Revelation in the Feast of Tabernacles, Pt. 2

Ronald Weinland

September 24, 2021

Feast of Tabernacles Sermon

This is Part 2 of the sermon series entitled Revelation in the Feast of Tabernacles. And by that I’m meaning, talking about and meaning here that it’s revelation that’s revealed literally through the observance of the Feast of Tabernacles, especially in this end-time here and things that have been revealed by God in progressive revelation.

So again here, this is a process here we started yesterday about progressive revelation and how God has done that through time, but He’s been doing that at the end-time here as well in a kind of accelerated format. This has been going on, again, for 6,000 years, but especially in this period of time we’re going through now that process is speeding up more and more where God just…

It’s like every Feast of Tabernacles there is something that God has given to us in the past to bring us to where we are now. And it’s in that season of the year that God has used that to reveal more to the Church about what’s contained in the meaning of those days that affects us, that is about us even now.

So anyway, these eight days of the Feast are, again, being fulfilled in part in a portion of what we have talked about, sitting in booths. So, to me that’s exciting to be able to see the things that God did, mapped out a long time ago of how He would work with a nation of people and bring them along step by step. And I think of Unleavened Bread and the things that happened in Egypt and their leaving quickly and all these things that God had planned before to happen on a physical plane so that He could teach them on a spiritual plane to us later on, to learn a greater meaning, a spiritual meaning from it.

And the same thing is true here about sitting in a booth and why even all the construction of it and the things that are there, what they mean to us spiritually. So we can learn from those things. And that’s always exciting to see how methodical, how well planned so many things are in God’s plan and God’s purpose. And as you learn those things more and more it just becomes more and more exciting, and candidly, should help us to rejoice more. Because that’s the way I feel when God has given something new, giving us more information. It’s something to rejoice in. It’s something to be excited about. It just stirs you up inside.

So again, that was mentioned in Part 1 about sitting in booths, and rather than looking backward as they were supposed to do in remembering things of their past and how God brought them to where they were and the blessings of the land that they had, we’re to be forward looking. And just like the Feast of Tabernacles, forward looking.

Awesome to think about that, God’s government established on the earth finally after 6,000 years of misery, of how mankind has lived, how people treat each other, how nations treat each other, how people within nations treat one another. And it’s just been a continual history, God convicting mankind little bit by little bit so that when they’re called and given the opportunity to learn God’s way of life they can see the contrast. Mans way/God’s way. The evil that’s in man’s way.

So again, awesome to be able to look forward. Helps us to rejoice in what God tells us to do at a Feast of Tabernacles anyway, to be glad, to be excited to be here. And you can see it when people come together. Haven’t seen each other for a long time and the excitement of being able to see each other like this. It’s infectious. You can’t help it, the air, the sound, and just to watch it, I enjoy.

So, one of the things pictured in the Feast of Tabernacles is about the first phase of God’s Family being resurrected and coming with Christ to establish the Millennium. In Philadelphia this was looked upon as the Kingdom of God being established on earth. There are a lot of people who didn’t understand what Herbert Armstrong was saying about that and a lot of ministers didn’t understand, and therefore, they weren’t able to teach. That’s kind of what I talked about yesterday. Sometimes we think we’re hearing something and we understand it, but that which is spiritual is another matter. We can see things on a physical plane or hear things on a physical plane and think physically and not get what is being stated spiritually. And that’s kind of what was happening here in this case as far as the Church, the Worldwide Church of God at that particular time.

So, some didn’t grasp this particular teaching of what Herbert Armstrong had to say. To many it was rather stuck in the mind that, or mind frame if you will, of thinking that the Millennium was the Kingdom of God. Millennium is not the Kingdom of God. But that’s kind of how it was looked up. It was looked upon as a kind of utopia, and the thoughts and ideas were very physical in nature of an idealist thing in the mind. And God has been showing us through time here, especially in PKG, that that’s not the case. And people didn’t grasp this.

I even go back to the first thing that God gave to, or it was credited to Herbert Armstrong to understand as the fourth truth after the three in Sardis, was government. People didn’t understand that as a whole. The vast majority of the ministry never understood government. They thought they did. It seemed simple, it seemed, well, this is God’s government and God’s working through. But to live by it, to be convicted of it, to really understand how it really works? Many never really got it spiritually up here. Many, not just a few.

So, we’re ever learning, and we have to cry out to God to help us to see what He wants us to see, what is spiritual. Because that’s the only way you can really rejoice in spirit. It’s not just a matter of being excited to see one another. That’s great and that’s wonderful. But it’s what’s inside, what’s inside the mind of God’s spirit that stirs us up of the reason why, the conviction, the love toward one another that is more than philia that I talked about yesterday. It’s that which is on a spiritual plane. And we have to ask God for those things. They’re not just natural by our natural nature.

So again, there was a statement that Herbert Armstrong had made. It’s in his book. I’m going to quote that. He made a distinction between the thinking of many in the Church and many in the ministry of the Church at that time and with what they really needed to see, and this is that quote. It’s out of Mystery of the Ages[1] in chapter 7, page 304. Says:

The KINGDOM OF GOD will rule over the peoples and nations of the earth. Yet these mortal peoples and nations will NOT be the kingdom, not even in the kingdom of God. They shall be merely RULED [and I love this, in all capital letters like he did] They shall be merely RULED OVER BY IT!

There’s a big difference there. And yet so many people even after this was written still didn’t understand that. Well, that has to do with a relationship with God, it has to do with having God’s spirit and being able to see what was being said. Because the Kingdom of God is about the first that are resurrected and those who are resurrected later on into Elohim. That’s the Kingdom of God. Not something physical. Not something of physical human beings. So indeed, the people on the earth during the Millennium are going to be ruled over by the Kingdom of God.

We may think, “Well, we know that.” Well, great! But we haven’t known it all that long. And so, to appreciate that, to grasp that, what God continues to reveal to us in a progressive manner is something to thank God about. It truly is. Something that we may just take for granted, “Well, we know it’s 144,000 and it’s God’s Kingdom and…” Be so thankful you know that. Be so thankful and grateful to God Almighty that you see that because there are many that are scattered out there who have been in God’s Church a lot longer than you have who don’t see it, who don’t understand it, who are totally blind to things like that now. Awesome.

Matter of fact, how many in this room actually went through the Apostasy. See, not very many. We’ve come a long, long way. It’s been quite a journey. And all who have come along since that time are benefactors, benefit from those experiences and the things that took place and how God has worked with the Church, a remnant to keep things moving forward and to add to it. It’s beautiful, it’s awesome, it’s God’s doing.

So, in time obviously the Church of God in PKG Christ has given more to us to see, if you will, and to understand. And that brings us to the 38th Truth. Wayne went through different truths and the reason for doing so much of that is this is how you can rejoice. We see things. We grasp things that if we’re not careful we can begin to treat in a wrong way, take for granted. And the reality is we can never afford to do that.

