All right, Genesis chapter one and verse 28. Again, we've finished up with a couple of verses here, but we're gonna set the context of talking about the kingdom tonight. Genesis 128, then God blessed them, speaking of Adam and Eve, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Now that's key words right there. God is telling Adam and Eve basically that he wants them to subdue the earth and what have dominion. Now when you have dominion, that's implying, if you will, leadership, kingship, overseeing something. And in this case, God is telling Adam and Eve, who are created perfect, that I want you now to run my earth. He's basically giving them the assignment. Now we know that God is over everything, but he's giving an assignment to Adam and Eve. They've not sinned, they're in a perfect state yet, and God's saying, listen, here's the mission that I have for you. I want you to subdue, which means to, again, overcome, enslave, conquer, and control an environment or people. God's saying, listen, Adam and Eve, you're to control this place, you're to run this place, you're in charge. Very interesting statement. Have dominion. over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Now this is starting out with God's perfect setting. Adam and Eve again, and it's just, you've got to keep in mind, they've not sinned. Everything is perfect. God is laying out basically what he would want in his perfect kingdom. He's setting up his kingdom at this time. Now, what we're gonna see is the kingdom gets torn apart. The kingdom is going to come to an end. The theocracy of God leading everything is going to temporarily be suspended. You're like, well, how's that going to happen? Well, we're not quite that far into Genesis yet, but what we're seeing is, and here's the big picture, the 30,000 foot picture. God is saying, listen, this is exactly how I want the earth to be run. This is exactly what should be taking place. What happens then, Adam and Eve, of course, doesn't take long. Chapter three, which we haven't gotten to yet, what takes place? Well, Satan shows up, he deceives Eve, tricks Eve. Eve willfully goes against God's word, eats of the knowledge or the fruit, the tree, whatever it is, whatever it was, from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The one thing God said don't do, Eve does. She comes up to Adam, and by the way, before Eve was created, God had told Adam, you are not to eat from that tree. That was the one commandment he gave Adam before Eve was created. Don't eat from that tree. What does Adam do? Well, I'm sure Eve knew about it, because as soon as she ate from it, God had a little discussion with her, and then of course with Adam as well. They knew better. They knew they shouldn't have done it. The theocratic kingdom came to a halt at that point when sin entered into the world. So everything, and we're gonna show you that. Everything that God is telling Adam and Eve at the beginning is to set up my kingdom right here on earth. But because sin enters into the world, God's perfect theocratic kingdom, boom, it's halted. Now catch the word I use, it is halted, it is paused, it is coming. So what we're gonna look at tonight, when we look at these verses, I'm gonna take you into the restoration of God's theocratic kingdom. It is going to come back just like it was during the time of Eden. All right, so couple of preface things then. let them rule or have the authority to do what? To rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves in the earth. This is God's kingdom program. In verse 28, he talks about subdue, again, to rule over everything. That means the animals, that means everything. They're over the earth, they're subduing it, they're having dominion. So this indeed was the beginning of what we call the kingdom of God, where God literally, he's the top boss, and then in the structure, Adam and Eve then were directly under God's authority to set up his kingdom. All right, so what else is part of the kingdom program? When we're looking at this, and we're looking at God's design for Adam and Eve, this program is going to be reinstated, and we're going to show you when it's going to be reinstated, and right here on this earth, okay, because that's where we're headed here. Everything was great, Genesis 1 and 2, Genesis 3, everything falls apart. Sin enters in the world, God's theocratic kingdom crashes and burns, and now we've been living all the way since Genesis chapter three, where someone else's got a lead role in this world, which we'll look at in just a moment. All right, but in God's perfect program, God will rule over a man, the first man, which, of course, was Adam. Adam will govern creation along with his wife. That was God's design at that time. The two of them jointly will govern creation for God. That was, again, his original structure, which we've been through. Now we come to the problem. And this is how the theocratic kingdom of God got stopped, got halted for a time. And that time is, by the way, the theocratic kingdom does not exist here on the earth at this time. If it did, I don't think we'd have to worry about the elections in November. We wouldn't have to worry about the world situation. We wouldn't have to worry about over 200 countries, the majority of whom want nothing to do with God. So God, and theocratic, meaning Theob, meaning God, and theocratic part is basically the government. So God in the beginning, the theocracy, if you will, the theocratic kingdom existed when Adam and Eve were first created. All right, so what do we have? And again, we're jumping ahead a little bit, but I think it's important that we understand the big picture and why we've been looking at Genesis and how it fits in the entirety of scripture. So when Satan, of course, rebels, we've been through this in the past. If you go to Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, who rebels against God? Well, one of his perfect creation, which of course was Lucifer. So Lucifer gets upset with God. Now why did Lucifer get upset with God? Well, let's go right back here. Genesis 128 is what ticked off Lucifer. Lucifer the angelic world was created before man. If you go through the six days of creation does it tell you the day that the angels were created? It does not. You have to go to Job chapter 38 and Basically you read through the first 10 verses and it talks