The First Count for Pentecost, Pt. 1

Ronald Weinland

June 8, 2019

Today we’re going to focus on an area within the meaning of Pentecost that has truly never been fully understood by God’s own Church. That’s an exciting thing about growth, because we continue to grow. I find that exceedingly inspiring that God has given us truth, the ability to add on to truth, the ability to continue to grow, and really that’s the way it should be with His holy spirit. His holy spirit demands growth, it requires growth, and as we do our part God continues to give us more and more. So to me, I find that very refreshing, very exciting, and very inspiring.

So in this case here having to do with the subject we’re getting into today, obviously concerning Pentecost, this matter of some of the things not fully understood is something that God has been revealing more deeply here in this final stage of the end-time during this period of His remnant Church that’s been preparing for the actual coming of His Kingdom, and when you think about that it’s hard for us to grasp what it’s like to live at that time period. When you consider 6,000 years of human history, when you think about all who have gone before us, the whole Church over 2,000 years and we have such opportunity to live at such a unique time in all of history, I really wouldn’t want to have lived in any other time compared to this, if I had the choice. This is incredible. This is inspiring.

So this sermon today is entitled The First Count for Pentecost, Part 1.

The revelation of this story begins to take place in an area of scripture that we focused upon in a previous sermon entitled The Holy Day of Pentecost, and we’re going to turn again in order to begin a right focus on that which was given during that particular sermon anyway, in Leviticus 23. We’re going to turn back there again. So there is so much here and simplicity in so many ways, too, when we’re able to see the simplicity. I love the name of the magazine, The Plain Truth, because the truth is plain. When God gives you His holy spirit it’s just there. It’s plain.

I think of first being called and all of a sudden beginning to understand the captivity of Israel and the migration because of what Assyria had done in taking them north, and then to realize that migration that went into western Europe and finally all the way here and Australia, New Zealand. Incredible history. Incredible things that took place. But when I first heard that, with God’s spirit things are just plain. It was like, “This is so clear!” Then the Sabbath day and understanding seven days and 7,000 years of God’s plan. It’s like when God gives it to you in the mind it’s just it’s plain, it’s clear.

That’s a good admonition, too, or a good thing to learn from, if you will, to realize that that can disappear. It’s disappeared for many, many people who have come and gone. That that focus can be lost as well because there is a matter of continuing in God’s spirit and continuing to be strengthened by God’s spirit. We have to do our part in that. That’s up to us, obviously. It’s in our relationship with God and our thinking, no one else’s.

Again, concerning this particular day, in Leviticus 23:9 it says, And the Eternal spoke to Moses... Again, what we’re going through is plain once God gives it, but it hasn’t been plain in God’s Church. This makes it a little more difficult for those who have been called of the last decade, if you will, and even a little longer, to know some of these things because it’s a matter of history as well, of things we’ve gone through in God’s Church up to the Apostasy and afterwards because there are those things that have not been seen or those things that have been argued about or those things that have been twisted and distorted by many in the ministry, not just a few.

And the Eternal spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, When you have come into the land which I give to you... Now, that’s a no brainer you would think, but many have ignored this. There are many who went through Ambassador College at a very young age who went out in the ministry and had been in the Church twenty, thirty, forty plus years who lost these things, who lost the simplicity of statements like this. So what might seem plain and simple and easy for us to grasp, to see at times, it can be lost because without God’s spirit you can go back to human reasoning. You can hear something from someone else and say, “Oh, yeah, I didn’t think about that,” and leave what God made so plain through the power of His holy spirit. Because only God can do that!

Learning truth, understanding truth, staying and remaining in the truth is not a matter of human reasoning! And yet so many have followed that course through time. So many in God’s Church, so many in the ministry have tried to use human reasoning, human (supposedly) smarts, you know, education, to come up with their own ideas. This is not a matter of human smarts and education. It doesn’t matter who it is in human life that God determines to open their mind and give them truth, they have truth. They see it. It’s not a matter of intellect at all! It’s a matter of God’s mercy. It’s awesome to understand that and to be so thankful for that because these are things you can’t figure out on your own and so many have stumbled, so many have gone astray because they came to a point in time where they thought they were rich and able to use human reasoning and intellect to know truth. That is so disgusting! That is truly so sick for the human mind to be able to do that, and yet many have gone before us that have done that.

And the Eternal spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, When you have come into the land which I give to you... When was that? That’s a toughie, isn’t it? You would think that would be so simple to recognize what God is getting ready to tell them. But not a few, many lost that; weren’t able to see the simplicity, the clarity, how plain this really is.

...and shall reap the harvest of it... Starting with Judaism they started arguing when the harvest was because of false ideas and false beliefs that came on the scene by certain rabbi’s, high priests, whatever they call them at any particular point in time that began to mess around with God’s law, especially after the death of the Messiah. They began to twist and distort things because they didn’t want anything to fit into that message that he gave because they heard that message and they were threatened by that message. That’s why they killed him in the first place, because they were threatened by what he had to say and people were listening to it, so he became a threat so they killed him. It’s one way to take care of it. Sick, sick world, sick mind of human beings.

When you have come into the land which I give you and shall reap the harvest of it then you shall bring a sheaf of or as we mentioned, from the firstfruits... I’m not going to go into it, but they go into all this rigmarole of all these rituals, of things they made up later on that they did later on, Judaism, and how they chose to observe some of these things, and by those things they began to taint and darken what was true and what should have been obvious. A giant mistake then many in God’s Church made, who were evangelists even, was to look at Judaism for truth!

Now that always—I’ll be candid with you—always blew my mind a little bit. Why on earth would you go to someone like that that Christ condemned for what they saw? Because they didn’t see the truth! They had begun to already tear it apart. They were letting down in it in the first place. They began to carry on with their own traditions, even as Christ said, “You follow your traditions. They become more important than the law, than the truth!”

I get a little worked up when I talk about some of these things for a reason, because of what so many have done. You think of the absolute stupidity, ignorance, not intellect, stupidity to begin to mess around with things, and in God’s Church the thing we should always grasp and understand? How we receive the truth, like Paul said, from where we received it, and how we continue to receive it, of how God works with and teaches and molds and fashions a Church, how He gives truth to the Church. He doesn’t just reach down and start speaking to people in dreams or from a burning bush or some other mysterious means as He’s worked with individuals in times past. The Church is organized! The Church is for a purpose, and that purpose is to be followed by God’s people, and especially the ministry. That hasn’t been all of our history. It hasn’t been that good in many respects. We’re to learn from those things, to realize what human beings can do, to realize, to understand what we are. We rely, we depend upon God. We need His spirit every day of our life to remain in the truth or you can and will lose it. We become sharpened in that and are able to pass these things along in the future in powerful ways because we’ve lived through some of the most awesome times, the pinnacle, if you will, of all 6,000 years of human history.

