App
May 14, 2020
Track 1 or Download
Dear Brethren,
As a result of China’s deceitful behavior about the origins and rapid spread of the Wuhan virus, this virulent plague has now afflicted 184 nations. Whole populations have had to be locked down with various shelter-in-place orders in an effort to stop the spread of this virus. These actions have disrupted the entire world economy. However, it appears that these mitigating efforts are stopping its spread. Now these nations must restart their economies, which will take time.
Here in Hollister, California, in San Benito County, we have had less than 10 people catch this virus, with only one death. Because of this we have been able to keep the CBCG office open all during the mandate to shelter-in-place. We are thankful that God has protected us from this plague. In addition, I have not had a single report of anyone in all the CBCG who has died from this virus. While there have been some infections, to my knowledge all have recovered. Now we will have to see how long it takes to get the economy up and running again.
It seems that there is so much information concerning Pentecost and the first resurrection that it is difficult to cover it all in only one or two messages. We have realized for some time that the beginning of the return of Christ occurs just before the next-to-last Pentecost during the Great Tribulation (which lasts three and one-half years). This key knowledge is well covered in our book God’s Plan for Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days, which includes a number of extra sermons covering events leading up to that critical Pentecost—as well as events leading up to Trumpets. A set of four CDs accompany this eye-opening book. (You may request this free book by contacting the CBCG office).
How is Jesus Christ’s Return Connected to Pentecost?
There are many Old Testament prophecies predicting the first and second comings of Jesus the Messiah. During Jesus’ three- and one-half-year ministry, He taught the disciples that He was going to establish the Kingdom of God—and that they would rule with Him. However, it was not until after Jesus had risen from the dead and appeared to them for 40 days that they began to realize that He would first ascend to heaven and then return later to establish the Kingdom.
Of course, the disciples did not know when or how Jesus would return. Since He had been raised from the dead, some thought Jesus would establish the Kingdom immediately. In the book of Acts, Luke writes this summary of Jesus’ appearances to His disciples over 40 days and His final ascension into heaven: “The first account I indeed have written, O Theophilus, concerning all things that Jesus began both to do and to teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after giving command by the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen; to whom also, by many infallible proofs, He presented Himself alive after He had suffered, being seen by them for forty days, and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God.
“And while they were assembled with Him, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to ‘await the promise of the Father, which,’ He said, ‘you have heard of Me. For John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit after not many days.’ So then, when they were assembled together, they asked Him, saying, ‘Lord, will You restore the kingdom to Israel at this time?’ And He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has placed in His own authority. But you yourselves shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the ends of the earth.’
“And after saying these things, as they were looking at Him, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. Now while they were gazing intently up into heaven as He was going up, two men [angels] in white apparel suddenly stood by them, who also said, ‘You men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, Who was taken up from you into heaven, shall come in exactly the same manner as you have seen Him go into heaven’ ” (Acts 1:1-11).
Ten days later, on the Day of Pentecost, when they were assembled at the Temple, God poured out the Holy Spirit in great power—and the apostles preached Christ in a multitude of languages to thousands of Jews. After Peter finished his message, three thousand repented, were baptized, and received the Holy Spirit. Although Jesus had sent the Holy Spirit from the Father, it was apparent that He was not going to establish the Kingdom of God immediately.
The apostles soon realized that Jesus was not going to return until God’s “set time” in the future, as shown by Peter’s statements in Acts 3: “Therefore, repent and be converted in order that your sins may be blotted out, so that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Him Who was before proclaimed to you, Jesus Christ, Whom the heaven must indeed receive until the times of restoration of all things, of which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began” (verses 19-21). But the disciples did not know how or when this would happen.
After decades of preaching and teaching, and having witnessed the events leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, the apostles began to understand in the 60s AD that Jesus was going to return in the distant future. This is why God led them to compile their inspired writings into what would become the New Testament, which was finalized by the apostles Paul, Peter, and John. It was John—with the help of Andrew, Philip, and Mark—who canonized the New Testament in 98 AD in the form we now have, originally written in Greek.
The book of Revelation (about 95 AD) would finally give the disciples the sequence of prophecies and events concerning Jesus’ return. However, Revelation was given in such a manner that made it nearly impossible to understand the timing of the events the book described. Scholars and theologians have tried over the centuries with some success. But they have ultimately failed because they did not understand the significance of God’s feasts and holy days, which are the keys that unlock the hidden meaning and timing of prophetic events. Even today, the majority of people cannot understand the Bible, let alone the book of Revelation.
