|
[ Back ] [ Home ] [ Up ]
Now let’s continue on here in Ezekiel 37 because this is a tremendous
and exciting chapter when you understand it. That God is going to undo
all the evil and difficulties. He is going to answer all of the
perplexing questions that men, in all of their philosophies and all of
their religions, have never been able to understand. And yet, would not
examine the word of God, to know it. And also from the point of view
that it wasn’t understood, there is no way that Ezekiel 37 could be
fully understood until Revelation 20 was written. Because Revelation 20
unlocks Ezekiel 37 and tells us when it will be and tells us that being
resurrected to this judgment is a judgment for an opportunity for
salvation. That is God’s judgment for these people. Now, let’s see,
continuing on here, in Ezekiel 37 verse 11, ‘Then He said to me, “Son of
man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.” That fulfills what Paul
wrote when he said, ‘So all Israel shall be saved.’ That gives us the
understanding of it. So they have all died. All the generations of the
children of Israel that have lived and died, that only very few were
called to salvation. Most of them lived and died in sin, not the sin
unto death, or unpardonable sin, so they are raised back to life. Now,
notice, they come to consciousness. They are aware of what they have
done in the past and they are aware that they died. And now they are
living again. Behold they say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and
we are cut off for our parts!’ Their behavior and their sins, they were
cut off and died. Now, here comes grace. Here comes mercy. Here comes
forgiveness. Verse 12, “Therefore prophesy and say unto them, ‘thus says
the Lord God; “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves.” So they
were dead. “I will cause you to come up out of your graves.” To stand up
with this generation as Jesus said. Because see what happens to Israel,
happens to the other nations, Jesus said so. The men of Nineveh, the
queen of the South, and the queen means all of those of her kingdom. And
those are typical of all the Gentiles in all the world and they will
raised as well as Israel, see. Paul confirms that they will be. “Bring
you up out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel and you
shall know that I am the Lord.” They didn’t know the Lord before. They
died without the knowledge of God, without the knowledge of the Lord,
you see. “You shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your
graves, O My people, and brought you up out of your graves.” Now, then
what is He going to do? He is going to fulfill what Paul said. So all
Israel shall be saved. Now, notice, in order to be saved, you have to
have the Spirit of God, right? Yes. Verse 14, “And shall put My Spirit
in you and you shall live, and I shall put you in your own place. Then
you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and have performed it.”
So they are going to be given an opportunity to live.
Now, who are all the rest of the dead? Not only the house of Israel
but all the things that have occurred down through history. And that is
why this is called the Last Great Day. The great undoing of every evil
and every hurtful and hateful thing that has happened to men. Now, in
the book, the new book that you have. I am going to read to you from the
introduction of the Last Great Day, God’s Greatest Mystery of the Ages
Revealed in the Eighth Day--the Last Great Day. And this, the whole
introduction here, tells us what God is going to undo. Because as you
look at the world and you read the Scriptures and you don’t understand
what we have just covered here, it is impossible for men or women to
understand how God can be a God of Love. But He has decreed this, in his
love, He has decreed this, all who did not receive an opportunity for
salvation in their first life, regardless of their age, and did not
commit the unpardonable sin, or the innocent children who never had a
chance to know right and wrong, that they will be raised to a second
life in the flesh. So, let me just read you the introduction to chapter
12. And in writing this, I will just have to tell you, in writing this,
to get it perfected, to get it down, to have all the information in
there, took me writing and editing over a period of time, not
constantly, but it took me over two months to finish these three
paragraphs. So, you see, sometimes writing becomes a lot of work,
depending on what you want to say. So, here is what I have written.
When viewing the panorama of human history--from individuals to great
civilizations, from the forgotten, unwanted and rejected, to the famous,
idolized and celebrated--one is compelled to ask, “Why is there life and
death, good and evil? Why does God allow and/or cause disasters, floods,
tidal waves, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, destruction, war, famine,
pestilence, sickness, disease, pain and suffering, violence and death to
befall all mankind, throughout every generation and civilization?” And
men have no answer to this. They only have the answer of the Gnostics,
which is straight from Satan. Oh, your soul goes to heaven. Well, God
has a better plan. Ha-ha-ha. And His plan is, if you live a life in the
flesh and He hasn’t called you, He is going to raise you back to life.
