Our Journey to the Future

Willem Henderson

1st Day Feast of Tabernacles - PM

October 9, 2014

Hello, everyone, on this 1st Day of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Let's turn to Romans 8. We must focus on the future because that's what we live for. We look to the future because we want to become sons of God. Romans 8:18—For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with... The suffering and the trials that we experience in our lives do in no way compare to what's in store for us in the future. Try and focus on that when you find yourself in a situation that you feel there's no way out of. Ask God to help you look forward to …the glory which shall be revealed in us. That's not always easy, I know. And sometimes you'll be more successful than at the other times in your struggles.

Verse 19—For the creation waits with eager expectation for the revealing of the sons of God. The creation can hardly wait. That's our goal. That's what we need to focus on. That's to be our goal, every day of our life.

Verse 20—For the creation was subjected to futility. Right now it is still futile and without avail, because the time hasn't come yet. Things aren't being addressed yet. …not willingly, but because of Him, God who has made it so, who subjected it in hope.

Verse 21—Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. And then, when that time has come, when the creation will be set free, we will also be delivered from the slavery! Then we will be delivered from the yoke that we now carry because of the sin that still besets us. We must come out of that sin by repenting and changing every day of our lives. We, the creation of God, must go through the process with God's help.

Verse 22—For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. The world is in travail. Not only they, but we also who have the firstfruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. The Old Testament also contains multiple references to the "daughter of Zion," being in travail, waiting for the adoption as His children, to be born into His Family, out of the Church – Zion. That's our mother, spiritually speaking. We are being fed in the Church. In the Church (our mother), we get sermons and postings every week that we must eat and digest spiritually in our daily lives.

We go now to Psalm 8:3-4—When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? David wondered about this. He didn't know all that we know now. He didn't know then that after Christ's first coming, and after He sacrificed Himself, the universe, with the moon and the stars and all its galaxies, would be made available to us. Yet one thing is sure, he also looked forward to this. He kept his eyes fixed on the goal, on that future, and he surrendered to God completely. And God called David "a man after His own heart!"

We should ask on a daily basis, "Father, please help me to stick to Your awesome plan for me, no matter what happens in me, in my life to me. Help me to become a man after Your own heart. Because everything that You have in store for me and for all humanity is so awesome, so wonderful that it is impossible to grasp."

You could actually say that we are on a journey to the future—like you can see in science fiction movies—with some sort of time machine. But to us it is no science fiction. We know that that is what's ahead of us. And on our journey there, there are obstacles and stumbling blocks, trials and tests, but we journey on regardless and are not sidetracked.

The title for today's sermon will be, Our Journey to the Future.

We can start out on our journey to the future in a type of "spiritual time machine," after we have accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Without His sacrifice we cannot set out on this journey. Without His sacrifice there is no future. The Passover is the first requirement before you can board the time machine.

When we are baptized and cleansed by the blood of Christ, then, through the laying on of hands we receive God's spirit, and with that spirit we can embark on the journey. Then we can start out on our journey. And the longer we have been traveling, the stronger that spirit becomes in us. And yes, persevere, and repent daily and allow God to mold and fashion us, then we advance quickly. And finally we can come to that moment in time that God can say about us, "Now I know you. Inherit all that I have had in store for you!"

Leviticus 23. Today we'll take a look at all the Holy Days that we encounter on our journey, to see how we can see the end-goal in the Holy Days, and also how we can achieve that goal by observing these Holy Days the correct way.

Leviticus 23:1-3—And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: The feasts (the appointed times) of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts. They are His Feasts, His appointed times, not ours! He created them for us. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. It all begins with the Sabbath, a holy convocation. On that day no work is to be done. And in order to be able to continue on the journey, we must observe this day, the Sabbath day, all our life, because if we don't, then our journey ends.

And the same counts for the seven Holy Days, the Commandments, and the statutes that God has given to us in order to be able to continue in the right direction. We also need teaching. And that teaching, as we have just seen, is given to us every Sabbath in the Church (our mother), Zion.

After the Pharisees attacked Jesus about the Sabbath day, Jesus answered them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27). When I was first called I thought I could convince others of the Sabbath day. A common mistake that we all seem to make in our zeal. That is what we call the "first love," which we all experience in the beginning. And I would tell people, "You see, the Sabbath wasn't made for the Jews only." Because that's what they all say when you begin mentioning the Sabbath. "No! The Sabbath was made for man." Anyway, people then come back at you with all sorts of arguments, and I always ended up with a feeling of frustration. It doesn't take long before we all find out that God has to open someone's mind to this kind of knowledge. All we have to do is to reflect a different attitude and conduct than the world displays. People around us should be able to see that God's spirit is working in us. That's what it's all about, and not trying to convert others, as we all think we can do in the beginning.

In order to be able to understand the Sabbath, you must be called. Then God sets you apart and sanctifies you. He has set the Sabbath day apart for holy use and purpose, to teach you. And you, yourself, set the Sabbath apart by not working on it and not doing anything on it that does not belong to that day, like watching football games, for example. God sets the Sabbath apart for a higher purpose, and so should we. That is why we, so to speak, "remove ourselves from the world" on that particular day. God wants us to observe that day correctly.

Isaiah 56:1-7. Let's take a look at how He (God) thinks about the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for all humans, also for the stranger and those who do not belong to physical Israel. Isaiah 56:1—Thus says the LORD, Keep justice, and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come. It's about the future, about deliverance. …and My righteousness to be revealed. God wants us to live righteous lives, so that with His help we can attain to salvation, eternal life.

Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it. Blessed are we if we do so, if we apply His righteousness in our lives. And then it states, Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, by working on it. And if we can assemble together with others, than we must do so, instead of staying at home by ourselves. Of course, only if we can meet up with others. And keeps his hand, we should do no work on the Sabbath, and always be mindful of the Commandments and statutes that God gave to us. …from doing any evil.

