Christ’s 1st & 2nd Coming – Pt. 2

Ron Weinland

February 25, 2012

The farther we go along in this series in Daniel, to me the more awesome it becomes because of experiencing this process of God revealing things anyway and some of the things we’ve gone through, in some cases years ago, and now God bringing more of those things to the forefront, revealing more that’s contained in some of the scriptures.  I’m just sometimes dumbfounded by it, I really am.

I find this awesomely inspiring and exciting to be able to see this process as God just gives more and more, seeing things that have always been right in front of us but you can’t see it until it’s God’s time to see it.  When it’s His time then all of a sudden He opens that door, opens the ability to see certain things and it fits together.  It reminds me very much so – I just couldn’t help but think of this last week, and I do at different times, but especially this past week - of just going through one verse alone here that we’re going to go through today and seeing all the different meaning that’s contained there, that’s always been there, but now to understand what was written and why.  It becomes more awesome.

And to go through that it reminds me of that example of Mr. Armstrong; so often when he would talk about God’s plan and all that God is doing is like this great picture, it’s a puzzle and you just keep putting more pieces in, and the more pieces being added the clearer the picture becomes.  And that’s what some of this is like, it’s like putting several pieces in that weren’t there before and it’s exciting, it’s treasure that’s there that’s always been there, but then we see it and we receive of it and it just becomes more and more inspiring.  And candidly, this is fitting into the flow of what we’re going through right now anyway that we probably won’t get through today... I can’t help it if you take it as a carrot – so be it.  It’s just the way it is and I can’t help but talk about things that are coming and knowing what’s coming but I know I can’t always get to them right away.  So – hey – carrots are good, good for the eyes, good for seeing, spiritual ones too I guess.

It’s just really awesome and it’s exciting!  Because of where this is headed it’s going to mean more to you when we get there, of where we are.  I mean, we know where we are, we know what the timing is of various events, but to see it in a greater way, to see things that God is working out as God shows us more and more, it just becomes more and more awesome, it really does, and it fits into the very things we’re going through in Daniel.  And as we started through this series...no idea where all this was heading, but we have an awesome picture now in a far greater way going through the book of Daniel then we’ve had before and it’s very inspiring.

Starting out here with the charts;[1] thought it would be good to do this.  Thought I’d read a little bit more here as far as an introduction is concerned today.  We’re going to continue with Part 2 of this new sermon series entitled Christ’s 1st and 2nd Coming.

Last Sabbath I moved quite quickly through much of the sermon that involved different aspects of the seventy-weeks prophecy in Daniel 9.  And I guess because after going through this and preparing it and spending the time in it and having all the dates in my mind and all the history and things involved there it’s something that when it starts coming out, that it just comes out and I forget that you didn’t go through this same process I did, the timing involved, and the ability to absorb all that is a little more difficult.  I understand that, so since there have been a number of people who have felt a little lost in some cases in some of this, until they’ve gone back and listened 2-3 more times to some of it, I’ve made up some charts, that I mentioned earlier here, that cover the timing involved in both the 1st and 2nd coming of Jesus Christ, and these charts will hopefully help you better understand all that we’ve been covering.

Some of you have these charts in areas where people meet together regularily.  Some of you who are going to hear this sermon today don’t have those charts because you don’t have access to them in the sesne that we put it on the site for all the elders in the different regions where people meet together and some of you maybe don’t have the ability to download them. But I encourage you, if you don’t have a computer or don’t have a computer and a printer, to contact some elder in your region that does have it and ask them to get it to you even if they have to mail it to you.

We’ll take the time here to look at these charts just to get some of this in our mind.  There are two charts.  One says first coming and one says second.  Here it gives (just to give you a brief review here again) starting in 457 BC, all the information is down below here about Artaxerxes, the command that went out to rebuild Jerusalem, primarily speaking of, not the temple, that was in the first period of time with Cyrus.  We’re talking about Artaxerxes now much later on, 457 BC, at a period of time when the command went out from him to Ezra, and Nehemiah then followed as a part of that process too, something that lasted basically 49 years, seven weeks, seven times seven days – 49, knowing the absolute meaning here that God gave Himself because of understanding Christ being cut off, the Messiah being cut off in the midst of the week, that it’s talking about each day represents a year.  That in itself is the definition.

And so again, that takes us up to 408 BC, and then it talks about sixty-two.  Because it breaks this prophecy down.  Seven weeks – seventy weeks is broken down, again, into the seven weeks, sixty-two weeks, and then one week.  And then that final week is actually cut in half, ‘in the midst of the week’.  And that’s a part of what we’ve been going through.  So hopefully this chart will help you, I don’t need to go through all of that, but again, the scriptures are there, the history is there, the timing is there.

And then the next chart.  I didn’t have time to make a third chart that really goes along with some of these scriptures; maybe we’ll be able to do that again.  But some of this is contained in a chart that’s on the system anyway, but we’ve had to add more – primarily that very top one – the 6370 days.  What an awesome thing, to know some things that are being spoken of at a point in time that’s about an apostasy and it goes all the way to the coming of the Messiah.  And to understand the timing involved, now 7 times 70, 490 times 13, and it becomes quite awesome the things that God is revealing and all these dates that are included here.  I’m not going to take time but you can go back through and read these things, and as we go through some of this, if there’s a need to look at some of the dates involved here, because there’s a lot here.  It’s inspiring to see so much that’s here that mathematically, the ability to put these things together, just from that viewpoint alone, to see the awesomeness of what God’s given to us of profound proof of these different things that are coming to pass and where we are in time.

So today let’s begin here in Daniel 9 again, and you may want to keep that second one handy at points and times here.  If I think about it I’ll take you to it anyway to point out different dates, but everything is there from the very beginning of December 17, 1994 and the apostasy, the 1st Seal – important here to understand – a Seal that was opened up on that day.  Seals are important as we read through Daniel and what it says here.  That’s going to become more important as we go along here because it talks about a sealing that’s taking place, various things that Daniel was to seal up, and things in God’s time in the end He would unseal, if you will, to open those seals.  And then toward the end there would be another sealing taking place here.  It’s all profound, it’s awesome what God has given and what these things mean.  And going all the way up to September 30, 2008, the Feast of Trumpets and the sealing of 144,000 – a monumental time in prophecy, a monumental time here in the book of Daniel and what Daniel is discussing, because Daniel speaks of this in more than one place.  We’ve addressed this before in Daniel 12, but it’s also in Daniel 9.  Incredible!  I had no idea of that until God began to reveal some of these things and when He first revealed to us that the apostasy was the beginning of a specific count for the return of Jesus Christ having to do with the seventy-weeks prophecy.

Daniel 9:24 – I’m going to go back here and review a little bit of this that we discussed here, hopefully that it is able to be cemented a little bit better in our minds as we hear it. Daniel 9:24 – Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy City, and again, the expression used here as ‘upon your holy City’ is not about the physical city Jerusalem but a prophetic expression for the future spiritual city called Jerusalem, who’s construction begins in those whom God has been calling and choosing through time.  It’s a part of what God’s doing.  When you see those things; ‘Mount Zion’ – when you see things about ‘Jerusalem’, the ‘holy City’, those things being spoken of – the physical city was never holy in that respect.  Matter of fact, today God calls it something totally different.  It’s like ‘Sodom’ He says, because of all the things that have become marred in religion, the things that are twisted and distorted, and so He gives it an expression of something that is not complimentary of something that’s happened in religion.

So again here, all those things that God has been calling through time, especially, obviously, the time of the Church – and we referred to this one other location where an expression is found here.  In Isaiah 52:1 - Awake, awake; it’s prophetic, the book of Isaiah; Awake, awake; put on your strength, I love this especially in the context of what we’re going through.  You know, at a time when God is going to literally awaken people from death, to bring them back to life; but now not just physical life but eternal life, because this is when Zion, the first part of Zion, the first part of holy Jerusalem, if you will, comes into being in the respect of a resurrection.  We understand!  Mr. Armstrong used to talk about the Church being like the Kingdom of God in embryo.  We’re not yet born into the Kingdom but it’s a part of a process, like pregnancy, of waiting for birth, and so he used that expression very descriptive, but not yet born into the Kingdom.

And so here is this expression, after those who have been dead for whatever length of time, close to 6,000 years - 5,000 years - 4,000 – whatever the time has been, and now it says, Awake, awake; put on your strength, O Zion; How awesome is that?  What strength?  The strength God gives to them now – no longer physical but now spiritual, composed of spirit in the God Family, God dwelling in them for eternity and they dwelling in God and Jesus Christ.  What we experience in the Church is now going to be forever without ever being cut off.  Why?  Because there’s no more sin!  And those who have come through this are now a part of that Family!  No more sin!  No more lusts of the flesh, pride of life, the things it talks about, ‘the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life’ that rule human life in the sense of that which holds us captive - because that does hold us captive.  And this is what God is going to free mankind from once we’re born into His Family.

Awake, awake; put on your strength O Zion, put on your beautiful garments, now we’ll have them!  When you’re resurrected into God’s Family that’s when you’re wearing the white garments it speaks of that are a matter of that which is referred to in the book of Revelation as holy and righteous.  And now He says, put on your holy garments, put on that body – that’s what it talks about in Corinthians – it talks about a change that’s going to take place in life, no longer mortal.  No longer a matter of corruption, but incorruption, that which is eternal, that which is immortal in life that will live forever.  Awesome!

