The Time of Jacob’s Trouble

Ron Weinland

August 20, 2011

I’ve looked forward to this day, this period of time, and I think a lot of people have because tomorrow brings about the beginning of a time that so many of us have heard about in times past as well, and for various reasons you’ll understand as we go along in the sermon even more so, but especially having to do with the title of this sermon today.  There are those who have wondered about this particular period of time because we haven’t fully understood it.  We haven’t understood what some of it is about, what some of it means, and that has caused a little bit of consternation in some cases in our lives because of what we had believed previously, what we were allowed to believe in time’s past because God didn’t give us everything when it came to prophetic events for the end-time.  And so during the time of Philadelphia there were a lot of things established as far as different concepts and ideas that kind of stuck with us about tribulation, about the end-time and so forth, kind of like the apostasy.  There were certain things we were taught but we had no concept, no real idea how it was going to take place and when it finally happened, when it did take place, it caught everyone off guard and we suffered a great deal because of it.

But now we’re at a particular point in time that all of us are keenly aware of in the sense of this period right now today, and we could say tomorrow but it really isn’t tomorrow, which I’ll mention in a moment.  I think of where we are in time, the period of time we’re in because it’s the beginning of a time that by God’s grace and great mercy upon us we have not yet had to endure great hardship as we at one time believed that we might well have to do.

So we’re going to have a bit of a review of some recent history here today.  We did this exactly one ‘Half a Time’ ago, if you’re following me in what I’m talking about here.  It was back on the beginning of the first Sabbath of April that marked the beginning of a particular point in time as well, as today does.  And so again, we understand that well if we’ve been watching where we are in time and watching the calendar pass by as we look forward to the end of all this and into a new world that’s going to be established.  But again, things have gone quite smoothly and rather easily by comparison – fairly comfortable.  I think of some areas of the country this year that are suffering tremendous drought and incredible heat and individuals talking about how they’re very thankful to still have their air conditioning.  In reality we’re pretty spoiled and comfortable compared to what the world was like a hundred years ago and how people lived and worked and the things that they were accustomed to, but once we’re a little spoiled it’s hard to go back to those kind of conditions or those kind of times that have gone by when those things didn’t exist.

We’ve gone through, up to this point in time without great suffering since we entered the final end-time for this world, for the final demise of man’s rule upon this earth, and we’re going to look back a little bit here at some of these things in history and be reminded of the process that’s brought us to this time.  I think it’s good to review this again.  We did review it in length back in April but today we need to have a quick review as well because whenever I do this I am, and you should as well, in awe of how God has led us.  It’s an awesomely inspiring thing to see how much has come together in such a short length of time.

I was just looking at some of the news here today and looking at some news articles that I have with me as well and thinking about how we’re watching all this come together.  I am dumbfounded by what’s happening in Europe.  They’re starting to talk in terms of things that we looked at many, many years ago back in the 80’s when a particular period of time was going to come to pass for Europe and what was going to happen with the various countries of Europe and we now see it coming together quickly.  We see that everything that is happening right now is pushing Germany, is pushing Europe into a corner, if you will, and different ones suggesting that they ought to abandon the euro, that they ought to do this, that they ought to do that – not understanding they have no intention of doing that whatsoever, that on the contrary this has given them the power they want.  They don’t even understand that fully, but it is power, it’s incredible power.

As one individual in England that was being interviewed stated in a clip that I saw recently that was sent to me, he was talking about how that this is some of the greatest power that Germany has ever had.  That’s incredible to understand, that kind of a statement.  Here’s someone in Great Britain that comprehends that what they have right now at their fingertips is greater power than they’ve ever exerted over Europe because it’s financial.  And indeed when pushed into a corner, understanding what happens with that which is financial when you want to preserve power that you have, a process and a system that you have, and if it were to begin to crumble what that would stir up in people’s lives.  They will go to war to preserve it.

In this country it’s sometimes hard for us to comprehend different mindsets.  I’ve heard people talk about Russian leaders and kind of cringed because they don’t understand how they think.  China, different places in the world, they don’t think like we do. I was watching yesterday on the news, the vice president that’s visiting China and talking to some individuals over there; and some of the things he had to say I couldn’t help but think some of them have to be kind of pinching themselves on occasion not to laugh at him, because they don’t think like he does.  It’s a sad time we live in, that we have to go through, but we’re going through it; a time that has to bring mankind to humility because there is no other way.

And before I go into some of this I’m just thinking back about the period of time that’s passed since 2008.  Finally people are starting to compare what we’re going through now with 2008 and many are beginning to make comments about how that this is going to be far worse than 2008 and they’re right.  What we’re getting ready to go into is going to be many times worse. Right now we’re seeing this starting to fracture even more so as we see the markets take such huge leaps and then such huge dives, back and forth; it shows a flaw in the system and it can’t continue to do that for a long time.  They can’t keep it at that point for a long time, they can’t make it endure for a long period of time before it does finally crumble, that’s where we are in time.  There are people out there who are becoming, rightfully so, very concerned about that.  And so we live at a time when we’re watching all these things come to pass; we see it, we have known what to look for because God has shown us because of where we are in time.

But again, we’re going to look back a little and be reminded of the process that has brought us to this time, a time that as of a little over two hours ago this world officially entered into that marks a new and very meaningful time for this end-time.  And I say we’ve already entered into it because if you understand when you hit a certain mark in time we’re talking about time in Jerusalem because that’s how time, in the sense of the end-time, of what we’re looking at of events that are taking place in the world, and sundown has already taken place on the Sabbath in Jerusalem.  It did a little over two hours ago.  So that means that we’ve already entered into a new stage of time as we approach the end.

I think back on the Feast of Trumpets in 2008, we entered a countdown for this end-time, a countdown that revealed the very day of Christ’s return to become King of kings over this earth.  There are things we knew before that, but again, that’s when it began; we understood that.  The day of the Feast of Trumpets was September 30, 2008.  We learned that this specific Feast of Trumpets would serve as an announcement concerning God’s judgment upon Satan as well and the end of His reign over this earth; and he has been reigning over it for so very long – long before man was ever put on this earth God gave him government over this earth, and Satan sought to destroy the entirety of the earth.  It’s an incredible thing.

You know, I feel sorry for the Protestant world that doesn’t comprehend what’s happened in history. They don’t comprehend when they read Genesis 1; when they start reading about a creation they don’t comprehend what God is talking about and what He’s giving to mankind, that He’s not talking about something that just started 6,000 years ago, He’s talking about a period in time where God had to intervene.  The earth was already here, the universe was already here, the solar system was already here and God had to come in and remould and refashion the earth before He put man on it.  It had been here for millions of years!!  You think, what a simple thing!  What a simple thing to understand, because it doesn’t talk about Him creating the earth and putting it here, it talks about Him separating things of the firmament and so forth and causing the light to be able to shine through once again so that plant life could be created and be sustained.

I look forward to the time this earth, mankind upon it, is freed.... freed from his ignorance, freed from slavery, if you will, and is able to see and understand truths that exist all around us that man is blind to.

The Feast of Trumpets in 2008 marked the final 1335 days to the return of Jesus Christ, so that after that period of time has passed on Pentecost 2012, May 27th to be exact, He, Jesus Christ, will return and stand again upon the Mount of Olives.  It’s an awesome thing to understand, almost surreal, to watch events come to pass, to see Europe being moulded and fashioned into what it is, to recognize that certain countries will not be a part of the system here before long – because that’s the corner they’re being backed into – in order to save and preserve it ten nations are going to agree before long here.  It’s not going to be a strong agreement but they’re going to agree to do some of the things that they must do.  They’re going to come together, bind together to preserve themselves – being backed into a corner - kicking other nations out or whatever has to take place, that they can no longer be a part of that system.  And so it talks about clay and iron, it doesn’t mix well; partly strong and filled with that which is ready to crumble.  Incredible mixture!

So that particular Feast of Trumpets also marked the fulfillment of an important day in history spoken of by Daniel in prophecy.  Let’s turn over there and read some of that today because we’re going to look at this at different times here in this sermon.  These are things that God has given us to see, just like His Word, always has been this way, that this is something that we should marvel in as well, always, always, always in our life, that the things written in this book, once you begin to be drawn to God’s Church, once you begin to be drawn to God first of all, there are decisions and choices that people have to make, but all of a sudden there are things you hear, things you see, that you can open up your Bible and read certain verses, hear about them in a sermon or read about them in a book or other literature and all of a sudden there are things you can see, things that are opened up to you, unlocked in your mind and you can go and show the exact same things to your friends, to your relatives, to whomever, and they cannot see what you see, they cannot begin to grasp what you grasp, but it’s so clear in your mind.

Seven days – why God established a seven day week, and you see the importance then of a seven thousand year plan of how God is working with mankind, and that right now we’re at the end of 6,000 years, that Jesus Christ came along at the end of 4,000 years to be our Passover and to return again to fulfill the prophecies about a Messiah, a ruler, Christ/Messiah, the same meaning, to be able to reign, to be crowned as a King to rule over this earth.  All the things that you can all of a sudden so clearly see!  Things that you begin to see when you hear about ‘The United States and Britain in Prophecy’ and all of a sudden you understand that when you read about Israel in the Bible, it isn’t the same as what you see in the country of modern Israel today.  You realize that’s just one of the tribes of Israel, Judah, the Jewish people, and all of a sudden the awesomeness of learning that all the rest of the tribes, many times over more than the Jewish people, were taken captive into Europe, up into the areas of Assyria, Germany, and throughout Europe, and they began to migrate then toward Western Europe.  Awesome prophecies, and we’re able to see and to understand those things.

Things that you see so clearly, just like this in Daniel.  All of a sudden God opened the book for us, it became unsealed – because God told Daniel to seal what was written there, that it wasn’t to be understood. It wasn’t to be understood by Daniel, it wasn’t to be understood by those prophets who would follow, it wasn’t to be understood by the apostles who followed, until the end; that’s what God said.  It wasn’t to be opened up, it wasn’t to be understood, in other words by anyone, until the very end.

