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Feast of Trumpets—2010
Fred R. Coulter—September 9, 2010
Greetings, brethren, welcome to
the Feast of Trumpets, 2010. The Feast of Trumpets is a special day. It is a
day of great significance, and that’s why it is called the day of a memorial
of blowing of trumpets. As we do with every Holy Day, we begin with
Leviticus 23—let’s go there and see the command to keep the Holy Days.
Just as I have explained in the series that we have done God’s Grace and
Commandment-Keeping, we keep the commandments of God and the Sabbath and
the Feast days of God
- through
the grace of God
- with
the Spirit of God
- with
the understanding that God gives us
This is the whole reason and purpose of the
New Covenant and the giving of the Holy Spirit so that we know what do, how to
do it, and God is fellowshipping with us through His Spirit and in each one of
us. When we come and we read it back here in Leviticus 23:23, we find that this
is the starting point and then we go from the letter to the spirit, or in this
particular case we go from the letter to the fulfillment; we go from the type
to the anti-type—and all of this involves the literal return of Jesus
Christ to the earth.
Leviticus
23:23: “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel
saying, “In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, you shall
have a Sabbath… [all the Holy Days are called a Sabbath. The [weekly] Sabbath is called the Sabbath—ha
Shabbat vs Shabbat—‘ha Shabbat’ is the Sabbath;
‘Shabbat’ is a Sabbath.] …a memorial of blowing of ram’s
horns, a Holy convocation”’” (vs 23-24).
I’ve said for
years that this indicates that they blew the trumpets all day long; it probably
is so. I don’t know exactly how they did it; we’ll have to do some more
research to find out about it. Nevertheless, that would be significant, because
as God came down on Mt. Sinai to give the Ten Commandments to the children of
Israel on the day of Pentecost, the trumpet sounded long and loud for that day.
Here we have trumpets blowing, signifying a tremendous event.
Verse 25:
“You shall do no servile work therein but you shall offer an offering
made by fire to the LORD.” And we always take up an offering on the Holy Day,
and these things are important for us to realize, and also important how much,
in terms of physical things that we give back to God, how we give our
offerings:
1.
the
attitude
2.
according
to the blessings that God has given us
And remember that God says He is ‘able to make all
grace abound to us in all things.’ So, when we take up the offering, please
keep that in mind.
(pause to take up the offering)
Now, let’s review
the events that lead up to the final Feast of Trumpets. Let’s come back to the
beginning of the end-time, as we find in the book of Daniel, chapter eleven.
What we will do is we will analyze this and then we will think about all the
different things that must happen, because we’re talking about a period of
approximately three-and-a-half years.
In Daniel
11:40: “And at the time of the end, the king of the south shall push at him. And
the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots and
with horsemen and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries and
shall overflow and sweep through.”
Let’s stop
and think about the things that have to take place in order for this to
develop. The king of the north has got to be Europe; king of the
south has got to be the Islamic area. Europe, in order to come to a point
of this strength, there’s going to have to be a lot of things to develop and
take place. And also, they have a tremendous Islamic problem within each of the
various nations in Europe. Somehow that has got to be resolved in some way. So
it’s going to take some time. How long? We don’t know! But that time has
to be considered. Then we also have the problem of the Jews in Palestine. They
have to build a temple. We know they have to build a temple for several things:
1.
Rev. 11
says, ‘rise and measure the temple.’
2.
We find
in Matt. 24 that there’s something to happen at the temple that must take
place.
So, let’s see what we need to
do; let’s see what needs to happen here; let’s come to Matthew 24 and let’s see
a particular thing (and I’ve mentioned this before) because a lot of people
say, ‘Oh, the end is coming! Things are speeding up!’ Then later on they’ll
say, ‘Well, things are slowing down.’ The truth is, they’re right on time; it’s
just our perception of it, because we have to look and see for all of these
events to come together.
Matthew
24:14—this needs to also be done, too, and we don’t know exactly how God
is going to do it; because just look at the different things that have taken
place in preaching the Gospel. You go back, say, if you’ve been in the Church
20 years, 30 years, 40 years, some 50 years—has not the means for
preaching the Gospel increased? Has not the number of Bibles that have been
distributed in the world increased? Yes, indeed! And has not the cost of doing those things gone down? Without a doubt! Look at the things that we are able to do with the small budget that
we have—on the Internet and feeding the brethren. Exactly how that’s
going to be we don’t know.
Matthew
24:14: “And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the world for
a witness to all nations; and then shall the end come.” So it has to be to that
last generation:
- they
have to know
- they
have to hear
- that
has to take place first
Also, you look at the condition
of the Churches of God, and while it’s my continuous prayer that all of us
repent—not only individually, but collectively—and the things that
we are doing to preach the Gospel, that we really preach the Gospel and not get
involved in some sort of semi-humanist approach to increase numbers and
increase income. That will only backfire!
Verse 15:
“Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by
Daniel the prophet, standing in the Holy place’…” Now, when Jesus spoke this,
they were looking right across the Kidron Valley from the Mt. of Olives right
at the temple area. That’s the only place that there’s the Holy place within
the temple. A lot of people say, ‘Would a tabernacle suffice?’ Ask the Jews! No,
a tabernacle will not suffice! All of that kind of thinking is based upon,
‘let’s hurry up and bring the Day of the Lord here as quick as we can.’ There’s
a prophecy of that back in Habakkuk, the first and second chapters, which says,
‘Woe to you who desire the Day of the Lord.’
1.
It’s a
‘day of darkness, cloudiness, death and war!’
2.
No
one’s going to speed up God’s time-plan.
If Rev. 11 says there’s a temple, there will be a
temple. If Matt. 24 says there’s going to be a Holy place, there
will be a Holy place in the temple.