...put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy City: it’s a beginning of a holy City, finally, peace!  ...peace being restored to the Kingdom of God, peace being restored to the God Family.  And the one thing I truly look forward to at that point in time, not just for the God Family because that’s a different place for everyone, but what’s going to be in this world and what’s not going to be in this world starting at that time.  Because Satan won’t be around any longer, demons won’t be around any longer to harass, to harangue, to twist, to distort.

Pressure since the Feast – I’ve talked to different ones about that – it’s so thick out here, it’s just an incredible thing that’s been taking place – those beings that know their time is getting shorter and shorter and shorter, and they are stirred up and they strive to make life miserable, truly, for human beings.  And we feel that within the Body as well, and that’s good for us.  I hope you understand that because it helps us to understand this is what the world is experiencing, or the deception that goes on with the world as well; there’s deception out there but they don’t understand what’s going on when it comes to that pressure that exists and things in families, things on the job and so forth, and things in society that they don’t grasp.  But we understand, we know where it’s coming from, and we look forward to the day that won’t be around any longer – peace.  Peace!  And we desire that for everyone.

...O Jerusalem, the holy City: for henceforth there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Into God’s City, holy Jerusalem, Mount Zion.  The only ones who can become a part of that.  It’s a matter of that which is spiritual in nature – no more that’s unclean – but now cleansed, that which is fully circumcised in the heart that begins when you’re in the Church, that which God begins to work in us through a process that we can finally be born into that for eternity.

So, it’s also good to remember what we addressed concerning the end of this verse, because the latter part of this verse – Daniel 9:24 - Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy City; so again, it wasn’t talking about Christ’s first coming here, this is fully about His second coming and these things have to do with what God is doing for His people that He’s been calling – not about a physical people at all.

And then it says... and to anoint the most Holy. So there’s a process that we’re going through in this verse that describes this entire thing all the way to the end, because it’s all about the Messiah.  That’s why the following verse begins to talk about that which is understood by much in traditional Christianity and has been understood by many as far as a seventy-weeks prophecy, literally sixty-nine and a half that have been fulfilled.  There’s another half yet to be fulfilled because He was cut off in the midst of the week.

So, it’s a seventy-weeks prophecy fulfilled in sixty-nine and a half weeks all the way up to 31 AD.  Awesome to see those things, to understand those things that God has given.  But it’s all about the Messiah.  The things in the Old Testament, the things of Judaism has various understandings because they have such extremes from one belief to another about a Messiah and what it means for them.  They had a different idea and belief that was stronger, candidly, during the time of Christ, about a Messiah who was going to come and save them from the Roman government, the Roman rule.  But that concept has gone through many periods of time because of a promise of a Messiah that’s in scripture.  And so they look at these things and they desire a Messiah, and people have always had that desire as far as those who have really had any kind of information about God, especially in Judaism.  But again here, it’s about a time of ‘anointing the most Holy’, understanding that anointing is what the Messiah and the word is all about, because it’s about being a King.  It’s about being a ruler, and the anointing that takes place is like what was given to the king.  When a king was established, as King David, there’s an anointing that takes place, that he is made king of Israel in this particular case.  Others that came along – there was an anointing that was a part of the ceremony, if you will, and an anointing that would take place.  And so they understood this, that the Messiah is about an anointing and it’s about government, and they looked forward to a time when one would come to save them, one who would be sent from God.

And so that’s what this is all about, in leading up to that point in time, not understanding, they didn’t understand, speaking of the Jews, that His first coming was about a Passover.  And the world is still ignorant of that in large part.  They don’t observe it so it doesn’t have much meaning, even in traditional Christianity, they’ve gone on to Ishtar [Easter].  We look forward to the time when people are freed from ignorance, from not knowing.

So this expression of ‘seventy-weeks that are determined upon your people and upon your holy City’ is about a period that ends at the end of this verse – ‘and to anoint the most Holy’, speaking of the Messiah, again, obviously.

Let’s go on now and just be reminded of some things we covered.  Verse 24 - Seventy weeks are determined upon ... Your holy City, to finish the transgression, and again, we went through those different words, what they mean, and talking about a sermon on January 7th that was entitled ‘The Final Time’.  The actual meaning of ‘finish’ from Hebrews was given as ‘to hold back’, ‘to keep back’, ‘to keep away’.  And even though God gave that at that time, what some of these things meant, I didn’t know what it was all about yet.  I knew it was about His second coming; God revealed that, made that crystal clear back there on January 7th, that it was about His second coming, the 6370 days, but all these expressions?  Still didn’t know what they meant even though a part of the picture was there but it wasn’t all there.  It’s like that puzzle; it’s not all there yet.

And so again, literally the Hebrew word here means ‘to restrict’, ‘to restrain’, ‘to withhold’, ‘to hold back’, ‘to keep back’, but translated only once as ‘finish’ in this verse.  What a shame it was translated wrongly!  And yet God allows things like that so that all things aren’t easily able to be seen until its God’s time to see it.  That’s why there are parables; that’s why there are proverbs, that’s why there are things written in the way that they are sometimes, prophetic things that are given that you cannot know, people cannot know unless God reveals their meaning.  It takes God to see and understand the truth.  We understand that!  You understand that about the first time you began to understand the Sabbath or the Holy Days and the picture that they give; the same thing, we understand that about prophecy, things that are given prophetically just as much so.  Nothing can be understood about God’s way unless God just gives it to us, teaches us, shows us.

And then the last part of this expression ...to finish the transgression  - it is not the word ‘finish’ at all; it’s only translated that way here.  It doesn’t mean that, it doesn’t mean ‘to finish’.  It means ‘to hold back’, ‘to keep away something’ – a transgression!  Awesome what it’s saying here!

In that same sermon this is what was stated as the Hebrew meaning of this word and its implication; ‘the transgression’ – ‘to keep back the transgression, the sin’.  The Hebrew – ‘the sin’, ‘the rebellion’ as part of the origin of the word, for all sin is rebellion.  That’s what it is.  And this was followed up in that sermon by the statement: “The sin, the rebellion, as from the man of sin.”  I still didn’t understand it all!  It still wasn’t given fully yet, but knew this was what it was about – “the rebellion,” again, “that was moved by Satan’s direct influence and power.”

And then last Sabbath we went to 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, because this is where it talks about the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ coming back to this earth, a time that the disciples wanted to know about, “When is this time?  Are You now going to come in Your Kingdom.”  And He told them it’s not now, it’s not to be given to you, it’s in God’s hands, it’s in the Father’s hands, it’s for Him to know only the time, the day, and the hour – until it’s time to give it.

2 Thessalonians 2:1 – you can follow along here if you want to, but again, I find these awesomely inspiring.  They all go together, things that God gave so long ago in the book of Daniel, that He gave a greater understanding of then to Paul for Paul to give to the Church so much later on; but they all go hand in hand, powerfully so.  Now we beseech you, brethren, by/concerning/about is what the Greek word means here, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, that’s what they desired.  We desired it.  Every part of the Body of Christ since it began has had this desire to know when Jesus Christ is going to return, to look forward to that time when He’s going to return, to look forward to the time when we’re going to be able to be a part of His Kingdom, to be in His Family for eternity, from here on.

...and by our gathering together unto Him, specific language used in essence toward the Church and those who would lead up to the point in time of His first coming, speaking of those who are going to be first resurrected, the firstfruits, because that was the entire focus.  The focus of the disciples wasn’t about the Millennium in that respect, or the Great White Throne, as it was about the time of Christ’s coming and the establishment of that Kingdom on earth, Jesus Christ returning as King of kings.  And so he says; and by our gathering together unto Him: Who is going to gather unto Him?  The Church will at the time that God is going to resurrect those who are going to be a part of that Family. That you should not be soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that day of Christ is at hand. What day?  The day He’s going to return.  All this is talking about His return.

The book of Daniel that we’re reading through is about His coming!  The time of His anointing is when He comes to be King of kings and Lord of lords.

Verse 3 - Let no one deceive you by any means: so something is holding that back and keeping that back – and that’s exactly what’s being revealed here in 2 Thessalonians.  That’s exactly what Daniel 9 is talking about, that something is keeping back that time from happening.  Something must happen on the earth first and that will be a great sign, in essence, to God’s people, “This is it!  Now you can know it’s coming!”  That’s basically a lot of the message here which we’ve covered many times in many sermons in years gone back now since the apostasy, that this is a sign to God’s people about the timing of the returning of Jesus Christ.  Now, the specific timing God has given us more later on, but we’ve known it’s about His coming because that’s the message of 2 Thessalonians.

So, no one’s going to know until this event takes place.  He’s not going to begin His return; He can’t come back, until this takes place.  Awesome!  Let no one deceive you by any means for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, the Greek word, ‘apostasy’; a falling away.  From what?  The only thing you can fall away from is the truth; the truth that God gives to you.  If you’re deceived you can’t fall away from anything; it is what it is.  And so there would come an apostasy, a great falling away from the truth... and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. Something would have to come on the scene, something that would take place – the sin, the transgression, the apostasy, the rebellion that would take place in God’s own Church.

Verse 4 - Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, a matter of authority and power in that word that’s there; a place that has to do with a position of authority, a ruling over that’s been given... showing himself or exhibiting/displaying that he is God. In other words acting as God because of what he does, because of the choices he makes, because of the sermon he gave on December 17, 1994.

