shown us {snapping fingers} that spiritually He can awaken someone and bring them from the state where they were at the height of their growth and development – to give that spark and that life again.  Look at all the people who’ve come back, who’ve been a part of the past – different individuals who have come along and God has reignited their lives – as He did with everyone of us, but some of us earlier on don’t see that... that marked reality of difference in the same way as we do for some who’ve come later and all of a sudden, they’re not only back on where they were – they know they are ahead of where they were – very quickly so – and they’re able to continue to grow on from where they fell asleep and now being awakened and now being more convicted then they ever were before.  How is that possible?  Because there is a life that’s there that’s waiting for the power of God’s spirit to be in it again.  It isn’t gone, it’s just stagnant, it’s asleep: and that’s a hard thing sometimes for us to understand how God can do that, but God can do that.

Unlike a baby in a womb, if the blood circulations cut off it will miscarry, it will die. Not with God’s family.  Not with what He does.  Not with the spirit that He’s placed within us that begins to grow and develop.  The reality is and what God has shown the Church in a very powerful way is that He can awaken that life at any moment in time He chooses.  That’s why I’m encouraged by and so thankful by knowing that I have known hundreds and hundreds of people that I will not see during the Millennium... that are going to be resurrected at the end of the Millennium, the beginning of the Last Great Day who I’ve walked to God’s house with side by side and council blended sweet, whom I love dearly to this day...I just feel badly about the choices they’ve made.  I look forward to that time because I know they’re going to be on fire with zeal.  When they realize they’ve been dead for 1000 years and we’re going to be able to be there to help them, to encourage them, to get them back on track – they’re going to be so on fire – they’re going to be able to serve so greatly in that era of time – they really are.

Can you imagine the thousands that are going to be ready to take off right then and there?  That are going to be able to serve in a very powerful way at the beginning of it, because the vast majority of human beings that are resurrected at that moment in time – they’ve come from every facet of life over 6000 years and have never known anything about God and here are these people, some of them 20 years, 30 years, 40 years in the Church of God and they are going to be so on fire, so zealous... there’s going to be a little weeping and gnashing of teeth at the beginning, and there will be a little kicking of themselves in the rear end when they realize what they did, just as much as it has been for us when we came to a point in time where we had to learn what we did and how stupid we were and how we let down... we’re no better than any of them, it’s just God’s timing and God’s calling and God’s purpose and anyway, we’ll still be a part of the family.  I deeply look forward to that time.

These two verses are about them. This is about them, those who can be reignited, whatever word you want to use, receiving of God’s spirit flowing into their life again – awakened.  So it’s a measurement that God has given to the Church.  Awesomely so that’s led us up to exactly the time where some of this is to be a process of time that has been given.  We have been given, as a Church, through time, that which has measured us, that which we were measured by that up to that point in time of the sealing that has already taken place, but as we’ve talked about – there are going to be many more who are going to be drawn out yet – we have several thousand yet to be called out of, to be drawn out of, to be awakened out of our past.  People here in Cincinnati and people in different areas of the country who are going to have the opportunity of being awakened and as I’ve mentioned in times past...  I know when the majority of them are going to come now – it’s during the 5th Trumpet, when Europe finally does what it does – then they can’t deceive themselves into thinking of what takes place before that – that maybe we’re entering the tribulation and maybe the 1st Seal has been opened and maybe the 2nd, but on that day they’re going to be shocked when they have to come to realize, no, no, no... we’re already at the 7th Seal and the 5th Trumpet is blown.  And God is going to use that to awaken and humble different ones that are going to begin to come back.  They will not be a part of the 144,000, but they have the opportunity of being awakened and continuing on into a new age, to continue their growth from where they left off – and that’s inspiring too.  But the vast majority still have to wait for 1000 years and so this is a part of that process here of something that’s going to occur over a period of time – the last period of time, the final 1260 days: because that’s what they’re brought to and thrust into.  That’s what we’re all brought to.

