The End is Near

Wayne Matthews

Split Sermon – April 14, 2012

Some years ago we were at a Feast site in Maui, over in Hawaii, and I was driving down the road... actually we were walking down the road I think it was. I can’t remember whether we were walking or driving.  There was a particular older guy who had really long hair, greyish hair, had a big beard and he was standing on the side of the road and he had a sign saying, “The End is Near!”  Now, when you see that type of sign in the world you think, “Well, that guys lost it!”  That was the first thought I had as a member of God’s Church. “That guy hasn’t got a clue what he’s talking about.” Well, there’s always scepticism behind that statement.  So we often hear and have often seen signs or posters that say, “The End is Near!” And that’s actually the title of this split sermon, The End is Near.

The fact is that the average person would see such a sign and think that the person has lost it, that they don’t know what they’re doing.  The other part is that this statement often is thought of as being the end of all life.  So a lot of the movies that are out have been inspired saying “The End is Near!” or there’s destruction.  And it normally ends up being there are one or two people left and mankind is destroyed.  That’s the thought process that has come through Hollywood.  And, of course, a lot of the movies project what happens after that... robots do everything, everybody wears the same type of clothing.  If you look at Star Trek everyone’s dressed the same, because it’s from another mind destroying the beauty of God’s plan.  That’s the reality.  It destroys the beauty of God’s plan because His plan is about variety and continual growth and beauty, not the opposite which is just nothing and everyone wearing the same thing; clones, robots doing everything and you do nothing.  It’s actually the opposite of that.

So, most people would view this statement as a negative, but the reality is the end of man’s self rule, of 6,000 years, is near.  The purpose of this sermon is to go through a particular topic and parallel events that Jesus Christ went through and what we are going through; because there’s a lot of parallels and similarities to those very things.

Hundreds of people over time have set dates.  They are so called ‘prophets’; they set dates and times that they say are going to happen, and everybody has laughed at them and everybody has considered them not of the truth.  Because of this continual scepticism and setting of dates people have become cynical about the fact that we, God’s true Church, could set a date - and through the internet various people have laughed at it.

What people do not understand or know is that God the Father established the date in His perfect plan.  That’s the reality!  And as much as God’s Church, we’ve speculated at different things that might happen, or whatever, none of it is really that important, because God has ALWAYS known the date!  God hasn’t come along and said, “I think I’ll change it.”  No, God established the date and the day and the timing and everything that’s going to lead up to the return of Jesus Christ; God the Father knew and established it in His plan.  It’s only mankind that speculates and wonders.  True?  We’ve all had those thought, “I wonder if...”  “What if...”  “What about...?”  “Possibly...”  “Potentially...”  “Maybe...”  All those words.  But the fact is God the Father established it and it’s going to be fulfilled exactly as He planned it a long time ago – not 6,000 years ago – a long time ago.  From the foundation of the world things were set.

That plan is outlined by the weekly Sabbath, Passover, and the seven annual Holy Days.  We believe that Jesus Christ will be established as King of kings and Lord of lords to rule this earth with 144,000 at sundown on the 26th of May, 2012 – at the end of that Sabbath day.  That’s what we believe!

People would say, “Well, why do you believe this?”  I’m going to give a short answer to why we believe this.  The short answer is: Because God the Father through His Son Jesus Christ who inspired God’s end-time apostle and prophet to reveal this truth to the Church.

Now, that’s as simple as it gets!  You either believe it because God’s placed it in your mind to believe it, or you don’t!  It’s really quite simple.  Only God can place into your mind the truth, and you have a choice to believe but it is God that maintains us in the truth, and that’s what we believe.

The 50th Truth concerned the exact timing of the return of Jesus Christ.  We believe that this is the end of man’s self-rule and it is beginning of God’s rule over the earth.  That’s what we believe.  And it doesn’t matter what others believe, and it doesn’t matter what others say – God has given us truth to believe and that’s the important thing.

The reality is that if you understand that truth and believe it it’s because God has given it to us.  You are here, I am here, today, in this very venue, because God decreed it so.  You’re here because that’s what God desired.  And you wouldn’t be here if God didn’t want you here... (won’t say ‘want’)... choose to have you here.

God’s plan is perfect.  He knew the size of His Church through Laodicea and what would happen.  He knew at the end of that period of Laodicea that there would be a group of people, that 3½ years of training would take place.  And He knew the size, He knew you, He knew who He would call, who He would work with, what He would give us to believe.  He knew all those things...which is so encouraging!  It’s so encouraging, this is God working here.  We are of God, brethren; we are of God.  We’re God’s people!  And you know what?  It doesn’t matter what anybody says, it really doesn’t.

