Christ’s 1st & 2nd Coming – Pt. 3

Ron Weinland

March 3, 2012

Today we’re going to continue with Part 3 of the sermon series entitled Christ’s 1st & 2nd Coming.  And I hope as you’ve gone back and looked at the charts and some of the timing of events, the things that God has given to us, that you’re moved – especially those who’ve been around for a long time and baptized for a long time, these things should even drive the point home even in a greater way, in a more awesome way.  But all those of you who are new as well, as you study into it, it’s really quite incredible what God has given to us, what is in scripture, what’s in the book of Daniel.  I’ve been dumbfounded by some of the things in the book of Daniel because, candidly, we just haven’t known that the seventy-weeks prophecy has to do with Christ’s second coming, until God began to give that to us.  And now the things we’re going through in this particular series bring that out even more and more, and it’s awesome, it’s truly powerful what God is showing to us.  I’m excited about being able to give sermons like this one here especially today because this kind of wraps up everything and brings it all home in that respect, of what is written there that’s always been there.

Going through some of these things it even becomes obvious that there are things which we’ve talked about in times past that really go into the Millennium and the Great White Throne that God hasn’t given yet.  There are things even in the book of Daniel about that period of time but that’ll be given to us later on because we don’t need it right now.  So, it’s kind of like part of the books are still ‘shut-up’ in that respect.  But there are things there about it waiting there.  It’s exciting!  God’s word is exciting because it’s there from beginning to end in His plan.

Anyway, we’re going to jump right back into the flow of last Sabbath’s sermon concerning the seventy-weeks prophecy about the first and second coming recorded in Daniel 9.  And as has been stated, verse 24 is fully about Christ’s second coming, and verse 25 is fully about His first coming. And it’s from this point that there is a mixture of events that are about His first coming and about His second coming, and most of it, candidly, about His second.  But let’s begin toward the end of what we were covering last week picking it up again here in Daniel 9:26.

Verse 25 there just sets the stage of seventy-weeks prophecy, candidly leading up to the very end, because things written in the book of Daniel and what God gave to him, everything is about what leads up to the end – what happens in nations, what happens finally when, as you remember in the beginning of the series, where the stone that’s cut out without hands comes down and strikes the statue at the feet and Babylon collapses, in essence, and God’s Kingdom is established.

So primarily all those events that lead up to that event are shown throughout the book of Daniel over and over again.  It would seem kind of strange, I guess, looking back now, how  it wouldn’t contain something about Christ’s second coming and yet now we know it is very explicit in that respect once we have been able to see exactly what’s being spoken of.

I think of the one section alone that talks about that which withholds, that which holds back, in 2 Thessalonians 2.  Holds back what?  The coming of the Messiah!  There was an event that had to take place that was monumental in time about an apostasy – the transgression, the sin of all time, if you will – and those verses have always been there but it wasn’t time to see it before.

Daniel 9:26 – And after sixty-two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself: so we’ve talked about that, it’s about His being the Passover, it’s about what He had to do to fulfill that role, if you will, coming as the Messiah, yes, but not yet to rule in the Kingdom of God, but rather to die for all the sins of mankind... so after sixty-two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself; and it explains then, we’ve already gone through that, it’s done in the next prophetic week that follows where He’s cut off in the midst of that week.

...and the people of the prince, again, not Christ but the fallen prince who became Satan, the adversary, that shall come shall destroy the City and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, Again, awesome here the language that’s used, because it’s used in other places in the Bible.  It’s used when we read the parallel account in Revelation 12 that speaks of the flood that the dragon cast out of his mouth to destroy the Church.  Some of the other Old Testament scriptures, Amos, and other places, that talk about a flood, and it’s all referring to this and not a physical flood in the sense of water, but in the sense of what swept the Church away.  And it was swept away, powerfully so!  And God likens that to a flood.

...and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. So again here, speaking of destruction, things that cause destruction, the destruction this time was of a spiritual Temple, the Church of God, not a physical one now at all, but to the end of the war, the battles that have gone on ever since this all began when the apostasy occurred, the abomination of desolation, destruction.  That’s what took place in the Church!  And there are those of us here today that lived through that period of time.  Johnny and I were talking about it on the way to services here today, thinking back about some of those events and some of the things we’ve gone through, and it was traumatic.  It was traumatic to live through that, truly was, and yet the wars, the battles, the things that have gone on since that time, they’ve been out there just scattering the Body, scattering the Church, scattering those that were out there that were at one time united and at one.

Verse 27 - And He, speaking of the Messiah, shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice of the oblations to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations He shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.  Now, this is written in Hebrew, but this is Greek.  See?  Without God’s help we can’t know what this is, and I think of mankind, especially as we begin to go through this verse, of what mankind has done in translating scriptures.  When we start going through a little bit of this they have tried to compile things in a way to go along with some of their teachings and beliefs, their ideas about God when they have no idea, first of all, what is true, when they have no idea about the Messiah and what He was to fulfill. It’s just incredible what mankind has done and really made prophecies like this even more obscure and more difficult.  And you can see why God, in essence, said to set a seal upon it, that it couldn’t be understood.  It wasn’t to be understood until a specific time period.

So let’s go back and look at this: ...and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; When He died He died as the ultimate sacrifice given to us as our Passover.  Let’s go over to Hebrews 10 and notice what it’s talking about - in the midst of the week – because the world of traditional Christianity knows what this is talking about full well because of the terminology being used here, it’s known in the world here but they don’t grasp that it was in the literal midst of the week, that He died on a Wednesday, but they understand that it’s referring to a specific period of time, and in this one here to grasp indeed that this was in the middle of a seven year period – 3½ years.  His ministry lasted for 3½ years.  So because of that then they have tried to translate things that they think fits.

...in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; now, there is some duality in this that’s really awesome – truly is.

Hebrews 10:1 - For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the thing; So many read this from the world of traditional Christianity and they begin to think about God’s law, the Ten Commandments, and they read scriptures of this type and it gives them grounds for saying, “See, the law has been done away with...”  Anyway, it’s the law of sacrifices.  It’s the sacrificial... Hebrews goes through and talks about Jesus Christ, over and over again it talks about what He fulfilled, and it talks about what was, in essence, fulfilled, replaced, no purpose in it anymore.  There is no purpose in the sacrificial system, it had no meaning after Jesus Christ came and had the fulfillment of those things existing in His life, because He is the ultimate sacrifice – the Passover – for all mankind, for sins, where you can truly be forgiven of sins.  That didn’t happen with ancient Israel.

For the law having a shadow of good things to come... you can go through and look at the Levitical system, you can go through and look at the priesthood, you can go through and look at what Aaron did, or the High Priest did year by year by year, in those things we’ve looked at in times past.  Everything had meaning!   What the High Priest did pictured things about Jesus Christ!  That’s why I love Leviticus 16.  And we read that so often then on Atonement, because it goes through and talks about the two goats, or whatever, one is the azazael and one is Christ, represents Christ, and the things that the High Priest did picture the things of Christ’s life, that He fulfilled.  So this is what it’s talking about, things that were fulfilled by and through Jesus Christ.

For the law having a shadow... it wasn’t the fulfillment but it pictured certain things that would take place, of good things to come, and not the very image of the things; that wasn’t the very thing at all; can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. It didn’t change anything in their life in that respect.  It was just a reminder year by year by year you have sin and there are things you must do to continue as a nation, as a people in relationship with God, but there was no forgiveness of sin in there at all.

For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.  So even the context here – you know, those who have gone through this book and translated it, those who are supposed scholars in traditional Christianity, they know full well what the context is throughout the book of Hebrews, but whenever they can they’ll jump upon scriptures that say, “See, the law, the commandments are done away with.”  And that’s not what’s being discussed at all.

So, in context here, the sacrificial system – it’s not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take way sins.  Wherefore when He comes into the world, He says, Sacrifice and offering You would not, but a Body have You prepared Me: Incredible what it’s talking about here.  When He came into the world He said, Sacrifice and offering You would not, it’s not about a matter of physical sacrifices and the Levitical system and what was offered upon the altar and the like, He said, but a Body you prepared for Me.  Why?  Why did He have to come as He did?  Why did things have to work out the way they did?  Jesus Christ had to live a perfect life, He had to go through what He did in order to become out Passover – the ultimate, if you will, the only true sacrifice for sins.  ...in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. It’s being stated very clearly this isn’t what God has desired.  This isn’t what it’s all about.  This isn’t the purpose of it all, there’s something far greater and it comes to us through Jesus Christ, through the Messiah, in revelation.

Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me,) to do Your will, O God. Beautiful scriptures!  It’s written in the Old Testament, written in the Psalms, so many places, the things about the Messiah and what would be fulfilled in His life – Isaiah, so many things in scripture about Him.  And that’s what God has called us to do, to learn to do the will of God – not our will – but to fight and to resist our will.  Jesus Christ was in total unity and harmony all the time with His Father.  Incredible, the mind, the oneness, the unity by the power of God’s spirit that existed there.  With us, we’re called into the Church after we have sin in our life, whatever age it is, we have deep carnal human nature, and then we begin a process of coming out of sin and it’s a lifelong process of the mind, of seeking to do God’s will, learning that God’s will and God’s purpose is right and ours is wrong.  Ours has to be repented of, ours is selfish, and so we live a life of growth and maturity in that area.  But this, again, about Christ and what He fulfilled.