Many Bible students and scholars recognize that the prophecies of the book of Daniel are critical to understanding Revelation. In fact, the two books work together to cover the entire spectrum of end time events.
Yet Daniel did not understand the prophecies he had been given. When he wanted to know their meaning, an angel of God told him that it was not for him to know: “But you, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Then I, Daniel, looked; and behold, there stood two others, the one on this side, and the one on that side of the bank of the river. And one said to the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river: ‘How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?’ And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, saying, ‘It shall be for a time, times, and a half a time. And when they have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.’
“And I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, ‘O my lord, what shall be the end of these things?’ And he said, ‘Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and refined. But the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand’ ” (Dan. 12:4-10).
God told Daniel that the prophecies he had been given were to be understood only at the time of the end. Until then, they would be closed and sealed. As a result, from the time of the apostles and the establishment of the Church, many have tried and failed to understand these prophecies. Down through the centuries, whenever there are great catastrophes of war, famine, drought, pestilence, earthquakes, and natural disasters, religious leaders begin to proclaim that Christ’s return is “at hand.” In spite of the fact that many preachers use the Scriptures to prove that the return of Jesus is near, their predictions have come to naught.
This happened in 66 AD with the Jewish revolt against the Romans. The Jews were defeated in 70 AD and the Romans destroyed the Temple—just as Jesus had prophesied, leaving not a single stone upon another stone. In the year 1000 AD, because of misinterpreting the Scriptures, the Catholic Church convinced Europeans that Jesus would return at that time, but He didn’t.
In the 14th century, when the bubonic plague was devastating Europe, many feared that the end of the world was upon them. Thus, some adamantly proclaimed that Jesus was about to return. In more recent times, various individuals have falsely proclaimed “on the authority of the Bible” that the return of Jesus was “at hand.” This happened in 1844-45, 1918 (WW I), 1945 (WW II), 1975, 1988, 1989, 1997, and 2008-9. Others will no doubt follow.
Because of these failures, the prophesy of the apostle Peter has been fulfilled many times over: “Knowing this first, that in the last days there will come mockers, walking according to their own personal lusts, and asking, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the forefathers died, everything has remained the same as from the beginning of creation.’ But this fact is hidden from them—they themselves choosing to ignore it—that by the Word of God the heavens existed of old, and the earth came forth out of water and amid water, by which the world at that time, having been deluged with water, had itself been destroyed. But the present heavens and earth are being held in store by His Word, and are being reserved for fire in the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly” (II Peter 3:3-7).
Why have so many been so wrong about the return of Jesus Christ? Because it was not to be understood until the time of the end—the actual end, not an apparent end as seen through the eyes of men based on misinterpretations of Scripture! But now, as the end time has begun to unfold, God has indeed begun to give the understanding of these prophecies to those who truly love and obey Him and yield to the Holy Spirit.
Two Major Events Must Happen First
Over the centuries, many signs that Jesus said would precede His return have actually occurred—even repeatedly. As He explained to His disciples, there would be false prophets, wars, rumors of wars, famine, pestilence, earthquakes, persecutions, and martyrdom. These have all happened and continue to happen. But there are two specific major events that signal the actual beginning of the end, the Great Tribulation, and the return of Jesus Christ.
Number 1—The “abomination that makes desolate” must stand in the holy place: Jesus was very specific in describing this event. The Great Tribulation at the end cannot begin until the Temple in Jerusalem has been rebuilt and the “abomination of desolation” subsequently stands in the “holy place.” Notice what Jesus warned: “Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (the one who reads, let him understand)…. For then shall there be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until this time, nor ever shall be again” (Matt. 24:15, 21).
The parenthetical phrase—“the one who reads, let him understand”—was not spoken by Jesus. Rather, the apostle John was inspired to add the phrase. When John was given the prophecies of the book of Revelation in 95 AD, the Temple had long been destroyed. When it was destroyed in 70 AD, there was no “abomination of desolation” that stood in the holy place. Moreover, in the prophecy of the Two Witnesses in Revelation 11, John was given a vision of the Temple. So he knew that before the end could come the Temple had to be rebuilt. God inspired him to add this phrase to Matthew 24 to let us know that the end cannot come until the Jews rebuild the Temple.
