Last time, we were just getting into the darkening of the sun that we read about in Matthew 24. Let us go back there. We read in Matthew 24:29:
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened…
If you would read the previous verses, you would see that the tribulation is referring to the great tribulation when the churches would fall away and when there would be false Christs and false gospels. Things would be so bad that, if it were possible, they would even deceive the very elect. Of course, this is not possible only because God holds His people fast.
God makes sure that they cling to the truth. He is the One who gives His people ears to hear so that they know what truth is. They just cannot follow the voice of a stranger, because something will just not sound right to them. Something never convinces them; and yet when they hear the truth, they end up following it.
This is why many of us are listeners of Family Radio. We have been to the churches and we were just not convinced that the Episcopalian was the right way or that the Catholics were teaching the right way or that any Protestant Church or Independent Church or house church was following the truth. We could name them all, because we are not trying to pick on anybody. It is all of them.
For a period of time, many of us went to church and we just did not hear the truth. We did not hear the truth of the Word of God. Because of this, many people began wandering from church to church until God explained why things were so difficult. He explained that the church age was over and that we were to get out of the church.
What a relief this was for God’s people. It was a relief when we did leave the church, and then it was just us and God. We were going directly to the Bible and He would speak directly to us through His Word.
So it says again in Matthew 24:29:
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
The great tribulation lasted for 23 years or 8400 days. This lasted from May 21, 1988 until May 21, 2011. Immediately after was Judgment Day on May 21, 2011, which was just a few months ago.
Did the sun darken in the sky? Sometimes this type of language relating to the sun, moon, and stars changes slightly. Here it says that the moon did not give its light. But did the stars fall from Heaven?
We did understand these things spiritually, and this is one big indicator as to why we should have. But in Revelation 6:12-15, it says:
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
This then goes on to say that these people are crying to the rocks and to the mountains to hide them for this is the great day of God’s wrath. And yet if a star fell to earth, just one star, what would happen to this earth? It would be destroyed. We know that the sun is a star and it is not even one of the biggest stars that are out there.
So if stars (plural) fell to earth, long before they got anywhere near our atmosphere we would just burn up. We would be utterly destroyed. We also cannot have time any longer if the sun darkens and the moon is not giving its light and the stars are falling, because they are the timekeepers. If this were to happen, there would be no length of time left at all.
Turn to Mark 13:24-25. This says:
But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.
This is very much the same as what we read in Matthew 24. These are parallel passages that speak of the same event. However, there is something that is different about this passage. What is different about this?
Let us read this again carefully. It says again in Mark 13:24:
But in those days…
And “days” is plural. It continues:
But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
What did Matthew 24:29 say? It said:
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened…
Matthew 24:29 is pointing to May 21, 2011. But if we did not have this verse in Mark 13, we would just have to say that this is what would happen on Judgment Day, and we would not know anything else. But Mark 13:24 is telling us that this is happening over a course of a period of time and that it is “days.”
This is not specific. This does not say five months. We learned this from other sources. But for a period of days, there is no sun, the moon is darkened, and the stars are falling; and this cannot be literal. It cannot be.
How did Christ speak? He spoke in parables. And so, yes, we are saying that May 21 was Judgment Day, that God darkened the sun and that He took the lights of the heavens away from the world, but this was in a spiritual sense.
We can lock this into May 21 and we can know that this is when the sun was darkened if we turn to Revelation 9. Revelation 9 is where we read about a period of five months. This is the period that goes from May 21, 2011 until October 21, 2011. It says in Revelation 9:1-2:
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
The sun was darkened on day one. As soon as the pit opened up and the locusts came out, which is immediately after the tribulation for five months of time, the sun is darkened. It says this right here in Revelation 9, and we know when this was. This was on May 21, 2011.
This is going to make us curious about some other statements. Again, let us go back to Ezekiel 32, but let us first read quickly from Ezekiel 29. This is where Pharaoh is called “the great dragon.” Notice what it says in Ezekiel 29:4. This says:
But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.