So it talks about ...Rise, and measure the temple and them that are without, and them that worship therein.  And so that’s exactly what took place up to the 1335 when the sealing took place and then what had to take place after that was that the 7th Seal had to be opened and then after that the 1st Trumpet had to be blown and we understand that period of 30 days in there as well and the 1st Trumpet and the sound and so forth that carried through a period of time there of 30 days – which has not been manifested.  We see some parts of it coming to pass; we see a little bit of it – the spiritual part of it of what has to do with the downfall of this nation but you have not seen anything physical, period, that will still come to pass: and primarily most of those are going to come to pass in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Trumpets as we have always said and talked about.

But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; it’s given to the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty two months.  They are the part.  God still looks upon them in a very unique way – His begotten children.  Have you ever known someone who’s had a miscarriage?  It’s pretty tough.  It’s hard to go through.  We have had 2 and they affect you; and time goes on and it’s gone.  With God, because of it being different with God, it’s unique.  There will be miscarriages, and that will be painful.  It’s painful when you see people make the wrong choices and reject and turn against God and they can’t be in His Kingdom.  So be it.  But there are many others that life’s blood can come back to them (snaps fingers) in God’s timing, as God brings them to humility and they can once again, by the same measurement be a part with us.  That’s why this is unique in how it’s stated here.  That they’ll be trodden underfoot... there will be some who will not repent till the end.  God is going to see to it.  He’s going to draw certain ones; He’s going to awaken certain ones, bring them to a certain humility to where they can be awakened and worked with – right up to the very end.  That’s why this whole period of time is given.  But every one of them has to be measured in the same measurement that’s been given to the Church already; by which we have already been judged; by which we have already been given in 50th Truth.  It’s an awesome thing.

Going on, And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.  Humility.  It’s what it’s about.  We have gone through things of humility. I’m amazed what we’ve gone through in the past year – all of you; it’s not just about 2 witnesses, it’s about the Church because we walk the same road, we’re on the same path, we believe the same thing.  And so we have to experience some of the same things and so much of it is about a matter of humility and fighting against pride and haughtiness and coming to a point in time where you just follow God in His timing, receive what He gives when He gives it, have confidence and faith in that and not concerned about what your neighbours think, what your family thinks, about what anyone else thinks because if you worry about them, then they’re your god and God isn’t.  We have to learn those things. That God is God and our trust and confidence and boldness is in Him and what He gives to us.  And that’s an inspiring thing and that’s what I was referring to over in New Zealand and Australia – to see that kind of faith in the brethren and what Laura and I have seen as we travel from area to area that God has brought the Church to very powerfully so in the last several months.  And it’s like let’s get on with it now.  What an amazing time!  You know the timing of God is an awesome thing to witness, to watch – it really is.  It’s an inspiring thing.

These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before, it says, the God of the earth, but it’s before God, to the earth.  That’s what it’s all about.  Powerful, what it’s about and it’s a transition in time of what God is bringing the world to and it’s about God, it’s about what God is doing and how God is doing it; but very inspiring when we understand that and finally where we are in time as the rest of the chart goes on to show here.

God has now revealed that there is a 3rd ‘time of judgement’ for the end-time of another 280 days.  This is what this was all about – 280 days at the beginning of the 1st Seal that we learned from.  280 days concerning God’s judgement upon Satan, pronounced to Satan, an oath to Satan that his time is come to an end; that it’s now given to God – His time is coming.  To go through this transition that follows here of ‘time, times and a half’, that this is the period of time that God’s going to bring it through.  It’s God’s judgement upon mankind at the end of 6000 years.  That’s what this is about right now that we’re coming into.  That we’ve just gone through the 280 days as I’ve mentioned here, if you look at December 14, 2008 – the beginning of the 1260 days for the 2 witnesses – the beginning of the time that God said would be upon the Church, the scattered Church.  That’s what it’s talking about – that’s the context of those that are going to have an opportunity through time here to be awakened again – that they have a measurement that has to come upon them and there are going to be different ones come at different times.