So, that’s why within our prayers from time to time we need to thank God for different ones that may come to mind or different ones that we read about and just thank God that you can see it, that you know it, that you grasp it, that you understand it. Because it’s all forward looking in what God is producing and what God is making. And to be a part of that? Again, it’s so hard for us to grasp how richly blessed we are by the Great God of the universe. Incredible!

So, 38th Truth having to do with, obviously, the Kingdom of God being established on earth.

38 (17) The 144,000 are all those who have been called and tried by God over the past 6,000 years who will be in the first resurrection at Christ’s return.

Awesome! We haven’t known that for a long time. Philadelphia didn’t understand that. Laodicea didn’t understand that. They understood 144,000. They believed that 144,000—we did as we lived during those periods of time—but we’re talking about the entirety of the Kingdom of God with Christ, Joshua the Christ as King of kings with the 144,000. Because it was believed that there would be far, far, far more than 144,000 in the Kingdom of God at Christ’s return. Not true. So, how blessed are we to grasp the importance of something like this?

So, this too has been new to God’s Church in the final end-time period of a remnant Church that God established after the Apostasy. Let’s turn over to Revelation 7 because this is about a spiritual creation, something that we haven’t fully understood about spiritual Israel. We’ve learned so much about a spiritual Israel and what that means that’s above and beyond that which is a physical Israel. And the more we see these things and grasp these things the greater ability it gives to you to rejoice, to be thankful for what God is giving to us, progressively revealed to us.

So, Revelation 7. I think it’s good to just go back and remind ourselves of some of the history, recent history (not going way back), of how God has revealed things to us, because, again, it’s about things that have been revealed in a remnant Church to a remnant Church at the end-time that has magnified the meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles, of the thousand years and the hundred years that follows that.

Revelation 7:2—And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea. Even that, taken us a long time to come to understand what this is about, these four angels and what was represented in what they cry out.

…saying, Do not hurt the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. Just that alone is a marvel, to understand what it means to be sealed, to understand what it means when God said to Abraham, “Now I know you.” “Now I know you.” To go through the things that he did in his life, to come to that point where God made such a declaration, something we all desire to have, to have our minds worked with, to go through various trials, to be tried and tested by God.

Because certain things cannot be known until we get to a certain point, and then it reveals where we truly are and how we truly think and what our convictions truly are. And it’s an awesome thing to be in agreement with that mind, to know what you’re going to do, to have that conviction that this is what you’re going to do no matter what happens in your life. Even death. If you’re in God’s hands what could be greater? What could be greater? And yet we tend to think differently, obviously, as human beings so often, even within God’s Church.

…until we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. So, we’ve learned a lot about that as well. We’ve learned, God has shown to us, why, where we are. Not only are we waiting for the 144,000 – standing right up here, close, talking about some of this at one point in time, striving to understand, asking God for help to grasp and comprehend what is taking place, to help us as a people to grasp and comprehend what we’re going through. And in His time He reveals those things to us. And having a desire to grasp and comprehend some of this and coming to a point of understanding that we aren’t all sealed yet, and until we are these events cannot take place on the earth. They’re going to be held back, they’re not going to be allowed to happen until…

Because this is the most important thing. This is the most important thing. God’s Kingdom, the first phase of that Kingdom, the first resurrection, it has to be fully ready. Now, that was awesome in itself to understand we’re not quite there yet, we’re not all sealed yet. And until we’re all sealed in that number of 144,000 and it’s complete the events that are going to take place in the United States and other nations connected to her, Great Britain, Australia, Canada primarily, but primarily the United States and the greatest impact in the beginning being there.

To understand that these angels are being held back, they can’t do what they’re going to be over, in that respect of moving forward in time, until God lets them. And it’s the sealing. And then we learned even more! What an awesome…! To me, this is one of the most exciting things that over the last several years that could be given, is to come to understand that so many who were called—not who went through the Apostasy, but who have been called since that time— have opportunity to receive a crown because others gave it up.

Because other’s turned their back on God Almighty. They spat or spit upon Christ, if you will, as I talked about yesterday. They treated their calling in a horrifying way. They had come through the Apostasy. They learned new things that they hadn’t known and understood. They understood why the Apostasy took place. They knew about the man of sin and the son of perdition. They understood about the stones being cast down. They understood about Laodicea being cast out, spewed out of, separated – in other words, God separated the entirety of the Church from Himself for a period. We were all cut off from His holy spirit until we started repenting. And He brought us to different points at different times in that process.

And then as we were able to repent and God drew us, had a purpose for a remnant, started drawing different ones in that, awakening them spiritually. What an incredible thing. And then to come down to 2008, which is basically where it began, and the return of Christ not being a matter of Trumpets, being a matter of Pentecost. Some used that as an excuse or a reason for their disagreeing with the Church…or really with me. It always goes back to God, but they don’t grasp that. It’s easier to say, “It’s him.” So, okay.

So, because of that, because of their choices people who had been in Church a long time, a long time. It’s almost unimaginable to think you can be called into God’s Church in the seventies, eighties, one might have been farther back than that, sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, went through the Apostasy, saw that the Church had been scattered, saw that one-third went back to the protestant world, those beliefs, one-third just quit, and another third was struggling out here in different groups trying to survive, trying to find, keep a semblance of what they’d done in the past, went through all of that, God brought them into a remnant Body, revealed all these things to them of what had happened to them and why.

It’s really almost kind of unimaginable to think that a person could turn against that after having all that insight and knowledge. But see, it’s a spiritual thing. And somewhere along the line people began to let down and began to sin, began to choke off, quench God’s spirit in their life, began to lose that which was spiritual in thinking. It’s a horrifying thing but that’s what happens over time.

And 2008 was a big boost to them because they didn’t like it. Think, hmm. “God! Why did you show us it’s Pentecost?!” I don’t know. They don’t think that way. “It’s Trumpets! Why?” And then you change the timing of everything at that point in time because that altered everything because God had revealed that 2008 had powerful significance. I don’t know how to explain the import or the impact of that, of what God revealed. Just didn’t have all the little pieces of the puzzle, as Herbert Armstrong used to say, filled into that yet.

So, because of their choices of turning against God, of treating the sacrifice of Christ with total distain there are quite a few people in God’s Church who have opportunity. Because they’re not the only ones that I’m speaking of here. There have been quite a few others through that period of time who turned against God. And because they did they couldn’t be worked with, obviously, God rejected them. They’re not going to be sealed to be a part of 144,000 and so some of you sitting in this room, perhaps many of you sitting in this room have that opportunity.