Remember that Jesus said to the disciples, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” What we read here in Ezekiel 29 is of a similar idea, except this is in a different kingdom.
Here we have Pharaoh and then we have fish that stick to his scales. God is pulling them up in a net, as it goes on to say in verse 5. We read in Ezekiel 29:5:
And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.
Let us now turn to Ezekiel 32. Ezekiel 32:2 again mentions that Pharaoh is a dragon. It uses the word “whale” here, but this is the same word for “dragon.” We read how he is fouling his rivers, and then we read in Ezekiel 32:3-4:
Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net. Then will I leave thee upon the land, I will cast thee forth upon the open field, and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with thee.
The fowls are feasting on the dragon and on the fish that stick to his scales. This is referring to those in his kingdom. To be more specific, we could say that his is referring to those in the churches and congregations.
Ezekiel 32 tells us when this will happen in verse 7. We read in Ezekiel 32:7-8:
And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord JEHOVAH.
This is referring to May 21, 2011. This is saying that immediately after the tribulation, God is going to take the dragon out of his river with all of his fish. He is going to throw them on an open field on the land and then call for the fowls. The fowls are going to feast on him.
Ezekiel 32:10 says that this is:
…the day of thy fall.
This is the day when Satan falls. It is the day when the king of Babylon falls or, in this case, the picture is of Pharaoh. When Pharaoh falls, then he will be made an open shame. These bodies will be left unburied. They will not be gathered.
Do you remember the verses that speak of this language? We used to think about these verses. These verses spoke of there being dead bodies everywhere, that people would not be buried. They would come up out of the graves and they would be an open shame.
Isaiah 14 uses this language of Satan, who is typified by the king of Babylon. Ezekiel uses this type of language of Pharaoh, who also pictures Satan. And now the fish are in view, too.
There is one thing that I want to say before I forget. This is painting a picture that is pretty bleak. This is pretty bleak. In all the world right now, spiritually, it is dark. This is just as it was in the church for 23 years. There was no Holy Spirit there. Satan was there instead. No one was being saved in the churches for 23 years.
In Revelation 8, God speaks of “the third part of the sun,” “the third part of the moon,” and “the third part of the stars.” This is because He is emphasizing judgment on “the third part,” and the third part has to do with those in the churches, which is about one-third of the world’s population today. And what was true of the church has now expanded to the whole world, and so the sun, moon, and stars are put out.
But let us look at something that is a little encouraging, and then we will go on. Turn to Isaiah 60. We read in Isaiah 60:1-3:
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of JEHOVAH is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but JEHOVAH shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
Is this not interesting? This speaks of a kind of blackness, a “gross darkness,” and yet something is arising in people. The light of the Lord is rising in individuals. “Upon thee” the light will begin to shine.
Perhaps you remember this context in relation to the sons of Ishmael. Mr. Camping went over this. We read about this a little further down in Isaiah 60. It says in Isaiah 60:5-7:
Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles [or nations] shall come unto thee. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall show forth the praises of JEHOVAH. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee…
Kedar and Nebaioth are the sons of Ishmael, and we read here in Isaiah 60:5:
…the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee…
God says of the wicked that they are like “the troubled sea.” Sometimes the sea is a picture of people, and so an abundance of people, a great multitude, will be “converted unto thee.” They will become saved, and this has to do with the “flocks of Kedar.”
I never noticed this before, but “flocks” are referring to sheep. What kind of sheep? Well, specifically, this is referring to the sons of Ishmael. God had a wonderful plan to save many of them.
We know that it is pretty dark over in the Middle East concerning the Gospel. We have darkness here, but can you imagine when the billboards went up over there? Actually, in one place it caused such a ruckus that they had to take the billboard down as quickly as possible. This was then put in the newspaper, and then more nations and more people heard about this.
We also put advertising on balloons and they went up around Palestine and around Israel. Do you think these were noticed? I am sure that they were.
