In the Millennium – Pt. 1

Wayne Matthews

Feast of Tabernacles Sermon – 2013

Welcome to the Feast of Tabernacles for 2013. We do pray you're having a great time where you are and the fellowship, you're enjoying it and getting out and about and enjoying the time to worship before God during this Feast.

The title of this sermon is In the Millennium – Pt. 1.

The physical and spiritual beauty of the Millennium is not understood by this world. There are some key points that reveal the real difference between the first 6,000 years of man and the next 1,000 years under the rule of Jesus Christ and the 144,000. We know that during the 6,000 years of man Satan has had an influence over the thinking of mankind. He has had this power to broadcast attitudes to the minds of man. The outcome of man's natural thinking being influenced by Satan's broadcasting of those attitudes can be seen in the world all around us, we can see the impact of that broadcasting and how it has affected mankind, but mankind proceeds thinking he is right and making decisions separate from consulting God or referring back to God.

So the main changes in the Millennium will be: Satan will be removed from his rulership over the earth and not have any influence on the thinking of mankind. His removal is pictured in the Day of Atonement, which we have already covered. So that's a very exciting time, the fact that Satan is removed, therefore mankind will not have the pressures or the broadcasting of those attitudes affecting their thinking.

Number 2: God the Father will establish Jesus Christ as King of kings, Lord of lords, to govern and rule this earth. Everything God has created will be under Jesus Christ's rulership, His government, the government of God now and in the future. So during this Millennial period Jesus Christ will be established as King of kings, and from that point forward everything will be subject to His rulership, and when it is all finished that all continues into the future. God the Father has appointed Jesus Christ to rule all His creation. There will be one government over all the earth and over all the creation.

Another point: God will pour out His spirit on all mankind to enable them to have a personal relationship with Him. Those who live in the Millennium will be able to 'see' spiritual matters. Now, that is a major change, for at the moment God has only called a few out of the world and given His spirit to them so that they can see spiritual matters. Well, in the Millennium the big difference is that that opportunity will be given to all mankind and people will begin to 'see' themselves, 'see' spiritual matters.

Another point: God's way of life, His law, will be taught to all who desire to know it. Truth will fill the earth. So now there's opportunity of one Church where the truth is taught, where the law is taught. Now mankind will have the opportunity to come to understand God's law, to understand the truth...and that is a great and wonderful change.

Another point: There will only be one Government, one Church, the Church of God. The focus of all education will be based on spiritual principles. All education will be about the development of Godly character, making right choices. God's creation will be subject to God's government, His rulership, therefore everything that flows out from that government will be about developing Godly character, the way to live life, the right way to have a relationship with God and with mankind. So there will be a dual focus.

Education will still have the things of physical needs of the earth, for example, engineering and principles of engineering and many other things, but underneath all of that it is about an intent, a spiritual intent and about having the development or applying God's law into a person's life so all their decisions are based on the benefit of others, the spirit of the law.

So those five points will be one of the, or some of the major changes that will take place in this 1,000 year rule of Jesus Christ and the 144,000.

We'll start by looking at the command to keep this seven days of the Feast. Turn to Leviticus 23:33 - Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Speak/declare to the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles, which is another way of putting 'booths', which is basically a temporary dwelling; for seven days to the LORD. This is an appointed time of seven days to worship God.

Now, the booth that they built was something that was temporary, that was put there, and the purpose of it was that they could go out and sit in that booth, under that shelter, under that temporary dwelling, so that they could think and meditate about their life. And the most important part, of course, is for us, is during this period of seven days, just to stop, have the time, set aside the time to think about our life, the way we live towards others, the way we live towards God in obedience to His law and the way we live towards our neighbour – do we truly love our neighbour, wish no ill, think no ill to our neighbour. It's a time to meditate, to think about it, to understand we are temporary and we are sojourners passing through but we know the outcome of that sojourney, dwelling in a temporary dwelling – our bodies – because God has a purpose to change us to Elohim. So we can think about those things, think about God's law, meditate on it and then examine ourselves to see how we can live love towards God and towards our neighbour in a better way with more zeal, thinking more about the way we live.

Verse 35 - On the first day there shall be a holy/separate convocation, which is an assembly, a reading, or a calling together: you shall do no customary or labour or work on it.

Verse 36 - For seven days you shall offer an offering, which is a sacrifice, made by fire to the Eternal: on a spiritual level we are to strive to offer ourselves, our selfish desires, over these seven days. So we should put others before our own desires, our own needs, our own wants. And that's an important part of the spiritual principles of keeping the Feast of Tabernacles. It's just not a physical thing that we should be focused on but a spiritual thing. We are to put others desires before our own.

Now, during this concentrated period of seven days, that should be one of our main focuses, is to really focus on how we can sacrifice ourselves to benefit others during this seven days. During these seven days we should focus on sacrificing our desires, and ways we can do it is sacrificing our opinions and work to serve and benefit others in the Body of Christ, the Church of God.

Verse 36 continues... on the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation; and you shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Eternal: it is a sacred assembly and you shall do no customary work on it.

Verse 37 - These are the Feasts/appointments of the Eternal, so they're not made by man, they're not manmade times to have off, these were established by God at the creation. So they're set aside for mankind to have an appointment so that they can come before God to be instructed by God, to learn God's way of life. So man cannot change what God has established. This is something that God established for mankind for the purpose of benefitting mankind. Now, mankind doesn't have the authority or the right to come along and change God's appointed times.

Continuing on there... which you shall proclaim, which is call out or preach, to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the Eternal, a burnt offering, a grain offering, a sacrifice, a drink offering, everything on its day or in its time:

Verse 38 - The Sabbaths of the Eternal, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the Eternal. Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the Feast to the LORD for seven days: on the first day there shall be a Sabbath of rest, which is a holy convocation, and on the eighth day there shall be a Sabbath, a rest. We can see that command is very clear towards God's people. So this is a time to stop and to focus on worshipping God, to focus on fellowship, and focus in our thinking about how we live our life towards God and to meditate on that and look at ways we believe that we could strive to overcome our selfishness towards others, that we can discipline ourselves through the power of God's spirit, to begin to live love towards God and towards others by sacrificing ourselves.

Let's look now at the start of the Millennium. If you'd like to turn to Revelation 19:11 – this is now referring back to the time where the establishment of Jesus Christ as King of kings and we're going to look at aspects of this, the beginning of the Millennium.  Now I saw heaven open, and behold a white horse; and He who sat on him, on the white horse, was Faithful, was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and make war. Now, the problem with mankind is that they are not faithful and they're not truthful. Well now God is going to send Jesus Christ back to this earth as a faithful witness, a faithful spirit being, true, that truth radiates from, Jesus Christ. God cannot lie, Jesus Christ cannot lie. So now there is going to be a focus about the truth. Mankind does not speak the truth - mankind, it's impossible for mankind to speak the truth. And when you hear politicians and others rambling on about things you know in your heart, deep down in your thinking, that they are not telling you everything. They might tell you aspects of things but they're not really being truthful because they're covering up something, they're just letting you know certain information for the benefit of themselves, that they are trying to gain a vote.

