FEAST OF TABERNACLES 2006 – DAY ONE

Fred R. Coulter, October 7, 2006

Greetings brethren, this is the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles 2006. And the feasts of God as we know, and the closer we get to the end, we understand and realize that they are the most important thing that we need to understand in relationship to understanding God's plan and what He's doing. And we know that God tells us we are to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

Let’s come here to Deuteronomy 16 for just a minute, Deuteronomy 16 and verse 16. And here we are told how we are to keep the feasts. Verse 16: “Three times in a year shall all your males appear before the LORD your God in the place which he shall choose; the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of weeks, the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty: Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He gives to you.” (Deut. 16:16-17). And of course, every year we go through these things and we need to understand and realize this: that of everything in the Bible when you put it altogether, there is more about the meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles than any other feast day because this is going to be the great harvest of God.

Now let’s come back here to Leviticus 23 and let’s read again concerning the Feast of Tabernacles. Now we also need to realize this: that the Feast of Tabernacles for the children of Israel was to remind them that they were slaves in Egypt and that they also dwelt in tents while they were coming with the exodus and dwelling in the wilderness for forty years. Now let’s pick it up here in verse 33, Leviticus 23: “And the LORD spoken to Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD: On the first day there shall be a holy convocation:” Which is today. “…You shall do no servile work therein. Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be a holy convocation; and you shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it shall be a solemn assembly; and you shall do no servile work therein. These are the feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations” (Lev.23:33-37). And so what we see with the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day is this: there is very, very little in the Old Testament explaining about the Last Great Day, and we have to put all the Scriptures together which we will when we come to the Last Great Day.

Now come over here to verse 39: “And in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land…” So this is the great harvest all the harvest is over with. “…You shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a Sabbath…” So whenever you see a holy convocation that means it is a Sabbath. “…And on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath.” And here’s what they were to do, and this also shows the very temporariness of physical life. Verse 40: “And you shall take unto you the first day the boughs of goodly trees, the branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. And you shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations: you shall celebrate it in the seventh month.” (Lev. 23:39-41). Now that seventh month is according to the calculated Hebrew calendar.

Verse 42: “You shall dwell in booths…” Now that’s temporary dwellings and we’ll talk about some of the meaning of it today, but basically today we’re all a temporary tabernacle or temple of God awaiting the resurrection. “…All that are Israelite born shall dwell in booths: That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.” (Lev. 23:42-44).

And of course as we know, Leviticus 23 is the one chapter in the whole Bible that contains all the feasts of God. And the way that we understand them is: that we follow God’s instructions on how to understand His Word – here a little, there a little, line upon line, precept upon precept, and we put it together to build a whole picture. The religions of this world and carnal minded people like to take Scriptures that are apparent contradictions and subtract. In other words, they fight Scripture with Scripture. Well, God doesn't want that.

Now before we take up the offering, let’s come here to Luke 16 and let’s see something here that’s important for us to understand about our relationship with God. We all want eternal life. We all want to serve with Christ. Now I got a letter from a man saying, “I don’t desire to be a king or priest. Is there some place where they might even have a street sweeper in New Jerusalem?” And I said, “Well I don’t know, I don’t think the streets are going to be dirty, but there will be plenty of room for all of those who will be helpers in addition to being kings and priests.” So don’t worry about it, and besides, as I mentioned to this man the important thing is to realize this: when you are resurrected and are a spirit being, your whole outlook is going to be entirely different than what it is as a human being. So we won’t be limited in the things that we’re limited in today, and it will be a whole lot better.

Now let’s come here to Luke 16 and let’s pick it up here in verse 10. Here is a very important thing to understand, and you see the way that we tithe and handle our finances, and so forth, is all a part of how we live God’s way. And the way that we bring offerings and use the money that we have today, which is soon going to be hyper inflated to where it’s going to be a very difficult proposition at all to really have some profitable things to do with money. So He says here verse 10: “The one who is faithful in the things that are least is also faithful in much…” Now this covers every aspect of our Christian life. “The one who is unrighteous in the things that are least is also unrighteous in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will trust you with the true riches?” And that’s what we’re going to be given – the true riches of God, the true wealth of God, and not only that – when we are kings and priests in the Kingdom of God, the nations and the people are going to bring their tithes to us and we bring a heave offering of ten percent to Christ. So we need to think and understand about that! It is going to be a tremendous thing when that occurs. So think about this as you prepare your offering. Think about this in relationship to how you worship and serve God and so forth. Verse 11: “Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust you with the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s…” Because you see the tithe and the offering belong to God. That’s what He said. Those are His, but he gives us the choice of deciding to do it and participating in it, to know whether we’re faithful or not, to know whether we love Him with all our heart or not. And this is expressed in the things that we do that we give back to God. So He says, “If you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will you give to you your own?” Now that’s talking about the resurrection when we are in the Kingdom of God, “…Who’s going to give you your own?”