Above when He said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin You would not, in other words, that’s not what you wanted, that isn’t Your desire; that pictures something in the future but this isn’t what it’s all about.  There’s no pleasure in seeing all the sacrifices!  I think of some of the ones in Chronicles there toward the end.  I think of a couple of occasions, one occasion especially when there were thousands and thousands and thousands, tens of thousands of animals sacrificed at one holy period of time.  I think it was around Passover period if I remember rightly and going into the Days of Unleavened Bread.  Well, I know it was.  Incredible numbers!  And yet their heart was good, their heart was right...and that’s what God looks at, it’s what’s inside and why you do what you do.  But all the animals when it’s all said and done didn’t mean a lot, truly.

Above when He said Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings for sin You would not, neither had pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; there’s that process they had to go through. Then He said, Lo, I come to do Your will, O God. He takes away the first that He may establish the second. Beautiful!  Took away the sacrificial system.  It had no meaning, no purpose after that, even though the Jews continued with it. They didn’t accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah, as the Passover, but Jesus Christ fulfilled everything in His life and that’s what it’s talking about.  He established the second.  And what is the second?  To do the will of God.  That’s what it’s all about - the ability to begin to do the will of God.  The ability to come into harmony and unity and oneness with God.  To grow in that!  That’s what it’s all about because it’s a matter of circumcision of the heart, of the change that takes place in the mind that God is concerned with.  He is concerned about what’s in here and why we think the way we do and the changes that are taking place and the ability to begin to grow spiritually by His living and dwelling within us.  It’s a beautiful picture, it truly is.

Verse 10 - By that will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.  One time!  The other scriptures here talk about that as well, about how there is only the need for Him to enter in once to accomplish, to fulfill what He fulfilled, and this is what it’s talking about.  By that will, God’s will.  It was God’s will that we are sanctified, that we are set apart for holy use and purpose in our life in order to grow and become a part of God’s Family, to begin that process in the Church and God dwelling within us and we in God, an impregnation of God’s holy spirit, a begettal of the holy spirit, the Kingdom of God in embryo as Mr. Armstrong used to express it...until we’re finally born into that Family forever, for eternity, from that point forward.

By that will we are sanctified through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all.  Beautiful!  Beautiful verses here in what it’s talking about.

So again, this is quite awesome as it was in the midst of the week when He died, that the sacrificial system was, in essence, taken away, as stated in Hebrews 10:9 here; He takes away the first that He may establish the second.

And it’s awesome because it was in the midst of the prophetic week concerning all seven days, the seven years, He, Jesus Christ, fulfilled the sacrificial system and as we will come to see more clearly, it is in the midst of the prophetic week that He, Jesus Christ, did fulfill the first phase of God’s plan to seal 144,000 and thereby fulfilling what is stated in Daniel 12 in some of these same expressions that are being used here.  We’ll read some of this right now.

Daniel 12:11 as an example  – because it carries through in the plan from beginning to end, of the first phase of God’s great plan and the first phase of God’s great plan is revealed in Pentecost, the early spring harvest.  Then there is another harvest later on, but that isn’t until we go through the period of the Millennium and the Great White Throne, but what is addressed early on is that which all others must follow suit and do in their lives.  But the first great phase of God’s plan is what’s coming now and what is pictured in Pentecost and the 144,000, and candidly what we have lived to witness and be a part of as far as a completion of something, a phase, of God’s work and what He’s doing that’s pictured here in this kind of language that we’re reading here about Jesus Christ.

Verse 11 – After the daily sacrifice is taken away/put away and the abomination that has been making desolate is finished/complete – a type of duality here - there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. And thirty of those days go by quickly as far as God’s concerned, referred to as that half-hour of silence that took place.  So it really zero’s down more to 1260 as it talks about.

Verse 12 - Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the thousand three hundred and thirty-fifth day. We’ve gone through these things and talked about them in sermons in the past and referred to some of this, I believe it was even last Sabbath. It is something that was fulfilled, something that was accomplished as far as even God’s purpose to complete the 144,000, to finish a great work, and it’s a beautiful picture from beginning to end.

Daniel 9:27 – It’s awesome to me to understand the terminologies being used in chapter 9 that match what it’s talking about in chapter 12 as well because there’s a lot of duality going on here about something that Jesus Christ began that wasn’t complete in the sense of a job that was to be done, and something that happens later on which completes the job and still has a great deal to do with what it’s talking about there because of what it accomplished, because of what it fulfilled.  And again, it’s about the work that God has been doing and the work that has been accomplished in and through Jesus Christ in a more massive way through the past 2,000 years concerning 144,000.

...in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and then it goes on to say...not the word ‘and’ – I’ll tell you sometimes these things here add a different twist to it and there are a lot of words added.  They’re generally specific words and there’s a context being followed here but just for reading sake... shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, for the overspreading of abominations, it says, He shall make it desolate.  It’s good to look at different words sometimes and see what’s being said.  Let’s look at this word ‘overspreading’ and how it’s used.  Because we’re going to do a little bit of this as we go through some of this because there are some places here, especially in the book of Daniel, where there is one word that’s ever used in the English language to describe something that’s never used again anyplace else in the Old Testament, but it’s used in the book of Daniel.  And it’s a word that has nothing to do with the meaning, so often, it doesn’t even come close to what a real Hebrew word would mean for what they use, and we’ll see that as we go through some of this today.

But again, this expression here ‘for the overspreading of abominations’ – so it’s something that follows in order, has meaning to it.  ...in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, for a purpose, for the overspreading of abominations He shall make it desolate.  So this word here ‘overspreading’....

Ezekiel 5:3 – You shall also take thereof a few in number... If you don’t understand what Ezekiel 5 is all about - maybe it doesn’t hit you - but it’s about the scattering that happened, the thirds, a third and a third.  It’s about that which he was told to throw in the midst... Let’s just turn over there, take the time to go ahead and do it, just to refresh your memory.  Sometimes I tend to speed up and start going faster and we might as well just slow down a little bit and take a look at this.

These are prophecies that had to do very early on with helping us to understand what happened to the Church when the scattering took place, and the astounding results of what took place when a third just quit, went by the wayside, because of this way of life, of knowing there is no church out there, this is the Church - the Sabbath, the Holy Days.  When you know all these things, where do you go?  And then when an apostasy occurs like it did it’s like for so many it just blew their minds, because there were no immediate answers, because the whole Church was spewed out of God’s mouth when some of this took place.  There is that which God did – He vomited out – He separated it from Himself – and then began to quickly work to restore.  But again, small, and the ability to have that to where it was known by, or received by many was not the case.  It was small when things began.  And so there was a scattering that took place after the apostasy.

Verse 1 - And you, son of man, take a sharp knife, take you a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon your head and upon your beard: then shall you take you balances of weight and divide the hair. It’s this meticulous process here of cutting it all up, take the balances, put a little bit here and make sure they’re all divided up three ways.  It says: You shall burn with a fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and you shall smite a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and take a third part, a third part you shall scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them. You know what we learned from that very early on, what God showed us?  A third is going to go by the wayside completely and totally, right away, disillusioned indeed.  Another third are going to go right back to what they were called out of – the protestant world, the world of traditional Christianity.  And the numbers were staggering!  To be able to look at some of that to see what was happening!  And another third scattered throughout the different groups and what began to take place.  Eventually it just continued to scatter and scatter and fragment to where I don’t know how many groups there are today.  I quit talking about it when we heard there were 500 to 600 groups.  How many there have been since that time, because it’s just something that’s continued through time.  But all that’s right here.  That’s what all this is talking about, what happened to God’s Church.

And what did we learn from that?  That last third didn’t have it made.  It says; take out a sword after them...   And you shall take you a few in number, a remnant, that’s what it’s about, and bind them in your ‘skirts’.  It’s a word for ‘wings’...and bind them in your wings.  It’s like the scripture in Revelation 12 that talks about the protection of wings that we read last Sabbath, because this is also talking about protection.  It’s talking about, like what was said when Christ wept, “How many times I’d have taken you under My wings, as a mother hen would her chicks, but you would not.”  That came from God Almighty through His Son for what He was saying, how He was moved by God’s spirit as He looked upon Judah at that moment in time.  Said, “...but you would not, you wouldn’t receive it, you wouldn’t do what you should do, what you needed to do to have a relationship with Me so that I could protect you as a mother hen with its chicks.”  And that’s kind of how the word is used over and over again, the word ‘wings’.  It’s not an ‘overspreading’ unless you understand what that means – overspreading – unless you understand the meaning of ‘overspreading’ and what it’s talking about.  But basically that’s the only place this is really used in this manner.  But if you can think of wings that are overspreading something  for protection – fine.