I want to look back at something because in different conversations....  Just remember Satan’s tool.  Satan’s main tool is doubt.  Satan tries to get doubt into God’s people - that’s how he works, he broadcasts doubt.  Now, if you look at the temptation that Jesus Christ went through after forty days of fasting, Christ was tempted.  There’s no sin in temptation, to be tempted; which in other words, words are placed in, “I wonder if...”  But it’s how we handle that temptation is the secret to overcoming and moving forward.  The answer is, “Well, I’m going to choose to believe God!”  Jesus Christ quoted back things to Satan.

Well, when we get tempted about, “I wonder if...” or “I doubt...” well, there’s a simple answer to fight which is, “I choose to believe what God has placed in the Church.”  Now, sometimes we can so often think, “Well, there are aspects of things...” but you can actually prove that Jesus Christ is going to return.  Okay?  ...and the date!  We can actually prove it, and today we’re going to look at aspects of that.

One of the things is that just to know that we are different because God called us.  Doesn’t make us better, just at this time God decided to call us.  So, we’ve been called.  There’s a certain part that if you take this aspect of what we understand and believe and try to talk to anybody else out there – just see how you do...  That’s proof in itself, that you have a mindset that is different, but also the fact is this is provable from scripture.  You can get a Bible and prove this point, but they can’t hear it.  That in itself is proof that God has called you and that you and I are different.  We’re different.

So, I’m going to go through these, I’m just going to bring out some point forms.  Scripture, which is the word of God, clearly states these things:

- Jesus Christ kept the Passover on the 14th of Abib/Nisan in 31 AD which was on a Tuesday night in late April.

You can prove that!  The Jews know that.  You can prove that!  That’s provable, very provable.  Passover was Passover, so it’s provable!  But man doesn’t want to know about it because they can’t understand it, they don’t want to understand, a lot of them.  Some of them know about it but choose to reject it.

- Following the Passover He went to a garden and was betrayed and handed over to the scribes and Pharisees.

- That night He was handed over to the Roman government who in turn beat Him to the point of not being recognizable.

- On the morning of the 14th of Abib, which being a Wednesday morning, He was forced to carry a pole (or a stake) for a part of a journey to a place of His punishment, and that punishment was death by being impaled on a stake.

Provable!  Provable!

- He was placed on a stake/pole at 9:00 AM on the Wednesday morning on the 14th of Abib – still Passover day.

Provable!

- Six hours later He died; He had shed His blood for all mankind.  It was 3:00pm on the Wednesday afternoon.  It’s still the 14th of Abib.

Things to consider which we often don’t realize:  Mary, who bore Jesus Christ as a human, watched this.  And there are a lot of things in Mary’s life; you realize she went through trials and testing that are hard for us to even recognize.  The fact that there was a period, remember, when Christ stayed back at a certain age and they felt they had lost Him and had to turn around and go back.

Can you imagine on a physical level what that was like?  “I’ve lost my son! Where is he?”  And then you find Him and there’s a sort of reply...the reply seemed to be a little indifferent.  You’re human; you’re still trying to deal with this, He’s different and He says that.  Other times they turn up and the people say, “Oh, by the way your mother and brothers, your family is outside!” and He says, “They’re not My family...”    “Oh, well, I beg your pardon...?”  So you see, imagine the emotions and the feelings that Mary has gone through.  Now she’s witnessing something different here.  She’s seen her Son beaten... and dies.  There are others watching this too.

- The angelic realm witnessed the death of Jesus Christ.

Now there’s two parts to it.  There’s one side of the angelic realm which realizes part of God’s plan and so there is thinking going on, “Something’s being fulfilled here...”  How much they knew of all of it we don’t know.  But there’s the other side of the angelic realm that would have had a different emotion – totally different, complete opposite – rejoicing for the wrong reason.  So there’s different feelings and different emotions (I say ‘emotions’ – probably not the word), but there’s different thinking going on.  It’s being witnessed!

- And out of it all, God the Father also watched what He had planned from the foundation of the world.

It’s amazing! The death of His Son was His sacrifice.  All that time and then to get to this point...to get to this point.  This is all provable; people not interested.

- Jesus Christ was taken down and urgently placed in a tomb just before sunset that day, Wednesday - still the 14th of Abib - just before the beginning of the First Day of Unleavened Bread which started on the Wednesday evening, or that night which was the 15th of Abib, a High Day.