…when you shall reap the harvest of it... There should be no debate over that, what they did, but there is debate. There are a lot of ministers in God’s Church who don’t grasp what this is talking about because they believe what the Jews teach about this. What a horrible thing! Why not let God’s spirit teach you. Why not let the Church teach you? But that’s another matter.

...then you shall bring a sheaf of or from the firstfruits, the beginning of your harvest unto the priests. So that’s what they did. They took, they cut a certain portion. It doesn’t say that the harvest can’t begin until this takes place. It says, just do this. From all this harvest go out there and take a sheaf, and the priests are to take it and have it and keep it until a certain day for a certain occasion. That’s all He’s telling them.

And he shall wave the sheaf before the Eternal, so this is about the high priest, to be accepted for you, and so we think of all the things that Christ fulfilled, when, even as I feel that so many in God’s Church have never really grasped this one. We understand, we’ve understood three days and three nights, but it was as though people still became confused about his resurrection, about the timing of it. We knew or as a whole the Church understood and knew it wasn’t in the morning hours when the sun was rising like traditional Christianity believes. He was resurrected before that. But when before that? It wasn’t on the first day of the week at all; it was on the Sabbath day, the weekly Sabbath day. Three days and three nights ends at the end, toward the end of the Sabbath day because that’s when they put him in a tomb, toward the end of a day, not into the Sabbath, not into the next day, but on a particular day, obviously, we understand the process there of being put in the tomb before Passover was over. So it’s not too hard to figure out three days later, when it was.

I’ll be candid with you. In all my time in Worldwide I never heard anything given of that because it wasn’t time to focus on that, the simplicity of that. God reserved some things to be focused upon, to be given at a later time for purpose. A lot of that purpose was to allow an Apostasy to come about in time because of people using intellect. God let them have the mind and the thinking that “Look at all I understand. I see these things.” They began to mess around with certain things and change certain things and begin to rely on intellect and what they heard from some evangelist at Ambassador College teaching supposedly the truth, who wasn’t teaching the truth at all but had strayed away from what Mr. Armstrong had taught him or them. Lessons. Lessons. Lessons. Things to be learned over and over again. Things to be deeply embedded in our minds so that nothing like this remotely ever begins to happen in a new age. Never! Never!

Again, And he shall wave the sheaf before the Eternal, to be accepted for you, which he was. We’ve gone through that many of times. I love the story; don’t ever get tired of it. “Don’t touch me!” A little bit later he let them touch him. Because he said, “I haven’t ascended yet to my Father, to my God and your God.”

...to be accepted for you; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. So always on a Sunday. So it was waved on a Sunday. We look at the timing then of when God fulfilled this literally, when Christ and the timing there, indeed in the early morning hours when they were rushing back and forth between the tomb, as they did, if you know the story and when he talked to them, when Christ began to speak directly.

Anyway, verse 12—On that day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb of the first year, that is without blemish, for a burnt offering unto the Eternal. So again, always all the symbolism and all these things that we’re going through now and we’re going to go through in a series that follows this. All the symbolism of these things has meaning. Everything that God gave in Leviticus, everything to do with the priesthood, everything to do with the temple, every bit of it has incredible meaning contained in it. It’s all by design. All that design is given on a physical plane to a physical people, and in time then God begins to teach us the design that is spiritual, the purpose that is spiritual. We begin to see things that those things help us to grasp in a deeper way because we’re physical. Then the picture becomes even greater in our minds and in our thinking, inspiring, moving, and motivating, to see what God has done and how God has planned these things, to see God’s purpose in His revelation.

On that day when you wave the sheaf you shall offer a male lamb. What’s that about, without blemish? It’s always about the same thing if it’s without blemish. ...for a burnt offering unto the Eternal. Well, God demands that which is without blemish. He requires that which is offered to Him to be without blemish. Even for us, when we serve God, when we offer something to God, it should be for the right intent, the right purpose. It should come from that which is genuine and true, not for a false motive, not for wrong reasons, not about self, but about just doing it because it’s right, because it’s giving. We battle with that as human beings.

But when it’s about Christ, when it represents things about Christ, again we’re to be reminded of that over and over again, how we’re able to be here, how we’re able to have a relationship with God, and always reminded of his life, of what he lived for us, for all.

The truth and reality is that the children of Israel were not able to keep this observance of the wave sheaf offering as they were not able to reap the harvest of the land until they came into the promised land. So all that forty years they never counted fifty! They never had a wave sheaf. They never reaped a harvest. They never brought a sheaf for the high priest to wave up before God. They never did that because they hadn’t come to the promised land yet. So even after God gave them the law and gave them Leviticus 23 they never observed the wave sheaf offering and they never observed Pentecost—Never!—until God gave it. And when did He give it? When they were able to start counting fifty. Because of this, He said, “When you come into the land that I give to you and you reap of its harvest then...” That’s when it all started.

So I marvel at how God has revealed things. Sometimes we tend to think, well, no, Abraham kept all the holy days. He didn’t know them. He didn’t know about Pentecost. It hadn’t been revealed yet! We think that they had to know all these truths. No, they didn’t. They were judged by what God gave to them at their time, the present truth and most of that had to do with relationships and how people thought toward others. It had to do with relationships toward God and how they honored and respected and loved God and loved what He revealed to them to that moment in time. Because, candidly, by that time they didn’t have a whole lot.

Noah didn’t have a whole lot, but he loved God and he obeyed God and he did what God gave to him to do. Abraham, ten generations later and Abraham who was able to be taught by Noah until he was in his fifties—incredible to understand these stories—because of Noah living so long after the flood. It was like 350 years, whatever it was. I’d have to go back and look to get the exact day, but I think it was close to that, whatever. Anyway, incredible! Then Noah died. Then God began to work with Abraham – from Noah to Abraham. Awesome! But they were judged by the present truth, by what they knew at that time.

We go through time and we finally come to this time when God led the children of Israel out of Egypt and He started giving them truth and law, the law from Mount Sinai, and He began to give to them, to Moses, that which was the things about the Levitical priesthood, the Levites, about the temple and all the things that God began to give to them while they were in the wilderness, and yet all that time they were never able to observe the wave sheaf offering. All that time they were not yet able to observe Pentecost, yet they were told about Pentecost, about a holy day they were to observe, until it was time. “When you come into the land that I give to you, then you begin to do this.” Awesome!

Do you think this was meaningful to God, what He was giving to them, what He was revealing to them? This was on a physical plane for them. The law was on a physical plane with them. They didn’t grasp the spirit of it. A lot of the spirit of the law wasn’t really revealed in large part until Christ began to reveal it, though some understood it before because they wrote about certain things. David, a prophet of God, king of Israel, God gave to him a lot to write in the Psalms and so forth. There are a lot of things that are there that are just spiritual, but God has to give you His holy spirit to grasp some depth of that, and he had a certain grasp of some of it. To how far? We don’t know.