Do you remember that when I was yet with you I told you these things?  And now you know what withholds, you know what is holding back, you know what’s keeping away, because this has to happen first before the Messiah can come. Before He can be anointed this has to take place.  So you know what holds back – ‘restrains’ is literally what the Greek word means.  The exact same kind of terminology used in Daniel 9:24, that he, the man of sin, might be revealed in his time.  So, when it’s his time, when it’s time for this one event that would only happen once in all human history, once in the Church of God, only once would God allow such a thing to take place – was at this point in time here.  For the mystery of iniquity is already working; Satan was already working.  It came from Satan.  Satan is the master of it, Satan is the controller of it, and finally God allowed Satan to do his part – power, signs, and lying wonders.

My wife and I were talking here this past week about that, how that some who are scattered still believe that’s about the pope and there’s this belief out there in some of the scattered Body that because of that belief that this is about the pope who’s going to deceive many.  You think, “They’re already deceived!”  The only ones that can be deceived are those who are a part of the truth, who are a part of God’s Church.  They’re the only ones who can be deceived!  Everyone else in the world is deceived.  By definition we understand that, always have.  And so they feel this individual is going to have power, signs, and lying wonders, and so there are some who are waiting for this individual to perform great signs and wonders.  He’s not going to!  It isn’t going to happen in that way!  The pope is going to be a part of a system over there in Europe, he’s going to be a part of something that’s been going on for a  long time but he’s not going to be the one, in that respect, who performs miracles.

It’s about what happened with the man of sin – power – I’ve given sermons over this – power, signs, and lying wonders.  The lying wonders, the things that deceive people in God’s Church who think you can go back to what you came out of, that takes power to deceive on such a massive scale so swiftly; from one Sabbath to begin that wave of power that was released upon the Church to try, to test.  But by then we had all fallen asleep, in essence, as far as God was concerned.  We’d all become, if you will, lukewarm, and all had to be spewed out of God’s mouth, even though for some just momentarily.  And that’s what started with some, to bring to immediate repentance.

But that’s what happened – tremendous power.  Those who were a part of that, those who were in those environments, those of you in the Church of God here that were back then at that time, who heard that sermon given later on on January 7, 1995, you witnessed some of that power.  Power that swept through congregations as they listened to a sermon and all of a sudden they came in one way, in part...now, some were already kind of leaning a little bit in that direction, but there were people who came in still believing in the Sabbath day, still believing in the Holy Days, and when they left that sermon they didn’t believe that that was required of God’s people anymore.  You want to talk about something spiritual on a spiritual plane – power, signs, and lying wonders – that’s what took place on those days, those different periods of time for those who heard those things.  Not about the pope at all.  Sad.

And so again here, for the mystery of iniquity is already working; only He who now let’s, same word, He who now restrains/withholds/holds back will until he is taken out of the way.  What an awesome prophetic thing there – taken out of the way 280 days later; 40 times 7: God’s judgment – 40,  and 7 being a seven day week.  Incredible!  So again, the way that it’s stated in Daniel 9:24 – Seventy weeks are determined upon your Holy City, again, about the Church at the end-time, to finish, in other words it doesn’t mean ‘finish’ at all, it means to hold back/to keep back, the very thing we’ve looked at here,  the transgression - the apostasy - the rebellion, because that’s when the announcement in essence to God’s Church is about Jesus Christ is returning.  That very day was the opening of the 1st Seal!  Powerful to understand what’s being given here.  Something that God said is sealed, even in Daniel, “Daniel, it’s sealed until the end!”  And then God began to unseal it through various Seals in a book given much later on to John.

...to hold back/to keep back the transgression, again, a very specific transgression that’s prophetic, the apostasy, to the coming of Jesus Christ; all about the second coming of Christ.

Then, going on, and to make an end of sins, ‘to make an end of sins’.  ...‘To make’ is a word meaning ‘to seal’; it’s the meaning of the word in Hebrew.  It’s the word for seal, sealing.  ... ‘an end’ – literally meaning in the Hebrew ‘to consume’, but here it carries the second meaning of ‘to bring to an end’ or ‘to finish’.  Here is the word that does mean ‘to bring to an end or to finish’ having to do with a sealing, to bring to an end.  And then, ‘of sins’ or how the word is so often used, ‘the sin offering’.  What is that about?  We should understand.

So, putting this together it’s saying, and to seal, to bring to an end or to finish sin or the sin offering, literally.  It’s about a process of something we have already discussed in times past.  Does it sound familiar to sermons we’ve had in times past?  ...I’ve referred to earlier, in Daniel 12, because that’s what it’s referring to.  It’s referring to some of the very same things that we covered there.

And so again here, after the transgression occurs the apostasy is no longer being held back and is allowed to occur, at that point the seventy-weeks prophecy begins.  It started at the opening of the 1st Seal, and this is all in context of what would lead up to the coming of the Messiah to be anointed.

Then the next great event concerning the countdown to the coming of the Messiah would be another prophecy contained in the book of Daniel and this expression of ‘to make an end of sins’ contains the meaning we have just covered of these three main words here; ...and to seal – to bring to an end – or to bring an end to the sin offering.

And as it was covered in the January 7th sermon concerning the meaning of this phrase it was said that: “The thrust of this is to accomplish a sealing that nullifies sin, or it could be stated, ‘and to accomplish a sealing that fulfills the sin offering’.”  Awesome here, truly is!  That’s exactly what we covered back in a sermon in 2008 in Daniel 12, and I think it would be good to back there and review some of this again.

It was in a sermon on November 22, 2008 entitled ‘Three More Weeks – Phase 2’ because we were at a point in time where we understood what had happened on September 30th, The Feast of Trumpets, leading up to understanding a sealing that took place on that day, understanding some things that followed later on then in November 14th, and then what was leading up to December 14th of 2008, all this countdown of timing, these things that are on your chart here.  If you see September 30, 2008 it says ‘Feast of Trumpets – Sealing of 144,000’ - 1335 days.  Where’s that?  Daniel 12.  November 14th, 2008, the 7th Seal of Revelation opened – 1290 days left. December 14th, 2008, 1st Trumpet blown and two witnesses begin – 1260 days.  All the way up to May 27, 2012.

I’m going to break into a portion of that sermon that we were covering at that time.  Now, I understand, there’s a lot to absorb here, and if you came in since that period of time you may never have heard that sermon, so you might want to go back and listen to it sometime and then go back to this.  It is like a building, it’s like what we’re doing, it’s like what God’s giving to us, we just continue to build.  It’s like what was given in the sermon on January 7th, it wasn’t all there yet but now it’s all here.  God just continues to give more and more so that we can see more and more because He has a purpose in doing that.  There is a great work going on right now, something that God has been doing since this entire process began going back to Trumpets, going back to this period of time here of November 14th, 2008.  Incredibly awesome things that God has been doing that He’s showing us now, what He’s been doing and what He’s going to continue to do to the very end more and more and more.

Daniel 12:8 –And I heard, but I didn’t understood: then I said, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?” Always a desire to know.  Whenever you hear of things like this, whenever it was given to Daniel it was his desire.  It’s like, “You said these things; You’ve pointed certain things out, but I want to know more!  When?  What more is there to it? There’s more here – What is it?  I want to understand, I desire to know!”  And it’s been that way in God’s Church – we’ve always had a desire to know, always been looking forward, always planning ahead for this time.

Verse 9 - And he said, Go your way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed...God sealed them starting here!  Making sure that it was not to be understood, that it was not to be seen, that there were things that were not to take place!  They could not happen and they could not be revealed.  It’s in God’s time to reveal them.  That’s why Jesus Christ said what He said, ‘It’s not for you to know, it’s only for God the Father, it’s in His time,’ in essence, paraphrasing what was being told to the disciples.  ...the time, the day, and the hour – because it has to do with something that’s sealed, ‘I can’t tell you!’  That’s what He was telling them.  It’s sealed!  ...and it can’t be given until it’s unsealed!  That’s by God’s authority and God’s power. You know, when you go back and you look in some of the things, especially the Medes and the Persians and you look at some of the things that are said back there even in Daniel and other places, that are written in Jeremiah, they talked about, there were things said that if a king says it it has a seal upon it. His words, they’re sealed, you can’t change it.  That’s why we read the one story there (and I don’t remember which one it was, we’ve read so many of them) but he talked about how he was praising God because God changed his words, his command in essence, in other words God nullified it.  He was excited about that.  I don’t remember the exact application here but it was in one of these stories we read earlier in Daniel; my mind’s just not coming up with it.  In essence, the point being is that when the king said something, when a ruler said something his word was absolute, it couldn’t be changed, nothing could change it, it was written in stone, in essence.  How much more God Almighty? How much more when God Almighty sets a seal upon something and He says, “This is the way it is and nothing changes it.” until it’s His time.  And that’s what He in essence is doing here, and He makes it very specific, that’s the language that’s used here, and this is from God Almighty, the Almighty God.

