Doctrine of the Future Resurrection of the Dead

The speaker discusses the importance of hope and the resurrection as our hope. They mention the significance of signs and miracles in the Old Testament and how they are no longer necessary with the completed Word of God. The speaker also touches on the concepts of faith, hope, and love, and how they work together. They then focus on the book of Daniel, particularly chapters 10, 11, and 12, which reveal that the chastening of Israel is not yet over. The speaker emphasizes that time is not important to God, but rather the purification and salvation of people. You have your Bibles today, tonight, turn to Daniel chapter 12, Daniel chapter 12. I mentioned this passage this morning. If you get there, and then want to turn also to 1 Corinthians chapter 13, which is a very familiar passage of Scripture, but as we look at this, tonight I want to talk to you a little bit about hope, and the resurrection is our hope that we talked about this morning, and I got this sermon almost completely worked up this week, and I stopped because it's really dealing with Israel, and I said, you know, that really just doesn't really affect us that much today, and I just stopped, and I said, you know what, I'm not going to finish that, I said I'll have me a sermon for down in the future somewhere, and it was a good study, and kind of just went on with it, and then the more that I got to thinking, and the more that I was praying, God just kept bringing me back to this passage of Scripture tonight, but 1 Corinthians chapter 13, and if you remember that 1 Corinthians chapter 12, 13, and 14 deal with spiritual gifts, and mainly dealing with those signed gifts, and if you remember, Israel required a sign. They always wanted God to prove Himself, even with Moses. You remember when Moses was called by God, God ended up telling him to take his staff and throw it on the ground, and then He said, pick it, it turned into a snake, He said, pick it back up, and that still, that sign, that miracle did not convince Moses, and He said, now put your hand inside your coat, and so Israel always wanted signs, and God always worked with them with signs and miracles, but now we have the completed Word of God, and all of Hebrews is basically discussing that, it's they're looking at all of the Old Testament was a shadow of what was to be fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and 1 Corinthians chapter 13, He talks about when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part, the signs and the miracles will be done away with, and if you remember, even with Moses in the Old Testament, a lot of the signs that he did, the magi's and the magicians and stuff were able to duplicate them signs, and so you really had to watch to see, is this sign from God, or is this sign from the devil, because both of them can perform signs and miracles, and so it gets really confusing, but now that we have the authority of the Word of God, it should be a whole lot less confusing. Now that we have seen Jesus Christ, it should be less confusing, and so He says in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, in verse 13, He says, Now abideth faith, hope, and love, these three, but the greatest of these is charity, love, and as you think about that, have you ever just thought about what exactly faith, hope, and love is? I know we talk about these a lot, but have you ever thought about how they function and work together as one unity, as one unit? Faith is our exercise toward Jesus Christ, right? We repent from dead works, we have faith toward God, it's that exercise toward Jesus Christ. Hope is our expectation of following Christ. Because I chose Christ, hope is what I'm going to gain out of it, what I'm going to get in the future. Love is how we serve Jesus Christ, because it is the expression of Jesus Christ that we have today. And so He says, faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love. And if you think about mankind, and you think about human nature and everything, we could not exist without faith, hope, or love. All of these have to be a part for us to exist, and especially when we talk about eternity. And tonight, I just want to take Daniel chapter 12, verses 1 through 3, and just give you a little bit of hope tonight. Because, see, the one thing that we know about God, and one thing that I have a problem with sometimes, is a lot of people want to take the Old Testament Israel and make everything mean something to the church. And I don't want to do that tonight. And so I want you to understand this prophecy is for Israel. But God is also the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And so a lot of the ways that He worked with Israel is the same ways that He works with the church today. And so we all need to be able to see a light at the end of the tunnel. When you think about suicide, I don't know, it's just been on my mind a lot here lately, is suicide, and I've had some people answer me questions about suicide. I've been doing some studies and research and dealing with Catholicism, and what they believe with suicide, and all of that. And one of the things that I've discovered with the doctors, the doctors seem to suggest that the statistics show that suicide comes about not because of current circumstances, but that it actually comes about because of no future change