Now, notice
this parenthetical statement, because without a doubt this was added by John
when he was compiling the final editing of the New Testament, because Jesus did
not say these words: “…(the one who reads, let him understand)… [they were
hearing the words and listening; they weren’t reading. This was put in here for
the reason that, we can understand very easily, the temple was destroyed in 70A.D. and John was writing this and editing this and finishing the New Testament in
about 100A.D. So when he read this, he was inspired to put in this
parenthetical statement, because John himself could not understand it. How is
there going to be a Holy place and an abomination that takes place? What will
that be?
Let’s come to
2-Thessalonians, the second chapter, and let’s see what that will be, because
it’s going to be quite an event when it takes place. That ties right in with
the book of Revelation. This becomes important for us to know and to
understand. We’ve gone over this before, but let’s realize the things that are
going to take place at the end-time
- are not
going to be done in a corner
- they’re
not going to be done secretly
- they’re
not going to be done without everybody knowing about it.
God has made it that way; it’s going to happen that way.
2-Thessalonians
2:1: “Now we beseech you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken in
mind, nor be troubled—neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by epistle, as
if from us, saying that the day of Christ is present…. [That’s a phrase
that they use for the antichrist—Christ is present.] …Do not let
anyone deceive you by any means because that day will not come unless
the apostasy… [which is the complete rebellion against God] …shall come first, and…
[so two things have to happen before the abomination of desolation takes
place.] …the man of sin shall be revealed—the son of perdition” ( 1-3).
After the apostasy! And what will be the complete apostasy? The amalgamation
of all religions into the one coming world-religion! Total apostasy from
God!
“…the man of
sin shall be revealed—the son of perdition… [It gives a characteristic of
him that has not happened in history before. Didn’t happen in the days of
Antiochus Epiphanes, though that was a type of it. It didn’t happen when Titus
came in and looked at the temple and saw the temple area that the Romans had
just conquered. He did not go into the Holy of Holies.] (Here what it says is
going to happen): …the one who opposes and exalts himself above all that is
called God or that is an object of worship; so that he comes into the temple of
God… [John read this and knew that that had not happened, so that’s why he put
there, ‘the one who reads let him understand’] …and sits down as God,
proclaiming that he himself is God” (vs 3-4). That has not yet happened! It’s
going to take these major events to be fulfilled and built up so that ‘man of
sin, the son of perdition’ will be revealed.
“Do you not
remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And now you
understand what is holding him back in order for him to be revealed in
his own set time” (vs 5-6). God is the One Who does the time setting. Jesus
told the apostles, when they wanted to know, ‘It’s not for you to know the
times or the seasons that the Father has put in His hands’; although we’re also
told in 1-Thess. that we ‘know the times and seasons’ relating the events as pictured
by the Holy Days. But we still do not know the day, we do not know the hour,
because we do not know how big and gigantic these things are going to be before
they are fulfilled.
Verse 7: “For
the mystery of lawlessness…” That’s going to encompass the whole world. Paul
says it’s ‘already working’—and has been working for centuries and
centuries, and now we’re seeing the pall and Satan the devil encompassing the
whole world. We’re going to see events like we have described, like a coming
world-currency. We are going to see a collapse of all economies everywhere. We
are going to see some difficult times that are going to take place leading up
to the completion of these things. I remember years ago we used to say, ‘Oh
boy, we’re going to live in the time when Jesus returns.’ We didn’t have in
mind all of the difficulties that come with that statement, but now we’re going
to see them! So that has to happen.
Verse 8: “And
then the lawless one will be revealed (whom the Lord will consume with the
breath of His mouth, and will destroy with the brightness of His coming)….
[We’ll see that a little later in Rev. 19.] (Now let’s see how Paul describes
this): …even the one whose coming is according to the inner working of Satan… [he will be Satan possessed] …with all power and
signs and lying wonders” (vs 8-9).
If you think
that lies are circling the earth like a great net—especially here in
America—well think what it’s going to be like with this. Although, I will
have to admit, I think that God pulled one on the global warming. The truth is,
God is in charge of the universe, and we went through a series of sunspots.
which were very active, and that’s what raised the temperature of the earth.
Whenever there are sunspots, the temperature of the earth rises. Same way it
happened on Mars. By the exact proportion of the temperature going up on
earth—since they had the rovers up there—they could check the
temperature on Mars, and sure enough it went up. Two years ago, God shut off
the sunspots, and it’s been cooling and cooling since then. Remember, we were
told we would have so many hurricanes—after Katrina—this is just
the start of horrible things to happen. Well, last year we didn’t have one
hurricane hit the United States.
God gave
another answer to the ‘greenie weenies’ as I call them, and the ‘green’ folks
who want to bring world-government through environmental control. The volcanoes
going off in Iceland—early this spring—what did that do? That
virtually shut down Europe! What was one of the countries that was greatly
affected by it? Copenhagen, where they had the ‘green’ summit! Remember
when they had the ‘green’ summit—what happened? Three feet of snow! Think God was answering them to display their foolishness and stupidity of
global warming and to expose the lie and the deception of using it for
political means and control? That’s why I think we need to look for a
world-currency to take place. That way then they can control all governments
and all people simultaneously, at the same time, with a complete new numbering
system, which will then result in the mark of the beast! All of those
things have to transpire before the final Trumpets. So, we need to keep
that in mind.
Verse 9: “Even the one whose coming is according to the inner working of Satan, with
all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in those who are perishing because they did not receive the
love of the Truth, so that they might be saved. And for this cause, God will
send upon them a powerful deception that will cause them to believe the lie” (vs 9-11).
Let’s come to
Revelation 13, and let’s see what the lie is going to be. Let’s see that
the events in the book of Revelation and the prophecies that are described in
Isaiah and Jeremiah talk about a time of mammoth events, mammoth wars, great
deception, great death and destruction! Let’s see that this beast comes up and
receives power and there are difficulties and problems with it. Nothing is
going to come easy. It’s a beast of ‘seven head and ten horns’ and it’s a
combination of all the great civilizations of the world (Rev. 13:1-2).