Verse 9 – He said to me, Go your way Daniel for the words are closed up and sealed until, so this seal is being set here to a specific moment in time, until the time of the end. And things about the ‘time of the end’, things we’re reading about here in Daniel 9, they go from one point to another, and the next big point is what’s holding back, what’s keeping back. It had everything to do with an apostasy; it had everything to do with something that God was going to allow in His Church to teach one of the most awesome lessons to mankind. Awesome lesson! And what will be taught through the Millennium, to people during the Millennium and the Great White Throne, of what human beings are capable of doing with God’s spirit dwelling within them.  The Israelites didn’t have God’s spirit and they rebelled against God – understandable, their sins.  What we did in God’s Church was far worse because we had God the Father and Jesus Christ dwelling in us and we were to be dwelling in them; and we let down.  Far greater sin!  Far more important than what happened to physical Israelites and the things that they were not capable of obeying.  We learn that, don’t we?  ...that you can’t keep God’s law without God’s help, without God’s spirit dwelling in you.

And so the lesson is there, to be on watch, to be careful, to be on guard, because anyone... ANYONE... any human being can turn against God and think that they’re okay.  Anyone can let down and become lukewarm.  Anyone can cease to watch and think they’re watching and not be watching.  To be careful, because you can begin to take things for granted and begin to think you’re rich and increased with goods because of all the knowledge you have, because of all the understanding you have, and because you’re dealing with the world and people all around you have no understanding and we can begin to judge them improperly if we’re not careful.  They can’t help it, we can.  What a horrifying, horrible sin that took place through God’s Church, to become lukewarm, to let down spiritually.

Why is that warning there? And why is that warning so important?  Because during the Millennium the God Family is going to be here!  That’s far more awesome and people can still sin!  The children that grow up in that world and the common thing for them?  I understand it but to comprehend that fully, because we haven’t lived in that period of time yet, there are going to be 144,000, they’re going to hear preaching from Festival to Festival, Sabbaths, around the world, because that’s what they’re going to be doing.  They’re going to be doing a lot of preaching in a lot of different areas to God’s people, to the world.  What an incredible thing to go to the Feast of Tabernacles and have members of the God Family there, and not just one but on a rotating basis.  You can hear from a different one every day because they can move quickly.  They can go to another Feast [site]; they can speak three times around the world in the same day, maybe more.  How awesome is that?  How many sites can they attend?  Seriously!  It’s like in the future, we don’t think things like this but to think that a being, a member of the God Family can work in one area with people during a daylight portion of eight hours, go onto the next portion of eight hours, and then another portion of eight hours, and not even have to sleep and all those things you’re going to be bogged down with that aren’t there once you are a part of the God Family.

And then, Feast site to Feast site, to spend an hour, two hours ahead of services, because people are going to want to talk, ask questions, be able to visit, be able to see, hear the sermon two hours, and then... so what do we have, 4-6 hours in there, so they might be able to get in four different Feast sites in one day – one member of the God Family.  That’s a lot of Feast sites!  That’s a lot of Feast sites around the world.  Now, why did we go there?  I’m not really sure but I know it’s important.   It’s inspiring!  It’s awesome!  It’s exciting!

The lesson that even with the God Family you can begin to take that for granted, just like we did in the Church during Philadelphia, we began to take for granted all this knowledge we had and we went on into a period where we began to let down, and we had so much knowledge and so much understanding compared to the world and the world of traditional Christianity, it was night and day!  And I think of how much more God’s given to us and how much more night and day it is.  We lost that somewhere, that ability to continue to grow, and it was all for a purpose, to teach this great lesson of what you can do, what you’re capable of doing with God’s spirit.  And it’s going to be an important lesson for people during the Millennium, it truly is, taught over and over again, what human beings are capable of with God’s spirit, even with the presence of Jesus Christ and 144,000 on this earth that are going to be the norm for generation after generation after generation of people who are born, who experience that – so that they don’t let down, so that they have that knowledge, that understanding there.  And what an awesome time to give that lesson, at the end of 6,000 years, because God is getting ready to do a far greater work into the Millennium, greater lessons, greater stories, greater things to learn from.

We have all this history, and the farther you go into this book, from the beginning, from the time of Abel on up to the time of the flood on up to the time of Moses, on to the time of Jesus Christ, the disciples, the Church, more and more and more continued to be added, and finally we have this book – more and more continuing to be added.  Finally by the time you get to the end things that the early disciples didn’t even know that were written and recorded here, the things that John wrote that they never knew, that they never had!  Things that John wrote about God’s love, and anti-Christ, and what it means to yield yourself to God’s spirit dwelling within you.  The early Church never had that; they hadn’t grown to that point to receive that yet.  They weren’t there yet spiritually!  By the time John came along God gave more, and then the book of Revelation, and through time then we have all this history of the past, 2,000 years nearly, and more and more continues to be added.  God raised up Mr. Armstrong – more and more was added, the book, ‘Mystery of the Ages’; the most awesome book to its time ever written, to explain God’s plan from beginning to end, to bring all those scriptures together – how awesome that is!  Over fifty years of being moulded and fashioned to write it, to give it, so that God could give more, because why?  Because He’s preparing for more to be given.  God’s preparing for more to be given to the Church.  God’s preparing for a lot more to be given when Jesus Christ returns.  It’s a maturing thing, it’s a preparation thing.  It’s awesome, it truly is.

Go your way Daniel for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.  Many shall be purified, and made white, now they can’t wake up yet and put on their beautiful garments but that’s what God’s doing to them, those through the eras of the Church, if you will, for the past 2,000 years, from era to era to era, starting with Ephesus and on through all the eras. They’ve been putting on their garments.  That’s their desire.  We desire to be clothed in white, we desire to get rid of that which is unclean, we want to live God’s way of life, we strive to, we repent constantly because we’re agreeing with God that our ways are wrong and God’s way’s are right and we want to embrace those.

Many shall be purified, and finally when a person gets to that point where God says, “Now I know you.” And ever how much longer they might live God still knows them and knows what they will do.  Many have lived that and that’s exactly what God has spiritually said to them, “Now I know you.  You’re in My Family.”  Many shall be purified and made white, and tried; it doesn’t come easily, continually being tried, continually going through the fire; it’s how we grow.  The impurities come to the surface and God helps us to see the impurities then so that we can repent of them and have them taken off and we become purer as time goes along.  And again, the context here all about the 144,000 here basically, and everybody else has to live the say way, but this is basically the focus.

...but the wicked shall do wickedly: the world doesn’t change, it still goes on the same way, but there’s a group whom God calls and works with to be different, but the wicked will continue to be the way they are.  Nothing will change there; nothing can change there until they have their time, until they’re called.

...and none of the wicked shall understand; Because it’s not given to the world to understand.  God blesses us to no longer be a part of that, to come out of that, to come out of sin, to come out of that which is wicked.  Do we still sin?  Do we still have wickedness in our life?  Absolutely!  But we repent of it, we desire to draw closer to God, we constantly repent of those things and we grow through that process.

...but the wise shall understand.  So, as time goes along and whatever people need, at any point in time God will give to them.  Those are the ones, and the only ones, who can be wise, because it’s a matter of receiving of God’s wisdom and truth from God and God’s way of life.

Verse 11 - And from the time that the daily sacrifice; again, some of these words here I hope you see are in italics.  They’re not in the original scripture, they’re added, they’re not the actual words, but sometimes it is a matter of the actual flow and content of what’s being said.  And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. It’s very awkward in the English as was mentioned in that particular sermon clear back in 2008.  We’re reviewing, again, some of what was covered in that February sermon about the 144,000 being sealed, going back here.

Again, talking about ‘and from the time’ is very much about a sequence of time as the word ‘from’ in old Hebrew is so often translated as ‘since’ or even better for this verse, ‘after’.  Since/After – so it’s giving a timeline here.  Let’s read it again.  After the daily shall be taken away - mentioned here in that sermon - “Let’s stop – What is the daily?  ...or the daily sacrifice?”  Because that is what it’s talking about.  “What was it in the Temple? There were sacrifices for sin, for transgression against God, but it never took away sin, so what in truth does take away sin?”  These are some of the questions that were being asked back in that particular sermon at that time, ‘After the daily shall be taken away’.  “The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the daily sacrifice, if you will, that daily works in our life in order for God to accomplish His continuing work in us.  That is what we rely upon in God’s Church, that sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  We rely upon that daily.”  You rely upon that daily.  The ability to go before God and say, “Father, forgive me,” through whom?  He only had to die once it says in Hebrews – that’s the point of it all.  He fulfilled everything about the sacrificial system.  He only had to die once.  He lived a perfect life, but we use that sacrifice daily.  This is a part of what continues on and has continued on in God’s Church, the daily sacrifice.  Not something that has to be sacrificed daily, but we understand what that means for us, that we have to go before God, through Jesus Christ, because He paid the penalty for sin.  He is our sacrifice.  That’s why He’s referred to, in essence, God’s sacrifice, what He gave to man as the Passover sacrifice.  It wasn’t something that was sacrificed up, it was something that God sacrificed; it was something that Jesus Christ yielded Himself to to sacrifice of Himself, His own life, for all of us.

That’s why part of this expression in Daniel 9 is so inspiring, because it says, ‘not for Himself’ – it’s for us, it’s for everyone else, it’s for everyone.  So again, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the daily sacrifice that daily works in our life in order for God to accomplish His continuing work in us.

And I’m just reading what was in that sermon: “This is explained more fully...” I’m referring back to another sermon I guess I should say here; this is actually going back in that same year.  I thought that rang a bell, but this is the November 2008 sermon about ‘Three More Weeks – Phase 2’, and I’m actually referring back to a sermon, referring to some things as déjà vu, and going back to February 2, 2008’s sermon where some of this was given actually for the first time about Daniel 12.

