The sleeping and the dead

Now, I'll tell you this little story. A couple of weeks ago, YHVH said to me to go and visit a church in Melbourne, which I'll do in a few weeks. But that church happens to be my brother-in-law's, and it's one of those things where you don't want to go, and I know what it's about. This man married my sister, divorced my sister, married another woman, so he has two wives, scripturally. But, do you know what the name of his church is? I Am. That's what he called his church, I Am. We just sang that. But of course, in reality, he hasn't got a clue what I Am, who I Am is. It's a nice phrase, strange name to call it in church, but when it comes to the reality of who I Am is, that's another ballgame altogether. YHVH said, next time you're in Melbourne, you go and speak to him. Go to his church, go to his service on that Sunday, see what happens. No idea, no idea. All I know is that YHVH is enlarging our borders. All I know is YHVH's getting pretty serious about where things are at in the world and in our nation, and that YHVH sends us wherever he will when we're told to do whatever he asks, even if you hate it and don't want to, even if you know the possible ramifications of such things. You do what YHVH tells you to do, and you leave the rest with him. I'll read it, because I wanted to read it, but it's just two-thirds of what I'm going to say. The coming of the lawless one is connected to the activity of faith with all the power and signs of false wonders and with every kind of wicked deception for those who perished. They perished because they did not accept the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason, God sends them a delusional force to lead them to believe what is false so that they may be judged. All those who did not believe the truth, but the light is in wickedness. Yes, yes. How strong is that delusion, end-time delusion, increasing. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. That's a powerful scripture, a powerful truth. What can you say in the face of that? God is telling us something. And yet we've taught on that scripture and those themes for a long time, but sooner or later they come to pass. Yes. Anyhow, let's get to something more interesting. Yes, yes. But it is, Paul says, encourage one another with this truth. So, we shall do that. We will look at that and we will encourage one another in these truths. Just calling this, for you Gary, the sleeping and the dead. The resurrection of the righteous. Yes, yes. I'll read Isaiah 26. Read the whole chapter. In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah. You know, in the end times, when Yeshua returns, we're going to sing a lot of songs. In that day, talking about the end times, this song will be sung. There's the song of Moses. There's all the songs in the book of Revelation. There's songs everywhere. Heaven is a rejoicing place. The heavenly people are a rejoicing people. We are singing, worshipping, praising people and He wants us to sing. He gave us that privilege and honour as human beings. The ability to sing, to praise and to worship. This is the song. We have a strong city. He appoints salvation and its walls and ramparts. Open the gates. Let the righteous nation enter. One that keeps faith. You keep in perfect peace. One whose mind is stayed on you. Because He trusts in you. Trust in Yehovah forever. Or, now I don't know what your translation says there. But my translation says, For LORD, A-D-O-N-A-I, Adonai. For the LORD Adonai. All in capitals is a rock of ages. I'm just saying just how silly the translators get about this stuff. I don't know, what does your translation say? Trusting Yahweh forever. For in Yah, that Yahweh Himself. Ah, they got it right. We have an everlasting rock. For Yah, Yehovah, is a rock of ages. For He humbles those dwelling on high, levelling the lofty city, levelling it to the ground, bringing it down to the dust. Feet will trample it down, Feet of the afflicted, the footsteps of the poor. The way of the righteous is straight. Upright one, you make smooth the path of the righteous. Yes, in the way of your judgments, Yehovah, we have waited for you. Your name and your remembrance are the desire of our soul. My soul longs for you at night. Yes, my spirit within me seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. Though grace is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness. Even in a land of uprightness, he will act wrongly, not perceiving the majesty of Yehovah. Yehovah, your hand is lifted up, yet they do not see it. They will see your zeal for the people and be put to shame. Yes, fire will devour your enemies. Yehovah, you will establish shalom for us, for all our works you have done for us. Yehovah, Elohenu, other lords beside you have had dominion over us, but we remember your name alone. The dead do not live, dead souls do not rise. Thus you punished and destroyed them and wiped out all memory of them. You have increased the nation, Yehovah. You have increased the nation. You are exalted as you have expanded all the borders of the land. Yehovah, they sought you in distress. They poured out a whispered prayer when your discipline was upon them. As a pregnant woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so we were before you, Yehovah. We have been with child, we have been in pain, yet we gave birth to wind. We are accomplishing no deliverance for the earth, nor are inhabitants of the world coming to life. Yet it will be, your dead will live, my corpses will rise. Awake, awake and shout for joy. You who dwell in the dust, your dew is like the dew of the dawn. The land of dead souls will come to life. Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut your doors behind you. Hide for a little while until the wrath is passed. For behold, Yehovah is coming out from his place to punish inhabitants of the earth for iniquity. The earth will disclose her bloodshed, no longer covering up her slain. What a powerful passage. Scripture makes a very strong case, not only for two different resurrections at two very different times, but also as to the difference between the godly and the ungodly. At death, there is the dead dead and then there is the sleeping dead. Two kinds of dead. As Isaiah said in verse 14 of our reading just there, the dead do not live, dead souls do not rise. Thus you punished and destroyed them and wiped out all memory of them. What is he saying? When I put someone to death, I'm destroying all memory of them. If the wicked want to be wicked, if the unrighteous want to be unrighteous, I will remove them. They have nothing worthy of remembering. That's pretty harsh, isn't it? That's God. I've never heard that said at a funeral service, but that's what he says. Then in verse 19 he says, Yet it will be. Your dead will live. He's talking about Yehovah's dead will live. My corpses, that's Yehovah's corpses, will rise. He says, awake, awake, shout for joy. You who dwell in the dust, your dew is like the dew of the dawn. The land of dead souls will come to life. What is he saying? The sleeping will be awakened. He's making a distinction between two different lots of people. Let's look at Daniel. Chapter 12, verse 1. At that time, Michael the great prince, who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as has never occurred since the beginning of the nations until then. But at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be delivered. This is an end time passage. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake. Some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting content. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavenly expanse. And those who turn many to righteousness will be like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, close up the words, seal the book until the time of the end. Many will run back and forth and knowledge will increase. That's an end time passage. That's for us. That was written for us today. In this era, this period of time in human history, thousands of years after YHVH told this to Daniel. And so, here we find that there are two resurrections and two different groups of people. The religious wise, those whose names are found written in the book, he said to Daniel, and those who will rise to shame and a time of content. So, those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake. YHVH's making a very strong distinction about who will and who won't, when they will and when they won't. Here we are having a passage where there is a thousand years difference between that one and that one. It's not stated there, but that's right there. Daniel, shut the book, seal up the writings, and I'll reveal it in the end. It's not for you, it's for another generation just before Yeshua returns. It's on chapter 5, verse 25. Amen, amen, or truly, truly, says Yeshua. I tell you, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of Elohim. That's Yeshua. Those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, so also He has granted the Son to have life in Himself. Also, He has given the Son authority to judge because He is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in their graves, when everyone who are in their graves will hear His voice and come out. Those who have done good will come to a resurrection of life, and those who have done evil will come to a resurrection of judgment. I can do nothing on my own. Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just. For I do not seek my own will, but the will of the One who sent me. Here, Yeshua is saying exactly the same thing as Daniel. Two groups of people, two different judgments, and there's a long way between them. 2,000 years, 3,000 years between Yeshua's first resurrection and second resurrection in this scripture. He said it then, and He says this day is coming. There's going to be a resurrection of the just, and there's going to be a resurrection of the unjust, and that will begin in another 2,000 years' time and finish in 3,000 years' time from Yeshua. So, Yeshua is warning us of a time when there will be a resurrection of life and there will be a resurrection of judgment. Verse 28 and 29 there said, all dead will be raised. Two different resurrections, two different groups of people. So, we can't afford to put our own spin on it. Scripture must interpret scripture, and we know that Christianity does put their own spin on these kinds of scriptures. What I know from my upbringing, my teachings, and what I'm told from the pulpits of the churches, they inject their own thinking into these kinds of scriptures. So, we must let scripture interpret scripture if we want to get to the truth. There is a spiritual world and there is a natural world. And so, the spiritual world is where YHVH's heavenly world is the spiritual world, where nothing and nobody ever dies, but lives forever. Angels were created eternal. Even the fallen ones that we call demons, they live forever. Angels don't marry. There are not different sexes or biological differences. There will never be more or less of these created beings. There are no such things as baby angels with lovely wings and little arrows and bows across their back. There may be different levels of service and responsibility and position and authority in angels, but that's a different story. They are supernaturally powerful and intellectually brilliant. That's YHVH's spiritual world, which he created. The natural world, or the world in which we live, we live, we die, we marry, we have children. We're made up of two biological sexes and there is no other. That's how we multiply and keep the species alive, called human beings or living souls. Then a resurrection will arrive in Yeshua and these mortals will put on immortality. Then we will be like the angels. Isn't that amazing? You and I will be like angels. So, we will be part of their spiritual world, serving the purposes of YHVH in his kingdom here on earth as the bride of Yeshua. We will be ruling and reigning for a thousand years in the same way as the angels. We will be just like angels according to Yeshua. Does that sound pretty good? Always knew, Gary, that you had such an angelic face. We will be like angels, full of power and authority, just like them on the day of resurrection. I'll read that scripture a bit later. We'll look at the scriptural meaning of death. The Torah and the prophets and Yeshua use spiritual terminology and descriptions and physical events to describe the natural condition called death. Different descriptions are needed so that two different classes of people can be described, the righteous and the unrighteous, the godly and the ungodly. So, we have parables and stories and terminology and actual experiences and events in the scriptures so that we get a good, accurate understanding of what death is all about. And so, all these scriptures and stories and parables and real events let us know unequivocally that death is not permanent. Even though it's real and inevitable, the natural will give way to the spiritual for every person who has ever lived or died, every single person. That includes babies that are murdered in the womb by abortion and the babies who died in the womb through natural causes. Everyone will be raised to life again. So, there is a day when every person, living or dead, will stand before their creator, the Elohim of Israel, and give an account of their life and be judged according to the Torah and be rewarded accordingly. James tells us that in his book and other passages. Now, Heavenly Father wants us to understand his spiritual world in which he and the angels live and which one day will be our world here on this earth once it's restored by him and cleansed from all unrighteousness. This world will be just like his world once again. You know, there's always spiritual truths hidden in earthly language. And these mysteries of the heavenly are only meant for the wise in spiritual things as Daniel was telling us. And YHVH is looking for the hungry seekers who are seeking after righteousness and truth. Those who will truly put his kingdom first regardless of the cost, regardless of our background, our doctrine, our teaching, our upbringing. YHVH is looking for those people who will seek out the truth and are hungry for truth in the word. And we will find the answers and the truths to the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven and the parables and the hard sayings and teachings of Yeshua will come alive for those people who genuinely want to know the truth. YHVH Elohim, he wants a resurrected group of people to run his kingdom. And they are called the chosen, the bride, the few, not the many. It's for those believers on the narrow and ancient path, not for those believers in Yeshua on the wide and modern path of denominational man-made religions based on man-made traditions. He's looking for two distinctly different people. One who will arise at the first resurrection to run his kingdom for him here and those who won't because he doesn't want them running their kingdom because, as Brendan read, they're deceived. They don't know the truth. They're not hungry for the truth. They just follow their traditions. That's the word of God and that excites me. It makes me feel, thank you YHVH. Thank you YHVH. The truth is in your word as to who you are, the great I am. And your thoughts are higher than my thoughts. Your ways are greater and deeper and wider than my ways. And I thank you Father that you open our eyes when we're hungry enough to have our eyes open, when we're honest enough and when we have enough integrity to say, Father, whatever is your will, that is what I want, regardless of what anybody else thinks. And he says, I want you to run my kingdom. And that goes for everybody who walks the walk of the narrow path and not the wide path of modern tradition and doctrines. He is separating the people. He is sorting out the sheep from the goats. He is looking for those who are not the deceived and those who are the deceived. It's all in the book. And he knows whose names he's written in the book and he knows whose names he's taken out of the book. The Scripture tells us that. He puts them in and he takes them out. I said that to a lady pastor one day and she was horrified. Where is that in the Bible? It's in Daniel. It's in Revelation. It's in the Scriptures. YHVH puts names in. YHVH takes names out. So, there are two terms used by Yeshua, the sleeping and the dead. And they are meant to carry the message to those who will listen that there are two resurrections. The first is for the sleeping and the second is for the dead. And there is 1,000 years between the two. YHVH doesn't leave us without understanding. He doesn't leave us to try and guess our way into heaven or into his kingdom or to serve him and his purposes. No, it is all written in black and white in Torah and the Prophets and the Apostolic writings. Matthew chapter 9, verse 18. We know the story. Just as Yeshua was saying these things to them, a synagogue leader came and began to bow before him, saying, My daughter has just died, but come lay your hand on her and she will live. And Yeshua got up and began to follow him with his disciples. Verse 23. When Yeshua came into the synagogue leader's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, probably only his Jews can do it, he said, Go away, for the girl isn't dead but sleeping. And they began jeering at him. But when the crowd had been cleared out, he went in and took her hand and the girl got up. And news of this spread all around that region, as you can well imagine. Go away, the girl isn't dead but sleeping. Well, you can imagine why the crowd of mourners were jeering at him. From their perspective, she was very, very dead. From Yeshua's perspective, she was only sleeping. For he had every intention of waking her up from the dead. Isn't that fantastically wonderful? I know, you know, that when we go to sleep, we have no idea when we wake up of how long that was. Was that five minutes sleep? Was that a five hour sleep? No idea. All I know is, I was asleep and now I'm awake. And what happened in that period of time is, well, that's just not part of life. Put you in a coma for three days or three weeks. You wake up and it's like, well, that was just the same as yesterday. But it's not. It's two years later. It's one month later. You have no idea. You just go to sleep and you wake up. It's a beautiful thing. It's a wonderful thing. And YHVH says, for those in me, that's what it's about. You'll go to sleep and I'll wake you up. And you won't know anything about what is transitioning in the world for the next five years, thousand years, two thousand years, whenever. That's how it is. Yeshua was making a point with this girl. Lots and lots of people die every day. Every minute, every tick of the clock, someone dies. Lots of people were dying every day across the nation of Israel. Then he goes to one little girl and says, I'll wake this one up. He's wanting to establish a point. He's wanting to teach a truth. He's wanting for us to know an eternal point about who he was and why he was here on the earth. He wanted them to know who I am. My power, my authority. He wanted them to know that people live or die and I can change that whenever I want. I come to do the Father's will. The Father's will is this little girl is raised from her sleep. And I'm making a point about who I am and who you are. About who you as a leader of the synagogue of Jerusalem and me as the son of God. You come to me because you couldn't and you knew I could. And now I'm establishing my credentials as to who I am. And I'm telling you that what I say is true. And when I say there are two resurrections, one until life eternal, one for the righteous and one for the evil, believe me, he's making a point. He did exactly the same thing with Lazarus. John chapter 11. We know the story well. John chapter 11, verse 1. Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Miriam and her sister Martha. This was the same Miriam who anointed the master with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was sick. So the sisters sent a word to Yeshua saying, Master, the one you love is sick. And when Yeshua heard this he said, This sickness will not end in death. This sickness will not end in death. That was going to be tested wasn't it? When the prophet or the master or anyone says this, people are going to wait to see whether this one comes to pass or not. This sickness will not end in death. It is for God's glory. So that the son of Elohim may be exalted, glorified through it. Now Yeshua loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. However, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days. Then after this he said to his disciples, Let's go up to Judea again. Rabbi, the disciples say to him, Just now the Judean leaders were trying to stone you and you're going to go back there again? Yeshua answered, Aren't there twelve hours in the day? If a man walks in the day he doesn't stumble because he sees the light of the world. But if a man should walk around at night he stumbles because the light is not in him. And after he said this he tells them, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep but I'm going there to wake him up. So the disciples said to him, Master, if he has fallen asleep he will get better. Wow, there you are. That was their knowledge and understanding. It's the same as ours was and everyone who believes in Yeshua. Now Yeshua had spoken about his death but they thought he was talking about ordinary sleep. Then Yeshua told them clearly, Lazarus is dead. I'm glad for your sake I wasn't there so that you may believe. Anyway, let's go to him. So, Yeshua is making a point. Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep but I'm going there to wake him up. And then Yeshua also said, This sickness will not end in death for it is for Elohim's glory or praise or honour so that the Son of Man may be glorified, exalted, recognised through it all. Now everybody, all people need to hear and to understand what Yeshua is doing in this instance. He is reinforcing that our life's brevity is not the end of the story but just the beginning. When we die, no matter how short or how long it is, that is not the end of the story. If we believe in him and walk in obedience to his commands, it's just the beginning. Death is the beginning of life. When we are his, eternity is going to be ours. We will become like angels, angelic beings and we will rule and reign and never ever die again. This is about kingdom truth. It's about the millennial ruling and reigning and about those who are sleeping, waiting for that moment to arise. If you die today, you'll wake up and the millennial will begin and you'll have no idea how long you were asleep or what happened in that interim period. As far as Yeshua is concerned, you just went to sleep and I'm going to wake you up to run my kingdom. Isn't that amazing? That's his word. That's what he wants us to understand. Life may be brief, whether you live for one year or a hundred years, life is brief. It's not about this life, it's about the one that we're being prepared for. Death is the beginning of life in a new form, in a new way, for a new purpose. We're just sleeping. In verse 9 and 10 we read there, Yeshua answers, aren't there 12 hours in the day? If a man walks in the day, he doesn't stumble because he sees the light of the world. But if a man should walk around at night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. He throws that in for the disciples to gain a bit more understanding and comprehension about this situation. In these verses, Yeshua is distinguishing between two different groups of people. There are those who are walking in the light of the world, which is he is the light of the world, and those who are walking in darkness. He's making a statement here. There's those who are walking in the light of the world and those who are stumbling around in the darkness. You see, Lazarus was called a friend of Yeshua, one whom Yeshua loved. And that's how we all must be identified, as the friends of God, God's friends. Ones who God loves, those who love God. We want to be in that camp, the ones he calls friends. As he said to the disciples in the upper room at Pisac, and he told them about, I don't call you servants, I call you friends. Because I tell you what's coming. I don't leave you in the dark. I let you know what your calling is about, who I am and what I am about and what lies ahead. He said, I am your friend. You're not just a servant out there doing something and it doesn't matter about anything. You just be there to do whatever the Master wants. No, I let you in on all my secrets. You are my friend and we serve together. And so Lazarus was a friend of Yeshua and he was only sleeping, awaiting to be awakened, because he was his friend and he did love Yeshua and Yeshua did love him because he was a righteous man. And he said, you're my friend. I will awaken you from your sleep and we will rule and reign together. Isn't that an amazing message? And he's wanting everyone to understand and to know that. That's why the story's in the book. So that we do not have any uncertainty about life and death and what it means. Sleeping, the term sleeping is a promise of resurrection. Resurrection, life at the first resurrection. Paul said, the writer of Hebrews said, blessed are those who are part of the first resurrection. And then there are those who are walking around in the darkness and as the scripture there said, and stumbles. That word stumbles means a force, a surge against him. Like a rushing river or a wave that surges and knocks you down, drowns you, whatever. That's the meaning of that word, they stumble. A surge comes against them in their life and they stumble and trip and fall and are smashed on the rocks by this stumble, this word that is telling them this is what life is like when you're walking in the darkness. When you don't walk in the light of the world and he's making this distinction between two different groups of people. Those who are stumbling around being knocked around on the rocks of life by the surges of life and the forces and circumstances of choices we make and Satan throws things at us and the stupidity of our living. He said we stumble in the darkness, two different groups of people and he's wanting to bring people out of that light into the light and he said there's only 12 hours in the day boys. Take advantage of the daylight that's still available because the days are short when the light will still be shining in opportunity for them. Every person needs to hear and understand that before it's too late because there is no light in them. It's what Yeshua said in that verse 10. They are the dead dead, not the sleeping dead because they're not going to be awakened at the first resurrection but they will face the judgement at the second resurrection. So there's the dead dead and there's the sleeping dead and there's a distinction between the two. Let's see what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 12. Now Paul says to the believers at Corinth if Messiah is proclaimed that he has been raised from the dead how can some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? Well they were amiss. Traditions and doctrines and teachings and people coming to try and tell them something different. But if there is no resurrection of the dead not even Messiah has been raised and if Messiah has not been raised then our proclaiming is meaningless and your faith is also meaningless. Moreover we are found to be false witnesses of Elohim because we testified about God that he raised up Messiah whom he did not raise up if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised not even Messiah has been raised. We're liars. And if Messiah has not been raised your faith is futile. It's a waste of time. Why go to church? You are still in your sins and those also who have fallen asleep in Messiah have perished. If we have no hope in Messiah in this life alone we are to be pitied more than all people. If we don't believe the truth of scripture and everything it says he says what a hopeless faith that you have. It's meaningless to you. But now Messiah has been raised from the dead. The firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. He is the firstfruits of who? Those who have fallen asleep. He distinguishes between different groups of people. He is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man the resurrection of the dead also has come through a man. For as in Adam all die, the natural, so also in Messiah will all be made alive. But each in its own order. Keep it in mind, each in its own order. Messiah the firstfruits, then it is coming those who belong to Messiah. He's got an order here and he's telling you what order it's going to happen in. When and how it's going to happen. Then the end when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For Elohim has put all things in subjection underneath his feet. But when the psalmist says that all has been put in subjection it is clear that this does not include God himself who put all things under Messiah. Now when all things become subject to him, now when all things become subject to him, as he said in the previous verses, that isn't yet. Then the son himself will also become subject to the one who put all things under him so that Elohim may be all in all. Otherwise what will they do who are immersed for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all then why are they immersed for them? Well, just become a good Mormon and let them get baptised for you so you can be raised from the dead. Isn't that a strange theology? Why are we in danger every hour? I die every day. Yes, but surely as the boast in you, brothers and sisters, which I have in Messiah Yeshua at an eye, if for human reasons I fought with wild animals at Ephesus, that's wicked evil people, what good is that to me? Why would I go through everything I went through if there was no resurrection from the dead? I'd be a fool. If the dead's not raised, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. Do not be deceived. And Brendan read that scripture about deception. If you allow yourself to be deceived and you want to believe in your deception, Yeshua will bring you to that place where you will never get out of that deception but your deception will get deeper and stronger. And Paul says here, the same one who wrote to the Thessalonians that Brendan read, do not be deceived. What I say about resurrection is right. And if you believe anything different, you're wrong. You're wrong. There are multitudes of people in this world who don't believe in life after death. There is no resurrection. When you're dead, you're dead. They're just trying to make themselves believe that there is no God. No God and no judgement in a life to come. They're trying to convince themselves that there's no such thing and you don't have to live by your rules, God's rules, the Bible's rules according to you. There is no resurrection. When you're dead, you're dead. How many people believe that? Millions. How many people have you heard say that? Many. Live as I may, as Paul said here in this passage. There are no consequences outside of death itself. Death ends it all. Be not deceived. What a lie of the devil. But the truth is, as Paul said here, for as in Adam, all die. So also in Messiah will all be made alive, everyone. But each in its own order. Messiah the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Messiah. He's