Now, isn’t that fair? You think, of all the disasters and things that I
read here, think about that for a minute.
So, then, I asked the question, “If God is a God of love, why does He
not stop or prevent the wretchedness and misery of human suffering and
accidental death—especially of innocent children and babies—and the
abortion of the unborn? Why does God allow rape, murder, sadistic
torture and cruelties of man against man—the strong against the weak,
the wicked against the righteous? If God really hears the mournful cries
of desperate humans suffering such horrific tragedies, disasters,
sicknesses and death, why does He not intervene? And all men have asked
that question and they have rejected the word of God, which gives them
the answer and it couldn’t be understood until Revelation 20 was
written. So this is what they have tried to answer. The answer is, think
of this, if you brought back all of the children that died into the
existing world that they were living in, would they be better off? Or is
it not better and more righteous of God to resurrect those people to a
new heaven and a new earth. Give them a new life in the flesh, where
they will be needed, they will be wanted, they will be loved. Where they
can also be with their parents in a loving and good and kind way. Where
there will be no suffering, there be no sickness, there will be no
disease, there will be no Satan the devil. Is it not much better to
resurrect them to that kind of life, to that kind of world, to give them
an opportunity for salvation, then to resurrect them back now in this
evil, and sinful and wicked world? So God knows what He is doing. Yes,
He understands what He is doing. See. So this is quite a thing. What
happens to Israel happens to all of the Gentiles.
Now let’s come back here to Revelation 20 and we are going to see
something else. We are also going to see that after there is the
salvation of those who have not committed the unpardonable sin, then the
resurrection of judgment to the second death takes place with those who
have committed the unpardonable sin. Now, the unpardonable sin is a
predetermined choice and deliberate and rejecting of the Holy Spirit of
God and the work of God. I mean the work of God in individuals. And the
worst kind of unpardonable sin happens to those who have once received
the Holy Spirit, were enlightened, tasted of the good word of God, if
they should reject Christ, there is no more forgiveness for those sins.
Now, let’s come to Revelation 20 and verse 14; here is the second phase
of the second resurrection, first phase is for those who did not commit
the unpardonable sin, the second phase is for those who did commit the
unpardonable sin. Verse 14; ‘And Death and Hell were cast into the lake
of fire, this is the second death. And if anyone was not found written
in the Book of Life, he was cast into the lake of fire. Now, we need to
understand that and realize that. And let’s see an example of that. That
is why it says, in the book of Malachi, chapter 4; that the wicked shall
be ashes under the feet of the righteous, they are going to be burned
up. And a merciful, loving and kind God, even the human beings have
committed the unpardonable sin and blasphemed against the Holy Spirit,
He is not going to put them in hell fire to be tormented forever and
ever. He is going to end their lives. They are going to be burned up.
Now, let’s see what their reaction is going to be, when they are
first resurrected back to life. Now all the wicked will be resurrected
back to life. And they are going to come to the reality that they have
truly committed the unpardonable sin. They are not going to understand
exactly everything that has happened as we will see here in the parable
of Lazarus and the rich man. So let’s come here to Luke the 16th
chapter. And let’s read about the parable of Lazarus and the rich man.