Daniel 12 - I marvel at how people have tried to translate things, and you think of the task before them, and unless God gave them help to translate various things they could only go by what they believed in their mind certain words meant.  Words are amazing, especially when you translate into various languages because they can carry a lot of different meanings.  That’s very common depending on the usage, and so if they didn’t know the usage, if they didn’t know the intent of what God was saying, of what God had given to them they had no chance, no ability whatsoever to translate properly.  And so by God’s spirit, when it’s time, He lets us see His intent and the true definitions of things that exist in Hebrew or Greek or whatever it might be, and He gives us the ability to comprehend, just like here.

Daniel 12:11 - And from the time the daily [sacrifice] shall be taken away, the word ‘sacrifice’ isn’t there.  If you see it in italics in your Bible, I don’t know how you have in your Bible, but if you have a King James Version that means that it’s not a word that’s translated out of Hebrew, they’ve inserted it to (by what they believe) to give it meaning.  The reason I mention that is because as we go along here there’ll be some words that are in part a part of the context and some that are not.

And so indeed, this does have something to do with a sacrifice.  And so, from the time that the daily, because it’s referring to in this case, indeed, sacrifice, shall be taken away... We’re going to stop there.  From the time/Since the time/After the time – this is a marking of a time that goes with verse 12 and unless someone is given understanding about prophetic things and they understand things in Revelation...even until the book was written this would not be unlocked until there was other understanding of God’s plan, about those that are going to come back with Jesus Christ, of those who are 144,000 as it talks about who are going to be a part of God’s government when Jesus Christ returns that it talks about in the book of Revelation in the New Testament.  And so with that knowledge and those things that are here, in God’s time He opens it up to us.  How?  He communicates it to you in your mind by the power of His spirit.  That’s how God communicates to human beings. That’s the way He has worked through the centuries with mankind; something that is hard for people to grasp.

So again, this is a marking of a time that goes with verse 12 which is the fulfillment of the work of bringing exactly 144,000 to their full purpose,  people who have been called over the past 6,000 years – not many if you look at 6,000 years and all the billions in humanity.  God’s purpose has not been to save the whole world, to save all of mankind, but to save 144,000 during that span.  That’s it.  The rest have another time when they’re going to be worked with.  There are 144,000 that God has worked with for the past 6,000 years to be a part of His government He’s called and drawn and worked with in the first 4,000 years personally, individually, just a few through different periods of time.  And then when the Church began 2,000 years ago, began to work with many more in a more organized fashion through Jesus Christ. Many more could be worked with and moulded and fashioned and prepared to become a part of that government.  So most have come through in the last 2,000 years by far; far exceeding those in the first 4,000.  God again is giving those things to us to understand what’s going to take place.

Verse 12 talking about those who have come to a point when something has been accomplished, it’s full purpose completed, to be sealed.  ...the daily sacrifice has been, as it means here, put away/taken away/put away. It’s fulfilled its purpose in the sense that it brought all to the state of completion, of being sealed.  When you talk about that in the book of Revelation and different ones that have to be sealed – it’s like when God told Abraham, “Now I know you.  I know you.  I know what you’ll do in all circumstances and all situations in life; your mind that has been moulded and fashioned.”  Abraham didn’t understand that process, he didn’t understand that God was working with him, moulding and fashioning his mind to prepare him for something in the future, that He could give him a different body and a stronger power in mind, the same mind but far greater by the power of His spirit in a future time.  But God let him know, “Now I know you.”  And He says that to everyone in time who will be a part of His Kingdom, in essence.  Doesn’t have to say it directly to the individual, but again it’s a matter of coming to that point of maturing and a maturity and of growth. So again, this is in the sense that all these individuals have been brought to a state of completion of being sealed.  It has fulfilled its purpose in the lives with those with whom God was working to be a part of His foundational government.

That’s what this is talking about, and from the time the daily, speaking of in this case here, referring to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  And we can go back and look in the first 4,000 years, that they lived by faith and they looked toward a Messiah.  They understood things in varying degrees there, but they had that belief and that faith that they would be forgiven of their sins before God – not just a matter of offering up sacrifices on the altar, they came to understand that does not take away sin!  But because of what they believed and their trust and reliance upon God, that indeed was honoured for a future time.  It’s one of the loaves of the wave loaves offered up before God, those before the time of Christ.  And then the other wave loaf that was waved up before God which is all those who live by the understanding of the Passover and so forth, indeed in a greater way.  Both a part of God’s Family.

Verse 12 - Blessed is he who waits and comes to the thousand three hundred and thirty five days.  Finally!  In all these other verses we’ll read later here, when it talks about the end of everything, the end, the completion, the fulfillment in order for God’s Kingdom to be established on this earth.  Much of the book of Daniel is about the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth. Those who’ve been around for a long time they remember the telecast on TV and talking about the story of Nebuchadnezzar and talking about the statue. You saw this cube like thing coming from the sky and smashing the feet of the statue, which we just talked about, the clay and the iron, and destroying the kingdoms of this earth, that cube being the Kingdom of God that’s going to be established.

So much of Daniel is about mankind and the full 6,000 years and what was going to take place through time and finally God’s Kingdom established.  And so, indeed blessed are those who wait, because that’s the time that for so long God has looked towards, for those who have been sealed to be resurrected to be a part of His government, but they are sealed ahead of time.

Verse 11 - And from the time, or in other words, since/after the daily [sacrifice] shall be put away, in essence it’s accomplished its job.  I’ve talked about this in times past, but just so everyone understands, especially those who are new.  For all 144,000, we understand that a sealing took place for those whom God had drawn and called and awakened and brought to a point in time as far as the last era of the Church, brought up to a moment in time when they would be sealed, and upon that sealing everything had been accomplished that needed to be accomplished through the Passover – as good as what God said to Abraham, “Now I know you.”  That was a sealing.  And for all who came to that moment in time, they were sealed.  Abraham still sinned and Abraham had to repent.  No human being is without sin in their life.  There was only one who’s Father was God.  All others have sin in their life and have to go before God and ask for forgiveness of sin, continually.  We’re incapable, we don’t have the ability in human form because of the mind and the way we are as human beings...we have that hope and that belief and that trust in God that He promises when we’ve entered into a covenant relationship with Him He’ll forgive us of our sins.

And so the daily sacrifice, in essence, has fulfilled its job for the 144,000 who will come to 1335 days later, for those who are dead and those who are still alive, to be able to be resurrected to become a part of God’s government and return with Jesus Christ – of those things that are mentioned in the book of Revelation.  And so that’s what this is talking about in a very powerful way.  They are sealed and God knows them!  He knows them like He knew Abraham!  That every one of them who is sealed is going to continually come before God and repent of their sins; they’re going to continue to fight because that’s been moulded and fashioned into them.  It’s just the way it is.  Awesome to understand!  So it doesn’t mean that they don’t have to continue to repent and be forgiven of sin, it means that the job that they were called to do, that they were brought to be moulded and fashioned into was completed.  Completed, everything had been sealed by this moment in time.

And from the time/since/after, as the word means, the daily sacrifice shall be taken away/put away, and the abomination that makes/is making, because it’s a process, desolate set up, and again, that word there – what do you mean ‘setup’?  It’s a word that means ‘completed’, its finished!  Until it’s finished, until it’s completed – that’s what it means in the Hebrew.  There are certain words they didn’t know what they were talking about because all they could see was some physical sacrifice, something that had to be done upon the altar.  There are many in the scattered Church today who still think that an altar has to be set up or that a temple has to be rebuilt, but the minimum is that an altar has to be set up in Jerusalem in order for prophecy to be fulfilled.  They don’t understand!  Mr. Armstrong made that so clear before he died!  It’s a spiritual matter, not a physical one.  It’s a spiritual relationship with God...and it’s the Church that’s being talked about, not the Jewish people that somehow have to get the Levitical system going again and somehow have to have a high priest and all the priests who are going to work and they’re going to sacrifice animals upon the altar again; but that’s what many in the scattered Church believe.   Sad!  Sad, because you see, they not only reverted and went back to something that Mr. Armstrong long ago made clear, it shows what happens to the mind when you fall asleep and you can’t see anymore and you begin to lose what is spiritual, even by knowledge, and you revert back to very physical things.  It’s a process.

...and the abomination that is making desolate is setup; there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. So now here is another period of time.  I remember years ago every once in a while you put down pencil to paper and figure things out. People who like math, they’ve done this. They’ve probably done this since the time of Daniel. There are people out there, undoubtedly, who have tried to figure out various times in scripture and when the date could be and what it could mean and how it all fits together.  But the reality is you can’t until it’s time, until God gives it, because it has to come from God.  God has to show what it is.

So again, there are 1335 days after the sealing that Jesus Christ will return and God’s Kingdom established, and the means (see, it goes one here, this is a part of a revelation then), and the means by which it is established begins with this next period of time, this second period of time of 1290 days.  So it lead us into – it shows you where it begins when the sealing has taken place, and so what’s going to bring us to the end of the 1335 days?  It starts at the 1290 – this is the means by which God is going to accomplish it and do it.  That’s what’s being shown here.

The next period of time, the second period of time, the 1290 days, once the 7th Seal has been opened it will be completed.  That’s what this is talking about – when it’s completed.  ...when the abomination that’s making desolate is completed/finished; when it’s all over, there are going to be twelve hundred and ninety days.  So this shows the means by which it’s going to be accomplished.  So at the beginning of this particular day was the opening of the 7th Seal.  Why is that so important? Because God shows us through the 7 Trumpets and the 7 Last Plagues that everything is brought to an end. That’s how He’s going to accomplish everything that He does to bring mankind to a point of humility so that God’s Kingdom can return to this earth and Jesus Christ can be established as the Messiah, as the Christ over all this earth, the ruler over this earth.  People think they’re flying off to heaven, or going off to heaven after they die – sad.  People are just dead in the grave and they stay there until God resurrects them.  Such ignorance in the world!  It’s appalling what Satan has done, confusing the minds of human beings.  It’s a beautiful picture to understand what God says when He talks about resurrections, and that you have to be resurrected from the dead.  Incredible!  Things that we take for granted sometimes, as I’ve been mentioning here recently, that we can’t take for granted.  We have to comprehend what God has given to us.

So again, once the 7th Seal has been opened it will be completed with, or through the power revealed in the 7 Trumpets and the 7 Last Plagues.  So the 1290 days began on November 14, 2008.  Incredible!  Then we had 30 more days, half an hour of silence till certain other things were accomplished and fulfilled.