The primary thing about the 280 days from December 14th up to and including September 19th was a period of time that God was giving and showing: with Sept 19th including that date, important to understand, some things are included,  the Feast of Trumpets of 2009.  And so again, not small in importance and how that things worked out in timing and if you put all these together… some people are going to... “yeah, you’re nuttier than a fruitcake...” but I’ll tell you what: what are the odds?  What are the possibilities of putting so many of these things together, so many important periods of time and the way they come together.  It’s an awesome thing – truly is and it should be dumbfounding to us.  If you had those kinds of odds in life, on your side, the possibilities of this happening are awesomely, awesomely incredibly impossible – they truly are, but God brings them to pass concerning the meaning of His Holy Days, just like the first Trumpet.  I marvel, the 1st Feast of Trumpets, what do we come to?  Ah, the end of 280 days... hmm, wonder what that means.

I’ll tell you what, as we approached it I was a little apprehensive, see?  Because I know the power of God and it did pop into my mind... I know what God did to Mr. Tkach and if in any fashion or form I’ve been deceived, gone astray, I know God (snaps fingers) could take care of me right quick like too – see?  Things you have to think about in life, of measuring yourself, of judging yourself, of understanding life: but then I look at the 50 Truths and I realize and am brought back to that this is of God.  Thoughts do come into your mind, and I know the power of God and I know all of us do.  I knew what the answers were, but still, there’s certain things that sometimes pop into your mind.  We still have the mind to realize that whatever God shows us, we follow God – we repent of whatever it is that happens in life and that should always be our attitude and not to be so haughty to think that we’re not capable of anything in life when it comes to sin. I hope you’re not of that mind.  To always be willing to repent of whatever God shows you in life.

God revealed an importance here of this particular period of time, that indeed it is important to Him because it’s revealed what the period of time of judgement is and it revealed here what the time remaining was; that His time is 280 days – powerfully, clearly so in scripture that that’s what He is counting as a time of judgement... not just of judgement but as a sign, very powerfully so, to His people and to the world...and this one here, what God is going to do to the world.  That’s why nothing has happened, period!  It couldn’t happen as far as a manifestation of the sign.  And so when the power of the 1st Trumpets revealed as going to be in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th I do not know the day that it happens, but I’m going to wait and see because I know it’s going to all have meaning – how it all pans out.

Matter of fact let’s go back here to Revelation 11.  It’s awesome to understand something here because it forces you to examine a little more closely what has taken place, why it is taking place... because as we see things, as they fit into God’s plan and purpose, it just magnifies the power and the might of God even more so and this one here, I’m even in more awe of right now because of what God has shown in this.  I thought that if those last 7 Plagues are poured out on that day that that pictures... no, no, no... no, no, no... it’s more beautiful than that.  It’s more awesome than that.  It just reinforces what God is doing and how He’s doing it.  It brings you up to a point in time... all Trumpets are going to be blown, as far as the revelation of them, as far as the manifestation of them, as far as when the manifestation of certain things take place – because the actual event... a Trumpet can be blown and something doesn’t have to happen immediately at that moment: it will follow.  That’s why it talks about in certain places, there’s certain things that follow, there’s certain things that happen and the timing is in God’s hands.  And if you to Revelation 11 it goes through here talking about some of the things that are going to happen toward the end-time.  Then finally down in verse 14 it brings us back on track to a point in time and it says, The second woe is past; well, when is that?  We know what the 2nd Woe is in scripture; it’s the 6th Trumpet.  The 6th Trumpet is when Asia arises to do their nuclear war and they begin to destroy, as God says, they destroy 1/3 of all the earth of all of mankind.  I’m so thankful that that’s pushed as close to the end as it can be, truly, otherwise there wouldn’t be a human being left alive.  Man has the power in nuclear weapons to destroy everything off this earth many times over, not just once.  China alone can destroy the earth many times over if they used all that they have – many times – not just once.  I don’t know if we recognize that power that’s out there in nuclear weapons to destroy everything on the earth.  It’s incredible what’s out there and yet God brings us, allows us to come right to the brink, but not too soon – not too soon or we wouldn’t be alive, there wouldn’t be anything left.