This sermon given in November, 2008 summarizes a lot of those things and has more understanding in it.  So I’m referring back and saying, again, “This is explained more fully in that February 2nd sermon, but let’s read it as it is more correctly translated from Hebrew.  After the daily sacrifice (verse 11) is taken away, not ‘shall be’ taken away, once it is taken away.  So after the daily sacrifice is taken away is the true translation.”  And I asked the question, “When can such a thing be? When can the daily sacrifice be taken away?  And this is actually explaining that there is a time when the daily sacrifice will have fulfilled its task in the lives of some.  Who are they?”  In other words, it’s talking about something that’s been finished, something that has been accomplished by God.

So, making comment here in that sermon, “At the end-time there are only 144,000 who could fit into such a picture and this is exactly what this is all about - 144,000.  There comes a time when God has finished a phase of His work, and it’s about that number of people, all those through time with whom God has worked, to where that process is not working in the same way in their life to finish a job because the job is finished.”

I’ll just read the rest of what I said here.  “Next, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, is not a good translation.”  I think about some things that are translated sometimes.  You go back to these words and you find out that they were grasping for straws, they didn’t understand what God was doing, they didn’t understand these prophecies in the first place, and so they grabbed at something that kind of fit into some beliefs that they had.  And we find words that sometimes are only translated once and are not consistent with the rest of the Bible and how the words are translated, like that word ‘finished’ we looked at a moment ago.  And this is very common when you get into some prophecies, especially in the book of Daniel.

“...and the abomination that makes desolate set up, is not a good translation.  This is about the abomination of desolation that’s been working in the Church from the time when the 1st Seal was opened up and its continued working even until the very end-time countdown.”  And so again here, expressions that we understand in part, but again, “...and the abomination that makes desolate set-up.  Well, we know when it started.

The abomination that makes desolate wasn’t about Antiochus Epiphanies.  There are some in the scattered Body who still think that there’s coming a time when there has to be an altar set up in Jerusalem, when some stones are going to be moved into Jerusalem.  The day anyone tries to move a stone close to the Temple Mount... if they try to get up there close to the Mosque in that area there there’s going to be a war – if that were to happen.   It’s not going to happen.  But there are some who believe that not the whole temple has to be set up, but at least an altar has to be set up so that it can be desecrated, so that it can fulfill a prophecy here about a desecration, because they are thinking back to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes and around 70 AD when he came in and slaughtered swine on the altar.  What could be more of an abomination?  Physically something did take place about that period of time by an individual to desecrate everything about God and the truth and about Judaism and so forth at that time, of what was believed.  And so some believe that this is going to be something that has to repeat itself.

We understand, but it’s amazing how much it holds on, that we tend to generally always still hold onto a physical explanation of things and not understand what God’s saying.  Like a place of safety – Petra – what a simple thing, but we held on so long to a literal physical location that all of God’s people would go to for 3½ years.  144,000 people out there, I guess.  Isn’t that what we taught?  Yes.  Now, what about all the children?  Because that has to be 144,000...we have to be talking about people who are baptized members, because only baptized members can be resurrected into God’s Family when Jesus Christ returns, it can’t be about children.  So how many children are going to be out there?  And if you’ve ever seen that area...if you’ve ever seen pictures of that area, you’ve seen stories from that area of how many people it will hold, it just wouldn’t work.  Simple things, but we tend to hold onto something physical in explanation, and sometimes we get caught and hold onto that for a long, long time.

So the abomination that makes desolate – we understand today what that was about, the destruction of the Church, the scattering of the Church and the continual hurting, if you will, of God’s people, and getting people farther and farther away from what is true, farther and farther away from sound mindedness.  It takes God to awaken an individual, to bring them back.  And sometimes today, I’ll just be candid with you, some of that process becomes even more difficult being on a spiritual plane than what it is to call someone out of some religion to all of a sudden see the truth and they come to say, “Man, I’ve been lied to all my life!”  The trinity!  The Sabbath...it’s the seventh day of the week?!  I’ve been lied to!  Christmas!  Easter!  What about Passover? What about the Feasts?  I’ve been lied to!”  And some of those are easier to be drawn to, to see, than if you believe you’re of the truth and you believe you’re holding onto it and you’re deceived and you’re asleep. To awaken you to reality is not an easy thing... not an easy thing, truly isn’t.

And so the abomination that’s been desolate – it’s been going on ever since that sermon was given on December 17, 1994.  ...and the abomination that makes desolate set up, again, is not a good translation as I mentioned here.  The word in the middle of this phrase ‘that makes’ in Hebrew is something called the ‘Qal Participle Active’.  Again, you don’t have to know all these things but for those who like some of this, things like this... it’s like numbers, some of you don’t like numbers, some of you don’t like dates, some of you... so everybody has different likes and dislikes, but we all can be inspired by different aspects of it and learn from it as well.  In the Hebrew it is a ‘verbal adjective in the active voice indicating continued simple action’.  So this is something that has continued as an ongoing process since it began and has not changed.  It’s kind of like the expression we use about Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh, when ‘Jesus Christ is coming’ is a present progressive verb.  It’s something that’s happening presently and it just continues to happen; Jesus Christ, God living in our life, in our flesh, in our life, as we understand things in the writings of John.  And so here it’s similar.

And it has been an abomination that is making desolate/has been making desolate, more and more desolate as time has gone along.  People are farther and farther and farther away from the truth, especially the truth that God continues to give, than ever before.  I think of the scripture talking about Lazarus and the Rich Man, and if you remember there’s an expression there that says there is this great gulf between us; and it has to do with that which is a matter of understanding and that which is nothing there at all.  And that exists between the Church and the world, there is a great gulf between; but even now in the scattered Body there is a great gulf between where we were at the time of the apostasy and the point to where God has brought us now in knowledge and understanding and seeing.  Just in the one doctrine alone about Jesus Christ hasn’t eternally existed.  That is awesome and powerful, and creates a great gulf then.  And on and on and on it has gone.

So again, it has been an abomination that is making desolate, or has been making desolate since it began with the opening of the 1st Seal.  It didn’t stop; the effect of it.  I even talked about this, how the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Seal are a result of a continuing process of what took place with the 1st Seal opening.  It’s just something that continues on and on and on until God brings it to an end.

Add to this the ending words of the phrase, ‘set up’ in Hebrew, what it also means and it is translated as ‘finished’ or ‘complete’.  So again, in that particular sermon there I gave the best translation in English of something that’s rather complicated as you go and look up all these words.

Verse 11 – should be able to be better understood, or is better understood more perfect, correct, in its translation: After the daily sacrifice is taken away or put away, is what it’s saying, and the abomination that has been making desolate is finished, is complete, there shall be 1290 days... It is all about something that would happen in the Church in time, where God would finish, complete, something that He has been doing for a long, long time.  It isn’t that the daily isn’t needed any longer, it isn’t that the sacrifice of Christ isn’t needed in people’s lives, but there came a time, in essence, when people were sealed as far as the Church is concerned.  And that’s what we’re talking about here, we’re talking about a final completion after nearly 6,000 years that there is a sealing that took place of all who are a part of the 144,000.  It was during this period of time, up around the 1335 days and on into the 1290 and so forth.  There’s a period of time it’s talking about, that which God accomplished, that which God did. God just knows us.  It’s like God said to Abraham, “Now I know you!”  When He brings you to a certain point He finishes the job.  And this is what God did - He finished the job at this point in time of 144,000 – no more to be added to it after that date.  No more.  Anyone who came along, it was finished, it was sealed, and God in essence says, “Now I know you,” in essence, “You are a part of that structure; you are a part of the 144,000.”  That’s what literally took place. That’s what these verses are talking about.

...after the daily sacrifice is taken away/put away, meaning that it’s accomplished, and the abomination that’s been making desolate is finished, is complete, there shall be 1290 days.  Blessed is he who waits and comes to the 1335 day, and this is that point there – those who are blessed, who are a part of the sealing.

I’m just reading from that sermon: “So for those who like working  with numbers this means that after the 1335 days it fulfills the time the daily sacrifice was put away for the 144,000, and to the time of the 45 days later when the completion of the working of the abomination of desolation in the Church comes to an end, in the sense of what God was doing and allowing to be a part of...when it talks about being tried, those things that continue to try, a part of a purifying that God did.  There are 1290 days remaining to the return of Jesus Christ, and this is also the opening of the final Seal, the 7th Seal.”  So, this is an awesome event to understand, trying to paraphrase some of this, of what is somewhat complicated but isn’t.  God set a seal.  He opened it up with the 1st Seal and then there is a great event that leads up to the 7th and final Seal.  All have already been opened in between, and that is what God has been doing since the 1st Seal was opened.  That which has been sealed He’s consistently, because of what it says in Revelation, been unsealing, taking the seals off of all those things that have to do with Daniel and the return of a Messiah, and we have been living it in God’s Church.

That’s what we covered in the November sermon of 2008.  Again, it’s awesome how God continues to reveal more and more to us.  It’s interesting to focus on some of these verses in Daniel that are about a sealing.  I want to read some of those to you because there is much involved; because it’s not just about a single sealing.  This word and these words have great meaning of what God is doing, a part of His plan when it talks about ‘and to seal’ and ‘to bring to an end sin’.