So again, most often here it’s just its translated that way, ‘the edge’, ‘the border’, ‘the wings’.  Revelation 12:14 - And to the woman, as we read last Sabbath, were given two wings of a great eagle, of a great bird, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. We talked about that, protection God gave the Church after the initial scattering that took place, after the abomination had taken place within the Church, the destruction that began to take place in the Church.  God gave protection until He re-established the Church, as we talked about on that chart and Pentecost if you look at the timing of things.

Another scripture here: Psalm 17:8 - Keep me as the apple of Your eye, God spoke of David as ‘A man after My own heart’.  Great thing to desire to emulate, to desire to be a part of, that indeed we desire to have a right relationship with God and desire to be the apple of His eye, if you will, to be pleasing to God, to seek to please our God in how we live and what we do in striving to conquer and overcome this life.

So he says, Keep me as the apple of Your eye, hide me under the shadow of Your wings – protection.  Cover me, take care of me, watch over me, guard me, guard over me, give me that protection – that’s what it’s talking about.

Psalm 61:4 - I will abide in Your tabernacle forever: I will trust in the covering of Your wings. So, if you understand ‘covering’ that’s fine, but ‘of Your wings’ – it’s about the wings.  Again here, it’s about protection; it’s about what God does to us in the sense of covering us in protection.

Ezekiel 16, another scripture; let’s just turn over to that one there.  Ezekiel 16:8 – Now when I passed by you, and looked upon you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread My, not a ‘skirt’ but ‘a covering’, ‘My wings’, as with wings, if you will, over you, and covered your nakedness: Now, this scripture here begins to reveal a great deal about how this word is used and what it’s all about and what the purpose is even more so as we begin to work toward Daniel here and what’s being described here.

Now when I passed by you, and looked upon you, behold, your time was the time of love; God cannot love us, cannot pour out His love upon us, because that has to do with a matter of mercy, of grace, of the things that He desires to do for us, until He beings to draw us and call us and we begin to have a relationship with Him.  Before that man is doing whatever man wants to do and it’s not to accept God’s way of life until God brings us to a point of repentance, until God begins to draw us, and then He can begin to pour out His love upon us.  Until then we’re on our own to do our own thing in this world.  That’s the way mankind has been left, as a whole, for the past 6,000 years, because, in essence it is man’s choice.  It’s man’s choice!  Over and over again, man hasn’t wanted God!  You didn’t want God!  I didn’t want God when God called me!  I did not want God when God called me!  I wasn’t looking for God!

Some people get in this protestant state sometimes and say, “Oh, I was looking for God.”  Well, if you were and you were being drawn to the Sabbath, God was doing it – you didn’t do it!  How many times in times past I’ve known of people who have gone off on tangents and Protestantism with that same mind set. “Oh, I’ve been looking for God; I’ve been looking for Jesus for so long.”  No, you weren’t!  You don’t understand your own mind!  God just had mercy upon you and began to love you and began to draw you to the truth!  ...and maybe you deceive yourself because it took you twenty years because of how thick it was in here to get you to that point!

Mine was fast because I had a 4 X 4 used several times, wham – wham – wham – wham – got my attention; if it hadn’t been that way [it would have] taken a lifetime to get my attention.  But you know, He works with us in different ways for different purposes, we learn things from it.  But no human being, in that respect, has truly been looking for God.  God chooses whom He will work with!  You go back and look through those in the Old Testament and God had a purpose for working with them.  What was that purpose?  The 144,000!  There were those He chose to work with. Man didn’t choose Him!  The first two from the beginning rejected Him, and every person has been the same way unless God had a purpose like with Abel.  God was drawing him with His spirit.  God has to be involved to bring us out of this selfish nature, to give us a different mindset.  It’s so basic but so hard for human beings, even when we come into God’s Church, to grasp that.

So God has a way of drawing us at a time that’s right, a time where He begins to open up our mind, a time when He begins to give us truth and we begin to see things and there’s a response in our life and we make choices along the way.  But if He didn’t do that you would never know Him, because you fully rejected Him from your birth because you didn’t know Him.  You knew the protestant world – whatever it was you knew – the Catholic church, the Baptist church, whatever it was, that’s what you knew.  You didn’t know the truth until God brought you to it.  He began to give certain things to you in your mind in whatever way He chose to do that. Perhaps sometimes somebody will go around...and maybe with a genuine desire to find something that’s better.  There’s that capacity in human life.  And sometimes people have jumped from one group to another group to another group not finding anything because it’s just not there.  People do that a lot in the world.  It happens in the world as well because they’re not finding something that really fills their life.  And sometimes people just quit...quit in that, because until its God’s time they’re not going to find what’s true.

Every once in a while there are those who go through that process that God brings into the Church, to teach us, to help us to learn, and if you’re not careful you can begin to think that you did it, that you began to see, “Oh, the Sabbath is the right day, not Sunday.”  Well, if you came to that, God gave it.  If you came into the Church God did the calling, God did the drawing, God opened up the mind.  We don’t have the ability to open up our own mind and we don’t love God by nature.  That’s been the history of mankind.  Well, hopefully we’ve learned a lot of other things, but that’s the most basic.   Human beings do not want God’s government in their life until God begins  to draw us and open up our minds so that we can truly see what is spiritual, to see what He is really offering us, and begin to see what the world is really like.  We begin to see our nature.  You know, the more I’ve grown in time the more I’ve come to see self, selfishness, human nature, and the more I loathe it.  And the more you loathe it the more you can conquer and overcome it, the more you can see how it keeps people in bondage.

Now when I passed by you, and looked upon you, behold, your time was the time of love; God was calling them, God was working with them and drawing them... to a point.  Even with physical Judah and Israel, but these things are prophetic for later on – but even there God gave a love to them that He wasn’t able to show to the rest of the world because of a plan He had, but they didn’t respond. It didn’t take very long after they got out of Egypt and went through the Red Sea, saw all the things they did – it didn’t take very long and they wanted to go back to Egypt.  “It was nicer.  We liked Egypt!  It was better back there, we didn’t have stress, we didn’t have these problems, we didn’t have these issues to work out.”  Anyway...

And He said, and I spread My skirt/My wings over you, and covered your nakedness: What does that mean?  The purpose of it all, those things that are prophetic is what God has been doing to us.  His desire is the blessing of being able to remove sin from us as far as the east is from the west, that it’s not in mind, it’s gone.  It’s gone through a process of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as our Passover.  God doesn’t want to keep that against you, He wants to remove it so that He can give you more of His spirit and more of His love, so that He can pour out more upon you and help you to grow more.  And so we go through this process of repenting and drawing closer to God and every time you repent you acknowledge that God is right and you are wrong; you grow in character every time that you do that.  Sometimes we don’t understand that!  Every time you consistently continue to fight that fight and repent you’re growing in character because you’re growing stronger in the reality God is right.  That’s why when it came to a point of a sealing of 144,000, those who are still alive, when God told Abraham, “Now, I know you.”  He had come to that point in time that God knew what he would do under all circumstances as far as being worked with by God – that mindset, that desire to repent, to draw close to God, to be at one with God, it was there.

That’s why there comes a point in human life, even though we have carnal human nature, that we can be changed, that we can be given immortality.  There are going to be a few – I don’t know how many, God didn’t say – but there are going to be a few, very few, but a few who are going to still be alive May 27, 2012 at the beginning of the day, right there at the beginning of that day and they’re still going to be alive, and there’s going to be a change.  Incredible!  Because it doesn’t matter whether you’re dead or you’re alive – there is a point in time you’ve already been judged.  You’ve been judged a long time ago, it was decided a long time ago, it was decided that blessed are those who come to the 1335 day – we know that’s when it happened.  Incredible!

So ...I spread My skirt/My wings over you, and covered your nakedness: that’s what it’s all about.  That’s God’s desire.  The nakedness has to do with that which is spiritual, that which is a matter of sin, that which is a matter that over and over again here, God’s desire is that we be clothed, and clothed in white raiment, that spiritually that’s what it’s about, that the shame of our nakedness not appear.  That’s why I love what it says there to the Laodicean era, the last era of the Church in Revelation.  It uses some of that same terminology when it says what it does there about – let me say it exactly how it’s stated there....

Revelation 3:16 - So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth. “I’m going to vomit you out of my mouth.”  It means a total separation from the presence of God. Because you say that, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have no need of nothing; didn’t realize what they had need of, didn’t hunger and thirst like they should have, like we should have, and know not that you are wretched, that’s our nature apart from God.  Only God is good, only that which is of God is good... and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: That’s what sin does before God, and God’s desire is to cover that, is to save us from that, to protect us from that even, if you will.