So again, they weren’t able to observe these things until they came into the promised land and when they did come into the promised land that was the beginning of the first count for Pentecost. Awesome! Beautiful! The beginning of the first count for Pentecost. That’s why it’s exciting to realize, to grasp and comprehend, that there are times that God gives more, and when He does what a beautiful thing! Here it was God was giving more. This was the beginning of something exciting to God. Because though they didn’t grasp and understand what this was all about, the wave sheaf, that it was about Christ, God did and it was exciting to God. That here they could begin to observe this on a physical plane. Later on they would come to grasp the spirit of it, the truth of it, the fulfillment of it on a spiritual plane and what God was going to do with His own Son, and then the importance of His Kingdom, that He did tell people going way back in time from the beginning, about a time in the future when the world would be ruled by God, a time in the future when a Messiah would come, for they all believed and were given knowledge and understanding about a Messiah.

They believed those things. That’s what’s important about the first loaf. They believed in that which was going to happen in the future though they didn’t grasp it all. They didn’t understand that one was going to come as the Passover of God, be put to death, blood spilled to the ground, and because of that then he would become our High Priest and that he would be the Wave Sheaf to be accepted by God and have a work then for the next two thousand some years for the Church, for the rest of the 144,000, because the number before that over 4,000 years wasn’t that much!

It’s been in the last 2,000 years through the process that God has used to bring the most, the major portion of the 144,000 to fruition, to a reality, a creation of God that He’s been doing, that He’s been able to do in a greater way because of the organization of the Church. Awesome to understand these things! We’re still limited though we have been given a lot. It’s inspiring!

So this is when the first count for Pentecost ever began to be observed. After that first count following the first wave sheaf offering, as we’re talking about here, then came the first observance, obviously, for the first day or the first holy day of Pentecost because they weren’t able to observe it until they had the wave sheaf and then after that they could do the count.

So again, we go through time, we see the times of these holy days and what they picture. We see the time when here there was a Pentecost they began to observe. Then later up the line here the Church began, Pentecost 31 AD, an awesome Pentecost. Then we see the things taking place about the firstfruits and the meaning of those things and a beginning of a new age, 1,100 years, all about Pentecost, those who will reign in God’s Kingdom through the Millennium once that period begins.

So again, that’s inspiring, this type of that for the first count for Pentecost that’s again, very soon to be fulfilled. We were hoping that it would be soon. We had our marker set on this period of time. I have another marker. I can see it. I hope and pray it’s that marker, and if it’s not, I’ll go beyond that to whatever marker God gives to us from there. But it’s a race and a race is hard, and the end of a race gets harder. It doesn’t get easier. In the mind it becomes harder and you have to focus, you have to be prepared, you have to work toward it. Incredible, the things we can see on a physical plane that prepare us for that which is on a spiritual plane.

I guess we can stay there in Leviticus 23. I want to read some of this again. I just want to make sure. I had some notes here I had written that I wanted to make sure I had covered some of this already. Again, Leviticus 23:9. We covered some of these things about what we’re looking at even now concerning Pentecost that we covered in a sermon series at the beginning of this year and we’re going to review some of that. But this story is also spread out over a lot of other scriptures and we’re going to go through some of that as well.

Verse 9—And the Eternal spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, When you have come into the land which I give to you, no brainer, and shall reap the harvest of it, then—Then!—you shall bring a sheaf of it/from it, from the firstfruits here, as it’s talking about. This is the word for the beginning of your harvest unto the priest.

Let’s turn over to Numbers 21, because here we begin to see a process where God was working out various things that we can learn from, that we can be inspired by. Toward the end of Israel’s journeying in the wilderness this is an account, or we’re coming to this account of how God, again, brought the Israelites up to the area of the Jordan River. It’s a migration as God is taking them, if you look at the region down around Mount Sinai, if you will, around Petra on up on that side of the Jordan, on the east side of the Jordan coming down into the valleys there. We’re going to discuss some of this, where these regions are and sometimes I enjoy going back and looking at a map and seeing where some of these are because some Bibles have at the back maps for various periods of time and you can look back at the older layout of some of those and realize what God was doing and where they were being led. As you read some of these things then they begin to fall into place and make more sense.

Just like what we’re going to read here in where they went there were certain of those areas on the east side of Jordan that God gave to the Israelites. It wasn’t just on the west side it was on the east side. There was certain land there that God divided up and gave to a few of the tribes of Israel, for that land was included in part of the promised land. But the part they were going into when they crossed it was the greater portion of the promised land, as generally looked upon as the promised land. But God began to give them some of that before they crossed the Jordan. This is a part of that story because it’s all important in what takes place here in the timing and the meaning.

So again, coming up in this area there were other lands east of the Jordan that God had promised or that God was going to give to them as a part of their inheritance. At the end of the book of Numbers two important accounts are addressed referring to this. Again, we covered a bit of this, but not in this context, at the beginning of the year in the series.

Numbers 21:21, so again, Israel had begun moving northward toward the lands that God was giving to them and it says, Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, Let us pass through your land. So if you were looking at a map they’re going to go farther up, and he’s telling them, “Let us pass through your land. We don’t,” basically, “We don’t want a war.” So we’re going to see how they respond to what they’re told.

Let us pass through your land. We will not turn aside into fields or vineyards... because if you see a mass of people, and they were large, and the people around knew, they knew where they came from. They knew they came out of Egypt forty years earlier. They knew the history of certain things that had taken place. They knew what had happened to Pharaoh. They knew what had happened to Egypt’s army. They already knew these things. They knew some of the skirmishes that had already taken place by others as Israel was even in the wilderness and some of the fighting that had gone on and the victories that God had given to the Israelites. They knew about these things. News passed fast throughout the region when these things took place. So they knew! When the Israelites started moving you’re talking about large masses of people. Candidly, it’s so large, to be able to do that was incredible! It would take a lot.

It takes a lot to supply an army, and this was a massive amount of people, larger than many armies have ever been. This past week they were talking about D-Day and the ability to support all those troops that were going in there. What was it, 150,000 on D-Day, 200,000, whatever it was. But when you take those that landed and then those who had to supply behind it was much larger. The supply of that many people is incredible. Look at the modern equipment they had to do that by.

But what about the Israelites? Where are they getting everything? Well, first of all they had manna. See? Other nations didn’t grasp and know all these things, but they had manna and their own cookbooks. I’m joking about that. 101 Ways to Cook Manna, To Bake Manna. So they had different things. But that’s why they’re telling them we’re not going to take spoils from you as we pass through. That’s why they were telling them this. Because you would think, “A mass of people like this, they’re going to take a lot, and they’re going to take from us.”