making it very specific. Those who belong to Messiah will become part of the firstfruits with Messiah. Then, another then, the end when he hands over the kingdom to Elohim, the Father, after he has destroyed all rule and all authority and power. He said, after another thousand years, then I'm going to hand it all back to the Father. And I'm going to, in that process of time, I'm going to have destroyed every power and authority of man and Satan and demons. Everything will be put under my feet and when it is, I'll give it all back to the Father. And it will be as he wants it to be. At the end of that thousand years, Satan is released. And he entices the world to come to war against Yeshua who's been reigning in Jerusalem for the last thousand years. And all of us and those who have been raised and resurrected in the first resurrection, Satan will incite the world to come and destroy us and the Messiah. Then, after the end of that battle, then the outpouring of those bowls and vials of judgement on the earth. Then will come the last resurrection, the great white throne judgement, the second resurrection. And everything will be under his feet and he will put to death everything. And the last thing to be destroyed is death. Death will be no more. The world will be changed and transformed. We're not talking about that, how it all unfolds. There is a resurrection to those who belong to the Messiah. And we can only interpret those who belong to the Messiah in terms of what the Scripture says about what it means to belong to the Messiah. You can say you belong to the Messiah, but it doesn't mean you belong to the Messiah. You can say your name is written in the book, but it doesn't mean your name is written in the book. Because this book tells us who are those who are written in the book and what we have to be and do in order to have our names written in the book and how we have to live and what we have to obey and honour in order to be part of the first resurrection. This book gives us all the answers. And so those who belong to Messiah, then the end will come. So that those whom he says, whom Yeshua says, whom YHVH says, are not his because they're lawless. But he's coming. So there's a resurrection that belongs to those who are Messiahs. And there is a resurrection for those whom YHVH says are lawless. We read that in Matthew chapter 7 of course, and we know that scripture very well. Depart from me, I never knew you. You're lawless. We want into your kingdom. We did miracles in your name. We did this and that. And he says, sorry, don't know you. You're not part of my kingdom. So Paul said that this Messiah is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. And that means he is only going to awake a select few. He is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. And he defines what sleep means and who they are. And so only a select few are going to be raised at that point. Those who will be his bride will run and serve his kingdom with him. And the rest do not arise until he hands over the kingdom to the Father and they stand before him. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Verse 13. Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest who have no hope. He is defining two different groups of people there. Is he not? Very, very adamantly and strongly he is defining two groups of people there. I don't want you to be uninformed. Isn't that a great statement? I don't want you to be uninformed. It's like he said to the Corinthians, do not be deceived about the resurrection. Brothers and sisters, I don't want you to be unaware about those who are asleep from your fellowship, so that you may not grieve like the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, so with him Elohim will also bring those who have fallen asleep in Yeshua. For this we tell you by the word of our Adonai, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of Adonai shall in no way precede those who are asleep. For in Adonai, for Adonai himself shall come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the blast of Elohim's shofar, and the dead in Messiah shall rise first. There's not going to be any mistaking when he arrives. It's no silent all of a sudden he comes and snatches people into heaven and you hear nothing, you know nothing, all of a sudden they're just gone. What other nonsense? Then we who are alive, who are left behind, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Adonai in the air. And so we shall always be with Adonai. Therefore, encourage, encourage one another with these words. Paul is saying don't grieve over those who are asleep like those who have no hope. I don't want you grieving over me when I'm gone, I want you rejoicing. Praise Yehovah, sing songs. Of course there's grief and there's sadness and there's loss, but we don't, it's not like those who have no hope. No, we're going to meet again, we're going to be joined together again. It's only going to be a short while, whatever that time period is. No, rejoice, rejoice, be glad that we're just asleep and it's not a hopeless loss. Those who are not truly messiahs at his coming have no hope of being part of the first resurrection. No hope. Verse 14 said, For if we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, so Elohim will also bring those who have fallen asleep in Yeshua. I'm going to tell you about that because wow, well, everybody's in heaven. Christian doctrine is inserted in there. You know it doesn't say it. They spin the truth. They jump into action because that's what I've always believed, that's what I've always been told, that's what I learned. There it is. They're all in heaven and he's going to bring them all back with him. That's called the opposite of exegesis. It's eisegesis. Remember my little parable of the eisegesis. They read into the scriptures what isn't there and they talk a language that is not scriptural. That's eisegesis. That's what happens in this kind of passage. The word bring there, when he says that he will bring them, in verse 14, For if we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, so with him Elohim will also bring those who have fallen asleep in Yeshua. The word bring here is a Greek word that means to bring forth or to lead. It doesn't mean to come from heaven and there's no mention of heaven here. That's just false doctrine being associated with it even though it's not there. He is saying that when Yeshua returns he will lead, he will bring forth those who are asleep. Paul clearly says here that those who are asleep will be resurrected first. And we who are still alive, he's telling the story here, we who are still alive will watch them rise into the air. He stated that right there. Didn't I read that? They will be resurrected first, those who are asleep in their graves. All over the world people are going to come out of their graves and start rising into the air, up into the clouds at the sound of the shofar, the cry of the archangel, and we're going to be standing here watching them disappear into the sky. Then when that's completed, as they're coming down with Yeshua from the skies above, we will rise to meet them in the clouds with Yeshua never to be separated ever again. Isn't that what verse 17 said? For you'll come down from heaven with a commanding shout then we who are alive, I'll read it again. For Yehovah himself shall come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the blast of God's shofar, the dead in Messiah shall rise first. Who shall rise first? The dead. The people in the graves. Then we who are alive, who are left behind, will be caught up together in the clouds to meet Adonai in the air and so we shall always be with the Lord. And so they've risen up to meet him as he comes at the sound of a shofar, at the cry of the archangel. The graves will be opened, dead shall arise. Those mortals shall be reconstructed and given immortality and they'll rise up into the clouds. And then we're watching this happening. The whole world is watching this happening. And then we who are Messiahs at his coming will rise to meet them in the air as they're coming down. We're going up and we meet him in the air, never to be separated again. Wow. Encourage one another with these words. This is what the scripture says. It's not what Christianity says. It's not the doctrines and traditions of the church. No, don't embellish the story. Don't make it say what it doesn't say. Don't insert your beliefs into it. Let the scripture talk for itself and compare the whole scripture. And don't just say that's what it looks like. See what every other scripture says about it so we can come up with an accurate picture of what YHVH is wanting to tell us. So, I'll read the next passage. 1 Thessalonians 5. Just go into the next chapter. Now, concerning the times and the seasons, there's no chapter in Paul's letter. He just wrote a letter. And he didn't say just read that chapter tomorrow and read the next chapter in a month's time and you'll get the picture. No, it's just one letter. So, he goes on to say, encourage one another with these words. Now, concerning the times and seasons, brothers and sisters, you have no need for anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night. When they are saying shalom and safety, everything's good and wonderful, we're going to make this world shine, everything will run fine, don't worry about anything. Suddenly, destruction comes upon them like a woman having birth pains in the womb and there is no way they will escape, no way they will escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the dark so that the day might overtake you like a thief. For you are all sons of light and sons of day. Same message. We are not of night or of darkness, so then let us not sleep as the others do, but let us remain on the alert and sober-minded. For those who sleep, sleep at night. He's talking about lifestyles. Those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober-minded, putting on the breastplate of faithfulness and love and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For Elohim did not destine us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation. This is the moment of salvation. Our salvation is not assured or guaranteed never to be lost when I said yes to Yeshua or yes to Jesus. Never. I've said it so many times ad infinitum. Salvation is a promise when I give my life to Yeshua and it will be enacted when He returns. My name can be taken out of the book if I turn my back on Him. If I tread His blood underneath my feet, He will take my name out of the book. Paul said, I'm happy to give up my place in the kingdom for Israel's sake. Moses said, I'm happy for you to take my name out of the book. Didn't he say that? I'm happy for you to take my name out of the book so Israel will be put into your book. And YHVH said, not so Moses. I decide who's in the book and who's not. I choose for you to be part of my kingdom because of who you are. They have to front up for themselves. Let's not get scripture wrong. God didn't destine us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through Adonai Yeshua the Messiah. He died for us so that whether we be awake or asleep, that's those who have been taken out of the grave and those who are going to rise up to meet them, He'll wake us and the dead who are asleep in Him. We may live together with Him. Therefore, encourage one another. He says it again. Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up just as in fact you are doing. Know the truth, understand the truth and encourage one another in the truth. And so, good practical information. I'll just read this one and then we'll have a cup of tea. And that'll be two-thirds of the way through, at least. Matthew 22. Verse 23. I'll find it here somewhere. Now when Yeshua, that's 21. I want 22. 23. On that day the Sadducees, whose saviour is what? No resurrection, came to Yeshua and questioned Him saying, Teacher, Moses said if someone dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his widow and father children for his brother. Now, there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. In the same way, the second, the third, down to the seventh. Man, that was tragedy in the family. Seven boys and they couldn't raise one son. Poor woman. Last of all, the woman died. So in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all married her. As far as they were concerned, this was a gotcha moment. He'd have no answer for that one. Moses said, now how are you going to answer that one? But answering, Yeshua said to them, you've gone astray because you don't understand the scriptures or the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are what? Like angels in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven't you read what was spoken to you by God saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Isn't that an amazing statement? Going back to their ancestors thousands of years ago, it says they're not dead. I'm the God of the living, not the dead. When the crowd heard this they were astounded at what he was teaching. I'm sure they were. Never heard anything like that before. Here Yeshua silences the most powerful group of religious leaders of his day, the Sadducees. The Sadducees were the ones who were the high priests and the priesthood came from the Sadducees, not the Pharisees. And they were those who were Herodians, who were a tight-knit group, who were in a very, very close union with Herod, running the temple, running Israel and working together. They didn't believe in the resurrection. They thought they had all the answers, but he soon silenced them. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven't you read what was spoken to you by God, saying I am the God of Abraham and I'm the God of Isaac and I'm the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. That's an amazing statement. No wonder the people were astounded. They couldn't discern between natural and spiritual. They couldn't have any comprehension between the heavenly and the earthly and how the two work together and what kind of man this was that was talking to them, who he was, where he came from, what his power and authority is and how YHVH viewed everything that was happening in Israel and on the earth. The living dead are not in heaven. They're in the grave. Didn't you know that I'm the God of the living? I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? And he demonstrated on the Mount of Transfiguration. No, he just turns up with him. Elijah turns up with him. I'm not the God of the dead, I'm the God of the living. The living dead. So, and there's lots of other examples of this resurrection truth. That is, the sleeping dead in Scripture. The sleeping dead. They're not dead, they're sleeping. That's how YHVH sees things, that's how Yeshua sees things. They're not dead, they're sleeping. They're just waiting for me to wake them up. Don't you know my power? Don't you know my authority? Don't you know who I am? I am the Creator. I speak life and it happens. Enoch's not dead, he sleeps. In Genesis 5. Aaron's not dead, he sleeps. Numbers 33. Moses is not dead, he sleeps. Deuteronomy 32. Elijah's not dead, he sleeps. 2 Kings 2. Didn't he get taken into heaven in a chariot? Oh, Scripture didn't say that. That was just read into it. Wasn't Moses just taken by God? No, he was buried by God. Scripture tells you that. He never died a natural death. He was alive and healthy and strong, just like Aaron. Just go to the top of the mountain and I'll put you to sleep. It's just amazing. And the prophets from Jericho said to Elijah, let's go and look and hunt for Elijah in case God dropped him on a mountain somewhere. Don't go, don't go. For three days they searched for his body. They came back and said I told you not to go. No, YHVH just put them to sleep and buried them until he wakes them up again. That's Bible talk. That is spiritual talk. That is heavenly talk. That is God's talk. And we have to think like him and talk like him and believe like him to encourage one another in what it's all about. There's a lot of false teaching about these men that I just read out and about heaven and hell and this message is not about heaven and hell. We're not going there. But it's that which supports the truth of those things. They're not in heaven. They never died a natural death. None of those men died a natural death. Enoch, the seventh from Adam. He was not because God took him. He was a righteous man and it took him out of that world of unrighteousness and evil before he destroyed it in a flood under Noah. YHVH buried them. Christianity puts their spin on it. Just like the media, just like the world, just like politicians. They put their spin on everything so it matches what they want and what they believe, whether it's right or wrong. There's a wide gulf between one and the other. Let's have a cup of tea. I've been gone for about an hour or so. Question from audience Yes, into heaven because it does say. You see the word, the Hebrew word for heaven means this orb around the earth, into the sky. It's about the clouds, it's about the sun, the moon, the stars. It's about our universe, or not our universe, what's ours, what's this bit? No, no, the Milky Way. No, not the universe, the galaxy. The galaxy, the universe is made up of millions of galaxies. So, you know, he's talking about the galaxy we're in. Elijah was taken up into the heavens, not into the heaven, into the heavens, out of sight, through the clouds, gone. It doesn't say he went to heaven with God's heaven. He was taken up into the heavens. So, why would you extrapolate a story to match your tradition just to make you right? You can't say what the scripture doesn't say. You can only say what the scripture says. Taken up in heaven, that word means into our heavens where the rain comes from, where the clouds form, where the sun, the moon and the stars. How far up into the heavens he was taken, I have no idea. But YHVH took him out of this world alive, healthy, fit, serving, prophesying, crossing rivers, doing his job and all of a sudden a fiery chariot from God comes and whips him out. And that was important for Elijah because Elijah had to see him go if he wanted the double anointing. He said, Elijah, I'll give you what you want. I'll give you your heart's desire if you see me go. And he did. He said, I'm not leaving you until I see it. And Elijah's cloak flutters down to the ground and he became Elisha's. And he strikes the river, the water's part, and they say, the prophet's on the other side. Wow, the spirit of Elijah is in Elisha. A doubly powerful. That's what we want. Let's have a cup of tea. Yes, he knew. He knew. He knew. And the prophets of the day knew. Your master's going to be taken from you today. I know, be quiet. Yes, it's amazing isn't it? We can know if we need to know. So as I was saying, there's a wide gulf between the sleeping and the dead. And one cannot save the other. Once your opportunity has passed in this life, there's nothing you can do about it. So I want to read what Yeshua said in Luke chapter 16, with this parable. In verse 14. Where am I? Oh, I'm reading Matthew but it's Luke. Sorry about that. Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, I got a message about that. I might get to it one day. Were listening to all these things and sneering at Yeshua. It's just, you know, all the descriptions. You know, walk around the streets and people are all sneering at you. Because they don't like what you're teaching and who you think you are. So, but he said to them, you are the ones who justify yourselves before the people. But God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable in God's sight. The Torah and the prophets were proclaimed until John. Since then, the good news of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed and everyone tries forcing his way in. But it's easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single seraph of the Torah to fail. Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. And he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery. Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen living it up in luxury every day. But a poor man named Lazarus had been laid at his gate, covered with sores and longing to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Besides, even the dogs were coming to lick his sores. It happened that the poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. Then the rich man also died and he was buried. And from Sheol, as he was in torment, he raised his eyes and he sees Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. So he cried out and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus so he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue because I am suffering torment in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that in your life you received your good things even as Lazarus received the bad things. But now he is comforted here and you are tormented. Besides all this, between us and you a great chasm is firmly set so that those who want to cross over to you cannot, nor can those from there cross over to us. Then the rich man said, I beg you then, Father Abraham, send Lazarus to my father's house for I have five brothers to warn so that they will not also come to this place of torment. But Abraham says, They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them. Isn't that what Yeshua said in Matthew 7? You have Moses and the prophets, you're lawless. But he said, No, Father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them they will repent. But Abraham said, If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead. It's an amazing parable isn't it? But here is another kingdom truth told by Yeshua about who will be part of his kingdom and who won't. And this is based on what the Torah, the law and the prophets say and the eternal nature of the law and the prophets. It's saying here they'll never go away. They're always available and there for all your brothers to get the truth and the message. If they don't listen to Moses and the Torah they're not going to listen to anybody even if they rise from the dead. Yeshua says in this passage here that John the baptiser came proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. Is that what he said there? John came proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of Elohim. And from that point on, Yeshua said, everyone began trying to force their way into the kingdom. Everyone's got their idea of how they're going into the kingdom. And my view is the right view and we're all part of God's kingdom. And here are the Pharisees, here are the Sadducees, here are the temple leaders and they're saying to Yeshua, you're wrong, we're going into the kingdom. We know the kingdom of God. The kingdom belongs to us, Jews. They knew all about the kingdom and who was going in and who wasn't, so they thought. He said ever since John, people came getting baptised, repenting of their sins and now everybody's trying to force their way into the kingdom. But there's only one way, only one way into my kingdom and that's the way that I say is available to enter my kingdom. And Yeshua then illustrates this with the Torah truth that divorce and remarriage will keep you out of the kingdom because it breaks the seventh commandment. You shall not commit adultery. Now isn't that, just in a cursive way, a strange verse to put in the middle of this conversation. Here he is talking about the kingdom of God and John the Baptist and they're all sneering at him and they have, you know, and then he starts talking about divorce and remarriage. This seems an odd place to put that. But of course it's Yeshua, so it's not an odd place. He's making a point. He has a reason for inserting that verse there because he wants them to understand something. He wants them to know the eternal truth. He wants them to know what is important to God, what's not important to you. And so he says, well I guess I need to just clarify, can adultery be forgiven? Yes, of course it can be forgiven. Murder can be forgiven. Everything can be forgiven. But it must be acknowledged, confessed, repented of and then do whatever Elohim says to do about it. And whatever he tells you to do about it, you do about it. You confess it, you acknowledge it because as far as God's concerned, if you've got two wives, three wives, four wives, five wives, you're an adulterous person and you need to understand where I'm coming from, says God, because it will keep you out of my kingdom. Adultery is a term or an act used by God to describe religious leaders and their false religious systems of traditions and doctrines that are opposed to the Torah and the Word of God. You are an adulterer. You are living in spiritual adultery if you worship God or worship me in ways that do not match my word. That is spiritual adultery. And he says, you are marrying yourself to someone other than me. You are marrying yourself to a system, a doctrine and a tradition that is not from me. You are as adulterous as the man who decides to divorce his wife and marry someone else for whatever reason. No difference between you two. He's making a point. So, all of these different teachings, doctrines, traditions, man-made kingdoms, these are called doctrines of demons right throughout scripture. Presented by false apostles and prophets and pastors masquerading as angels of light when they're not. False doctrine and traditions are the leaven of spiritual adultery. And it will shut you out of the kingdom of heaven at Yeshua's return. Read James chapter 4 and you'll see it all for yourself and you and others. Therefore, because of this truth that he wants these religious leaders to know and understand that they are spiritual adulterers and he sees them and treats them exactly the same as the woman that they brought into his midst and said, well, Moses said to stone this woman to death, what are you going to do about it? He's saying you're just like them. Spiritually or naturally, the result's the same. You will not enter my kingdom. So, Yeshua tells his parable about another Lazarus. Isn't that just amazing? This man has the same name, Lazarus. That's the Lazarus that he raised from the dead before. Now he's using this name to tell another story to get his point across. So, he's telling a story, conveying a message with another kingdom message and truth being conveyed to these men who haven't got a clue what he's talking about and don't particularly want to know. They're just trying to trap him. There was a rich man, Yeshua says, the religious elite, the leaders of God's people who were meant to be showing the way and living the life in true righteousness according to Torah. That's how they were supposed to be living and that's how this rich man was supposed to be living. Then there was the poor man. He is one of the scattered sheep left as hopeless poor beggars by their religious system and its leaders. The rich say, we have a great worship system. I'm being a bit contentious. Wow, great preaching at our synagogue, church. Come to us and get all the promises of God's Word and the inheritance. Our religious leaders, spiritual great apostles and prophets and pastors and teachers. Wow, how rich and vibrant and powerful are our meetings and our message. But it's all false hope on a wide road that leads straight into the ditch. The pastors give it, the people want it and they become the blind leading the blind and they all fall into the ditch. But Yeshua said to the end time church in Revelation, for you say I am rich. I have made myself wealthy and I need nothing. Yeshua made the point that the Pharisees were lovers of money as a first statement there in what we read. Well, Yeshua says at the end times in the book of Revelation under the revelation inspiration given to John. You say I'm rich. I have made myself wealthy. Look at the kingdom we have established. Look at thy gifts and anointings. And I need nothing. We have all the answers. Come to our church. But you do not know that you are miserable and pitiable and poor and blind and naked. That's some message isn't it? I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich and white clothes buy them so that you may dress yourself and so that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed. And I serve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be zealous and repent. Because I'm going to remove your candlestick if you don't. That's Revelation 3. Sounds familiar. In this parable Lazarus dies and is carried to Abraham's bosom, the place where the sleeping have entered their resurrection call. The rich man dies and he finds himself as being in Sheol, a place of torment. Sheol in the Greek just means grave, the pit. So from the grave the rich man goes into a place of torment and fiery judgement. This is the second resurrection. It's a resurrection unto terror before the great white throne as in all the things that Yeshua teaches. If we don't get scripture to interpret scripture we make it say what fits my doctrine. And one verse of scripture can span thousands of years from its first point to its last point. And you have to let scripture tell you what that is saying and how it all fits and what the doctrines mean. And so when he says one thing in Daniel and one thing in Revelation they're saying the same thing. They're just thousands of years apart. But they'll say it in one verse as if they're connected and they're happening all at the same time. They're not. There is a whole heap of scripture that says there's lots and lots of years and lots and lots of things to happen between that point and that point. And that's what the book of Revelation is about. What Daniel said back there is what John is saying here and John gives the final scenario. Daniel, shut the book, seal it up, don't worry about what it means, I'll reveal it at the end days. And here Yeshua, the same thing, it's a parable. He says this statement and we have to understand from scripture how to interpret it, how to apply it and what it means. And he says I put them into parables and I put them into mysteries because I don't want everyone to understand but those whom I choose to give it to. Those who will seek it out, those to whom I want to give understanding of the truth of the kingdom I want them to see it. He says to his fellow disciples, he says, fellows, this is why I talk in parables in answer to your question because I want you to understand everything about the kingdom but I don't want them to. Because I want you running my kingdom, not them. I'll keep them blind by telling them stories and parables that they'll never understand truly or properly and they'll never repent even if they do. So I want you to understand this, not them. Nothing's changed. It is still the same today. The few will listen, observe, accept, have their eyes opened, they'll put the eye salve on, they will repent, they will confess and YHVH will open the door. The few there be that find it. That's what we have to understand. The many will say no, you're an idiot and the few will say we understand it. That's YHVH. We must not get discouraged about those things. But let YHVH do his work as we go forth in his name. So, this rich man is part of the second resurrection, the resurrection unto terror before the great white throne and he is under the fiery judgment of God. Abraham, please put some water on my tongue. Please send Lazarus to help me in this torment. It's a place before YHVH from where no one can help you in your terror and your