Then Daniel was told in verse 13 - notice - But go your way until the end: for you shall rest, he’s going to die.  He’s going to die!  He’s going to die like all those who have since the time of Daniel, for several hundred years since that time, several hundred years before Christ even came, and then the last 2,000 years, all who have lived and died who are a part of this process of what God is doing.  They all are resting.  That’s what God refers to it as in some places, as sleeping.  It’s not like you sleep at night and wake up in the morning.  It’s like you go to sleep and your body decays, goes back to the dust of the earth from whence you were taken, from whence you were created, you disintegrate and then He wakes you up, gives you a new body.  Incredible!

...for you shall rest, and/then stand in your lot, with the rest, in other words, at the end of the days. At the end of the 1335 and at the end of the 1290 because they all come out on the same day.  Isn’t that amazing at the end of that time period, because we understand that the Day of Pentecost is not a part of that count; the 1290 and the 1335 is over with.  When sundown takes place on that Sabbath day, that’s when Jesus Christ is there and the resurrection begins to take place, immediately in a new day, on the day that pictures the firstfruits, the Day of Pentecost, at the beginning of that day and that resurrection takes place.  Awesome to understand these things, beautiful.  Awesome indeed.

And all this was followed by further revelation from God following the next period of time spoken of concerning the 1260 days which began on December 14, 2008 when the 1st Trumpet blast was sounded and the two witnesses began their job.  And as we went forward into that time, the two sermons that ended December 2008....   I go back and I look at these things and I think... I don’t even know how to express it...just dumbfounded is the best way to say it.  You can’t plan these things! We’re led by God and the things that transpire, the very sermons He gives to us as He leads and guides and directs us and moulds and fashions us, all have incredible meaning, especially in this time period that we’ve been going through.  And I think of what God gave to us at this point in time. The first two sermons after that 1260 days began, the first two sermons and the last two of 2008, and they were entitled ‘God’s Witness is Ending - Part 1 and 2’.  And this helped us to understand far more fully why God inspired the book and its title, ‘2008 – God’s Final Witness’, because that was it, that was the last. That was the last for mankind. We entered into a new age, a new time, Laodicea was gone, it’s a transitional time within the 6,000 years (and we don’t even know all that yet), but a transitional time between two great periods of time – the end of what God was doing through all the way up through Laodicea until that was completed, because it was completed when the sealing took place, until Jesus Christ returns.

Awesome!  ‘2008 – God’s Final Witness’ and now what began then and what get’s people’s attention in this world?  Money, money, money!  Wealth, wealth, wealth!  It’s always been that way.  Wars have constantly been fought through time over those things – who is going to have the wealth?  Who is going to control it?  Lands, peoples, and why do you want lands?  Wealth.  Why do you want people? Workers, money, revenue, power – that’s all it’s ever been for the last 6,000 years - and why people have risen up to fight and war over and over and over again.  Power is about money!  Power is about wealth!  And people who don’t understand that or think that’s not true are just about as narrow minded, as close minded as...well, I can’t find words to describe how off the wall they are in ignorance.  All you have to do is go back and read a little history and see what man has done.  It doesn’t take a lot, it truly doesn’t.

And so now we finally find people...because it wasn’t supposed to happen then, it wasn’t supposed to happen all at once, because of what God was going to reveal then in the sermons that would follow that we in the Church were to learn, that the world in time is going to be taught and learn what God did. You look back in time...you know what this book (the Bible) is written about?  What God has been doing for this last 6,000 years and what He’s going to do in the next 1,100.  That’s what this book is about!  And you go back and you read about the history and what mankind has done, what God has done dealing with mankind...it’s incredible!  History, and the things that God has done with mankind.  And we go back and we read those stories and they’re there for inspiration.  It’s not for the world, because they could care less!  They think the story of Noah is kind of some nice tale – that’s what Protestant Churches teach today, the story of Noah as a whole – some believe it as being literal but most of them don’t even teach it as being literal!  It’s like a nice night-time story for children.  It’s kind of a fable to kind of have nice little feelings about.  The flood – it wasn’t such nice feelings for those who were in it, who the last thing they remember was screaming and hollering and trying to grab a tree or hold on something long enough to not drown; but they all drowned except those who were in an ark.  God saw to it that the waves were big enough that no matter what they grabbed a hold of they couldn’t survive.  And you can’t live that long anyway without food and other things going on in your life.  They all died, only those who were on the ark lived.

And we read stories like that, we read stories of what God did with Abraham, we read stories of what God did with various people through time, with taking the children of Israel out of Egypt, and we’re in awe and we see something that God has pictured for the future.  We become in such awe of what God has done.  We see things that are very physical that happened to a physical people, to Israel, to Egypt, and then God shows us, “This has great meaning for that which is spiritual!”  This is a stepping stone to begin to understand a greater purpose that God has for mankind, to free man from spiritual Egypt, to free man from the shackles of Satan and this world and the ways of this world!  To free mankind, not just a physical people Israel, but Israel spiritually!  People don’t see it, they don’t understand, and they can’t because they can’t help it.  I look forward to when people can see it.  I feel for people who are ignorant and can’t see it, because they can’t just as much as I couldn’t until God called me.  Not their fault, we’re just in slavery until God removes the shackles, the bindings.  It’s a reality, and God has to do it.

And so we had two sermons for the end of December, 2008, ‘God’s Witness is Ending’. Truly, it was God’s final witness indeed.  Then the next sermon on January 3, 2009 was ‘A Time of Fasting’.  How could anyone know and understand the importance of that?  ...of why we were entering into a fast, of why God would have us do such a thing at that particular point in time, and it was entitled ‘Fasting for Humility’, actually a two part series.  ‘Fasting for Humility’ – what’s needed more at a time like that for God’s people?  We’re getting ready to go into a period that we don’t understand, we don’t understand what God’s going to show us and reveal to us, what He’s going to lead us to comprehend and understand about what He’s going to do and how He’s going to do it, because He’s let us believe...because God has the power to do that!  He has the power to reveal to us and show us what is true at any moment in time, but He chooses when to do that, and those things try us, they test us, they help to mould and fashion us as to our response to God and that process that continues to work in our lives until it’s finished.

And so a sermon given, ‘Fasting for Humility’ because we didn’t have all the answers.  Humility is necessary for God to teach, for God to show us; and the reality was that when the 7th Seal was opened nothing happened in the sense of seeing the world shaken and what we were believing before that in Philadelphia and all the way through Laodicea, that would most likely take place when we refer to things as a ‘great tribulation’ and in our minds it was the full 3½ years.  So, 1260 days begins – nothing shakes the earth.  Time for humility – what is God doing?

I think of a time when we went through an apostasy that we were humbled awesomely so in the Church. A time for fasting, a time for humbling ourselves before God and asking God, “What’s happened?  You’re God; we’re Your Church – what’s happened?”  And what did God show us?  Began to show us, “You...you did this.  You became lukewarm. You began to let down.  You are the cause...you, each individually did not do what you were supposed to do.  My Son warned you again and again and again, ‘Watch! Be alert. Be on guard, for you don’t know the hour.’” ...that His Son comes.  And now we understand what that means on a spiritual plane, and it came to us as a Church – and many went by the wayside because of it.  To learn a lesson!  To learn a lesson.

As I was mentioning a moment ago, all these stories in the Bible that for 1,100 years people are going to read and be inspired by them.  See, there’s a lot yet, a lot more to the story than what’s here in this book, a lot more since the time of Christ that’s happened.  And we know some things through time, but mostly those things at the end-time through Philadelphia, Laodicea, and now this very end period of time, those things that are going to be powerful teachers to those who live during the 1,100 years that follows, truly.  And so what we’re going through now – some of the lessons coming out of this are going to be some of the greatest teaching tools ever used, they truly are.  They’re going to drive the point home, with the rest of this book, just like it has in our lives that we’ve experienced. Because it’s by all this history that’s brought us to now, that we are able to see and grasp and comprehend things way beyond, and they have opportunity to go far beyond that.  What an incredible world!

I think about what those of you who been called in the last few years here have been given; that’s nothing compared to what’s coming here in a short time when this is opened up to the entire world, and far more added to it.  But they’re going to learn from these stories incredible and powerful lessons.  ‘Fasting for Humility’.

Then on the next two Sabbaths we had a two part series on Esther and we were told about another fast that was coming. Incredible! Never before called in God’s Church, for a purpose and for a reason.  And not to be the same as what happened in the book of Esther but to be different and to stand alone.  And so again, two part series on the book, talking about the story of Esther as we began to focus upon the importance and magnitude of the kind of fast we were getting ready to enter on the last Sabbath of January 2009.  Again, a two day fast and the sermon was entitled indeed, ‘A Great Fast’.  That fast has gone down in history.  More powerful, more meaningful than what you can know yet, truly, because it was also a fast of faith in ways that had never happened in history, because it’s a matter that God brought us to a point of doing something, led us to something to see something of what He was doing, to be able to be more, indeed, of one mind with Him, to reveal that mind in us, to be in agreement with it in ways that.... How do you describe certain events that have happened through time.  A matter of walking by faith that has reached new levels.  It’s just like any revelation of things that God has given, it continues to reach higher levels because of what God gives to us.  It doesn’t stop.  Faith doesn’t stop.  The power that’s there doesn’t stop, it grows in what God has given to mankind, what God’s going to give after everything is....   It’s going to be a lot easier for people once it’s already happened, to look back.  It’s one thing when you’re looking forward, but after it’s already happened?  You can be stronger in what you look forward to, there’s a greater boldness and confidence in those things.  At the end of the thousand years what’s going to take place in the last hundred and what’s going to take place beyond – there’s a stronger knowing by the power of God’s spirit in people’s lives because of what’s gone by.

So again, speaking of that great fast, it was from this fasting in humility before God that He began to reveal to us the importance of mercy – something that every one of us is supposed to learn from.  Mercy in judgment, mercy – something that human beings aren’t too good at doing, showing mercy.  And there’s a fine line in there sometimes with mercy versus being someone who allows or even facilitates wrong things as an enabler.  Yeah, there’s a fine line there and that takes wisdom and help from God.  But mercy, it would be better to, at times, be on the side of mercy in the things that are the hardest sometimes of judging because of your own personal prejudices, your own personal feelings in matters that you have to fight against.  It’s better to fight against those and to show mercy and to be in error than it is for you to misjudge something because of hardness or because of personal prejudice.  It’s better to err on the side of mercy.