about the angels being there watching when God is creating the earth. So the angelic world had to literally, it had to come into place on day one of creation. Genesis doesn't tell us that information. The only place that we can extract it from is Job. So Lucifer, was he created sinful or was he created perfect? Perfect. Now, the assumption is is that Lucifer, before Adam and Eve come on the scene, he sees everything that God had created, again, back from Job 38, and he's like, this is great. I'm in charge. Now, we've talked a little bit about this in the past. Why all of a sudden did Lucifer, who's the perfect created being and so forth, let's just go there very quick. I'm not gonna do this, but let's go to Isaiah 14. And just to take a peek at that is what happens. So in Isaiah 14, again, Ezekiel talks about how Lucifer was created perfect. And Isaiah 14 talks about the downfall of Satan. All right, so Isaiah chapter 14, let's go to verse 12. And this is the start of the destruction, or not the destruction, but the temporary pause in the theocratic kingdom. Isaiah 14, verse 12. How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning. How you are cut down to the ground, you who weaken the nations. For you said in your heart, all right, now here's the downfall of this perfectly created angel, Lucifer. You have said in your heart, here we go, I will. That's a bad thing to start with. I will do what? Ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north. That's basically from a historical concept. When you look at the background, we've talked about this in the past, it's basically conceptually referring to having control over the whole earth. Verse 14, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, and here's the downfall, massive downfall. I will be like the Most High. In other words, I'm gonna be God. I'm gonna be like God. And that's a problem. Yet you shall be, and this is the condemnation of Lucifer, you shall be brought down to Sheol, meaning the grave, to the lowest depths of the pit. All right, so Lucifer rebels, as we know, then he comes up against Adam and Eve. Why would Lucifer? this beautiful, created, perfect being, all of a sudden rebel against God. Well, the issue was pride. The issue was Lucifer said, this is my world, I've got dominion over it, I'm in control. What do you mean, God, by taking away my privileged position? How dare you put Adam and Eve, giving them to subdue the earth and have dominion? That's my job. So what happens? Pride enters into Lucifer, and he's been fighting mankind and God ever since this day, and that's exactly why he did it. He got his position taken away. All right, so what happens? Again, we're only in Genesis chapter three. Satan comes on the scene, and he wrecks everything. So this is how Satan became the god of this age, small g, of course. By the way, is there any other god besides God the Father? There's not. There's a whole lot of individuals and angels that have tried to usurp God. Can they ever really take his place? Absolutely not. There are no other gods. They don't exist. But Satan sure has tried. The technical name for this is the Office of Theocratic Administrator. Somebody who governs for God. So Satan lost that position when God gave it to Adam and Eve, and he was not happy about it, to say the least. All right, so when we go to 2 Corinthians chapter four, verse four, which should be a common verse that we keep in mind, the Bible says, verse three, but even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are what? Perishing. In other words, when we look at the outside of the church, and even sometimes within the church, The gospel is veiled. Stephanie, of course she only had five minutes to give her testimony, she gave a little snippet of what happened. She'd been coming here for multiple years. It just wasn't making sense. It just wasn't registering. Yeah, I'm a Christian because I've always been a Christian. Now we've had multiple people that have come to this church. It's like, yeah, I've always been a Christian. I mean, I went to Sunday school, I went to church, I've always been a Christian. So yeah, I've always believed in Jesus. And you ask him, well, when did you receive Jesus as your personal savior? Well, I always have. Doesn't work, folks. You weren't born a Christian. You might've gone to church, you might've done a lot of Christian things, but there has to come that point in time where what? Where you realize you're a sinner, you realize you're condemned, and you realize what Jesus did for you, And bam, all of a sudden it hits. And that's of course what happened with these two this morning. Well, let's see what Satan does. So, but if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the small g-god Satan of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. All right, so we've got a major, major problem that started way back in Genesis 3. Lucifer rebels, he caused the rebellion, what? He causes Adam and Eve to mess up that privileged position that they had basically as the number two people in God's kingdom, and it's been that way ever since. All right, going back to Genesis 129. Again, before sin enters in the world, and God said, see, Adam and Eve, I have given you every herb that yields seed, which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed to you it shall be for food. All this food God created on day three of creation for what? Basically day six, we have man being created, we have the animals being created, God got everything set up, he had the smorgasbord all ready when he created Adam and Eve and the animals, And God said, listen, this is your food. It's there for you. Not only for Adam and Eve, but he said, listen, also to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food, and it was so. When you drive down going past some of the farmlands and you see the cows out eating, Now, how in the world did he, I mean, you look at an elephant, you look at a cow, they eat grass and look how big they get. I mean, it's amazing. It's almost, it's unbelievable. Mike Unger was out looking for bears the other day and he found one. And now a bear does not go around eating grass. They're a little bit more meat eaters. Most of us in this room, a lot of us eat grass, but most of us like some meat on the side as well. But God is saying, listen, before, now catch this. Did man eat meat before