Now this is the parable, and it does give the appearance that they are
going to be tormented in fire, but if we read it carefully, that is not
exactly true. So let’s read it here. Let’s pick it up in verse 19. Now
there was a certain rich man, (now, in this parable, he may be rich, in
this case, literally, physically rich but there are a lot of people who
figure that they are rich and think that they have salvation, but reject
God, but don’t. So this parable includes a lot more than just the rich
man. And he was clothed in purple and fine linen and daily indulged
himself in luxury. And there was a certain poor man named Lazarus who
has laid at his porch, full of sores and he longed to be nourished with
the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. And even the dogs came
and licked his sores. The only healing he had was a dog coming and
licking out all of the infection or whatever it is and give him some
soothing relief. Now, it came to pass that the poor man died and
remember God calls the poor of the world. Remember God calls the weak of
the world? So this is a parable of their condition, you see. No one
cared for them not even the dogs. Well, the dogs had a little care for
them. Now, the poor man died and he was carried away by the angels into
Abraham’s bosom. When does that take place? Matthew 24, when the trumpet
sounds and the resurrection takes place, the angels gather the elect and
carry them up to the sea of glass, where Abraham is, because Abraham
will be in the resurrection. And he was in Abraham’s bosom. And the rich
man also died and was buried; now he comes back to life, now notice Luke
16 and verse 23. In the Kings James it says; “and in hell.” Well, the
Greek word there is Hades, which means the grave. Not in hell, that is
an erroneous translation by the translators of the King James Version of
the Bible, because they believed in an ever burning hell and going to
heaven. “And being in the grave, he lifted up his eyes in torment.” Why
was he in torment? For two reasons, “for he saw Abraham afar off and
Lazarus in his bosom.” Now, having just been resurrected, “he cried out
and said, ‘Father Abraham, have compassion on me, and send Lazarus so
that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I
am suffering because of this flame.’ He was in torment because he knew
that he was going to go into the lake of fire. Now, notice, what is said
here, ‘Then Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that in your lifetime you
received good things to the full, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but
now he is covered and you are suffering. And besides these things,’
besides what has taken place in the lives of each of you, ‘between us
and you a great chasm has been fixed.’ The difference between physical
life, which is destructible and eternal life, which in indestructible.
‘So that those who desire to come here to you are not able,’ not able to
go back in the flesh. ‘Nor can those from there pass here.’ So they
didn’t know what to do. ‘So he said, “I beseech you then, father that
you send him to my father’s house.” Because he didn’t know what happened
to his family. ‘For I have five brothers, so that he may earnestly
testify to them in order that they also might not come to this place of
torment.’ See, because you are tormented, as Jesus said, “There shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth.” That is why they are tormented, you see.
They see this lake of fire and there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
So Jesus finished the parable here, to show that if they pay attention,
if people would pay attention to the parable, they would not come into
the same fix as the rich man was. ‘And Abraham said to them, “They have
Moses and the prophets;” Now, Abraham died before Moses, right? Yes. So
how did he know they had Moses and the prophets? See. Because they are
both resurrected. God told him about them. ‘Let them hear them. But he
said, No, father Abraham; but if one from the dead would go to them,
they would repent.’ Not necessarily. ‘Then he said to him, ‘If they will
not hear Moses and the prophets, they would not be persuaded, even if
one rose from the dead.’ So, you see that is why there is going to be
weeping and gnashing of teeth. All of the incorrigible wicked will be
raised together and they will be consumed by the lake of fire.
Now, let’s come to 2 Peter 3 and we are going to see that this lake
of fire is going to consume the whole earth. And the near atmosphere of
the earth, because it is going to pave the way for the new heavens and
the new earth. Now, let’s read it here, verse 10. Now, Peter didn’t have
the understanding of what John wrote in Revelation 20, so he brings the
return of the Lord and the death of the wicked almost in the same
sentence. But then Revelation 20 gives us the proper interpretation and
the time frame of that as well as Ezekiel 37. Now verse 10, 2 Peter 3,
‘However the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night, in
which the heaven itself shall disappear with a mighty roar.’ That is
this current heaven. ‘Burning with intense heat and the earth and the
works in it shall be burned up.’ So, this is a warning of committing the
unpardonable sin. ‘Since all these things are going to be destroyed.
What kind of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
looking forward to and striving for the coming of the day of God, during
which the heavens being on fire shall be destroyed and the elements
burning with intense heat shall melt.’ So, what is going to happen? The
wicked are standing at the edge of the lake of fire, they are cast into
the lake of fire and the lake of fire begins to consume the whole earth.
Melt everything. Evaporate the oceans. Destroy all the works of men.