So this is why they were telling Sihon this, king of the Amorites, Let us pass through your land. We will not turn aside into the fields or vineyards; we will not drink water from wells. We will go by the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory. But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He didn’t believe them or whatever took place here, but he wasn’t going to allow this.

So Sihon gathered all his people together and went out against Israel in the wilderness, and he came to Jahaz and fought against Israel. Then Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword. It wasn’t a smart move on his part. God was on their side. God was going to give them victory and He did. So they gave him opportunity in this, but he didn’t listen and this is what resulted.

Then dropping on down to verse 31— Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. Then Moses sent to spy out Jazer; and they took its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there. And they turned and went up by the way to Bashan. So Og king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. Then the Eternal said to Moses, Do not fear him, for I have delivered him into your hand with all his people and his land; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites who dwelt at Heshbon. So they defeated him, his sons, and all his people until there was no survivor left him; and they took possession of his land. Powerful; took possession of his land. Now, again, this is what God was going to give them anyway. This was going to be accomplished.

God knows the hearts and minds of people, and though this generosity or this gesture was given, God knew the hearts and minds of those there, of what they would do and how they would respond to the Israelites and what they would do. So again, God purposed these things to show the hearts and minds, to show what people are like, and sure enough they do exactly as predicted. When you look at human nature it isn’t hard in some cases to know what people are going to do.

Now the next verse here, Numbers 22:1—Then the children of Israel moved, and camped in the plains of Moab on the side of the Jordan across from Jericho. Now, here they are in the area now, across from Jericho, but they’re still on the east of the Jordan and they encamped in this particular region. They had conquered these regions here, these two great kings that were throughout this area here, and it’s discussing some of this now, of what was taking place. So God brought them up here for a purpose, to take them into the primary region of a promised land.

Then in Deuteronomy 3 if you want to turn over to Deuteronomy 3. Here is the area where it’s going through and repeating certain things a second time toward the end then of the forty years in the wilderness. It’s basically here in meaning “the second giving of the law.” It’s given again, certain things are repeated again. It’s told to the Israelites, so, again, to remind them of things that God has said before they enter into the promised land, of a way of life, of what God had revealed to them, of what He expected of them, desired of them if they wanted to have a right relationship with Him.

Again, Him reminding them of that which He had given to them and all that they had gone through to bring them to this point in time. So they were reminded of their history. They were reminded mightily of the forty years and of what was before them. That’s why so often we go into things of our history – because they are so important to remember, whether it be a short history of what we have experienced going back to the Apostasy or leading up to the Apostasy and the things that followed, these are some of the greatest lessons that will ever be taught throughout the Millennium and the Great White Throne because it’s the pinnacle of lessons, it’s all the lessons of the Old Testament and the New Testament coming together in a  very powerful way and then reflected in the times we have lived through if you look at Philadelphia, Laodicea, and now God’s remnant Church. That’s incredible to grasp and to understand, what God has given.

Again, we live in those times. How blessed are we to be able to witness such things? And so we discuss history. Though you didn’t, many or most, didn’t experience those things, you’re to learn from them as we learn from stories like this, of history that took place a long time ago or other things throughout scripture and throughout time. Because it all blends together. It all comes together. It’s spread out and it’s compacted. Awesome!

Deuteronomy 3:1. So he, again, brought them to this point and it’s now right before them, even as the law was also given to them, as I mention one more time in verse 1. So going through some of this he says, Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan; and Og king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. So again, some of these things being repeated as it was written as a part of the story here of what took place. Some of this is looking back and things that are being written, as they were written later.

And the Eternal said to me, Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand; you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon. So already God was beginning to have them meet massive armies, already having them experience what it’s like now as you begin to move forward toward what God has promised you, and you’re being told this and you see victory. You see how God’s intervened to give you great victory and God was giving them that which was the message God gave Moses to give to Joshua, “Be strong and of good courage. Be encouraged. Be strengthened by what you see God do.” They were even before they crossed the Jordan River. This was the beginning of some of these things. That’s why he’s saying, “Remember what God did for you. Remember these kings that fell before you and how that they were given into your hand.” That’s the story here we’re going through.

That’s why we’re to remember the things that God has done, to remember the things that we have experienced and gone through, the battles. We’ve had a lot of battles. You’re to remember those things. You’re to see them for what they are.

There are times we don’t grasp what’s happening in a spirit world. There have been battles there in massive ways in this end-time. One day we’ll learn a whole lot more about that. There are battles then because of that that have happened around the Church and in the Church over and over and over again. Even after the Apostasy we went through battle after battle after battle after battle, wearisome battles at times. Because as a family we draw close together; we want to see each person be a part and share. I think of that song, “We walked to God’s house side by side and counsel blended sweet,” and then in the background a dagger, another dagger, another dagger, and all looking forward to plunging them into your back. That’s the mind and it’s against God. It’s about God. It’s about an attitude toward God and God’s way of life and God’s truth because it comes down to it that there are people when they get into a certain frame of mind that they really are against God. They don’t grasp that on a spiritual plane but that’s what happens.

We experience those things and it’s good that we do. It’s because of those things, and even what’s more important than all that, the victories. Do you know what the victories are? News Watch, Time is Running Out, Time Has Run Out, The Prophesied End-Time, 2008—God’s Final Witness, those are the victories. All the truths that God has given through this period of time, those are the things that give us the courage, the strength, the boldness, the confidence to see what we see. Because as long as we hold on to those things, that is our power, that is our life. It takes God’s spirit to have those things and to retain those things and to see those things. It is by God’s spirit. But the fact that we’re able to have them, the fact that we’re able to have them in our minds and to see them, what an incredible thing.

God gives courage. He gives encouragement. He gives the help and the strength and the power. There are who see it and those who don’t – still – in God’s Church. Still goes on. This is going to go on. There’s always going to be that little bit right up to the end. God will make it manifest. I would not want to be in any of those shoes because it’s about God and God will take care of things.

He told them, The Eternal said, Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand; you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon. So the Eternal our God also delivered into our hands Og king of Bashan, with all his people, and we attacked him until he had no survivors remaining. And we took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities and all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. Incredible! So they’re being reminded, look at these things, remember these things because they’re a strength to you to see what God has done, because of what you’re getting ready to do. That’s what they’re being prepared for here in Deuteronomy and what is being passed along to them, what was said to them.

So again, breaking into the flow here where Moses is speaking we’re going to drop on down here to verse 21—I gave charge to Joshua... This is all important because it’s all part of the story here, to understand certain highlights of things that took place. He said, I gave charge to Joshua at that time, saying, Your eyes have seen all that the Eternal your God has done to these two kings; so shall the Eternal will do to all the kingdoms where you pass over. Once they cross over Jordan (or go past, or pass over). You shall not be fearful of them because the Eternal your God shall fight for you.