Ezekiel 16:9 - Yes, I swore unto you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord Eternal, and you became Mine. What happened at baptism is that you entered into a covenant with God.  We became His.  We gave our life to Him, ever how He desired to use it, whatever purpose;   it’s God’s purpose and that will produce fruit.  If it’s in our hands we’re just going to mess everything up as human beings always have.  Only in God’s hands does human life have meaning and purpose.  ...and you became Mine. Then... Then...what did God do at baptism?  What did God do when you entered into that covenant relationship with God at baptism?  Then I washed you with water; I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, the guilt, transgression, the death penalty, if you will, and I anointed you with oil. Symbolic of His holy spirit.  That’s what happens after baptism, have hands layed upon you, oh you’re anointed with oil all right.  God begins to dwell in you, impregnation of His spirit that begins to dwell in you and live in you, and then the flow of God’s spirit into your life.  Beautiful picture here, Ezekiel 16, truly is.

Let’s go back to Daniel 9.  Daniel 9:27 - ...in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, because of what He fulfills, what He accomplishes.  And He caused it to cease again later on because it was fulfilled – and He did it toward the midst of the week, again!  Awesome!  I hope that has great meaning to you! ...for the overspreading, and again, this is the only place this Hebrew word is translated ‘overspreading’.  Again, the overwhelming majority is a matter of ‘wings’, but if you understand what the overspreading is about, that’s fine.  They didn’t when these things were translated.

Going on...for overspreading of abominations, and it says, He shall make it... not there... not there at all.  It’s saying for overspreading of abominations, this is the purpose, that make/that cause/that produce desolation/desolate.  What was the great sin that we read about? What was the time that even led up to a time that even bears the name ‘the abomination of desolation’?  That’s what sin does!  That’s what sin does – it destroys, it makes desolate.  And that was the transgression, the sin that held back the return of Christ.  Until that time came it wasn’t going to be given, the countdown wasn’t... but when that began a countdown began.  That was God’s sign, if you will, to the Church, this is it, this is what was spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 2.  Awesome things that have been given to us through time to understand what God has been doing.

And so the purpose in the midst of the week shall He cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, for overspreading of abominations that make or produce desolation, destruction , that destroy.  It’s about SIN!  It’s about God’s desire...why He in the midst of the week caused the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. He took away the first that He could establish the second!  He fulfilled something in His life as a Passover – the ultimate, only sacrifice for mankind.  He did it once and then He entered into the Holy Place for all time.  That’s what it talks about in Hebrews, showing here what God is accomplishing and what God is doing in and through His Son.  And this is what’s being explained here in Daniel 9:27, of why in the midst of the week He was cut off, to fulfill that for the purpose of protection in the sense of covering. God’s desire to cover our nakedness, as we read about in Ezekiel 16, to take that away so that we can be under His protection and under His care and have a relationship with Him; to learn to begin to do His will and not our own.  Beautiful verses here, truly is, in what God is giving and explaining.

Because sin destroys and God’s desire is to take it away!  ...take it away from mankind!  And the only way it can be taken away is through the Passover, because we all have sin!

...And He, Messiah, shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease for the covering of abominations, that’s how it should be read, it’s a true translation.  ...for the covering of abominations that cause destruction, even until the consummation.  So, what’s consummation?  Well, it’s an Old English word here but in Hebrew the meaning is ‘until the completion’, ‘the finish’, ‘the end’ - until it’s accomplished. I can’t express it well enough, it’s something that just is a matter of God’s spirit in your mind, of what you receive, and it’s inspiring, it is awesome what God is showing here, of what happened in the midst of the week.  Because there are two midst of the weeks...the one where He did a work, and a last one where He did a work, and all divided by this midst of the week thing that took place.  The beginning of a process that began to be revealed to the Church, of what its purpose was for, until it was accomplished – and for 144,000 it was accomplished on a specific date in time – in the midst of the week.  It’s beautiful - truly is!  That’s when the process began and God began to do something in a very powerful way to complete, to finish something that had yet to be accomplished and finished, if you will.

So again, this phrase literally means ‘even until it is accomplished’.  I’ll read it again here.  Verse 27 here.  And He, Messiah, shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease... now, the word for consummation here is powerful if you’re following what we’re talking about here because it has to do with ‘finish’, ‘completed’, ‘established’, ‘accomplished’.  And so there’s a duality here of something that took place, and as it talks about in Daniel 12 there is that which He fulfilled, there is that which He accomplished at the end of the midst of the week, became our Passover, died for a purpose, not for Himself but for us, as it talks about here, and these expressions in here – cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; so the word for ‘consummation’ as it follows through, the thought continues on because there’s something being accomplished here. It’s about sin, it’s about sins and covering our nakedness is the context here.  This is why He died, this is what He did, until it is accomplished, until it’s fulfilled a purpose.

Now, the first phase of that great purpose in God’s plan is what’s pictured in Pentecost.  The first great phase of that plan indeed leads up to that period of time here of what’s going to take place, but before that... 144,000 when they’re sealed.  That’s when a great accomplishment has taken place, to bring in a full count of people for Pentecost.

So again here, work around this in different ways here in talking about it, but He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; so only a half a week was accomplished and now we’re getting closer to talking about that last half of a week – and hopefully you put two and two together – come up with seven years.

For the covering of abominations that cause destruction even unto the consummation, in other words, even until it is accomplished.  So again here, beautiful verses in how it’s expressed here.  And again, and that determined... it goes on to say then in the last part.  ...and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.  This one here, this last phrase – because every one is a phrase here to be understood, but it all starts with a purpose of where it leads.  Each one leads to the next until something is fulfilled and accomplished, and that’s what’s being expressed here in chapter 9.  One thing leads to another – it all fits together with great meaning and purpose.

And so again, that expression here... and that determined shall be poured out upon the desolate.  Again, this is not an easy one to work with because it’s so poorly translated, and the word used is ‘poured out’; is most often used in the context of ‘wrath’ or ‘fury’ being poured out upon the disobedient, upon sinners.

The whole thrust of this verse is about Jesus Christ giving His life as the one and only true sacrifice for sin, as the Passover of all mankind; and because of His blood that was poured out upon the earth, sin can be forgiven and people can come under a true covering of protection from the destruction that sin produces, primarily the final judgment of eternal death.  Yet, there is one more part that must be addressed – those who do not repent and seek to come under that covering.  They’ll receive a final judgment as that which is poured out upon those who only seek to produce desolation through continued sin.  That’s what it’s talking about here.

So it completes the whole thought of those who come under that and those who don’t.  So the final phrase is really, truly better translated as: and it is determined what shall be poured out upon all that cause destruction, because of sin.  It’s an attitude of mind and a way of thinking, and they continue to live that way, they have no desire to change and they want to continue in their sin, and their sin just destroys.  Sin is destructive, it causes hurt, pain, and all the suffering that mankind’s ever gone through – it takes away peace indeed.

So finally we come to a more perfect translation Daniel 9:27 – and later on you can get this on the PDF and go back and perhaps write it in your margin there because it would be well worth while.  And He, Messiah, shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease for the covering of abominations that cause destruction, even until it is accomplished and it is determined what shall be poured out upon all that cause destruction.

Awesome, beautiful verse when everything is put together, because it’s about Jesus Christ all the way to the end, why He had to die, what it leads up to.  And again, that isn’t the end but it is so much of the end that’s being talked about in Daniel.  Daniel 12 is about timing that leads to the very end-time and that is the primary context, although there are things that go beyond that, because everyone must follow suit, everyone through the Millennium must do the same things until it’s accomplished in their lives.  Those in the Great White Throne, they must live through those things until it’s accomplished in their lives, in essence, the sacrifice, the Passover, but the first phase of God’s plan is what’s fulfilled when it talks about 1335 days, 1290 days, 1260 days that lead to the return of the Messiah!  And that’s the primary thrust of what’s being spoken of throughout the book of Daniel.

Now we come to the first verse that we have been skirting from the beginning: Daniel 9:29 – and the Messiah shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: As it was stated earlier in this series, He, Messiah, only confirmed the covenant for half the prophetic week, in other words for 3½ years when He began His ministry.  When He was baptized He began His ministry and then it talks about Him being cut off – understanding that He was cut off on Passover, as our Passover, 3½ years later.

When is the remainder of the week, the last half or the final 3½ years to be finished?  ...of Christ ‘confirming the covenant with many’?  Well, let’s begin by looking at the word ‘confirm’ – another poorly translated word as this does not mean ‘confirm’ in any fashion or form.  It has nothing to do with it.  It’s not a Hebrew word for it that’s used here.  It’s incredible, especially in the book of Daniel as we’ve seen before in some of the sermons we’ve gone through here, but this Hebrew word is most often translated as the form of two words, as either ‘prevail’ or ‘strength’.  In the context of prevail it’s still with the thought of strength or being strengthened.  Let’s look at some examples.

Zechariah 10 – it really has more to do with strength and being strengthened in the context of what’s being discussed, even though once in a while the word ‘prevail’ is used.  It has to do with certain strength they receive in order to prevail.

Zechariah 10:6 – And I will, here’s that word, strengthen the house of Judah, not ‘confirm’ – nothing to do with the word ‘confirm’; And I will strengthen the house of Judah and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I will have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the Eternal their God, and will hear them.