Verse 3—Do not let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD speak, saying, The LORD has utterly separated me from His people; Nor let the eunuch say, Here I am, a dry tree. "I can't be part of this. I can't grow on that day of teaching."

Verse 4—For thus says the LORD, To the eunuchs, who keep My Sabbaths (My Feasts), and choose what pleases Me (who does what I say) and hold fast My covenant, the agreement that we entered into at baptism, when we gave our lives to Him, to God the Father and to Jesus Christ. Even to them I will give in My house… the congregation, God's Church, all of us together are that house where God dwells. We are the building blocks that are being molded to ultimately fit into the spiritual temple of God… and within My walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name—Elohim, Gods—that shall not be cut off. Because then our Father will sustains us with His spirit that will abide in us forever.

Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, people that come into the Church to serve, and to love the name of the LORD (of God), to be His servants, to serve in His house, everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant. That is the agreement we signed up for at baptism. We said at that time, "Do to me as You wish. I am Yours. I surrender to You completely."

Verse 7—Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, into My Government is what God is saying here, starting with the Church, and make them joyful in My house of prayer, because we have His spirit and can see the truth. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices, our way of life, our prayers, our life of giving to others, will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. This verse actually refers to a text that Christ quotes in Matthew 21:13 when He cast out all that were buying and selling out of the temple.

Hebrews 4:9-11. On our journey to the future, it is necessary that we keep the Sabbath the correct way. Then we can enter into that rest in the future. Hebrews 4:9—There remains, therefore, a rest for the people of God. This "rest" for God's people lies in the future still. This is speaking of the seventh-day Sabbath, and that day points directly to the Millennium. For that will also be a "rest," one that lasts for a thousand years, the Millennium that starts right after the 6,000 years are completed. For he who has entered His rest, the 144,000 that are in the first resurrection. And later, at the end of the 7,000 years, there is another resurrection. The people in that resurrection will enter into God's rest at that time. And directly following the 7,000 years follows the second resurrection, that lasts for a Hundred-years. And when those Hundred-years are over, they who inherit eternal life will also enter into that rest …has himself also ceased from the works as God did from His. God's 7,000 year plan is contained in the seven day week. The Feast that we now observe, the Feast of Tabernacles, is the Feast that relates to the thousand-year period.

Verse 11—Let us, therefore, be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. Let us, just like all that went before us during almost 6,000 years, fight to attain to that rest. Then we can also rest from our works just like God did as it states in verse 10, the works that we still have to do in our daily lives now, through repentance.

As I mentioned before, we can start this journey to the future after first of all accepting the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in our lives. Without His sacrifice, this journey is not possible. Without His sacrifice, there is no future. Without His sacrifice, there wouldn't have been a creation.

We go to 1 Corinthians 8:6—Yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him… everything is of God the Father. Everything was created by Him, and we turn to Him, we worship Him, and we serve Him. …and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through Whom we live. We exist because of Him, because of Christ. We can live because of Him, because He (Christ) gave His life for us. Again, through Him all things exist because He sacrificed Himself because He was willing to make this sacrifice for us, along with His Father. Everything we can see around us was created by God the Father. And because of the sacrifice of Christ we can look towards the future and look forward to being born into God's Family.

Isaiah 9. Isaiah wrote about Christ long before He was born.  Isaiah 9:6—For unto us a Child is born, of God. God was His Father. He is the only one that was born thus. Unto us a Son is given; And the Government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor. God is focused on the future, on His Family that He is creating, on His Kingdom. And we can only enter into that Family if we accept the sacrifice of that Child, the Son of God. He was human just as we are, but without sin, and as we know, the purpose of His sacrifice was to deliver us.

And then it also states, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Here Jesus is called "Father." We know that God is the Father, but here Christ is, so to speak, also called "Father," because He has made it so that we can also be born into God's Family. Mighty God, "the first among many brethren."

In Matthew 1, where we can read more about Christ's birth, it says that His name is Immanuel. And this is a quote from Isaiah 7:14. And this name Immanuel means, "God with us." We go to verse 7—Of the increase of His Government and peace, there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom; To order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. God will live in us with His spirit forever. That is one of the new Truths that we got from God during the Feast of Tabernacles of 2010. Christ was given to humanity so that in the future when God's Government will be established on earth and everything is made spirit, humans can change from a physical body to a spirit body. That was God's sacrifice. God the Father gave Christ, and Christ was prepared to sacrifice Himself in order for man to be delivered from eternal death.

Let's turn to Numbers 9:1-5 to see how it all begins. Now the LORD spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, Let the children of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time.

Verse 3—On the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time. According to all its rites and ceremonies you shall keep it. That is after sundown, when we the 13th of Nissan ends and the 14th of Nissan begins. For clarity, on the 14th, when the sun has set on the 13th and the 14th begins.

Verse 4—So Moses told, as an order… And it is also an order to us, a spiritual order. This is an order for us, because we have been called, have been baptized, and received the laying on of hands, accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and surrendered to Him and to the Father. And in doing so we have said, "Do with me as You will." So Moses told the children of Israel that they should keep the Passover. And that "order" counts for us, too. We must keep the Passover!

Of course, we keep the Passover voluntarily. We know that we must keep the Passover every year in order to renew our baptism vows, in order to reaffirm our contract with God. In the time previous to the Passover we reflect on our lives, on how our relations with others in God's Church are, and where needed, we reconcile with them. And we also reflect on our sins that we still have in us, and we consider where we can improve on those things in our lives.