So again, that’s why this story here in the beginning of Joshua, at the end of Deuteronomy and different places here where it’s told, “Be strong and of good courage. Go forward! God is with you. God will do this for you. God will give it to you; just move forward.” That’s what it’s about...always has been.

Verse 23—For I had requested favor of the Eternal at that time... So Moses is saying here I had requested favor from the Eternal at that time, saying, O LORD Eternal, You have only begun to show your greatness unto Your servant, and Your mighty hand, for who but God could do Your works and Your mighty acts. That’s what’s being asked here, as we’ve talked about in times past and how this is properly translated. It’s about God. It was a praise to God and a thanks to God of what Moses was able to see.

Moses had seen a lot of things. Look at all that Moses saw in bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt. Look at crossing the Red Sea. Look at the things at Mount Sinai. Look at the things that happened in the wilderness. Look at all the things that happened out there. Incredible! Incredible stories! A pole stuck in the ground that if people would look upon it (with a serpent wrapped around the top of it), they wouldn’t die when they were bitten by the poisonous snakes. I think it was around 26,000, something like that, that died from that particular plague. Then we know the rest of the story. Even after it was destroyed later on it still stayed around as a symbol for healing. It never went away from the Israelites. Still running down the highway; I’ve ridden in a few.

For who but God... So again, he was very moved by this and he was praying to God, desiring certain things of God. He knew that some of this was only the beginning because he knew of what was in front of them, of going into the promised land.

Verse 25—I pray to You, that you let me pass over and see that good land beyond Jordan. That was his desire. ...those pleasant mountains, and Lebanon. Now, again here, it’s the King James is lousy in some of these things that are translated, but it says here, But the Eternal was wroth with me for your sakes. It’s not what it says at all.

Some of these things are really kind of disgusting because they don’t understand God, they don’t understand the words being used here and why they’re being used so they come up with their own ideas of Moses must have been displeasing God, and so it says, and would not hear me. Again, that’s not what’s being said. And the Eternal said unto me, Let it suffice you! Speak no more unto Me of this matter. Again, that wasn’t said. It’s not a right translation in any fashion or form.

This is what was said: But the Eternal would not hear of me passing over or going on, for the Eternal stated more, which is what the Hebrew says. For the Eternal stated more about this matter. There is more to what He is doing than what Moses could see at that point in time and it was about Joshua! It was about the name of Joshua! It was about what it pictured for the future. It wasn’t about Moses; it was about God’s plan, and God was going to fulfill it His way.

So that’s all that was being said. In other words, “Moses, you’re not passing over. You’re not going to be able to do this now. This is where the road ends for you.” That’s basically what God was letting him know though Moses had a desire to continue on.

It’s like some at this time who have a desire to see the end of this age, to see things come about, through the worst of health conditions in some cases. Well, I respect that, I admire that in many levels, but on the other hand what’s coming is not so nice and the reality is God has the power to resurrect. Sometimes it’s just a whole lot better to go to sleep and be resurrected at the end of it. What an awesome thing. Now, maybe you don’t think that, but I do, with all my being. So whatever I must see, I will see, and what I don’t have to see, so be it. Thank God in either case because God knows what is best and how to work with things and how to work with us. But it’s a common desire that people have had. It’s just like Daniel wanting to more about the meaning of certain things. It’s like it’s always there. We always want to see and know more. We want to experience more, which is fine to a certain point, as long as it’s a part of God’s will and God’s purpose. Here it is with Moses and Moses understood that.

So again, this is what Moses was actually given to do and it was about, again, Joshua here, and that was the part that God revealed then to Moses, that His plan is going to continue on with Joshua. That’s what He’s revealing to Moses at this point in time.

Verse 27—He said, Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward and northward... Again, sometimes on maps you will see a little bit more of why He said some of these things though all the topography you’re not going to fully get. But again, from the story here we should be able to grasp it.

...and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward and see it with your eyes, for you shall not pass over the Jordan. But give charge to Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him. How did he do that? By these stories, by the very same thing here, by what’s being said. He shall pass over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you shall see. Beautiful story because, you see, now there is the type – that which was done on a physical plane of leading Israel into a promised land and that which is far more meaningful as far as what God promises, because the promises given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob go way, way, way beyond that that happened back then. They have to do with what’s right in front of us. It’s about God’s Kingdom. It’s about the rule of God’s Kingdom. It’s about the Messiah. It’s about the Kingdom of God coming to this earth and reigning on this earth and ruling on this earth for 1,100 years. Awesome to understand, to see these things.

It’s about Joshua. Joshua being the chief cornerstone upon which everything else is built, see, and the 144,000 that come with him, that are able to serve him in that capacity to accomplish something incredible over that short period of time. Because in God’s plan it’s a pretty short period of time. But we don’t tend to think that way. It seems like a long time. Seventy years; it’s been a long time. Then it’s not so long. A thousand years seems like a long time. Not to God, and we can’t grasp that – millions, billions of years— time not a factor. I can’t comprehend that. No one can.

So again, this was now all building up to the actual time of the Passover season. That should be obvious by what is stated back in Leviticus: “When you come into the land and reap its harvest.” That’s the exact timing, when you come to it, they happen to be coming there at that season of the year. It really should be a no brainer even on a physical plane with a little bit of intellect, not even a lot. But sadly, it isn’t. That just goes to show again the marvel to be able to piece things together, to see things clearly requires God’s spirit. It requires God’s help. We think we do it on our own or we think we come to grasp things or understand things by our own intellect. No, you don’t. That’s a bad mistake to make. I’ve seen hundreds and thousands make that mistake.

So again, they were getting ready to go through here in the Passover season, when the Israelites, again, would pass over the Jordan into the greater portion of the promised land, the greatest portion of it. It’s here that God reveals more about how to actually count Pentecost.

That’s what’s awesome in all this story. That’s something that God didn’t give until after the Apostasy, that what took place here actually proves how to count. It actually reveals how to count. Before that it was a matter of help from God to do it a certain way, but without full understanding. Those are awesome things to experience as well, that there are times that God blesses us in certain understanding of things and then later on we get to see it here.

It’s like I marvel at the thing when God began to reveal about Christ coming in the flesh and how it was taken by some, that some took it by what was being said because of the way it was phrased in King James and recorded, that it was about a future coming. Or that it was about the fact that, as one minister one time when I was riding with him after the Apostasy believed and stated the comment, so I didn’t go on with it, but still remember the exact highway we were driving down between Colorado Springs and Denver between services on the Sabbath, and he was going through this talking about, well, we know it’s about the fact that he came in the flesh. Well, the whole Protestant world believes that one, you know, for what they’re given to see and know about Christ...or what they think they see.