That’s why I think about where God speaks to the Churches there toward the end and He says, “Let no man (let no person) take your crown.” If God has called you to that purpose of that first resurrection, because that’s basically what it’s working toward in the beginning of scripture obviously, and all the disciples, the apostles in the beginning, that was always their focus. It was the return of Christ, the Messiah, and the establishment of God’s Kingdom, the first resurrection. There’s more obviously beyond that but that’s the primary focus first and foremost.

It’s like us. We know some things about the Last Great Day, but we don’t know too much. There is so much we don’t know. And candidly, we don’t know a whole lot about the Millennium. We have much to learn that has not been revealed to us because we’re not there yet.

I hope and I feel, that a lot of people were, because of different letters and comments that have been made since that time, that there was a lot of excitement when that was revealed. Just this last year alone! That now there are going to be others that have been called since the Apostasy who have that opportunity. Because that’s where God is going to receive the rest and mold and fashion the rest to fulfill 144,000. It’s not calling someone else in who’s been a part in the past, it’s about working with some of you. So, whether it be for the 144,000 or being able to go on into the Millennium as the basis or the beginning of God’s Church that continues on, how blessed are you? Awesome!

Do not hurt the earth, neither the sea nor the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. How close are we of different ones who have been called and worked with during this period of the remnant Church and able to become a part of the first great resurrection? It’s absolutely incredible, awesome!

And I heard the number of those who were sealed, and a hundred forty-four thousand were sealed, and then the word there “in among,” or “of” something, not “from” something, all the tribes of the children of Israel. Now, the reason I’m stressing this is because sometimes we can read things into scripture, and we do until God actually reveals it in His time.

And so, I think of going through the period of Philadelphia and Laodicea and God not having yet revealed these things to us as a whole. It just, it wasn’t there. In other words, what this is all about, “of all the tribes of the children of Israel.” So, just by saying that people were focused on, because then it starts taking about “this tribe, 12,000,” “this tribe, 12,000,” “this tribe, 12,000,” and it’s like the 144,000 have to come out of the physical twelve tribes of Israel. That’s how it was taken. That’s how it was believed to be. Not so.

What an awesome thing as God progressively has revealed the truth in those things to understand that they’re names. Israel is a name that God has purpose for in a matter of organization, in a matter of His Kingdom being established and how Elohim will live forever, and people in a part of that government as a structure, and the names that are there. That it’s not about the physical tribes.

You know, we should have learned those things so long ago, but we didn’t because, well, first and foremost, God has to show it. You can’t know things that seem so simple until God opens it up in your mind. And so, the early Church never grasped this, Thyatira never grasped this, Sardis definitely didn’t, and we didn’t until the very end here, to understand this isn’t about physical tribes.

Going on on down in verse 9. Notice. After this I looked, and, behold, a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands. So, what was the take on that as far as just reading it like this with understanding the mind? That that mindset was the 144,000 are coming out of the twelve tribes of Israel that are listed. And because of that then when you read this, this is somebody else; this is not them, this is another group. That’s how it was interpreted. So, until God gives something our interpretations aren’t too good.

So again, “a great multitude which no man could number.” Now, we didn’t stop to think because it wasn’t for us to question until God just gives it, but this is the thinking. So, we go through a lot of things to get where we are sometimes, and this is a good one to go through and explain. Because it helps, hopefully, every one of us to understand how blessed we are to see what we see, that so many thousands, tens of thousands of people in God’s Church through, in Worldwide, weren’t able to see something that was right in front of them. Because it wasn’t God’s time. It wasn’t their fault; it just wasn’t God’s time.

So, “after this I looked, a great multitude which no man could number.” And the reality is two great reasons why no man could number it is because if you have 144,000… At the Feast of Tabernacles when we used to have 14-15-16,000 people’s in a tabernacle building or a building where… Who could number them? They had a hard time with different ones going up and down the rows trying to count people. And then you don’t know how many aren’t there that couldn’t make it for whatever reason that morning. And so, even that we couldn’t count. You just can’t look out over…

And how could you look out over 144,000 and number them? Now, God has the ability to do that. He knows. He knows every hair on our head, so He knows exactly how many are there. But more importantly through time, when we understand that the 144,000 is over a long period of time, 6,000 years, only God knows. He knows the ones whom He has sealed. No one else knows. Awesome! No man can number that; no human being can. Only God can. Awesome!

So, as it says here, “this great multitude, which no man could number of all nations and kindred and people and tongues stood before the throne.” So, and the thinking was, “Well, that’s not of the different tribes, that’s all nations and kindreds and tongues.” This is vast! Because if only we could have seen this – and now we can – it’s through 6,000 years. It means so much more! It’s exciting what God gives to us.

“All nations and kindred and people and tongues.” Different languages all over the world with whom God has worked with over 6,000 years, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God who sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

Then one of the elders asked, saying to me, Who are these who are clothed in white robes, and from where do they come? So I said unto him, Sir, you know. Then he said to me, These are those who came out of great tribulation. So, I don’t know how many of you know what the Church used to teach on this during Philadelphia and into Laodicea. You understand what it means now but what did it mean then, what was able to be seen at that time? “Well, the great tribulation, it happens in the last 3½ years.” That’s always been the thinking and thankfully, it won’t last that long, what we have called the great tribulation.

And finally in time God showed to us as a Church that everyone who is ever called, everyone who is called by God, worked with by God has to go through great tribulation. It’s not easy to go through. The trials and the testing and the refining that we go through is not an easy thing. And the world, people don’t go through that kind because it’s in the mind.

So again here, what an incredible thing to learn, to know, to understand it isn’t just at the end. It’s not a physical thing going through tribulation, horrible tribulation, but that’s all we could see until God revealed more. Now, that to me is a beautiful thing, progressive revelation. Awesome!

“Who came out of great tribulation.” So, it helps us to understand we’re all in this together, we all have to go through difficult things. We all go through different things because God isn’t molding the same thing in every person. He isn’t preparing… You don’t do that when you construct a building. You don’t start with the lumber and different things and every piece is cut the same. You don’t do that with every brick, with every… There are differences in different places. Now, we can grasp that on a physical plane. To grasp that spiritually? We really don’t but we can appreciate it now more deeply this is how God works with us. And that’s why we don’t all have to be the same nor have to go through the same experiences.

But whatever it is that God is planning for us, whether it be in the 144,000 or at the end of the Millennium in another great resurrection, He has a place for us. God’s doing the building—that’s hard for us to grasp and comprehend—things that are mapped out intricately so. And so He works with us to prepare us for those things. But in the first 6,000 years people have to go through a lot to become a part of God’s Family. It hasn’t been easy for anyone. It wasn’t meant to be easy. It was meant to be difficult; it was meant to try you and test you until God can say, “Now I know you.” Because sometimes it isn’t even known what we’re going to do until we go through specific things, different kinds of trials. Then it brings something to the surface, what are you going to do now? Choices. And then God can say after whatever level that is of those things we have to go through “Now I know you.” “Now. I. Know. You.” Awesome!