sin entered into the world? They didn't. And I know I disappoint people every time we go here, but during the kingdom time, it's going back to, we're all gonna eat and we're all gonna be vegetarians. Well, actually, we'll be in a glorified body, so I don't know what we'll be eating, but those that don't have a glorified body will, again, the earth will return back to a vegetarian status. All right, so just a little bit of review here. The animals too were to obtain their food from every green plant. So God said in the beginning that neither man nor animals should eat meat. There was no death, there was no destruction. Everything came off the land. It was only after the flood in Noah's time that God told man he could eat meat. And that's exactly how things went down. So we're still meat eaters today. All right, now when we get back to God's theocratic kingdom, up through Genesis 131, it was indeed in place. Because what happened? God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was what? It wasn't just good, which he said about the six first days. He looks at everything at the end and he said, it is very good, perfect, no sin, no corruption, everything is perfect. So when we start going in, We're gonna go to day seven very quickly, and then as time permits, we'll just start the introduction to the kingdom that's going to be reinstated one day, which is coming. All right, Genesis three. Genesis two, basically, which we'll start next week, is a review of what had taken place with the creation of Adam and Eve. and now everything is done. And God summarizes in Genesis chapter three verse one, thus, the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished. Oh, all the what? The heavens and the earth and all the, what's the next word? Ah, host. What are we talking about when we're talking about host? The angelic world, everything had been created. Now there's multiple passages that refer to the host when it refers to in the angelic world. So Genesis 3.1 is the closest thing we have in the first three chapters of Genesis that discusses the angelic world. But he says, the heavens are done, the earth was done, and all the host of them was finished. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. Then God blessed the seventh day, sanctified it, because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made. Now, I'm gonna throw a little theological question to you. The Sabbath, which we're going to look at very briefly in just a moment. When God said he rested, so think about this for a minute. Did he implement the Sabbath for all people at this time? It's a trick question. The answer is there is no indication until Mount Sinai when God gives the Ten Commandments that individuals were to keep The Sabbath. The only thing Genesis tells us is God rested. He ceased from his work, basically is what it means. Now God didn't go take a nap. The Bible makes it clear that God doesn't sleep. He never slumbers. He's always active. But the concept here is he ceased from his creative work. It was a Sabbath, if you will. Now when we get into the Mosaic law, that's when the concept of the Sabbath becomes a mandate for all the Jewish people. Exodus chapter 20 actually is where that takes place. Of course, Genesis, next book is Exodus. Exodus is the giving of the law at Mount Sinai. So we have the 10 commandments given there along with the other 603. and God makes it clear in the Ten Commandments. Remember the what? The Sabbath day to keep it holy. Now this is a mandate. This is part of the Ten Commandments. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work, you nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. Now here's a big problem. and one which the Christian community has had to grapple with. So if we look at the 10 commandments, we follow, we believe, nine of the 10 commandments. This is part of the 10 commandments. Do we follow it? Do we follow it? Yeah, well, if you wanna call what I do work, sure. How many of you keep the Sabbath? I mean, you drove here, you broke the Sabbath. You went too far, according to the Talmud, which is extra-biblical literature. The bottom line is, we keep nine of the 10 commandments because nine of the 10 commandments are reiterated in the New Testament. The Sabbath is not. So, the Sabbath, again, if you're not familiar with it, and some people think Sunday is a Sabbath. Sunday is not the Sabbath. Jewish law, the Sabbath starts when? Friday night at sundown and goes to Saturday night at sundown. So if you're in Israel or you go to some of our Jewish towns that exist up in Shorewood, Milwaukee, right next to Shorewood, there's a large Jewish presence there. They follow the Sabbath. So if I wanna call up one of my Jewish Hasidic friends, meaning the ultra-Orthodox guys, and I hit their cell phone, it's not getting answered. They turn it, I mean, they literally, they turn them off. We pretend to turn ours off and they don't. I mean, it's gone. And it doesn't get turned back on until after sundown on Saturday. And they're very strict about it. So how do we deal with this? The law said follow the Sabbath, yet we don't. Now, I don't wanna get into a long discussion about it. The simplicity of it though, why do we meet on Sunday? Sunday is technically what? The first day of the week, correct? And the Bible makes it very clear that after the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, he was resurrected on what day? Sunday. And basically everything that took place among the Jewish people, the Christians, not the Jewish people, but the Christians, is they began to meet on what? The first day of the week, which is why we meet on the first day of the week. Now, if we decided to meet on the Sabbath, which would be Friday or a night into Saturday, would that be sinful? No, absolutely not, I mean, we could do it. Christian churches in Israel, thinking of Kehila Harushalayim, which is a Jewish assembly, it's not an assembly of God, it's actually a Baptist church, but you look at the Jewish churches, they still meet on the Sabbath, why? Because they're all shut down on the Sabbath. The world shuts down on the Sabbath in Israel, so they meet on the Sabbath, because the Jewish people, that's the only day that they believe that They should meet, so again, the Christians meet on the same day. So when we look at the 10 commandments, and again, somebody had