John also knew from Paul’s second epistle to the Thessalonians that the “abomination of desolation” would be in the person of the antichrist, proclaiming that he himself was God: “Now we beseech you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken in mind, nor be troubled—neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by epistle, as if from us, saying that the day of Christ is present. Do not let anyone deceive you by any means because that day will not come unless the apostasy shall come first, and the man of sin shall be revealed—the son of perdition, the one who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is an object of worship; so that HE COMES INTO THE TEMPLE OF GOD and sits down as God, proclaiming that he himself is God!
“Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And now you understand what is holding him back in order for him to be revealed in his own set time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already working; only there is one Who is restraining at the present time until it arises out of the midst. And then the lawless one will be revealed (whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth, and will destroy with the brightness of His coming); even the one whose coming is according to the inner working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in those who are perishing because they did not receive the love of the truth, so that they might be saved. And for this cause, God will send upon them a powerful deception that will cause them to believe the lie, so that all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but who took pleasure in unrighteousness” (II Thess. 2:1-12).
In the end time, this is the “abomination that makes desolate.” In addition to the Temple being rebuilt, these passages also tell us that the antichrist—the Beast of Revelation 13—must be on the scene, along with the False Prophet. When the antichrist sits in the Temple proclaiming himself to be God, that is the key event that triggers the Great Tribulation. As Jesus explained, it cannot begin until then: “Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (the one who reads, let him understand)…. For then shall there be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until this time, nor ever shall be again” (Matt. 24:15, 21).
Number 2—The sign of the Son of Man in heaven: While the first major event originates from the efforts of men, the second key event comes directly from Christ—and signals His return. It is a colossal event that takes place over a period of time. While it begins at a set time, it is not a single day’s event; neither is it a “secret rapture.” In order to better understand this sign, we will need to look at a sequence of end time events based on the framework of the holy days—particularly Pentecost and Trumpets—and tied to the sixth seal of Revelation 6.
When Jesus opens the sixth seal, He dramatically reveals Himself by an awesome display of power. The whole world will see it—but they won’t believe it! “And when He opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as the hair of sackcloth, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its untimely figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the heaven departed like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the powerful men, and every bondman, and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him Who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of His wrath has come, and who has the power to stand?’ ” (Rev. 6:12-17).
As Lord God of the Old Testament, Christ prophesied that He is going to shake the heavens and the earth at His second coming: “For thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Once again—it is yet a little while—I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land. And I will shake all the nations; and the desire of all nations [Jesus, the true Messiah] shall come’ ” (Hag. 2:6-7).
Isaiah also wrote of this event. Notice how similar this is to Revelation 6: “And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake terribly the earth” (Isa. 2:19-21). (As we will see later, God shakes the earth several more times.)
What happens when the heavens are rolled back like a scroll? Instantly, the heavens all around the world will be changed. The heavens, the earth, the oceans, and all nations will be shaken. Such an event has never happened in the history of mankind. Everyone on earth will experience it! But what will they see as they look into the heavens?
Jesus told His disciples how these worldwide events would unfold, beginning with the Great Tribulation: “For then shall there be great tribulation [it begins when the “abomination of desolation” stands in the holy place], such as has not been from the beginning of the world until this time, nor ever shall be again. And if those days were not limited [to three and one-half years], there would no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be limited. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or, ‘He is there,’ do not believe it. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and they shall present great signs and wonders, in order to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have foretold it to you. Therefore, if they say to you, ‘Come and see! He is in the wilderness’; do not go forth. ‘Come and see! He is in the secret chambers’; do not believe it” (Matt. 24:21-26).
Clearly, Jesus is not coming as an ordinary man. Rather, He is coming in power and glory as God and King to rule the world!
In fact, when we put Revelation 6:12 with the following verses from Matthew 24, we can begin to realize what it will be like. It will be an awesome and fearful event, never before seen. Here is what Jesus said: “For as the light of day [which is the sun], which comes forth from the east and shines as far as the west, so also shall the coming of the Son of man be…. But immediately after the tribulation of those days [two years of punishment on the twelve tribes of Israel], the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and THE POWERS OF THE HEAVENS SHALL BE SHAKEN. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming upon the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:27-30).