Christ has judged in righteousness because His judgments are God's decisions or God's judgments. So Jesus Christ is coming back to judge, and His righteous judgments are going to be implemented. Now we continue on in verse 12 which is using often in figurative or symbolic language, is often used during the rest of these scriptures.

Verse 12 - His eyes were like a flame of fire and on his head were crowns; which is symbolic of authority; He had a name written that no one knew, except Himself. Now, God is establishing Jesus Christ as King of kings and He's coming back with all of this authority, the authority to implement God's way into this world. So He has this authority and He wears these crowns – in the sense of symbolically – it's talking about this authority, He has this rulership.

Verse 13 – And He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God. Now, we understand The Word of God, what it really is; it's the mind, the thinking, the Logos of God, it's the thinking of God.

If you hold your place there and turn to John 1:1 - In the beginning was the Word, that word is 'Logos', or the thinking of God, and the Word was unto God, now that word 'unto God' as previous sermons have covered, it is not something that is side-by-side but the very thoughts or the thinking of God, and the Word was God. So now we're seeing at the very beginning where God is just revealing Himself as the Great Spirit Being, the Almighty God, and there was only God, the Almighty God and His thinking, the way that He is, that way that He has revealed Himself through what He is, which is, 'God is love'. That is what God is, that is His thinking.

Verse 2 - The same was in the beginning unto God. Now we're saying this same thinking, this way that God is and the way that God thinks has always been – that is how God is.

Drop down now to John 1:14 - And the Word, the Logos, or the thinking became flesh and dwelt among us, so God the Father created Jesus Christ and placed His very thinking into Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was The Word of God, He was the thinking of God, so He is the expression, or the expressed image of God Himself, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. The way of God could be seen in Jesus Christ. The thinking of God could be seen in Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ was the image of God, He was the thinking of God, therefore everything that Jesus Christ did was really a reflection of the way that God the Father is. Christ lived God's character. He loved as God loved because He had the very thinking, the mind of God.

Back to Revelation 19:13 – ...His name is called the Word of God. Now, Christ as a spirit being is returning to this earth to establish God's Government, God's way of thinking. He is the very Word of God, He is the thinking of God. Now, we're going to see God's thinking implemented onto the earth through the power of God's  spirit.

Verse 14 -  And the armies in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. This is referring to the 144,000 who have been redeemed from the earth. They've been resurrected at this point in time, at the start of the Day of Pentecost, and they've been resurrected and now they are spirit beings with the very thinking of God. So they've been resurrected to be in Elohim and now form the very government of God. So the government of God is God the Father, Jesus Christ, and 144,000 others that have been redeemed off the earth.

Now, to be redeemed off the earth they've had to go through this process of being calling, being chosen, and being changed. They are white and clean – righteous – because God provided them with the way to be righteous, the blood of Jesus Christ, His Passover sacrifice, and His holy spirit. The 144,000 follow Christ by the way they think. They are of the same mind, the same thinking, they are in unity of spirit. These people, the 144,000, both men and women, had a relationship with God and over a period of their life they had demonstrated their faithfulness, by the power of God's spirit. So they chose to believe God, to believe the truth. They have all experienced the process of conversion; they were all tested, they all had to learn to sacrifice themselves over their lifetime, and they all lived by faith.

Verse 15 - Now out of His mouth, referring to Christ, goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations: now, everything that Jesus Christ speaks will happen, because He has that power and authority, so He will strike the nations through the words that He says. And if the words that He says, they do not follow them, well, He will follow through with His great power and implement the penalty for their rebellion or their disobedience. ...and He, Himself will rule them with a rod of iron: So it's going to be firm but also fair, in the sense that God is not unfair, God is all merciful. So people are going to be given time to learn, to understand, and to come to 'see' the truth; and as they learn, and as they understand they have to implement these things in their life.

Now, it's not going to happen overnight, this is going to happen over a period of time. The beginning of the Millennium is not going to be that simple, because of the death and destruction that has taken place over the earth and where mankind is going to have suffered. So it isn't going to be easy. It is difficult to change somebody's thinking. God is going to change their thinking by humbling the world, humbling mankind, then a process of conversion starts – they have to be drawn first, so they have to learn how to live another way of life, they have to learn to change the way they think. Now, that doesn't happen in one or two or three years, it takes time to learn to think differently. By the power of God's spirit it's going to take time.

Jesus Christ is going to rule them with a rod of iron; He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God. So there is Jesus Christ implementing God's plan.

If you'd like to turn to Hebrews 4:12 - For the Word of God is living, powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of the soul/life and spirit, and the joints and the marrow, cuts right through! And the most important thing is, and what it's really speaking about here, talking about symbolic language - and it is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. It's about the inner thinking! God's Word can cut through into our carnal mind and discern our thinking. So this 'Word of God' is living and powerful! It's active! It's not something that's dormant! So we know that through the power of God's spirit, the Word of God, His thinking, can cut through our thinking and change our thinking. The natural carnal mind is hostile against God, but God's spirit is another way of thinking, so God's spirit can overrule and change the thinking of a natural carnal mind, and in the end you end up with God's thinking in a mind.

Verse 13 – And there is no creature hidden, or part, really, part of the creation hidden from His sight; but all things, everything that a human does, everything that a human thinks, are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account. There is nobody on this earth that has existed and no one that will exist in the future where they can think they can hide anything in their thoughts, their words, or their actions. We are all to give an account.

Now, we, brethren, have been called out of the world at this time to give an account now – that's the period of time. It's not something in the future, it's talking about an account now. We have to give an account every day – and we do that through prayer and repentance, we do that through the discipline of ourselves by the power of God's spirit. That's how we give an account...so that we can be accounted as worthy by God, because He applies His loving mercy and forgiveness to us. During the Millennium and in the Millennium mankind is still going to have to go through this very same process that we have undertaken, the process of conversion, changing the way we think.

Christ is returning to this earth to pour out God's wrath. Christ will speak and it will happen, whatever is said will happen. Jesus Christ will rule, govern, with God's authority, with the authority of the Almighty God, all powerful. Nothing will be hidden from Christ over the 1,100 years. There is no one that will be able to get away with anything, because the problem with mankind is they think they can get away with things and that they will not have to give an account for their thought, word, or actions.

So here is one of the main points about living in the Millennium – justice will be swift and unrepented sin will not be allowed to just go on and on and on as it is today. There are so many things that go on today that they're not brought to account, that mankind is not brought to account, that sin is not brought to account. Well now the Millennium is different, and this is one of the main points, that things will change, that mankind is going to have to give an account. And over their lifetime they have the opportunity to give their account because God's spirit dwells in them, they now have the opportunity to have a relationship with God, and therefore they can present themselves and give an account to God every day....every day. At any time we can give an account of ourselves, it's our choice.

Drop down to verse 16 in Revelation 19, go back there. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. So Jesus Christ is established as the King of all other kings. He is the Lord of all other lords that exist on this earth. Now, we understand also the 144,000 will be given rulership, they will be made as kings, but Jesus Christ will always be the King of those kings; so Jesus Christ is always going to be in authority over all that enter Elohim.