Then it goes on – the word is used again - verse 12 - And I will strengthen, that word again, them in the Eternal; and they shall walk up and down in His name: Who has the blessing of being able to do that?  It begins when we’re part of the Church of God.  We bear His name.  That’s why when it talks about not taking His name in vain, we bear His name, we are the called out ones of God; we are the ecclesia, if you will, of God.  We belong to God!  We bear His name!  And so how we live our lives so powerfully determines and reflects whether or not we take His name in vain.  See?  We don’t want to be guilty of that, obviously, we want to please Him and serve Him and do His will.

And I will strengthen them in the Eternal; and they shall walk up and down in His name, eventually in the name Elohim, because that’s where the Church of God leads, from embryo, from being begotten to finally being born and being in Elohim, being Elohim, being a part of the very Family of God.  And I will strengthen them in the Eternal: and they shall walk up and down in His name says the Eternal, says Yahweh.

So this gives an entirely different focus, because in the beginning I knew where a lot of this sermon series was going, but that one word there, until I finally got to it, still was a little bit of a... “What do you mean confirmed? What is yet to be confirmed in the covenant?”  That didn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense.  And again, this gives a whole different focus of what it’s talking about here.

Daniel 9:29 - ...and He, Messiah, shall strengthen the covenant with many for one week: It’s a beautiful thing that God has done; it’s a beautiful thing that’s been done in and through Jesus Christ, it truly is, especially when you put all these things together and realize this is a time of focus that God has given to mankind from the beginning.  This is the time of focus through all the prophets that God has been looking to.  Now, there’s much written about Christ’s first coming, but all that is for the purpose of His second coming that’s greater, to accomplish more, to do more, to finally establish what’s in Daniel 9, God’s Kingdom on this earth to govern this earth.

We were talking last night... it’s just almost impossible to even imagine what it’s going to be like – first of all when Satan and the demons aren’t even around, the peace, the world is going to be so much better off, obviously, just without them around harassing, deceiving, broadcasting like they do in attitude and spirit.  This world is filled with attitude that’s wrong, and so much of it comes from them.  They love to stir those things up!  You start to have a bit of a battle, they like to come along and magnify it many times over to make your battle much worse, they like to work on those attitudes to make them worse, to make relationships worse, to make it harder for people to get along.  It’s amazing what takes place.  They like to see division, they like to see divisiveness!  That’s their life!  They get a perverted pleasure out of it!  Sick minds!  They hate human beings!  They hate mankind, they truly do!  And Satan hates the most!  So when they’re not around, what an awesome world.  To have one Church, one belief, one truth that’s spoken in the world – incredible!  When people begin to be freed it’s not going to be easy.  There are those of different religions that are going to have some battles, they’re going to have some things to battle because of what they’ve had all their life and how deeply imbedded that is in the mind, but slowly and surely God’s going to lead people out of Egypt, out of spiritual Egypt, and those beings – Satan and the demons – won’t be around to confound that, to thwart that, to make that a harder, more difficult task and job.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!  One government, God’s government, a  just government, righteous because God knows the heart, God knows what’s inside, God knows the innocence and guilt of human beings and what people have to work with.  Incredible!  No more injustice in the world!  Sick, sick, world indeed!  We’re almost there.  Not sure why I went in all that direction, but it’s good.

And He, Messiah, shall strengthen the covenant with many for one week: So He was cut off in the midst of the week, so He only strengthened the covenant with many for 3½ years, not a full seven. Now, when He did this, what He gave to the disciples, they didn’t fully understand in the beginning, but He strengthened the covenant with them.  So, what did He strengthen?  What in the covenant did He strengthen?  Awesome! Not ‘confirming’ the covenant – the covenant is there!  He came along and did something different – He came to reveal that, again here, that the Messiah was the Son of God.  He revealed that.  He began to reveal that to the disciples, that the Messiah was the Son of God who would fulfill the role of Passover in God’s plan.  That’s what He came to do, to strengthen the covenant!  It’s not about goats and lambs and bulls and their blood being spilt on the altar at all!  It’s about Him and what God’s going to do through Him to save all of mankind, or those who will be saved, because they have to choose according to their will, to surrender to God’s will, to desire God’s will.  Not just to surrender – it’s not a matter of surrendering to God’s will, it’s a matter of wanting God’s will, because God doesn’t want it by force, He wants it by choice!  So I don’t like that word surrender in there really, in the sense of what it sometimes means in other contexts.

So He came to reveal that the Messiah was the Son of God who would fulfill the role of Passover in God’s plan.  He revealed that the law is spiritual!  They didn’t know that!  They didn’t know about the covenant, that the law is spiritual!  To them it was physical.  That’s all Judah understood by that point in time.  They didn’t comprehend the things of the spirit, indeed, truthfully so, until Jesus Christ began to teach them things that were spiritual in nature, that the law is spiritual, has spiritual meaning and intent, it’s what’s inside the heart and the mind that God’s looking at and desires to see and change.  So that’s what strengthening of the covenant did!  The Old Covenant, what Israel had, what was given in the beginning – that isn’t what it was all about!  That was a very physical thing in order to have a physical nation and they didn’t do that very well at all, that’s what the proof was.

Then Jesus Christ came along to reveal and magnify and give something far, far greater to strengthen indeed the covenant with many...and be cut off in the midst of that week.  So He only had that amount of time to do it, but I’ll tell you what, on Pentecost 31 AD it continued to be strengthened because what He taught them, what He gave to them continued to be magnified through time.  By the time you get to John it was awesomely magnified, powerfully magnified, strengthened.  So He was continuing to work, but the point being was that He had 3½ years to do it directly in a very powerful way, to strengthen certain things about the covenant that they could then grow in and begin to understand.

He revealed the law is spiritual, and He revealed that He did not come to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill – to fulfill what it said in there about Him, to fulfill what is there about the Messiah, to live it, to fulfill it, and things of the law as well, that it’s become a part of our being, a part of our mind, a part of our life.

Matthew 5:21 - You have heard that it was said by them of old time, so this is what it was, the old, You shall not kill. Very physical; shall not murder; very physical; and whoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: Just to be angry you can be guilty of murder, of killing someone.  Just to be upset with someone, unjustly so.  Now, sometimes people have a difficulty with the way this is worded, “You mean there’s a time when I can be justly angry?” If it isn’t about the individual but is only about the sin – angry with.

Again here, it says, But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother; it’s one thing to be angry at in the sense of loathing, in the sense of attitude toward someone, in the sense of sinning toward someone, in the sense of an attitude that’s wrong toward someone, no matter what they’ve done; but to be upset with what has been done, with what they did – you love them, you have a desire for them to be able to come to repentance, as we learn, or as we’re to learn within the Body, within the Church, that that should be our genuine desire for every individual within the Body, is that they be able to come to repentance, to continue in this way of life, to not be taken away from this way of life.

I have seen hundreds; I have seen, I believe, into the thousands of people who have gone by the wayside, who have done things along this line in that respect, who have lost out – looking forward to a time when they can be awakened again, if all can be awakened.  There’s a lot taught here by Christ at this time – can take a lifetime in the Church – does take a lifetime to become more and more refined in it, to grow in it, because it has to do with every relationship.  And this is really one of the keys, the crux to the whole thing anyway – it’s about relationships!  It’s about how we think toward each other!  It’s about our attitude of mind toward each other.

It’s one thing to be upset with something that’s been done that hurts others, but be ever so careful of that attitude toward the individual, because the genuine love and the genuine desire God has, and that we should have, is that indeed they come to repentance, that they’re able to remain and be a part and be able to continue to be loved, to be able to continue to be in fellowship.

Going on, verse 27 - You have heard that it was said by them of old time, You shall not commit adultery: But I say to you, you see, strengthening the covenant, showing things that are so much more important!  Things that are so much more meaningful, that the law goes way beyond a physical act, that there’s a beginning of the mind and how the mind thinks that leads it to those things.  And by that time it’s far too late, but to understand that before it ever goes that far there is that which needs to be repented of and fought against in the human mind.  He says, but I say unto you whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery already in his heart.  Now that’s the spirit of the law!  They didn’t have this before that!  Jesus Christ came long and began to teach those things – the spirit of the law, not just the law.  The law isn’t enough!  By what you can do in your own ability?  That’s why God has to enter in, it’s a matter of God’s spirit in your life.

Verse 43 - You have heard that it has been said, in other words, of old, because now this is new; this is something to strengthen the covenant because it has to go beyond something physical, it has to go beyond physical do’s and don’ts, because by the time you get that far you’ve gone way too far in the mind, the mind is so corrupt by that time and it takes time to heal the mind.

Verse 43 – You have heard that it’s been said, you shall love your neighbour, and hate your enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies: Relationships?  Ah, He took it to another level...a huge ‘nother level.  Love your enemies: bless them who curse you and do good to them who hate you, no matter what it is that comes your way.  You ever had to fight that?  Fight attitudes towards others because of what they do toward you?  ...what they’ve said to you?  Inside or outside, it doesn’t matter, because there’s only one attitude that’s right toward God; and pray for them who despitefully use you, and persecute you; to go to that point...  It’s a matter of knowing what you’re praying about and how you’re praying as well, and a lot of it just has to do with your own mind and how you think toward them.  And what do you think toward them?  The desire is that one day your desire is to see them a part.