Destroy everything that God built during the Millennium, because as
spirit beings we will need new heaven, we will need a new earth. So this
is going to prepare for it. That is why he says here, verse 13, ‘But,
according to His promise, we look forward to a new heaven and a new
earth in which righteousness dwells.’ Now, we are going to look at that,
in just a little bit here. ‘For this reason, beloved, since you are
anticipating these things, be diligent, so that you may be found by Him
in peace, spotless and blameless.’ That is so that you be in the first
resurrection.
Now, let’s come back here to Revelation 20, and then we will go on
into Revelation 21 and 22. Because now, the eighth day also pictures, a
new beginning. And after all those who have committed the unpardonable
sin have been destroyed and burned up, the two things have been
accomplished. Number 1: At the end of the Millennium, Satan receives his
final judgments, he is gone, and the demons with him. Now, at the end of
the one hundred year period, all of those who qualify for salvation will
enter into the Kingdom of God, those few who don’t and remain will stand
there, the second phase of the second resurrection will take place, and
all of the incorrigible wicked, all down through the course of history
will stand there, all together, and they will receive the judgment of
God to the second death, because their names were not found in the Book
of Life.’ The earth is consumed, with the fire, to prepare the way for
what we read in chapter 21 of Revelation. Verse 1; ‘Then I saw a new
heaven and a new earth.’ Just like Peter said. ‘For the first heaven and
the first earth were passed away.’ How were they passed away? We read of
it in 2 Peter 3, how it is just burned up to prepare the way. ‘And there
was no more sea.’ Because you see, spirit beings do not need to have the
temperature modulated, like human beings in the flesh. We don’t need a
sea. There was no more sea as we will see a little later on that there
is water coming out from the throne of God. There is a tree of life and
so forth. ‘And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down
from God, out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.’
Now, we are going to see the bride is not the city, but the bride will
be those of the first resurrection who will live in the city. ‘And I
heard a great voice from heaven say, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is
with men.” Now, that’s God, the Father, here on the earth. The whole
family of God, all the nations that are saved. It is going to be a great
and fantastic thing. And it is going to be the start of the ages of
eternity. And the use of all the universe which God created for our
inheritance. ‘He shall dwell with them, they shall be His people.’ Yes,
people, made perfect through the process of conversion and the
resurrection and the change from flesh to spirit. ‘And God Himself shall
be with them and be their God.’ And this is going to be a great day when
this happens, brethren, because all the wrongs, all the evils, all the
things that have happened because of men and Satan is going to be
completely removed forever. ‘And God shall wipe away every tear from
their eyes; and there shall be no more death.’ There shall not be
anymore death, no more death, going to live forever. ‘And there shall be
neither sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be anymore pain, because
the former things have passed away.’
Now, we enter into the whole new Spirit age of living into eternity.
‘And He who sits on the throne says; “Behold, I make all things new.”
Now, for His Spirit family and the Spirit nations that are saved. ‘Then
He says to me, “Write these words are true and faithful.” We can depend
on the word of God. It is going to happen. ‘And He said to me, “It is
done! I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. The one who
thirsts, will I give freely of the fountain of the water of life. The
one who overcomes.” Now, this is to encourage us. “To endure to the
end.” This is to encourage us to always turn to Christ, to change, to
repent, to grow, to overcome. Notice, “The one who overcomes shall
inherit all things.” That is co-heirs with Christ, to inherit the
vastness of the universe. Listen, if God didn’t create this earth in
vain, please understand, He did not create the heavens, and the galaxies
and everything that is out there that we can see with our little itty,
bitty telescopes, and we think wow, this is marvelous, which it is. It
is a demonstration of God’s power, which it is, but God didn’t make that
in vain either. And He is going to make that for us. And we have an
inheritance, out there, as it is pictured, that those who are saved, who
are the children of God, the Father and Jesus Christ will shine as the
stars of heaven forever. So that tells us about the inheritance that we