- He remained dead in the tomb for three full days and three full nights being 72 hours exactly.

Provable!  Actually provable from scripture!  So, you see, the Wednesday night, the Thursday during the daylight period, then you see the Thursday night and then the Friday, another 24 hour period, then the Friday night, then the Saturday daylight period, total of three days and three nights.  Provable!  Just as Jesus Christ said in Matthew – the sign was Jonah.  Provable!

- Late on Saturday, that Sabbath, just before the sunset on the Saturday afternoon...

...in other words, going into the next day...

...Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead.

Now, if you go into 1 Corinthians Paul ran into a situation where there were people that did not believe about a resurrection.  Well, this event is one of the most important events that can take place, Jesus Christ’s death is, but His resurrection is too.  Because if Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead there is nothing...there’s nothing!  What’s our hope?  A resurrection!  A change!  So this is an incredible event!

- Jesus Christ was the first from a human to be born into Elohim, a forerunner for us!

So, one has entered into Elohim!  It’s amazing!  Because of that we have that potential.  Because of this first resurrection more could follow what God had achieved through Jesus Christ.  So everything is through Jesus Christ.  So there’s a rejoicing in this, there is a rejoicing.  And of course, because of the resurrection then there are other things that can take place.  We accept Jesus Christ as our Passover but there’s also an opportunity now for Jesus Christ and God the Father to live and dwell in us which gives us that potential of a resurrection at some point in time; so that life is very important.

- Christ’s death was the culmination of a 3½ year period of training of His disciples.

I want to look at some parallels here.  There was a 3½ year period.  The twelve disciples were called, and then one betrayed of course, but there was a training – 3½ years of training.  They had a, what we would say, a disadvantage, because God was working with them but He was not dwelling in them so a lot of what they heard, “...eat My flesh... drink My blood...”  “You what?!”  Okay?

Spiritual matters that cannot be comprehended, we tend to interpret them physically because that’s what we are.  So here the disciples are hearing all this information, and I’m sure they walked around at times thinking, “We know this guy is of the truth but... can’t understand what He’s saying!  Really, He’s saying these strange things!”  But they were called for a purpose.

At the time of the training they did not have the holy spirit living and dwelling in them, they were being drawn still.  The parallel is that we also have had a 3½ year period of training. The difference is that we have God’s spirit, we can understand spiritual matters.

If you take the 57 Truths – who knows the 57 Truths?  The Church that’s scattered does not know 57 Truths.  They think they know 18 and the 18 are being watered down because without God’s spirit you can’t maintain the truth; you cannot believe the truth without God’s spirit!  It’s impossible!  So there’s a sliding back.  So there’s a warning in that as well, because what happened to Laodicea – knowledge was puffing up, “I know 57 Truths...”

So when the awakened people are living into the Millennium there’s a danger of God’s people that we don’t take to ourselves that we know more.  We only know more because God gave it to us.  We’ve had 3½ years of final training!  What a responsibility!  That is an enormous responsibility, to represent God in the truth, not to add to it or take away or speculate but to live the truth, to have it living in us and to speak the truth in love and concern for the welfare of others.  That’s a big responsibility!  So the real difference is we’ve had 3½ years of training.  It’s wonderful!  It’s exciting!  We should be excited by that.

So, Jesus Christ lived with them, trained them for 3½ years.  Well guess what?  Jesus Christ has been training us exactly the same – it’s exactly the same.  More truth has been given to us.  We know more than the disciples, who were apostles, but knowledge is not what it’s all about, of course, it’s living the truth.  So, knowledge is wonderful but can we live it, that’s the question.

I want to take you to Acts 1 because we’re going to run a parallel of what happened after Jesus Christ was resurrected.  So, He’s resurrected on the Saturday night or just before the sunset of that next day going into Sunday.  There’s a period of time which we don’t know what happened.  There’s nothing said about that time.  We know that Mary’s run toward the tomb early in the morning, 5:00 AM, whatever time it was, to get there, and that Christ had already risen.  So there’s a period of hours we just don’t know what Jesus Christ was doing.  He hadn’t ascended to the Father, which we heard about yesterday - hadn’t happened yet – He was waiting to fulfill the wave sheaf offering.  The wave offering – Jesus Christ perfectly filled it.  That is day one of the count!  Okay?  That’s day one of the count to count 50.

So, on day one Jesus Christ is already resurrected, the day of the count is one.  The wave sheaf!  So there’s a parallel here that we’re going to look at.