Well, this was going on all over the world, but God is letting us know something here. He is letting us know that the flocks will be gathered. Now, I do not know how this is going to happen. It is only God who can do this. He is going to do this. But I think that this is significant.
So how is God going to do this? Well, it is dark all over the earth, but the light has come. It is almost a contradiction, except it says in Isaiah 60:2:
…JEHOVAH shall arise upon thee…
Jehovah will arise upon thee. This is not something that is out there anywhere. It is here in the heart. This is because He got this message out all over the earth and He saved all of His elect before Judgment Day came. And if an individual has now become saved, they have Christ within and He is “the light of the world.” And so this light is in them.
Take a look at 2nd Peter 1:19. This says:
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
This is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the “day star,” and this is arising in individuals.
I would love to see this. I would love to see this, of course, in the people of my family or in anyone whom I know. But how this is happening, I do not know. Who this is happening to, I do not know. We just know that God saved a great multitude of tens of millions of people. And we do not have to worry about them. He is going to feed His sheep. He is going to personally take care of this and He is going to do this despite all of this spiritual darkness.
Getting back to the darkness and how God ties the feeding of Satan, the dragon, and of the fish, which represent the emissaries of Satan and are those in the churches, let us see how this applies to today. This is going to be completed on October 21, 2011, but this is going on right now.
Look at Revelation 19. We read in Revelation 19:7-8:
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
This reminds us of a traditional wedding where the bride wears the white wedding gown. This is a fine tradition. This is a good tradition to have, and this comes right out of the Bible. We said earlier that “beware of dog” also comes out of the Bible, so does this tradition of the bride wearing white, which has practically occurred with every wedding that has taken place, except the dress has been changing over the last few years. And marriage itself comes out of the Bible as we read of God joining Adam and Eve together. When He did this, He established that they were to be “one flesh.”
So this dress, this “fine linen,” is a picture of purity, of holiness, and of no more sin. This is because God saves His people, He washes them, He cleanses them, and then He puts on them this beautiful gown that this Bride has in Revelation 19. And notice that this says that she “made herself ready.”
This sounds a little bit like works, and so we want to be careful because we did not do anything if we are part of the Bride of Christ. Well, we could say that we did do one thing. As God saved us, we carried this message to others. As we carried this message to others, they heard and became saved and they became part of the Bride. In this sense, we made ourselves ready.
This reminds me of all of that furious activity prior to May 21, 2011. Our focus was to get the Gospel out. We had to get the Gospel out.
Well, each and every time people were being saved, this added to the body of Christ. We are His body. Adam said of Eve, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” And when there is a marriage, we become one. And so as God saved all of His elect, the Bride “made herself ready.”
Then Revelation 19:9 says:
And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
What is the “marriage supper of the Lamb”? If we could define this, what would this be? Is it a black tie affair? Are we going to wear tuxedos? Did we get a wedding invitation? Are we going to the marriage of the supper of the Lamb to have this nice feast?
Well, I do not know if you want to partake of this feast, because God is actually calling the fowls “that fly in the midst of heaven” to this feast. This is not a sit-down dinner. This is not for us in this sense.
Look at verse 17 and then we will back up a little bit. We read in Revelation 19:17-18:
And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
What He has in mind is not a formal affair like we would traditionally be part of in a wedding today.
Actually, this is a battle and God is the victor. His army has conquered, and these are the dead. These are the dead and the fowls come to feed on these dead bodies of the enemies of God, and God calls this the marriage supper of the Lamb.
If we back up in Revelation 19, we see Jesus. Revelation 19:11-13 says:
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
This is referring to the Bridegroom. Here is the picture of the Bridegroom.
Let us now look at the Bride. We read in Revelation 19:14:
And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
This is the same language that relates to the Bride. She made herself ready. It was granted that she should be arrayed in “fine linen, white and clean,” as it says earlier, “for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” This is Christ’s righteousness that He gives to all of His people. This is not our righteousness, but His righteousness.