Verse 5—And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, at twilight, in the Wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did. Here it is again. Passover is observed at twilight on the 14th, after sundown when the 13th is over.

Through Christ's sacrifice one can be baptized, and then you can participate in the Passover. Only then our journey to the future can begin—with trial an error, but very focused.

Hebrews 12. We must be focused, as Jesus Christ was, and look forward to what's ahead of us. Hebrews 12:1-4—Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Our way of life and our conversion should be focused on the goal that lies in front of us—to enter into Elohim, into God's Family, as we just have read.

Verse 2—Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. After His resurrection, Jesus was the first to enter into God's Family, and He was granted to sit in His throne at the right hand of the Father. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself… Focus on Christ. Always keep Him in the forefront of your mind. He didn't give up. He endured all sinners that opposed Him …lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. Make sure you don't get exhausted and weak and become discouraged. Look to Jesus Christ. He is the ultimate example for us.

Verse 4—You have not resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. We haven't fought sin to the point of bloodshed yet. Fight, hold on, don't give up, and don't give Satan any opportunity. Remember that "He who is in you, is greater than he who is in the world."

Let's turn back two chapters to Hebrews 10:19-27—Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh. Through the blood of Jesus Christ we can enter into the Holiest, can we become before God's throne. Through His blood and through His life and through His flesh that He sacrificed for us, the veil is now torn and we can come directly before God's throne and pray to Him in Christ's name.

Verse 21—and having a High Priest, Jesus Christ is our High Priest, He is the Head of the Church and of the called out ones, over the house of God. He is the Head of that house, God's House.

Verse 22—let us draw near with a true, sincere, heart, let us come before God with a sincere heart, in full assurance of faith, fully dedicated, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Knowing that all in God's plan is certain and truthful, and that He helps us on our path all the way to the end of our journey so we can enter into eternity together with Him, with Jesus Christ and all who will be born into God's Family.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope, all that we believe, and hold on to, the 57 Truths, and everything that we have learned, that we put our trust in, that we look forward to …without wavering, not doubting, but standing fast in our faith. We can't let go or become lukewarm. We can't start thinking, "Yeah, yeah! I know all this, and I have no needs. I have the 57 Truths, who can touch me?" No! We must keep focused on the uniqueness of our calling and of all that we have been privileged to learn. …for He who promised is faithful. God is faithful. He cannot lie. God does not give us false hope. We can trust on our Father completely, without any doubts.

Verse 24—And let us consider one another, we must watch out for each other, in order to stir up, to encourage each other, to build each other up love and good works. We must do good for each other. We must be giving and sacrifice for each other.

Verse 25. As I mentioned before in another sermon, this scripture only became clear to me after had Ron explained it. Before, I interpreted it differently, and I thought it was only telling us that we have to come together every Sabbath day, if we are able, of course. And indeed we must gather together as often as we can to strengthen the bonds that we have and to increase the love of God in us ever more. But this verse contains so much more. Verse 25—Not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing… We should not forsake our meetings. In the Greek this means "not abandoning" as Ron explained to us. We must be sure that we abandon no one and that we leave no one out. Make sure that everyone is brought into fellowship, that all have their part in our time spent together on the Sabbath and that no one is left out on their own. Involve everyone. We must get to know each other better. So when you meet up, make sure that you reach out to everyone. We have to be in unity. That is what this verse is all about.

…but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the day approaching. To encourage each other means to talk with one another about this way of life—God's way of life—the way He wants us to live.

Verse 26—For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth… Don't ever let this happen to you. To stop repenting, and to sin deliberately, and to no longer strive to put sin out of your life, because then there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins; then you make Jesus' sacrifice null and void.

When we encounter obstacles on the way during our journey to the future, and when we have to endure trials, always remember that they fulfill a great purpose in our lives. Our goal is to enter into God's Family through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, but our goal is also to get to know Christ better, to learn, to be more convinced and aware in our inner being of all that He has done for us! He helps us. He is our advocate with the Father. And the trials that we must endure do not compare to the glory that is in store for us in the future.

We won't turn there; I'll read it to you. Philippians 3:13-14—but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Paul tells us, "Don't look back! Look ahead!" We know God's plan. We know what's ahead and we press forward and reach for that goal, the goal that we may know because we received a calling and then our minds were opened. And that goal is to enter Elohim. We can see that because our eyes have been opened and we can, so to speak, look into the future spiritually. By accepting the sacrifice of Christ and the calling from God we can know God's plan and how we are meant to be born into His Family. That is our future, if we endure until the end. God made this plan from before creation, possibly millions or billions of years ago. By the power of His spirit living and dwelling in us, we can be born into that Family.

Paul continues in verse 15—Therefore, let us, as many as are mature, have this mind. He is really saying that all of us must look towards and think of what is before us, and that we must continue to repent if we want to be perfected. Through Jesus' sacrifice we must press towards the goal, the goal that God has given to us, the goal that He has shown to us – Elohim. And if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. If there would be anything that you think differently about, then God will reveal it to you, and clarify it to you.

Summarizing this: Because God the Father and Jesus Christ gave this sacrifice, their sacrifice, the Passover sacrifice to us, we can successfully finish our journey to the future, if we keep repenting, if we keep living God's way of life. Then we can be with them forever and live for all eternity as Godly beings. Through this sacrifice, all was made possible. Through this sacrifice, we can all successfully finish the course of this journey that we started at baptism. Through this sacrifice, we can come out of sin and strive to live an unleavened life.

The Israelites came out of physical Egypt with all its pagan gods. The world around us is still in Egypt. And there are still many different peoples that hold fast to physical statues of their gods – their idols – like Buddha or Hare Krishna and let's certainly not forget about the worshipping of the "mother and child" which is a common practice in most all religions in this world. God showed the Egyptians who was the one and only God through the plagues that He brought upon them that were aimed at ridiculing their idols. The 10 plagues of Egypt were all aimed directly against specific Egyptian gods that were worshipped by the Egyptians.