Acts 1:1 - The former Account I made, which is the book of Luke, O Theophilus, and all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which He was taken up, so there’s a period here now that after Jesus Christ was resurrected and you begin to count one on that Sunday – He then began to appear. After ascending to the Father He then appeared to other disciples on that day – count one – He started to appear to them.  Then it says, He stayed with them teaching them on an off in appearing backwards and forwards, manifested as a physical human being, although being spirit, and was teaching them.

I mean, look at this, until He was taken up, after He through the holy spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen.  So they were waiting for the promise of the Father – Pentecost 31 AD. Now, we’re waiting for a promise.  There was the promise which is Pentecost 31 AD, the holy spirit would be given; we’re waiting for a promise, the return of Jesus Christ. We’re waiting for a promise.  There’s a wonderful parallel here because you can count the days.  We’re in day seven of the count, okay?  Hopefully in time we’ll get to some other aspects.

So, we’re told to wait for the promise as well, the promise of the return of Jesus Christ as King of kings: and we’re waiting and we’re counting.

Verse 3 - To whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, that word is ‘unmistakable’ proofs.  So here is proof; Jesus Christ is resurrected, there’s a group of people – remember on the Day of Pentecost, about 120.  So here we are.  But they’re infallible proofs; I just gave you some infallible proofs, unmistakable proofs, you can’t deny it – which is about Christ’s suffering and death and resurrection.  You can’t deny that, it’s God’s word and it’s easily provable.  So we’ve got unmistakable proofs, infallible proofs before us.  So here they’re seeing something for a period of time.

...being seen by them during forty days, now that’s interesting.  So you’re counting and you get to forty days – forty - forty days in the count of fifty. And what is forty? Forty is a test number.  So why did Jesus Christ remain, appearing to them, manifesting, they touched Him, they felt Him, they ate with Him.  Remember they had fish and different things?  ...for forty days!  So that means there’s only ten days left to Pentecost.

So Christ was resurrected on the sundown on the Sabbath, just as we’re going into Unleavened Bread.  On the Sunday morning He presented Himself to the Father fulfilling the wave sheaf.  This Sunday in 31 AD began the count being seven times seven equals forty-nine, then you get to the fifty which is Pentecost.  Christ, as a spirit being, manifested Himself to look like the human that He was, and they ate with Him and they worked with Him, and He talked to them and it was all about the Kingdom of God.

Now, you can imagine the questions...   I can imagine the questions; there’s a lot of questions I’d like to ask Him.  But you’re a disciple, you’re not sure; you still haven’t gotten God’s spirit, so some of the questions wouldn’t necessarily be spiritually based, would they?  They’d be quite physical.  We’re in the same period.  Today is day seven of that count and we’re waiting for a promise.

So what is it that God the Father and Jesus Christ are going to teach us during the next forty days, i.e. from the Sunday that we had which is ‘count one’ and yesterday was day six.  Jesus Christ was teaching us, His disciples.  So He taught them – true(?) – for forty days – so we are going to be taught – because there’s a lot of parallels.   There’s forty days where we’re going to be taught.  So what is it we’re going to be taught?  Well, it’ll be worthwhile going back over yesterday’s sermon because Jesus Christ and God the Father were teaching their disciples...and what was it that we were taught?

Well, we were taught about God’s plan.  We were taught about Passover and Unleavened Bread.  We were taught about the focus at this time – has to be on us, ourselves, our attitudes – to understand that we are responsible for the choices we make in life, our attitudes.  So this is a time to be on guard.  This is a time to be on guard; this is actually a dangerous time if we’re not careful, if we’re not watching. We’re to watch our thinking and we’re also...we’re taught by Jesus Christ that forgiveness is available to us if we stumble and fall, if we repent.  That’s what we were taught.  We were taught about God’s plan.

So, that’s the first lot of instruction that’s been given.  I think that’s exciting!  I think that’s very exciting!

I’d ask a question just for consideration.  What is it that you will be doing on the day that Jesus Christ returns?  I don’t know whether you’ve thought about that.  Because in Australia the timeline is...I think it’s about 2:30, if I remember rightly, in the morning into Pentecost before Jesus Christ returns Jerusalem time.  So I’ve often thought about it – what will I be doing?  What will others be doing?  It’s an interesting thought!  We’re going to see what the disciples were doing – we know they were being taught personally, one on one.

Acts 1:4 - And being assembled together with them, the apostles, the disciples, He, Christ, commanded/charged them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father, which He said you have heard from Me. We know what that promise was; the promise of the Father was the gift of the holy spirit, God’s mind, God’s thinking which will be given to them on the Day of Pentecost in 31 AD.