We have to remember that this is the Bible. This is the Bible. We were not really expecting brides were we? After all, this is speaking of an enormous number of people. And how can 200 million wear one wedding dress? This is just the language that God is using. And it is the same thing with this great army. The armies in Heaven are riding on horses.
Let us look first at this white clothing some more. Look at Revelation 7. This is after the sealing of the 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes, and it says in Revelation 7:9:
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
So here, we read of them again. Here again are these white robes, and this is their covering because this is pointing to no more sin.
Look now at verse 13. We read in Revelation 7:13-14:
And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir…
This word for “Sir” really means “Lord.” This is the Greek word kurios. It continues:
And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
This is because He cleansed them like no fuller on earth can. Nothing on earth is as white as what God is talking about. No; this is the holiness and purity that He has in view.
So this great multitude has on white robes, but what about the horsemen? Look at Revelation 9:16. This says:
And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
These are the 200 million, but this does not say here that they are in white robes. It does, however, say this in Revelation 19. It Revelation 19, it says that they were “clothed in fine linen, white and clean,” and these are the same people. This is God’s elect.
Actually, this is where a correction comes in that I wanted to make. These are the sum total of all of God’s elect that were saved all throughout history, like Mr. Camping had taught.
When May 21 did not happen as we expected, I thought that we had to modify this. This is because, if you remember, Family Radio had taught that the locusts were the elect and that the horsemen or the four messengers were the elect. Mr. Camping taught that the 200 million are all of God’s people, those dead who would have been resurrected on May 21, and all of God’s people who were still living, those who would have been raptured on May 21.
What is the difference between being raptured or resurrected? It is whether you are alive or dead. But it is really the same thing. It has the same impact, because these are the ones who get taken up into Heaven.
But the problem is that on May 21 there was no resurrection and there was no rapture, but then we began to see that God did do a great work of salvation with the spiritual earthquake that opened up the prisons. We know that May 21 pointed to the last day of the 70 years when the captives went free. We know that the word “pit” in Revelation 9, where it speaks of the “bottomless pit,” is called a prison, and that the locusts came out of this prison. We know that the 200 million were bound and then loosed, which is very similar language to being arrested and then being set free. And so the modification was that the 200 million must be all whom God saved in the world who were still living, since there was no resurrection.
I even thought about exhuming some bodies. But does God have to literally open the ground? Well, probably not, and so I thought that this would not be a good idea. Number one, how are you going to know who were truly saved when you start exhuming bodies? There are all of these kinds of things that we can think about when we are reading the Bible, because we are trying to find answers and how we can solve these mysteries. Yet there is a solution.
So Revelation 19 tells us that the Bride is ready and it tells us that the horsemen are the Bride. This means that this number has to include the saved dead. This is because those from past generations are also part of the Bride.
We were not sure about the horsemen in Revelation 9, but the Bride definitely must include all of God’s elect from all generations. And now God is basically identifying them as one and the same.
So we have some questions. The first question is what happened on May 21 concerning the saved dead? The saved dead are very much interested in this.
In Luke 9, we read of when Moses and Elijah met with Jesus. They had already received their resurrected bodies, but I am sure that they came on behalf of the rest of the elect in Heaven. And how does the Bible identify them? The Bible identifies them as souls. We read in Revelation 6 of souls under the altar who were slain for the witness of Jesus. And so it says in Luke 9:28-31:
And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering. And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.
They were concerned about this, but why? This is because they had a vested interest in this. They were souls in Heaven. There are still souls in Heaven who do not have a body. Where are their bodies? Their bodies are still in the ground and part of this world.
We can see how interested they are in Hebrews 11 where it is referring to the dead. After God gives that wonderful list of those who lived and did things by the faith of Christ, we read in Hebrews 11:39-40:
And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
“They” would be those in Heaven. “Us” would be referring to those alive here on earth. And they cannot be made perfect without us, because we are all of that body. We are all part of the body of Christ. We are all of the same house; this is another way that God illustrates this. And in order to perfect them, they must be given a new resurrected body. This is because salvation is not complete until they get that new body.