in the situation. And that's why suicide is hard to predict. Because it's not one act that happens. It's not one thing that just all of a sudden I'm going to go and kill myself. Most of the time what happens is they can see no future. They can see no hope. They can see no way out of what they're doing. And if you understand the book of Daniel, Daniel the first eight chapters is fun. The first eight chapters is good to preach. When it gets into the prophecy part of it, Daniel is really just not really exciting. It's rather depressing if you've studied, because all it talks about is over and over God gives Daniel these revelations of all of these disastrous things that's going to come about in the future in the life of Israel. And everything is bad. Everything is this thing. And as a matter of fact, if you look at all of the visions and revelations in Daniel's prophecy, a series of oppressions comes upon the nation of Israel. Every one of the prophecies deals with the oppression of Israel. And Israel is going to be oppressed. They are going to be savagely attacked. They're going to be abused. They're going to be slaughtered throughout the rest of their history until Messiah returns. And that's what Daniel is laying out. And if you read Daniel, Daniel is shocked to learn that, remember, Daniel was brought into Babylonian captivity. Remember Daniel chapter 1 verse 8, that Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's meat, right? And so he had a training, he had an ability, and so therefore he served God rather than serve and bow down to the gods of Babylon. And they go through. The Babylonian captivity actually lasted 70 years. And they were finally released. And what Daniel is surprised is that when they're finally released and they're finally able to go back to Israel and Jerusalem, guess what? The majority of the Jews decided to stay in Babylon. Not many of them went back. Can you imagine how disheartening that would be? That would kind of be like the closest thing that I can even compare it to of late is when COVID hit a few years ago, right? And we kind of had to shut down church services for a few weeks. I still did the live, but we wasn't able to assemble together. And even though I have preached Jesus Christ and done all of that, what would have matched to is when we finally opened up the church and nobody returned, right? Just a couple of people that everybody just already got in. And we kind of see us seeing that today. We're kind of seeing the effects of people that got out of church that are not coming back that's there. And so these people were already, in the 70 years they were in captivity, had become steeped into this paganism. And unfortunately, sadly, many of them would never turn back to God. Even the next generation stayed away from God. Daniel, who had purposed in his heart not to defile himself, now begins to ask God why. Why all of a sudden do you deliver the children, but they don't return back? Why? And it's kind of the same questions that we ask God a lot of times. Why is this oppression not over? Why will they not return to the promised land? Why will they not rebuild Jerusalem? And you come to Daniel chapter 10, 11, and 12, and that's what God is doing in these three chapters. He's answering Daniel's why. Why they won't do this. And basically, to summarize these three chapters tonight, is basically God is answering in a vision of revelation and telling them that the chastening is not over. Now why did God chasten the nation of Israel to begin with? He said, if you love me and obey me, I will bless you. But if you don't love me with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and you go after other idols and other things, then He said what? I'm going to curse you. I'm going to chasten you. And so they're under the chastening of Babylon. Why? Because they turned their back on God. They chased after the other gods to begin with. And so God has brought them into this chastening. And He goes on in Daniel and He tells them that this chastening is not over. The nation of Israel still needs to be refined. They still need to be made and returned back to the image that God had created them. And He tells them that this chastening would actually last until the coming of Jesus Christ. There would be literally thousands of years that this chastening was going to take place before the end. If you're there at Daniel chapter 12, go back to chapter 11 and look at verse 34. He says, Now when they shall fall, they shall be held up with a little help, but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. And some of them of understanding shall fall to try them, to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end, because it is yet for a time appointed. He says time does not matter to God. We're interested in time, right? We're constantly looking at our watch. We're constantly flying it. I saw on Facebook this week the clock of a retired person. And all that was on there was Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, right? But we're just encapulated with time. But time doesn't matter to God. What matters to God is the purification of people. The salvation of people. God is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's the passage of Scripture that we always list quotes that says, God says a day is as a thousand, and a thousand is as a day, right? It's