Revelation 17:14 – These, armies that are warring at the end-time there, so it's referring back here now to that end-time war on the Day of the Lord, will make war with the Lamb, Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, and the Lamb will overcome them/will conquer them: and He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and those who are with Him are called, so this is the process of life that God is going to establish with mankind going forward in the Millennium. There is a calling required. And here it's referring to, of course, the 144,000, but this is also applying to those in the future that are going to enter Elohim. There is a calling required first; God the Father must call a person out of this way of life, out of this way of thinking, and that opportunity is done by the power of God's spirit where God begins to draw a person out by the power of His spirit, out of this world, out of a way of thinking.

Now, in the Millennium and going forward, when a person is called or drawn, they're called out of their thinking, out of the bondage and captivity of their thinking, and that is a process of time. They are also, chosen; so the 144,000 have been chosen. God made the decision, it was God that established the 144,000, He knows His plan, He knows what He's working out, and He made the decision of who would enter the 144,000. ...and they were faithful. And they would believe God and they believed the truth.

Now we'll move to the end of the Day of the Lord, the Day of Pentecost, as we begin to see the implementation of the Millennium, this 1,000 years of peace. Revelation 20:1 - Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit, now, this 'bottomless pit' is symbolic of a place of restraint. It's talking about restraint, that the demons that are placed there can no longer broadcast their attitudes, they are restrained, they have no influence over mankind. ...and a great chain in his hand. Now, it's not a physical chain, it's symbolic of being able to restrain, so it's a spiritual matter. God the Father has given, and Jesus Christ, have allocated to an angel the power to be able to restrain the spirit world, the evil spirit world. So they're able to restrain them from influencing mankind. It's talking symbolically here as well. And he laid hold of the dragon, that old serpent, who is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; so it's a 1,000 year period of restraint that Satan is going to have to endure, that's the minimum. It says 'bound him for a thousand years', so it's a whole period of 1,000 years that Satan is restrained.

If you'd like to hold your place there and we'll turn to Ephesians 1:20. This is covering the authority that has been given to Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:20 – Which He worked in Christ; so it's talking about God the Father worked or showed forth in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand... God the Father raised Jesus Christ up and has given authority to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ represents God the Father, He implements what God the Father has set out in His plan, in the heavenly places. God the Father achieved all of this in and through Jesus Christ by the power of His great spirit; it's God the father doing it all through Jesus Christ, and He has placed Jesus Christ, in verse 21, Far above all/over all principalities, over everything that had a beginning, is another way to put it. Anything that's had a beginning Jesus Christ has been placed over that authority, or that being, and power/authority, and might, and dominion, over all government, and every name that is named, not only in this age, that it was talking about there, but also in that which is to come, talking about the future. Jesus Christ will always be in authority over all the creation; over everything that has had a beginning He will be in authority for eternity.

Jesus Christ is over everything that God created and will create in the future. So things that are yet to be created, Jesus Christ will still be over whatever is created. Jesus Christ will never be over God the Father because He was not created...because this scripture is saying that Jesus Christ is over all the creation. Well, God the Father was never created therefore God the Father will always be Yahweh Elohim.

So now we go to look at point two and we'll cover what we mentioned, beginning of the sermon. God the Father will establish Jesus Christ as King of kings, Lord of lords, to govern and rule this earth. Everything God has created and will create in the future will be under Christ's rulership, His government, the Government of God now and in the future. There will be one government over all the earth and the creation. Now, what a relief for the creation. Now, we understand God's plan and purpose of creating the way He has because He is establishing a Family called Elohim.

Verse 22 – And He put all, and that is all authority, under His Feet, under Christ's feet, and God gave Him, Christ, to be head over all things to the Church. So Jesus Christ is the head of the Church, the head of the called out ones. Christ is now in charge of everything. He has the final word on everything - now Jesus Christ is out to implement God's plan.

Verse 23 - 'The Church', it's referring to, which is His Body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Ephesians 2:1 – And you who were dead, spiritually, in trespasses and sin: before we were baptized: In which you once walked/occupied with according to the course of this world... Now 'the course of this world' is the natural carnal mind, it is selfish and it pleases the self. We please ourselves. The natural carnal mind is motivated to please itself and we walked in this world before our baptism; before that we had our sin and sin was not forgiven. Sin is only forgiven – all of our sins in the past are only forgiven to a point, which is baptism, where we bury the old self (and all the sin is forgiven and forgotten, we don't have to go back over it) and we rise up a new man with a desire to walk in the truth, to walk in the spirit. That's the purpose of our life. In times past, of course, we walked according to the prince/ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience, those who do not believe, those who are unbelievers. We are considered by the Bible, God says, we are believers, we are in the faith because we believe God, we believe the truth. And anyone who does not believe the truth or believe God are termed as unbelievers.

Satan has broadcast his sinful attitudes to the minds of mankind. We've had the opportunity by the grace of God, by God's great mercy, to be called out of that, to come out of the bondage and the captivity of our thinking, to convert, to change, to think differently; and that's the process of conversion, that's what our life is about.

Verse 3 - Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts, those desires and cravings, of our flesh; we thought carnally, we set out to please ourselves. Now the carnal mind, the natural mind is very deceptive; often it thinks it's not pleasing itself, but it is. In everything that it does it pleases itself, there is something coming back, even if the natural mind can't see it, but it is, it's something coming back to itself to satisfy either it's ego or to get praises of others or something, but it's trying to get something back. And what do we do in times past? ...fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; of our thinking, and were by nature children of wrath, just as others. So we were just the same as everybody else. We're no better than anybody else and we can't lift ourselves up thinking we ever were, that we earned a calling. There is no way! It was only by God's great mercy that He called us.

Going back to Revelation 20:3 - And he, the angel, cast him, Satan, into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him so that he should not deceive the nations no more; during that 6,000 years he's had that opportunity; well, that will stop... till the thousand years were finished: so there is a time when the thousand years is finished that Satan will be released, at some point in time. ...but after these things he must be released for a little while. Now we see the very first change. This is where the first point that we brought up...the biggest change in the Millennium, the number one change for the Millennium and what makes the Millennium beautiful and different – Satan will be removed from his rulership over the earth and not have any influence on the thinking of mankind. Now, that is a beautiful thing if you understand it from the spiritual aspect of it.

Now that Christ has returned and removed Satan from his position of authority – which God had allowed Satan to have – mankind will not have to feel the effects of Satan's broadcast. Mankind doesn't understand the broadcasting of Satan. They don't understand their own attitudes, and they don't know necessarily why they work themselves up so much. It's because of this continual broadcasting and what Satan has created, an environment of evil and broadcasting attitudes that trigger those things. Mankind will still have to fight his own selfish thinking but without Satan's influence and broadcasting and creating of the environment that Satan has, it's going to be so much easier for mankind! That is God's great mercy.