written me earlier today, they're like, okay, you talk about the law versus grace. Are we under the law at this time? The answer is no. Are we still under God's, and the best way I can describe it is his moral law. Has God's moral law ever changed? It's always been the same. The commandments bring it out, the New Testament brings it out, the Apostle Paul brings it out. The Sabbath is the one commandment, if you will, that we're not required to follow according to the New Testament. However, does God still tell us we should meet? In Hebrews it tells us what? Do not forsake the assembling together of yourselves as a matter of some is, especially as you see The day approaching, what's the day talking about? Christ coming back. All right, so we should be meeting, but the Sabbath, of course, isn't an issue like it was back in Genesis. Exodus 20, verse 11, for in six days, this, by the way, is one of the strongest creation verses in the Bible. In six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them. Wait a minute, how many days? Six. He made what? The heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything that's in them. Now, is there any debate on this verse? Of course, we can allegorize it and spiritualize it, make it say whatever we want, but if you read it literally, how many days did it take for God to make everything? Six literal days. So you say, well, pastor, are you a young earth guy or do you believe we're millions and billions of years old? Well, I just read Exodus 20, 11, six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that in them is, and then as we always state, we go back to Genesis five and Genesis 11, and the genealogies make it very clear. If you take the literal math, it's 4004 BC is when everything was created, okay? So this is a great verse. This is a great verse for your young people to have. It's a great verse to have when you're debating those that believe in evolution. Now, if they're not gonna accept the word of God, Have we got a problem? If people will not accept God's word when you're trying to teach them about creation and they say we're not gonna trust the word of God, is it a dead end? It is a dead end until the Holy Spirit basically tackles them, we pray, and opens up their mind to it. But believe it or not, not everybody believes the book. All right, Exodus 31, Brant backs up again the concept of six literal days. Exodus 31, 17. It is a sign between me, God, and the children of Israel forever. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. All right, so again, God makes it very clear. He did all the creative work in six literal days, one week, which is exactly why we have a seven-day work week. It's not changed, it's the exact same. Goes right back to what? Genesis 1, verses 1 and 2 match up with Exodus 20 and Exodus 31. Here we go back to the first verse in the Bible. In the beginning. God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was out form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. How long did it take God to change that from nothing to everything? six literal 24-hour days. And the evening and the morning were the first day, and the evening and the morning were the second day, and the third day, and the fourth day, and the fifth day, and the sixth day, and the seventh day, and now tens of thousands of days later, it hasn't changed, and God will never change that. All right, before we get into the kingdom, I want us to be reminded These verses have become so precious to me and we've gone through them a couple of times in different messages, but I just want you to be reminded of who you are and the creation that God did. The psalmist says, for you, God, for my inward parts, you covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works and that my soul knows very well My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed. I mean, we're talking about, God says, listen, I knew you before. Your mom and dad came together. I knew you when the substance, if you will, is going to come together and unite between my husband and wife, being yet unformed. And in your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were how many? None of them. Listen, if you ever get depressed, read these verses. God knows you. And he doesn't only know you, he loves you because you are his creation. John 3, 16, just think about the simplicity of these verses. They're powerful but so simplistic. For God so loved the world. Wait a minute, the world referring to Christians? Believers that are right with God? No, he says for God so loved what? The world. I mean, we talked about it this morning, but God demonstrated his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's unbelievable love. I mean, we can get upset with people, we can get mad at people. There's people we don't wanna see, there's people we don't want our homes, there's people we don't wanna work with. And God says, I will work with everybody. I love everybody, because I created them all. Oh, we can get ticked off and cause divisions in a heartbeat. And God says, I'm not a God of division. I'm not a God of hatred. I'm a God of love. I love everybody. And I want them all to come to me. Now does God gonna punish folks that refuse to come to him? Unfortunately, yes. But boy, God's love is there. Never forget who you are. Never forget that God cares about you. Never doubt how much he loves you and wants to work with you. And if you ever get depressed, read the verses. All right, where we're gonna go now, I'm gonna jump way out of sequence. So we've talked about God's theocratic kingdom where everything was created perfect. When we go to the Garden of Eden next week, we're going to see everything was wonderful, everything was perfect, and all of a sudden again, Satan comes in and corrupts it. So what I'm going to do now, we're going to go to the prophetic picture for the last 20 minutes or so, and we're going to see how God is eventually going to reverse the situation that this world is in at this current time. So we're going to spend a few minutes going through God's future millennial kingdom to where he is going to restore this world back to where it was during the Garden of Eden, and he states that several times in the prophetic word. All right, so let's talk about a few things. We'll look at a few pictures to wake you up. No, it's been a long day You know That