…who came out of great tribulation and washed their robes… What does that mean? It means they do what everyone has to do. You have to be a part of cleansing your life. You have to be a part of getting rid of sin. You have to be a part in the fight, to fight against “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” and come to those convictions in your being that you want something different, you want what God is offering to you and you’re willing and wanting to fight whatever it takes to receive what God has for you.

…and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Showing that everyone has to be forgiven of sin whether it be in the first four thousand years because of their believe of God’s purpose and God’s plan, and then the last two thousand years, and understanding and seeing certain things in a greater way than ever before about Christ, about Passover and so forth.

Revelation 7:15—Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple. What a beautiful thing to realize that this isn’t about anything physical. It’s not about some place up in heaven. To understand what the temple of God is.

I still kind of marvel at that at times and think about what Herbert Armstrong gave to the Church around ’83 and in through there especially, hitting it so hard to the Church that the Church is the temple of God. We make up the temple of God. Those whom God has worked with through time make up the temple of God, that it’s spiritual not physical.

And so, so many of the prophecies having to do with the end-time, about the abomination of desolation was seen by many as something that had to happen on a physical plane. That’s why in the protestant world those who believe in a coming of Christ, and even those who were a part of the Church and things that were believed, it’s like, if you could just get a stone taken into Jerusalem to the mount, to start the construction, just a stone.

One of those who were scattered, an evangelist (started his own group), had the belief from their group of ministers after studying into it if they just had a place, an altar so that this abomination could take place, so that a pig could be killed there on the temple mount again on an altar, that would fulfill the prophecies. Blind, asleep, unable to see because God wasn’t showing it to them.

And so, when that happens you can’t see things spiritually, you can only see things on a physical plane. How blessed are you to see things on a spiritual plane? Do you know what that’s witness of, evidence of, that which glorifies God? That Christ is in you, that Christ life is in you. That you’re here because of that, because God’s spirit dwells within you, Christ and God the Father is dwelling in you. How precious, how awesome, how beautiful, how exciting! Talk about rejoicing? Sends shivers up and down my spine thinking about it. Incredible! Awesome! Beautiful!

Exciting to be a part of something so great as small as we are, as scattered as we are around the world. World would look at us, “You’re nothing.” That’s right; we know that. You’re not telling us anything new. But God is great. God is all powerful. God is almighty.

Therefore, they are before the throne…and serve Him day and night in His temple. Talk about arriving. When you’re changed, you’re spirit, you have that spirit life, you’re in the God Family, in the Temple of God forever and ever and ever. Because the Temple of God is about God and Christ and the spiritual Body in Elohim.

“Serve Him day and night in His temple.” So, we’re going through these things to help us hopefully appreciate more deeply. Because we come along, and we know these things because they’re already here. We maybe come into a Church at a time, into God’s Church at a time when almost all these things we’re talking about has already been established.

Gone through much to get to this point in time. A lot of suffering to get to this point in time and God just keeps giving more and more. And we have the benefit of that but sometimes to grasp and understand what it took to get here and how much God has given to us it’s difficult, it’s more difficult. Because that’s spiritual and God has to give us that as well, to have an appreciation, a gratitude, a thankfulness, of just crying out to God, “Holy Father, thank you, thank you, thank you for blessing me in such a way, to be a part of something so incredibly great, so great that I can’t even begin to comprehend it.” Whew! Who are we? Well, we are those who are just awesomely blessed. Words can’t describe it all, how incredibly blessed we are.

…they’ll serve Him day and night in His temple, and He who sits on the throne shall dwell, it’s really a word, not just “among” it’s “on, upon” them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. “They shall hunger no more.” So, it’s not a physical thing, it’s about a spiritual thing. They’re in God’s Family. They’re a part. They are Elohim. And this is spiritual, filled with God’s spirit.

It’s an awesome thing to understand what God revealed to the Church around this season of the year as well about this, about God and what it means to dwell in Him like we’re going to dwell, and how we’re blessed forever because of this. And I don’t want to get ahead of myself.

But anyway, shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore, neither shall the sun light upon them, nor any heat. Well, they’re spirit. Physical things? It won’t be a matter it’s too hot, it’s too cold, it’s whatever. That doesn’t exist. No sunburns. No allergies. No problems with your throat.

For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them… It’s something that God is going to give forever and forever. And there’s a way that it works, and it’s just the way we function.

We learn to function within the Church, speaking of government and the flow of God’s spirit, how it works in our life. And so often people don’t grasp that, that there is a flow of God’s spirit and how it works. And we can’t decide for ourselves apart from that flow of where to go and how to go and what God wants us to do. That’s just the way it is. Government, going back to that first thing given to Herbert Armstrong, accredited to him, that so many never understood, because it’s not something physical, it’s spiritual. It’s just the way we function as a body.

It’s like your own physical body. Examples are given of that. They’re not arguing… Well, sometimes they may if you hurt something and all the suffering in the mind goes down to that and thinks about whatever it might be that’s hurting. But it works together. The mind thinks a certain thing and the body responds to it. You start climbing steps, you start jogging, you start walking, you start talking it just… Thankfully, there is no argument.

“I don’t want to do that!” “I think you’re wrong!” It’s insane when you think about a human body doing something like that. Well, it’s insane to think that something like that can exist in God’s Body. And that’s why in God’s Church something like that really doesn’t exist very long because God takes care of it. Because it’s either going to come into unity, oneness, and harmony or not.

…and shall lead them to living fountains of waters. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. A lot of suffering in life, a lot of tears in life. There really is. Things that pain, things that people go through. And when it’s in the Church it’s different because of God, because of God’s spirit and because of the things we’re able to learn on a higher plane, on something that is spiritual and with understanding, but there’s a battle that takes place in that and how to deal with various things.

And so, these are spoken of here in Revelation 19. Turn over there. Revelation 19:1—After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, Hallelujah! Salvation, glory and honor and power to the LORD our God! For true and righteous are His judgments, because He judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her. This is powerful It’s not just something on a physical plane. Though those things happen physically, it’s something that happened on a spiritual plane as well because that power that’s out there, that if people don’t keep focused and don’t keep a strong, right relationship with God, they can be pulled away by that even if they’ve… Just look at a third of the Church. Where did they go? Right back to what they came out of. Insanity.

Again they said, Hallelujah! Her smoke rises up forever and ever! Well, all that shows is until it’s fully destroyed, burned up, as an example. It uses fire oftentimes here in these examples, that you burn something, like wood in the stove, and the smoke goes up forever and ever (the type of expression being used here) or at least as long as there is something to burn. And when it’s gone it’s gone. So, kind of an awkward kind of way of saying things for us.