Anyway, the third woe comes quickly.  So, the 2nd Woe is past, the 3rd Woe comes quickly – thank God... what does that mean?  It means the time span from the time that China and Russia and some of those Asian nations do what they do and 1/3 of mankind and that 3rd World War in the sense of their nuclear weapons against Europe and the rest of the world... it’s quick... it’s quick – thank God!  We’ll find out later on how quick!  But then it says, notice this... the third woe comes quickly... what is the 3rd Woe?  We know that’s when the last Trumpet is blown, the 7th Trumpet is blown and the 7 last Plagues are poured out – powerful!   But when is it blown?  Let’s go on... And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever.  So when does that 7th Trumpet blow?  At the very end of the Sabbath day, before Pentecost begins - right at that moment in time because at the very beginning of Pentecost, right at that moment in time – just as much as what happened to Jesus Christ when he was put in the grave just before, and resurrected just before sunset, again, see, just at the end of the Sabbath day and the 7th Trumpet is blown; what does that signify?  Exactly what it says in verse 15.  Powerful!  Now it’s over.  It’s not over as far as what God’s going to dish out in this earth, but it’s over as far as Satan’s government – right then and there – it’s been taken from him and given to Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ returns at that very moment– that which appears as a manifestation in the sky that people are going to actually be able to see.  The resurrection of the 144,000 that takes place – those who are dead first and those who are still alive – quickly following, because they get to see it.  Those of you who are alive get to see the first part of it and then it says they’re changed in the moment, in a twinkling of an eye from mortal to immortal.  Can you imagine? I can’t imagine, all of a sudden being down here standing on the earth and all of a sudden up there – what an amazing thing.  It’s going to be a strange thing.

It’s all at the beginning of Pentecost – and then what follows?  Then God takes charge, He gives the power to Christ to take charge.  He doesn’t come as a lamb; He comes as a lion.  He comes with incredible power and preceding Him, during that day, 7 Plagues are poured out on this earth – during Pentecost.  It’s God’s government now; it’s God’s world now; it’s God’s time now, the beginning of the 7000 years begins at the sound of that 7th Trumpet; as soon as Jesus Christ returns and 144,000 are resurrected.  See, so it’s an amazing thing.  And so when does our time quit on these charts?  Exactly at that moment in time.  Everything leads us up to that day of Pentecost and then God does it all on Pentecost, on that particular day.  Gives the beginning of the Church in the sense of what comes on into that age – the beginning of the Kingdom of God reigning on earth, and all accomplished in that one day.  It’s a powerful thing – an awesome thing.

I marvel the more God shows us, the more little pieces are put in to where we see so much already...but when He adds to it, it beautifies it far more and drives the point home, far more powerfully.

A beautiful picture here of what God is doing and of the timing involved and to understand why certain things could not have happened yet, why they haven’t come to pass and that brings us up to a notice here of something here about a Church-wide Fast because the first segment of a period of time we’re going to have passed – 140 days – it will be on that particular day that we have a Church-wide fast.  February 6th.  A one day Church-wide fast.  Isn’t it a marvellous thing – to understand that from the very beginning God has been leading us to understand His mercy?  His mercy and His judgement upon mankind.  That He’s given a period of time to say, this is My period of time of judgement, and what has man done?  Right in the midst of all that – what is the greatest example of what the world will do when they will hear the truth?  10 minutes later, 15 minutes later mocking the death of Jesus Christ – that’s it in a nutshell.  Doesn’t take long.  You can be sobered by a message but unless you’re humbled to the core of your being, you will not change, you will not believe, and you can’t.  You’ve got to be humbled.  The world has to be humbled before God’s Kingdom can be established.  And so some of those things that have been revealed over the last 280 days that we see and understand more deeply, we comprehend very deeply so, and we’re thankful.  We have become very thankful for the mercy of God that things haven’t begun.