not that talking about the longevity of time and the quickness that time passes in God. It's talking about one day to God is like a thousand days here, because God is not willing that any should die and go to hell. He wants us to be saved. And so it's not a matter of time. What it's a matter of is that He wants everybody to be saved. And that is the focus. And so He goes through this with Israel, this testing, this purifying, this purging process. And Israel would become subjected to a series of Gentile and pagan oppressors. He has two big major visions that begins with Ahasuerus and others from the Medo-Persian government and empire. They would come and chastise the people of Israel. Then He moved and talked about Alexander the Great and other Greek people that would control and reign as their empire. Then He talks about Antiochus the Great and Antiochus Epiphanes of the Roman empire until finally He finishes with the empire that is led by the Antichrist himself. We know that's going to happen in the tribulation period. And all of these leaders in all of these nations are going to do one thing and one thing only. They are going to oppress and abuse and slaughter the Israelites. That is their goal. That is their purpose. That is their position. But remember, the purpose of this is for God to purge them. The purpose of this is to get the Israelites to repent. That's the passage that we always use come revival time, right? If my people, which are called by my name, shall do what? Repent. Repent. Seek me. Then what? I'll heal them. I'll forgive them. And so God is doing this in order to cause them to repent. And so God is going to continue to bring chastisement upon Israel for thousands and thousands of years because they will not repent and allow God to present them what? That's exciting, isn't it? Man, that makes you want to come back. No, that's depressing. You know, I used to think Ecclesiastes was depressing. And then I started reading and understanding Daniel. Daniel's just as depressing as Ezekiel is. But look, we come to chapter 12. And if you'll notice, if you'll turn the page in your Bible, you will find that this is the last chapter and it only has 13 verses. So we finally come to the end of all of this oppression, of all of this slaughter, of all of this, and God finally gives His final words to Daniel. He says, Daniel, this is going to continue for thousands of years. There's absolutely no light at the end of the tunnel. Daniel is bleak. Daniel is disheartened. He is saddened. If you go back to chapter 10, it talks about him falling down and mourning and weeping. And he said in verse 6 of chapter 10, his body not there, but he said, Therefore I was left alone, verse 8, and saw this great vision that reminded me. I heard the voice, verse 10, and he said, in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground. All of this was coming out of his anxiety, all of his wondering. And he said, Finally, behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hand, and gives them all of this bad news. But we come to chapter 12, and we come to verse 1, 2, and 3, and finally, God gives Daniel some light. Finally, God gives Daniel some hope. And let me just say before we get into this, let me just give you a couple of passages of Scripture in the New Testament to kind of show, yes, this is talking about Israel, but it also correlates to the hope that we have today. In James chapter 1, verse 3, remember James said, Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh like patience. And patience have her perfect work, her complete work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. In other words, God's goal and God's purpose for us as Christians is to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. When you go to Hebrews chapter 13, you will see that's where God says, Those that He loves, that He chastens. That we might be conformed to His image. But James tells us, If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally. And so all through the New Testament, and I'm not going to give you every verse or every passage of Scripture, but Romans chapter 8 and verse 29 says that He also, Whom ye foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. That is what God is wanting to do in our life, is to conform us to Jesus Christ. How does He do that? Through the trying of your faith, your act toward God, your belief toward God, your exercise toward God. He takes that and He tries it. He gives us tests. When you read Hebrews chapter 11, everyone that's mentioned in the hall of faith did what? They were tested of how they trusted God. Remember Abraham? Give me Isaac, your only son. And lay him on the altar and take his life. Give him to me. And what did Abraham do? By faith, he lifted up the knife and the angel stopped him. And so all of this, God uses us and chastises us that we might be able to be there. But then we come to chapter 12 and so all of this relates, what He's doing with Israel relates to us. And sometimes, some of us end up going through chastening and it seems like we're always suffering and we're always doing bad. But sometimes we may need to repent and see what God's trying to teach us. Let the trying of our faith work as patience. And then let that patience have her perfect work. Let it come to maturity in our life. None of us like patience, right? Every Christian I