I think about that a lot and where we are right now, and for both friends and foes, I have a desire to see them on the other side of this.  I hope it’s in the Millennium for a lot of them, I truly do, not the Great White Throne; but that’s in God’s hands because it’s all in God’s hands.  And I know there’ll be some of those foes that live through – I look forward to being there to help them, to embrace them, to let them know, “I understand.”  But those things can put you to the test of how you think toward someone, because you see, what God’s concerned about is what’s in your heart, what’s in your mind.  How do you think?  Is it from God?  ...or is it that self that bubbles to the surface so often, like the dross that when it bubbles to the surface that’s when you have to go after it and skim it off.  You know, the dross, and the gold and the silver, when it gets hot and you’ve got to skim it off to get rid of it, so you’re purer indeed.  Beautiful.

So, Jesus Christ came to strengthen the covenant.  Incredible when you start thinking about that, of what He came and delivered in just 3½ years, and so much of it, candidly, that’s written there was given in the last couple of weeks in His life.  That’s awesome!  When you go through and start reading these stories and you see what’s there... some of the most powerful and deepest, indeed, are those things given toward the very end.  But He strengthened the covenant, powerfully so, for mankind, that went on into the Church for the next nearly 2,000 years to bring us to where we are today.  We can go on and on concerning the magnification of God’s law on a spiritual plane, and we could look at countless teachings that He delivered to the disciples and all who were able to hear Him.  We’ve talked in times past about the teaching of Christ magnified on the last day alone.  To me, these are the most awesome of all.  They are the most spiritual of all.  They are the most inspiring of all, some of the most meaningful of all.

Let’s take time to look at it.  John 14. I’m a little dumbfounded when I start reading through this; it’s very close.  As soon as God brought me into the ministry he started showing me some of this for a purpose, for working and moulding and fashioning.  I didn’t understand it all but came to understand it more and more through time, through the ministry.  The closer we got to the end the more I began to see, the more God began to give.

And John, I think of his life and what he was blessed...  You know, the rest of the disciples didn’t know and didn’t have what John had.  Peter, James – you start looking at different ones there – Paul, because John mentions certain things here and he magnifies them when you read through 1st John, 2nd John, and 3rd John, toward the latter part of his life.  Many of the others had already died, they were gone, John was the last, the only one that is said to have lived and died a natural life.  The rest suffered a great deal, at certain points in time were killed for their beliefs, for what they did, what they went through.  But John was given a lot.  Powerful!

John 14:1 - Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in Me. And what God was doing through Him; here He was, this was His last night alive as a human being.  This is Passover night after He had already washed their feet, they broke the bread, they had the wine; here was later on as He was teaching them alone, before they came and took Him and beat Him as they did later that night.  He has this opportunity to teach them.

Let not your heart be troubled; because it was about to be – He was about to die.  You believe in God, believe also in Me. Believe what God is doing in and through Me.  You’ve witnessed a lot of things but there’s far more.  In My Father's house are many ‘mansions’: unfortunate translation, it’s protestant.  It is protestant thinking, it’s a protestant thought that was placed there.  It’s not the word at all.  It’s like these ‘things’ up in heaven and there are these ‘mansions’ and there are all these mansions and we all want mansions, don’t we?  Sick!  Sick!  Lust – wrong motivations – not what it’s about at all.

In My Father’s house are many dwelling places: places of dwelling – that’s what the word is, but because of some of the Protestantism...and we have to understand, again, that by the time Sardis was over and a new era began there was a long period of time God was continuing to bring the Church out of the protestant world, and we’ve come to understand that we still hadn’t shaken – because of God’s purpose and because of what He was going to reveal  and do in His time – that it wasn’t God’s purpose that by the end of Philadelphia the Church be fully brought out, because something else had to take place, the apostasy.  There is much that God saved and reserved to be revealed later on for a purpose and to us in the end-time, to give us confidence, to give us boldness, to give us courage and strength to go through what we were to go through that’s unique to us.  And so it was God’s purpose that there were certain things here not fully revealed and songs that are written about this, ‘In My Father’s house are many mansions’, and these ideas that we tried to separate in different ways in our thinking a little bit so that it wasn’t protestant – but it really is.

In My Father’s house are many places of abode: dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you. Because He came to strengthen the covenant, to tell them things that they had never heard, to give them things that they didn’t understand, to give them things that would thrust a Church forward when the Church finally began, because there was no Church before this, only individuals that God worked with.  Now He’s going to begin working with groups of people but it would be Jesus Christ who worked directly with them because everything we have ever been given comes from Jesus Christ.  He is our High Priest!  God has given Him everything to give to us and He gives it to us in His time, fully at one, always has been, far more so than in ways we cannot begin to comprehend in the last 2,000 years with His Father.  But everything’s been given to Christ to give to us – but our prayers are to our Father through Him – unique relationship.

He says, I go to prepare a place for you. Beautiful!  The ‘mansions’?  No, it means places of abode.  I go to prepare a place for you...and you...and you...that’s what He’s telling us, for every one of you I’m going to prepare a place for you.  For the disciples, as a part of the 144,000, I’m going to prepare a place for you; you’re a part of the structure.  Everyone who is called, God has a place for them in His structure and what He’s doing and what He moulds and fashions.  And He doesn’t mould and fashion the same things in every one of us.  We’re not all yellow pencils!  We’re not meant to be yellow pencils!  There’s variety!  There are different functions of a body.  Every part of a body has a specific function and it all works together, it all needs each other too – not one better than the other!  Given different responsibilities – yes!  Better?  No!  Sometimes that gets to people’s minds in the human life, even in the Church of God, where it can go to your head!  Should never, never happen – that’s vanity, that’s pride, and that’s evil before God.  He wants that out of us so He takes us through many things until we come to a point where can indeed wear sackcloth.

That’s the goal!  To truly wear sackcloth, to strive to be humble before God, to ask for God to humble us before Him – like we’re going to do at the end of the month in a special way, in a united way as we humble ourselves before God in a fast.  That’s a part of a process where we learn very quickly so when you quit eating food and quit drinking liquid how much you’re dependent upon it, how much your body wants it; that from the moment you had your last drink of water you have a battle that starts on your hands whenever you think about water.  Now, any other time I could go drink water and no big deal, I can go get water any other time I want to, but when you know you can’t it kind of gnaws at you a little bit...  We’ve all been there.

This is going to be a different kind of fast.  A fast is always to draw closer to God.  This is a fast of gratitude and thankfulness to Jesus Christ and to God our Father, to focus on the spirit of thankfulness and gratitude as we repent of sins as we seek to draw closer to God giving Him thanks.  We have a lot to be thankful for at this stage, and by that day we’ll have a lot to be thankful for as we think back.

And I go and prepare a place for you; I will come again, in the protestant world, and even within the Church because we didn’t know yet, it’s about His return, it’s about His coming back again...  No, it’s not.  That has nothing to do, in essence, above and by itself about His coming back again.  That’s not what He’s telling them!  ‘I am coming to you’: present progressive is the closest we can get to it in the English language, I am coming again.  It’s a beautiful picture because He’s telling them what’s going to transpire once the Church begins, once He begins to dwell in human beings, once God the Father begins to dwell in human life in the Church in a massive way, and God’s spirit begins to just come into our life on a continuing basis, because it’s present and progressive, it just continues on and on in your life and the only time it stops it’s flow is when you sin...like an umbilical cord of blood that comes into your life and that’s why it’s so important to repent quickly so that that flow can continue on, so that He can continue to come into your life.

This is what it’s about!  I am coming, and receive you unto Myself, into Himself, if you will, and us in Him, that where I am there you may be also.  That whatever He does, wherever He leads and guides and directs the Church we’ll be there, we’ll be able to hear His voice as it talks about in John 10.  Not because we’re special in the sense of our ability better than others who are scattered or others in the world who have not yet been called, but because God is special, because of God’s special calling, because God draws us.

...that where I am, there you may be also.  The ability to hear His voice.  He says, ‘My sheep hear My voice, they follow Me.”  We do.  We hear His voice.  It’s a humbling thing because it’s a matter of God’s spirit. If it doesn’t come from God there’s nothing there, just human voice.

Verse 6 – Because I’m sure I can’t make it through this season without going through this again.  I don’t care how many times, if I were to preach this every Sabbath, I would never get tired of it – John 14.  Jesus said unto him, speaking to Thomas, I am the way, the truth, and the life: comes through Him, from Him, literally, comes from Him, through Him to us – all the truth that the Church has has come from Him.  He is the truth, He is the Word of God made flesh.  He was the Word of God made flesh.  I am the way, the truth, and the life; no life without Him.  Not real life, not meaningful life, not eternal life. ...no man comes unto the Father, but through Me.  Awesome, beautiful scriptures!