God literally did what He had predicted, because in Exodus 12:12 (you don't have to turn there, I'll read it for you), it says in the latter part of this verse "…and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD."

Isaiah 2. And even today, as I mentioned before, man still has many idols in the form, such as cars and houses, and all sorts of materialistic goods. Anything that you lift up above our Father (and that can include all sorts of things) is idolatry. These verses are about the judgment that God pronounces over Israel's idolatry. Let's go and read these verses, and let's notice what God says about idolatry. And we can see idolatry all around us, even today, in the pagan religions of the world and the worshipping of materialism.

Isaiah 2:6-9—You, LORD, abandoned your people, the descendants of Jacob. They are full of superstitions from the East; they practice divination like the Philistines and embrace pagan customs. Their land is full of silver and gold; there is no end to their treasures. Their land is full of horses; there is no end to their chariots. Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made. So people will be brought low and everyone humbled - do not forgive them.

We'll turn to Ezekiel 36:16-22—Again, the word of the LORD came to me, Son of man, when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they defiled it by their conduct and their actions. Their conduct was like a woman's monthly uncleanness… God compares their idolatry with a woman’s monthly periods. …in My sight.

Verse 18—So I poured out My wrath on them because they had shed blood in the land and because they had defiled it with their idols. Here, God is speaking about all that man does to avoid Him in order to continue on his own path and to pursue his own religions. So they can observe Sunday, the day of the sun, and not the day that God has ordained – the Sabbath. And so they celebrate their pagan "holy days," for example Easter, instead of the Feasts that God commanded them to celebrate. For almost 6,000 years they have also persecuted God's people, God's prophets, and called out ones. If you take a look in the book of Revelation you can see what happened to God's people during the past 2,000 years. They are always persecuted, just as Jesus said would happen, "If they persecute Me, they will persecute you also."

Verse 19—I dispersed them among the nations, and they were scattered through the countries; I judged them according to their conduct and their actions. They lost their identity and reverted to idolatry because amongst other things they reject the Sabbath and turned to other pagan "holy days." And consequently, God passed judgment on them because of the way they lived their lives, and He scattered His people to their deeds. And wherever they went among the nations they profaned My Holy Name, for it was said of them, These are the LORD's people, and yet they had to leave His land. Here we can see how they trampled God's laws under foot and did what seemed good in their own eyes. But God dispersed them, scattered them.

Verse 21—I had concern for My Holy Name, which the people of Israel profaned among the nations where they had gone. Those are the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel that remain in the north, except Manasseh, who moved on to America, and a part of Ephraim that moved on to Australia and New Zealand. But the other tribes remained to this day among the countries of Northern Europe.

Verse 22—Therefore, say to the Israelites, This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for you, for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of My Holy Name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. God scattered them for the sake of His Holy Name. They did not heed Him, and to this day they still don't.

We'll look at the following verse (verse 23), later, because that verse, and the ones after it, are about the Feast of Tabernacles that we are currently celebrating.

As I mentioned before, we must strive to live an unleavened life on our journey to the future. We must fight with our whole body, "with all of our bodily parts," and battle against the attacks from our adversary, Satan, and his demons.

Exodus 13. God tells us that if we want to finish our journey to the future successfully, we must observe the Days of Unleavened Bread. Exodus 13:3—Then Moses said to the people, Commemorate this day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery… God accomplishes it all. He lives in us. He is our Father and does the works …because the LORD brought you out of it with a mighty hand. If we allow Him to mold and fashion us, then we don't have to fear the Adversary that we just talked about. Because the LORD brought you out of it with a mighty hand. God gets us out of spiritual Egypt in order to bring us into the spiritual promised land that we all look forward to. As Paul states, we are all strangers and sojourners of this earth. After God has called us and God has delivered us from the house of bondage, we are no longer slaves of Satan. We were in that house of bondage. We were Satan's prisoners and lived according to the lusts of the flesh because in our ignorance (because God hadn't called us yet) he had power over us. But now we are no longer ignorant. We now have God's spirit, and God the Father and Jesus Christ do the works in us. Beautiful! It's all so beautiful!

Verse 4—Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving.

Verse 6-7—For seven days eat bread made without yeast, and on the seventh day hold a festival to the LORD. Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it shall to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast to be seen anywhere within your borders. And we must look at this spiritually. It's all about the spiritual. Sin puffs up, and therefore, we must be unleavened, the yeast must be removed from us. And through this sacrifice, the sacrifice God the Father and Jesus Christ gave for us, we can remove the yeast from ourselves and become unleavened. Never give up! Never get tired or become down or lose courage. Because every time we fail, we can go before God's throne to ask for forgiveness and for the courage to go on. Hold fast and don't give up. Look forward and move forward, straight for your goal – to be born into Elohim, in God's Family.

Verse 8—On that day tell your son, I do this because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt. Later, when we will see our family and friends (that died) again, in the last Hundred-years, we can tell them about how it was to be called in this age. As Ron has mentioned many a time, "There is no better time to be born and live in, than this time! To be witnesses of the transition to a different world." And this Feast that we are now celebrating points towards that, as we know. Then we can explain to family and friends how we received help from the Father in this age to live unleavened lives because His spirit did the works in us. We can tell them about the Apostasy, the falling away that some of us witnessed. We can explain to them how it was to be in God's Church, and then after having been spewed out to be drawn back into God's one and only true Church. And we can tell them how that He awakened us, and opened up our minds again so that once more we could "see" where He and Jesus Christ were effectively working.