And so God is showing us more and more the importance of mercy.  He has been most merciful to mankind for 6,000 years in ways that we don’t really comprehend, but we do as we grow spiritually.  And so again, from that experience and fast we began to learn the importance of mercy and His will for the Church and the world.  We began to learn that God is going to extend incredible mercy and that because He brought the Church to the point of praying about that, that God was going to honour what He brought it to, to be in agreement in a two day fast.  God heard the prayers.  But what’s awesome is to understand He led us to it.  He led us to doing what He was going to honour and He was going to honour the Church because of what He brought it to as a matter of faith.  I hope you understand what I’m saying; I can’t give this to you.

And this led us to understanding something even greater that God would reveal in the importance of the Feast of Trumpets that we would observe later that year in 2009. Incredible!  Step by step by step, meticulously so, God leading us, moulding and fashioning us, continue to reveal things to us, helping us to be focused on the things that we need to in order to go through and to accomplish what needs to be accomplished; and yet to learn along the way.

So we were led to understand that from the time of the 1st Trumpet sounding on December 14, 2008 to the Feast of Trumpets 2009 that we would pass through a period of 40 weeks.  Incredible!  And that from this we would learn that this was another period of judgment that God was revealing to His Church, because we’d already gone through some.  We had it given to us in a very big way, something that most of the scattered Church could not accept: that from the day that an individual raised himself up in the Church of God with such authority that was given to him, to say that no longer is the Sabbath and the Holy Days required, all the way down to the smallest thing in the sense of clean and unclean foods being done away with as well.  Even that one was not left untouched.

It’s like now, because that teaching was changed, everything is clean, like the Protestant world says, it’s cleaned.  And many people went out right away and started eating shrimp and lobster and things that were unclean because they said they were given this new found liberty.  And you think, “What changed?  ...your digestive system?”  God just all of a sudden changed it to where now it’s okay to eat that garbage and swill that normally would clog up the body, that now its okay because He made your body to function on certain things and He told you what to eat and not to eat.  You buy a diesel engine vehicle and they tell you that you should put diesel in the car, not to put gasoline in it because you’ll mess things up.  And so we follow the manual meticulously because we know how much those things cost, but our own body?  Who gives a flip!  Feed it what you want, [slurps loudly], poke it in, plunge it in, eat it, eat it, eat it!  I think of that song, “Eat it!” That goofy one that was that take off.  Who was that guy that did that?  Weird Al Yankovic.

Anyway, crazy, and people think that they can do that because all of a sudden a man got up and said now we can do that in the Church, you can have all the little piggly-wiggly you want, now it doesn’t clog up your body!  And yet doctors will tell you when you have heart problems and so forth, “Get off of pork!”  I don’t know if they’re doing it as much anymore because even they’re getting distorted in their minds often.  But anyway, what an incredible thing that from the day he did that, to the VERY HOUR, exactly 40 WEEKS LATER, exactly 40 SABBATHS later he died!  God’s judgment upon him – 40 weeks.  40 days and 40 nights, God’s judgment upon the world, that it was going to rain and destroy all of mankind.  God has always used 40 as a matter of timing and counting for judgment.  And how much more then for the Church of God, that we should learn from those things having to do with Sabbaths and 40 weeks, and God began to teach us then.

And then we came to a point in time where we began to understand some things about judgment and counting that God was giving at the end-time and revealing that He does things methodically so.  When He took the children of Israel out of Egypt it says 430 years later, talks about to the very day.  To the very day!  God’s order of things is perfect in everything He does.  He has planned, meticulously so, events in life – to the hour – of things we can’t comprehend, but He has the power to accomplish it.  And so we learn something about Satan, a judgment that was even given to him.  Isn’t that amazing?  From a period of time that the sealing took place, going back if my memory serves me correctly, because sometimes I even have to look at the chart because there’s so many numbers out there, to the Christmas of the previous year, something that Satan brought the world to doing that’s in such ignorance but mocks God and mocks God’s way of life, Christmas, the mass of Christ from the Catholic church.  You wonder why doesn’t every Protestant church bow down and give obedience to the pope? Because that’s where it came from!  And they say they reject the Catholic church!  Some of them say they hate the Catholic church, but they’ve still kept their doctrines.  Think, “If you’re going to keep the doctrines, don’t you owe your authority then,” because it doesn’t come out of the Bible, “don’t you owe your authority then to the pope?  Because that’s where you got it.  You got Sunday from that.  You got Easter from that.  You didn’t come up with those things on your own; they came from the Catholic church!”  Anyway, can’t reason with people with soundness.

And so God revealed to us, again, 40 weeks of judgment, a period of importance here and so there was a period of judgment of 40 weeks upon the man of sin, as I talked about, and 40 weeks in the revelation of judgment upon Satan, and now from the 1st Trumpet to the Feast of Trumpets of 2009, a period of 40 weeks of judgment that consisted of God revealing His mercy upon Israel and the whole world.  How did God show us that?  Everything we have learned as a whole, through time, has been because we look back and we learn.  The apostasy happened and we looked back and God shows us why it took place.  That’s how we learn.  We look back and we try to understand, “How could this happen?”  And then He shows us how it could happen, He shows us why it happened, He starts revealing things to us. The same thing is true here in things that have taken place, things about the man of sin.  We look backed and saw what happened – he died.  We look back – WOW – 40 weeks to the hour.  Is this just by chance?  Is this by coincidence?  40 Sabbaths?  Is there some meaning in some of this?  DUH!  Really!

And so God reveals to us things of this nature, and this here as well.  Nothing in the sense of anything catastrophic in the sense of what we had believed in Philadelphia that was carried on into Laodicea was happening in the world, nor to Israel.  Mercy. God gave us the ability to see, to understand mercy, that He was showing mercy and there was more mercy to be given, there was more mercy to follow.  We have learned a great deal indeed.  Judgment – because it’s all a matter of judgment.  Most of the things that you read about having to do with judgment and God bringing mankind to judgment one day, in times past in Philadelphia, even into Laodicea, most of the scriptures that were ever about a matter of judgment were taken in the context of being during the Great White Throne.  That’s not true in the Bible!  So much of what’s in the Old Testament, and the New that has to do with judgment, a great deal of it is very much focused on where we are now because it’s God’s judgment upon mankind and God’s judgment upon Satan, and it all comes together at this time.  That’s where we are in time at the end of 6,000 years, a time of judgment for the earth.

We just happen to live here at this time, those in the United States, those in Canada, those around the world, those who are part of the scattered nations of Israel and the rest of the world just happen to live at this time and so they’re going to reap the consequences of living at this stage of life, of human life – but it’s a testimony for mankind for all time, truly.  But judgment has to come at a certain time; certain things must be done, and indeed the world is going to suffer for their sins.  Israel is going to suffer.  We’re going to read some scriptures in a little bit that talk about Israel suffering for their sin, and Israel hasn’t had to suffer yet.

There’s been a lot of suffering through time just because of the world – wars and things that have happened and disobedience to God. Man suffers.  But not to the proportion God says they will at the end when He says there has never been a time of suffering in nations like is going to take place at the end; there never has been, nor ever will be again like what we’re going to go through.  There’s never been the technology like there is today for things to take place quickly, fast at the very end, for missiles to criss-cross each other as human beings start killing each other en masse.  When China and Russia combine God says they’re going to destroy a third of all the earth; and that means a third of all mankind.  How long does it take to do that? You think they’re going to shoot one off one week, wait a couple months and then shoot another one off?  No, they’re going to do it all at once, powerfully so.  When they attack they attack.  You don’t go into war and send a few off to a certain battle and leave the rest behind; you throw everything into it to win.  That’s what they’re going to do to seek control and God says they’re going to destroy a third of all the earth.  That’s why He calls it the 2nd Woe.  Woe, Woe, Woe to mankind for what’s coming.

So again, incredible things that God has been revealing to us over a long period of time here, and so God also used this marking of time to reveal that in the midst of the full 1260 days from the 1st Trumpet blast that the first 280 days were 40 weeks of judgment of mercy and would reveal the true meaning of the time that followed as this period of 280 days was given to show the true meaning of a ‘Time’.  Because we had always thought a ‘Time’ was a full year, ‘Time, Times and Half a Time’, the full 3½ years.  It just happened to fit into 1260 days – 3½ years – so it must be a ‘Time, Times and a Half a Time’, that must be what it’s all about.  And God showed us; no it isn’t.

So He showed us that indeed everything is going to be divided up meticulously so, a matter of faith, a matter of what God’s revealing to us as we go along here and showing that a ‘Time’ is 280 days.  So we learned that the Feast of Trumpets of 2009 was the beginning of a unique time for the Church that we had previously not understood.  God revealed the meaning of ‘Time, Times and a Half a Time’ to be a period of 980 days total beginning from the Feast of Trumpets in 2009.  And as time went on we learned more about the significance of that period being divided into 7 complete periods of time, each being 140 days in length.  And I’ll just tell you that when the children of Israel finally came into Israel and crossed the river to battle against Jericho, to circle around Jericho seven days; that the fact that we have moved from Gideon’s army to that story has great meaning to it as well.  Each of the sevens of what God had them do is going to be likened to in a very powerful way what takes place here in the end-time, circling around, bringing down the whole, if you talk about the whole of what had to come down and what Jericho represented/represents.  More to be learned regarding that as we go forward, absolutely.

So again, this is a lot of history but it’s what’s brought us up to where we begin this sermon today when I stated that this process has brought us to a ‘Time’, to a time that as of a little over 3 hours ago now this world officially entered into, that period of ‘Time’ that marks a new and very meaningful time for this end-time indeed.