Verse 7 - If you had known Me, you should have known My Father also: and from henceforth you know Him, and have seen Him.  Now, to me it’s awesome, when you read through the book of John almost all of John is written this way, from the very beginning to the end, that everything that human beings see we first see physically, even within the Church.  What we see first is physical, and then later on we come to understand those things that are spiritual.  It’s a process of growth, it’s a process of what God gives to us on a spiritual plane, and so it was here.  They hadn’t physically seen the Father, and that’s all they could think of when He told them this.  They didn’t even have God’s spirit dwelling in them yet!

And even within the Church we have battles with things like this at times.  Petra!  A doctrine that lasted a long, long time as a place in Jordan that people went to visit.  Some of you have seen pictures of it in National Geographic or in Church literature in times past, and it was supposed to be a place that everybody was going to go during the time of tribulation.  Going to Petra.  We were going to be physically protected from what happens in this world.  A little bit different than going away for seven years in a rapture and then watching everybody suffer down here, and then whatever happens after that I’m not really sure.  Different ones have different ideas.  But you know, here we had this thought that we’re going to be over there and we’re not going to suffer.  The Laodiceans, now, they’re going to be left behind, they’re suffering and that’s what’s going to help them come through it all.  We didn’t know and we didn’t know because we didn’t know!  Because God has to give you the ability to know!  It’ not because we’re better now; it’s because of what God has given to us to help us mature more, to see more, to understand more, to be better prepared.

If you had known Me, you should have known My Father also: and from henceforth you have know Him, and have seen Him.  And Philip said unto Him, Lord, show us the Father, just show Him, and that’ll satisfy us. And Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known Me, Philip? He that has seen Me has seen the Father; it’s spiritual!  The words, what He spoke, everything that came from Him, that’s the Father, the Word, the Logos, the revelatory thought of Yahweh Elohim is standing before you in flesh, at one.

He that has seen Me has seen the Father; How do you say then – Why are you saying then show us the Father? Don’t you see?  And He understood why they didn’t understand but he’s writing it for them later on and for us. Believe you not, notice, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: “They’re not Mine, they didn’t come out of Me separately somehow,” but the Father who dwells, who abides in, the same form of the word used up top there, ‘mansions’, many dwelling places.  What does that mean?  It’s beautiful!  Right now several hundred dwelling places where God’s spirit, where God the Father and Jesus Christ dwell, in human flesh, in human beings – beautiful!  It’s getting ready to multiply many times over.  After Jesus Christ comes there are going to be a lot of you who are going to be busy.  We thought that a lot of that busyness would take place before He came and there will still be some busyness, but God gives us a lot of things to keep focused... now I’m getting into another sermon to be given later.  Anyway...  have to back up here.  I said there’d be no carrots today too.  God’s always giving us more and more and more, it’s so exciting, it truly is, especially where we are.  This is what we need, truly is.  It’s awesome!  There’s just no other word to describe it.

But the Father who dwells in Me, He does the works. And so in time many dwelling places in the God Family – it’s not restricted!  Thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands – to in time literally be a dwelling place for all eternity.  It begins in the Church – many places of abiding – God to abide and Jesus Christ to abide to bring us to that point where we’re abiding that way for eternity, from that point forward into everlasting life, into the millions, into the billions?!  Incredible!

But the Father who dwells in Me, He does the works.  It’s the power of God doing it.  Jesus Christ didn’t take it to Himself; no one ever should.  He set the perfect example in all this.  Never – Never – Never make the mistake of taking things to yourself, yet that is our human tendency, to take them to our self.  Because when we do God can’t use us until He brings us through that phase, that portion.  He uses us in spite of those things in different ways but it’s ever growing, truly is. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works' sake.

Verse 21 - He that has My commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves Me: and he that loves Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest/reveal/show Myself to him. So He’s talking about a time when some are going to see Him and others aren’t going to be able to, and they didn’t comprehend that.  “How can it be that we’re going to be able to see you and others can’t?” Again, it’s hearing His voice, it’s being where He is. He said, “You will be with Me where I am.”  And Judas said unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, How is it...so this is where it’s asked, How is it that You will manifest/reveal/show Yourself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, He will keep My logos/My words: which are the Father’s words, and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him and make our abode, same word used twice.  They didn’t translate it here as mansions.  We will make our dwelling place, our abode, with him.

Verse 2 - In My Father’s house are many places of abode.  Beautiful.  Awesome.

Verse 24 - He who loves Me not doesn’t keep My sayings, and the word/logos which you hear is not Mine but the Fathers who sent Me. It just goes on and on, things that are said here.

Let’s just notice how it’s stated here in John 15.  Again, beautiful verses.

John 15:1 - I am the true vine, My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, you know, if we yield our self to the process.  God’s spirit demands growth.  It requires growth, and if we yield ourselves to that there will be fruit in our life, we will grow!  It says He purges it, and so we have to go through those things, just like anyone who’s ever been around an area where they work with grapes.  We lived up in Erie, Pennsylvania and they had them along the area that comes out a little ways from Lake Erie there, vineyards and the like, and they go through them every fall and prune them back dramatically!  And sometimes you do that with various kinds of plants and some people think you cut it back too far, like my wife thinks when I get a hold of some plants, “You’re killing it!”  Not exactly like that.  But it’s amazing what God gives, that it actually comes back and produces more, and when it comes to fruit like this, grapes, that’s how they produce the most, they actually have a process they go through where they only leave certain amount specifically so it produces more, better quality, and everything as far as the fruit is concerned.  Well, God does that in our life and there are things that are cut back, and at times that doesn’t feel so good when that actually takes place, because sometimes we just resist that!  But God knows what He’s doing in our life as we yield ourselves to it.

It says, Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you....   He purges it so that it may bring more fruit, abide in Me. So this thing about abiding again, same kind of word, same form of word, ‘dwell in’, ‘live in’, ‘continue in’, there are so many English words that are used here in the New Testament and even in these few chapters here; abide, dwell, continue, remain – some of the same Greek words that are used over and over again.

Just like in verse 16 it says – that your fruit should remain/abide/dwell... it’s the same thing.  Some places it’s used as ‘continue’.

Verse 4 - Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; and so again, it shows us this process of dwelling in God and God dwelling in us, and we’ll leave it at that.

Let’s go on to John 16, because this is on that last night, and He goes through and explains these things that, candidly, weren’t known by Philadelphia, they weren’t know in Laodicea as a whole, except toward the end in the Church of God.  This hasn’t been known.  God gave it, some of the most awesome of things to ever grasp and comprehend, about God living and dwelling in our lives.  It’s beautiful, inspiring, that was given to John, and you go back there and read those things about John...  That’s why people can’t grasp and don’t comprehend what it talks about when it talks about anti-Christ.  They think it’s somebody over in Italy, a single individual, and it’s not, it’s about God’s Church.  It reveals much that is spiritual and whether or not God dwells in us if we’re yielding ourselves, whether He is coming into our life or not.

He went on in John 16; let’s notice because Christ went on to tell the disciples something else, because to that point in time He couldn’t give them more.  Interesting what He said. John 16:5 - But now I go My way to Him who sent Me; and none of you ask Me, Where are You going? But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. So He’s talking in terms they don’t fully understand.  “I’m going away.”  He talks about, “I need to go away.”  They don’t understand all this because they’ve kind of been knocked around a little bit anyway, in a sense, because they’re seeing things physical and they’re not grasping what He’s saying, and so they keep seeing in physical terms, “How can we see the Father.”  ...and various things that are said here, “How is it that we’re going to see You and others can’t...and you’re going away.”  What does all this mean?  And so they were kind of just...they’d resolved, got to the point where they just listened and they didn’t ask a lot of questions after that.  They kind of got to a point where you know, you ask questions and there are things you just don’t see, and after a while you just listen.  And that’s where they were.

It says, Because I have said these things to you sorrow has filled your heart. So because of this kind of language that continues on they were feeling sorrowful inside, they were hurting.  He’s going away, and they were getting a message here that they begin to sense something – and God gave them that, that there’s more here; and they were hurting inside.

He says, Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for Me that I go away, for if I do not go away the comforter will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send it to you. Again, ‘the comforter’ referring to the holy spirit.  And sometime in scriptures here, some places it’s referred to as ‘he’ and it’s not a he, it’s talking about ‘it’, the holy spirit.  A matter of language and so forth sometimes things do have a word that’s used like this rather than ‘it’, can use ‘he’ on some words, but again, people get confused by that.  It’s ‘it’, the power of God’s spirit and how it works.  And so He’s talking about this comforter.

Verse 12 – I yet have many things to say to you, now this is the last night.  He doesn’t have much more time and He’s not going to tell them now.  It’s interesting what He says; I yet have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now, you cannot carry them now, it’s too much for you now... And the word in the Greek language literally means ‘right now’...at this time literally.  He says, you can’t carry this right now; you can’t bear this right now.  I have many things to say to you.  ...‘strengthen the covenant with many for a week’:  He’s about to get cut off in the midst of the week.  What He’s given to them is immense, it is enormous, it is powerful what He’s given to this point in time that the Church will grow with, that people will grow with through time in various states in various ways that God will magnify as time goes along – but only to a certain point.  But there’s more to be given, more as a part of what He’s going to do before He fulfills the entire week.