Verse 9—This observance will be for you, like a sign on your hand, because we are prepared not to work on the 1st day of the Feast and the Last Great Day, and a reminder, a reminder of the sins that we still carry with us, the leaven that is still in us, on your forehead, in our mind. We accept it in our mind that we want to come out of sin. The Days of Unleavened Bread are a reminder, a memorial of our deliverance from sin.

And on in this verse…that this law of the LORD is to be on your lips. God provides us with food. He fills our mouth spiritually. He gives us His laws and statutes with His spirit that works in each and every one of us. For the LORD brought you out of Egypt with the mighty hand. With great power He led us out of spiritual Egypt, so we can enter into the promised land in the future.

You must keep the ordinance of the appointment time, year after year. Every year! Because we do not believe as the so called "Christians" of this world proclaim, that this was done away with after the birth and death of Jesus Christ as our Passover Lamb.

We go to Romans 12. We'll now take a look at how we can best surrender ourselves to God so that He can effectively help us get rid of sin (the leaven that is still in us) on our journey to the future. Romans 12:1—Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Our bodies—we need to sacrifice our whole life to God the Father so that He can help us sacrifice ourselves for the people in God's Church, and people in the world.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, don't be pulled in by the sinful lifestyles of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Let God renew our thinking with His spirit, so that He can mold and fashion us from within, and we then can put it to practice in our lives. Then you will be able to test and approve, prove to yourself, what God's will is—His good, pleasing, and perfect will. We must strive for perfection. That is God's will.

The 10 Commandments have been given to us so that we can enter into God's Family at the end of our journey. They are like entrance tickets to the "spiritual time machine."

On our journey we arrive at Pentecost, after the Feast of Unleavened Bread. On Pentecost, God gave Israel the 10 Commandments, and consequently, the whole world, really. Pentecost is, as we know through the 50th Truth, also the day that Jesus Christ will return to set up God's Government on earth, together with the 144,000. Pentecost is also called the Feast of the Firstfruits, because it is the first harvest in God's plan. Pentecost is so very important to God, because on that day, 50 days after Christ was resurrected from the dead, He gave His Holy spirit.

We can read about this in Acts 2. The Israelites could only obey God's Commandments on a physical level. But since Christ's resurrection man can actually obey the Commandments on a spiritual level—through baptism, the laying on of hands, and then receiving God's spirit. As of that moment, God and His Son start dwelling in that person. We must keep on stirring up the holy spirit that lives in us, and ask daily for help to grow in our spiritual thinking so we can live the 10 Commandments in a more mature and fulfilling way, as Jesus showed us when He was here on earth.

The world can't, but we can, because God opened our minds so we can "see" spiritually. The Jews didn't understand what Jesus was talking about when He said that He had come to fulfill the law. He explained, for example, that if you only look at a woman with desire (with lust), you've already committed adultery in the mind, without laying one finger on her.

Because Jesus came and fulfilled the law, the spiritual dimension was added to it, and because of that now the 10 Commandments can only be obeyed when we have God's spirit living in us. Because without God's spirit, it is impossible to obey God's laws the way God wants us to obey to them.

We started this sermon in Romans 8. We'll go back there now to look at some other verses in this chapter. The holy spirit is our guarantee to be born in God's Family. If we keep on stirring up the holy spirit in us and keeping submitting ourselves to the Father, our future of being born into Elohim is secured— if we accept Jesus Christ, and if we belong to Him.

Romans 8:1-2—There is, therefore, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. If we are in Christ, then there is no condemnation for us, no eternal death. He has removed our sins through His precious blood. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh. Through the flesh that is weak, God, through Jesus Christ, condemned sin in the flesh. That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. If we sin, the law requires death. But now, with God's spirit in us, we can live. The requirement has been nullified.

Verses 5-6 also mention that we have to live according to the spirit, and not walk according to the flesh. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

And then in verse 7 we read, Because the carnal mind is enmity against God… If you are in the flesh, as the whole world is except for us who are in God's Church, then you rebel against God. Then you are hostile towards God and you reject everything that is God's. …for it is not subject to the law of God, then you are not humble, not submissive to the Father, then you don't want to learn anything, but just want to go your own way and set up your own idols in order to worship them. We touched upon that earlier in this sermon. …nor indeed can be. They cannot do so, because they are not called. They cannot "see" it; in other words, they are spiritually blind. Later, when their eyes will be opened, they, who now live in ignorance, will be able to "see," thanks to God's spirit, what it is to be "spiritually minded."

But you are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not His. We have God's spirit. We know this because we know and feel that we are being molded and fashioned by Him, to become Godly. If you don't have God's spirit, as the world doesn't, then you don't know that you are cut off from Christ. The whole so-called "Christian world" thinks that they are His, and they are totally not aware that they are not of Christ Jesus.

And if Christ is in you, because we know His voice and we follow Him wherever He leads. Every time we are given a new Truth through His apostle, His prophet, we accept it and go along with it. And the rest of this verse …the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. We live because of God's spirit that dwells in us. But if the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His spirit that dwells in you. If we keep stirring up that spirit, and continue to ask our Father for help, "Help us and forgive us. Give us Your holy spirit so we can go on and never give up. Let us be molded by You so that later we can serve in Your Temple," then, the Father will resurrect us as He also resurrected Jesus Christ.

And therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. We must live according to the spirit, and not according to the flesh. And we can do so. Be continuously asking for the help to persevere and to keep on fighting against our flesh. If we finish this race, we can finally overcome.

Because, verse 14—For as many as are led by the spirit of God, these are sons of God. We are sons of God if we are guided by they that live in us (the Father and the Son).