will have. See. “Inherit all things, I will be his God and he shall be
My son.” Now, to make it clear, we always have this comparison. “But the
cowardly and unbelieving, and abominable and murderers and fornicators
and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the
lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. So
God’s judgment is just. ‘And then one of the seven angels came and said;
“Come here, I will show you, (verse 9), the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”
‘Carried him away and saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down
out of heaven. A great, fantastic city.’ Remember Jesus said, “If I go I
will prepare a place for you, that you may be with me, so that where I
am, you may also be. And in my Father’s house, are many offices, or
mansions, or abodes, or dwelling places.” And think of this, in the holy
city, New Jerusalem, with the streets paved with gold, built on the
foundation of the tribes of Israel, and the twelve apostles and having
the beautiful, wonderful wall and the twelve gates which the nations
that are saved can come into. See because on the rest of the earth,
there are going to be all the rest of the nations that are saved. And
they are going to come to New Jerusalem. And those who are in the first
resurrection will live in New Jerusalem, those not in the first
resurrection, probably will be just in the nations that are saved. Live
on the earth as Spirit beings. Now, here is what is so important here. I
will let you read about the measure of it, 1500 miles cube or square, as
it were. And without having the need of water and oceans and atmosphere
as we know it today. That can be done very easily with the new heaven
and earth that God is going to create for it. But notice what is most
important thing here. Revelation 21 verse 22, ‘And I saw no temple in
it.’ This is going to be, if we talk about an intimate relationship with
God. This is always going to be an intimate relationship with God. ‘For
the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And we’ll see
that. It says over here, in chapter 22, we will see Him, face to face.
Not only can we love God, we can see Him. We can converse with Him. And
isn’t that something, He doesn’t want a temple, He wants you! He doesn’t
want something so great that He doesn’t share with you, look He is
sharing New Jerusalem and the universe with all of His creation that He
is performing right now. Preparing the way. And that is why it is so
important that those of us in the church really respond and understand
the salvation that God has given us. And God’s plan, that we make this
knowledge known as much as we can to the world, for a witness, for the
truth and for those, the remnant that God is working with in the church
and in the world that He will bring them to a greater understanding of
His word and of His way and to be filled the His Spirit now so they can
enjoy what God is saying here, ‘This will be the fullness of joy, this
will be the fullness of God’s plan for us.’ See. Alright let’s read on.
‘It says here, the city has no need of the sun or of the moon.’ It
doesn’t say they won’t be there; they will be there, because there are
months a little later on over here in chapter 22 so there will be the
moon and the sun. ‘That they should shine in it, they don’t need it
because the glory of God enlightens it. And the light of it is the
Lamb.’ Now notice Revelation 21, verse 24, ‘And the nations that are
saved.’ Now they live on the rest of the earth, outside of New
Jerusalem. Now, how far they will go, in the universe, we will just have
to wait and see. Now, we don’t understand all of this completely. See.
But the goal is to get there and then you will understand. The goal is
if you see it as a Spirit being you will know exactly what it is. Right?
Yes. ‘And the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor to
it. So God is going to have some kind of great activity and work for us
to do. Now, if you think we have work to do as human beings now, think
of what God is going to have for us as Spirit beings, so that we are
satisfied completely through all eternity. It is going to be amazing. It
is going to be awesome indeed. Now, verse 25, ‘And the gates shall never
be shut by day for there is no night there and they shall bring the
glory and honor of the nations to it.’ Now, again a warning. If someone
thinks they are going to get there in any other way than through Jesus
Christ, here is a warning. ‘And nothing that defiles shall ever enter
into it. Nor shall anyone who practices an abomination or devises a lie
but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.’ And that
includes all of those who are written in the Book of Life from the
second resurrection. That includes all of those down through the
Millennium. That includes all of those in the first resurrection.