Revelation
13:2: “…and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne and great authority.”
And that great authority is over the whole world, and there has never,
never been a time of world-government. It’s coming! That must be fulfilled!
There are a lot of people who understand concerning the thing, what they would
call the conspiracy. But let me tell you something: Does not
Satan the devil lead conspiracies? And have many of them been working at the
same time to fulfill his purpose? Yes! He has that authority, and men are going to
try and stop it. Men are going to say, ‘We can’t have this going on.’ Verse 3:
“And I saw one of his heads as if it were slain to death,
but his deadly wound was healed; and the whole earth was amazed and followed the beast.” Never such a thing as this has happened before. So,
whoever the great leader is—called ‘the son of perdition, the man of sin
(2-Thess. 2)—he’s going to receive a deadly wound, but he is going to be
revived back.
Notice what
happens after that, the whole world goes crazy. Satan is now out in the person
of this man. “And they worshiped the dragon, who gave his authority to
the beast…. [Remember what Satan told Jesus? ‘I’ll give you all the kingdoms of
the world if You’ll worship me.’] …And they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast? Who has the power to make war against him?’ And a mouth
speaking great things and blasphemies was given to him; and authority was given
to him to continue for forty-two months [3-1/2 years]” (vs 4-5). That’s
after the deadly wound was healed.
Here’s what
he did when he came back to life. Now he’s God! This is when he goes and sits
in the temple of God and says I am God! “And he opened his mouth in
blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and those who
dwell in heaven. And he was given power to make war against the saints,
and to overcome them; and he was given authority over every tribe and language
and nation” (vs 6-7). Never has there been that kind of authority. This is the
power that is going to rule the world, and this is why the events in the book
of Rev.—to show those things leading up to the return of Christ—are
such great and fantastic and deadly, and just worldwide occurrences.
Verse 8: “And
all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written
in the book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world…. [that means everyone who does not have the Spirit of God. That’s quite a
thing to understand and contemplate—isn’t it?] (then, here is a verse
that we all need to listen to): …If anyone has an ear, let him hear” (vs
8-9). This becomes important from this point of view, brethren: We cannot
solve the world’s problems by the means of men! That’s why the Kingdom
of God has got to come. That’s why we have been called to rule and reign with
Jesus Christ.
Then we know
there’s a false prophet with him—the next beast of Rev. 13. The Seventh
Day Adventist make a great mistake by equating both beasts as the Catholic
Church, and they make a great mistake by saying that the mark of the beast is Sunday-worship when it has to do with ‘buying and selling’ and control.
We’ve given enough sermons on the mark of
the beast that you understand how
that is coming, and you now understand that there are the means and mechanisms
to do so today.
I just saw something very interesting advertised on television the
other day. I don’t have a cell phone, but if this were a cell phone, they now
put into your cell phone your credit cards. All you do is dial up whatever
credit card you want and you just swipe it right over the screen where
purchases are made, and Bang!—there you have it. That will probably be
one of the precursors leading up to the mark of the beast. So those things
are going to come.
Let’s look at some prophecies of the events that are going to take
place. Let’s come back here to Matthew 24, again, and let’s see what else Jesus
said. When there’s that abomination of desolation that ‘stands in the
Holy place’—that is a key! A key event! It’s so powerful, notice what He
says to those who are in Judea. Notice how quickly it’s going to unfold, the
last three-and-half years, when that ‘man of sin, the son of perdition’ comes
and sits in the Holy place and says, ‘I am God.’ Let’s see what Jesus says
concerning this:
Matthew 24:16: “Then
let those who are in Judea flee into the mountains.” Notice that He doesn’t
call it Israel. Judea is probably the more correct Biblical name. I call it
Palestine, and I don’t call it the Holy Land, because of all places on earth,
it’s one of the most unholy places today.
This is a
test, v 17: “Let the one who is on the housetop not come down to take
anything out of his house… [Nothing! You just get up and go to the hills and/or
mountains of Judea.] …and let the one who is in the field not go back to
take his garments…. [Nothing! Go! If you want to spare your physical life
temporarily, get out of there!] …But woe to those women who are
expecting a child, and to those who are nursing infants in those days! And pray
that your flight be not in the winter, nor on the Sabbath…
[That’s because it’s not going to happen at that time, it’s going to happen in
a different time.] …for then… [when you see the abomination of desolation take place, THEN that event starts the last 3-1/2 years] …shall there be great
tribulation… [so we need to look for those events, and what you’re
going to see is everything is going to build up to that.] …such as has not been
from the beginning of the world until this time… [We also have
been told, that ‘as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of
the coming of the Son of man.’ But the times now are going to be worse than
before the Flood!] …nor ever shall be again” (vs 17-21).
So, we are
looking at some tremendous events that are going to take place; that are
literally going to shake this whole world; that are literally going to cause
the deaths of hundreds of millions and billions of people. That’s why this
Feast of Trumpets is actually a war feast.
Verse 22:
“And if those days were not limited…” God has pre-limited them to 3-/2 years.
The King James says ‘cut short’; and how many sermons have you heard, the
minister gets up there and says, ‘Oh look, this is happening,’ and Matthew says
that God is going to ‘cut it short. Maybe He’s going to cut it short; maybe
it’s going to happen next week; maybe it’s going to happen next year.’ Or like
Franklin Graham says when they ask him ‘when is the Kingdom of God coming,
Christ going to return?’ He says, ‘Well, it could be tonight or many years
out.’ Do you know why they say that? ‘Tonight’ means maybe the rapture will occur. ‘Many years out’ means that it’s beyond the rapture. The
answer is: In God’s set time, according to His schedule! “And if
those days were not limited, there would no flesh be saved” [alive—all
flesh would die! So we’re talking about some pretty terrible and absolutely
unprecedented times that are going to take place.