Verse 5 – And Christ said; For truly John baptized/immersed in water; but you shall be baptized/immersed with the holy spirit not many days from now.  Now, another parallel to this is that there are 144,000 that are going to be immersed fully in the holy spirit not many days from now because they are going to be in God and God in them.  They’re going to be in Christ and Christ in them.  Fully immersed!  So it’s a similar thing!  We wait for that day, we wait for the resurrection of 144,000; we wait for it.  So they’re fully immersed in God’s spirit, they have the mind of God, they think like God, they’re spirit.

What the disciples were waiting for was something spiritual, not fully understanding it. We’re waiting for something which we understand to a degree... but only to a degree.

Verse 6 – Therefore when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, I think this is a good question.  You’re there and all this stuff is going on... Lord/Master, will You at/in this time restore the kingdom to Israel?  So again, they’re thinking physical; “When will you overtake the Roman government and when are we going to set all this up.  When are we going to have the government of God on earth?”  They believed Jesus Christ, that He was the Messiah, the anointed one, but they were still thinking physically because that’s all they could really do.  Because without the power of God’s holy spirit we cannot think spiritually.  They understood and believed that they one day would be rulers and a Kingdom of priests in God’s government.  They understood that and they were looking for it, but they were looking on a physical level.

Verse 7 - And He, Christ, said to them, It is not for you, the disciples, to know this time; and the word ‘to know’ means ‘to learn to know’, ‘come to know’, ‘to get knowledge of’, or ‘to perceive’ the times and the seasons which the Father has put in His own authority, the power. Now we, during this time of 3½ years of training, have come to know the ‘Time, Times, and a Half a Time’.  We’ve come to know the season, the appointed time of Jesus Christ’s return.

So we’ve actually been given some of these things.  God had withheld it from them, it wasn’t needed for them, but God in this last 3½ years of training with Jesus Christ has given it to us.  Isn’t that amazing?  We should be so encouraged by this!  This is an amazing thing, that God in His mercy has chosen us to reveal this truth and to hide it in darkness for others.  They’re not meant to know.  It’s irrelevant at this point whether they know or not.  And whether they believe this is God’s true Church – they‘re not called to it – it doesn’t matter.  It’s about us individually; how we are doing - not about others in the Church and how they’re doing - it’s about us individually.  We work on ourselves!  What do we really believe?  What do we really think?  That’s what it’s about.

We, as part of the end-time Church of God, have come to learn, come to know, to get knowledge of the exact times and seasons of the establishment of the Kingdom of God.  We know it; it’s been given to us.  God gave us this knowledge through His Son, Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ has given it to His Church as exact proof of the timing of His return.  Now, there are charts on the Church website that are infallible. The word ‘infallible’, it stinks catholic... but unmistakable proof!  There is unmistakable proof that Jesus Christ will return because God has given it to us through Jesus Christ.  ‘Time, Times, and a Half a Time’, the way the Holy Day season is.  These things are unmistakable proofs for God’s people!  Now, to others, without God’s spirit, they can’t understand what we’re saying, but there’s unmistakable proof.  If you look at those charts and you look at what God revealed through Daniel, its proof of Jesus Christ’s return, and we should never doubt.  And the moment Satan puts any type of doubt in go back and read the 57 Truths.  It’s unmistakable!  It’s unmistakable.

For me, I was saying to someone last night – for me it’s unmistakable because I went through the apostasy.  You can’t take it from me; I know exactly what happened in the apostasy, and I saw it, I felt it, I lived it, I was lukewarm, I was spewed out and I know it!  So, there’s an unmistakable proof for me, personally, and you can start the count from the 1st Seal.  There’s unmistakable proof on the Church website through charts and what God gives us.  I think it’s exciting...exciting!  Christ has given that to His Church in this last 3½ years of training, just like with the disciples, He trained them.

Verse 8 - But you shall receive power/strength/ability when the holy spirit has come upon you/is coming upon you, in you: and you shall be witnesses, evidenced by the way we live, to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. So, we are witnesses today, the same.  The power of the holy spirit – and you know what that is?  It’s the way we live toward others, the way we think to others.  That’s what it’s about.

So, it’s no use understanding the 57 Truths if we are not bringing into check our attitudes toward one another, firstly.  It’s the way we think toward others, the way we think to brethren, first of all.  So if you want to ever have a check – how do we feel about other members of the Body?  That’s a good check to see.  And if there’s wrong thinking in there we can repent, that’s the beauty of it, we can say, “That’s wrong, God, I want to think like You!  I want to believe the 57 Truths; fill me with more of it!”  The power of God’s spirit.