So it wasn’t what it was about at all. It’s about Christ living his life in us. Well, we came to understand some of those things, again, because God just gave it to the Church, but it wasn’t until a long while later after that understanding that God showed it by the words that are actually in the Greek language. That’s what it was saying. Anyway, may not mean as much to you, but it does to me for having experiences some of those things.

It’s like this as well. Pentecost, there are certain things that have been done right but only because of God’s help and God’s mercy and just giving it, but not by full understanding of what it says in here. This is the story. This is what gives it. It removes all doubt. It removes some of the stupid arguments out here.

I’ll share a little bit of this with you. I remember driving down a freeway one time having visited another Church area out east of a group that was together with us for a time, who didn’t take too long when they left with a group out of Toledo as well—a few of those daggers that took place while we were away. What is that expression about the mice and the cat? While the cat’s away the mice will play. Anyway. It’s amazing what can take place when you’re not around that goes on behind the scenes in preparation for rebellion, whatever, a takeover of the Church. Because that’s what took place. They wanted everything. They wanted the name of the Church. They wanted the name of the News Watch. You think, “Okay, which one of you was doing the writing?”

So we were driving down the freeway from this area (that left eventually with a hundred or some people in it that we had just been to), and I had this document about Pentecost and why and how to count Pentecost. After the Apostasy your ears were attentive to where are some others out here, maybe in the ministry who are beginning to see some things, who are not going to build bridges but have the truth and we can be united. That was the great desire. Wherever there are people, whether it was going to Minneapolis or Phoenix or St. Louis, or wherever it might be in different parts of the country, if we could all be of the same mind and be together that would be great. But God had other things in plan and store for some of these things.

So as I was reading some of that document, I was going through it and every once in a while I got so upset I took the whole thing and slammed it up on the dashboard of the SUV and the guy driving (who is no longer with us, a minister), anyway, we laughed about some of those things later on, that they were so upsetting, they were so disgusting because of what they said, the human reasoning that was involved and the twisting and distorting of Pentecost. It’s because of some of those kinds of things that sometimes God just brought us to a point, “You must address this,” and when it began to be addressed then God began to reveal things that we couldn’t see before. That’s the way it was with certain things about Passover, and then it was with Pentecost, and then going to heaven, and on and on it goes, the story of what God has blessed us to have because of battles.

It is here in some of this story in a physical plane and what was taking place, and of what was being shown here at this particular time. Let’s go back to the story. But again, to understand what God gives us in our mind and how we’re able to see things, the strength and the courage that God gives is awesome, how He does it.

Deuteronomy 4:1—Now, therefore, it says here, again, listen unto the statutes and judgments... So he was to encourage and strengthen Joshua. Now we’re in chapter 4. Now, therefore, Israel, listen unto the statutes and judgments which I teach you... I’m sorry, some of these stories sometimes, it’s good that we see certain history, but they affect me a lot because I have lived certain things that I marvel at what God has done in our lives, of how God has brought us from the Apostasy to this point in time, and they’re awesomely meaningful and awesomely inspiring and during this particular season of the year and thinking about where we are right now and what’s just ahead of us, awesome, incredible where we are in time.

Now, therefore, Israel, listen unto the statutes and judgments which I teach you, and do them so that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land which the Eternal God of your fathers gives to you. Here they are, they’re being brought up to the Jordan, they’re being brought up to a time of work that Joshua was going to be passed on from Moses to Joshua and Joshua is going to lead them into the promised land, as already went through the large story here about Christ and where we are now and what’s getting ready to take place in front of us into a real promised land, not a physical one but one that’s far greater that’s coming.

You shall not add to the word which I give charge to you, nor shall you take anything away, in other words, not to diminish from it, but keep... A beautiful word here. When God gives us truth, when He helps us to understand certain things in a clear way and we’re able to build upon something and have a plain or a clearer picture, if you will, of what God’s plan is and God’s purpose and how God works, then it says we are to have those things and don’t mess with them; receive them, whatever truth that God gives, whatever God shows. Then it says, and keep... It’s that word “to dress and keep” in King James. “Keep” here means “to maintain, to preserve and sustain in the sense of giving one’s support and strength to it.” That’s what we do.

So we can look at various things in life and realize what God has given us. It doesn’t matter what it is, whether it be on a physical plane, a spiritual plane, in our physical lives we’re to take care, to preserve, to do well of the things that we have been given by God.

Here it goes on to say, but keep the commandments of the Eternal. Keep the truths, the ways of God, because it’s a word that means more than just the 10 Commandments. But here it’s very specific here in parts of this as well, talking about that which they are getting ready to review, again, about relationships. Because theirs was on a physical plane. For us it goes way beyond that. But again, that which was given, it says, that which I give you charge. Your eyes have seen what the Eternal did because of Baal Peor; for all the men that followed Baal Peor the Eternal your God has destroyed them from among you. But all of you who did cleave, and it’s a word that means, “to cling, to hold on tight,” who did cleave to the Eternal your God are alive, every one of you this day.

See, the point is even then not all did. But those who did He says, “You’re here.” I think of things we go through and things that we must do to hold tight to what God gives to us, to keep, to preserve, to work with.

Verse 5—See that I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Eternal my God commanded me, or better, gave me charge, is what the word means, which you should do so in the land where you go to possess it. Therefore, keep – that word again, “maintain, preserve in its original state.” That’s what it means. “Sustain.” ...and do them. When it comes to God’s way of life we live it, we’re to live it, we’re to put it into practice. That’s what faith is in the first place. God gives us the ability to believe and see and then we’re to live it.

...for this is your wisdom... Wisdom, the Word, those things we see in Proverbs when it’s talking about the mind, the being, the revelatory thought of God. For this is your wisdom, that which God gives to us. This should mean more to us in the Church. ...and your understanding in the sight of the nations who shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. Well, this is for later. This is for the Church. This is for God’s people because people aren’t going to say these things, as a whole, until they come to see them themselves, until they come to grasp what God did.

That’s why I have made comment so many times that there are those indeed that are part of the 144,000, a part of God’s Kingdom when Christ returns, and then there is the larger portion that lives on into a new age. It’s hard for you to grasp and comprehend, because you really can’t, what awaits you, because of how God has worked with you, blessed you, and given you what you’ve had in this particular age, at the end of this age that you will have to share with others, that you don’t yet grasp how important and how meaningful and how inspiring that’s going to be to you when you begin to experience those things. You talk about going into a new age, a new time? How exciting is that?

They’ll say, Surely, this great nation is a wise and understanding people. So they’ll come to marvel where this comes from. It comes from God. It’s about God.