And then in verse 15—this is so beautiful to me every time again when I read it. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." We can call our Father "Abba." "Abba" is the most intimate expression of the word "father." This means that we can, therefore, have an intimate relation with our Father. "Abba" is the Aramaic word for "father." We are no longer in bondage to sin. We are no longer have to suffer in slavery to sin, but we can go to our Father at any time, to be forgiven, if we ask for it. And then we can once again be of good courage and go on striving to sin no more, to not fall into the same sin again. And if it does happen, then we can go before our Father as little children, and ask Him, "Abba, forgive me. Please help me with Your holy spirit to get up on my feet again and to live on in this world that is cut off from You."

The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. We know, because God lives in us, that God has a dwelling place in us, and this moment we are effectively begotten children of Him. And we look towards the future, to our being born again as children, as sons of God in God's Family. And if children, then heirs—heirs of God, we are God's children, His heirs, and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him. We suffer, too, through the trials and tests that we must endure in our daily lives, and because of the sin that we have to fight every day, that we may also be glorified together. If we overcome, then we may also partake in His glory, because then we, ourselves, will be glorified along with Him.

So Pentecost is a very important Feast on our journey to the future. With God's spirit, we can keep the Commandments and the statutes that will lead us into a time that is still in the future where everything will be spiritual—if indeed we are faithful servants that submit ourselves to Him completely.

Ecclesiastes 12. Two final verses that were inspired to Solomon by God, that show us that keeping His Commandments is the most important thing that man must do if he wants to enter into eternity. And every human being that ever lived will be brought under judgment of God for all his or her deeds, for God knows everything. God knows everything about everyone that ever lived on earth, and still will live on earth.

Ecclesiastes 12:13—This is the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

The fourth Feast on our journey to the future is the Feast of Trumpets. As we heard on Trumpets, the Feast of Trumpets is the announcement, the proclamation of the return of our Savior and older brother Jesus Christ. He will reign together with the 144,000 firstfruits of God's plan for a thousand years in the Millennium. Christ will return on a Pentecost in the near future. We are in the end-time, as we know.

Daniel 2. Let's go and have a look at the 2nd chapter of Daniel where we can get a picture of how that return will come to pass. Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar's dream to the king, and when we get to verse 34 we can read about the last of the seventh revival of the fourth empire, the Roman Empire. This seventh revival consists of ten nations from East- and West-Europe that will come together. And we've almost arrived at that moment in time.

Verse 34—You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. A "stone" will come out of heaven that will crush the toes, those ten nations, and from that moment forward that stone will reign over the earth for all eternity.

Verse 35—Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image… This stone, this rock represents Jesus Christ. On that day the whole world will see Him. And after destroying the power of all governments on earth, He will stand on the Mount of Olives together with the 144,000. Then our journey to the future will take an enormous leap forward, because on that same day Satan will be bound. And then the "restoration of all things" that Paul talks about in Acts 3 will start. ...became a great mountain, filled the whole earth. "A great mountain," meaning one government on earth, Gods Government!

And we can read about this also in verse 44—In the days of these same kings the God of heaven will set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the Kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the Great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure. And that "stone," that Rock (Christ) will come, that's for sure. Believe me, you can totally trust on that.

Let's now turn to Acts 15:16—After this I (Christ), will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down. This "tabernacle of David which has fallen down" is talking about the people of Israel, Judah, Levi, and the lost 11 tribes—originally the lost 10 tribes, but the tribe of Joseph was divided in two, representing his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh. Mr. Armstrong has so beautifully explained all of that to us in the booklet he wrote, "The United States and Britain in Prophecy." I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up. Christ will return to rebuild the "tabernacle of David which has fallen down."

After this, I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, (verse 17) which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up. Other people will also be drawn in because they will see that rebuilding, that reconstruction taking place. During that thousand years everyone will be able to see the truth. God will pour out His spirit on all flesh, so that those who respond to His calling can repent and convert to living a life that is focused upon Him, our Father, and His Son. They will put to practice God's way of life and love. When they are baptized and receive the laying on of hands, they will receive the holy spirit in them. And that time will also be used to prepare for the future, for the second resurrection, when all that ever lived will be resurrected—except those who committed the unpardonable sin, for they will not be resurrected.

Zechariah 9. Christ will be King of kings. Because, as He said to Pilate, "To this end I was born." And right before He died on a stake, He was hailed as a King into Jerusalem. People really believed that He had come at that time to defeat the Romans. They had read in scripture that the Messiah would come and deliver them. And this is completely true, only there still had to pass another 2,000 years.

Zechariah 9:9—Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. Between verse 9 and 10, there lies 2,000 years. In verse 20 we can read that He comes as a warrior, as a King that will force peace upon mankind. He will reign over all the earth. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

The Feast of Trumpets brings us ever closer to our final goal on our journey to the future. The final goal is to be born into God's Family, to serve in God's Family, the 144,000 first, and all other people will be added later. And when that time has come, when Christ will be King, there will be repentance. God will start calling all people, and they will draw near to God. God will open their mind and they will repent and start living God's way of life. They will start obeying His laws and commandments, and will start keeping His Feasts.

We are not turning there, but in Hosea 3:4-5 it says: For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. Afterward, the children of Israel shall return (repent) and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days.

The next Feast we come across is Atonement. This is the fifth Feast on our journey. If you think about it then you realize that the atonement with God, our Father and His Son, our older brother, is the most beautiful thing that can happen to us. And it has all been made possible through their sacrifice. God the Father sacrificed His Son, and Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself.

And that's why the veil was torn in two, so that we now can come before God's throne at any time. Through the blood of Jesus Christ we can be atoned both with the Father and the Son. If we repent and carry through with the journey of ours towards the future, then atonement will be literally accomplished once we are born again and made spirit. And we will then be able to see the spirit world, because we ourselves will have a spirit body then.