Then the twenty-four elders and four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, Amen! Alleluia! Then a voice came from the throne, saying, Praise our God, all you His servants, even those who fear Him, small and great! What an incredible thing here, this kind of thinking we can have toward God Almighty and the thinking we should have fearing to go a different direction, to go do something different.

(… It’s a possibility because I do have certain allergies of certain things. Oh, those lilies. We’ll get rid of those tomorrow. Okay? I’m highly allergic to lilies. No, we’ll wait until after today. Didn’t even dawn on me.)

(Anyway, one time out west someone brought in a beautiful bouquet of tiger lilies, and I about died. I felt bad but I had to take them to the back of the room because my heart starts palpitating. Even I can feel it when, because of the allergies. So, some people have different kinds of allergies. Physical. Can’t wait to get out of this body!)

Verse 6—Then I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and the sound of many waters and the sound of mighty thundering’s, saying, Hallelujah! For the LORD God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice. It’s amazing here how often in thinking about what God is seeking to establish and working toward establishing through the Church and working with the world to prepare it for what’s going to come to pass. And we think about the Millennium that’s coming then and what God tells us to do at the Feast. Every year told to rejoice. And so again, so much that’s given, revealed through the keeping of this particular season of the year and what it focuses upon.

So, “let us be glad and rejoice.” And that’s on a spiritual plane. The real rejoicing, being glad, being thankful to God Almighty is something that’s spiritual, to understand what we have, understanding what these things mean.

…and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come. So, we desire that with all of our being, and we think about those things. Forward looking. And it’s real in our minds though it’s not here yet. …for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready.

So, we’re still working at that. We’re working at that today; the Church being made ready for that fulfilling of the final ones to be in the 144,000. Because that has to be complete before we can move forward into that period of time. So, we come to a point in time then when we’re all ready, when God has said to all 144,000, “Now I know you.” Awesome!

Even to her it was granted to be clothed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. So, over and over again this process of coming out of sin, of our garments, as it were, working, desiring to be righteous before God and having to do with believing God, understanding how important it is to believe what God says. And if we have a trouble believing something that God gives to ask God for help to see it.

Covid! Get a shot! “Well, that’s physical. And where did you do your research? And who is it? You’re a man! This is your decision.” Well, yes it is. Yes, it is. And God gives very strong words to His people to listen to that. Whatever is bound on earth is bound in heaven if it’s a matter of unity and oneness and it has a purpose for it. God works with government. Incredible! And then just maybe, just maybe it came from God.

Verse 11—Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And he who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. What an incredible thing to understand and to magnify that recently, of recent time now, to grasp and comprehend how great this really is, that he’s coming back with incredible power. And the 144,000 with him, it is an army, an army not just because of numbers of individuals in the God Family at that time but for a purpose. Because an army has something to do in this case, and they’re going to be involved in destroying those who are destroying the earth.

Don’t know what kind of power there is going to be there, but God is going to put an end to those who are destroying the earth, who won’t stop, who think they can still win, who are willing to push a button to destroy others or send masses of people in to kill, torture, and all the things that human beings do to each other in war.

And it’s not going to be hard to do. It has to stop, and they have to stop. It won’t be hard to do to destroy those who are destroying the earth because of the conviction and the strength and the power and the purpose that God gives to His people even more so at that point in time, to go out and get it done, to put fear on the earth, to establish God’s government, to begin a process. “It’s never going to happen again. You’re never going to raise any army anywhere ever again. And if you do you’re going to meet the same thing that they met. You will be destroyed. It’s not going to be tolerated.” Incredible! It has to be that way, has to be that way for God’s Kingdom, God’s government to be established.

Now, people are still going to have their choices in all that, different people, different nations, different areas of the world. They’re still going to resist. And we should know who a bunch of them are. In different places of the world it’s going to be very hard for them to accept a total change in what they have always believed for hundreds of years and to learn or be told that you are deceived and what you believed is totally wrong and it’s evil. And some of the things you do toward one another, some of the things you believe you should do because of what you believe is sick, perverted, distorted, evil in every way.

You think human beings are going to take that really well? Well, Millennium is going to be a lot different than what we used to think because we didn’t know. This is not going to be easy in the beginning especially. It’s going to take some time. And if they won’t keep the Feast of Tabernacles God says He’s going to do things to them. They will suffer for what they have done and their choices to disobey God. After everything that’s happened and they’re shown this is of God, this is of your Creator, it’s hard to imagine carnal minds who will refuse and fight against that. Just shows human nature. No matter if it be Christ, you can prove it, you can see that power, you can have it manifested to you, you can have others manifested to you, you can see what they can do and that still doesn’t move you?

Well, it’s just like the children of Israel going through the sea. It’s opened up, get on the other side, murmur, murmur, murmur, murmur, murmur. It’s like “Wake up! Don’t you know what you’re resisting?” Can’t help but get a chuckle out of some of those things sometimes on a carnal plane thinking about how we are as human beings.

His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. Ruling the earth, the Messiah, King of kings. King of kings; many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of God. I love this, I really do. I mean, I can’t help but you go back to John chapter 1, and you read the things that are there that we haven’t understood that long in God’s Church about what happened there. The Word of God made flesh. To be able to distinguish between Christ and God Almighty and that there was a beginning here of a new life, how awesome is that to know and to see that so clearly? And I think if we’d believed differently before then it’s easier to be moved by, excited by the ability to grasp then the incredible change of what we’ve gone through in times past.

And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. I don’t know what this is symbolic of, if it’s real, spirit, I don’t know. We don’t know. But as a whole probably symbolic. But we don’t know. Time will tell. There are a lot of things we can think about, can wonder about, but there’s just a lot we still do not know.

Verse 15—Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations. So, a lot to bring about what we’re observing here at this Feast of Tabernacles to get started. Even he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. That means with great power to put down anything that will… As I mentioned earlier, army tries to get together, they’re not going to get very far. There is rulership there with power. “Rod of iron means you’re going to be crushed. You’re not going to be allowed to do this. You don’t like what’s said, tough.”

He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath (again, an exercise of judgment) of Almighty God. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. Beautiful to understand God’s plan and purpose for the Messiah.

Then I saw an angel standing at the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of the sky, Come and gather together to the supper/for the supper of the great God. It’s talking about birds like vultures and others. You see animals on the side of the road, roadkill, and especially with vultures, they swoop down and the smellier and the dirtier the better. And they start eating it. That’s what vultures are like. And you coming up in a car and you’re taught, especially in Texas and some other places as well in driver’s ed, that as you’re coming toward them, and you see them in the middle of the road, slow down. Because if you don’t the likelihood is just before you get there, they know you’re coming, and they fly out and you think you’re okay. And then they fly right back because they’re greedy little creatures. And you hit them, and it can mess up your car.