Verse 4 - And I saw thrones, talking about authority, and they, the 144,000, sat on them; now, this is talking about the authority that is given to the 144,000 to rule with Jesus Christ and under Jesus Christ – and they will take the direction from God the Father, Jesus Christ. 144,000 will now implement God's thinking on the earth. ...and judgment was committed to them: then I saw the lives of those who were beheaded, or have been cut off, for their witness to Jesus; they were cut off from this world because of the way that they lived. What was living in them is the reason they were cut off, because they had God's thinking, and if you have God's thinking we all know what the outcome of that is – people think you're weird, you don't fit in, you don't run with the world anymore because we think differently. Now, if anyone ever says to you, "Wow! Boy, you just think so differently!" Well, that should be given a credit to God for changing the way we think, because it's only by God's great power that we can actually think differently...and it's a wonderful thing if somebody says, "Wow! You think differently!" You think, "Oh, well, that's great! I'm glad that I think differently because it's actually evidence that God is changing my thinking!" ...and for the Word of God, for God's thinking, God's mind, who had not worshipped the beast or his image, this system, and have not received his mark on their forehead, in their thinking, so they think differently, or on their hands, their actions are different. They actually sacrifice to the benefit of others! They sacrifice themselves to worship God even – but that's seen as being weird.

...and they, the 144,000, lived, as spirit beings, and reigned, in a matter of authority, with Christ for a thousand years. Isn't that a wonderful picture? It's something we look forward to, is a change of government, because this world is just so insane and some of the things that are going on, and it's difficult to watch it. But this is what the Millennium is about, this is what we're here for the Feast to remember and to worship God in and to rejoice in – that there is a change of government coming and Satan is going to be removed for 1,000 years and peace has an opportunity – God's way of thinking has an opportunity to take over the whole earth.

Verse 5 – But the rest of the dead, those that were not resurrected to be part of the 144,000 at that time, at the beginning of the Day of Pentecost, did not live again until the thousand years were finished. That's referring to... in fact, there are 144,000 that have been resurrected but there's been a lot of people that have lived in God's Church or have been associated to God's Church, and all of mankind that have died up until that point will not be resurrected. They have to stay as they are, which is asleep with no consciousness, knowing nothing, until another great resurrection at the end of a thousand years where they will be resurrected and be given life again, physical life, and they then have to live God's way. They have a hundred year period which will be covered on the last day of the Feast, the eighth day.

...but the rest of the dead, those who were not resurrected at that time, did not live again until the thousand years was finished. This, talking about the first, the 144,000, this is the first resurrection. So what I've been covering was at the end of the period of time of 6,000 years on the Day of Pentecost, the start of the Day of Pentecost, the 144,000 will be resurrected to meet Christ in the air and it begins that period called 'The Millennium'.

Verse 6 – Blessed and holy, separate, is he/she who has part in the first resurrection, because God has called them and chosen them. God has established them. It's a great blessing to have been called and been chosen. What a great blessing! I know the 144,000 would think, "Well, why me?" Well, it's only by God's great mercy, it's nothing that an individual could do to achieve it, it's simply God's great mercy in saying that's what I want, this is what I want, this is My plan, all for the benefit of others in the future. It's not just something selfish, that Abraham can say, "Well, I'm just one of the 144,000." Abraham knows, or when he's resurrected, that it's by God's great mercy. The only reason he is part of the 144,000 is because God called him and chose him to be part of the 144,000.

Blessed and holy, separate, is he who is part of the first resurrection: over such the second death has no power, but they, the 144,000, will be/shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. The beauty of the promise of the Millennium is that Satan and his demons will be removed for a thousand years so they cannot influence mankind. The Feast of Tabernacles pictures the time when the Kingdom of God will come to rule mankind for 1,000 years. This is the time that the Anointed Messiah, Jesus Christ, will reign on the earth as King of kings.

Now, we understand the weekly 7th Day Sabbath pictures the last thousand years in God's 7,100 year plan for mankind. So every time that we have a weekly Sabbath it is representing this period of rest, which is the 7th Day rest, which is the 7th Day, a thousand year rest. So it points to that, and therefore we can learn some lessons from keeping the Sabbath, because when we come in to worship God and have fellowship we change the way we think, because we handle the Sabbath differently. We stop working physically and we now think more on a spiritual level; we try to, and strive to endeavour to walk in the spirit of things. Now, that's what the Millennium is going to be about; the focus is going to be spiritual. Physical things have still got to be achieved but the focus will be spiritual, just like the 7th Day Sabbath is – the focus is spiritual.

Now, that is something during this Feast that we can meditate or contemplate or 'sit in booths' in the sense of symbolically, and think about, to look at the way we keep the 7th Day Sabbath, which would be a reflection of the way that the Millennium will be lived, the way we live towards others, the way we live towards God.

The Feast of Tabernacles focuses on this same period of time. In this final 1,000 years everyone will live under one government on this earth – and I'm looking forward to that. The government of God, the Kingdom of God will rule the nations on the earth over mankind for 1,000 years. We have seen that Jesus Christ and the 144,000 will reign on the earth in Revelation 14:1, so we know for a fact that Jesus Christ will establish His government, His rulership out of Jerusalem. It's going to be an exciting time! Those who are resurrected to reign with Christ are in the first great resurrection picturing the early harvest in God's plan of salvation.

The beginning of the thousand years pictures the beginning of a much greater harvest in God's plan of salvation. Billions will begin the process of becoming part of the Kingdom of God, eventually being born into the very Family of God. So the purpose of the Millennium is for people to change the way they think, to be converted, for the outcome, for the result of salvation which is entering Elohim. There is going to be millions of people, and in the end billions of people that are going to live this process of striving to overcome themselves.  This process of a conversion of the mind will be available to everyone for a thousand years and then for one hundred years.

The first resurrection refers to the firstfruits who have been resurrected first in God's plan of salvation. Those in the first resurrection, the 144,000, are the only people at this point in time who have been resurrected. All the other billions who have died up until this point in time over the 6,000 years will remain dead until after the thousand year reign of the Kingdom of God on this earth is fulfilled. The 144,000 who are in the first resurrection are now spirit beings in the Family of God, they think like God. Now, their motivation is to help and support others. They are now immortal spirit beings, they have everlasting life from that point forward and they can never die – because God can't die and because they've entered Elohim they are now spirit beings, they cannot sin, they cannot think sin, and they cannot die.

Finally, at the return of Jesus Christ and the implementation of the removal of Satan at the end of that Day of Pentecost, finally from that point peace now can be ushered in onto the earth and be ushered in worldwide under one government – but it is going to take time. Everyone who has come through the final end-time physical tribulation and all who are born thereafter will have the opportunity to know and understand God's true way of life. That is exciting! They will have the blessing of living under God's government and the righteous rule of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 2; like to turn to Isaiah 2:1 – Now, this will probably be covered a few times in the Feast and everyone that covers it, everyone looks at it slightly differently because there is so much in it you could spend a whole sermon just on Isaiah 2:1. We'll just cover it now at this time - The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

Verse 2 – Now, it shall come to pass that in the latter days, the end of 6,000 years, that the mountain of the Eternal's house, the government of God, shall be established on the top of the mountains, over all other governments, and shall be exalted above the hills; all the smaller governments. So God's government is going to reign over all governments, and all nations shall flow unto it. Mankind will now learn to function under one government. And there is going to be a lot of relief for mankind when they come to understand you no longer vote, because it is God that chooses authority, and it's not about your own natural carnal mind, or my natural carnal mind working out what we think is right and wrong and who we think should be in authority. It's God establishes authority in His Church and in government for a purpose. Often that purpose is to see, to reveal, to explore our real attitudes deep down – whether we agree or whether we don't - because the appointment of authority over us often then causes us to have thoughts or to think about it... and often that thinking can be carnal if we're not careful.