Verse 7—For what nation is so great that has God so near unto them, when they come to see, when they come to understand. Can you imagine what it’s like to know finally that you have been deceived all your life? That what you believed in, this as an example, various things about, obviously, about the trinity, all the things that you come to see, the fables, I mean, outright fables when it comes to Christmas and big ole man with the white belt and a red suit and “Ho! Ho! Ho!” (Give me a break!) You see how stupid these things are and you come to realize that and you thank God. To be free, freedom, true freedom, finally, from all that deception. When they see it they’re going to glorify God, but they’re going to see what He’s done with you. They’re going to see what God has done for the past 6,000 years for those who are reigning over them, and they’re going to be in awe and respect that in ways that are difficult to grasp and comprehend right now.

See that I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Eternal my God commanded (gave me charge), which you should do in the land where you go to possess it. Therefore, keep, again, do them and so forth.

So they’re going to say, “Surely...” The end of verse 6, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” No, it’s God. It’s what God has given to them. It’s what God has molded and transformed in them, created in them, is a better word.

Verse 7—For what nation is so great that God is so near to them, that the Eternal our God is in all things, that we call upon Him? And what nation is so great that His statutes and judgments are so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day? You see, and so we see these things, but others can’t. It takes God’s spirit to see, as we’ve gone through and talked about righteousness and what it is, to marvel at God. The one thing you can depend on, the one thing you can always know is God is right and all His ways are right. They’re just right. What an awesome thing to know.

The expression here “only take heed to” is not there. It means “keep.” Keep yourself, it’s from the same word.  Keep yourself... Be careful how you do these things, for what God has given to you, yet we all have a responsibility in what we do and how we do it. ...by diligently keeping, again, by diligently keeping your life, what God has given in it, what is precious, what is so awesome and powerful.

...unless you forget the things which your eyes have seen. Many have forgotten. So many have forgotten. So for them it was physical. For us we see clearly it’s spiritual. ...and unless they depart from your heart all the days of your life. As I gave that story, different ones we’ve known, walked to God’s house side by side. What a horrible thing that the truth leaves your heart, the innermost part of your being, of what motivates you to love God, to love His ways, to love the truth, to be moved and inspired by it, to be motivated by it. What a horrible thing that those things can go by the wayside and be totally lost...and then you become lost. What a horrible state! For the last state is worse than the first, if we grasp it. That’s really bad.

What’s really, really, really bad is to have your mind opened by God, called by God, drawn to God’s Church, experience things in Philadelphia perhaps, but especially in Laodicea on up to the Apostasy and afterward, be awakened, be one out of all the tens of thousands who were awakened to the truth, almost, as it were, another calling—it’s not another calling, it’s a continuation of a calling, but it takes that which is very much like a calling because you can’t be a part of it unless God draws you, because it’s not by our righteousness that we were able to be a part of something that continued on. And so to have that opportunity and then to turn from that? That’s bad, horrible. But those examples exist. They are witness to remind people in the future.

Because none of them have it made because they live in the Millennium, and not all who just because they live in the Millennium or the Great White Throne are going to choose God. Sometimes that’s hard for people to grasp. There used to be the concept, the idea within the Church (which is unrealistic), that everybody is going to be saved in the Great White Throne, everybody is going to be saved in the Millennium. Bologna! Human nature, human beings will always be what they are and everyone, whatever age they live in over a period of 7,000 years are judge accordingly, or on into that last hundred if they’re given another opportunity.

Not everyone wants God’s way. That’s why you have to live in a human body to be tried, to be tested in whatever age you live, even if it’s the Millennium. Even some who are given that opportunity in the Great White Throne, do not think that it’s a stamp, “You’ve got it made into God’s Kingdom! You’re going to be resurrected at the end of a hundred years!” Bull! You’ve got to do what you must do, as everyone else has ever done, to choose, to decide, to fight against your selfishness, your human nature, because your human nature didn’t disappear.

On the contrary, you’re resurrected back into a healthier body than what you had before and the temptation, in many cases, is to be worse than what you were before if you’re not careful. That’s what they’re going to be told. They’re going to be reminded of things like that. Because you have the potential to do what many others before you have done who have been called. The choice is yours. Set before you life and death— choose life. What a marvelous God we serve. But it doesn’t mean all can become a part of Elohim just because of a certain period they live in or whatever. We all have to go through trials and hardships and tests.

And you think, well, what trials and hardships can there be in the Great White Throne? When you have such riches, when you have such wealth, when you have such prosperity, when you have such things the lesson of Laodicea should ever be before their face. That is what’s going to be taught. That’s why those lessons are there. What happened during an awakening, during a time of a remnant before Christ returns, those lessons are going to be some of the most powerful lessons ever taught to human beings because that’s the pinnacle. That brings them all to a point. Just like all the revelation through time of God’s truth, all of a sudden we come to a point, “Ah, Pentecost. Can’t observe it yet, you have to wait another forty years.” “Ah, Pentecost, the wave sheaf.” Then understanding more, finally, at the time of Christ, and then finally coming up to the pinnacle of the end of an age. It all comes together more and more that God reveals through time.

...so unless they depart from your heart all the days of your life. So what a horrible thing, as I said. But teach them to your children and your children’s children. Teach them. Start young. They don’t learn it by osmosis. They don’t learn it by occupying a chair. It doesn’t happen that way. Parents have to be involved. Parents have to teach. Parents are smart and wise to begin reading stories before they can read. Not fables – those aren’t the kind of stories you should read at bedtime. You think, “Well, some of these are pretty gory stories.” They’ll love them. “Oh, they’re going to have bad dreams.” They’ll learn. God will bless them. They’ll love the stories. They’ll come to love the various stories that exist in scripture. Young children at a very young age can begin to be molded and fashioned. God passes that responsibility along. Some have done fairly well with that. Some have done miserable. Some haven’t done it at all. That’s why God says these things, “Teach them to your children and your children’s children wherever you have opportunity.”

Joshua 1. So here they are. Again, all these things about the first count for Pentecost and about how all this came about. It’s a beautiful picture in how God gave it in scripture. It truly is.

Joshua 1:1—Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Eternal, it came to pass that the Eternal spoke unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying, Moses My servant is dead. Now, therefore, arise and pass over (pass on, go forward) this Jordan. In other words, it means to go forward and secure what I am giving to you. ...you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them—even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon I have given unto you, as I said unto Moses.

Now, if you remember back at the beginning of the year we went through some of these stories of different places they started conquering. Over a period of time, not long but a bit over several weeks and months here of battles they had, one after another, city after city after city, God giving them victory throughout the land. Then it speaks of finally they went into certain region, got that taken care of, then went into another region, and just conquering everywhere they went, taking. Everywhere the sole of their foot touched was theirs that God had given to them. Everyone that came against them, except if you remember one little story here about someone was a little deceptive and they came in and told them they were from a far, far country. That’s when we went through some of this. Well, this is some of the story here of what we’re talking about and what took place as well, and what is being geared up for. But anyway, Joshua here, it’s a story about coming up to this point around Pentecost.