Back on April 2nd we began a sermon series entitled ‘A Fast with Judgment’.  I marvel at how often in the marking of time that God has given us for fasting – humility - always a matter of humility because of a desire to learn from God, to have a spirit and a mind that wants to learn from God so that God can teach us, so He can mould and fashion us, of humbling ourselves before God.  The sermon was entitled ‘A Fast with Judgment’ because we were fasting. And so in that particular time there we covered the significance of April 3 being the day that we entered the 5th Half a Time (actually we entered into it the very day we were speaking because it’s the same matter of when the sun goes down in Jerusalem), but anyway; we entered at that point of time the 5th Half a Time in ‘Time, Times and a Half a Time’ and that the world passed into a time of judgment, a time for the execution of judgment upon Israel.  And right now from what’s been happening in the last two weeks is a reflection of what’s coming in a very powerful way.  We’re at the doorstep.  It’s a period that will cover, as I said at that time, 40 weeks before the last and final half of ‘Time, Times, and a Half a Time’ is here.

And now for the title of the sermon today; The Time of Jacobs Trouble.  Powerful!  ‘The Time of Jacob’s Trouble’.  Again, the Church has long believed... we lumped everything together because we didn’t know, God didn’t give it to us.  ...knowing that certain things are going to come to pass just like the apostasy, knew it was coming but no comprehension of what would lead to it, of what would take place.  The same thing is true of the end-time and so we had a tendency of lumping everything together because that’s all that made sense and that’s all that God gave to us; and so we strove to understand with what we had in the best way we could and that’s what we’ve always done as a Church, as a people, and then when God gave more there’d be times that we’d have to make some adjustments to how we were moving forward – sometimes corrections to move forward, sometimes huge corrections like the Trinity, thinking that the Trinity was done away with a long, long time ago and learning later on we still had part of the Trinity with us because Jesus Christ hasn’t eternally existed.

And so we had to come to that point and make some adjustments to correct many things.  And that’s God’s responsibility when He reveals what He does to His Church.  Our responsibility is to say, “Yes, Lord.  Thank you.”  Mr. Armstrong so often talked about the awesomeness of God’s Church, because when we’re shown that something is not right who else but God’s Church will repent and make the adjustments and correct it?  It’s not in the world.  You don’t see these things happening in the world at all.  If it is, it’s very, very minor. But in God’s Church, the history of the Church from Philadelphia all the way through Laodicea and on, as time has gone on, has always been that way.  That’s powerful and awesome to understand!  The problem with human nature is that sometimes we want to think that we’re always right!  We get to Pentecost and we’re always right and we can’t be wrong and it’s on a Monday, I don’t care what you say!  Okay, so they leave the Church, because they’re too proud to accept the change, too proud to accept the truth, not humbled to learn what is true and what is easy to see if you’ll humble yourself and then all of a sudden you begin to see it like you did everything else.  But if you resist it because you’re too proud, because you can’t be wrong in the eyes of others, nor yourself; and that’s happened over and over and over again in time with God’s people - too proud to be corrected, to be chastened by God, to be loved by God.

So indeed, the time of Jacob’s trouble.  So the Church has long believed that what was called the time of Jacob’s trouble was a period called the great tribulation that would last for 3½ years, for 1260 days, as the world, beginning with Israel, would suffer mightily for a full 3½ years in horrifying tribulation.

Thank God it hasn’t happened that way – wouldn’t be here today if it was.  You wouldn’t have the lights here, you wouldn’t have air conditioning, you wouldn’t have a lot of things today.  You wouldn’t be able to drive anywhere because when these things strike you’re not going to be able to get around like you do today; the gas isn’t going to be there.  You realize we don’t have a huge capacity in the United States, or Canada in some places, in producing gasoline.  The United States hasn’t built new refineries for over thirty years, isn’t that right?  The EPA and all the other governmental things and everything else that’s out there and their restrictions that are there – they not going to do it.  Incredible! I heard last week up in Toronto that there are certain places up in Canada where they’re not even receiving it in some areas because they don’t have the capacity for providing it right now because of the refineries – some areas are without gas!  I don’t know how it is over on this side, but over there there’s some regions where they’re having some troubles right now.  Wait until you can’t transport the oil.  What do you do?  When you can’t get it to the refinery let alone from the refinery out to local areas.  That’s coming.  Thank God it hasn’t happened yet.  Thank God we still have some comfort and ease.  Thank God we didn’t understand the time of Jacob’s Trouble, or that it wasn’t true, what we had fully believed of the period of time and that God’s purpose was to show great mercy.

No one can say like they did in the radio Interviews, “How could God allow something like this for 3½ years?”  And my answer continually was then, “This isn’t God’s doings, it’s man’s.”  But thank God in the midst of that He’s preventing it from happening sooner, that He’s not allowing it to happen because He’s showing His mercy to mankind.  A testimony, a witness, and we’re all witness of it, of God’s great mercy.  And the farther back it is the better off we are and the world as well.  There’s going to be enough suffering.  It doesn’t have to last for a long time.  I can’t comprehend what it’s going to be like when Russia does what they’re going to do, when Asia combines and does what they’re going to do with nuclear power, weapons.

So, as with many prophetic things having to do with the end-time, again, this was not fully understood, but just so we’re all clear in all this:  We’ve just entered the final two remaining periods of Half a Time, we are now in the sixth period.  What an awesome thing!  It’s like walking around Jericho and this is the sixth day – nothing’s happened – this is the sixth day, we’re walking around it again, but there are some differences.  There are some differences with Jericho; Jericho pictures the things of God bringing down the entire world system and what’s going to take place, but we understand that there are things that began with Israel, where the nations of Israel are scattered: the United States first and foremost, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain, Western Europe, all a part of ancient Israel.  Incredible!  It’s where they migrated to, promises fulfilled; God fulfilled promises that He gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – national promises and greatness and power in time to the end-time, and then the greatest promise of all to be fulfilled, the Messiah.  The Messiah to come to this earth.  Incredible what we get to see, what we get to witness.

We are now in the sixth period of a Half a Time and this is the time of Jacob’s trouble.  This is the time of Jacobs trouble.  Let’s go to Daniel 12 again, this time to verse 1.

Daniel 12:1 - And at that time, referring to a specific period of time, shall Michael stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of Your people: Incredible!  Angelic war, angelic battles, things talked about in Daniel that sometimes are just so hard to comprehend; that God allowed Israelites to have physical wars that they can learn from and has also allowed the angelic realm to have wars that they are learning from and that we learn from as well. Battles with the satanic world, battles with Lucifer who became Satan and all his angelic beings who are demons, who are restricted to this earth, and those wars that God allows Michael to enter into, primarily, as it refers to him as a great warrior. Michael is the prince of the people in that respect as far as an angelic being, the archangel.  He’s fighting something that’s spiritual, and there have been spiritual battles going on for some time – right now and onward they’re going to be some of the greatest ones ever fought, truly – some of the greatest ones ever fought in time in an angelic realm that God’s going to allow and have the angelic realm fight as well.  Satan doesn’t want to give up. Satan doesn’t want to quit. He doesn’t want to stop his reign, but it’s going to stop very soon, thankfully.

It says, Michael will stand up, he’s going to be given greater power, and what Satan has, much of his power as time goes on begins to be taken away from him more and more.  And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of Your people: and there shall be a time of trouble, a time of trouble, focusing in more on Israel, but it’s also for the whole world.  We understand the entire story, but it always focuses on Israel first and what happens because this is the focus point of it all, of what God is doing.

So far only the 1st Trumpet has sounded and there are intensifying Thunders, no 2nd Trumpet yet.  ...a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation even to that same time: Never been anything like what’s coming in the next period of 280 days that we’re in now, and the 140 that we’ve entered into has much to do with Israel, that have to do with the completion of time that we entered into back on April 3rd; because that was the time of judgment and things that happened, but all things in judgment don’t happen immediately.  It’s just like what happens in the seventh time, not everything has to happen in January, not everything has to take place in January, and candidly so, and if you can remember and that’s why it’s been mentioned over and over and over again... last year when we went through a sermon series and other times when we’ve gone through sermon series, when we talked about Jesus Christ and the life of Jesus Christ and the things that God did in and through Him, the vast majority of what He did that’s written in your Bible happened in the last three weeks of His life!  Not for 3 years or 3½ years, but the last three weeks of His life!  Powerful!  The work that God did in and through Him at that very end when it finally came to fulfill why He was on this earth and all the teachings that went with it.  Do you realize that there are a ton of teachings that happened on the very last day?  Some of the most inspiring teachings ever given to mankind were given on the very last night of His life, not even a full day, but the very last night of His life.  That’s awesome to understand, incredible, powerful!

God is all powerful and we’re learning it and we’re going to be witness of it in what happens on this earth – every one of us if we remain faithful to God, because not all people remain faithful to God.  Sometimes money takes people out of the loop because they can no longer save first tithe and obey God, because some will no longer, or don’t save back second tithe and lie to God and steal from God and then want God to let them go to the Feast of Tabernacles.  What kind of a judgment am I supposed to make as God’s apostle to individuals who want help but who don’t obey God?  What am I supposed to do?  Last year we were very merciful, but it happens a second time in people’s lives? What am I supposed to do as God’s minister?  Facilitate?  Condone?  Allow?  Make way for?  Be a facilitator of? Enabler? An enabler to sin against God for the very things you want, the very thing you were to obey God in doing?  I’m appalled!  Mercy?!  Yes.  Enabler? No.  So some are going to have to stay home this year.  What can I do?  What am I supposed to do as God’s minister?  I’d love to say, “Yes.”  I feel for people, but we need to loathe disobedience to God and mocking God and making fun of God.

And so you repent and you go forward – just repent – that’s what God asks of you and that’s what I ask of you as His servant, repent of what you’ve done.  That means you change!  And last year you were asked to repent!  I’m sorry I’m getting off on something else, but I tell you, there’s a reason for this.  And so last year some of you were asked to repent – repentance means change!  And so if you didn’t save second tithe, this year you saved it because you love God, because you want to attend His Feast of Tabernacles!  You want to obey Him and attend His Feast and He’s given you the means to do it!  And so you do it, but you don’t at the last minute say, “Oh I had this and that happen.  I had that happen.  I had to use it.  I had to make my payment on my house and I had to use it – God will understand.”  God does know exactly where you’re coming from. Sorry about that, but I’ll tell you what... we have to fear disobeying God, and I just... sometimes I just am bowled over that we can have such audacity before God to do something like that.