Verse 3 – Many people, not all, shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house/Family of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways and we shall walk in His paths: so we're going to follow a way of life that Jesus Christ lived on this earth as a physical man with the mind of God – but that's how God lives life, which is love towards God, love towards neighbour; for out of Zion, out of God's government, which is Jesus Christ, 144,000, shall go forth the law, the spiritual intent of the law will be taught, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. So here we see point 4 covered. God's way of life, His law will be taught to all that desire to know it. Truth will fill the earth. Jesus Christ and the 144,000 will teach God's way of life on the Sabbath and on the Holy Days – but they'll also be living it on a day to day basis on this earth as they walk the earth, as they're manifested as physical human beings walking the earth living God's way – and that will be a great example! Just like Jesus Christ did as a physical human with God's mind, the 144,000 will be manifested as physical human beings to live love. And the best way to learn from anybody is by example – they will see how 144,000 and Jesus Christ are living.

Verse 4 – And He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people: so this is during the Millennium that Jesus Christ is going to have to rebuke or correct many people. It takes time, and as they learn another way of living and a right way of thinking they then will beat their swords into plowshares, so they're going to stop thinking of war...because you can think about symbolically, you've got to stop thinking this way of war and hate and put it into a more productive way of thinking, and their spears into pruning hooks: So it's a total change of thinking, the way we do things. ...nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. So there is a totally different way of thinking. The education of how to kill somebody, the 'art of killing', which is the military, the navy, the 'art of war', drones, all of that will be done away. It's a different way of thinking. It's now a way of thinking of helping others, "How do I love my neighbour as myself? How do I love God?" So they're going to have to change their thinking.

The production of things will be done for the purpose of benefiting others, it won't be about selfish destructive ways.

Here we see point five: There will only be one government, one Church, the Church of God. The focus of all education will be on the development of Godly character, God's creation of Elohim. By the power of God's spirit mankind will learn to love, because that's the only way to have true love, otherwise it's physical love. They will learn to be at peace. And it's something that has to be learned. We have to learn peace. We have to learn to think peace, to think mercy, to think forgiveness, to learn to live Godly – because it takes time, but it takes the power of God's spirit to do it. Only God can bring peace to this earth because it's only by God's spirit that we can live peace to anyone. To have peace from within a human being requires God's spirit dwelling in them.

Verse 5 – O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Eternal. So we're going to have to walk in the truth. As we understand truth and as we see truth, as God reveals truth to us – and it's always at different levels to different people to different degrees - we have to learn to walk in it. So we have to implement what we learn into our life to think differently.

Once the world has suffered, being humbled during the 'Day of the Lord' they will come to see and be open to the instruction from God. Just quickly turn to Proverbs 1:23 - Turn at My rebuke/My correction/My punishment: surely, I, God, will pour out My spirit on you, I will make My words known to you. So this is what the beauty of the Millennium is and it's a wonderful period because of this very fact, that God is going to make His spirit available to mankind so that He will pour out His spirit on mankind and make known His Words, His ways of thinking – going to be made known to mankind through Jesus Christ and the 144,000.

If you'd like to turn to Ezekiel 36:16 – Now, God is looking back at what had happened to Israel and we can learn lessons from this as we go through it. Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Son of man, when the house of Israel, which is a 'type' of the Church, dwelt/inhabited in their own land, before the captivity, they defiled it/they polluted it – How? - by their own ways and deeds: to Me their way was like an uncleanness of a woman in her commonly impurity. So it's about a way of thinking and acting. And the way that God saw this was as an impurity, it was revile and it was disgusting, and God says, "This is the way you thought and this is the way I viewed your thinking and your behaviors."

Verse 18 - Therefore I will pour out My fury on them for the blood they have shed on the land, so the attitude of hate and murder was in their thinking, and for their idols with which they had defiled, or they have defiled it: So they had idols, they had put something before God – and the biggest thing we put before God, of course, is ourselves, our own thinking, because we think we're right so we put our thinking before God. But they had, actually, physical idols as well; they held onto the false religious practices of the past, of Baal worship – they hung on to those and they worshipped false gods. They turned to those gods, those images of clay and wood and metal and they worshipped them, they looked to them, they prayed to them and asked those images to help them...which is insane when you know the truth. And it's insane to look at a wooden image made by the hands of men and ask that wooden image to do something when it's a wooden image you made. Like, it's just insane thinking but that's the natural carnal mind, it has that capacity.

Verse 19 - So I scattered them among the nations, so they were taken into captivity by the gentile peoples (and the gentiles referring to unbelievers), and they were dispersed throughout the countries: I judged them according to their ways and their deeds. So now it was a judgment that was made by God and the outcome of that judgment was, the penalty was they would have to go into captivity. On a spiritual plane this very same thing happened to God's Church from December 17, 1994 when the Apostasy happened, that we were given over to our natural carnal minds and God spewed us out, because that's what we deserved, because we had gone to sleep. And God's saying, "Well, I'm going to disperse you throughout the countries, you're no longer part of the Church of God; you're going to be dispersed." And that's exactly what happened

Verse 20 - When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned My holy name, so here now they've been scattered out, and nothing much changed. So how did they profane God's holy name? ...when they, the gentiles, said to them, These are the people of the Eternal, and yet they have gone out of this land. What it was really saying is they went out there and because of their actions the gentiles mocked them, said, "Well, these are the people of God – look at them... look at them! How can they be the people of God?" They triggered a blaspheme by the gentiles against God because the gentiles were says, "Well, look at these people... look at them!" Well today it's the same for us spiritually. Today we can spiritually profane God's name, or pollute God's name by leaving the Church of God – PKG. We don't even think of it that way. But when a person decides to leave the fellowship of God and God's people they actually cause blaspheme because then people look at them and say, "Well, they were once in that land and now they've come out of that land," and now they have cause to blaspheme God. People mock God. People that never believed before are now mocking God, God's Church, because of the people that leave God's Church. If we leave fellowship we go back into spiritual captivity – that's what actually happens – but the unbelievers then have cause or are triggered to blaspheme God's name, blaspheme God's Church.

Verse 21 – But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the gentiles/amongst the nations wherever they went. Therefore, say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God, I do not this for your sake; it's not because of you and your righteousness, O House of Israel, Church of God, but for My name's sake, which you have profaned amongst the nations wherever you went.

Verse 23 - And I will sanctify My great name, My reputation, which has been polluted/profaned among the nations, which you have profaned/polluted in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Eternal, says the Lord of hosts; and when will they know that? ...when I am hallowed or when I am set aside in you before their eyes. Well, what God is saying is, "I am going to put My great holy name on display; the name that has been ruined in so many countries, the name that has been blackened wherever you went. Then the nations will realize, when I do this, who I really am, that I am God, when I show my holiness in and through you so they can see it in their own eyes." What it's saying is when God calls somebody back out of the captivity of their mind out of their thinking, and God works in and through them, that then people will not blaspheme God's name because they will now praise God and say, "Wow! Isn't that incredible! All the glory goes to God! It is God that called them back! It is God that lived in and through them! It was God that did the works! Praise be to God for God's great power!" God is going to re-establish His name by doing a work in a people.