Now here’s a very important principle, verse 13: “No servant is able to serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Luke 16:10-13). So you keep that in mind in everything that you do with your tithes and offerings.

And now at this time we will take up an offering for the first holy day, for the Feast of Tabernacles 2006.

Now let’s continue on and see the meaning of this day and look at it from what God teaches us, and as I mentioned, there are more themes, there is more information in the Bible for all of the Feast of Tabernacles in the Kingdom of God than anything that we have of any of the other holy days.

Now let’s come to Luke 13, since we’re in the book of Luke, just turn back a few pages there Luke 13 and verse 22. And you go through and when you study the harmony, go through and see how much Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God. And that was the beginning of the real preaching of the Kingdom of God. See after Jesus was baptized and he came into Galilee, he said: “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” That was the beginning of the preaching of the Kingdom of God. Now here in Luke 13 and verse 22 we find that, that’s what He was doing He was teaching the Kingdom of God and all the aspects of the relationship with God leading up to being resurrected and entering into the Kingdom of God. “Now He was going through the cities and villages preaching while making progress toward Jerusalem. And one said to him, Lord, are those who are being saved few?” Well the answer is: yes, few not many. Remember what it says in Matthew 7 [verses 13 and 14] “…For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction… but strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life” yes, few. Verse 24, Luke 13: Then he said to them, Strive with your whole being to enter in through the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, will seek to enter in but will not be able.”

Now we can see that today how many thousands of kind, professing Christians are there out there who are really not Christians, indeed, but have been deluded into thinking that they are. So He says this in verse 25. Now there’s always a time, which you might say, a cut off point, and for many of us the cut off point is that we’ve lived to the end of our lives, are put in the grave and are awaiting the resurrection. But there’s always the cut off point, and Jesus brought this out over and over again. Now verse 25 for He says, “Once the master of the house is risen up and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside the door and knock, saying, Lord, Lord open to us; and he shall answer and say to you, I do not know you or where you are from. And you shall begin to say, we ate, we drank in Your presence, and You have taught in our streets. And He shall say, I tell you I do not know you or where you are from. Depart from Me all you workers of unrighteousness.” (Luke 13:22-25).

Now this applies to all those professing-Christians who say you do not need to keep the Commandments of God, you do not need to keep the holy days of God, all you need to do is believe and have an experience in your heart and you are saved. Well you see there’s far more to it than that. Now notice what He says, verse 28: “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you shall see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves are cast out.” Now this is talking about the resurrection and our reward, and our working and functioning in our reward as we'll see later here. Verse 29: “Then they shall come from the east and the west, and from the north and the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 13:28-29). That’s what’s going to happen at the resurrection because Jesus said He is going to, at the sound of the trumpet, He is going to send out the Angels who are going to carry the resurrected saints from the four corners of the earth – same situation that we’re talking about there.

Now let’s come to Luke 21, since right here in the book of Luke, and let’s again review how Christ is going to come. Luke 21 and verse 25, and this will show us about how it’s going to be, and as I’ve mentioned and have been emphasizing, the events that the holy days picture are historical, epical, tremendous, powerful, interventions of God to show Himself to His church and to the world. And God is just sort of letting things go their way now because it’s His purpose to do so because He is storing it all up for the magnificent return of Jesus Christ. Now let’s pick it up here in Luke 21 and verse 25, no let’s go back to verse 24: “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And there shall be signs in the sun, and moon, and stars and on the earth distress and anxiety among the nations; the seas roaring with rolling surges; Men dying of heart attacks from fear and dread of the things that are coming on the whole world; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.” We covered that, but I don’t think we really grasp what it’s going to be. Not only is the earth going to be shaken, but the powers of heaven shall be shaken. “Then they shall see the Son of man coming on a cloud with great power and glory.” (Luke 21:24-27). And so this is talking about not only the glorious return of Christ, but the beginning of the Kingdom of God on earth.