This is a part of salvation, but why is the body still in the ground? This is because of sin. It is because of the effects of sin and the corruption of sin. Sin brings death, and they have not been saved in their body as of yet. Neither have we been, and this is why we are seeing corruption. Any of us could die today because of the workings of sin in our physical body, and we would go to the ground. And so one thing we know is that there is a great interest in Heaven about God’s salvation plan.
Remember what we read at the cross in Matthew 27 when Jesus had just finished making this demonstration or this tableau that He lived out. This is when He went to the cross to show what He had done before the foundation of the world. And it says in Matthew 27:50-51:
Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
There was an earthquake at that time. Then it goes on to say in Matthew 27:52:
And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
They arose right at the time when Jesus died on the cross. Is this true or false? This is false.
Let us read the next verse. It says in Matthew 27:53:
And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
So here is this event. Christ dies on the cross, and Moses and Elijah were so interested in this that they met with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration concerning His decease.
By the way, this was a physical earthquake. Look at verse 54. It says in Matthew 27:54:
Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
They saw the earthquake. They saw these other things. Something glorious was going on. The veil of the temple was rent, which was also a physical occurrence; this literally happened.
So He says that many of the bodies of the saints arose, and God identifies this with Friday, 33 A.D., which was when Jesus died on the cross in that tableau. But in actuality, it was two days later on Sunday when the bodies of the saints which slept arose.
For all intents and purposes, this was like a guarantee. This was another assurance for us that God is true and faithful to His Word. It was finished. That whole act of the Lord Jesus coming into the world to demonstrate what He had already done before the foundation of the world. This was the assurance that His elect would also rise from the dead. Then He gave additional proof by raising up many bodies of the saints who were sleeping in the ground. They resurrect and go into the Holy City two days later.
But it was important that God have Jesus resurrect first. He had something that He had to carry out. He wanted to tie their resurrection to the cross, but they could not be resurrected on that Friday. They had to wait two days.
The way this reads, though, it is as if they were resurrected that Friday right at the cross, and yet God made them wait for two days. Now, if He can make them wait two days, He can make us wait five months.
May 21 was an important day. This was when every elect person whose name was written in the Lamb’s Book of Life had become saved. There are no more names to become saved. There are no more elect out there. And this would generate a lot of interest in Heaven. This would generate a lot of interest, because they would wonder if this was the time, as we read that they asked, “How long, O Lord?” This is what they are crying out.
Turn to Revelation 6. We can be certain that there are not any discontent souls in Heaven. I do not think that this is the case at all. I think that God is using this language to paint a picture. He is not saying that there are people in Heaven murmuring and complaining in any way. And so we read in Revelation 6:9-11:
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them…
This is because they are part of those horsemen. They are part of the Bride. And they are crying out, “How long, O Lord?” They are asking how long it will be until the consummation of the marriage.
So God completed the work of salvation in this world, but He had some other events that had to take place. There would be five months of judgment.
I do not know if you remember this, but in the last study we looked at Joseph and his bones, and so let us go to Genesis 50. This is the last chapter of the book of Genesis, and it says in Genesis 50:24-26:
And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
Then hundreds of years later, Moses comes along. We read about this in Exodus 13. This is the time when God remembers His people. He visits them. He visits Egypt in judgment, and it says in Exodus 13:19:
And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.
So the living went out of Egypt, which is a picture of the great salvation of God. And so did Joseph’s bones. But why? Why did a dead man leave Egypt at the same time that all the living did?
This was because they were going to take him with them to the Promised Land, and Joseph knew this. Joseph knew that this would not be the time for him to be resurrected. But God had not forgotten him. God had not forgotten him at all. God has not forgotten any of the dead who have previously lived but who are in the ground in this world.
So at the time when God would deliver His people, they were to bring Joseph’s bones with them. This is because this is as Job said, “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.” It was guaranteed that Joseph would be resurrected physically, and this was the proof that this would come to pass.