God said there's going to be a third temple, you know that right? I Love going to Israel because when you go there you see the preparations for the things that God said have to take place. I I've shown these, it's probably been a couple of years since I've gone through some of these, so just a little reminder for some, it may be a bit of a review. This is what's known as the Temple Institute in Jerusalem. The Temple Institute is run by two Jewish rabbis, not Christians. They are waiting for the Messiah to come. They're still waiting for the first advent, they missed out apparently when Jesus came. But they're looking for Jesus to come, not to become the savior of the world, but they're looking for him to come to set up what? His kingdom. So the entirety of the Jewish Orthodox belief is they're looking for the kingdom to be set up. Well, in order for the kingdom to be set up, they have to get all of the implements and all of the things that were used in previous temples to be made, and they're made. You say, really? Yep. So if you go inside the Temple Institute, And they have copies, some of them are the real things that will be used when the third temple is built. So you can see the priestly garments, they've got them all made for the 20,000 priests that will be operating the third temple, just like the second temple. All those different cases, which is a little hard to see, but all of the implements, all of the furniture, all of the things that must be in the third temple, it's all made, it's done. I mean, they're ready to go. So if we look at a little bit, some of the closeups, you see, Basically, the harps, there's, I forget how many, there's like 10, 20,000 that have been made. They got harps all over the place. This silver chalice in the middle, you see it's on a stand and it has a point. It's called a misrock. You say, well, what does a misrock do? Well, the priest, when they commit the sacrifice and the blood comes up, they put the misrock underneath there and it fills up with the blood. And you cannot, they won't allow you to set it down, because if you set it down, what happens to blood? It hardens up, it coagulates. So basically, they've got a point on the bottom, so the priest won't set it down and let it coagulate. It must be poured out on the altar. The brazen pot, if you will, the ash, bronze ash spoon and so forth. They've been training the priests, and again, there's 20,000 of them that actually are will be in place, there's 20,000 on record right now. So if you look off to the right on the picture, that's actually a mock setup of the ramp that the priest will walk up to go to the altar. So these individuals come in, they're literally being trained, and they've been trained for multiple years, and they keep renewing this. to have the priest ready for when the third temple comes. Now folks, this is amazing stuff. The Jewish people have put in place those things that are needed for God to fulfill his prophetic program. We have the trumpets and so forth. They're all made, they're all ready to go. Here you have the incense altar, which is part of the temple. It's made. You see this beautiful giant menorah. where I took this picture, it's been moved since then, but I mean it stands about this tall, it's solid gold, and you can see it's inside of a basically bulletproof, shatterproof protective type covering. That menorah will be in the third temple, barring that it's not destroyed before then. When we think about God's millennial kingdom, this is a picture of the valley of Anybody wanna guess? Megiddo or Armageddon. It's huge, it's massive. So I'm standing on Mount Carmel, and when you look out, I mean, as far as you can see to the east, as far as you can see to the west, it's just a massive land. When Jesus returns, not at the rapture, but at his second coming, where is he going to first touch down? Let's take a quiz. Where's he gonna touch down first? Mount of Olives, gonna split it in two. Okay, he touches down the Mount of Olives. The Bible then gives us about three, four places that Christ will go. He goes out and he picks up the Jews that are being hid. And most scholars believe that it's going to be Petra and Jordan. He's gonna pick all of them up, he's gonna come back. Before he touches down, or after he touches down and does some of these other things, he's going to come to the battlefield of Armageddon, Revelation 16, 16. Who's going to be gathered in that battlefield? Revelation chapter 14 tells us that all nations will be gathered together in that field. And God will wipe them out at that time. and he'll take a little trip over to Jerusalem and what's he going to do? He's going to set up his theocratic kingdom where once again God will be in charge just like he was in Genesis chapter one and two. What we're looking at is when we look at the full scope of scriptures, it's now been close to 6,000 years since God had his position as the theocratic king of kings. When Jesus returns at the millennial kingdom, everything that is against God is going to be wiped out and he's going to return this world to near Edenic conditions. All right, that's the intro to it. All right, a couple of things that are going to take place when his kingdom is restored. Most of this you'll find right in 10 verses. Genesis chapter 20, really seven verses. Revelation chapter 20 verses one through seven is the key words. All right, so we're gonna go through this in our few minutes we have left. The apostle John now is writing. God has given John some unbelievable insights into what's going to happen in the future. When we get to Revelation 20, Jesus has come back. So in Revelation 19, 11 to 21, Jesus comes back with the saints, fights the battle of Armageddon, and now here's how he's going to inaugurate his kingdom. Verse one, then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of, we talked about this morning, who's he laid hold of? The dragon who is the serpent of old who is the devil and Satan. We talked about Revelation 13 this morning, also tells us as it talks about a beast, a dragon. Well, here it is, God defines it. He brings them all together and says it's the same synonymous person. So what does he do? God lays hold of the dragon, that serpent of old who is the devil and Satan and binds him up for how long? 1,000 years. Now, and I don't, I don't understand how God can bind Satan