know of says, I'm not praying for patience, but James says that we should allow patience to have its complete work. Because that's how we mature. That's how we become just like Jesus Christ. Because Jesus Christ finally proven that He was the Son of God, that He was the perfect sacrifice and without sin. The death on the cross. He humbly bowed and nobody could find any fault. Nobody could say that Jesus Christ was guilty. And yet He was a Lamb that was led to the slaughter. And what? He opened not His mouth. Neither was guile found in it. He didn't say anything bad about those that was crucified on the cross. And so when the pressure came on, what happened? His patience and His hope rose to the top. And therefore it showed His glory. So now we come to Daniel chapter 12. And he says, And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince, which standeth for the children of thy people. And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be written in the book. What time is he talking about? Because it's very much specific. At that time. Well, in order to know what time it is, you have to go back to Daniel chapter 11. He finishes up Daniel chapter 11 in verse 36 through 45. He is discussing the time of the Antichrist. When the Antichrist would rule. And so he puts it in a very specific time frame. When is the Antichrist going to rule? The tribulation. Specifically the first three and a half years. In three and a half years he's going to walk into the temple and he's going to finally declare himself as God. That's what Daniel is trying to tell us. That's what Daniel is showing us. And so when all of a sudden this oppression actually becomes the greatest. And when all of a sudden when he says the Antichrist stands up and declares himself to be God, what did Jesus Christ say? If you're a Jew, you better run. You better get out of Jerusalem. Because why? Oppression and death is fixing to come. The Antichrist's only goal at the three and a half year right time point is to eliminate and annihilate all of Israel. And he said even if you're nursing. He said God forbid if you're nursing when it's summertime or whenever because when the Antichrist declares that he's God, you need to go. Oppression is fixing to hit. So at their worst time, when they're facing their worst oppressor. Now, just right off the top of your head. Who comes to mind when you think of the worst oppressor of Israel? Hitler, right? That's the first one that comes to our mind. Do you realize what's going to happen with the Antichrist in the new tribulation period is not actually going to compare to what Hitler did. As a matter of fact, the Bible teaches, if you go read this in Revelation, the Bible teaches that two-thirds of all of Israel is going to be annihilated. Two-thirds. Now, just here to give you an easy math that I can do that you can understand. If there's 15 million Jews living right now, that means the Antichrist is going to wipe out 10 million of them. That's two-thirds. How many of them are slaves? Hitler didn't do that. And so we're talking about an oppression that is tremendous. That's the time that he's talking about. At that time, that very time, when Israel is at their darkest point in history, the future of Israel, when that Antichrist brings Jacob's trouble to the complete climax. And what do we know? We know at the end of that tribulation period, it ends with a bloodbath at Armageddon. Remember, the Bible says that the valley of Armageddon runs so deep that the blood gets up to the horse's bridle. Now, I don't know about you, but a horse's bridle. And I've seen that valley. That valley is, I forget how many miles wide, how many miles long. But even if blood comes out, the ground is going to go. Do you know how much blood has to be spilled to be that deep in a valley that long? This is going to be a terrible thing that is happening. And that's what he's explaining to Daniel that's here. And it's a time of domination that this Antichrist, this willful king, rises to his zenith. But it's also a time when the angels say that your people can have hope. See, at the darkest time always is right before dawn. Have you heard that? The darkest time is right before dawn. And it's at that time that God gives them hope. And so look at what he's saying. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time, and at that time thy people shall be delivered. He says there, look at this distressful time that's going on. He says there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to the same time. Israel has suffered. We've seen Israel. We've watched Israel suffer and suffer and suffer. But yet, Daniel and Jesus Christ said it's only going to get worse. It's only going to get worse because of the chastening rod of God. All of it, the whole purpose of it is to refine Israel to God because of their rebellion and their rejection for their purpose of drawing them to Him. But he says the worst suffering is yet to come. As a matter of fact, if you go to Matthew chapter 24 and read the words of Jesus Christ, he says in chapter 7, I'm just going to read a few verses highlighted out of chapter 24, but in verse 7 he says, During this time nations shall rise against nations, kingdom against kingdom. There shall be famines and pestilence and earthquakes in various places. Skip down to verse 15. It says, When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whoso