But right now we are also atoned, because of our baptism and the laying on of hands and the receiving of God's spirit in us. That is why and how God started dwelling in us. But because we are still in the flesh, because we can sin, we are still able to separate ourselves from God. And therefore, it is imperative that we repent immediately whenever we do sin, and ask for forgiveness. The precious blood of Jesus Christ then cleanses us, and we will be atoned again, and we will be able to continue on our journey to our final goal – Elohim.

As soon as we will be made spirit beings, we will be atoned with God for all eternity. For all eternity! Imagine! There will be nothing left that will stand in the way of that atonement. But now that is not yet the case, because every time that we sin God's spirit is no longer in us. At that moment in time we are no longer atoned with God, and therefore, we must always repent immediately and go before His mercy seat to ask for forgiveness.

If we repent and put God's Commandments and statutes into practice in our lives, then the sacrifice of Christ will make atonement possible through His blood whenever we stumble and fall. Christ entered the veil once and for all and spilled His blood before the throne of God. In old Israel, the high priest was to sprinkle the blood of a goat (which represented Jesus' blood), on the mercy seat every year. This mercy seat was the earthly symbol of God's throne. And under it lay the 10 Commandments. Christ, once and for all, fulfilled Atonement through His sacrifice. And therefore, there is no longer any need to sprinkle the blood of a goat on the physical mercy seat, as the high priest was commanded to do in old Israel. The blood that was spilled before God's throne was spilled for all people that choose to repent and accept the sacrifice (after baptism and the laying on of hands), in order for their sins to be forgiven.

Romans 5. Because we are atoned to God, we can also have peace with God and with one another in His Church. Romans 5:1—Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through faith and through the forgiveness of our sins we are justified by God, and therefore, have peace with God. Through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Through the atonement with Jesus Christ we have also obtained entrance to God who is merciful towards us and wants to give us eternal life. Through His sacrifice we have, so to speak, gotten our entrance ticket to our journey to the future. We haven't earned this! No! We were given it "freely" out of grace. If we persevere we may be born in God's Family, into the glory of God.

Verse 3—And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance. We will suffer tribulation in this life, but we must remain steadfast and persevere and have determination to finish, to complete this journey that we have started out on.

Drop down to verse 8—But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners… God is love and He confirms that through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Christ died for us. That doesn't mean that we don't sin anymore, but now we can come before God's throne to ask for forgiveness, because through baptism and the laying on of hands we have become begotten sons of God. The blood of Christ has atoned us with the Father. We are no longer slaves to sin. We fight against sin and surrender to God so that He can work in us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. Through His blood we are justified, redeemed, saved from wrath and saved from death!

Verse 10— (I love this verse)—For if when we were enemies, when we were still part of the world and lived life the way that seemed best to us, when we didn't know that we were sinning, and therefore, enemies. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

In Romans 8:7 Paul says, Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. We weren't called yet. Our mind hadn't been opened yet. We lived in sin and were cut off from our Father. But now we are atoned through the death of Christ. And not only that but now, since that sacrifice, since His blood was spilled on the earth (the dirt) we can be saved. And because He lives, because He was resurrected from death, we can also be resurrected.

We'll go back to Romans 5:11—And not only that, but we also rejoice in God, we praise and glorify Him. We give honor through our Lord Jesus Christ, because He took our sins away, through whom we have now received the reconciliation, atonement. Because we can live, and because Jesus lives, we can be atoned to the Father, and our journey into His Family, into Elohim, is assured if we persevere until the end and confess our sins daily and forgiveness for them…so we can all once again "stand" and continue our journey.

The sixth Feast is the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast we are currently observing. Spiritually, we are temporarily "put" into this physical body. We are physical with a physical body that eventually dies. We are created with physical bodies that one day cease to exist, that die. In other words, currently we reside in a temporary physical dwelling with the future goal of becoming an eternally living body, a permanent body where God can, and will, live with His spirit for all eternity. Then we will be born again into Elohim, and God can say to us, "Now I know you!" Then, and only then, we will be able to serve in His Family as God's. Just like the Israelites had to dwell in temporary booths for seven days, we must dwell in our temporary bodies all our life. We live in temporary mortal bodies, in temporary tents, so that we can be molded and fashioned until we can finally be placed in a spiritual, immortal, permanent body as sons, as born again children of God.

Deuteronomy 16. Let's now read about this Feast and what it pictures in Deuteronomy 16:13-15. This Feast pictures the thousand years, the Millennium. You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. And you shall rejoice in your Feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates. Seven days you shall keep a sacred Feast to the LORD your God in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.

As we know, our 2nd Tithes are for ourselves. We can read about this two chapters back in Deuteronomy 14:22-26—You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produced year by year. And you shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always. But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the LORD your God has blessed you, then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses. And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.

Please turn with me to Ezekiel 36. As I mentioned earlier in this sermon when we're talking about the idolatry of Israel, and we read about that in Ezekiel. We now return to Ezekiel 36 because we are now talking about the 6th Feast, the Feast of Tabernacles. We'll resume in Ezekiel 36:23. Here it speaks of the Feast that we are now celebrating and about the time that Christ will reign together with the 144,000 for a thousand years, and the following Hundred-years. And at the beginning of that Hundred-years the second resurrection will take place. Ezekiel 36:23—And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the LORD God, when I hallowed in you before their eyes. God will reign!

Verse 24—For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. The lost tribes of Israel—what is left of them after the seven angels have poured out their seven vials with the last seven plagues—will be gathered to their own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water, the holy spirit, on you, to open their minds. The holy spirit will reveal to them what they have been doing in the past …and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. They committed idolatry, but now they will start to "see" the truth and God's plan of repentance and conversion.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. They will start to "see" God's love, and come to understand the 10 Commandments. They will understand that it is all spiritual. They will come to see that the Commandments are set up to love God more than self, and to love fellow man as much as yourself. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh, the hardness of your hearts, of our hearts, something that man had because they didn't know God, will be taken away, and give you a heart of flesh. A heart of gratitude towards their Creator, their Father. A heart that cares about others.