Wasn’t there a case when that one went at a windshield, and they couldn’t get the smell out of the car. No matter what you did to fix the windshield the smell, you can never get it out of them they stink so bad. Because why? Because they’re always eating dead things and they’re wallowing in it and it gets all over their feathers. And it’s like, this is not a good thing, you know, they’re like a great big garbage disposal and get rid of the bad things on the road but you don’t want to be around them ever.

We thought we had slowed down enough at one time because we believed this about vultures. Sure enough he came flying right back, even at my slow speed, and hit the grill and broke the grill and the radiator area. Not enough damage to hurt the radiator but you think, incredible! So, here we are. Why I got off on that and started on vultures?

But here it’s talking about this great feast and the birds to come. And this is what it’s talking about. It’s talking about all the dead bodies, all the carcasses. And so, it’s using this symbolic kind of language to show this is a horrifying thing. And to think about this kind of thing that God has said should happen? Destruction, this army and what they do, that’s what it’s about here. In some places it… Well, I’ll just read it.

When it talks about the winepress and the wrath of Almighty God upon mankind at the end-time here? A winepress squeezes the juice out or individuals get on top of this round thing and they’re jumping up and down on it, or walking in it, you know, because they want to make wine. “Ah, vino, that’s good.” And so, this is what they do and out comes the juice, and the other part stays inside. And this is the example that’s being given in something like that, that it’s not a pretty sight, blood coming out of the winepress of God Almighty and what He does and His judgment upon mankind.

So, it talks about this incredible army and what they do. So, I saw this…with a loud voice saying…fly in the midst of the sky…come together and eat the supper of the Great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and those who sit on them, and the flesh of all, free and slave, both small and great. So, all these of that which has to happen toward the end in order to establish what we’re picturing here.

Then I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army. Again, things that are difficult to comprehend at this point in time of all that’s going to be there. But God’s going to take care of it He says. And even there God has given the exact number of the size of some of this army.

So again, as a progressive revelation (just continuing on in some of these things), it’s incredible all the things that God has given to us and continues to give to us and helps us to see all that’s about His preparation. There’s been a lot of – a lot of work that God has done, that Christ has done in the last 2,000 years as well with God, but in planning and preparing for this period that we are blessed to be able to be here at this Feast observing. Great meaning in it. Sometimes we get to a point where we go through something physically, physical travel, physical staying someplace, physical eating, physical fellowship (if you understand what I’m saying, and there should be a spirit involved in that as well), and to feel deep down inside the great purpose of why we’re here, to understand why God tells us to rejoice. That it’s not a suggestion.

It’s something you have to think about. It’s something you have to focus upon and to pray about. You have to pray about it to experience it on a spiritual plane with God because it’s something He wants to share, Him and His Son want to share with us spiritually.

So, let’s read again here, Revelation 7:13 because as a matter of progressive revelation that continues to add more meaning and understanding to the observance of the Feast of Tabernacles, again, God has clarified what is meant by there being 12,000 of the different tribes, like I said here, who will comprise the firstfruits.

So, here we are, Revelation 7:13—Then one of the elders asked, saying to me, Who are these who are clothed in white robes, and from where did they come? So, I said to him, Sir, you know. And he says, again, They are they who have come out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple, as we read earlier.

Well, I’m going to go on with the 56th Truth. I think that’s what brings us up to this point in time anyway. I shouldn’t get off on my little tangents at times. Anyway, the 56th Truth. Again, things that God just has continued to reveal, to give to the Church to help us to appreciate and understand even more deeply, progressively so, the Feast of Tabernacles, things that are observed in the observance of the Feast that God wants us to look forward to. So, this truth states:

56 (35) Through the power of the holy spirit, Almighty God will “dwell” IN His Family into everlasting life, and they will always dwell IN Him.

What an incredible thing. We didn’t know that in Philadelphia. We didn’t know that in Laodicea for certain. And to grasp that God has given this to us to understand, to see what that means. As physical human beings in the Church in embryo being begotten of God’s holy spirit not yet born we’re able to experience things like this to a point. We have the blessing of experiencing God’s spirit in our life to varying degrees throughout our growth and development and we build upon that relationship, and that should become stronger and stronger as we grow more and more.

And yet there are times, a lot of times we just start quenching God’s spirit and we have to respond when that happens. Because when there is sin involved what do you have to do? You said something wrong to someone else. You’ve not acted the way you should have acted, whatever it might be. Or you have really struggled with certain things, or not really struggled with them because you’re not really trying to fight them—and I have addressed all those things in times past here recently—and when that happens sometimes we don’t just quench the spirit, we’re just cut off.

Because there are varying levels of sin in our life at varying degrees, if you were. Sin is sin, yes, but the reality is there are those that are exceedingly serious that should be conquered very early on. And if we continue with some of those kinds of thing that have to do with the “lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh,” we don’t grow like we should. We stagnate. And you can’t stagnate very long in God’s Church. It just doesn’t work that way. Because then you start becoming spiritually sleepy. And unless God wakes us up for His purpose, and He does at different times through sermons and stuff He gives to us, and we have the opportunity, but we have to respond. And so, it’s up to us to repent. And if we repent then this life just continues on in us.

So, it isn’t always existing in our life. You don’t always and experience and have God’s spirit full in your life. Whenever there is sin, and until it’s repented of it can get quenched, choked like blood to a baby and the umbilical, the way it’s fed and so forth as it’s growing and so forth in the womb. And you start squeezing that off and it starts threatening the life.

Well, that happens to us spiritually. And look how many have gone by the wayside. Threatens life. You can’t be quenched that long. And to be totally cut off from God’s spirit, the faster we repent the quicker then that flow can begin again. Because we can’t grow without it. So, what an awesome thing to understand what God is leading us to, to that which will always exist. Because even what God gave us understanding of in the angelic realm, they’ve never been given this. They have never been given of the holy spirit. They’ve been given knowledge, and through time have grown in understanding of various things. But not of God’s holy spirit. That’s for His Family to have the same mind forever and forever, unity, oneness, harmony, purpose in the God Family. Incredible! Forever and ever.

And God gave that to us then of recent time. We haven’t always known it. So, how appreciative, how much do we thank God “Thank you, Father, for what You’re revealing, that we’re going to experience this forever! No more tears. No more sorrow. No more repenting of sin.” How incredible is that?

So again here,

56 (35) Through the power of the holy spirit, Almighty God will “dwell” IN His Family into everlasting life, and they will always dwell IN Him. This will be accomplished through the power of the holy spirit that emanates from God and it will never cease to be “coming into” the lives of all who are in the God Family. This will be a perpetual and continuing process into everlasting life. Once begotten of God’s holy spirit…

So, I’ve already stated some of these things but here is what’s written.