Now there are situations where people have genuine, honest, heartfelt needs and they have sacrificed. I’ve seen some huge changes in amounts that people have set aside, they’ve shown the effort and the desire, and I understand when people are restricted in what they’re living on.  They’re living week by week. Things are getting tight, prices are going up.  I understand all that!  And I also understand when there’s disobedience and there’s nothing there when there should be.  Think, “When will we ever learn?”  And yet as human beings we fight against God, we resist God.

So not everybody will be with us when this is over with.  Not all of you listening today, sadly... not everyone listening today will come through this period of 280 days.  How sad can that be?  You want God to fight your battles, you want God to bring you through all this, and you won’t obey Him in the most basic of truth – so why should God deliver you and why should I see to it that a cheque is sent to you to flaunt it before God in observing His Feast of Tabernacles because you disobeyed Him another year?  That is not going to happen; matter of fact, I’m going back and changing some after this sermon here today that I already approved partially that I’m going to disapprove.  You need to understand why you’re staying home.

Now, I would go.  I know me; I know what I would have done in 1970 and 1971 after I came into the Church in 1969.  I’d go by whatever means I had to go, but that’s me.

And so again it says ...and there shall be a time of trouble such as never has been since there was a nation even to that same time: in other words, far greater things have to come to pass obviously here before us and they haven’t happened yet.  We’re not there, we’re not at that point but we’ve entered into a time that constitutes that period.  You want everything to happen tomorrow?  Not going to happen tomorrow, but I’ll tell you what, you’re going to see some incredible things happen over this next period that we’re in, just in this period alone – awesome things indeed.

...at that time Your people shall be delivered, everyone who shall be found written in the book. First of all, who is this about?  This is to Daniel. This is talking about those with whom God has been working for the last 6,000 years. Finally a time of deliverance that’s almost upon them and the world has to go through some pain, some labour as in great pain before this happens, before this occurs, and yet this is very far reaching in what it’s talking about.  ...and at that time Your people shall be delivered, everyone who shall be found written in the book.  So this is very broad, indeed, in what it covers, for its speaking of those who are first delivered and those who are delivered to live on into a new time.  Because that’s a beginning of a deliverance!  For those of you who are called right now, God has called you to deliver you – not to fail – He’s called you to succeed!  He has called you for the purpose of living into a new age IF YOU WILL BE FAITHFUL TO HIM!  280 days left!  280 days! Can you repent before God and be faithful to God for 280 days?  You can’t unless you do what we all have to do, we all have to repent and then you can.  If you repent and ask God for help, you know God’s very merciful, that’s what we’re living through – He’s showing His mercy!  Throw yourself before God’s throne, before the mercy seat of God and ask for forgiveness – He’ll forgive you!  And go forward, go forward.  He won’t hold it against you, it’ll be forgotten, and I don’t hold it against you because I follow God.  It’s forgotten.  But you’ve got to change, you’ve got to repent!

So again, an opportunity is being given to people to be recorded in the Book of Life for the time that they’ll be saved.

Verse 2 - And many of them who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, the end of 6,000 years?  Absolutely!  144,000, again, from over the past 6,000 years, and those who live on into the Millennium, it’s about you too, because this isn’t just a succinct moment in time, it’s about God’s plan and what He’s revealing, because the plan doesn’t stop with the first resurrection, it continues on.  Those of you who are called to live on into a new age, you continue on, God living in your life, and you look forward to the same thing, to a time when you are resurrected.  So it’s not a matter of a specific moment, one moment in time, it’s the time when God works with people and delivers people, and that’s what this is talking about.  ...some to everlasting life, not all at the same time, we understand God’s plan; it doesn’t happen at the same time.  Some happens when Jesus Christ returns, far more happens at the end of the 1,000 years and FAR MORE happens at the end of the 100 years.

...and some to shame...some are resurrected from sleep, from death, resurrected to shame, dishonour, disgrace. Now this scripture isn’t fully translated properly because it tries to include the last part of this verse with this verse but it really is making a distinction here of things through time.

I think of those, even a few that I just mentioned, that don’t come through this 280 days who are with us now who will not be with us at the end.  I know it to be so brethren, because God has given it, and some will not repent and some will not change, a few, and that’s too bad.  And for those who don’t... shame, dishonour and disgrace, to be resurrected, to be standing there and saying, “280 days,” or “240 days,” or maybe “140 days... and look what I did, I gave it up!  I gave it up!  I quit fighting because other things were more important; the world, physical things, physical family rather than a spiritual one.”  Which all in time will be given opportunity to become a spiritual one which is far greater than the physical one, if we understand.  Choices, choices, choices that God gives us and we don’t always make the right choices.

I think of all the thousands, tens of thousands who are going to be resurrected, “You did what? You were part of that apostasy.”  Because the shame and dishonour is on us all.  But see, God blessed us, some of us who are here, who came from that past, to bring us to repentance; not because we were better, because the shame and dishonour was ours except that God brought us to repentance. He had mercy upon us otherwise we’d be in the same thing.  We’d be resurrected later on in shame and dishonour.  That’s why there’s going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  When you’re resurrected and you know what you gave up that far into it and you’ve been in the Church 20-30-40 years and you say, “I did what?! I can’t... I can’t believe that could have happened!  I can’t believe I would have made that choice, but I was so weak that I did!”  This is what it’s talking about.  Now what happens in those cases?  You can repent.  You’re called to a point in time to repent, to live life in a hundred year period, to repent and change and live life a second time.  But you’re going to look back at the beginning and think, “Look what I gave up!”

And as it should be ...and some to everlasting contempt...and some to everlasting contempt, [abhorrence and loathing]. So it’s talking about different situations in life that happen, especially toward the end and through time and different resurrections and some who just don’t want God and so those who choose to reject God totally through time, and God judges those matters that don’t want to be a part of His Kingdom, that don’t value His Kingdom.  No resurrection; in other words, eternal death, eternal judgment upon them, one of abhorrence for the choices they make, never to be a part of God’s Family.

Verse 3 - And those who will become wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; it’s a matter of a process of yielding to God, because we grow in wisdom, we grow with a mind of God, the Word of God that becomes a part of our mind, a part of our being. ...and they who turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. Above and beyond that by far, but again, terminology and wording that was used back then and if you understand what that means, even more so.

But you O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, something that God was doing, but wanted it recorded in this fashion as he spoke to Daniel, because Daniel’s desire was to understand all these prophecies he’d been writing and it wasn’t given to him to understand all of it.  He understood parts of it, but not all of it, and so God told him what He was doing, what God was doing and He spoke this to Daniel; shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end: In other words, God was doing this but He had Daniel record it to say something that Daniel couldn’t even fully understand, but for our benefit and for all those who’ve been through time.  No one can understand it until it’s time, till the time of the end. Then God will give it, He’ll open up the words and not seal the book any longer.

...many shall run to and fro, Wow! At the time of the end...that’s kind of a funny expression in some ways, ‘running to and fro’.  You ever felt like you’re running to and fro?  You know, back then you could move kind of at the speed of a donkey sometimes, because you’d be following one, maybe riding upon one, and to go really fast you might have gotten on a horse and galloped for a while, kind of running, not to and fro too much because they can only go for so long.  Today though, oh do we run!  We started out your time at 3:00 the other morning to get here, didn’t realize until later on that I thought, “Man, I’m really tired!” ...and started flying in this direction here because of time changes and so forth, and you don’t realize at the time because it’s only 5:00 for you in the morning and yet it’s another time somewhere else.  But anyway – running to and fro, going to the airport, catching the plane, catching a bus, getting in the car, oh do we have it easy, freeways that are packed to the gills, people running to and fro back and forth from work.

The point being is that God is showing a period of time when there’s never been a time like this, when thing’s will be so different than they were previously... knowledge will be so increased.  The ability of man so increased that indeed, that this is going to be a reflection of who he is and what he’s doing.  He’s running to and fro on the earth, like never before.  Sometimes it gets so bad out there you can’t run too far too fast compared to what we’re accustomed to.  Just like when you get into the airport out here and you have two different lanes of traffic and all the lanes are getting on the freeway out there and you have bumper to bumper traffic and it’s going slow and you think, “Why can’t it move faster?”  And even the internet, if it’s not just whizzing now a day we’ve become accustomed to running to and fro on the internet, fast, fast, fast, give it to me faster!  And if it takes two seconds, if you have to stop for a couple seconds, it’s like, “Man this is slow!”  Really, you go not too far back... I was at a home here the other day where this person has dial-up and they were trying to get a greeting card off the internet and we waited and we waited and we waited... and we waited, and waited, and waited...and finally it said it was done loading the thing.  Then the computer was so old it tried to open it up and we waited, and we waited, and waited, and it never did open because the file was so big.  And finally I got my computer out and got my little Verizon thing out and opened it up and showed them what they couldn’t see.

We’re accustomed to that in the world, we’re accustomed to moving quickly, running to and fro and it consumes people’s lives. Matter of fact, people in big cities.... I don’t like going into big cities very much anymore, I really don’t, because the stress is so evident in people’s lives and the way they act it out. It’s so easy to have disgust towards each other, to be so impatient toward each other and if you’re not careful you can catch onto that same thing out there.  I just don’t like it in big cities anymore and the crowds that are there, it’s horrible because of people running to and fro.  Amazing!  A prophetic statement that has become fulfilled.

One of the things I look forward to when people are resurrected from the far past is to have them see some of these freeways, these overpasses and all these cars everywhere and just say, “See that?  That’s what man is doing now.”  They’re going to be dumfounded!  ...let alone seeing things go across the sky and you say, “Yeah, there’s 300 people in that thing up there.”

...and knowledge shall be increased. See, it’s not a minor thing, it’s a prophetic thing of such magnitude because it’s about the time of the end.  And we look at knowledge, how fast things are being increased.  We look at man’s ability, at what we’re learning and how quickly things are being speeded up, the technology that is there to enable this, and the knowledge that man is gaining as one thing leads to another thing as a world has been opened up.  And God kept that back from mankind for nearly 5,900 years, and finally He let man have the knowledge to lead us into the end of the age.  Amazing!  Because God did it; it’s from God. God gave it, gave it to the minds of individuals to bring about through time.

Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on one side of the bank of the river, and the other on the other side of the bank of the river. And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was upon the waters of the river, How long to the end of these wonders/the end of these wonders? And I heard the man, again those in italics and it adds different meaning to it if you’re not careful, And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and gave oath from Him who lives for ever and ever that it shall be for a ‘time, times, and a half’; half a time.  In other words it’s God’s word and He was delivering God’s oath to mankind, God’s promise to mankind.  When it talks in Hebrews about God’s oath, by two immutable things, that God cannot lie, God’s word is true.  The oath is absolute.  And so again here, a period of time that certain things were going to happen.  We’re in it and we’re in the last phase of it.  We’re in a period that can’t be called ‘Times’, we’re in ‘Time’, one ‘Time’ left, 280 days.  Incredible!

And so again, it would be good to be reminded of the word ‘Time’ in the Hebrew here in this particular verse, because sometimes we forget.  You remember what the word is that’s used here?  The word for time is the same word used in Leviticus 23 for ‘appointed times’. “These are My appointed times.”  God set it up long ago that He was going to have an appointment with mankind, appointment with Israel to be specific, to plead with them.  That’s why so many of the prophecies talk about a time of judgment upon mankind – it’s this period of time that the world has entered into because it’s bringing down man’s self rule for the past 6,000 years to bring about a new time of God’s rule on the earth with the Messiah, the King of kings, that transition of time that’s to take place.  And so God set that as an appointed time, not a holy time like Leviticus 23, but an appointed time with man, that He judged long ago because He knew what man would do and what would bring and come about in this end-time.

So again, awesome things that God gives, and this period of, indeed, ‘Time, Times and a Half’ is one that God appointed to be fulfilled as a time of judgment that would be executed upon Israel and upon the world – that’s what it’s about.  It’s what it’s about, it’s a time, an appointment for judgment, it’s all about judgment.  And Jacob’s trouble is about judgment too, and this gets into more of the period of time here now – because we’ve seen what happens.  You know what’s happened in the last 140 days?  It’s been magnified... been magnified again.  What was mankind like before he came up to God’s final witness, 2008?  People didn’t listen.  People don’t care.  And why...?  “Who are you?”  And I understand that – look how small we are – who are you?  There are so many crackpots out there, so many weirdoes; so many people that say so many things. But you know it’s an amazing thing...more and more people, as was mentioned long time ago in books, that in time people are going to start talking more about the end-time, it’s going to be in the minds of people.  It’s kind of common lately compared to what it was two years ago even, to hear those kinds of terms.  People sense that there’s something wrong in the world and so what did man do?

Well, Israel’s response explains it all, especially Manasseh.  Just look at Manasseh.  Then we came to the last 140 days, things starting to happen in the world and the world being shaken again, Thunders, more powerful than they have been before, and things happening in the world, things happening with the economy and all of a sudden bringing us to a brink again.  And what do people do?  They get worse.  They actually get worse in thinking... it’s like “This can’t happen to us!”  What said it all spiritually is, “We are a triple ‘A’ nation and we always will be!”  Says it all.  No, we are not and we will not be.  Even with what happened in the stock market and look at what happens to man’s response?  He starts pushing it again, he starts getting it up there, and this time by hook and crook and cheat and lying like... One day when this all comes out and you see what has happened in government, what has happened in the markets and things that happen behind the scenes to manipulate, to lie to the world, to lie to people, to foist something like this on society because they can’t allow this to crumble.  So they will do anything to save it.  It’s exactly what happened in the scattered  Churches of God on a spiritual plane, that have come to the same demise, and it’s going to happen here.  Time of Jacob’s trouble – incredible.

So again, we are focusing today on a segment of time that has deep meaning for Israel that’s expressed by Jeremiah as a time of Jacob’s trouble. This segment of appointed time of the sixth Half a Time is a time God has allotted for the time of Jacob’s trouble when God will more fully plead with Israel to repent and to turn, even return, to Him.  Because  a long time has passed – and God uses that expression then that Israel was scattered and God’s going to finally plead with them to bring them back to him, to return to him, except this time we understand it’s a spiritual matter with their minds being opened up to what is true.

Jeremiah 30:1 - The word that came to Jeremiah from the Eternal, saying, Thus says the Eternal God of Israel, Write all the words that I have spoken unto you in a book. For, behold the day is come, says the Eternal, that I will bring again, a word meaning ‘to turn back’ the captivity of My people Israel and Judah; This has been misunderstood, because when you look at it physically it’s like Israel and Judah are going into captivity, they’re going to be taken into different nations.  And how are you going to do that one?  Going to take us into other nations like what happened before?  Like what happened when Israel was taken into Assyria?  That’s not what this is about.  That’s not the captivity God’s talking about.  Yeah, there are going to be things that happen at the end-time to Manasseh, to Ephraim, to the rest of the tribes, to Judah but this is talking about something far, far greater that has to do with the end of 6,000 years and the beginning of the Millennium and what God is doing for His people that’s far greater than something physical.  That goes with the territory.  He’s talking about something He has longed for for this earth for so, so long, for mankind for so long.

...For, behold, the day is come, says the Eternal, that I will turn back the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, says the Eternal: and I will cause them; ...I will cause them to turn back to the land that I gave, by promise.  And so we look at land we just read something physical.  It’s like everybody’s going to move back to Galilee and Israel and some of those areas of Lebanon.  “That’s what God’s talking about, He’s going to make us all move back there.” No He’s not!  This land has been given for a purpose, and the people who live here are going to live here.  God gave it; that was the physical fulfillment of some things that have taken place already through time.  This is talking about something far greater!  Far more meaningful!  Been talking about it in recent time.  What is it we talked about longing for? When people are no longer held captive to ignorance and stupidity about God!  When they’re finally freed and finally see the shackles that have been upon them that keep them from understanding.   Why the Protestant’s can’t see that they’re bowing down to the pope spiritually through time, because they came up with Christmas and Easter and Sunday.  I look forward to when they’re freed from that!  When they can finally share together with us the truth, to understand the Sabbath and the Holy Days of God that have such great meaning, to understand Passover and what Passover means.

What a beautiful thing when someone walks into your midst over the last few months or weeks or whatever it is – their lives have changed dramatically because now they’re freed, that they’re now able to see the Sabbath and rejoice in it, they want to share in that Sabbath with you.  And how much of a joy is that when you see them, that you are able to then share fellowship with people of the same mind?  It’s a beautiful thing and that’s what God is talking about here, when everyone has that opportunity before them, when people are no longer in darkness, in spiritual Egypt, that are able to be freed from it, brought out of captivity.  This is what God is bringing to the earth – not physical things!  That goes with the territory!  It’s far greater than that; far, far mightier what God is doing.

I will bring back the captivity/turn back the captivity of My people Israel and Judah.  What’s held them captive all the time?  What held Israel captive?  The Assyrians?  Is that what it’s about?  No!  It’s what they started doing long before Christ ever came long. They started having Ba-al worship; they started worshipping on the day of the sun.  That’s why it has that name, Sun-day, the day of the sun, the day of worship for Ba-al and it’s passed through time for mankind!  It just took on the name ‘Christianity’ later on – happened several hundred years before the time of Christ.  Here Israel is out there bowing down to the east, and the time of Easter, Ishtar, things that they started observing long before it became called Easter.  Incredible the pagan god’s, Ishtare and others through history that are written down in books.  People held captive.

And I will cause them to turn back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. Not just land, it’s the promises that He gave to the forefathers!  That’s what it’s talking about in the context there; and the promises are spiritual in nature, above and beyond what’s physical.  Physical doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t have the spiritual to go with it.  Look what we’ve done! Look at how we’ve raped the land! Look at how we’ve raped everything that God has given to us.  That’s what God says; the soil to where you have to put nitrogen into it by ammonia. To where to make things preserve on the shelf you put tons of preservatives in it and then we feed our lives with it – and then after a time we have all kinds of ailments in life, in the mind even because of chemicals that were never intended to be digested and put in the body, in our organs, and everything that’s happened to us, the diseases and things we have that are created by man, by man’s greed.  Incredible!  Anyway, promises that God has given to Israel, and really to the whole world, because the promise to Israel is not about a physical nation, it‘s about a spiritual one that Jesus Christ came to make clear, that Paul started teaching, that all mankind is going to have the opportunity to be a part of Israel, spiritual Israel, the Israel of God, because it’s the meaning of the word, not the physical people that God is talking about.

Verse 4 - And these are the words that the Eternal spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah, because it’s always the focal point about prophecy and things that have happened in times.  Because the things that have happened in ‘type’ in the past lead to those things that happen in reality spiritually in the future.  For thus says the Eternal; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Right now that’s increasing and it’s going to increase more and more every day we go forward.  People are starting to wake up a little bit.  There are some who are starting to wake up a lot, even in Europe.  Even in Europe they’re starting to talk about a super power that’s emerging.  You think, “Wow!  Give me a break!  Mr. Armstrong was writing about that a long time ago and now they’re starting to talk about it.”  You know, there are prophecies in the Minor Prophets, Amos, about... paraphrasing; it says it gets to a point at the end-time because of all that’s happening, it says “Who but can prophecy...” In other words, it’s not because they’re prophesying because they’re inspired by God’s spirit, it’s because all of a sudden what they’re talking about, that they’re seeing in the world, is prophetic, that God told them a long time ago would be happening and so now they’re talking about it, what’s emerging in front of their eyes!  A superpower in Europe that’s emerging on the scene! “Who can help but prophecy...”  That’s what it’s talking about.

And more and more as we go forward the things you’ll be hearing are going to have more to do with the very things that God has shown His Church over the last 40 years that we’ve been living, things that are taking place in front of our very eyes that we see coming together here in the United States and around the world, and the economic crash that’s right in front of us, right in the forefront of it all that actually every nation, to a point, is trying to keep from happening, but come to a point where they realize that it’s time to cut their losses and do what they have to do.  And the answer is a matter of trembling, of fear, and not of peace, because it’s one of war. It’s out there.  It’s going to become stronger and stronger and stronger.

Ask now, and see whether a man is in labour with child? Why is it that I see every man with his hands on his hips as a woman who’s in labour, and all faces are turned pale?    What a pathetic thing that it starts with money.  That causes some of the greatest anguish in human beings, those who are wealthy, those who are powerful that begin to lose that, and the strain and the stress they have and the paleness that enters into their life, in their face and their life, it’s reflected in something that is reality, not just something that’s physical.  And the stress that is used there is like someone who are bearing down because it hurts so much.  You want to hurt mankind?  That’s why the 1st Trumpet is so powerful.  It’s not a matter of physical devastation, you see, it’s what’s in the mind because of what people hold up as their God, “In God We Trust.”  What a joke!  It’s, “In Green We Trust.” ...and want to trust and all the more happier we are.  “In Green We Trust” around the world!  Staring to lose some momentum, finally.