Now let’s come to II Thessalonians the first chapter and let’s see what Paul wrote and we will see how when Christ comes to the earth we know that He is going to take care of the armies that are coming to invade and coming against Christ and the saints, fighting against them, and we know that Satan has to be bound. Let’s come here to II Thessalonians the first chapter, and let’s begin in verse 3. But we know that God is going to put down all evil and we're going to see it’ll take a little time for some people to get the point. Not everyone gets it all at once. Some people will learn a whole lot faster than others. But others are going to have to be corrected in order for them to really submit to the Kingdom of God. We’ll see that in just a minute. Verse 3 now, II Thessalonians 1: “We are duty-bound to thank God always for you, brethren, even as it is fitting, because your faith is increasing abundantly…” And we hope, brethren, that that is happening with you too. “…And a love of each one of you is abounding toward one another; and we ourselves are boasting about you in the churches of God because of your endurance and faith in all your persecutions, and tribulations that you are enduring.” And we have that right ahead of us again just like it was there with those in Thessalonica. Verse 5: “Your faith and endurance are a visible testimony of the righteous judgment of God, so that you may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God for which you are suffering. Since it is righteous with God to recompense tribulation to those who are persecuting you; And to you, who are persecuted, rest with us at the revelation of Jesus Christ from heaven with His mighty angels, Dealing out vengeance with flaming fire upon those who do not know God, and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; Who will suffer the penalty of eternal destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His strength, When he shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in that day of all those who believe (because our testimony was believed by you); For which cause also we are praying continually for you…”

Which we do brethren; we pray daily for you that you may grow, that you may change, that you may overcome, that you may repent, that you may be healed, that you may be relieved of distress, that you may have strength in your trials, that you may have wisdom in understanding what you need to do to live your life and all those things we pray daily for you.

Continuing in verse 11: “…We pray daily for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and may fulfill in you all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith in power;” Now this is what we have to look forward to. Verse 12: “So that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him according to the grace of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” (II Thes. 1:3-12). So that’s quite a salutation isn’t it? Yes! He’s telling all of them what they need to know and what it needs to be to attain to the Kingdom of God.

Now let’s come back here to revelation 20. We know that Satan has to be bound, but once he is bound, that we're going to see, doesn’t necessarily change the way of the thinking of people, and certain things are going to have to be done to help convince them that they need to yield to God. Now let’s pick it up here in verse 4: “And I saw thrones;” That’s for ruling, for judgment, for authority. “… And they that sat on them, and judgment was given to them;” Now later in the feast I’m going to cover for two days: “Judge Righteous Judgment”. We need to learn how to judge righteous judgment today – that’s all a part of our education preparing for the Kingdom of God. “…And I saw all the souls of those who were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and those who did not worship the beast, or his image, and did not received the mark in their foreheads or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” (Rev. 20:4). That is the millennium and that’s going to be the time of God’s rest, the time of God’s glory, and the time of our helping Jesus Christ and God the Father bring many, many, many billions of people into the Kingdom of God.

Now it’s going to be accomplished after Satan is removed. And all of those who are in the first resurrection and rule and reign with Jesus Christ will always be in a position above those who come into the Kingdom of God during the millennium. They’re going to have an entirely different set of circumstances, as we will see; Satan isn’t going to be there. But God’s Spirit is going to fill the earth, and it’s going to be a time of tremendous love and joy and everything like this.

Now come down here to verse 6, “Blessed and holy is he has part in the first resurrection…” Now blessed and holy put you in the same category as God. “Over these the second death has no power. But they shall be priests of God and Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. And when the thousand years have been completed, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison;” And that’s at the end of the millennium, and we'll cover that on day seven when we get there – everything in its due order.

Now let’s see some things in the book of Daniel concerning the Kingdom of God and of our being able to rule and reign with Christ. Daniel the seventh chapter, it’s quite an interesting thing that the book of Daniel covers here. (Now if you don’t have our series on Daniel and Revelation, be sure to write for it.) Daniel 7. Now let’s think about this for a minute; let’s think about all the powers of the earth as they are going to come together at the end time under the beast. This is what it’s talking about here with a little horn. And if you don’t have our tape: “The Beast Who Was and Is Not and Yet Is” you need to understand that the beast that is coming is going to be a worldwide government and a worldwide religion through the beast and the false prophet. This is what it’s talking about here and he said verse 21: “I beheld, and the same horn…” That’s the little horn. “…Made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;” Now verse 22, Daniel 7: “Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High;” Now that ties right in with Revelation 20 doesn’t it? We are going to be given judgment. “…And the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. And the kingdom means the whole world. Verse 23: “Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth, which shall be diverse from all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first; and he shall subdue three kings.” Now you can get the information on that in the series on Daniel and Revelation.