readeth, let him understand. And let him which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let him which is in the field return back to get clothes and woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. In other words, when the Antichrist stands up and claims that he's God, it is going to get so bad and so terrible. He says, if you're out in the field, don't go back and get your clothes in. And so you see, all these Israelites are going to scatter quickly. It's going to happen real fast. And God is pouring out His suffering. If you want to know what all is fixing to start happening, go this week and read Revelation 6-19. From that point until we get to the end of the tribulation, 6-19 is covered in Revelation. That's what he's talking about. This last three and a half years of what is going on on this earth. The evil has reached its pinnacle. Somebody came out this morning. I'm upset because I made the statement about people being saved during the tribulation period. And they said, it's going to be almost impossible. And I said, yes, it is going to be impossible. But the Scripture that we read this morning is that the martyrs are going to be resurrected. It's not going to be completely impossible. There are going to be people that are saved, but it's not going to be easy. I wouldn't rely on waiting until the tribulation period, because you have no Holy Spirit, you have no church, you have no gospel. And all of this evil is going to happen. And so all of this is going to take place. And remember, this evil has a purpose. It has a purpose. In Zechariah 13, verse 8, it says, And it shall come to pass that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die, but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on My name, and I will hear them. I will say, It is My people. And they shall say, The Lord is my God. One-third of Israel, after two-thirds of them are going to be annihilated, one-third is going to say, You know what? It's better to follow God. We're going to follow God. We're going to obey God. We're going to do what God wants us to do. And He said, All of that tribulation is going to be as fire upon them. And it's going to determine what? How is the Christian going to be tried? By fire, according to our work. The good thing is, is there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ. It's only good, good, good. The wood, hay, and stubble, the bad stuff is going to be burned up and take off like smoke. Only the good stuff is going to be left. And so, man, if this would happen today, as I mentioned a while ago, if there were 15 million Jews, 10 million of them would die. When you look at Michael, Michael in Scripture is one of them three that we call an archangel. Nowhere in the Scripture does it mention Art. Art just means one of the top three. There seems to be three, Michael, Gabriel, and Lucifer. That's a whole other study. But we do know that Michael seems to be the one that deals with the demonic forces, the demonic angels. When Satan was cast out of heaven, you remember one-third of the angels went with him? And it seems like every time Michael is mentioned, he's always fighting Benel. If you go back when Moses died upon the mountain in Re, it was Michael that showed up and fought Satan over his bones. It's always Michael that is doing it. As a matter of fact, if you go to Revelation 12 and verse 7, it says, and there was a war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought against the angels. And so, listen, Jesus Christ even has His angels fighting. It is so bad and so terrible. But we know the end of it, right? And that's where we're getting to the hope. Notice the deliverance. At that time in verse 1, thy people shall be delivered. Two-thirds of them have been destroyed. But at that time there shall be a deliverance. Who's going to be delivered? Everyone that is found written in the book of life. How do you get in the book of life? In the book of life is written everyone that is redeemed. Everyone that has accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ are written in the book of life. Once your name is written in the book of life, you cannot be removed. And so you're going to be looked at in the book. Revelation 13, verse 8 says, All that dwell upon the earth shall worship Him whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. And 17, verse 8, He talks again about the beast that saw us and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is. And there's some other verses, but notice that the redeemed, those found in the book of life, are going to be delivered. They're going to be delivered. And look at their destiny in verse 2. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting content. Notice the word there, many. I'm a big proponent of words. Words are not just in the Scripture for them. Notice it didn't say all. It said many. And I began to chase that down. Why is many going to be resurrected, but not all? And I come to the conclusion that when you go to... Do you remember when Jesus Christ was crucified? And He cried, It is finished. The temple bell ripped, but something else happened. The graves around Jerusalem opened up. Now, not everybody, not all the Israelites over the world, just right there in Jerusalem. It says the graves opened up, and the Old Testament saints that had faith in Jesus Christ went into Jerusalem to testify. We don't have a lot of details. We don't have a lot of explanation on it. But there was some that was there. But there's a whole lot, many more that didn't resurrect that day. Remember what Jesus Christ said? He said, told the thief on the cross, Today thou shalt be with me in paradise. And so apparently them resurrected ones gave their witness, and they immediately went with Jesus Christ to heaven at that point. And so that gets all, but notice the destiny here. Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth, that are dead, shall awake. That's the resurrection. They shall awake. Some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. You go through the Bible, and Abraham believed in the resurrection. In Hebrews 11 and verse 19, when he was talking about killing Isaac, he said, Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from whence also he had received him in a figure. And so he said, yes, even if he killed Isaac, he didn't know if God would resurrect him right then, but he knew that God would resurrect him later. That there was going to be a resurrection. Job, who was before Moses, said that my body will be resurrected one day. David, after his child from Bathsheba died, you remember he got up and he washed himself, and he said, as long as that baby was alive, I was to mourn, I was to pray to God, and everything. But the minute that that baby died, there's no more need for me to mourn and talk to God. So he cleaned himself up, he went in to eat, but he made this statement. He said, where my child is, I will see him one day when I'm resurrected. And so the resurrection was taught all through the Bible. They just didn't understand the resurrection of Christ. They didn't understand that. And so look at the dividend, and we're going to close in verse 3. And they that be wise, and I mentioned this this morning, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. When God showed up on earth, what did it always refer to? His glory. His brightness. We just sang tonight, I am here in all of this desert and wilderness, and God took me and put me in the crest of the rock, and He covered up my hand as He passed by wine, because of the brightness of His glory. First John, God said, if only He knew, we shall be like Him. And what He's telling Israel is, guess what? As I mentioned this morning, He said, if you are going to be as bright as the firmament, and those that lead people to righteousness, those that share the gospel, they are going to be as the brightness of the stars. None of us will outshine God or Jesus Christ. It says in the new singing in Jerusalem, there's going to be no need for the sun and the moon and the light. So it's not from the glory of the people, it's from the glory of Jesus Christ. He is going to shine, and why would anyone think there's going to be no shadow? But here, it tells us that those that are sane, when you go through, when you look at this early morning, and since David preached this Sunday night, that's why I wanted to do this message tonight, because we're going to be able to get all of it in the same morning next week. But when we're trying to fire, we're going to have to go with silver and precious stones. And what's going to be the reward of our works, of our payment, for serving God and being sold out to God, is that we are going to reflect His glory. And we're going to shine, and there's going to be different brightnesses. I don't know what we're going to do. There's not much in the Scripture about it, but the Scripture does tell us that we are going to rule and reign, and different ones of us are going to have different rules and reigns. When you look at the stars, and you go all the way back to creation, He said He created the stars to rule the day and night. And He put the big star, the sun, to rule by day, and the little star, the moon, to rule by night. And so, I don't know how all of that enhanced His glory, and His splendor fits in with you and I, but guess what? That's hope that He has come upon us. And that's what we're looking for, is the faithful. And so, just as His rule didn't have everything that we have. See, they were looking forward to this in the future, but you and I, we have Jesus Christ. He is saving the grave. He's resurrecting. And He is our hope. He is my assurance. He is my, that this is going to happen, and this is going to take place. And everything that God did for Jesus Christ, He said, guess what? You are duplicators of Jesus Christ. You have the same inheritance as Jesus Christ. Wow. And Jesus doesn't shine for His own glory. Why do we get His glory? Because He reflects it back to the Father. And you and I are not worried about how we shine because of our glory, but how we shine is a reflection of Christ's vision, and Christ's vision back to God. That's why when we earn our crowns, the five crowns that the Bible talks about, because we're going to put them on our head. We're going to lay them at the feet of Jesus because our life is what Jesus Christ gave to us. And so when we have our crowns, no matter how bad this world gets, because guess what? It's going to get worse before it gets better. Amen. But we're in God. We don't have to be suicidal. We don't have to lead other things. I don't care. We don't have to meddle in other people's comforts. We've got to lead our comforts. Amen.