because he's a spirit, but Bible says he can do it. I trust God he's gonna do it, right? I mean, it's gonna happen. He takes Satan, who's been doing everything he can to disrupt God's kingdom for the last 6,000 years, and he's going to take him and do what? Bind him up. in the bottomless pit, verse two, verse three. And he cast him into the bottomless pit, shut him up, and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations no more till the how long? 1,000 years were finished. But after these things, he or Satan must be released for a little while. So that's an interesting statement. So God's saying, listen, when Jesus Christ comes back with his saints, He's gonna wipe out all the detractors at the Battle of Armageddon. And by the way, well over, we know the majority of people on this earth will have been wiped out during the seven-year tribulation before Jesus comes back. We talked a little bit about that in the past. We know from two judgments, again, a little review, Revelation 6, 8, and 9, 18, one-fourth of the entire world's population is wiped out in the seal judgments. Trumpet judgments, one third of the eight billion people, if the numbers stay the same, is wiped out. In Matthew 24, verse 22 says, unless those days had been shortened, how many people would be saved? None. And we got, we don't know how many are gonna be left. We know it's gonna be like in the days of Noah, in the days of Lot, when God saved eight people out of the entire world. Now we know that a third of the Jewish people are going to be saved, Zechariah 13, eight and nine, So based on the current numbers, at least five million Jews will survive the tribulation, but 10 million will die. How many of the Gentile world will be saved and make it through the tribulation? I have zero idea, because God doesn't tell us, but it'll be a remnant. The bottom line is Jesus shows up, kills off the rest of those that hate him, that have gone against him, and he's going to inaugurate what we call the millennial kingdom. Why do we call it millennial? Because how long is a millennium? 1,000 years. All right, six times in the first seven verses, God says 1,000 years. Go to the next concept here. So we have the binding of Satan. The next thing we have is a very interesting thing about the resurrection of the saints. And this one always causes trouble. I have a whole message that I do on all the resurrections in the Bible. Because we're going to talk about in Revelation, the first resurrection. And now if you think about it, have there been resurrections before? Has any resurrections taken place? There've been a lot of them. And you say, well, we're gonna talk about the first resurrection. Yep, let's see what it says. Verse four, and I saw thrones and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Now this is by, and we're gonna explain who's doing this. Then I saw the souls of those who had been, what? Beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God. All right, so remember, the next major event, if you were here this morning, is what, what's it called? The rapture, the removal, the snatching up of God's people. Shortly after that, a covenant, a peace treaty is going to be made with what group of people? The Jewish people. Who's gonna make that peace treaty? The what? Come on, you know it. Starts with an A. Antichrist. We don't know who the name is, except we know his title will be the Antichrist. He comes on the scene, Daniel 9, 27, confirms a peace treaty with the Jewish people. What's going on in Israel right now? having anything but peace. Do you think that the Jewish people are looking for somebody that can bring them peace? Absolutely, and they're looking for that person. Well, a person is going to show up, and that's exactly what they're going to get when the Antichrist finally stops all the nonsense and the terror that the Jewish people are facing, and they are going to jump on board with this guy. I mean, he's just going to suck them all in. By the way, does he turn traitor on the Jewish people? After three and a half years, he turns traitor. He breaks that seven year covenant. And all of a sudden, if you don't run for your life, you die as a Jewish person. That's when two thirds of the Jewish people will die. Zechariah 13, eight, nine. But now we're at the end, that's all done, the tribulation is done, Jesus has shown up and he's inaugurating his theocratic millennial kingdom. I saw the souls of those who have been beheaded. Why were people beheaded during the tribulation, seven year tribulation period? Because Revelation 13 tells us that if they didn't take the mark of the beast, they couldn't buy or sell. And the Bible says those that refuse to follow the Antichrist will be what? Starts with a K, killed. Killed, you're gonna kill them. It's martyrdom. The only folks that'll be martyred, of course, should be those that refuse to place their trust in the Antichrist. Why are they going to rebel against the Antichrist? What's gonna happen during that seven year period? Is evangelism going to take place? I constantly get asked the question, will anyone get saved in the tribulation period? Yes, thousands will come to Christ. The other question I always get is, well, wait a minute. In Thessalonians, it tells us that, wait a minute, the restrainer is going to be removed, the Holy Spirit. And therefore, when the Holy Spirit is, quote unquote, removed, that no one can get saved. Well let's define what we're talking about when we talk about the restrainer being removed. Where does the Holy Spirit dwell right now? Dwells in us. Is that the only place the Holy Spirit lives is inside of a Christian? Is the Holy Spirit omnipresent? It's an attribute of God. You cannot confine the Holy Spirit to our bodies. Yes, he indwells us, yes, he's there, but he's everywhere. The Bible's making it clear when the restrainer is removed, in other words, the restrainer that's currently working through the body of Christ, yeah, we're outta here. The good that we do, the positive things that we bring to this world, including in the political realm with Christians that are there, it's all gone. So it's all gonna go to the devil, literally. But will people still get saved? Yes, not because the church is winning folks to Christ, but who is winning folks to Christ? Well, the Bible tells us 144,000 young male Jewish virgin evangelists, Revelation 