Now notice, “And he shall speak great words against the most High…” That ties in with Revelation 13 and II Thessalonians 2 “…And shall wear out the saints of the most High and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” That again ties in with Revelation 13 about the martyrdom of the saints. Verse 26: “But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy unto the end.” Verse 27: “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High…” Now I want you to just … more and more it’s being impressed upon my mind, so I’m going to try to impress it upon your mind, the greatness of the calling that God has called us to, and the work that He has called us to do, and the work of straightening out the whole world, and to be able to rule and reign with Christ a thousand years, and bring into the Kingdom of God the great harvest of millions and millions and millions of people. Now notice [continuing, verse 27], “…Whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him” (Daniel 7:21-27). Now let’s see how He starts doing that. Let’s see what Christ needs to do in order to get this accomplished.

Now let’s come here to Isaiah 24 and let’s look at the condition of the earth. You need to understand what that’s going to be. Isaiah 24 shows you the work that we have to do, you see every valley’s going to be exalted, every hill is going to be made low, the whole earth is going to be in chaos and confusion in order for all the works of men and all the works of Satan to be destroyed, and then begin building the Kingdom of God. God isn’t going to build on the broken foundations of men, He’s going to build on the foundation of Jesus Christ. He is going to build the Kingdom in truth and in righteousness and the love of God. So when we look at what the earth is going to be like here in Isaiah 24, and let’s begin in verse 1: “Behold the LORD makes the earth empty, and makes it waste, and turns it upside down, and scatters the inhabitants abroad.” So just think about the mental and emotional condition of those people who survive this.

Now recently I saw on history channel, a special on the survivors of the tsunami. And everyone was [saying], Oh, God, why did this happen? Oh, God, why did you abandon me? Their lives are going to be absolutely turned upside down. Their emotions and their feelings are going to be shattered. They are going to be just shells of people wanting to know why. Why did this happen? How did this come about? Where was God? That’s why Christ has to return. And then He shows exactly what’s going to happen – the whole earth is going to be upside down. Verse 3: “The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD has spoken this word. The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth is also defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, and changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore has the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.” (Isaiah 24:3-6.)

Now we need to state right here, a very important thing to understand: the Seventh-Day Adventists teach that no one survives the end-time and the earth is desolate for a thousand years and all the saints are in heaven going over, looking into the lives of every human being to judge them. Well now, let’s understand something; how are you going to fulfill all the other prophecies which show that the earth is going to be rebuilt, that the earth is going to be made a glorious and a wonderful place for people to live in, if it’s desolate for a thousand years? No. Let’s come over here to the very last verse in Chapter 24. “Then…” it says, “…the moon shall be confounded, and the sun shall be ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.” (Isaiah 24:23). That means that all of the, like we read earlier, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (and we can go back to Seth and to Enoch and Noah and to all the righteous kings and all the righteous prophets) they will be in the Kingdom of God; Jesus said they would.

Now let’s come on over here to Zechariah 14 and this talks about what’s going to happen when Christ sets His foot on the earth. Now let’s come to Zechariah 14. Let’s see what's going to happen. Let’s see how, right at first, God is going to have to deal with the different nations. Zechariah 14 says in verse 4, as we covered on Trumpets, His feet and the feet of the saints will stand on the Mount of Olives. “…The LORD shall come…” verse 5, the last sentence. “… My God shall come and all the saints with Him.” Now verse 9 “And the LORD shall be King over all the earth:” That’s when Jesus said, remember He told Pilate, “If My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight.” And so now is the time. Verse 9: “… In that day there shall be one LORD and his name one.” (Zech. 14:4-5, 9).

Let’s come over here to verse 16, very important… let’s see how God deals with people, because not all are going to submit. Some will submit right away, but others are going to be disbelieving, others are not going to want to keep the Feast of Tabernacles and what they would label as “those Jewish laws.” Verse 16: “… It shall come to pass that every one that is left of all the nations…” Now that is an all-inclusive statement, not just the nations alone, but all the nations and everyone that is left. The few men that are left… now we don’t know how many there will be, but if it follows the pattern of the other things, maybe there will be a tenth of all human beings who will survive all the end-time events, and come on over into the beginning of the rule and reign of the Kingdom of God. And of “…all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.” Now that’s a very powerful Scripture isn’t it? Now you keep that in mind for anyone who says “Oh well, you don’t need to keep those feasts.” Well, show them what Christ is going to do when He returns. He’s going to make them keep the Feast of Tabernacles. He’s going to enforce it. Now some will willingly keep it, but there are going to be some who are not going to be convinced, and God has many different ways of convincing them.