torment. No one can come to you to help you and you can't come to us for help. There is a great chasm between these two different peoples and resurrection groups. And you will stay in that situation and that condition called the lake of fire, the second death in Revelation until you've paid the last cent and you fall before the Almighty and confess that he is Lord of Lords, King of Kings, Master over every other ruler, leader, authority and power that you have ever bowed down to, man or demon. And you will stay there until you acknowledge you were wrong. Until you confess your wickedness, your sin and your evil and you say, Father forgive me, they were right, we were wrong. Confess it and you will stay there until every tongue confesses Yeshua is Sovereign, Master, Lord. Don't submit yourself to false doctrine. Don't submit yourself to demonic miracles, messages. Don't let yourself become deceived. Always stand true to Torah, to the Apostles, to Yeshua and their teachings. The great chasm or gulf that separates us is called lawlessness. Verse 26 in that passage he said, Besides all this between us and you a great chasm is firmly set so that those who want to cross over to you cannot, nor can those from there cross over to us. Those who Yeshua calls the sleeping like Lazarus and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the like are those who are faithful and obedient to Torah. The Torah keepers from Genesis to Revelation is who he is talking about. If you love me, keep my commandments and obey my words. They all believe in Yeshua becoming Messiah. Every Christian, millions of Christians all believe in Yeshua the Messiah. They believe in his death and they believe in his resurrection. But those who are the dead who are in their graves or those who are still the living dead believing in all their false doctrines and denominational structures and teachings they're living in unbelief to Yeshua's life and teachings. And the living, those who are living are living in disobedience to the teachings that came from the mouth of God called the Torah which Yeshua said you must follow and obey every word that came forth from his mouth. It's never changed. So whichever camp you're in when you die it cannot be changed until the thousand year millennial reign is over. And this is called the great chasm that cannot be crossed or changed. Do you want to show off that picture? Whoever's got it. Just a little graph. That's it. Yeshua's second coming and the first resurrection. They're the sleeping faithful. Yeshua has arrived the sleeping faithful are resurrected. Then there is a thousand year millennial reign and you get the second resurrection called the white throne judgment and that's for the disobedient dead. That's for the faithful sleeping that's for the disobedient dead and there's a great chasm between the two of one thousand years. And he says you can't come over there and you can't be part of this. Father we want to be in your kingdom. No you can't. Get to this stage they all stand before the great white throne judgment. YHVH conveys to them takes them through their life shows them every opportunity that they had in life to change and repent and to become part of the truth of his word and his way and it's all outlined before them their wickedness, their evil, their wrong their breaking of every commandment that they ever broke and it all flashes before their eyes and the fiery judgment of God comes upon them and they're in torment and they can see you and I and any that are in Abraham's bosom the place of those who are the living still the living in the blessing and the truth and the fruitfulness of YHVH and they are saying can you please come and help us can you please come and be there getting us out of this torment and terror and fear no you can't, you stay there you stay there until you confess, repent and pay the price for your wickedness and your wrong and it's all about this Torah life what we live now will determine what part we are in on this here we're either part of the first resurrection or the second resurrection we're either part of the sleeping faithful or the disobedient dead if we're asleep we'll be awakened then if we're dead we'll be awakened then and it's all based on our beliefs our doctrines because that determines our faith in Yeshua that determines which side of the chasm we're on and who is going to rule and reign like an angel for one thousand years that's a long time in human terms so one thousand years us angelic empowered anointed peoples with an authority and a power to take the message of the kingdom to the ends of the earth and we will proclaim that message for one thousand years with supernatural power and an unbelievable wisdom and understanding that comes from God and what we don't know we will know then we will know as we are known says Paul we will come into the light of understanding of everything that we struggle to understand we look now through a glass dimly at the truth so we've got enough grasp on it to know this is the way walk in it and the gifts of the spirit are meaningless and empty because you are baptised in the Ruach and you have this gift, that gift and the other gift it's a meaningless empty thing if you don't have love, true love walking in obedience to God's commandments that's love and Paul said you can have the gift of all knowledge you can give your body to be burned you can do these miracles whatsoever he said but you know what they're all going to disappear they're all going to be gone you don't need them in the kingdom you don't need them when you're resurrected you don't need them when you have an immortal body and you're as powerful as an angel you only need them for the now life you only need them now to help other people to bring a message from God to share a thought, to feed a hungry to exercise love or to heal a sick body or to do a miracle to meet a need you're just catering for this body in this earth for now and hopefully bring a message and a revelation of truth in the process of it Yeshua did miracle after miracle the apostles did miracles after miracles and loads and loads and loads and loads of people it never made one scrap of difference it didn't matter how many people Yeshua healed they still wanted to kill him and it didn't matter how many thousands he fed with bread and fish from nothing they still walked away from him this gift Pentecostalism Charismata is to meet the needs of people today because God loves his creation and his people and he wants them to respond to him in love and see how much he cares for them and wants to minister and meet their needs but if that's all it is you're a clanging gong and a sounding cymbal empty and meaningless for the eternal life if you do that in that life before the second coming you won't be part of it unless you are walking in the truth of who Yehovah wants in his millennial reign his kingdom he said you can believe in me as much as you like you can do as many miracles as you want you can feed as many hungry people as you want but he said if you're lawless I don't want you I don't want you, I don't even know you you're not my friend you're not part of my kingdom I want people for that thousand years who obey me, who love me who will serve me, understand me and know me and all the rest of you can wait till this point when my father at the great white throne judgment gets a hold of you and shakes you like a rat in torment and terror until you repent wow that's the parable of the rich man, poor man well that's my application of that parable So John, it sounds there should be the sleeping disobedient is that correct? No, the sleeping are those who love Yehovah love Yeshua, they're just asleep there's a dead dead there's a dead dead they're not sleeping they're waiting to be awakened after this period so it's symbolic, it's terminology that he uses the word sleeping for those who are faithful to him and he doesn't use the word sleeping for those who are disobedient to him because they're not going to be awakened at that point they're going to be raised from the dead at that point so it's just making this comparison and differentiation between two groups of people and he's speaking in a spiritual understanding of how his kingdom works so that's why I call them the dead dead Scripti doesn't use that term but I do the dead dead so that we've got a comparison between the sleeping dead and the dead dead one gets the first resurrection the other gets the second resurrection and that's the reason why because there's a millennial reign when Yeshua will return and he wants the whole world that is full of the dead dead to hear the true message that they rejected before they died so it says the nation is forbidden dead and their name will be there after the one thousand years but if one thousand years and people will believe they will believe or they all will believe whether they like it or not you suffer the torment long enough and painful enough you will repent you will come to understand the truth they will the scripture says that that's what we teach when it comes to heaven and hell the restitution of all things John, what happens to those that die without the opportunity of knowing or being exposed to Yeshua in the scriptures? you know the scripture is clear on that too when you read it in Romans and other places that there are those who will be judged according, all of them will be judged according to the Torah as it is written into their hearts scripture says that every living being knows right from wrong they don't have to know the whole Torah they don't have to know the whole scriptures they don't even have to know anything about Yeshua but there is a conscience built into every man it doesn't matter what your culture is you know when you've done right when you've done wrong and the scriptures say that every person will be judged that has never known him or had the opportunity as to how they have honoured that Torah written into their hearts in the sense of he has given them a moral code to live by and everyone knows when they break that moral code and so and of course their judgement and their coming before YHVH there's whole different levels of how that works out YHVH is not going to punish them in hell or what we call hell in the fiery torments and judgements of his fury and wrath upon them but there will be that instant recognition that indigenous traditions of the fathers and the spirits that they worship were wrong they will know that straight away and they will repent they