7 and 14, will be preaching the gospel. Bible tells us in Revelation 11 that two witnesses will be preaching the gospel, so folks are gonna get saved, and then what's gonna happen? They're gonna do what you guys do. They're gonna tell other people, and they're gonna come to Christ, and then they're going to say, are you gonna take the mark of the beast so you can buy and sell? And they're going to say no, and they say, come with us. Off with your head. They'll be martyred, but God'll give them the grace to do it. All right, let's see what else happens. So I saw the souls of those that had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the, what? The beast, the antichrist, or his image, Revelation 13, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands, they died. The bad news is they're gonna be martyred, those that come to Christ during the tribulation. The good news is, absent from the body, present with and God's gonna give them the grace. Their heads will be put on the blocks and they'll willingly die and refuse to worship the beast. What do they get to do with Jesus when he comes down and sets up his kingdom? Bible says they're gonna live and reign with him. Now you're like, okay, well that's the Tribulation Saints. What about me as a Christian? This is talking about Tribulation Saints. Well, God makes it very clear in Timothy that those that have placed their faith and trust in Christ, meaning you, that you'll also live and reign with Christ. So that's something to look forward to. You're gonna have a position in God's kingdom, his millennial kingdom, his theocratic kingdom. Well, let's go to a couple other verses. You're very familiar with this. We've gone through this one many a time. And back in Isaiah chapter nine, what is commonly used at the Christmas time. For unto us a child is born. Who's the child? Jesus. For unto us Jesus a child is born. Unto us a son is what? Given. Did Jesus give himself? There's a little reminder right back there. Now you see a semicolon there, which of course is not part of the original language, but in English they put it there. Something's wrong. Now God fulfilled those first two things. Jesus was born, Jesus' life was given, and now it tells us something else about Jesus. The government will be upon his shoulders. Has the government ever been on Jesus' shoulders? Nope. His name will be called, and here's where some of our friends say, well, obviously this took place. No, it didn't. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, in context, It's not talking about when the few people on this earth that accepted Christ as their savior. It's talking about a future theocratic kingdom. The government, his kingdom, will be upon his shoulder. And the titles that you just read with me, he'll receive. Verse seven, how do we know contextually that it's talking about his future kingdom? Well, verse seven makes it really clear. Of the increase of his what? Government and peace, there will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. All right, so what are these verses doing? This gives you a, right now, a 2,000 year period of time and counting. Jesus was born, Jesus was given and crucified. Pause 2,000 years. Church age. Everything stops. The poetic pause, so to speak. The church age comes in. What else is going to come in? After the rapture, seven year tribulation, then Jesus comes back to set up the kingdom that got blown out of its place in Genesis chapter three. Does this make sense? No? Yes? Makes sense to a few people. All right, I'll take a few. You get the timeline, and we'll quit with this. Because if I'm getting that little response, You're half with me. Let's summarize it. Genesis one and two. God created everything perfectly or sinfully. Everything was perfect. It was his theocratic perfect kingdom. God set up who to be the kingdom watchers? Adam and Eve. Who came in and messed it up? Satan, Genesis chapter three, the theocratic kingdom comes to a dramatic halt. Who now is the small g God of this world for the last almost 6,000 years? Is there any doubt about who's running the world right now? Is there any doubt about who's running America right now? Is there any doubt about, no, we'll keep it at that. All you gotta do is look what's going on, folks. You understand that God is not forcefully enforcing his kingdom rules right now, he's allowed Satan to run rampant, and he does. All right, so now we come up, we've gone through the Old Testament time, we've gone through the Law of Time, we've gone through the time of Christ, we go through the church age, and now we're 6,000 years into this, and me and you are waiting for what event to happen. The rapture, in the meantime, by the way, we work and we tell the gospel and we disciple folks and we help folks and we keep trying to move forward until the day when the rapture takes place. After the rapture takes place, what's going to happen on this earth for seven years? It's called the what? Tribulation period. Why is God going to invoke a seven year tribulation time of horrible disaster billions of people dying. Who's coming at the end of that seven year period? Who's coming at the end of the seven year period? That will be his second coming to inaugurate his what? His millennial theocratic kingdom where he will be called, Revelation 19, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. So why all that nonsense for seven years? What happens when grandpa and grandma are coming over to your home? What do you tell those kids? Better have your act together when grandpa and grandma get here. And you better behave yourself. I don't want any shenanigans when we have company. Do you understand that junior and juniorette? Yeah, mommy, yeah, daddy, we're gonna be good. And you're watching them. Grandpa and grandma are gonna show up and you got those kids in line. The grass is cut, the lawn is perfect. You make sure that all the toys are picked up so grandpa and grandma don't fall over the toys when they walk in the room. And everything's perfect. The perfect meal is set. Everything's in its place. And here they come, the dignitaries are walking in. And here they come into the home or into the palace, or into the presidential building, and everything is perfect. The president walks in and starts to walk down the red carpet. Everyone is in perfect attention. Every uniform is