Luke records additional details: “And there shall be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress and anxiety among the nations, the seas roaring with rolling surges; men dying of heart attacks from fear and dread of the things that are coming on the whole world; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken” (Luke 21:25-26).
When the heavens are rolled back as a scroll, the entire world will suddenly see what appears to be a “new sun”—never before observed in the heavens. It will shine, as does our regular sun, from east to west, indicating that its appearance will be from out somewhere in our solar system. This will be alarming, indeed! This is the sign of the coming of the Son of man! From these scriptures we can see that the return of Christ does not take place in a single day; rather, the whole world will continue to see the sign of the Son of Man—the new sun shining in the heavens—for nearly a year as He comes closer and closer to the earth.
As we will see later, and this is important to grasp, the “Day of the Lord” begins a short time prior to the next-to-the-last Pentecost (Rev. 6:12-17) during the three and one-half year Great Tribulation. However, the day of His wrath, in Revelation 8, begins on the Feast of Trumpets and does not culminate until the next Feast of Trumpets when Christ and the resurrected saints descend from the Sea of Glass and return to the earth for the final battle of Armageddon. The duration of time from Revelation 6:12 until Revelation 19:11-21, with the destruction of the Beast and the False Prophet and their armies, is approximately a year and a half.
The awesome event of the heavens rolling back like a scroll will take place approximately two years into the three and one-half year Great Tribulation, as shown by the prophecy in Hosea 5:15-6:2. This prophecy reveals that the first two years of the Tribulation is the time of God’s punishment against the twelve tribes of Israel for their sins. At the start of the Great Tribulation, when God begins to punish Israel, He says, “I will go; I will return to My place until they confess their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will seek Me earnestly” (Hosea 5:15).
While in captivity for grievously departing from the Lord, the tribes of Israel will repent when they witness the events of the sixth seal and see the heavens rolled back as a scroll. They will know that this is the hand of God! As the prophecy of Hosea continues, notice that there is a time period defined in terms of days. However, each day in prophecy equals a year in fulfillment (Num. 14:34): “Come and let us return to the Lord, for He has torn, and He will heal us; He has smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days [two years] He will revive us; in the third day [at the beginning of the third year] He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight” (Hosea 6:1-2).
From these passages we can observe that God’s correction on Israel will last for two years. Then, at the beginning of the third year, He will end their time of punishment and begin to raise them up. For the remaining year and a half, the Tribulation will continue with greater intensity upon the rest of the nations.
How can we determine this?
The Sealing of the 144,000 in Revelation 7: The sequence of events from Revelation 6 continue in chapter 7, and the sealing of the 144,000 depicts the time when God begins to raise up the children Israel from their captivity at the beginning of their third year—that is, after two years of punishment for grievously forsaking the Lord.
Immediately after the heavens are rolled back as a scroll, when the heavens and earth are shaken, then the sign of the Son of Man appears as a new sun in the heavens. And suddenly there is a great calm. John writes: “And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that the wind might not blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to damage the earth and the sea, saying, ‘Do not damage the earth, or the sea, or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.’
“And I heard the number of those who were sealed: one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel. From the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were sealed; from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand were sealed; from the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand were sealed; from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand were sealed; from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand were sealed; from the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand were sealed; from the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand were sealed; from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand were sealed; from the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand were sealed; from the tribe of Zebulon, twelve thousand were sealed; from the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand were sealed; from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed” (Rev. 7:1-8).
Combined with the prophecy of Hosea 6, God begins to raise up the children of Israel by sealing the 144,000. Since this is the beginning of the third year of the three and one-half year Great Tribulation, that means that there is another year and one-half of the Great Tribulation left—which comes against the rest of the world.
Not only are the 144,000 of the twelve tribes of Israel sealed—that is, they are given the Holy Spirit for salvation—a “great innumerable multitude” is also sealed. Notice: “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one was able to number, out of every nation and tribe and people and language, was standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and holding palms in their hands; and they were calling out with a loud voice to Him Who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, saying, ‘The salvation of our God has come.’ [This shows that they will also receive the Holy Spirit and salvation.]
“Then all the angels stood around the throne, and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, ‘Amen. Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power and strength be to our God into the ages of eternity. Amen.’ And one of the elders answered and said to me, ‘These who are clothed with white robes, who are they, and where did they come from?’ Then I said to him, ‘Sir, you know.’ And he said to me, ‘They are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; and they have washed their robes, and have made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb’ ” (Rev. 7:9-14).