Now, this is the same as going to happen in the Millennium, that all of the people that live through to the Millennium, that God is going to pour out His spirit and people will come to see, "Wow! Isn't God merciful! Look what God is doing in and through a people!" ...and God's name will be elevated, God's name will no longer be polluted or profaned.

Verse 24 – For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of the countries, gather you out of Satan's bondage, so it's a 'type' of the Millennium as well, and bring you into your own land. The people are going to be brought into the Millennium, a thousand years of peace, of the rule of Jesus Christ.

People that God allowed to live into the Millennium will be delivered from the bondage of their own thinking by the power of God's spirit. God will display His greatness, the greatness of His name. The nations of the world will realize who God really is – He is Almighty. God will show His greatness to all of those that live to see it with their own eyes. Because they're going to see it with their own eyes; it's going to be happening in them but they're going to also see it happening to others.

Verse 25 - Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, a 'type' of baptism, and you shall be clean, you'll be forgiven of your sins; and I will cleanse you from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, from all your wrong thinking. How can that be achieved? Well, we know it's about a calling. We know it's about baptism. We know it's about the laying of hands of a true minister of God, and then God pours out His spirit and then they are cleansed from baptism, but then an ongoing process because we have access to God's throne and we can repent. The gift of repentance is a cleansing from all our filthiness on a day to day basis. We can stop our idols. What is our idol, our biggest idol? It's ourselves. We can sacrifice ourselves, we can destroy the idol, we can pull down the idol we have before God – our selfishness, our wrong thinking.

Verse 26 – I will give you a new heart, a new way of thinking, and put My spirit, or put a new spirit within you; so God's going to put His spirit into everybody, and I will take the heart of stone, which is pride, out of your flesh, remove the rebellious thinking, and give you a heart of flesh, a sincere teachable mind, because now, after the period of what has happened, now in the Millennium people will have a more teachable mind.

Now, if you look at other generations, as you go 20-30-40 years into the Millennium, and somebody is born into a family that is striving to live God's way, living at peace, and the only law that is law, and there is only one government, it is going to be easier as we go deeper into the Millennium – but there are dangers, which we'll get to possibly in Part 2.

God will heal their minds, their thinking, by the power of His holy spirit. The generations that follow will still have to battle their own selfishness. The natural carnal mind is hostile to God, they still have it, but the influence is gone, Satan's influence is gone, so it is going to be easier. And they're going to have great examples called their parents, and their community, and the 144,000 – the examples of how to live, how to think, and there is going to be an education system of why this is the right way to live, God's way of life.

Verse 27 – I will put My spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes; so it's God that's going to do it. ...and you shall keep My judgments and do them. They will start the process of conversion. This is exciting! Millions of people! Just to have a world of people during a thousand year period that are starting the process of conversion is exciting! It's joyous to be able to walk down the street, walk anywhere, and know that everyone is going through what you're going through, the process of conversion, which takes a lifetime, converting the way we think to think differently. And we'll understand everybody is striving to do it. And if somebody makes a mistake we're going to be a lot more forgiving because we know they're striving to do it, we know it wasn't meant deliberately, that they will repent – God willing, God gives them that. But we understand, and we'll be more merciful and forgiving, saying, "Oh, don't worry about it, it doesn't matter." Because we're not going to take it personally, we know everyone is striving to overcome.

They will start to fight their own selfishness and sacrifice the selfish desires of their natural carnal mind. They will start to learn to live love to others. And it's something that we have to learn to live. So God, by the power of His spirit, does it in us but we still have to choose to live that way of life.

They will start to obey God's law in spirit and truth.

Verse 28 – Then you shall dwell in the land that I give to your fathers; you shall be My people and I will be your God. They shall dwell safely on a physical level during the Millennium, but more importantly, the outcome is spiritual; they shall dwell in the Kingdom of God as part of God's Family, enter Elohim once they have completed their conversion.

Now, we're not sure about how many out of the thousand year period will be resurrected at the second resurrection back to physical or to spirit, we just don't know. But that is the purpose of the Millennium, is to give a better and greater opportunity to those people that live and are born during that period to enter Elohim. So the most important outcome of living in the Millennium is to strive to overcome the selfishness, to live God's way, to allow God's spirit to flow in and out through us to the benefit of others so at some point in time God will grant us life, everlasting life in His family in the Kingdom of God.

Verse 29 – I will deliver you from your uncleanness, our own way of thinking, the idols we have in our mind, what we place before God. I will pour forth the grain and multiply it and bring no famine upon you. In the Millennium there will be no physical famines, or spiritual famine. Now, there is going to be famine for those that rebel, we know that from Zechariah, but here God is saying, well if we have the right intent God is going to give us the opportunity...He will not have physical famine, but more importantly there is not going to be a famine of the word. A spiritual famine is when we're not able to hear God's word. Truth will actually be poured out on all mankind.

Verse 30 – And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields so that you need never again bear the reproach of a famine among the nations. So obedience brings prosperity, physical and spiritual blessings.

Verse 31 – Then you shall remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your sight. So we'll humble ourselves, just like Job, when we start to see ourselves. ...from your iniquities/sin and your abominations. So they will see themselves for the first time on a spiritual level. They will see their rebellion. They will see their selfishness. They will see themselves spiritually and say, "What have we done!" So that's what we do when we sin.

Even in the Millennium as repentance is granted to people...and it could be year 600 in the Millennium, people will still have this same attitude which is to see the self spiritually, which is called conversion, and then repent, "Oh! What have I done!" So it's a process of life, admitting spiritual problems in our life, admitting wrong thinking, wrong attitudes that we develop, and repenting. And it can be forgiven by God because that's what He has established in His plan, the process of being forgiven on an everyday basis as long as we hold not grudge or ill will towards anyone else and we repent before God and admit we are wrong, God is right.

Verse 32 – Not for your sake do I do this, says the Eternal, let it be known to you: be ashamed and confounded/humiliated for your ways, O house of Israel, spiritual Israel. Repent, be ashamed and confounded, humble yourself, you know, it's terrible because of your own ways, your own selfishness.

Verse 33 – Thus says the LORD GOD; on the day that I clean you from your iniquities, grant repentance and baptism, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities and the ruins shall be rebuilt. Well, we know, brethren, that there is going to have to be a rebuilding process in the Millennium, that all the things that have been destroyed can be rebuilt under God's instruction. The cities will be rebuilt using Godly thinking, using right spiritual principles about how things are constructed and how close they're constructed and why they're constructed.

Verse 34 – The desolated lands shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the site of all who pass by. So the wastelands will become productive. Anything that was decimated or desolated will be brought back into a productive use, be able to be used for the benefit of others, not just for selfish gain but benefit of others.