Let us look at one other thing. I think that this may explain this in living color. In Ezekiel 37, we read of the valley of dry bones. I have read this a lot of times. With some of the language, it has been hard to place the groups of people because of the way this is worded. This is such a great chapter, so let us begin in verse one. We read in Ezekiel 37:1-7:
The hand of JEHOVAH was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of JEHOVAH, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord JEHOVAH, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of JEHOVAH. Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am JEHOVAH. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking…
This is translated in some places as “earthquake.” And so there is an earthquake. And, of course, on May 21 there was spiritually a great earthquake.
Ezekiel 37:7 continues on to say:
…and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
Bone to whose bone? This says, “bone to his bone.” It is to His bone, because the Bible says that we are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. And so this is the body of Christ that is forming. As the parts come together, this is the completion of all of God’s elect.
Then we read in Ezekiel 37:8-10:
And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
It says in the literal translation that this is “a very great army” or an army of very, very many. It has a strong emphasis that there are quite a number of them.
Another way of saying this is that this was a great multitude, which we read about in Revelation 7. This is referring to the 200 million, except this is not all 200 million in view here. Just like 200 million were not saved out of the great tribulation. A vast majority of them were, but yet there were still some others.
Then it goes on to say in Ezekiel 37:11:
Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
This says that this is “the whole house.” This means that what is in view here are all of the elect with none left. These are the bones that are being referred to here, but we assumed that these were just the bones that we were reading about that were in the open valley. But this is strange language where it says in Ezekiel 37:11:
…our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
I think that this reads better as:
…we are cut off to ourselves [or from ourselves].
God’s elect, the great multitude, just came out of great tribulation, many of whom are still alive. Are we cut off from ourselves? In one way, yes, because there is still this battle between the flesh and the spirit, but this is not what this means.
Who is cut off from themselves? This is referring to the souls in Heaven. The physical part of them, which is their bodies, is still on this earth. They are still separated from themselves. But there is a change here. There are these bones that are in the open valley, but then look at Ezekiel 37:12. This says:
Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
We can read “Heaven” here.
Then we read in Ezekiel 37:13-14:
And ye shall know that I am JEHOVAH, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I JEHOVAH have spoken it, and performed it, saith JEHOVAH.
What is the difference here? There is a difference. What is the difference between these bones and the bones that stood on their feet? God begins talking to bones that are in the grave. They are in the grave. They are not lying in the open valley. The “exceeding great army” was lying in an open valley, but these are in the grave.
This is what happened. God saved a great multitude and then it is like He turns to the dead who are still in the ground. He is saying that He just finished His salvation plan. He has saved them all and these are “the whole house of Israel.” But we can know assuredly that He is going to raise His elect up. This is guaranteed. This is another phase. Since He has done this, they can know that He is not going to forget them. He will remember them and raise them from the dead and give them their new resurrected bodies.
In other words, to put all of this together with Revelation 9 and the 200 million who are bound in the great river Euphrates, which is a synonym for Babylon and is referring to this world, God has saved all of the elect, including those whose bodies are still in the ground and whose souls are in Heaven. He saved them all. This act of saving them all is what brings torment on the unsaved of the world who had nothing to do with the church, and this is what slays the “third part,” because there are no more names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life to become saved; and yet this did not take a literal resurrection or a literal rapture to do this and to accomplish this. At the same time, He is assuring all of those who are in Heaven that He will complete this at some point, which will be on October 21, 2011.
I know that this is a lot. There are a lot of verses to consider. But we have to understand that God is speeding up this process. We do not have too much time left to really lay all of these things out in a nice methodical way. We do not have time to do this.
We will close here with a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank You for Your grace. We thank You for the completion of Your plan. Lord, we pray that you would just strengthen us by Your Word. May we cling to Your Word and cling to You. May we cling to that which is good more and more as we go on in the days to come. And Father, we pray that You would bless each one here or those who are listening. May You bless Your Word to each one of us according to our need. And we pray this in Christ’s Name. Amen.