…the flow of the holy spirit can be suppressed and completely removed (cut-off) from a begotten person’s life. God dwells (abides, lives) IN the life of a spirit-begotten person (a person of the holy spirit) and they therefore dwell IN Him. Through the power of the holy spirit, the life (nature, truth, Word, way of life) of God begins to dwell in a begotten person’s life (in the spirit essence given in the human mind) …

What an incredible thing that God gave to Herbert Armstrong, to understand that in the early seventies. Didn’t know it until the early seventies, and then it was given to the Church. And then there were some ministers and some people in the Church who couldn’t grasp what he was saying. Why? Because of sin in their life. It always happens because of sin. Because they’d already begun starting to be cut off from His holy spirit, and so they couldn’t understand something on a spiritual plane.

But the vast majority of the Church saw it, they understood it. But some began to think and say, “He’s teaching that we have an immortal soul.” You think, where did that come from in what he had to say? He said that we as human beings… Just like we can look at the animal kingdom and recognize that there is something in them that we can’t grasp, human beings just can’t grasp. Why a goose will fly south at a certain time and what will fly north, and why certain migrations take place.

I think one of the most interesting are the monarch butterflies in the U.S. there and how they start a journey in Canada, and they go a certain distance into the states, and they all die out. Then they go, the next generation comes along, and they go a little farther and then they all die out. And then the next generation goes on down to Mexico in a certain area of Mexico and they’re all…these pictures of trees are just nothing but orange and black with up and down on the bark of trees and all the way through them and there are massive amounts of Monarch butterflies. And then they all die out, next generation comes along, and they make it all back. And if I understand it’s at one time. Anyway, it’s an interesting story if you can find that on YouTube somewhere.

And you think, they can’t figure it out. How is this possible? They’ve taken some and they’ve put little things on their wings to… You can… I don’t know how they do this to track. Todays technology. They’ve taken them to the east coast out of their path, and some that are flying in the central part of the United States, take them over there and they come right back to where they were and take off again. Talk about navigation! Well, how? “They’re pretty ‘smart’ creatures and they just evolved over time and they’re a lot smarter than we are because we didn’t have radar and things like that until… Look what we had to go through to get it! War!” Anyway, sorry.

God Almighty. It’s in them by the power of God. We don’t understand that, but we believe it because of what God revealed to Herbert Armstrong. And then he showed how human beings are different. We’re not preprogrammed to do various things like they are. We learn and we grow, and a spirit essence is in the mind that is from God, a spirit essence that gives us the ability to communicate, to think, to create, to plan. Incredible! Awesome!

And yet… You really have to think about this. I mean, you think, once we know what we do it is so dumb that people could believe in evolution. “We climbed out of slime and just kept evolving and evolving and after millions and millions of years… And they needed something else in order to become, to come to the next…” Some of this stuff is so ridiculous it’s hard to think how intelligent, scientific (supposedly) people who examine these things could actually believe some of this stuff. If you think it through it’s like, you’ve got to be kidding me. You’re not dealing with a full deck! Cards. (That went over well.)

And you think, what an incredible thing what we have as human beings. And yet human beings of and by themselves won’t acknowledge God. They’d rather believe, as God said through Paul in Romans, they’d rather believe in other things like crawling out of the slime or whatever it is that we tend to believe as human beings. We’re sick. The human carnal mind is so sick. And yet God will heal it if we want it.

So anyway, we understand this process of how God worked with us through the holy spirit, this 56th Truth. It’s an incredible thing that God has given to us to comprehend, how He works in us, and to see this uniqueness. And so, God giving that to Herbert Armstrong back then, it’s awesome! It’s awesome to understand that with this, that spirit essence that’s in the mind, and every human being that’s born, we don’t understand that process. We can’t grasp it. We don’t know how it’s done.

And then when we’re baptized God places in that essence His of the holy spirit, a begettal, of something that begins to grow. That’s why I loved Herbert Armstrong’s explanation there, of explaining some of those things after that period of time. Because giant doors opened up for God’s Church of being able to grasp and comprehend these things. To understand what it means to be baptized, to be like in the womb, to be in embryo not yet born. Because the protestant world has this thing about being born again and it’s an experience. And they don’t grasp it at all, and they can’t. And we understand what God is doing. What a beautiful thing.

What a beautiful thing to thank God for! “Thank you, holy Father, for Your spirit and Your life that’s able to be in my being. I know I don’t deserve it but I’m so thankful for it, and Your patience and Your mercy.” That’s what our prayer’s should be like from time to time, just thanking God. And especially at a Feast of Tabernacles because this helps us to look forward and to recognize what this is all about, what this journey is all about and what the different suffering we go through is all about from time to time.

Because, again, we all go through different things and different struggles and it’s not easy. We need each other and we need the unity of one another within the Body of Christ. That’s why I’m so thankful God is cleaning up the Church more and more. Because the more it’s cleansed the stronger we become, the less drama there is, the more united we are with God Almighty, of the same mind, the closer we are to being fully sealed. I desire that with all my being, and I think we all do, that the 144,000 can be completed.

Revelation 11. Again, going on progressively, God progressively revealing. There is so much He just continues to give to us. And if we’re not careful, again, we begin to take it for granted and we’re not moved by, we’re not excited by. And we should be! That reveals God’s spirit in our life and if we’re praying about these things.

I can’t help but get up here and be excited about these things. They’re inspiring to recognize what God gives to us and what we’re a part of, how He moves us and strengthens us and gives us what we have.

So, He’s been revealing more and more, again, about the Feast of Tabernacles and what is there, what’s ahead of us. Revelation 11. This newest revelation that we are going through concerns the observance of this entire Feast period including the Last Great Day that God has enhanced for us, magnified more for us so that we can see things more clearly. And I love this process because the more you see how God has intricately done things, really the more it glorifies God and our thinking toward Him. Because it’s moving, it’s inspiring to see what God is doing and to recognize we have a part in that, we’re blessed to be a part in that.

Revelation 11:14—The Second Woe is past. So, an end to the events of the 6th Trumpet. And look, the Third Woe is coming quickly. You know, to even think about what’s going to take place at that time, we believe, we have comprehension of certain things, but to understand what it’s going to be like?

If we grasp it to the degree that Christ grasped what he was going to go through on that last day of his life because it was so real to him… He knew it. He believed it. He knew why he was there. He knew he was going to be the Passover. He knew he was going to die. He knew his blood was going to be spilled to the earth. He knew he was going to be beaten and whipped. He understood those things and he wanted to fulfill those things, to honor his Father. Incredible!