Verse 13 - Howbeit when it, the spirit of truth, is coming it will guide you into all truth: that’s how it works.  God’s spirit leads and guides us into greater and greater understanding, into more and more comprehension of God’s way of life to the degree God is working with us, to whatever degree that is.  I think of how awesome it is of what God gave through Mr. Armstrong over a period that went beyond fifty years, to finally write a book, the most powerful to its date in any fashion or form, far exceeding anything previously done, to bring together an entire story from beginning to end of what God is doing in life, in the angelic realm, with mankind, it’s purpose.  And I remember him sitting there in a class in the refresher program telling us about it.  He was so excited to be able to give this to the Church, to give it to the ministry, and to give it to the Church!  Because he saw the fruit of so many years bringing him to that point in time and it was a moving experience for him, indeed.

And it just continues on.  Now, it didn’t after he died because something else was to happen.  On the contrary, Laodicea followed, rich and increased with goods.  Incredible!

Howbeit when it when the spirit of truth is coming, it will guide you into all truth: all truth that is given.  It can’t go beyond what is given.  It is the power of God, it is what God gives, first of all, if we understand, again, going through Jesus Christ.  It’s what Jesus Christ gives to the Church, but it comes from the will of God, it’s already set, always has been.  ...it will guide you into all truth: for it shall not speak of itself; but whatsoever it shall hear that shall it speak: that’s what it will give, it comes from God, it comes through Jesus Christ, from Him to us, and it will show you things to come. So it reveals, it helps us to grasp and comprehend, it helps us to look forward, it helps us to understand the plan of God, it helps us to see what God is doing, it helps us to be excited about what God is doing, moved and motivated by what God is doing, giving us purpose and direction.

Verse 14 - It shall glorify Me: for it shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father has are Mine: therefore I said, that it shall take of Mine and shall show it to you.  Isn’t that amazing?  Continually going back to the Father as He did, showing where it’s coming from, but it’s coming from Him.  See?  But it’s from the Father.

Daniel 9:27 makes it clear that there would be a full period of seven prophetic days, seven years, in which Christ would strengthen the covenant with many.  Again, this word for covenant reminds me of the origin of the word ‘British’.  Interesting, came to mind.  I know you know what that is, if you read through ‘The United States and Britain in Prophecy’[1] , but the word for ‘covenant’ in Hebrew is ‘Beriyth or berith’ and the word for ‘man’, the word for ‘people’  - ‘iysh or ish’.  Brit-ish – that’s where it comes from and they don’t even know it.  Amazing!  One of the tribes of Israel.  The covenant people, that’s what the word ‘British’ means, literally from the sounds, the expressions of two words making a compound word from Hebrew.  So Ephraim is indeed one of the peoples that make up Israel, and they, again, were originally a physical covenant people, but we, the Church, truly the covenant people of God.  And that’s the covenant that Jesus Christ began to strengthen.  It was for the Church, the sake of the Church, and it has been for the past 2,000 years.

But for the period of the past 3½ years those things that will continue to strengthen (referring back not quite 3½ years right now), but those things that will continue to strengthen the covenant between God and man in the Church in a deeper understanding and atonement toward God in the truths that He has been revealing during this period of time.

Daniel 9:27 – And He, Messiah, shall confirm the covenant with many for one week – it’s being done spiritually – He doesn’t have to do it personally!  He did it personally, physically in physical presence with people who did not have His spirit.  He began to give them those things in that 3½ years period of time.  He did it face to face on a physical plane, gave many teachings, things that they didn’t really grasp and comprehend until Pentecost – then they began to grasp and comprehend what He had told them.  Before that it was so physical.  Then the holy spirit came, then it began to be poured out upon them in a very powerful way and they began to grasp and comprehend what He had strengthened in the covenant, mightily so.  And the Church has had that for the past 2,000 years.  But there were things they couldn’t be given back then.  He said, “I have many things to say to you that you cannot right now at this time bear.  You can’t carry them, it isn’t for this time.  It isn’t for the Church at this time.”  It wasn’t for the Church to receive at that time because it couldn’t bear it, not just them but because of the time period yet to remain, or that had to continue on.  It wasn’t meant for the world yet; it gives too much.  That which He is to give, is giving, determined to give, that God had predetermined to give just before He fulfills, very powerfully so, the Messiah, the role.  That’s when He returns.  Those things spoken of in Daniel about the coming of the Messiah, the numbering, the counting of those things that lead up to that period of time - we’ve been going through this, God has been revealing these things to us on a spiritual plane.

I marvel when I think back to the 50th Truth.  Truly felt, truly believed “This is it, there are no more!”  Came to understand, came to preach, came to teach, “This is all that’s given in the seven era’s of God’s Church.”  Came to understand, came to teach, came to give, “There’s a period of time following that’s not Laodicea anymore.  The work has been accomplished.”  The work for the 144,000 was finished – they were sealed already.  It’s been accomplished, it’s been done, what He did, and it started with another period of time.  Awesome!  ‘...the midst of a week’.  It fulfilled what was set in motion, what was stated back there in Daniel 9 so long ago – why He died – to accomplish the first great phase of God’s plan.

Let’s look at them.  Incredible!

51 (1) God has revealed the identity of the Elijah to come.

We had to grow in that, had to grow and understand it’s about Jesus Christ.  All others are ‘types’.  He revealed, He is the one spoken of there, it’s about Him – powerfully so – His work and what He does.  Because there were others to come, couldn’t be given before a certain time period, had to happen later on.

I think of number 2...

52 (2) God is restoring knowledge concerning the rightful place of women in the family.

Could not be given then.  You’ve read things about how hard it was for them to accept that the truth was going to the Gentiles?  Peter and others had some battles that God would go to the Gentiles?!  And the world wasn’t ready for, because of the way the world is, and it wasn’t God’s time until a full 6,000 years had passed, that this be given, of where God is leading the Church and what God is getting ready to do in a new era of time.  Freedom!  Long, long overdue in one respect, something that went into motion and became a matter of because of strength, physical, more than anything else.

My wife and I were talking about that, and even to this day we remember driving along the area close to Eilat. It’s the very southern part of Israel on the Gulf of Aqaba.  A lot of people go down there to tour because it’s hot and there was one area there where they still, to this day, Jews have men on one side – there’s a partition in the water that runs out into the water – women on the other.  Think, what is wrong with this picture?  Some of the strange things that carry through religion and carried through time that I look forward to being ended and it couldn’t be given back then.

God is strengthening the covenant.  Jesus Christ is strengthening the covenant.  He’s showing what it’s supposed to be like in families, in society – not the way it’s been because the way it’s been has been sick, perverted, and distorted, and has hurt people – men and women, truly.  Both are hurt by such mindsets of things they don’t comprehend and don’t understand.

And what did that lead to then?

53 (3) The ordination of women in the Church.

Powerful!  Powerful what has been given to us.  Truly is!  Because this is the way it’s going to be through the future, and it’s not a matter of a physical structure anymore.  Never again a matter of physical structure anymore; it’s a matter of a spiritual one that God looks to in the Body.  It’s about His holy spirit and how it works in our lives.  That’s what’s important!  Truly!  ...for all people.  Incredible what God has given.

Then another one:

54 (4) There is an end to Satan’s existence.

Wasn’t to be given before.  Things that he wasn’t to fully grasp and fully know until it was time to be given, and now God’s given it.  A total end.  A total end of existence.  He’s in torment; it’s already started.  It’s going to be a whole lot worse during the next thousand years.  Incredible torment!  ...for all the things they have done for perhaps millions of years, we don’t know how long, how far back it goes, within the God Family, problems, the things they have stirred up over and over again through time, trying to stir up, trying to...

Another one:

55 (5) Angels were created and composed of spirit essence and given life by God (spirit life), yet they do not have self-sustaining life inherent in themselves.

Powerful to understand what that means.  Powerful to understand what that means for God’s people into time, truly.  We are so close now to Elohim coming into existence God is giving us more, strengthening the covenant that goes into eternity – truly.

56 (6) God created both good and evil,

To understand what it means that God created both good and evil.  Again, the Church had to grow to be where we are now to grasp and begin to comprehend some of these things.  We had to have ‘Mystery of the Ages’ first.  We couldn’t grasp these things if it hadn’t been for those things that God gave through Philadelphia.  He’s continued to bless us to grow, to see things, to prepare.

All these truths are about preparing for His second coming; about His coming this time as Messiah.  It’s awesome!

And finally: ‘Through the power of the holy spirit...’ John 14 magnified again, beyond what was given then.

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

It’s beautiful, powerful!

A lot to be thankful for, what God continues to give to us, what we’ve been given, what we’re going to be given from here to the end that keeps us focused, that keeps us stirred up, that helps us at a time to go through a specific time.

~~~end

1. The United States & Britain in Prophecy

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