So it says, every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon I have given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and Lebanon, even unto the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. So, in other words, all the way over to the Mediterranean, all the way north way there to this point and all the way south to this point. He’s saying, go through Jordan. It’s from here on out, this is your land; this is what I’m giving to you.

Finally, after forty years in the wilderness, forty years of eating manna. Can you imagine growing up and that’s all you knew? Many were born, obviously, over forty years, and all they knew was about going out and gathering manna. They learned really quickly how to do it the right way, that it doesn’t do any good to go out on the Sabbath to get it because you know what happens there. So you learn how to do it the way God says to do it and it just became a routine of life for them. Growing up with that that was their norm. For the older ones that wasn’t the norm and I don’t know, I can see why they murmur and grumble maybe a little bit here and there, obviously, at times. They got tired of certain things and they wanted to get to this point, harvesting the land, reaping of the land. When they brought the grapes back that time from spying they were wanting to see what was in the land, what’s growing there.

Because, you see, the area that God led them through wasn’t all that beautiful. If you’ve ever seen that part of the world it’s just not all that beautiful. There aren’t the crops growing in the land. They’re just not there. That’s why God gave them manna. You can’t go out and plant something and hope for a rain to come along. God had to supply them with water. It’s right across from the Negev Desert on the other side, and it just kind of goes on over this way here, barren, barren, barren. Have you ever seen pictures of Petra in that region of the world? You don’t grow crops there. Now, maybe they do now because of irrigation and various other things that they can do that they couldn’t do back then.

So you’ve got to think about where they were and what they were going through, and now where they were coming up to. This was an exciting time for them. To see a river, flooding in that particular time of the year. “Water!”

So again, in going through some of the story here. So he told them from this particular region all the way to the coast where the sun goes down, Mediterranean.

Verse 5—There will not be anyone who is able to stand before you all the days of your life. Beautiful! See, because that’s what God tells us, too. It doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. They had to fight. They had to go out and war. They had to go up against a military, an army (armies). They had to do these things. We have to fight. It’s not meant to be easy. It’s meant to be hard. It’s meant to be difficult. The whole design by God, because that’s how we’re molded and fashioned, is by the trials and the hardships that we come to see what God does in our lives, what God does around us. And yes, you may go through some horrifying, horrible things in life, but you learn what the riches are, you learn what God has given to you, you learn to treasure the things that are truly valuable. You come to see those things and desire those things and hold on to those things tightly.

There will not be anyone who is able to stand before you all the days of your life. They will not win. God is working with you, to bless you. He’s making you to stand. This is about something spiritual, not meaning that things are going to be hunky dory with everything we go through in this physical life. You’re going to have people come at you from all directions. Like I talked about the daggers; they hurt. They hurt deep with those you’ve gone to God’s house side by side and counsel blended sweet. It’s not a good thing to experience in life. But they make you stronger. They make you more thankful. They make you more desirous toward other people and the things they go through and the captivity they place themselves into by foolish mistakes.

You look forward to a time when those who are able to be given it are able to come to see what they’ve done. To be able to repent; what a great blessing to be able to have the gift of repentance. We have that gift. Others don’t. Others who are scattered right now don’t have that. They haven’t been brought to that point yet. When they are it’s going to be a marvelous thing because God has to bring them to that point just like God has to bring this world to a point of humility. It’s going to take what it’s going to take. Everything that stands as far as man is concerned to be destroyed. No governments that are strong and stable. No military that’s strong and stable and dominant in the world. No economy. That’s gone. Food? Transportation? Gas? Electricity? We have no idea. To understand what it takes sometimes to humble human beings.

A flood? That’s humbled a lot of people. They’re all dead. They’re waiting for a resurrection. You think they’re not going to have a little bit of a unique outlook when they’re resurrected? To realize all that they mocked and made fun of, those who are around and saw this thing being built for over a hundred years. And not by the water, not on the edge of the water. “Noah, you’re nuttier than a fruitcake. We don’t have to have anyone tell us that. We can see it clearly with our own eyes.” “You’re really out there! You’re not dealing with a full deck.” I don’t know if they had decks back then. All the things that had to be said. It never stops. It’s always been that way.

There will not be anyone who is able to stand before you all the days of your life. We win. It’s not about winning, either, it’s about succeeding. It’s about getting there. It’s not about having it over other people and that isn’t the desire. But the reality is of looking forward to a time when others are humbled and able to be brought into the same family. That’s what we look forward to, the fulfillment of those kinds of things, and to realize that God’s way will succeed.

See, this “controversy of Zion.” I love that expression, “the controversy,” because there is an angelic realm that’s had war and battle for we don’t know how long, multiple millions and billions of years. We don’t know how long that has existed, that being with a third of the angelic realm and what he’s done through time to fight against, to rebel against God, mocking God, making fun of God. “God is going to make something greater than us?!” That’s why he did what he did, because he was so lifted up in his own thinking that he thought that he could take from God all that was God’s, that God had created? When the mind becomes perverted and distorted it really becomes distorted.

And as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you. The reality is, for us when we understand it, God’s always there. It’s just up to us. It’s up to us to pray to God daily. It’s up to us to cry out to God for His holy spirit. It’s up to us to ask God for help to be able to be on guard against our own human nature and the things that come at us so we can be on guard, to be able to stand against the battle, against whatever is coming at us that can hurt, that can tear away, that can pull away, so that you do the right thing, so that you’re able to respond in the right ways to those things that come at you, to grow in that.

He says, I will not fail you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous. That’s always there. Be encouraged. Be strong. We know how to be strong. Do you know how to be strong? What I just said. Staying close to God, holding on to what He’s given to you at this point in time because your strength and power in so many ways is in His word, in the wisdom that God has given to you, His mind, His revelatory thought, and He’s given us much in the truth that we have – more than any other age of people. That is dumbfounding to understand. Not making us greater, but we live at a time when it’s just given because of God’s purpose.

I will not fail you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for unto this people you shall divide for an inheritance the land which I promised unto their fathers to give them. I’m going to stop there. Good place to stop.

But to understand where all this is leading, for them, the observance of their first Pentecost because it begins with the wave sheaf during the days of Unleavened Bread. So it starts there, but the count, to be able to count forward now to an observance of something now that is about to come to pass. Because we talk about the wave loaves that are offered up before God, the two wave loaves, the two lambs, two periods of time, the first 4,000 and the last 2,000 years leading up to the time of when God’s Kingdom finally comes to this earth.

So we have to wait a little while? We’ll wait and we’ll continue to move forward like God says, and it will come.

1. Chapter 1