We will see that the Tribulation starts out—probably the first
two years of it—where it’s men against men. Yes, there are demons
involved in the background, but more men against men. The demons and things
will come later in greater power. But here in Revelation 6 we find the opening
of the seals. Christ is the one Who opens them at the time that God the Father
says, ‘Open them.’ In the meantime, all the events that will unfold out of each
one of these seals are being prepared right now, building gradually, going to
take place.
So, he opened the first seal, Revelation 6:2: “And I looked, and behold, there was a
white horse; and the one who was sitting on it had a bow, and a crown was given
to him; and he went out conquering and to conquer…. [The white pictures the
false prophet; the red pictures the beast because he is going to
make war! Exactly how the religions are going to come together—we already
know and understand some of that framework, but exactly how that’s going to
happen, we’ll just have to wait and see. Know this: it will happen!
Some have
asked me, ‘What do you think is going to happen to the Roman Catholic Church?’
I thought, one of their prophecies is, the next pope is supposed to be their
last pope. If this one dies—and he’s getting pretty close to
dying—wouldn’t you say? What is he about 86 now; 83, somewhere around in
there. Well, sooner or later he’s going to die. What if they elect the next
pope and its supposed to be the last one and he dies? Now what are they going
to do? The same thing that happens whenever there is a human prophecy that fails—which
is this: you re-interpret it! So then they elect another pope and
there’s a great reformation with the Catholic Church and world religions. Do
you suppose that’s possible? (Just consider it speculation) Very likely,
something like that could happen. We know from Dan. 11 that the king of the
north is going to come against the king of the south; he’s going to
come into the Holy Land, the Glorious Land, and he is going to go into the
temple (2-Thess. 2) and say that he is God and proclaim war against one-fourth
of the world! That’s just the start.
Verse 3: “And
when He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, ‘Come
and see.’ And another horse went out that was red; and power was
given to the one sitting on it to take peace from the earth… [Yes, there are
demons behind this, that is true! But not like we see in Rev. 8 & 9.] …and to
cause them to kill one another; and a great sword was given to him” (vs
3-4). What happens when there’s war? Think about this society and how everyone
is tied to the supermarkets or the stores. Who grows food? Who harvests food?
Who knows how to do any of that? Hardly
anybody in the world! So when this
war starts:
- immediate
shortages!
- immediate famine!
- immediate
sickness!
- immediate
disease!
- plagues !
and all of the
things that will take place.
That’s what we have in v 5:
“And when He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say,
‘Come and see.’ And I looked, and behold, there was a black horse; and
the one sitting on it had a balance in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures say, ‘A measure of wheat for a silver coin,
and three measures of barley for a silver coin: and see that you do not
damage the oil and the wine’” (vs 5-6)—because they’re not going to have
another crop coming anytime soon. Just like you see where there’s famine and
starvation—right? What do they have? They have bags of flour! Isn’t that true? Yes, it’s going to happen!
This is going
to lead to great depravation, v 7: “And when He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, ‘Come and see.’ And I
looked, and behold, there was a pale horse; and the name of the one
sitting on it was Death, and the grave followed him; and authority was
given to them over one fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword and with famine and with death, and by the beasts of the earth” (vs 7-8).
Now let’s see what kind of situation this is going to be. It’s going effect the
whole world. No one is going to escape! Any safety that we have comes from God.
We know the
next seal is going to be the martyrdom of the saints. We also know that there
will be certain chosen ones that God will choose to go to a place of safety
(Rev. 12)—and it’s not going to be the people that think they are going.
I think it will end up being this way: The ones who plan on being there
won’t be there, and the ones who don’t know they’re going to be there, but are
faithful to God, God will send an angel and take them there.
Consider this
for a moment: With the current leadership in the Church and the fighting and
division among the Churches of God—who’s going to be in charge? I mean
they even have evangelists wondering about who’s going to be in charge. ‘Well,
I don’t like this guy, he doesn’t like me’—and they all hate each other.
I tell you what, none of them are going to go to a place of safety, so cleanse
your mind and expunge all the thoughts you’ve had concerning going to a place
of safety. You be faithful to God and you yield to Him and perhaps you might be
one that will go. In the meantime, the rest of us, we have to be faithful unto
death, as a witness to this world.
(go the next track)
Let’s see how
the prophecy in Jeremiah 25 shows that it’s going to involve all the nations of
the earth. Since all the nations of the earth went after the beast and the false prophet, worshipped him as God, received the mark of the beast and those Christians who are martyred are those who will not receive the mark
of the beast. Maybe there will be a good number of those who are in
captivity from the tribes of the children of Israel, the 144,000 and those in
the great innumerable multitude, who also do not receive the mark of the beast.
It’s going to affect everyone, one way or the other.
Jeremiah
25:26—this is a prophecy of drinking of the cup of the last events—it
doesn’t call it that in the Bible—but that’s what I would call it here:
“And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all
the kingdoms of the world… [What does that mean?] …which are on
the face of the earth… [all of them] …and the king of Sheshach shall drink
after them…. [Now, Sheshach must be the coming beast.]
But notice
what God says. When these events start (Rev. 6) there is going to no stopping;
it’s going to flow one event after another event, and it’s going to affect all
the nations on the earth. Verse 27: “Therefore you shall say to them, ‘Thus
says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Drink and be drunk, and vomit, and
fall, and rise no more because of the sword which I will send among you.”’” You
want to worship Satan? You want to worship a man? ‘You don’t want to
worship Me. You don’t want to give honor to Me. I’m sending a sword among you!’
“‘And it
shall come to pass if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then
you shall say to them, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘You shall certainly
drink. For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by My name…
[Remember, it is the signal event of the abomination of desolation standing in the Holy place, and that is in Jerusalem. This talks about the city
which is called ‘by My name,’ says God.] …and shall you go unpunished? You
shall not go unpunished. For I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of
the earth,’ says the LORD of hosts. And prophesy against them all these words,
and say to them, ‘The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from
His Holy habitation. He shall mightily roar over His dwelling place. He shall
give a shout, like those who tread out grapes, against all the people
of the earth…. [this is referring to the harvest of the wicked!] …A
noise shall come to the ends of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with
the nations; He will plead with all flesh. He will give those who are wicked to the sword,’ says the LORD.”’” (vs 28-31).