Now, chapter 22, ‘Then he showed me a pure river of the water of
life, the eternal life through the Spirit of God is then pictured by the
waters (coming where?) flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb,’
constantly. Spiritual power, spiritual life, spiritual understanding,
spiritual knowledge, continuously through all eternity. ‘And in the
middle of the street, and on this side and on that side of the river was
the tree of life.’ This is showing, we are going to constantly be
partaking of the way of life that God has for us. It doesn’t mean that
we receive eternal life from the tree of life. The tree of life is just
showing the way that we are going to live for eternity. Not that it
gives us eternal life. Now, the leaves of the tree are for the healing
of the nations and remember that ties in with Matthew 13, ‘Lest they be
converted and I heal them.’ So, this is also used during the great white
throne judgment, during the Millennium as well. Now, Revelation 22 verse
3, ‘There shall be no more curse, (that is because there is no sin,
isn’t that something) and the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it
and His servants shall serve Him. And they shall see His face, and His
name shall be in their foreheads. And there is no night there, for they
have no need of a lamp or the light of the sun because the Lord
enlightens them and they shall reign into the ages of eternity.’ So this
Last Great Day, as it comes to an end, opens up the vastness of the plan
of God, which He will reveal to us at that time. When New Jerusalem
comes down out of heaven, He is going to reveal it to us at that time.
Now, more than ever before, when John wrote this, notice verse 6, ‘And
He said to me, these words are faithful and true.’ So they are going to
happen. And God has given us an opportunity to have a part in it, of the
greatest and most fantastic thing that we could ever think of, or dream
of, beyond any comprehension that we have. You see. ‘And the Lord God of
the holy prophets sent His angel, to show His servants the things which
must shortly come to pass.’
Now, let’s come over here and let’s see what He says here, then He
says, verse 10, ‘After he fell down to worship him, he said no, don’t
worship me, worship God.’ Okay. Verse 10, ‘Do not seal the words of the
prophecy of this book because the time is near.’ Now, that is a prophecy
of when it would be understood. We have more understanding of the book
of Revelation than ever before, because of the time that we live in and
the word of God. ‘Let the one who is unrighteous, be unrighteous still.’
There comes a dividing line. ‘Let the one who is filthy, be filthy
still. Let the one who is righteous, be righteous still. And let the one
who is holy, be holy still.’ Now, here is another encouragement for us,
so as he winds back down to our day again, He says, ‘And behold I am
coming quickly, My reward is with Me, to render to each one according as
his work shall be.’ And brethren, we have the opportunity to produce the
greatest spiritual works of any people of God and any generation since
the beginning of the church. And I hope you grasp and realize that. And
I hope you understand the calling that God has given us. So that we can
do the things that God wants, greater, far more beyond what we have ever
expected, see. God wants us to open our hearts and our minds and let His
Spirit be in us, to think big, to understand the reality of God’s plan,
as much as we can. And to know that He is going to finish and perform
it, because He says, ‘I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning, the End, the
First and the Last.’ Then He tells us how to do it. ‘Blessed are those
who keep His commandments, that they may have of the right to eat of the
tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city.’ There isn’t
going to be anymore curse. There isn’t going to be anymore sin. Notice
what He says here in verse 15, ‘But excluded are dogs, and sorcerers and
fornicators and murderers, idolaters and everyone who loves and devises
a lie.’ So every time God gives us a great inspirational, insight into
His word, bam, He gives us a warning, that we need to take heed, we need
to understand, we need to realize that there is a limit. So these are
the ones who have committed the unpardonable sin, they won’t be there.
Now, verse 16, ‘I, Jesus (these are the words of Jesus) set My angel to
testify these things to you in the churches. I am the root offspring of
David the bright and Morning Star. The Spirit and the bride say come,
and the one who hears, says come. Let him who thirsts, let him come. And
the one who desires partake of the water of life freely. For I jointly
testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if
anyone adds to these things, God shall add to him the plagues that are
written in this book. If anyone takes away from the words of the
prophecy of this book.’ So this is a fitting closing to the Last Great
Day and we go back to our homes and we begin to live our lives, to grow
and change and to develop more Godly character. This is a fitting
closing for it. ‘If anyone takes away, yes, He will take away His part
from the Book of Life, from the holy city, the things that are written
there.’ Now, notice verse 20, ‘He who testifies things says surely, I am
coming quickly, Amen.’ And John adds, ‘Even so, come Lord Jesus, the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.’ So that is the
fullness of the plan of God and the meaning of the Last Great Day.
LAST GREAT DAY 2006
[ Back ] [ Home ] [ Up ]
|
