let's look on your books on 445 right okay on page 445 at the top we're talking about the millennial mountain of where Jesus will be during the messianic kingdom and we're looking at the different ideas about this from the different prophets so in isaiah 66 verse 20 It says, and they shall bring all your brethren out of all the nations for the oblation, or offering, or sacrifices, you should say, unto Yahweh upon horses, and in chariots, and in leaders, and upon mules, and upon dromedaries, or camels, to the holy mountain of Jerusalem, says Yahweh, as the children of Israel bring their oblation, or sacrifices, in a clean vessel into the house of Yahweh. This is very interesting. If you read Isaiah 66, the preceding passages in this text talk about the Jews going out during the Millennial Kingdom and evangelizing the Gentiles. They get the Gentiles saved and then these Gentiles bring their brethren back, bring them on their shoulders, so to speak, back to Israel celebrating as these Gentiles have been converted during the Millennial Kingdom. And not tribulation, but millennial kingdom. But basically here, what it's saying is Israel will finally do its job as being a light to the Gentiles, and it'll happen during the millennial kingdom. And so they bring their brethren out from all the nations of the Gentiles. Again, these are Jewish missionaries. witnessing to the Gentiles. And so now the world has flip-flopped. Instead of being anti-Semitic, it's pro-Semitic during the Millennial Kingdom. And there's no anti-Israel floats like you saw in Belgium they had the other day. You might have seen that where they had these characters. I could not believe it. I was like back in time looking in 1939. They had these Jews, these Jewish puppet floats. and they were smoking a cigar, had a rat on their shoulder, they were standing on money bags, and they were wearing the Hasidic curls and the round Hasidic hat, and they were doing that on a float in Belgium. And it looked like you went back in time to Nazi Germany. That's the same things and the propaganda they gave. Well, I just say that to say, that's gone in the Millennial Kingdom. That's no longer happening, man. There's no more anti-Semitism. And in fact, the Gentiles are blessed by them. Let's move down to Micah 4, 1 through 2. Again, this is almost identical to Isaiah 2, but in the latter days it shall come to pass that the mountain of Yahweh's house shall be established on the top of the mountains. Remember, we talked about the highest mountain, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and the people shall flow unto it. and many nations shall go and say come ye and let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh to the house of God of Jacob and he will teach us his ways and we will walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Yahweh from Jerusalem it is almost identical to Isaiah 2 so I don't want to retrace that because we talked about Isaiah 2 and how Messiah will be there and dealing with disputes and reconciling countries and whatnot so I want to move down to the next passage then in Ezekiel and spend some time there. If you move down to Ezekiel 17, 22 through 24, it's talking about the height of Israel and what's going to be on top of that. It says, thus says the Lord Yahweh, I will also take of the lofty top of the cedar and I will set it or plant it. Now, the other way you can translate the Hebrew in this and that lofty top is shoot. Shoot like a shoot from a tree shoot S-h-o-o-t a shoot so if you interpret that correctly I will also take a shoot from the cedar and I will plant it I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one or a tender shoot and I will plant it upon the high and lofty mountain in the mountains of the heights of the Israel I will plant it and and she'll bring forth trees. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about this. When you hear the word shoot, that's called a remez. You've probably heard the term shoot before, right? Can you think of the passage that deals with the shoot? Yes, like a shoot that comes from a stump. Yes, it's the famous... Yes, it's the famous passage in Isaiah, the stump of Jesse. Okay, or for the stump of Jesse and the shoot that comes out of the stump of Jesse. So what Ezekiel's doing is capitalizing already what Isaiah is saying, and he's using that language to clue you in. He's talking about the shoot. Obviously the Messiah. And what does it say about the Messiah? He will plant it, where? On top of the mountain. So Messiah will be on top of Israel, on top of the Jerusalem mountain, on top of the Millennial Temple. This is the shoot. Here's the question about this, and this is important to understand about the shoot. You obviously understand that the shoot is referenced to the Messiah. But why does it say the shoot from the stump of Jesse? Why doesn't it say from the stump of David? Why is it referenced to