And I know that God could have revealed this to us long before this, but He didn’t.  Why?  So we could be in sackcloth, be humbled ourselves, not to be lifted up with pride or haughtiness in any fashion to ever say to anyone else, “see, I was right!”  Because that’s what a lot of people had to deal with.  “I was wrong, it didn’t happen exactly on the day...great tribulation didn’t begin on that day...and not only that, we didn’t even understand when it was actually going to begin – the 1335.  We actually thought it was going to start a little ahead of that and God showed no, it wasn’t.  So we’ve had to be humbled, take what the world dishes out and laughs at.  It’s fine.  Who is God concerned about?  Us.  Are we willing to follow Him, are we willing to continue to do what He gives to us to do?  Are we going to be strengthened by it or how are we going to respond?  And do we have any of that carnal attitude that is one of wanting to be justified in front of our neighbours, our family, our friends, because none of that can exist... none of that can exist in our minds and our being.  We should never, never, never have any kind of that mindset to where we want to be proven right.  This is not about us being proven right – ever!  It’s about the mercy of God and about the kind of mercy we should have toward others as well – to realize no matter what, it’s coming – it’s going to hurt, many are going to die and it’s a horrifying time to have to go through.  The greater the mercy of God – so be it.  So be it!

And something I believe is another point is Matthew 24 that my wife asked me about the other day.  She said could this possibly fit?  And I believed no, it doesn’t fit, but I believe now, yes it does fit.  I know there are types of things and I know that this was primarily spiritual in the beginning to us as a Church to understand some things that happened to the Church, but I also know that Jesus Christ as He gave some of this – that it led up through time, just like the book of Revelation goes through the Seals in time and things that have happened to the Church.  But I think about this one; verse 21 - For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.  We’ve already been corrected in part about the meaning of great tribulation – to understand that it doesn’t mean that when a certain time begins that everything happens in a great way... and not only the use of it because I’ve always believed this one here in Matthew 24 was only used for the Church – up to this point in time.  But I’ve learned to listen and to ponder and to know how God works.  And in this particular case here there will be horrifying things the world has to go through; we in the Church have already gone through ‘great spiritual tribulation’.  We have gone through it in ways that the Church never experienced – an apostle, or one who was over the Church set in the seat of authority if you will, which basically was what was offered, what was given, but in that particular case there, to do what he did.  The Church never had to experience that in times past – never, ever, ever had to experience that in times past: an apostasy from the top.  Never!  And so we had to go through something pretty horrifying in that respect spiritually and we’ve learned much from it and so will the world in the Millennium and the Great White Throne – because of what we experienced.

And so again here, a period of physical things that are going to happen on the earth – not from the get go because we haven’t seen a manifestation yet, but we will learn what ‘time, times and a half a time’ means in a very profound way as we go forward; And except those days should be shortened…  I think of what God has allowed the Church to believe for a long time, of what would happen for 3½ years and if things had truly happened the way we thought, I am convicted deeply so, as of yesterday and today in a very profound way that if God had allowed things to happen the way we kind of thought and believed they would take place in the sense of 3½ years, starting out with a big bang from the beginning – that there wouldn’t be any life left on earth.  God is showing us as well, that the reality is that this is what we deserve.  What the world really has deserved through time is not life anyway, it is death for what we’ve done.  It truly is and so God is revealing in a very powerful way – He truly is – His mercy.  Saved it, reserved it for now to show us the meaning of ‘time, times and a half’ so that we can focus on His mercy and that indeed, thankfully, things are shortened in that respect from what we had believed previously and that if God didn’t compact it - it’s just that the revelation of it and the actual happening of it is now condensed more towards the end – that indeed there wouldn’t be anything left because God knows exactly how man will use certain things under certain conditions.

I marvel when it talks about this; there should no flesh be saved: I believe that with all my being.  That if these things hadn’t been pushed even farther up, if Europe isn’t pushed farther back in the sense of what we had believed to this time period, to this date, Asia especially... there would be nothing left.  But it says, but for the elect's sake, for the Church, and for a continuation of the Church and for those who will live on and continue on.  God says ...those days shall be shortened.  Because it’s all about the Church isn’t it.  Isn’t that what it’s all about?  Those who are able to repent during this period of time that’s coming up...it’s about the Church, it’s the establishment of the Church, those who are going to continue to come in as a result of all this taking place.

Very inspiring what God is revealing to us and giving to us and I look forward to that fast.  I have no idea what the content of it will be; but some of it I do, because it’s always about a fast.  It’s always about humbling ourselves before God and so I look forward to that particular Sabbath.

And when is it?  February 6, 2010.

~~~end

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