Daniel 12:8 - And I heard, but I didn’t understand: then I said, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go your way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.  Awesome to understand that when the 1st Seal is opened, it’s the very beginning of that which God begins to reveal about Daniel.  This is the beginning of a count, this is the beginning of a time for counting to the Messiah; 7 times 70 times 13 = exactly 6370 days until the time the Messiah would return, but it began with the 1st Seal being opened.  And who opened it?  The Messiah!  Awesome to understand!  Incredible!  That the very one that God writes about in Revelation – there is only one worthy to begin this process, to reveal, to open the Seals – and it was given to Jesus Christ.  That which He wouldn’t do because His own Father set a seal upon it.  That which He could not do because it would be against God’s law and God’s way and God’s sealing.  That when it was His time and it was according to God’s word, then He opened the Seal in the exact moment that it was to be done – December 17, 1994 – and an awesome process began that began to lead and count to His very coming.

And so He is the one that has the opportunity and the blessing to begin to reveal these things.  To whom?  To the Church, in His way, in His time, because He didn’t reveal it on that day.  He started something on that day; He allowed something to take place on that day, to no longer hold back His coming.  What an exciting thing in the God Family!  Yes, it’s going to be traumatic, it’s going to be horrific to live through, but it’s going to carry some of the greatest lessons that can be able to save, to help, to be the benefit to millions upon billions later on.

And so if someone is a part of that process, to enter into Christ’s sufferings, to enter into the sufferings that are there, then so be it.  That’s what our lives are!  From the time you were called you give yourself to God and whatever God says is a part of how you are going to work into His plan to benefit others in His Family later on, and that’s very much what the 144,000 have been through time.  Read about it in this book, in people’s lives over and over and over again as God used them.  Their life was not easy!  Their life was difficult!  They went through many things, they truly did.  You go back and read in the book of Hebrews things they went through.  They went through a lot!  They suffered a lot in order to help more later on.  I think of things that Paul went through.  I cannot tell you... I look forward to meeting him.  People ask me sometimes who do you look forward to visiting and talking to, and he’s one of them.  I look forward to meeting them all but he’s truly toward the top because of things that he was inspired to write and because of what he was willing to go through for us.

I think of things Mr. Armstrong went through for us.  We wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t been willing to go through those things.  I think of all of them before, we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for what they endured because it’s a part of God’s plan.  And so I think of Paul.  Gives me a great deal of encouragement and strength, comfort even in troubled times, because I see what he went through and I think, “Wow!  Stoned!  Dragged out of the city as if you’re dead.  Stoned again!  Shipwrecked!”  So, candidly, when anything seems maybe a little uncomfortable, it’s nothing...nothing - nothing - nothing compared to what people who have gone before have gone through and suffered.  Truly!  And that means a lot!

So, an incredible thing that God’s been doing for a long, long time.  And then Jesus Christ, to understand the awesomeness of this, to understand that God and Jesus Christ, the things they have shared in now for the past 2,000 years.  It’s incredible, truly is!  And the things that God has given to Him to begin to do, the work He’s been doing for 2,000 years and working in people’s lives – God has given to Him to do in the Body, in our lives, the things that Jesus Christ is doing.  Everything you’re taught, everything you’re given comes from Jesus Christ.  It’s from God the Father, we understand that, but it’s given to Him, it’s in His charge, in His power to give to us, and we’ve been blessed in that.  And you think about all that we’ve been given in such a short length of time, especially in this final period of time?  I’m dumbfounded by it.  I go back and look at the truths that God has given to us, even up to that time, up to the 50th Truth, and I am in awe!  I can’t put it any other way – just dumbfounded.  And those are the very things – that’s why I talk about them so often – to go back to those, those are the things – that’s your power.  The truth is your power.  It is your strength.  It is your might, because it’s there by the power of God’s spirit, otherwise you wouldn’t have it in your mind and your being, and the more that it’s there the more strength and the more life you have spiritually.  And then all that God’s given us since that time; that Jesus Christ has given to us since that time.  It’s inspiring, and it became stronger, and it began to be stronger once the 1st Seal was opened.  Did not like to live through it, gut-wrenching, horrible times to live through.  I ache sometimes thinking back about it; it’s not pleasant, the suffering.

You know, there’s physical suffering and there’s that which happens in the mind.  When you’ve known so many people, indeed when you’ve walked to God’s house side by side and council blended sweet – like you’re able to have when you come together here.  Now, let’s say we were all together worldwide in one spot right now as small as we are, and take out of that maybe 30 people, maybe a dozen, and all the rest go by the wayside.  Let’s say a third of them just quit and you never hear from them again because they’re so disillusioned they don’t even want to have contact with anyone again because they’re so disillusioned.  And another third, they go back to what they come out of.  Gut-wrenching to see that happen in people’s lives!  Can you imagine that?  All whom you know?  And you haven’t met them all, but if we were all together in one place and there were only a dozen or so left, thirty or so left, and all the rest this happened to – people you know, people you’ve known for a long time.  It’s gut-wrenching, it hurts, it’s painful, truly, especially when you don’t have all the answers for why it happened at the time.  But then God uses a process of time to teach you why and what happened; He shows you through that suffering, then begins to reveal to you why this was necessary, why it took place, and it begins to make sense and you begin to understand why God allowed it to happen to the Church and why it’s so necessary and that they’re not lost.  What an awesome thing that God revealed – they’re not lost.

Because there was a time in God’s Church that the thought was that if anyone messes up in this calling of this age and they are not able to be born into God’s Family when Jesus Christ returns; if for whatever reason they leave the Church, or they become deceived, or the pulls of the world are just too great, that’s it for them...that’s it... that’s it, there’s no more opportunity.  What a beautiful thing when God revealed to us and we learned it.  You know how we learned it?  By what happened to us in the Church; by God awakening people from spiritual sleep – that God has the power to awaken someone from a spiritual sleep, from spiritual deception, even when the truth is there and a person goes by the wayside for a time, is cut off from the flow of God’s spirit – still God’s people – but another phase of His plan.  Maybe to be drawn back before Christ returns, but the overwhelming vast majority is to be brought back at the Great White Throne and to continue on at a point where they’re awakened, and all of a sudden their ability to serve in that period of time is going to be awesome!  There are thousands of people who are going to be able to start out from the get-go to serve God powerfully at that moment in time, because they’re going to come to such repentance from what has taken place and they’re going to yield, and they have that knowledge, and they’re going to grow.  Just like some of you; all of a sudden you receive all this knowledge of the time you’ve missed and WOW, it’s all there and you’re able to help and serve in far greater ways.  Anyway, I look forward to that time.  But all a part of God’s plan and a part of what God was doing...all for a purpose.

Daniel 12:4 – I was reading about the seals, the different words for sealing here and we just read the one in verses 8-9 where it talks about that the words are closed up and sealed to the time of the end.  Then going back to Daniel 12:4 - But you, O Daniel, shut up the words, so he was told before and he’s told again later on because he wants to know more and God reminds him of what’s already been said in verse 4.  He said, But you, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, it’s sealed, even to the time of the end: and so everyone has always wanted to know - When is the end?  When is the Messiah coming?  And the answer is so simple; what holds it back.  When it comes on the scene it no longer holds it back, the 1st Seal is then opened and a process begins, and not only does a process begin but it’s perfect: 7 times 70 times 13, the number of days until Christ returns.

But you, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end.  Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Boy, I think of our age!  I think of these machines, computers, technology and all this knowledge out there.  You can’t keep up with it!  All the gadgets that are out there?  I’m almost hoping that at some point there’s a restriction placed on everything.  “Let’s not go any farther in this area, people need a life.”  It’s getting to where people can’t communicate the right way; they can’t hold conversations with each other.  They can [text] a hundred miles an hour, even driving down the highway and they’re texting out these messages, but when it comes to being able to verbally discuss things and talk about things it’s becoming a lost art.  You think it was an art?  It is! But it’s like we can speak to each other through a computer.  Skype is even kind of hairy because you can see each other.  You understand what I’m talking about; and there’s no escaping, there’s no privacy.  I’m serious!  Something has got to change in part of this and I don’t know what the answer is – God will give it to us.

But you, O Daniel, shut up the words - yes, because knowledge shall be increased. And people run around to and fro – boy do they run to and fro!  I’ve thought about it at different times when I come to different intersections of some of these freeways out here, and I think of this one area of Dallas, coming out of town when it’s going north.  Some of you from Dallas here, when you’re going north up there and you have these... awesome... the 635 loop and then the one that goes over the top of that 45, but it’s just one maze after another shooting up and underneath each other with massive amounts of traffic... and you think, when everybody’s resurrected I’d like to take them out there and say, “Look at that! You want to see what God was saying when He was talking about the ‘chariots running’... and all the chariots out here running all over the place?”  And you see something that’s way up high in the air and you see these vehicles way up there and you see another road down here and another group coming underneath here, and maybe four different things criss-crossing each other.  Massive height!  It’s almost to the point you’re not sure you really want to drive up there!  It’s driving too high!

Incredible the world we live in.  I’m serious, when I go by some of those places I can’t help but think about that.  I think, “Man, can you imagine John and Paul and others being resurrected and some of them seeing this right now?”  Just shock the tar out of them even though they’re spirit beings, to see all these cars and vehicles and trucks and people and traffic jams!  People running to and fro to where you even get to that point where it’s just people – people-people-people – and there’s no family.  That’s why it’s going to be so great when everyone’s in the Church; you can talk to anyone at anytime.  And you know that the person driving next to you [that] has made a stupid mistake, they’re in the Church. That’s going to help because it’s going to help you maybe be a little more merciful.  “I want them to be merciful to me and I want to be merciful to them and that was a stupid thing you did...but anyway I’m going to get a hold of myself.” ...and that type of thing, seriously.  When everybody’s in the Church it’s going to be a much different.