David's father? Why doesn't it reference David? That Messiah comes from David. But why does it always refer to Jesse? It is the line. It is the line, but so is David. Now we know that Messiah is the son of David. We know that David is the ancestor. The Davidic covenant is made with David. But why do the prophets refer to Jesse? It is the lineage line. You got that. But there's something else going on. I mean, obviously the line goes all the way to Judah. The line goes to Abraham, right? The line goes from Abraham to Adam. He's human. He's Jewish. He's from Judah. He's from the Davidic covenant or the Davidic family. But why this reference to Jesse specifically? What is the deal with Jesse? Why not reference David? Do you give up? I want you to think for a moment what Isaiah 11 is trying to do and why it's a reference to Jesse. When David was a little boy, what did you know about his family? Did you know anything? I mean, they're from Bethlehem and basically they're shepherds, right? Okay, well, referring to Jesse instead of David, Jesse's a nobody. All we know is that he treated David pretty bad as a dad. He didn't even consider him into being a king as Samuel's looking for one. But basically David's family is insignificant. The only reason that Jesse has any notoriety has to do with David. David is the one who makes the dynasty famous. David is the one who everybody knows. David is the king that will eventually be the co-regent in Millennial Jerusalem. So David is the main guy that brought fame to that family. It's not Jesse. But the writer, Isaiah, is trying to make a point about Messiah using Jesse as in the example. So keep thinking. So if I take David out of the picture and I'm only focusing on Jesse before David's famous. Jesse is a nobody and Jesse has no money. David came from an extremely poverty stricken family. He had nothing. Does that clue me in on something? It does. And let me explain what this means. What Isaiah is trying to say by referencing to Jesse, who's a nobody, who doesn't have any money, who is insignificant, because you take David out of the equation, the family is nothing. It's absolutely nothing. And what he is trying to say in the prediction of the Messiah is that The line of David will be reduced to what it was in Jesse's day when Messiah is born. And we definitely have an agreement with the New Testament on that. Joseph and Mary, we know, were extremely poor, because they couldn't even do the right sacrifice. They had to take the secondary means for poor people, and in the dedication of the Lord, had to give a sacrifice of two birds. Instead of a sacrifice of an animal because they could not afford that so they can only afford doves and so when you start looking at what happened to Mary's line and Joseph line in Messiah's day it had been reduced to absolutely Nothing, and then the shoot comes out the stump represents. What's happened if you see a stump? What's happened to the tree? It's been cut David's line had almost been cut completely away. I mean, reduced to nothing. Reduced to what it was in Jesse's day. So Isaiah's predicting the similar conditions of when David came out of that nothing situation, David came out of a nothing situation, Messiah will come out of a nothing situation as well. So David's family's famous, rich, and then gets reduced to nothing but poverty, and no one even cares about it. Hence Mary and Joseph. And so that's what Isaiah is trying to predict. So when you see the shoot from Jesse, come out of the stump of Jesse, it's referring to that humility of being poor. And Messiah was poor, as you know, in his earthly life. Anyway, let's continue on. And it shall bring forth boughs, or tree trunks, and bear fruit, and be a godly seer. And under it shall dwell all birds of every wing. In the shade of the branches thereof shall they dwell. And all the trees of the fields shall know that I, Yahweh, have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish. I, Yahweh, have spoken and have done this." Is that a reference to strictly trees? No. It's like a double entendre, okay? Like we talked about. When you see these physical things, it will be flourishing, no doubt about it. There's lush vegetation going on all over the Millennial Kingdom, especially on top of Jerusalem. But notice what it's trying to do. It's trying to refer to the tree singular and then trees plural. The singular tree is Israel. The plural trees are the nations. Okay, so if I read that again, bear fruit and be a godly cedar, one tree, and under it shall dwell birds of every wing, so people shall come to rest in this one tree's branches. In the shade of the branches thereof they shall dwell. So people will come into Israel into the one tree and dwell safely. And all the trees of the field, what's that a reference to? Nations, all the trees of the field, is plural, referring to the other nations, shall know that I, Yahweh, have brought down