So here's how He’s going to do it, Zechariah 14, verse 17: “And it shall be that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship…” Now you’re not going to get all human beings to Jerusalem, so that means in whatever nation or country that the people are living in, their representatives are going to represent them in Jerusalem, and they will keep the Feast of Tabernacles there, while everybody back in their nation will be likewise keeping the Feast of Tabernacles there. “…To worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.” Now it doesn’t take very long for people to get the point when there is no rain, and there are no crops, and there are no blessings. Then He says here, verse 18: “…if the family of Egypt go not up…” And this is going to be a hard…can you imagine what a hard, bitter pill this is going to be for Egypt? And of course, Egypt represents all the Moslems and all the Moslem nations – right? Yes. Think of this: the bitter pill of going to Jerusalem and of keeping the Feast of Tabernacles. They’re going to have to give up their Ramadan. They are going to have to give up their Friday day of worship and keep the Sabbath. Now all the Protestants and Catholics, on the other hand, are going to have to give up Christmas and Easter and Halloween, and all the occult, pagan holidays and give up Sunday, and they’re going to have to keep the Sabbath. And they’re going to have to keep all the holy days of God and the Feast of Tabernacles.

You see, there is going to have to be a tremendous change of thinking that is going to have to take place which will be accomplished in two ways. One of them is by coercion, which we’re reading of here. If they don’t do it, God is going to coerce them to do it. Now it says, verse 18: “…and come not up, that have no rain; there shall be the plague with which the LORD shall smite the heathen that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.” Verse 19: “This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.” (Zech. 14:16-19). So if they don't have rain in their country, He is going to send a plague. Well, did God send plagues on Egypt one time? Yes, He did. He’s going to send it on them another time to show that He is God; to show that He is powerful; to show that all the gods of Egypt, and all the gods of this world are nothing.

Now let’s come down here to Isaiah the fourth chapter. And of course through Isaiah and the Psalms and especially Isaiah, there is so much in the book of Isaiah concerning the Kingdom of God and bringing it about it's going to be…you know that is worth two or three sermons in itself. I think one year I did almost the whole Feast of Tabernacles just going through the book of Isaiah and the book of Psalms. So we’ll touch on some of that this time. But you see there's so much with the Feast of Tabernacles that every year, even though we cover the same theme and the same meaning of the feast; there is so much, that it can be different from year-to-year and day-to-day during the Feast of Tabernacles.

Now let’s pick it up here Isaiah 4, verse 2: “In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he it is left in Zion, and he that remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy…” That is because we’ll be resurrected. Didn’t we read that back in Revelation 20 – we are called holy and blessed? Yes. “…Even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem.” Now that’s obviously New Jerusalem in heaven above, and it’s obviously talking about the Book of Life. Verse 4: “When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, by the spirit of burning. And the LORD shall create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and a smoke by day, and a shining flame by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defense. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge and a covert from the storm and from the rain.” Now this is speaking symbolically referring to the vicissitudes of life and the difficulties that people will go through; that God is going to give them comfort; God is going to give them joy. And so this is how it’s going to work itself out, as God shows.

Let’s come here to Micah the fourth chapter and let’s see again God is going to have to convince some people in a pretty profound way. Micah the fourth chapter, that’s back here in the Minor Prophets. Okay, Micah 4, let’s pick it up beginning in verse 1: “But in the last days it shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains…” Now when it talks about all the mountains will be removed and fall, now symbolically, that shows all the governments of men are going to fall – they have to in order for the kings and priests of the saints to rule and reign. Isn’t that correct? Yes. And the rule will come down even to the cities won’t it? Yes, we know that. “…And it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come let us go up to the mountain of the LORD and to house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth out of Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” Now not all people are going to respond, and here’s what He’s going to have to do, and we’ll see how He’s going to do it here in just a minute. “And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Micah 4:1-3). That’s the time we are looking for.

And you see what's going to happen with this is global worldwide government, and this global worldwide religion that is coming under Satan the devil and his grand glorious finale, God is going to teach the lesson that man without God cannot rule his life, cannot know what is right and wrong, cannot understand his nature, cannot understand what God is doing, cannot understand God’s plan. So God is going to make it tremendously, abundantly clear that that’s just the way that it is!

Now since we’re close to Zechariah, let’s come to Zechariah the eighth chapter and let’s see another prophecy of it. Zechariah the eighth chapter and let’s pick it up here in verse 20: “Thus says the LORD of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD and to seek the LORD of hosts: I will go also.” That’s going to be the whole focus of their lives – to really serve God. Verse 22: “Yea many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.” We just read that, but some have to be convinced. Verse 23: “Thus says the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew…” Now that’s going to be us, the resurrected true converted Jews. “Saying, We will go with you; for we have heard that God is with you.” (Zech. 8:20-23).Quite a thing isn’t it? Now we’ll take a look here in just a minute, at what’s going to happen to those nations that must be convinced that they ought to serve God.