Alas! Behold!  For that day/that time is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. So God has a plan and a purpose.

Let’s just read the rest of the verses here: Verse 8 - For it shall come to pass in that day, says the Eternal of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will cause your bonds/bindings to break, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: It’s a very powerful prophecy that I don’t have time to go into too much here due to time running out, but it’s very powerful in what it is explaining here, something that’s going to happen with Israel, but really be a part of the world, strangers, and what it’s talking about in strangers here, again, and how the word is used...it’s good to go into Proverbs 2 and other places when it talks about strangers and why it uses the word ‘strangers’ when it talks about this. Well, let’s notice chapter 2 right quick like.  We’ll take a little time here.

There are so many places in Proverbs, but Proverbs 2 – that’s why this word is used, because it’s how it’s used in scripture, especially here as you get some momentum and context here.  Proverbs 2:1 - My son, if you will receive My words... What does He want Israel to do?  What does He want mankind to do?  ...receive My words, so what does man have to go through to receive His words?  Well, many won’t, they’re going to be filled with pride and resist God to the very end and they’ll die. But for those who repent through time here, especially within the scattered nations of Israel, My son, if you’ll receive My words and hide My commandments with you; people are going to begin to draw closer to and learn about the Sabbath and the Holy Days and realize that this is from God and believe what’s taking place.

So that you incline your ear unto wisdom, that’s what happens when God begins to call us out of the world; all of a sudden we want to hear!  We want to incline our ear.  Sometimes we reflect that by how we listen to sermons and what we want to hear and the anxiousness, the desire we have to hear it, and apply your heart to understanding; a desire we have to learn more and be filled more with God’s Word. Yes, if you cry after knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding; We even have to cry out to God for it, “Father feed me!”  Should be a part of our prayer week by week, “...feed me this Sabbath!  Feed me today! I need you. I want you. I desire more of your way to be able to come into my mind and my being so that my way is not mine, but Yours, to be at one with You.”

Over and over again: If you seek her as silver, in other words, that’s where your treasure is, in the truth and the word of God; not in your house, not in what you can buy and have out here and build up in this world and how much you’re going to be able to save for your retirement.  Everybody that has it out there – you’re going to lose it!  Very quickly here now it’s all going down the toilet!  I marvel sometimes when I hear people who have a partial belief in or a full belief in the truth and they talk about money going into Treasuries or into Bonds.  HEY!  IT’S PAPER!  It’s not even paper, its electronic paper which is not even good for toilet paper!  Use your computer to go to the bathroom with!  ...just calling a spade a spade!  That’s how much it’s worth!  ...and the stench that’ll go with it!  Just candid!  I am dumbfounded at this world and people in it and what people will do and people of our past – going to put it in the market... “Oh, I’m tired of the market; let’s put it in Treasuries.”  You know what’s been happening recently?  Think, “You guys!  Don’t you get it?  Don’t you understand?  Can’t you see a little bit clearer what’s happening to you?”  Can’t hardly watch some of that stuff anymore.

...and you seek after her as silver; and search after her as for hidden treasures; If that’s how we esteem the word of God, the truth of God, and realize the treasure we have...that’s why I talked about the way we have it here recently in the truths and we went through the 3 Truths and then the 18 Truths, and the treasure that’s there; it’s your power, it’s your life – spiritually!  It’s powerful, it truly is!  And your confidence and your boldness, it truly is, and all the rest of the truths give you even greater boldness because of what you see coming to pass.

You think it’s by accident out here?  It ought to just send some shivers up and down your spine when you hear somebody comment on the news, “It’s 2008 all over again!  2011 is 2008 but worse!”  ‘Who can help but prophecy?!’  You ought to be dumbfounded!  That’s why 2008 is so important.  It was God’s final witness and now they’re talking about it and they don’t even know what they’re doing.  What does that do for you?  Does it give you greater boldness and courage because of what you’re going through and what you have to go through?  Do you know who you are and where you are and where you’re going with boldness and confidence?  ...to where everything else is meaningless out here?  Do you have your heart 100% in God’s work and God’s way of life?  ...or is it in, “Well, I have to kind of prepare.  Just in case this doesn’t happen what am I going to do?”  Give me help!  No, give you help.

Verse 5 - Then shall you understand the fear of the Eternal, and find the knowledge of God. That’s how we grow. For the Eternal gives wisdom: it comes from God – truth, true wisdom - out of His mouth comes knowledge and understanding. That He shares with us.  He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous: He is a buckler/a shield to them who walk uprightly. You want God to be on your side, you don’t disobey Him then, you don’t blatantly disobey Him pay check to pay check to pay check. Some people say, “Oh, there he goes again, getting more money!”  No, second tithe is yours!  It’s yours to obey God by!  And what do you do if you kept the Feast and you still have money coming in, you still have a job?  You KNOW that that green that you put aside you’re not going to keep next year’s Feast with because it’s going to be worthless, but you obey God and you still put it aside because YOU OBEY GOD ALMIGHTY even though you KNOW that it’s toilet paper, but it’s your heart and your mind and your obedience to it before God.  Does that make sense?  Hopefully it does to everyone.

He keeps/guards the paths of judgment, and preserves the way of the saints. God does, if you’re faithful, if you strive to be faithful, if you’re repenting when you do wrong. Then shall you understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; and every good path.

Let’s jump on down to verse 16 because this is what it’s about - To deliver you from the strange woman, it’s that word that’s used here, ‘strange’ – ‘stranger’...the  ‘strange woman’ in this case it uses.  ...even from the stranger who flatters with her words; you read these in scriptures, it’s talking about the immoral, it’s talking about that which is false, the false doctrines, false teachings, that which is opposite or contrary to God.  And that’s what God is saving man from, that’s what the time of Jacob’s trouble is about very much as well, it’s about releasing them from the bindings, the shackles, everything that keeps people in bondage to this system that’s out here, to the Protestant world, to the Catholic world, to false religions.  God is going to break all those shackles here over the next 280 days plus one, because for the rest of the world some horrifying things have to take place on that last day, the last day that’s not a part of the count, as the 144,000 are returning with Jesus Christ, before they actually come down.  7 Last Plagues to destroy those who are destroying the earth.  To destroy most of China and Russia and the Far East and some of those areas that are destroying the earth and the other countries throughout Europe that are doing the things they’re doing.  God says He’s going to destroy them – large masses of people, like the flood, in one day by 7 Last Plagues.

Powerful things that we’re a witness of.

I want to go on here and read a little bit more in Jeremiah.  Jeremiah 30:8 - For it shall come to pass at that time, says the Eternal of hosts, that I will break the yoke off your neck, and will cause your bindings, in other words, to break, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of you: We’re not going to be taken advantage of because we’re in bondage to that which is false.  That’s what Satan loves to do! That’s why he has control.  It’s the power of sin, the power of death over us.

Verse 9 - But they shall serve the Eternal their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them. Beautiful things, because it’s talking about when David is going to be resurrected.  God’s made it very clear that David is going to reign over Israel.  Jesus Christ reigns over all, He is the King of kings, David is going to be made the ruler over Israel, over all the tribes.  Powerful!  Beautiful!  King David resurrected to life again, coming back down with me and a few others – just to say it boldly, bluntly – as a part of the 144,000.  It really get’s some people’s goat out there! Ulcers, whatever you have, so be it.  You’re in torment, I’m not.  I’m thankful, excited about what’s coming.

Verse 10 - Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob, says the Eternal; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; What is the captivity again?  It’s not the land!  It’s a spiritual thing!  That’s what He’s talking about.  It’s like being in Egypt, being in bondage; and that’s what God is going to free everyone from when He opens up everyone’s mind to the truth.  ...and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. For I am with you, says the Eternal, to save you: though I make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, it’s not talking about Germany, it’s not talking about different places where people are going to be taken captive, because they’re not going to be hauled over there – okay?  Where has God scattered us?  Where are those nations?   What are they called today?  They’re called The United States, they’re called Canada, they’re called New Zealand, they’re called Australia, they’re called Luxembourg, they’re called the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium!  All those nations who are part of the scattered nations of Israel – Israel!  I didn’t say them all and probably messed some up.  Some say, “Oh he said Ireland.”  Yeah, some of Ireland, all of them, part of what’s going to take place there.

...though I make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, yet I will not make a full end of you: but I will correct you in... the word doesn’t mean ‘measure’, it’s not used for the word ‘measurement’; it’s the word judgment.  I will correct you in judgment... That’s what the time of Jacob’s trouble is all about; it’s about God’s judgment.  ‘Time, Times, and a Half A Time’ is about God’s judgment upon the end of the age, upon mankind; and will not leave you...interesting, this word ‘altogether’ and the word ‘unpunished’ are the same word used twice.  Don’t know the full meaning of it.  I will not leave you unpunished.

Powerful!  Because it’s about something that has to happen at the end that’s very powerful, the time of Jacob’s trouble and of those things that lead to the end of this age.

So in closing it would be good to repeat some of what was stated earlier.  We have a great deal that’s happened in our short history of the past five periods of ‘Half a Time’ that we have now gone through and I think back – it seems so far away when we entered into it, when God showed us what it was all about, the periods, the ‘Time, Times, and a Half a Time’ and we realized where we were.  Seemed so far away in some ways, it really did, and now here we are.  I’m so thankful we don’t have much farther to go.

It’s now a little over 4 hours ago that this world officially entered into a new and very meaningful time for this end-time. And back on April 2nd we began a sermon series, again, entitled (we shouldn’t miss any of this...) ‘A Fast with Judgment’ in which we covered the significance of April 3rd being the day we entered the fifth Half a Time in ‘Time, Times and Half a Time’, and that the world passed into a time of judgment, a time for the execution of judgment upon Israel.  And just like ‘Time, Times, and a Half a Time’ it doesn’t happen in the first week or the first month, but now we’re at the time of Jacob’s trouble.

~~~end

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