Verse 9 - Now when He, Christ, had spoken these things, while they watched, now I want you to take yourself here physically in your mind...  Here you are, Jesus Christ is talking to you, and while they watched He was taken up; Uh... can you imagine that?  You stand there talking to Him, the next minute He begins to be lifted up – the word is ‘lifted up’ – from the earth and starts to go up into the sky.  Physically you’re seeing this!  Mind you, Pentecost hasn’t come yet, you haven’t got God’s spirit, and here it is...  “Hello?!”  This is something to witness!  This is a shock!  True?  Like, you might have believed a lot of other things but hey... like, pshew...  ...He was taken up and a cloud received Him out of their sight. Now, you can imagine it.

Well, guess what?  Pentecost – the beginning of Pentecost.  What do you think is going to happen for some of us around here?  We’ll be able to witness certain things – a resurrection.  And scripture says that the same thing is going to happen – the dead in Christ will rise first to be taken up, with a manifestation ...  it will be seen.

So, there are great parallels here and I’m very excited by it, so I can imagine what they were thinking and whew... that’s an infallible proof.  This is unmistakable!  “You can’t take that from me!”  You can’t take the apostasy from me; you can’t take this from them!  “I don’t care what you say, I saw it! You can talk whatever you like; you can think we’re idiots - we saw it!”  True?  There are people that saw the apostasy and you can’t take it from them.  We’ve been fortunate to be awakened to see it, that we understand it.  At the time it happened, didn’t have a clue what was going on.  I knew there was a problem, didn’t really understand what was happening to me.

So here is something that happens on a physical level, and of course, they still have to wait.  Now, this is forty days so there’s ten days left.  There’s ten days left where Jesus Christ is no longer there teaching them directly; they’re by themselves for ten days to get to the count fifty.  But they knew what they had to do; they had to wait until the Day of Pentecost.

Guess what, brethren in the Church, in the Body of Christ – guess what?  We’ve been taught; we have to wait.  We have to wait.  It’s a promise, a promise that Jesus Christ will return; He’s given it to us.  We have to wait, just like the disciples had to wait, not fully understanding every aspect, but you have to wait.  Once they saw Jesus Christ go up it’s an infallible proof, it’s an unmistakable proof.  Well, there are unmistakable proofs for us if we have the eyes to see today...if we have the eyes to see in God’s Church.

Verse 10 - And while they looked steadfastly towards heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; well these are angelic beings being manifested; Who also said, Men of Galilee, People of the Body of Christ... Why do you stand gazing up into heaven? Now you can imagine they’re going... “Ahhh,” [mouths open gaping] “I can’t believe what I just saw!  ...can’t believe it!” This same Jesus, whom was taken up from you into heaven, was taken up, will also come in like manner as you saw Him go up into heaven.  Isn’t that amazing?  Now, we’re going to witness this aspect.  He’s also going to come as He went up.  We, out of all humanity, over all this time, we have that potential.  I think it’s incredible that we have that potential!  We’re going to actually fulfill that aspect that is in scripture, we’re going to witness this, the return of Jesus Christ.

So, where will you be on that day?  Well, that’s something we can’t answer – God’s will is done, wherever we are, we are.  True? But we’re going to see things that in the mind is going to be unmistakable proof....because all the other thoughts... unmistakable proof when Jesus Christ returns.  You’re not going to be able to deny it; you’re going to witness it!  And I think that is so exciting!

We believe this record of events.  We believe that Jesus Christ will return to this earth at the end of the weekly Sabbath on the 26th of May, 2012.  Once the sun goes down, the brightness and the glory of the returning Jesus Christ will light up the earth.  And you can look at Zechariah 14, which I’m not going to turn there, but you can read through Zechariah 14 which covers some of those things.

When the 7th Trumpet sounds the time will have come for God to begin to rule over the earth.  This has been His plan since before the creation of the universe millions of years ago.

Brethren, take courage – EVERYTHING is going exactly to plan!  Isn’t that wonderful!  But why do we worry about things?  Because that’s the human mind.  It’s exactly to plan.

People can say, “Well, you know, this hasn’t happened or that hasn’t happened...”  It’s going to plan.  It’s plan A and there’s never been a plan B – it’s exact!  We’re the ones...  I remember different conversations that... when there’s issues in life all you can say is to people who are looking to counselling - in the end, you boil it all down you can say, “Well, you’re the problem because it’s the way you think.”  But it’s hard to get to that point, to understand that we’re the problem.  Because people can be nasty to us – it doesn’t matter, who cares - it’s how we think back toward them that’s the matter, so we’ve got control of that, we’ve got to work on it – with God’s spirit we can do it.