Verse 35 – So they will say, This land that was desolate has become like the Garden of Eden, so it's going to be beautiful, it's going to be prosperous, there is going to be plenty provided, and the waste desolate and the ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited. So it's going to be an area where God is going to reconstruct things in the proper way and it's going to be done through Jesus Christ, the 144,000 and those physical human beings that live during the Millennium. Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I am the Eternal, have built the ruined places and have planted what was desolate. I the Lord have spoken it and it will be done, or I will do it. So it's going to happen exactly as God has said. God is going to create an environment in the Millennium of spiritual harmony but also physical harmony.

Verse 37 – Thus says the Lord God, I will also let the house of Israel inquire of Me, now, this is an important principle – God is going to allow, He's going to open their minds to allow them to inquire of Him, to do this for them; I will increase their men like a flock. So there is going to be a great increase in the population. So having children will not be seen as a burden because of the cost of having so many children. In today's society there is a lack of support for family. Most people think the cost of having one is enough, but God is going to say, "No, I'm going to increase you like a flock." There is going to be children because we know the purpose of life; the purpose of life is to enter Elohim. So the beauty and understanding why a child exists, it's going to create a different way of thinking in families.

Verse 38 – Like a flock offered as a holy sacrifice, like the flock at Jerusalem on its Feast days, so shall be the ruined cities filled with flocks of men. That used to happen, of course, on Holy Days and High Days, people would bring their offerings and flocks of sheep and cattle and bring them in for offerings. Well God is saying, "Well, it's going to be that the cities are going to be filled with the flocks of men because God is going to allow it," then they shall know that I am the Eternal. It's going to be a wonderful thing to see, that there is going to be an increase in population and everyone is going to be given the opportunity to have right motives, right attitudes, and the purpose of life is going to be explained, it's going to be an exciting time, exciting time to live.

One of the greatest changes in the Millennium is a change in thinking. I want to cover off now in Matthew 15:1. The greatest change, of course, is to be able to understand things on a spiritual level – that is the most important thing. It's not going to be focused on the physical... there is going to be physical knowledge, but spiritual understanding and the application of that wisdom is going to be important.

Matthew 15:1 – Then the scribes and Pharisees, who were from Jerusalem, came to Jesus saying (verse 2) Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? And that's important, 'the tradition of the elders', which is manmade rules. For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread. So the traditions of man's thinking was to focus on the physical, and this focus on the physical was that if you did it, the ritual of washing your hands before you broke bread, it's a physical thing, it was like an 'air of righteousness'. So the traditions of man's thinking, the focus on the physical, is going to be changed. It's going to be pulled down and destroyed. What man thinks is righteous will be changed to what God has established as righteous.

Then He answered and said to them, Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition, your way of thinking, what you've established as right and wrong, your own way of thinking and not God's way of thinking? In the Millennium God's way of love will be established and man's way of self-righteousness will be pulled down.

Verse 4 – For God commanded saying, Honour/Value your mother and father, which is the fifth commandment, and he who curses, and that is 'to speak evil of or revile or abuse' mother and father, let him be put to death. So this is talking about a rebellious attitude and it's going against authority, which is the parents, but can also be authority. The outcome would be if you're going to stay in that rebellious way and be unrepentant about it the best outcome is that you be put to death. We are to physically and spiritually in our thinking value and respect our parents but also all authority, and that means all authority. All authority that has been placed over us by God, but all authority in the Millennium is from God because it's Jesus Christ, the 144,000, then all authority.

Verse 5 – But you say, Whoever says to his mother and father or father and mother, Whatever profit/assistance you might have received from me is a gift to God. So the thinking is, "Whatever I would have to normally give to you in assistance, I've actually given it to God." The thinking is because you have given this money to God as an offering you don't have to any longer support your mother and father.

Then He said, Then he need not honour his mother and father. Thus you have made the commandment of God of no affect by your tradition, human reasoning, a custom of men.

Another version says, 'If a man says to his mother and father, "That is consecrated,' the money, whatever it is, 'which otherwise you would have received from me,' so in other words, anything that I would have normally supported you with, 'I'm now absolved from not having to give it to you because I have given it to God,"' I've offered it to God. So Christ is revealing here a spiritual attitude. This attitude is one of justification of not supporting, not respecting, not caring for our parents. The attitude is of human reasoning. "Because I have given this money to God that I normally would give to my mother and father, I don't have to do anything else. I'm justified! I'm right! I no longer need to help you, I am justified, I am righteous.  I have placed God first and therefore I need not help you physically anymore. I have given it to God so I don't have to help you." What is required is to love our parents and give offerings to God. So you can't do away with one. In other words, you can't just turn around, or we can't turn around and say, "I've given an offering to God and now no longer have to fulfill my responsibilities towards authority or to my parents – because see, I've given all the money to God." Or another way of putting it is saying: Well, we are not to walk away from our spiritual responsibility and then justify why we did it, we have to do both. The law says you have to love your parents and love God, you can't just do one without the other. If you break one by just simply saying, "Well, I give it to God and therefore I'm going to break the other," well, that's sin. Sin is a transgression of God's law. ...or vise versa, give it all to the parents and none to God in an offering – you're still sinning because you're breaking God's law.

Verse 7 – Hypocrites! Pretender! Well, did Isaiah the prophet say to you, These people draw near to Me with their mouth, it's their words, and honour me with their lips, they talk the talk. They talk all about it, but their heart, their inner thinking, their motive is far from Me. So they're doing it for selfish reasons, really.

Verse 9 – And in vain, in emptiness, they worship Me, because it's all physical things, teaching as doctrines manmade traditions, the commandments of men.

Verse 10 – When He had called the multitude to Himself He said to them, Hear and understand, understand this principle, not what goes into the mouth (food) defiles or pollutes or makes unclean a man, but what comes out of the mouth, the motive behind or the intent behind the words, that defiles/that pollutes a man. Why we say what we say, why we do what we do, that's what defiles a person. So it goes back to the motive and intent.

Verse 12 – Then His disciples came to Him and said, Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying? 

Verse 13 – But He answered and said, Every plant which My Father in heaven has not planted, which is not with us on a spiritual level, will be uprooted. So it's going to have to be uprooted and done away with; and that's the same in the Millennium. Anything that is not of God, the end result will, well, it's going to have to be uprooted and it's going to have to be got rid of.

Verse 14 – Let them alone; they are blind leaders, spiritually, of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind both will fall in the ditch. The leaders did not have God's spirit, the people did not have God's spirit; the result would be a pollution of the way of thinking. And that's exactly what Christ was dealing with, and Christ is revealing here that the future is going to be the way we think. With the power of God's spirit we can live in the Millennium with right thinking.

Verse 15 – Then Peter answered and said to Him, Explain this parable to us. So Jesus said, Are you also without understanding? Now, we're going to be given this opportunity in the Millennium, spiritual understanding. Because the first thing is knowledge; you can have knowledge. Then we have to have understanding; Ah, understand the knowledge. Then we have to apply the understanding, which is living wisdom.

Verse 17 – Do you not understand/Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then is eliminated, but those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, which is talking about intent, motive for why we do what we do, and they defile a man. So our intent reveals if we love or hate. Straightforward, we either love or we hate. That's what's revealed by our words, our thoughts, and our actions.