And when the prophecies of Daniel began to become unsealed, beginning with the opening of the 1st Seal of Revelation (I’m probably repeating some things because I want to make sure I catch these in my notes) and others that followed, then another sealing occurred.  Awesome to see what took place in a period of time here as different Seals were being opened up.  It had been sealed, the whole book, now they’re being unsealed leading up to the sealing.  Incredible!  ...leading up to the sealing of 144,000, because that’s in these verses.  It’s in chapter 12, it’s in chapter 9 in what’s being revealed here.

Let’s read this: Daniel 9:24 - Seventy weeks are determined upon .... your holy City, again, about the Church, to finish, the word meaning ‘to hold back/to keep back’ the transgression, a specific transgression that’s prophetic, the apostasy, to the coming of Jesus Christ which is at the end, we understand that, the anointing, and to make an end of sins, in other words literally and to seal, to bring to an end sin, the sin offering - to finish, to accomplish something, to fulfill something.  So, what an incredible progression here, there’s a period of time determined, it begins with the 1st Seal that’s opened, it begins with the apostasy, it begins with something that’s been held back and it begins to go through time, and the next major thing of awesome importance is the sealing of 144,000, because of the sin, because of that which has been addressed in all the lives before that of the work of the sacrifice of Christ that was fulfilled and accomplished in those lives.

It’s still working in those who are alive, in those who are a part of 144,000, because it’s set.  God says He knows them.  God knows they’ve been tried and tested to know they’re going to continue to repent – that’s just the way their life is, that’s what God has brought them to, that’s what God has constructed and moulded and made and He’s going to see to it...He’s going to see to it because they’ve been judged to be a part and He’ll bring them through – absolute.  What an awesome thing to understand! And then that same process will continue to work through the next thousand years, the next hundred years after that until it accomplishes that work in their lives.

So again, it’s about the plan of God and what He’s doing leading up to the return of Jesus Christ and the coming of 144,000 who come with Him.

...and to make an end to sins, to seal, to bring to an end the sin or the sin offering.

And sometimes the words ‘and’ in here; I don’t like this when they just throw the word ‘and’ in there because it’s not always there, “It’s okay, we can let it go, we can live with that...”the word ‘and’ there, they threw it in there thinking it would add better understanding and sometimes it really takes away from some of it.  So it goes on to say, and to seal, to bring to an end, sin, or the sin offering, to make, the word means, in essence here, ‘by’ or ‘through making’ reconciliation.  So how is it accomplished?  Through making reconciliation.  The word means atonement, through making atonement.  That’s what God does in our lives, to bring us at one with God, at-one-ment; to bring us into that oneness with God, and that’s a process we go through until we’re there.  ...to make, in other words by/through making atonement for iniquity, it’s for the 144,000 – that’s what took place, that’s what transpired by making atonement for them.  It worked until a certain point and moment in time and then it was accomplished, it was fulfilled, they were sealed.

Daniel 9:24 [continued] – to bring in, literally to ‘lead in’, ‘to bring to pass’, ‘to come to pass’ as the word means, everlasting righteousness; What a beautiful picture here!  It says there are certain things that have to take place, there are certain things that lead up to, in essence, this sealing, until a time here after the transgression had taken place, to a time when the daily sacrifice has fulfilled its purpose, it’s accomplished, it’s finished its work in essence, is what we’re being told.

...and to bring in everlasting righteousness: What does that mean?  That’s what the lives will be of 144,000.  You’re never going to have everlasting righteousness unless you’re living everlasting and that’s in righteousness in God’s Family.  So it’s about the 144,000 here in the midst of all this, because it’s Jesus Christ’s work being done here, it’s His work that’s accomplishing this.  And so it’s everything that’s going to coincide with the anointing, the coming of the Messiah.

...and to bring in, to lead in/bring in/to bring to pass/come to pass everlasting righteousness, so that’s what’s coming to pass, that’s what God is bringing to pass; and to seal up the vision and prophecy, another sealing.  Started out talked about a sealing earlier in the same verse and now it’s talking about a sealing again, and now it’s talking about to seal up the vision and the prophecy; self explanatory.  What’s being sealed up?  Its fulfillment, it being accomplished.  Finally when you’re at the end it’s all been sealed, God’s seal is on it for eternity, it’s been accomplished.  In other words, it’s a way of expressing the something that God started with Daniel, sealed the book, began to unseal various things in order to fulfill His plan, why all these things are there, to lead up to the coming of the Messiah, to the time He’s actually anointed.  This is when now the vision, the prophecy is sealed, it’s fully accomplished as part of God’s plan.  That’s what it means, all of verse 24 here.  And so it all goes together.

...to seal up the vision and the prophecy; in other words to set a seal of fulfillment upon it, if you will, a final accomplishment of that which was given to Daniel and sealed then.

...in order, as it really is here, in order to anoint the Most Holy. That’s what it’s about.  In order to bring all this to pass, to anoint the Most Holy, the Messiah, finally, and those who are going to return with Him.  It’s all a matter of understanding then.

So again, we’ve covered those verses, and I can’t express some of these things, and sometimes in giving them in sermons and going back and remembering and visiting various sermons, going back to February, what it was, the 2nd I think it was I mentioned of 2008 and then talking about that sermon in November of 2008, ‘Three More Weeks – Phase 2’ in that particular sermon, revisiting that sermon of February 2008.  Going through Daniel 12 and now going through Daniel 9 and seeing how these things fit together – again – awesomely inspiring having lived it, having had those things revealed, having lived through those things, and sometimes I know it’s a little difficult to go back and review some of them, but again, it’s like a great puzzle and more and more pieces just continue to be fit into place to give greater understanding of what God was saying all along as a part of His plan.

So, we’ve covered those verses in Daniel 9 that concern Christ’s first coming, through the way that God revealed the three divisions, seven weeks, sixty-two weeks, and the meaning, in part, of one week that we haven’t finished yet.  And we’ve covered that here in this series we’ve gone through and verse 25 covers that period there all the way up through the sixty-two weeks and so forth.  However, in the midst of this prophecy concerning Christ’s first coming is much that’s recorded about His second coming, and that’s an awesome thing.

Verse 24 is fully about His second coming, verse 25 begins to talk about His first coming and it breaks up those three divisions of seventy into seven, sixty-two, and the one.  And then what we begin to find through the rest of the verses here is a combination of many things.  It brings in both and it brings in things about Satan, things that Satan does, it starts talking about another prince.  It’s not Jesus Christ, it’s about Satan, and he’s referred to as a prince because of what God had given to him from the beginning and where he was, and we know what he became and what he did.  And so those things are also revealed in some of these verses that we’re going to go through.  And so we’re going to continue to go through part of this process here looking at more and more that God still gives in this particular chapter to the end.

Daniel 9:25 - Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem; so that’s about the streets and the walls, unto the Messiah the Prince, that’s about His first coming, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: so again, that period of 49 years to rebuild, and then another 62 weeks which leads up to - what an awesome thing - to His first coming on the scene, to when He’s baptized, to when He begins preaching in the fall of 27 AD, and then He has 3½ years to the spring, Passover, of 31 AD when He’s killed, cut off in the midst of the week.  Awesome how God reveals some of this.  And that’s why it goes on to say then, shall be seven, and sixty-two weeks; and the street, it says, shall be built again, and the wall, even in troubled times. And so if you go back and look at the history – incredibly troubled times – people around them that continued to war against them and fight against them and their construction and what they were doing.

Then verse 26 - And after sixty-two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself: so there’s going to be a period after that, after He begins His ministry there’s going to come a time when He’s cut off, it says here, but not for Himself; we’ve discussed this, He’s our Messiah, but He came the first time to be our Passover.  ‘For others’ – that’s why it says and not for Himself.

...and the people of the prince: this is not Jesus Christ.  This is about a fallen prince; this is about Satan.  ...and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, awesome-awesome-awesome the things that are here, that have always been here, that just don’t pop out until it’s time, God’s time; and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.  Something that God determined a long time ago, of something He was going to allow to take place in the Church of God.  Now, there’s a duality in all this as well – that which is physical in part that happened in ‘type’, but of something that has greater meaning later on having to do with the second coming of Christ again.  So it talks about a period of time after sixty-two weeks He’s going to be cut off, but that’s not the end of His work, there’s more to be done.  There’s more to His work to be done!  He was cut off in the midst of the week, but there’s more that He’s going to be doing through time here – talking about the Messiah and what’s going to take place and what it’s going to lead up to – the very one who begins to open the Seals.  Incredible!

And so it leads up to these periods of time.  And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the City and the sanctuary; again, this is a prophecy that’s a matter of duality, speaking of where the literal city is, the sanctuary, the temple is finally destroyed in time.  All this is going through a large period of time.  It came to a point we talked about in 70 AD and it was the abomination of desolation in the temple and Antiochus Epiphanies and what He did.  And later a full destruction of things that were there.  But it took a long period of time – this is a physical thing that took place - but that’s really not what the scriptures are about; it’s about something later on, it leads up to that which is later on, although there is a running tie in there.