“Thus says
the LORD of hosts, ‘Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a
great whirlwind shall be stirred up from the farthest corners of the earth. And
the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even
to the other end of the earth; they shall not be mourned, nor gathered,
nor buried. They shall be as dung on the ground. Howl, you shepherds,
and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, you lords of the flock! For the
days of your slaughter and of your scatterings are fulfilled; and you shall
fall like a choice vessel.’” (vs 32-34). So, it’s going to happen, all the
nations of the world.
Now, let’s
see what else is going to effect it, because as we covered on Pentecost, God is
going to do a startling thing when He opens the sixth seal. The heavens are
going to ‘roll back like a scroll.’ The whole earth is going to be shaken, and
they’re going to see the sign of the Son of man in heaven that is like a new
sun out there in the universe. Let’s see this prophesied back in Isaiah, the
second chapter. It’s amazing how a lot of these things are in the Old Testament
and in the New Testament. That’s why we have the book of Revelation to put it
all together.
Isaiah 2:9:
“And men will be brought low, and humbled—forgive them not. Enter into
the rock and hide in the dust for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of His
majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the pride of men shall be
bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day” (vs 9-11)—and
it’s going to be quite a thing that’s going to take place.
Verse 17: And
the pride of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made
low; and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols He shall
utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the
caves of the earth for fear of the LORD and for the glory of His majesty, when
He arises to shake terribly the earth…. [That’s the sixth seal of Rev.
6.] …In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold,
which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the
bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged
rocks, for fear of the LORD and for the glory of His majesty, when He arises to
shake terribly the earth” (vs 17-21). That’s exactly what’s going to
happen!
Let’s see
what the earth is going to be like when that occurs. That’s why it says, ‘No
man knows the day or the hour,’ because the earth is going to be shaken in its
orbit. The things that take place are going to be awesome!
Isaiah 13:9[transcriber’s
correction]: “Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation; and He shall destroy
the sinners out of it, for the stars of the heavens and their constellations
shall not give light; the sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the
moon shall not reflect its light…. [perfect description of Rev. 6] …‘And I will
punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and
I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the
haughtiness of the tyrants. I will make man more scarce than gold; even man
more than the fine gold of Ophir. Therefore, I will shake the heavens, and the
earth shall move out of its place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in
the day of His fierce anger’” (vs 9-13).
That day is
coming! That’s the judgment that is going to be brought at that particular
time. Now, when the sign of the Son of man appears (as we covered on Pentecost
in Matt. 24) what we find is this: I said that that comes closer and closer and
closer to the earth. I think we need to modify that just a bit and say: the
sign of the Son of man looks like a new star out there in the heavens, is
going to stay there—not come closer and closer to the earth. The
armies, after this big shaking takes place, they’re going to re-gather for
battle.
Let’s come to Isaiah 24 and let’s see what’s going
to happen to the earth. Brethren, what I want you to understand is this, keep
this in mind: When we come back to the earth, to take over the world with the
Kingdom of God, this is the kind of earth that we’re going to inherit. We’re
going to have to—through the power of God and Christ, ruling and reigning
with Him—make it good and right and have the people of the earth rebuild
it again, those who survive, because there will be those who survive.
Isaiah 24:1:
“Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty and makes it waste, and turns it upside
down and scatters its inhabitants… [That doesn’t mean actually flipping it
upside down. But everything is upside down. It says in another place, ‘every
valley shall be exalted and every hill made low’; that’s turning it upside
down—is it not? Yes, indeed!] …and scatters its inhabitants. And
as it is with the people, so it shall be with the priest; as with the
slave, so with the master; as with the handmaid, so it is with her mistress; as
with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower;
as with the creditor, so with the debtor. The earth shall be completely laid
waste, and utterly stripped; for the LORD has spoken this word” (vs
1-3). So here’s the earth. Now, there are going to be people who are going to
want to be fighting over this because Satan is angry and he stirs up the men to
do these things (as we will see in just a little bit in the book of Rev.).
Verse 5: “And
the earth is defiled under its people; because they have transgressed the laws,
changed the ordinance, and have broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore, the
curse has devoured the earth, and they who dwell in it are desolate; therefore
the people of the earth are burned, and few men are left” (vs 5-6). How many
that’s going to be? Have no idea, but we’ll find out when that day
occurs and come back to help Christ in making these things take place.
Let’s come to Revelation and let’s pick up and carry
on from the Feast of Pentecost to the Feast of Trumpets and down to the return
of Christ and the saints standing on the Mt. of Olives. Rev. 7—where we
have the 144,000 and the great innumerable multitude that are saved. Let’s look
at it this way: That sign of the Son of man like being another sun out there in
the universe, if it stays out there, then when the 144,000 and the great
innumerable multitude are sealed, there’s a time of peace and calm, and time
between Pentecost, when that occurs, and Trumpets, when the next even takes
place beginning in Rev. 8. Men are going to have a chance to re-gather
themselves, get their armies situated again, make do with the best that they
have. So, we find here, when we come to Rev. 8, that now it’s not men against
men alone, or men and demons against men alone; but now we have the angels of
God directly intervening in the affairs of the earth, beginning with the
trumpet plagues.
You go from
Pentecost to Trumpets and then from Trumpets to Pentecost resurrection, then
Trumpets at the end. This is the timeframe that we’re dealing with. Revelation
8:1: “Now when He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half hour…. [Exactly how long that is we’ll have to wait and see.]
…Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were
given to them” (vs 1-2). Notice how these are a very close repeat with the
things of the seals and also a very close repeat of the things which took place
in the book of Exodus when God was bringing Egypt low and to prepare for the
children of Israel to come out of the land of Egypt—same kind of plagues.
“And another
angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar; and much incense
was given to him, so that he might offer it with the prayers of all the
saints on the golden altar that was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense went up before God
from the hand of the angel, ascending with the prayers of the saints.
And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire from the altar, and cast it into the earth; and there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings,
and an earthquake” (vs 3-5). As we go through there are many earthquakes that
take place. That all now is preparing for the seven angels to sound their
trumpets, and the first four sound one! two! three! four!—very quickly,
one after the other.
“Then the
seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound their trumpets. And the first angel sounded his trumpet; and there was hail
and fire mingled with blood, and it was cast upon the earth; and a third of the
trees were burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up…. [Imagine what that’s
going to be like. Just think of the event that takes place with that. Think of
all the death, all smoke, all the things that occur with that.] …Then the
second angel sounded his trumpet; and there was cast into the sea
as it were a great mountain burning with fire, and a third of the sea
became blood; and a third of the living creatures that were in the sea
died, and a third of the ships were destroyed” (vs 6-9).
Notice, the
next one comes quickly again: “And the third angel sounded his trumpet;
and there fell out of heaven a great star, burning like a lamp; and it
fell on a third of the rivers, and on the fountains of waters. Now the name of
the star is Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood; and many men
died from drinking the waters because they were made bitter” (vs 10-11).
After they were made bitter in blood, then the flowing water again cleansed it
out, just like it did in the land of Egypt when the plagues came, because
there’s more time. You can’t have total bitter water because then everyone
would die. This was for a period of time and after that period of time the
waters began flowing again their regular water.
Verse 12:
“Then the fourth angel sounded his trumpet; and a third of the sun was
smitten, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars; so that a third of
them were darkened; and a third part of the day did not shine, and likewise a
third part of the night.” That’s why no one knows the day or the hour. The
earth has been shaken. Everything that affects the earth, affects its orbit,
it’s time; everything is going to be out of kilter. Now, we have it affecting
the sun and the moon and the stars. Tremendous thing! And this is just the
beginning, because now what is going to happen is the great war of Joel
2—the war of the Day of the Lord. And it’s going to be awesome, indeed!
It’s going to involve Satan retaliating back and God allowing more demons.
Wherever the demons are in the abyss—however many there are and we don’t
know how many that is—they are going to come out like grasshoppers.
Revelation
9:1 “And the fifth angel sounded his trumpet; and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to the earth, and there was given to him… [this star is
an angel] …the key to the bottomless abyss. And he opened the bottomless abyss;
and there went up smoke from the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace;
and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit. Then locusts came onto the earth from the smoke;
and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And
it was said to them that they should not damage the grass of the earth, or any
green thing, or any tree, but only the men who did not have the seal of God in
their foreheads” (vs 1-4). And the only ones who the seal of God in their
foreheads would be those in a place of safety, the 144,000 and the great
innumerable multitude.
Notice it
says, v 4, “…they should not damage the grass of the earth…” What happens when
grass is burned? Then you have all this cloudiness and then you have rain. It
grows back! Grass isn’t going to stop growing. Just like with every tragedy
that happens, the plants and things keep going on. So, that’s why there’s grass
again, and that’s why this time it’s ‘don’t hurt the grass’—“or any green
thing, or any tree…” Because at that point they’re pretty precious.
Now, with the
super-secret weapon of war that they have, that’s like a scorpion, v 5: “And it
was given to them that they should not kill them, but that they should be
tormented five months… [when the king of the north (Dan. 11: ‘tidings out of
the north and the east and goes forward in great fury.’ This appears to be the
fulfillment of that. Then we know there’s going to come the retaliation, as we
find here in the last part of Rev. 9.] …and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. And in those days men will seek
death but will not find it; and they will desire to die, but death will flee
from them. And the appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared
for war; and on their heads were crowns like those of gold; and
their faces were like the faces of men; and they had hair like
women’s hair; and their teeth were like those of lions. And they had
breastplates like iron breastplates; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots drawn by many horses running to war”
(vs 5-9). Then it shows they have the power of the scorpion in the tail.
Verse 11:
“And they have over them a king, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon… [a name of Satan the devil] …but the name he has in Greek is Apollyon…. [same thing! And of course Apollyon or Apollo is the god of war!]
…The first woe is past. Behold, after these things two more woes are still to
come” (vs 11-12). And they’re going to be even more devastating.
After the
torment is worn off, a time of recuperating, then the armies of the east of
200-million—you’re not going to get a 200-million-man army in one single
location. It describes where they will come from—the east—and come
across the River Euphrates. So that means that those armies are strung out
going all the way east and coming all the way from the north, assembling down
there in Babylon, or what is called Iraq today, and they are going to come
after the king of the north who is centralized there in Palestine.
Verse 13:
“And the sixth angel sounded his trumpet; and I heard a voice from the
four horns of the golden altar that is before God; and it said to
the sixth angel, who had the trumpet, ‘Loose the four angels who are bound in
the great river Euphrates’” (vs 13-14). I tell you, that area of Babylon and
Iraq today has been nothing but deception and war and killing and death, and
just every plague that has ever been—just like God has said when He
cursed Babylon the Great, and it has been fulfilled and will be fulfilled even
in this.
Verse 15:
“Then the four angels, who had been prepared… [notice how precise God is, and
He’s the One Who knows what the timing of these things are]: …for the hour and
day and month and year, were loosed, so that they might kill a third of men;
and the number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred
thousand-thousand; and I heard the number of them” (vs 15-16). Then he saw
them. Tremendous vision of the kind of super war machines that will have been
developed by that time.