perfectly done. Why? Because the boss is coming through. Jesus made it very clear when he returns, there will be nothing on this earth which is offensive to him. For seven years, God is going to allow the tribulation to take place to prepare for his second coming to this earth. And he will, when he comes back, institute his kingdom that has been absent for 6,000 years on this satanically run earth, if you will. Does it make sense now? It's a very simple picture. Now it's very complicated, all that's going to take place, but the simplicity is Jesus is doing everything he can to prepare for his second advent when he literally is going to come back to set up his 1,000 year kingdom on earth. Do we have a part in that, Christian? We got a big part. Our part right now is to get things ready for when his kingdom comes. People sometimes, and it's a semantical issue, can me and you help grow the kingdom? The answer is yes. You say, well, how can I help grow the kingdom? Every single person that you are able to lead to Christ and comes to Christ, are they gonna be in the kingdom? So you're growing the kingdom, aren't you? So when you tell somebody about Jesus, when they come to Christ, no, the kingdom isn't on this earth today. But one day, me and you are gonna come back. We're gonna ruin rain with Christ. Wouldn't it be good to have a bunch of folks that you wanted to Christ there with you? Wouldn't that be great? I encourage you to do that. Listen, folks, and I'm gonna quit with this. It's September. I hate that it's September. I wish it were June again. I want my summer back. I lost our summer. You lost your summer. And we're in September. But you know what? September is the most exciting time at church. You say, well, why is that? Because people are back in town. except for some of the seniors that'll be taken off now that all the rest of us are back. Wait a minute, I guess I'm a senior too, so whatever. Anyway, folks that you come in contact with now, do you love them? But God demonstrated his love towards us in that while we were still sinners, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Can we tell some folks about Jesus this week? Can you tell the folks that are back from vacation, hey, How about coming to church? I had two people tell me this morning, two people that are right at the brink of being senior citizens, they're like, you know, I talked to, and they named their relative, and they said that they're gonna come visit the church. I can't believe it, they're actually gonna come. Folks, do you know why I tell the gospel every single week? Because every single week, somebody's bringing somebody. This morning, I mean, you just don't know. Sometimes nobody responds, at least not publicly. And then you have days like today where you have multiple people that say yes to Christ. So yeah, 90% of our message is always gonna be to Christians, except on special days. But that five to 10% when we give the gospel, it's because I want, I don't want you to show up at church and say, pastor, do you know who I brought to church today? You know who I brought to church today? I brought my unsaved loved one to church and you didn't give the gospel. They didn't hear it. This was maybe the only chance they've got to come to Christ and you failed me. I don't wanna hear that. I don't wanna hear that. So every single time, are you ready for it? Here it comes. Every single time, whether it's internet or maybe somebody in the room, we always give the gospel. What's the gospel? You could all recite it for me, couldn't you? And I hope you can. We've all blank and come short of the glory of God. Sin, we're all sinners. It's the start of the gospel. We don't need a savior if we've never sinned, but we've all sinned and come short of God's glory, Romans 3.23. Because we've sinned, if we got what we deserved, every single one of us would spend eternity in an awful place called the lake of fire or hell, Revelation 21.8. God demonstrated his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ loved us and died for us. He gave his life for us. He loves you. Remember back when you got saved, when you put your faith and trust in Jesus? Whoo! Remember, it might have taken some of you a while, others of you, man, it was an instantaneous change, and Jesus came into your life, and all of a sudden, I love Jesus. I wanna read the Bible. I want it to mean something. If you've never trusted Christ, the Bible may not be that important. It may be hard to understand because the Holy Spirit doesn't live in you yet. But all of a sudden you realize, ah, I need to receive that free gift of eternal life by placing my faith in Jesus. And that starts that relationship with Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell within you. And the best part about all of that is your promise to place in heaven. Isn't that good? I mean, let's rejoice in that this week. Let's not be ashamed of the gospel. Let's get it out there. Let's make September and October and November the greatest months at Union Grove Baptist Church of seeing folks coming to Jesus. Can we agree on that? All right, then we can go home. Father, thank you for your love for us. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for the scriptures that tell us about what's happened in the past, what's taking place in the present, and marvelously, miraculously, what's going to take place in the future. It's right there, it's all there. So Father, I pray as we dismiss tonight, Lord, would you help us to keep sharing the gospel with folks? Would you help us not to be ashamed of the gospel, not to be worried about if we're going to offend somebody, but to speak the truth in love and tell folks about the greatest news ever given to mankind, that Christ Jesus came in this world to save sinners because you love us. What a great message. Father, dismiss us with your blessing, please. Please watch over us as we enter back into the battlefield. It's dangerous out there. It's unholy out there. Satan is going to do everything he can to try and trip us up this week. So, Father, would you please protect us, help us to walk with you, help us to stay in the Word of God, help us to keep on our knees in prayer, and we look forward to being back together again either on Wednesday or next Sunday for those that are in town. Would you bless them and watch over us, Lord? We commit this