So why do we worry about what hasn’t happened, and this hasn’t happened, and this might happen, and this...  God’s got it all planned out so why don’t we just relax.  True?  It’s perfect!  It’s a perfect plan!  We’re going to go through a count – we’re at day seven and tomorrow is day eight – let’s just count and draw close to God in prayer and study, and try to watch our attitudes towards others.  That’s far more important than anything else, of whether a bomb goes off over here or over there, or whether there’s one or there’s three – pshew!  Far better to have a right attitude toward members of the Body and those in the world, because that’s what God is looking at.  He’s looking at the heart!  But He’s already planned all this out, how many are going to go off and when they’re going to go off, so why do we try to be there and say... “hmmm....”  That’s human, I know, we all... that’s who we are.  We’re looking for things.

But you know, when it happens...  it’s like this with the disciples – once it happens you won’t need proof and no one will take it from you – you say, “No, I saw it!  I don’t care what you say; you can say whatever you want.”

So, it’s God the Father who has set the date for the return of Jesus Christ.  It was always in His plan.  I think it’s wonderful, I really do.  The Church of God – PKG believes that the end of man’s self-rule of 6,000 years is near.  Yes, the end is near; the end of man’s self-rule.  In another way, it’s a beginning.  And if you look at the news you can rejoice in knowing it is ending, because I’ll tell you what, the suffering out there is horrendous.  We don’t even realize it, you know, we go to restaurants and we travel around and we do not realize sometimes the suffering that people are going through all around the world.  It is horrendous what people are doing to people.  It’s horrendous, it’s horrible to watch!  There are certain programs that they announce on TV about what they’re doing to this child, they’re doing this for the children... I can’t watch it.  I cannot watch, I can’t just bring myself... I just can’t, I’ve had enough of all that, I cannot watch it, it’s too distressing!  This is our brothers, this is the same flesh, and they were not called and they have to go through that because that’s what God planned.

How blessed are we?  How can you even count the blessings?  You know, during the fast...and you can rejoice.  Okay?  ...that God’s mercy.  It’s impossible actually to fully understand how much we should rejoice.  We are so blessed as a people, and the trials we might think we have, compared to people in the world without God’s spirit, are minor compared to that.  They have no hope!  We at least have hope and we can go to God the Father at any time and discuss anything we wish!  ...tell God how we feel about the situation, but in the end its God’s will be done.

We believe this fact of Jesus Christ’s return because God the Father has told His Church.  It is God the Father who set the date of sundown on the 26th of May, not any man as what men would think...not anyone that’s just a man that set that or made it up.

We believe that God has set a seal on 144,000 on the 30th of September, 2008.  We believe that; we believe it, but do we have any physical evidence of it?  Did we see something like flames come down...?  But we believe it.  We believe it because it’s part of God’s plan and He’s given it to the Church.  Truth 38 was placed into God’s Church, which is all about the 144,000.

Go to 1 Thessalonians 4:13 – so brethren, just remember that we’re in that period of a count, and Jesus Christ will nurture His Church like He nurtured the disciples during that period; but it’s up to us whether we want to listen and whether we want to focus on what we’re being told by God the Father and Jesus Christ.  It’s a choice we have.  But the intense training has not stopped.  The intense training has not stopped, just like with the disciples, they had a period but then it intensified because Jesus Christ was there for those forty days intently training them.  So no different for us.  And you know, we’re going to look back in history and people will say, “Wow!  What an opportunity you people had!  What an opportunity!”  I don’t like to use the word ‘wish’ but people are going to say, “I wish I was there.”  (...because the word ‘wish’ is not right.)  But the reality is, What a blessing!  What an incredible blessing!

1 Thessalonians 4:13  - But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep; in other words, died in the faith over the last 6,000 years, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. So we’ve got a hope!  If somebody dies we know there’s a resurrection; we believe in it.  Jesus Christ was resurrected first so He could pave the way for the 144,000 to follow, then more, then more, then the end of physical – but spirit continues on – things that haven’t even entered our mind...not even entered our mind to what is ahead of us as a Family; to be able to think right toward everybody, joy to everybody, wishing the best for everybody.  It’s exciting when you think like that but it’s going to take a complete change.  We cannot take this body and we cannot take this mind, the carnal mind, with us – not one aspect, because it’s sin; ‘the carnal mind is hostile to God.”  So the change is perfect; the thinking is to think godly, and I’m looking forward to that day whenever that might be, to not be able to sin.  Ugh, what a relief!  What a relief just to think right!