Verse 17:
“And so I saw the horses in the vision, and those sitting on them, who had
fiery breastplates, even like jacinth and brimstone. And the heads of the
horses were like heads of lions, and fire and smoke and brimstone shoot
out of their mouths. By these three, a third of men were killed: by the fire
and the smoke and the brimstone that shoot out of their mouths. For their power
is in their mouths; for their tails are like serpents, and have
heads, and with them they inflict wounds” (vs 17-19).
Notice how
stubborn that men are in the face of all of this. You would think they would
say, ‘Oh, God, I give up! Oh, God, I repent!’ But they don’t! Verse 20:
“But the rest of the men who were not killed by these plagues still did
not repent of the works of their hands, that they might not worship
demons, and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood, which do not
have the power to see, nor to hear, nor to walk. And they did not repent of
their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornications, nor of their
thievery” (vs 20-21). And there’s a pretty good indication from the Greek that
sorceries can include drugs, drug trade.
Let’s just
stop here for a little sidebar: The truth about the war in Afghanistan is this:
Who controls the opium and hashish? That’s the truth of the war. American
troops, during the harvest of the opium, were standing there guarding the
Afghanis as they harvested it, so they could sell it! Don’t you think that’s
also part of what this fight is all about? Yes, indeed!
Then we have in Revelation 10, the seven thunders. We don’t know
what those are, because God told John, ‘Don’t write it.’ So, no one knows what
they are! Yet, someone comes along and says, ‘I know what the seven thunders
are.’ Really! When did God tell you about it? Then the last part of this there
has to be a time for a last minute warning again.
Revelation 10:7: “But
in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound the trumpet, the mystery of God shall also be completed… [right when he sounds it]
…according to the Gospel that He declared to His servants the prophets….
[He was told, John was given another vision]: …Then the voice that I heard from
heaven spoke to me again, and said, ‘Go, take the little book that is open in
the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the earth.’ And
I went to the angel, and said to him, ‘Give me the little book.’ And he
said to me, ‘Take it and eat it; and it shall make your belly bitter,
but in your mouth it shall be sweet as honey.’ Then I took the little book out
of the angel’s hand, and ate it; and it was sweet as honey in my mouth; but
after I ate it, my belly was bitter. And he said to me, ‘You must again
prophesy against many people, and nations, and languages and kings’” (vs 7-11).
Exactly how that’s going to work out? Exactly how that is going to be done? We’ll
just have to wait and see, we don’t know.
Then we have
Revelation 11, when the resurrection takes place. With this sign of the Son of
man out there in the heavens, it’s out there and all of a sudden in the midst
of these wars and fighting each other, and the seven thunders takes place,
something happens right over Jerusalem. That is the sudden appearance of the
great Sea of Glass. A question was asked: Can men see the Sea of Glass? Well,
you go back to Exo. 24 and did not 70 of the elders of Israel and Moses and
Joshua and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu—did they not see the God of
Israel walking on a sea of glass that was like jasper stone? Yes, indeed! They will see it. It will be visible.
Then the
seventh angel shall sound and the dead and Christ shall be raised, but just
before that the two witnesses will be raised. Then the trumpet shall sound and
all the dead in Christ shall be raised. I think, as a witness to the whole
world, the whole world is going to see the event of the resurrection. They’re
going to think, ‘Oh, what on earth is this? The invasion from outer-space?
Look, they’re taking people!’ People are coming out of their graves and they’re
being taken up to the Sea of Glass. That’s going to be a tremendous event.
Think of what the world is going to think about when they look up there and see
that. All the generals who are left, and all the armies who are left, they’re
going to say, ‘Boy, we’d better get busy and start fighting against these
people, because this invasion from outer-space—which it will be; Christ
coming to the earth as a warrior—is that not an invasion from
outer-space? And don’t we come with Him? Yes! Did not Jesus say, ‘If My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants
fight’? Yes, indeed! So, we’re also going to fight!
Revelation
19—let’s see what happens here. The seven last plagues are poured out.
Still, there’s no repentance! Then a tremendous thing takes place. How are you
going to handle this for those of you who think that the Sea of Glass is some
kind of symbolic language? Well, no, it’s real language!
Revelation
19:1: “And after these things I heard the loud voice of a great
multitude in heaven, saying, ‘Hallelujah!…. [How did the great multitude get in heaven? Obviously, it’s in the first heaven where the clouds are,
because Christ said He would ‘come with the clouds.’ We are to meet Christ in
the air, and we are to be standing on the Sea of Glass (Rev. 15)] (and we’re
shouting): … ‘Hallelujah!…. [which is praise to God!] …The salvation and the
glory and the honor and the power belong to the Lord our God.’” So, we
see all the seven last plagues poured out! We’re praising God for it!
“‘For true
and righteous are His judgments; for He has judged the great
whore, who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and He has avenged the
blood of His servants at her hand.’…. [All the martyred saints have been
resurrected.] … And they said a second time, ‘Hallelujah! And her smoke shall
ascend upward into the ages of eternity.’” (vs 2-3).
Let me tell
you something: The smoke goes up and once it escapes out the atmosphere of the
earth, it goes on into space forever! Just like they found out when they sent
the satellite that went up to Mars, took pictures of Mars, and went on to
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and on out into the universe—way out into the
universe! And even with the small battery power that they had, they were still
able to communicate with it, years and years after they figured that it would
be over and done. But it’s still out there some place. Just like the smoke of
the torment of those who receive the mark of the beast. They’re not
tormented forever! It’s the smoke that ascended, the smoke of their torment
ascends into the ages of eternity. Once something is out in the universe, it’s
there! It doesn’t rot! It doesn’t go away, unless God makes it go away! And in
this case apparently He’s not going to let it go away.
Verse 4:
“‘And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and
worshiped God, Who sits on the throne, saying, ‘Amen. Hallelujah!’” How about
that! On this Sea of Glass, is there going to be the throne of God? Could
very well be! Can we see God the Father at that time? Why not! Who’s
going to perform the marriage with Christ and the bride? Why not God the
Father? Will we be spirit beings then so we can see Him? Yes, indeed!