Verse 19 – For out of the heart, which is the inner thinking, proceeds evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witnesses, and blaspheme – sin. That's what comes out of us, the natural carnal mind – that's what comes out, that's our actual motive and intent of the natural carnal mind because it can't do anything different. These are the things which defile a man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man. We are defiled by what we think. If we think wrong, we're defiled, we're unclean. To be clean requires God's spirit living and dwelling in us. We'll either be motivated and driven by pride and self-righteousness or with God's spirit, we will be filled with right thinking. There are two ways of life, two ways of thinking, and these will exist in the Millennium, and that is why the beauty of the Millennium and all of those things that are going to be fulfilled in the Millennium.

Now, there are a lot of things that are going to change in the Millennium and they are things we are aware of today and we see and we know. For example, there is not going to be any more false religion, there will be no more Sunday worship. Now, that is a wonderful and exciting time. Everyone in the Millennium will be required to keep the Sabbath and the Holy Days. So you can just imagine what a Sabbath, a weekly Sabbath will be like in the Millennium. There is going to be thousands of people over time, as they learn and understand more about the Sabbath, starting to keep the Sabbath, therefore you can imagine the organization that's going to have to take place within communities and within areas, within nations. The leadership, the 144,000, and God's Church, the ministry, will now be starting to implement God's way of life to the people and the people then will respond and therefore we're going to see Sabbath services in ways that we've probably never seen Sabbath services. We might have seen some of them in the days of Mr. Armstrong when you had 17,000 people turn up to Feast days. You can imagine the excitement of this!

Can you imagine the excitement of a weekly Sabbath, of coming before God to be taught His way of life? And the people don't know anything much. They know that Jesus Christ has returned and there is a new government but they have to start from the very foundation. The beginning of knowledge is God's laws, which is, the first one of course they're going to have to start to learn is the Sabbath, the correct way to keep a weekly Sabbath.  Now, this is going to take time, and as they get to understand it – so they know it, now they begin to understand the Sabbath and the spiritual intent of the Sabbath, because knowledge of itself is... knowledge is you've got to keep the 7th Day Sabbath. The understanding of it is that the purpose of the Sabbath is to be fed spiritually, and the knowledge of it is, well, you've got to keep it. Understanding, we've got to live it. Now, you've got to implement it. Now, that's the application of the understanding, that is living wisdom. Wisdom is the mind of God; now we're going to have to live this wisdom. So now we're going to have to implement it in our life, we're going to have to adjust our life to live the Sabbath, to keep the 7th Day Sabbath.

So there will be no more Sunday worship, there will be no more Sunday masses. There will be one way of worship and it'll be worshiping God. The law will be taught and people will begin to 'see' the truth. It's going to be exciting.

Can you imagine the change in the food? How food is going to be produced differently? And the one thing that we're going to look forward to is there'll be no more injection of dangerous chemicals into our foods, because that's the way man is. Now, man's motive today is one of production for gain, for selfish gain, because the more we can produce the more we can sell, the more we can gain. Well, where is the motive behind food production in the Millennium will be different, it will be an exciting, exciting time. And the reason for that is the purpose of food production is to live God's way, to produce healthy foods for others, not just for ourselves but for others.

We can understand also there will be no more perverted fashion that openly provokes sin like seduction. So the fashions of today are motivated for a reason, it is about change, to generate people to buy more. It's not as if people come out with one fashion and that's the fashion for now in the sense of practical clothing for right purposes – because there is a time to wear a jacket and there is a time not to wear a jacket – but the Millennium, it'll be different, the motivation is going to be different. Motivation won't be a "Look at me," motivation. It won't be driven by pride. So the fashion industry today, they change the fashion because they know human nature needs to be seen to be keeping up with everybody else, needs to be seen, "Look at me! I am... Can't you see that I'm up with the fashion, what I'm wearing!" Where it's not necessarily practical but that doesn't matter, it's, "Can't you see me! Look, I'm up with it, you're not up with it, you're out of date, you're old-fashioned." Well, that's all going to change. The clothing of the Millennium will be practical and it won't be based on sin. The motivation of its production will not be on sin.

It's a difficult area to get into, the way that man views a woman – because we've all got natural carnal minds. That thinking has to change over time. But it's not going to happen just at a flick of a switch, it's going to take time for men to view women differently and for women to view men differently. And we know that the truth is that God has allowed us to see about men and women being equal, and it's all about the way we think towards others, the way that a man thinks to a woman, and the way a woman thinks to a man. Now, that whole thinking has to be implemented and it's going to take generations to change that thinking so that when men and women grow up, boys and girls grow up, there is a different way of thinking.

The other thing that's going to change, of course, is TV programs. There will be no more TV programs promoting sin openly, the way that sin is portrayed. There'll be no more programs promoting sin. Because today's society every program that is made - just about every program, I don't know very many that aren't - are motivated by seduction, by promoting sin, by glorifying sin. No matter what it is it's always about promoting sin.

If you look at the 'hero' movies and the TV movies that are out there about 'hero's', it's all about destruction, it's about pulling, it's about being 'the greatest'. And yet that's not what mankind's supposed to be doing. Mankind is supposed to be humbling himself and putting God as number one, God as being 'the greatest'. There will be no more deceptive TV programs, advertising products that say they do certain things when they don't. It's an open lie! But it's promoted and it says, "Oh, if you buy this thing here it'll make your shirt white!" or, "If you do this, this is what will happen!" or, "You'll whiten your teeth!"

Now, I saw a program the other time, months back, just saying that they actually got all the toothpaste together and they went through them all and they found out of all the toothpaste they had there was only one that actually could even slightly enhance a whitening process within the tooth, the rest of it is just marketing and deception. So that deception in marketing will go. Now, isn't that going to be good when you see a program that's going to promote a food product that is healthy versus the ones that we see today. And the TV programs about deceptive things, about, "Well, if you wash your clothes in this it's much better than this one." No, it's going to be honest. "This is what the product does. It's your choice whether you would like to buy it."

So there are many changes! One of the greatest ones that I know we are all looking forward to is there will be no more politics, there will be no more campaigns about people trying to acquire people to like them so that people will vote for them.

I was thinking the other day also there will be no more 'running of the bulls', where they get a heap of bulls, put them there, and they run them from one area to another to go into a stadium so they can do bull fights. And the people dress in white and get in front of the bulls and run in front of them! There'll be no more of that! When you think about it, what sort of thinking is taking place? Well, it's the natural carnal mind, and we won't go into the motivations of it due to time, but there is a motivation behind why a person runs in front of a raging bull with big, sharp horns. That'll be done away, there'll be no more running of the bulls.

So there is so much more to look forward to in the Millennium. The greatest change that we look forward to is the removal of Satan and the pouring out of God's spirit.

And so during this time of Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Booths, it is a time to stop and to meditate, to think about how we are living our life. Our thoughts... Are we having the right thoughts? Are we implementing love? Are we sacrificing ourselves? And then during this time to establish, let's set out to sacrifice ourselves on a daily basis to the benefit of others. And if we can start to achieve that, that is a great start on a spiritual level.

So with that we will conclude Part 1 and in the next one we'll pick up, 'In the Millennium – Part 2'.□