Verse 27—I will put My spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. They have "counted the cost" and they have also chosen to start out on their journey to the future. They have committed themselves to dedicating the rest of their life to God and their way of life. They also will be baptized and have their sins washed away in the watery grave, so that they can come up out of that watery grave as a "new man." And after having received the laying on of hands and receiving God's spirit in them, they will be able to continue in obedience to God. God will accomplish this. God will do it all. God will start to live in them. Because as Paul says in Philippians, it is our Father who does both the working and the willing in us, so that we can finally reach the goal of being born into God's Family.

Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. At that time they will become God's people, just as we are now, and they will no longer obey the Commandments merely on a physical level as the Israelites did in the past, but with God's spirit they will keep His Commandments on a spiritual level. And as we all know, it is God's plan to make all people part of spiritual Israel.

The name "Israel" means "he who prevails with God." Jacob was given this name after he wrestled with God. And that's what it's all about. We must overcome with God's help in order to reach the goal that we all have our eyes fixed on. And that goal is Elohim, to be born in the God Family and to be granted to serve in His House forever, in His Holy Temple, in His Family. And, as we know, everyone is also individually a "temple" of God. A temple where God lives, God's dwelling place.

Verse 29—I will deliver you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. All that have been baptized and have received the laying on of hands that live on into the Millennium, will be delivered and washed clean with by the blood of Jesus Christ, by God. He will forgive them with His great mercy, a mercy that He has for each one, each and every one that responds to His calling and that want to follow Him. The knowledge, His Word, the truth and knowledge of Gods way of life will be abound. The spiritual manna will flow abundantly. There will be no hunger for the Word of God, something that did exist in the past, especially during the Apostasy.

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 famine among the nations. Physically, also people will not suffer shortage. They will be blessed because God will make the land fertile again. Other scriptures mention that God will give the right amount of rain at the right time so the crops in the fields will not wither but instead be abundant. And spiritually speaking, God will pour out living waters (His spirit) on His people so that that harvest will be great too!

Verse 31—Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. Because we have God's spirit, because God works with and in us, we can also see our former conduct, when we were still in the world and not called yet. I don't know how this is for you, but sometimes I remember that time before I was called, and then I feel a deep resentment for the way of life I lived then. I'm happy that God pulled me out of that, and with His help I still have to fight some of those things, things from my past that keep haunting me. Things that you experienced when you were a youth, as Ron has mentioned in some sermons. Things, habits that you have picked up in your youth keep bothering you.

Verse 32—Not for your sake do I do this, says the LORD, let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel! Thus says the LORD God, On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities... In the Millennium God will cleanse people through the blood of Christ, and He will forgive them their sins. He will bestow grace upon His people that have His spirit and that repent form their former conduct.

I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt. The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. The land shall be made fertile and beautiful once again. The ruins will be cleaned up, and slowly but surely it will all be made more beautiful and inhabitable than before. It will no longer be a desert, a wasteland, and barren land. So they will say, This land that was desolate has become like the Garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited. All will openly see it, and people will talk amongst each other about how it was before, a waste place, a wilderness, desolate, barren, and uninhabitable. Slowly but surely as the Millennium progresses, with time passing, the earth will become as the Garden of Eden again. The earth will be prepared to be like the Garden of Eden once again by the time the second resurrection takes place.

Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken it, and I will do it. Thus says the LORD, the LORD God, I will also let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do this for them: I will increase their men like a flock. The other nations will join unto Israel. And they, the people that will be added, will also be as a great flock. They will be baptized and hands will be laid upon them so they can also receive God's spirit living in them, and then they will be able to follow God's way of life and to keep God's laws and statutes and celebrate God's Feasts.

Verse 38—Like a flock offered as holy sacrifices, like a flock at Jerusalem on its Feast days, so shall the ruined cities be filled with flocks of men. It will be an innumerable amount of people. Then they shall know that I am the LORD. They will know that He is God, that He is our Father who saved them through Jesus Christ.

And as I mentioned before, because Satan will be bound there will be an enormous leap forward on that journey to the future. There will be an innumerable amount of people that will be repenting and starting to follow God's way of life so that they can be made ready with the help of our Father and our oldest Brother in order for them also to enter into God's Family, God's Kingdom – Elohim.

We have now come to the last Feast, the seventh Feast. When the thousand years are complete, there's one more Feast - the Last Great Day. When that time has come we are only 100-years removed from the completion of the journey that all people that will be part of in God's Family have to make.

The next chapter, Ezekiel 37, is about this last Feast (about the second resurrection), that will last a Hundred-years.

When we arrive at that Last Great Day, there remains a last period of a Hundred-years for all people that ever lived. They will live life a second time in physical bodies. Mind you, only those that have not committed the unpardonable sin will be resurrected.

Jesus Christ said that no one that put his hands to the plow, and looks back, is fit for the Kingdom of God. So we must go forward and not look back, and not go back to the cesspool that the world is. Lot's wife looked back. And we can all read in the Bible what's happened to her.

At our baptism, we have left our old ways behind us and entered into a lifelong commitment to our Father and Jesus Christ. And when you are on a journey you also move forward to reach your destiny. Spiritually, we must do the same.

In closing, I want to read the Bible verses we read at the beginning of this sermon again. Romans 8:18-19—For I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the creation waits with eager expectation for the revealing of the sons of God.□

Table of Contents

Chapter 1