But it says here, and the key, and the end thereof shall be with a flood; something that Satan does.  It’s about him and those who are a part with him, people.  Satan has those he’s deceived, those he works through, and just like the thing of power, signs, and lying wonders, he was there, that was what he did, that’s what he gave, that’s what he inspired.  Sobering thing to understand what can happen in the lives of human beings and what they can yield themselves to and become the pawns of in time.

It’s good to go back here to Revelation 12 because this is our history, this is what we’re talking about, this is what this verse is talking about, this portion of the verse, something that happens later on in time at the end, because that’s what the words talk about here, literally says it, it gives you the time period.  ...and the end thereof shall be with a flood; something that happens literally in the end, something this prince does and what he destroys concerning the sanctuary, concerning the Temple, if you will, has to do with the flood.

Revelation 12:12 - Therefore rejoice, you heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitors of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you having great wrath/anger because he knows that he has but a short time. And please understand, the closer and closer he gets to that time the more anger he has, the more stirred up he becomes.  He knows his time is running out.  He knows God says what He says and does what He does... and don’t try to understand the distorted minds and how they function like this.  You can’t understand those things.  They’re there, it’s just the way it is, but that’s why things are so stirred up more and more.  That’s why I think of what God has given at certain periods of time and Holy Days about him, about his destruction, of what’s going to come.  There are things given in some of those sermons he’s not known, about what’s going to happen to him.  There’s an anguish there, a torment.  He is coming to an end.  He is coming to a literal end in time; no more being, no more existence.

For the devil has come down unto you, having greater anger because he knows he has but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child. And so again, that’s what Satan has done ever since the time of the coming of Christ all the way through the periods of the Church; he has hated God’s work, he has hated the Church.  He doesn’t understand why God would work with us, with human beings.  He has incredible distain for all human beings - incredible distain – because he sees himself, and that’s his problem, in the concept he has of himself and how ‘great’ he is.  And God made him great as a being, but it went to the mind, pride, and what followed.  And so again here, all the things he did concerning Christ, all the things he did in trying to attack and trying to distort God’s plan and all those children that were killed up to 2 years old, all the things that took place here and God sending Joseph and Mary down into Egypt for a time and then bringing them back after a time.  All these things that took place through time, and Satan’s desire continually trying to destroy, trying to thwart God’s plan and God’s purpose.  Incredible!  And possibly thought he had a great victory once Christ was killed.  I don’t comprehend all those things that are there.  But he doesn’t understand how God can work with human beings.  He doesn’t comprehend this thing of repentance and how God works with the mind and what God is moulding and fashioning in people’s minds so that when the time comes we can be given a different body, we can be given eternal life and a mind that is totally at one with, in agreement with, in unity with, the mind of God for eternity.  Awesome to understand!

But going on in these verses here; so he persecuted the woman who brought forth the man child. Speaking of the time of Christ onward.  And to the woman, speaking of the Church; it’s about the Church, in essence, were given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness into her place where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time: Well, again, there are things there that we’ve come to understand more specifically about timing and what God did and why He did it.  And even though there are 1260 days that do have to agree in the sense of a period of time, the way it’s broken down is different and we have come to understand that in time.  And that’s on the chart here as well, on the second coming.  It breaks some of this down - there’s that period of time up to September 23, 1995 and there is 280 days there.  And then it’s after that, up to May 30, 1998.  Awesome – awesome – awesome – it really is, having lived it, having experienced it, having been a part of this process and what God did and how that after a ‘Time, Times, and a Half a Time’ God protected the Church!  You know, there was a scattering that took place and there was that which God allowed for a period of time until He took the one out of the place, it talks about even in Daniel, until he was taken out of the way.  And then there’s a period of time – God calls it even here prophetically ‘Time, Times and a Half a Time’ - and that’s why we have down here May 30, 1998 after 980 days.  So there’s a period of 980 days there and a period of 980 days later on – ‘Time, Times, and a Half a Time’ to the re-establishment, if you will, of the Church on Pentecost in 1998, because what we had to go through, what we had to experience.  But it was during that period of time that God protected the Church until He brought it to a point in time where spiritually it was re-established in one Body again, one group, not scattered or struggling, or going through what it had to go through to get to where God wanted it to be, established on its own.  That’s an awesome thing to understand, the exact timing of things we went through in the Church until we finally became a single organization that God was working through.  And this is when it took place, this is when it transpired.  And again, things that are inspiring and exciting, but this is a part of what it’s talking about here in Revelation.

And so it goes back and forth in some of this, just like it does in Daniel. And when the dragon saw that he was cast to the earth, he went after the woman... and to the woman [verse 14] were given two wings of a great eagle, it has to do with protection.  That’s what it’s talking about here, in how God protected us.  ...that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.  God protected the Church, fed us, took care of us; he had no power over us, in essence, is what it’s talking about, to influence us, to lead us astray, to lead us away, to hurt us.

Verse 15 - And the serpent cast out of his mouth, so now it’s going back and telling, in essence, why the need for protection and what took place in all this.  It’s going back and forth in time here explaining a story of what took place; And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood; that’s exactly what it’s talking about back here in Daniel.  We just read it.  That’s exactly what it’s talking about in these verses; ‘and the end thereof will be with the flood’ upon what (?) ‘upon the sanctuary, upon...that’s what it’s talking about here; it’s talking about this prince, ‘and the people of the prince that shall come’ – again, all in context with the story here of something it already revealed in verse 24 about ‘the transgression’, about something that was being held back and something that had to take place, ‘the apostasy/the rebellion’ and now it’s explaining some of this process in different detail, just as it is explaining some of the things concerning the first coming now it’s explaining some of the things in the second coming, about the prince; ‘and the people of the price that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary’ – that which God allowed to take place from the beginning of the sermon and then all those who were involved in it, all those who yielded themselves to the process of just scattering the Church all over the place, teaching all kinds of different things; everybody believing, as far as different groups are concerned, that they are right.  But the reality is only one can be right, only one can be true when it comes down to it.

And that’s what God began on Pentecost, as we talked about here, when the Church was re-established in 1998 after an apostasy that took place, God giving it protection.  But this is how it took place and this is how it all started.  This is what it’s describing here in this verse when it’s says, again, and the serpent shall cast out of his mouth water as a flood upon the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. That’s what happened when the 1st Seal was opened.  That’s what happened when the apostasy took place.  I remember going back and giving sermons back in those early days, back in the book of Amos and the book of Joel, but especially in the book of Amos and some of those places and the things about floods and what happens, as it talks about here, when you’re swept away, and you have a whole Body here that was just swept away, and what takes place in a great flood and some come up in different areas, they’re just scattered all along.  And this is a part of what it’s talking about here, that came upon the Church, it was like a giant flood, spiritually, that hit the Church all at once.  Four weeks starting in Atlanta, then Big Sandy... There were four Sabbaths involved because it started the 17th, then the 24th, 31st, and then on January 7th was when it was finally heard everywhere.  But again, that sermon being heard first of all in Atlanta, then later on in Big Sandy on the 24th, and then the 7th when it was heard by the entire Church worldwide; a huge flood that day that came upon the Church!  Everything was swept away, truly was.  That’s what God likens it to, a flood.  And you go back in the Old Testament and you read about some of those things, it’s exactly what took place, and this is what’s being described here than in Revelation.

...and cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. God had to intervene or the entirety of the Church would have been destroyed!  But God wasn’t going to allow that to take place, and so He intervened and began to help parts to learn to grow.  And the dragon was angry with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, and ever since the beginning, that’s what we’ve talked about. The scattering in Ezekiel 5, Ezekiel 20, and a remnant, that God would have a remnant in the end – very small compared to what the whole was.  It means ‘that which was remaining’, ‘that which is left over’, ‘that which is being worked with’.  It’s so much smaller than what was the whole; a small remnant, truly.

... And the dragon was angry with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed: So, has it been easy?  Absolutely not!  But you know, when people are asleep Satan still makes their lives miserable to keep them there.  Satan and what he did, incredible what took place here, this process here.  He’s come after the Church but he’s also been after the scattered Church that’s out there too, to keep them in their state – that’s where he wants them.  But life is not easy for those who are of the truth either.  Your life hasn’t been easy when you’ve come out of the world, when God opens up your mind – life isn’t always easy, is it?  On the contrary, that being has always been there as he always has been, and he continues to try to thwart and to hurt, but especially as we get closer and closer to the end.  Things have been difficult; things have not been easy...all for a purpose, all for a witness indeed, and all a part of your moulding and fashioning.  Never forget that!  It’s about what God moulds and fashions in you that is of the greatest value of all because it can come in no other way in the human mind save through sufferings, save through God’s spirit working with you, and you learn and you grow and you mature and you become something different from what you were.  It’s an awesome thing that God does.

And the dragon was angry with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. What an awesome way to describe the end-time!  What an awesome way to describe what God has given to us.  Those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony...you know what that word means?  It’s the word ‘witness’. We have the witness of Jesus Christ in our life because we have what He’s given to us.  That’s the witness.  It is the witness of what Jesus Christ has continually given to the Church; that the Church hasn’t become stagnant, that the Church didn’t level off, that the Church didn’t stop back in 1986.  It didn’t stop back then when a new era came on the scene.  It continued to grow.  It didn’t start going backward, beginning to fall asleep.  There is that which God gave to raise it up again, to give us strength again, and this is the proof of Jesus Christ, it is the proof of His work, and that becomes more important as we continue on in the sermon next Sabbath.

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