the high tree and have exalted the low tree. Who's the low tree? Who is he exalting in the millennial kingdom? Israel. Israel's no longer the tail, it's the head. So the low tree is Israel. What's the high tree? Gentile nations, but let's remember where we're at. We're in the millennial kingdom. What have we come upon a hills from what's the high tree singular? What have we just finished if we're in the millennium? What have we just finished with? Right and what is that called? It's here in the tribulation. What's and what kingdom are we referring to singular that got brought down low the beast kingdom The Beast Kingdom, the Antichrist Kingdom, the one world government controlled by the Antichrist, has been brought down low. That's the only direct reference you can deal with in that, singular wise. It's both and. The Beast Kingdom is the one world government that branches into a ten-league confederation. Antichrist takes control of the Beast Kingdom at the three and a half year mark. So it's in effect before the Antichrist takes control. Yeah, and even prior to that, the one world government will form prior to that. So, I don't know, maybe you have ten years including the seven years, a three year, ten year run up, I don't know. Walvard used to say he expected at least a ten year run up, I don't know, I mean that's what you just would throw out sometimes. But we're not talking very long though, if you think about it Stephen, you're talking about including the tribulation and then anything prior to that, so you still, maybe two decades maybe, I don't know. But it won't last for long. But, The Antichrist nation or one world government has been brought low because Messiah destroys it, right? So that's coming up on the heels of that. And so if you're looking to the antecedent of what kingdom did he bring low, what tree did he bring down? He brought down the Antichrist kingdom is what's referring to. If you look theologically on the chronological scale. Well, anyway, I have brought down the high tree. He's actually saying personally, I did this. And how do we know he personally did it? He did through the Messiah. and the second coming, right? That's how he did it. And have exalted the low tree, Israel, have dried up the green trees, the nation, and have made the dry tree to flourish. So as this other nation, this Antichrist nation was green and flourishing, I destroyed it, the dry tree refers to Israel, I'm gonna make that flourish, I have spoken, I have done it. So it's what's called a role reversal. He's changing the roles of Israel with other nations. I mean, all you have to do is look at what's going on today in Israel. Everyone hates them. Everyone's trying to destroy them. Everyone just wants to wipe them out. But he's saying, I'm going to reverse the fortunes here eventually in the millennial kingdom. Okay, Ezekiel 20 verses 40 through 41 and next one. They're gonna worship the Lord on the high and lofty mountain It says this for in my holy mountain in the mountain of the height of Israel says the Lord Yahweh There shall all the house of Israel all of them serve me in the land There I will accept them and there I will require your offerings what offerings and the firstfruits of your oblations, your sacrifices, with all your holy things. As a sweet saver will I accept you when I bring you out from the peoples, secondary gathering, gather you out of all the countries wherein ye have been scattered, and I will be sanctified in you in the sight of the nations. All right, a couple things here. First of all, why are there millennial offerings? Because right there is a proof positive in Ezekiel saying, I'm going to require you, Israel, to give me offerings. I'm going to accept them. So you have that issue. And the other thing is this gathering out of the countries. In Ezekiel 20, what is that referring to? The end of the passage right there in 41. As a sweet saver I will accept you, I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered. I will be sanctified in you in the sight of the nations. What you have to start understanding, there's multiple passages about the regathering of Israel. And you have to know what regathering is it referring to. And what you're starting to see is there are two of them. Isaiah will, in chapter 11, verses 11 through chapter 12 and verse 6, refers to two regatherings of Israel. One is a regathering from judgment to judgment in unbelief. The second regathering is from the nations in belief after the dispersion of the Antichrist. So there's two issues we're dealing with. A dispersion that happened after 70 AD, 135, 136 AD, the scattering dispersion of the Jews. And in 1948, you have the first regathering of Israel in unbelief. In unbelief, I should say. And we've seen that. That's what some of the prophets were referring to. But then these other passages that you're reading is I'm going to gather you again a second time. Isaiah