Verse 14 - For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, which we do, even so God will bring with Him those who slept in Christ. The 144,000. For this we say to you by the Word of the Lord, Jesus Christ, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep/who died. So the dead in Christ rise first, as we know from scripture.

Verse 16 - For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the Trumpet of God: which is the 7th Trumpet; and the dead in Christ will rise first: What an amazing thing to witness, brethren!  Followed by... there are members in the Body of Christ today that will be alive when that Trumpet sounds and however long the time period is, don’t know, soon we’re going to find out, but the dead in Christ rise first – how long afterwards...not long probably, is that those that are alive before us, we will see changed.  You won’t see spirit because you can’t see spirit, but they’re going to rise to meet Jesus Christ in the air, just like the disciples saw.  And I believe our reaction will be the same!  Mouth open...  Now, what a blessing if we’re alive to witness that.  The disciples were so blessed to be able to witness that and you will never take it from them – the same potential for us!  No matter what anybody says we were there, we saw... (I won’t use a name... if I could use Merkle...)  We can take a name... we will see somebody, a member in the Body of Christ – some of us will.  Someone will, because God has witnesses all the time, He has a witness of something; but someone will be resurrected before our very eyes.  So...where will you be when that Trumpet sounds?  It’s interesting.  But somewhere, someone will see it, they’ll witness it.

Verse 17 - Then we who are alive will remain and shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and thus we shall always be with the Lord. I think that’s so fantastic!  What a day!  What a day!  But it’s going to be on the earth. Six weeks, brethren!  Isn’t that incredible?!  ...to this event?!  Whew!  It’s exciting!

Matthew 24:29 - Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of heavens will be shaken:

Verse 30 - Then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven: and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  A manifestation, it has to be, because we can’t see spirit!  So this is going to be in a glorious event which God willing we will see and witness and it’ll be burned into our brains forever going forward.  Because you can’t take something like that away from somebody.  It doesn’t matter what anybody says – “Hey, I can tell you, I saw it!”  I think that’s wonderful!

Verse 31 - And He will send His angels with a great sound of a Trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.  It’s the 144,000 that will be resurrected on that day.

So God has given us proof of the date and the timing of His return, and the evidence is all built on the apostasy.  It’s all built on the apostasy!  That’s where you can start to count, and therefore there is a blessing, a great blessing in those that experienced and went through it.  It’s a blessing!  It’s a blessing from God to have actually experienced it.  There was sin involved on my behalf and lots of other people’s behalf but now I look at it as a great blessing to actually have gone through it because I felt it, I know it, I saw it, I lived it – can’t take it from me.  And there are others that you can’t take it from them, they went through it.

1 Corinthians 15:20 - But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first of those who have fallen asleep. So as we heard yesterday, it’s a wonderful plan God has; it’s a wonderful plan, it really is.  That fact that He sacrificed His Son for us, for me, for you – that that was God’s plan!

God desires so much for you to be in His Kingdom – a desire that we can’t comprehend.  They say, like a mother’s love for her child, you can’t be bounded.  It’s nothing compared to God’s desire for you to be in His Family, to fulfill His plan, and for me; it’s a desire so great that He was willing to sacrifice Himself through Jesus Christ.  How incredible is that?  How incredible!

And that’s why we when talk about ‘taking Passover unworthily’ – well we need to be serious about it.  It’s a right attitude that we approach it, it’s a wonderful blessing that we have.  That we took Passover this year was a wonderful blessing.  How blessed are we above all of mankind that’s ever existed, to live at this time.

Verse 21 - For since by Adam/man came death by man/Christ also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, by sin, even so in Christ, by Passover, all shall be made alive. Spiritually!  We are spiritually alive as long as we haven’t sinned, and if we have we have repented of it; we are alive.  We’re living stones!  We are living stones looking for a change.

Verse 23 - But each one in his own order: Christ the first; then afterward those, 144,000, who are Christ's at His coming. Yes, we believe the end of man’s self-rule is near.  We believe that.  We believe that in only six weeks time the glorious return of Jesus Christ will take place.  We believe that 144,000 will be resurrected to meet Jesus Christ in the air...and some of us will witness that.

We believe that Jesus Christ will establish and will be established as King of kings and Lord of lords to rule the earth with 144,000 at sundown on the 26th of May, 2012. That’s what we believe.

~~~end