Verse 5: “And
a voice came forth from the throne, saying, ‘Praise our God, all His servants,
and all who fear Him, both small and great.’ And I heard a voice like that of a
great multitude, and like the sound of many waters, and the sound
of mighty thunderings, saying, ‘Hallelujah!… [the third time ‘hallelujah!’] …For the Lord God Almighty has reigned…. [He’s coming back to this earth
with His bride and with all the saints!] …Let us be glad and shout with joy;
and let us give glory to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His
wife has made herself ready’” (vs 5-7). That’s what we need to be busy doing,
brethren, making ourselves ready:
- growing
in grace
- growing
in knowledge
- growing
in understanding
- growing
in the Truth of God
so that we will be ready for this day!
“And it was granted to her that
she should be clothed in fine linen, pure and bright; for the fine linen is the
righteousness of the saints. And he said to me, ‘Write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ And he said to me, ‘These
are the true words of God’” (vs 8-9). Brethren, do we understand that?
We’ve got the greatest future to look forward to and that’s what we’re going to
be talking about and covering during the Feast of Tabernacles, because the
Feast of Trumpets then is the beginning of the fulfilling of what we are going
to be doing, working with Jesus Christ to rule this world.
Verse 11:
“And I saw heaven open; and behold, a white horse; and He Who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He does judge and make war….
[That’s why the white horse (Rev. 6) is not Christ, but a false Christ.] …And His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written that no one knows except Him. And He was clothed with a garment dipped in blood; and His name is The Word
of God. And the armies in heaven… [that’s
us! And how many ever angels joining us] …were following Him on white horses; and they were clothed in fine linen, white and pure…. [that’s the righteousness of
the saints] …And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He
might smite the nations; and He shall shepherd them with an iron rod; and He
treads the winepress of the fury and the wrath of the Almighty God. And on His garment and on His thigh He has a name written: King of kings and Lord of
lords” (vs 11-16). He is the King and He is the Lord! And we are kings and we
are the lords!
“Then I saw
an angel standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all
the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, ‘Come and gather yourselves
together to the supper of the great God so that you may eat the flesh of
kings, and the flesh of chief captains, and the flesh of mighty men,
and the flesh of horses, and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all, free and bond, and small and great’” (vs 17-18).
God has a
special treat for the beast and the false prophet. He’s not going
to let them die in these plagues, but He’s going to have an angel take them and
cast them into a Lake of Fire. “And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth
and their armies, gathered together to make war with Him Who sits on the horse,
and with His army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who
worked miracles in his presence, by which he had deceived those who received
the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Those two were cast
alive into the Lake of Fire, which burns with brimstone… [like being thrown
into a molten lava lake—POOF!—no recovery from that!] …and the rest
were killed by the sword of Him Who sits on the horse, even the sword that goes out of His mouth; and all the birds were filled with their flesh” (vs
19-21).
Let’s come
back to Zechariah 14; let’s see how this prophesied clear back then. ‘In that
day’—so we have from Trumpets, when the trumpet plagues begin, to the
next Trumpets, when we come back to the earth and we fight against the armies
of the beast and the false prophet and we take over the world!
Now, let’s see how we come; let’s see what’s prophesied.
Zechariah
14:1: “Behold, the day of the LORD comes, and your spoil shall be divided in
your midst, ‘For I will gather all nations to battle against Jerusalem; and the
city shall be taken, and the houses plundered, and the women raped. And half of
the city shall go into exile, and the rest of the people shall not be cut off
from the city.’ And the LORD shall go out and fight against those nations…
[just read of that in Rev. 19] …as when He fought in the day of battle. And His
feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives… [Isn’t that interesting,
because when Jesus left the earth to ascend into heaven for the final time,
where were they standing? On the Mt. of Olives! So He comes right back
to that same place.] …which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the
Mount of Olives shall split in two, from the east and to the west, and make a
very great valley…. [So, the whole typography of the earth is going to be
changed.] …And half of the mountain shall move toward the north, and half of it
toward the south. And you shall flee to the valley of My mountains; for the
valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled
from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. And the
LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with You” (vs 1-5). That’s
us, brethren!
This day of
Trumpets has a tremendous meaning for us and for the world. God is not going to
return to this earth in a secret rapture. It is going to be known! It is going
to be devastating! The earth is going to be a cindering hulk of dead bodies and
earth and fallen buildings—destroyed because of war! Yet, there will
still be people alive, and we will be the ones to go save them.
Verse 6: “And
it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark.
And it will be one day, which shall be known to the LORD, neither day nor
night; but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light. And it
shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of
them shall go toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea.
In summer and in winter it shall be. And the LORD shall be King over all the
earth; in that day there shall be one LORD, and His name shall be one” (vs
6-9).
So,
that’s the day we are looking forward to. That is the meaning of the Feast of
Trumpets.
I’m happy we
could get together on the Feast of Trumpets and now we can look forward to the
Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles.
Scriptural References:
1)
Leviticus
23:23-25
2)
Daniel
11:40
3)
Matthew
24:14-15
4)
2
Thessalonians 2:1-11
5)
Revelation
13:2-9
6)
Matthew
24:16-22
7)
Revelation
6:2-8
8)
Jeremiah
25:26-34
9)
Isaiah
2:9-11, 17-21
10) Isaiah 13:9-13
11) Isaiah 24:1-3, 5-6
12) Revelation 8:1-12
13) Revelation 9:1-9, 11-21
14) Revelation 10:7-11
15) Revelation 19:1-9, 11-21
16) Zechariah 14:1-9
Scriptures referenced, not
quoted:
- Revelation
11, 14
- Habakkuk
1, 2
- Revelation
13:1
- Joel 2
- Exodus
24
- Revelation
15
Also referenced: Sermon Series:
God’s Grace and
Commandment-Keeping
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