Based on the framework of the time of the end, this sealing takes place on the next-to-the-last Pentecost during the three and one-half year period of end time prophecies. This is God’s own personal harvest. Just as the apostles and new converts were sealed with the Holy Spirit on that first Pentecost, as recorded in Acts 2, the 144,000 and the “great innumerable multitude” are likewise sealed on this Pentecost—one year before the first resurrection, which takes place on the next (and final) Pentecost. As depicted by the parable of the workers in Matthew 20:1-16, these are the ones who receive salvation after being “hired at the eleventh hour” by the vineyard master.
After the 144,000 and the “great innumerable multitude” are sealed on that Pentecost, the next holy day is the Feast of Trumpets. At this point, the Great Tribulation picks up again. Then the Seven Trumpet Plagues begin the final year of the Great Tribulation—from Feast of Trumpets to Feast of Trumpets.
When Jesus opens the seventh seal, “[T]here was silence in heaven for about a half hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar; and much incense was given to him, so that he might offer it with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense went up before God from the hand of the angel, ascending with the prayers of the saints. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire from the altar, and cast it into the earth; and there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings, and an earthquake” (Rev. 8:1-4).
The Trumpet Plagues begin a more intense phase of the Tribulation, pitting the angels of God against Satan and the demons and men. The first four Trumpet Plagues are released in rapid succession (Rev. 8:7-12). Then, the last three of the seven Trumpet Plagues escalate events in intensity and power—so much so that they are called the “three woes.”
In Revelation 9, when the fifth angel sounds his trumpet, which is also the first woe, demons like locusts are loosed out of the abyss (a prison for demons) and join with men to attack the armies of the east with a secret weapon that inflicts men with great pain, as if stung by super powerful scorpions, for five months (Rev. 9:1-12).
When the sixth angel sounds his trumpet, which is the second woe, it is even more horrific. Men and demons combine to retaliate with an army of two hundred million, using super powerful weapons, as they counterattack against the Beast and False Prophet and their armies in the holy land. Then four angels bound in the great river Euphrates are loosed and the river dries up, opening the way for the hoards of Asia to move into the holy land (Rev. 9:13-19).
While these great battles are being waged, the sign of the Son of Man—the new sun shining from the east to the west—is coming closer and closer to the earth. Suddenly the new sun will disappear, and everyone will see Jesus coming in the clouds as He reaches the atmosphere of the earth. Jesus will come in the clouds to a point right over Jerusalem. Then a great Sea of Glass will suddenly appear, and the seventh angel will sound his trumpet on the last Pentecost. At that time the Two Witnesses are resurrected first—the last shall be first—and the dead in Christ will be raised to immortality. Next, those true Christians who are alive will be changed and caught up in the air by the angels and brought to the Sea of Glass (Rev. 11:15-19; I Thess. 4:13-17; Matt. 24:30-31; Rev. 14:14-16; Rev. 15:2-4).
When the first resurrection has been completed and we are all standing on the Sea of Glass, John writes, “Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and awesome: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is filled up…. And the seven angels who had the seven last plagues came out of the temple; they were clothed in linen, pure and bright, and girded about the chest with golden breastplates. And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden vials, full of the wrath of God, Who lives into the ages of eternity. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power; and no one was able to enter inside the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled” (Rev. 15:1, 6-8).
From the time of the first resurrection on the final Pentecost (during the last three and one-half years) to the Feast of Trumpets is about four months. During this time the seven angels will pour out the seven last plagues, which are the wrath of God against the nations that continue to fight against Christ and the resurrected saints on the Sea of Glass in the clouds over Jerusalem.
Then, on that final Feast of Trumpets, Jesus and all the saints will come down from the Sea of Glass for the final great battle—Armageddon. Afterwards, Satan the devil and the demons are imprisoned—on the Day of Atonement. Then the millennial Kingdom age will begin, as pictured by the Feast of Tabernacles.
Brethren, once again, thank you for all your prayers. We pray for you daily—for your protection, health, and God’s blessings upon you and your families. May your faith be strengthened. May your love for God and your love for the brethren be increased. Thank you for your faithful tithes and offerings, which are always used to serve you and all the brethren.
With love in Christ Jesus,
Fred R. Coulter
FRC