will confess Yeshua is redeemer, saviour who died for us sorry which group, the last group no one can be raised there unless they can serve the kingdom every one of them the rest will always be there but as Yeshua taught there are levels of punishment and judgement people will instantly recognise who he is and the message that he has given them you know, all the details are not there but the broad scope of the message is there right throughout scripture the people in Sodom and Gomorrah will not be punished as hard, as difficultly, as long as the people of Nazareth because they had more light Sodom and Gomorrah never had Yeshua come into their city, do miracles preach the message and they rejected it Sodom and Gomorrah never had any of that all they knew was they were being badly behaved and immoral people satisfying the flesh and its desires and you have to wipe them out so their judgements on judgement day will be nothing like the judgements of those that had the light that knew Yeshua in comparison to those that didn't have the light and didn't know Yeshua so he knows how to bring everyone into his kingdom and he knows will not the judge of all the earth do right that's what he says in scripture will not the judge of all the earth do right he is not going to wrongly punish torment those who do not deserve that level of thing, he's going to bring them to that place of repentance little children of course they do wrong but they're not accountable for a certain point and at what point is that, yeah lots of conjecture on what point that is at but I'm sure every child is different from every other child they will understand right and wrong sooner or later depending on whether you're a boy or a girl we never know what's wrong but all the girls do so they get punished quicker so we're pretty dense and dumb it's all innocent on our part so but he said unless you become like little children you will never enter the kingdom so we know that little children are going to enter the kingdom and we know that at some point they will be accountable for their actions at what point they're accountable for their actions that's God's business, we're not the God of all the earth the judge of all the earth you're right but he's saying you become like a little child be innocent Paul says it in 1 Corinthians don't be childish behave like grown ups stop fighting among yourselves and creating division because I will treat you, if you act like a child I'll treat you like a child precocious, difficult bad tempered, nasty little being he said I will punish you accordingly so I don't have all the answers to those questions but I know God does just one more the things that are written in the scripture for us for our learning and understanding problem about the theme on the cross that says we're sure we're going to enter the new age in the kingdom and it sure says that today we shall be with you in paradise how do we read that? we read it like the scripture says it so he says this day will you be with me in paradise paradise is a term meaning kingdom the garden of eden was paradise it is a term meaning that's the kingdom of God on earth and you follow that through with the garden of eden to the promised land to the second coming kingdom they're all symbolic of the same message that God is trying to get across one thief says you know nothing never honoured Yeshua never spoke good or confessed or acknowledged his wickedness and evil and murderous intent the other one did and because he said Yeshua I believe in who you are, you are a just good man and I've been a bad bad bad man but I acknowledge you and I say he made that confession and Yeshua said on his confession you'll be with me, in other words you will be part of my kingdom, in other words you're going to be put to death on this cruel Roman cross and you're going to go to sleep and at the appropriate time I'm going to wake you up you can't say more than the scriptures say, you can't take our conditions and our teachings and our beliefs and insert it in there when it doesn't say it, it just says a very basic thing and you have to fit it into the rest of scripture as to what it means, he's talking about paradise he's talking about his kingdom he's not talking about going to heaven and sitting on a throne next to him, he's talking about you will be with me in my kingdom you will go to sleep in the next few hours and I'm going to wake you up and we'll be together forever, that's what scripture teaches, that's what it means we can't make it say more than it says or we run into all kinds of error correct correct yeah and he said there's greater and the least in the kingdom but there's one who will have more responsibility than others just finishing, Matthew 28 says Yeshua came up to the apostles and spoke to them saying all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me, go therefore and make disciples of all nations immersing them into the name of the father, the son, Ruach HaKadesh teaching them to observe all I have commanded you and remember I am with you always even to the end of the age the word remember there as he is about to disappear into the clouds back to where he came from and that word remember, remember I am with you always even to the end of the age as it reads, in the Greek it's an imperative and it's saying behold behold recognise, understand and know, know I am with you always and then the following words translated I am with you always can be translated I am is with you always that to me is just such a powerful presentation and understanding, saying he's about to depart and leave them they've just gone through the most traumatic period in their life, been filled with the Ruach, the master is now about to leave them and he says behold I am I am is with you even to the end of this era and so we're reminded that Matthew who wrote those words he begins with Yeshua being born in Matthew chapter 1 and he writes that this baby that shall be born to Miriam he shall be called Emmanuel Emmanuel God with us God with us that's Matthew chapter 1 verse 23 you shall have a baby and he will be known as called Emmanuel God or Elohim with us wow he's quoting from Isaiah chapter 7 Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14 said that that was a prophetic statement in Isaiah's day fulfilled when Miriam gave birth to this baby and this baby was born by Miriam in prophetic fulfillment of what Isaiah prophesied hundreds of years before and the angel said his name will be Emmanuel God is with us what an amazing statement and understanding then here in the last verse of Matthew's writing he signs off with Yeshua as the great I am who will never leave you isn't that an amazing thing from God with us to I am who will never forsake you I will never leave you behold, behold, never forget always remember I am is with you Emmanuel the God of all creation came down to earth and I'm not leaving you I am is with you to the end of the age until I come back the second time and that confirms the truth in verse 19 that we are to immerse people into that name that name that carries all power, all authority Yehovah immerse them into the name of the Father, the name of the Son the name of the Ruach, their name is Yehovah the great I am and he says let people know disciple them into this name disciple them into the truth of the commandments that I have as given and it will bring you into the resurrection of the first resurrection and rulers of my kingdom, you shall be a kingdom of priests you shall rule and reign with the I am for one thousand years that's scripture, that's the hope that he set before us that's the message he wants us to understand that we are to be like him because of who he is and we are immersed his name becomes our name and our name is our ministries and lives and callings are empowered because we are one with that name and that name is built into the name of Yeshua Yehoshua Yehovah saves, Yehovah is salvation, Yeshua is our salvation Yehovah Yeshua is our salvation, Yehovah Ruach is our power and authority Yehovah Father is the one who brought us into this truth and understanding who said behold I will never leave you what an amazing amazing message, the great I am, you know what Yehovah is manifest in all three and is all three he is Echad one so every just to add insult to injury every funeral service always asks the question are they the sleeping or the dead now I've done a few funeral services and the last one I took part in not long ago my sisters, this is the question, how do I present the message my the one who took the first part of the service said she is in heaven hugging her little daughter that died as a baby what do I say I know that that's not true about my sister that I'm burying in a hole in the ground is she part of the sleeping or is she part of the dead dead I know what she was but that's what every funeral service is about that people should and need to understand the world can do what it's like the catholic church can forgive every sin that it wants to and tell them they're all going to heaven you can be the biggest murderer, the biggest ganglander and you're still going to heaven just let the priest say a prayer there is a place called purgatory as far as the catholics are concerned and if you haven't been very good then you'll go to purgatory but pay us enough money we'll say some prayers and we'll get them out of purgatory and I'll go to heaven so it's ok what a travesty what a travesty I'll stick with what the scripture says amen we're just going to close in prayer thank you Rob father it is wonderful to know you it is wonderful to reach out to you and understand that you are yearning for us to come to you and just speak the truth speak to living with and the way we should live the way we should act and we represent you father and we are proud to do that as John was saying a living word that we get fed every week is so powerful and so underestimated that we are just so thankful father because we are enriched each time and may we all do the same in time to come we will be served in more and more different ways and we are thankful for that father the challenge is there but we take it on board we accept and we love each other so thank you father for these special times because in this small community group right here and now I'm bold enough to say it's like there's none of us there will be and there are but it feels that way and we are blessed we are blessed so thank you father for this wonderful word may we be enriched in your name Amen