will say a second time I'm going to regather you. So there can only be two regatherings. That second time is a regathering from the nations after the dispersion of the Antichrist that he scattered them out. When they started running you know, at the midpoint of the Tribulation, when the abomination of desolation starts happening at that point in time. So, this is where you have to understand what gathering you're talking about. And so, this is millennial, obviously. The context you're starting to see this, okay, this comes after the Tribulation, it seems to be, according to the context. And so it's a reference to the scattering after the Antichrist goes after them. And obviously, Matthew 25 reports that angels actually bring them back. He will send his angels out and they will gather the elect from the four winds. You remember that passage in Matthew 25? They will actually be brought back by angelic hosts who take them back to the land in the second regathering. Right now, what's causing the regathering in Israel right now is actually persecution. What started it was the Holocaust, and it continues to regather them back to Israel under persecution. Here's a principle. Sometimes if you don't want to do something, and you just keep sitting on your hands and not wanting to do something, God will light a fire under you. And when he lights that fire, you have no other choice than to sit there and let it burn you, or you get up and get away from the fire, right? And sometimes he will motivate us by lighting a fire under us. And sometimes we have to have that fire being lit under you, because you need to wake up. Okay? So, with Israel, he's lighting a fire under them right now, saying, they don't like you. So the only place that's safe for you is to go back to your country. And that's what's happening, right? And they're starting to get that. And now, think about this, the Anti-Defamation League put this out this last week, or not this last week, I think a couple months ago, I should say, I heard a report about it this last week. Answer this question, and Ari, I think you know the answer. Who is the most persecuted last year in America, the Jews, not the Muslims, not anyone else, the Jews. The Jews had more persecution here in America than any other time period, according to the Anti-Defamation League, and it continues to get worse, continues to get worse. And now we have these Muslim congressmen that no one's saying anything to them for being anti-Semitic. Don't think for a moment this train is going to stop. If God is trying to get his people back into Israel, he's going to light a fire here. I'm not in support of that because we are obviously pro-Israel. But we're very few in number, by the way. The rest of the world is getting this way. The rest of America is starting to become this way. They're becoming scapegoats like they did in Europe. And so unfortunately, that fire is being lit. Let me say this, if God is lighting a fire under you right now, your best bet is to move, is get up and do what he's telling you to do because you're in danger where you're at. if that makes sense. The safest place for the Jews is to be with their own people with Israel, but obviously they go back and they get judgment and there's antichrist and all that stuff, but they're not gonna be safe in Europe anymore. They're not gonna be safe in America. And so a lot of times, if God's telling you, hey man, I need you to make a major move in your life. I need you to start rethinking what you're doing. I don't want you to start getting comfortable and thinking this is the only way. And if he does that, don't resist it. Because the longer you resist it, the more burnt you get. And you'll sit there and he's got a lighter and he's lighting your foot on fire. And say, how long are you going to sit there and pretend that this is not burning you? How long are you going to pretend to be in denial and start living a lie, and what I call a life lie, and you just sit there and pretend it's not happening? How long are you going to do that? And you know what's going to happen? Your foot's going to be on fire, and then your pant leg gets on fire, and you'll be a flaming torch, and before you know it, you're going to say, I've got to get out of here. Again, you have to interpret that in principle, right? What does that mean? It means that if you think life is just status quo, you're wrong, because God will change things on a dime, and he will just turn, you'll do a 90 degree, all of a sudden, or even a 180, and he's totally put you in a different realm, and he said, deal with it. Why? Because this is better for you. Where you're at is not healthy. And he turns, because if you don't get the hint, he'll turn it for you. So just with the Israel, you take those lessons and you apply them and you're like, okay, I got it, man. If I feel that big lighter under my foot, time to go, time to change directions.