And if we were able to grasp what’s in front of us to the degree he was able to see and believe what he saw and believed, we would probably be shaking in a corner somewhere, maybe even rolled up in a corner somewhere. Thankfully, we’re not able to see that clearly.

…the Third Woe is coming. Then the seventh angel sounded. And there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have now become the kingdoms of our LORD, even of His Christ, and He shall reign now and forever more! So, to think about what God has revealed just in this area alone, of what it means as Christ is returning, there’s a war, there’s a war that is stopped by another war, if you will, because Christ has returned with an army for the purpose of war.

That’s what we read earlier here. It’s about war. He is going to destroy those who are destroying the earth. They’re not going to have any ability to destroy or hurt them in any fashion or form. But Christ and the 144,000 are going to destroy a lot of life, human life not animal life. They have the power to destroy solely human life. And to understand how great that has the potential of being? Because candidly, it has the potential of being far, far greater than what takes place in the war that precedes it. Things in this world just have to be stopped and put down, and God has to do it with great power.

And so we’re learning about the Third Woe. What an incredible thing to understand that it has two phases to it, that, that that last phase of that particular Trumpet that’s fulfilled is not just about a beginning of the Millennium, it’s about the entire period of time until we’re at the end. That’s awesome to understand, that the fulfillment, because it’s about the reign of Joshua the Christ in the Kingdom of God that continues on over mankind for the next 1,100 years of what we’re picturing at this Feast. And to grasp and comprehend that it begins, is able to begin because of this Woe on mankind.

The First Woe had great destruction in it on the earth of mankind. The Second Woe was about far greater destruction of human beings on the earth. The Third Woe is about the greatest destruction of all of human life. What an incredible thing. It’s not a pretty picture in the sense of human beings, but everybody has a choice. And either people love and want and desire and thank God for what He’s giving and offering or not. And if they don’t it’s just death. It’s an end to life from a very merciful, loving God.

It’s not owed to anyone. That’s one thing the Church needs to grasp with all of it’s being. Nothing is owed to us. Nothing. But a great God wants to give us everything – to keep that focus, to know it’s not all right now, it’s for later.

I’m sorry but I just can’t help but think of all who have turned their back. Every year, every year, ever since the Church began in 31 A.D. over time people turned to something else, give up what God has offered them, decides they want something else. It’s a choice. Horrible.

The Third Woe is coming quickly. Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have now become the kingdoms of our LORD, even of His Christ, and He shall reign from now and forever more! So, it begins with an incredible Woe which is this great army with Christ leading it to destroy those who are destroying the earth. But it’s not the end of it because it’s not the end of the events of the 7th Trumpet. It goes on for 1,100 years, the reign of Joshua the Christ and what’s going to accomplish, what he’s going to accomplish. Because everything has to be brought into subjection to him first. All things are placed under his feet, God says, and then it says at the end then all things are returned under God’s, when it’s fulfilled it’s under God’s feet. In other words, it’s complete, it’s done. The Family of God is complete and God is there.

So, we now grasp, we see greater meaning contained in the complete fulfillment of that 7th Trumpet. And that’s, to me, an awesome thing, to understand that at the end the greatest part of the Third Woe takes place. Because it’s about mankind. It’s about the destruction of mankind.

And so, finally at the end all of those who come together in such vast numbers… That’s not something we’ve understood for a long time, but I think it’s a healthy thing that we do. It’s a very spiritually healthy thing that we grasp what’s being said here. Because God doesn’t play games with His Family. We either desire it and want it with all of our being and are willing to fight for it with all of our being, to fight this nature because we want, we desire what God has placed before us. And if we don’t, and if we choose something different that’s what we get, something different.

And to grasp and comprehend that the vast majority of mankind may be in that position is kind of difficult to see. It’s kind of difficult for us to see and grasp that many have been called since 31 A.D. and few chosen. In other words, the vast majority turned against God once they’ve been impregnated with God’s holy spirit. How horrifying a thought is that? But yet my life in God’s Church as being baptized in 1969 is that every year people make those wrong choices, cut themselves off from God, choose something different. Something else on a physical plane is more important because the conviction is lacking about what is forever.

How can you compare such things? But we have to be close to God to sustain that, to have that, to keep that in our lives. And that means we love God, we love what He’s placed before us and we say, “Holy Father, I love You.” That’s what should be in our being. “I love what You’ve placed before us. I love Your plan, Your purpose.”

I often think about the truths and how much I love everything that God’s revealed to us. You know why? Because it reveals God. It reveals Him. This is Him. This is who He is. The truth? It’s God. His mind revealed to us. The Word of God made flesh? That’s Christ. “Let this mind be in you.” Awesome to understand those things on a spiritual plane.

I was going to go through more on the Third Woe here, but I really don’t need to. Because we know the story. Should be deeply engrained within us to grasp, to comprehend how blessed we are to know those things that are going to come to pass. To get our of our minds of things that have been not known, misunderstood in times past. Whether it be about the 144,000 and a great multitude.

Because the concept was that this one group of people would be the 144,000 and then there would be all those in the Church, so many more who would be a part of the Church, this great multitude that nobody could count. They would be able to come in… Basically, Laodicea. That’s what that was called. That Laodicea, that they would be able to come in, this great multitude come out of Laodicea, but the Philadelphians, they’re the 144,000. I mean, we just saw things not in a good way. Because that we just weren’t there yet. God’s purpose, choices, and the Apostasy, all the things that had to happen.

But for us to comprehend that the vast, well, exceedingly large numbers of people who are resurrected to a second physical life, can you really grasp that, out of all time, from the time of the very beginning through time who are resurrected again at the end of the 100-years, a second physical life, no more human life, no more birth in life, an end to growth in human life. It stops. But everyone is resurrected.

And to comprehend that such vast numbers after everything they see that God has done in the Kingdom of God for a thousand years for mankind, and to see what has developed through that period of time, to see the contrast from when they were fortunate if they had a mule or a donkey to ride on, to haul something on, to have an oxen in time for thousands of years, and then to see “What’s that?!” Going across the sky.

I can’t imagine what it would be like to see some of these things if you lived in that age and then you saw this of things we can’t even comprehend yet, of what it’s going to be like, of what the earth is going to look like, how far we’re going to be able to go with things of technology that we’ve just tapped into a little bit right now—just barely tapped into right now—and all used for good. We can’t comprehend those things.

But to think there’ll be millions, billions who won’t want it? That’s hard for me to grasp. But it’s been hard for me to grasp, too, how in the end-time here in a remnant Church we just every year people go aside, go to the wayside. It’s a never-ending thing until the Third Woe is over.

So, it should help us to appreciate more deeply, truly, to be able to rejoice before God for what we do have and how incredibly blessed we really are to be here at this Feast of Tabernacles.

[1] http://biblical-truth.com/books/mystery_of_the_ages_hwa.pdf