Herbert W Armstrong

   We are here at the beginning of God's Feast of Tabernacle, and we're celebrating a time that is yet to come, a time of the restoration of God's government, a time when the problems of this world and this society are going to be righted, and a new society is going to be established. Yet, when we look at human history, we find that mankind, down through the pages of his history, there have been many attempts and many ideas at trying to build the perfect society, trying to establish a utopia.

   One of the early proponents of this was a Greek philosopher by the name of Plato. He wrote a book entitled The Republic, and that book has served as the inspiration for many so-called utopias since that time. And Plato had his concept of how to establish utopia, and he even had one fellow talked into it, had one king talked into going with his plan until the king found out that under Plato's plan Plato would be in charge.

   And that didn't last very long. But his idea of utopia was a communistic society, everything in common, really something that served as the model for the totalitarian states. That have emerged as a result of Karl Marx's philosophy.

   Solomon said there's nothing new under the sun, and many of these things go back for centuries and centuries. There have been all sorts of ideas about a utopia, about an ideal society. When the French Revolution took place in 1789, there was the idea of building a republic of virtue, a perfect society.

   Everything would be refashioned and re-established. And of course, the Republic of Virtue collapsed into the reign of terror and was followed by Napoleon, and all of Europe was plunged into 25 years of strife. Karl Marx came up with his idea of utopia, which finally a man by the name of Lenin began to put into operation in 1917 in Russia.

   And the utopia that he sought to establish cost the lives of many multiple millions of human beings. And of course, that society, that so-called utopia, was so utopian they had to build a wall around the place to keep the people in. You remember, just a matter of a few years ago.

   There was another man who also got many of his ideas from some of these same writers and philosophers. He emerged in Germany in the 1930s. His name was Adolf Hitler.

   And he didn't set out as his goal to build a society that would collapse in 12 years. In total defeat and ruin, he set out to build a 1,000-year Reich, a perfect society, the solution to man's problems. But it didn't solve man's problems.

   The millennial dreams of so many thinkers and so many philosophers and so many politicians, the millennial dreams have turned to nightmares, time after time after time. All of man's hopes. For a perfect society.

   All of man's hopes for a millennial utopia have been vain and futile hopes. Science and technology has not solved the problems. Man's philosophies, man's religions, the political ideologies, none of these things have solved the problem.

   Man's millennial dreams have time after time turned into nightmares. Let's understand this morning why, that is, and how and why our millennial dreams will not turn into nightmares, but will be fulfilled.

   Because our hope is based on a reality, and it will be fulfilled. Now, man's hopes are futile. Jesus Christ brought out in Matthew 24:22, the very pivotal biblical prophecy, very pivotal prophecy of the Bible, the Olivet prophecy, as it is called, Matthew 24.

   Said that except those days should be shortened, there would no flesh be saved, or no flesh be saved alive, except those days should be shortened. So, what Jesus Christ was bringing out is the fact that man's attempts at solving his own problem, man's hopes are futile hopes, and that apart from the intervention of God Almighty, there would not be a man, woman, or child left alive on this earth.

   Except those days should be shortened, there would no flesh be saved alive. Because you see, this world, this age, this order of things is passing away. That's why the Apostle John wrote in I John 2:15.

   He said, Love not the world, neither the things that are of the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world, and the world passes away.

   The world passes away. And he that does the lust thereof, but he that does the will of God abides forever. There is a world, a society, an orderly arrangement of things in which we now live that is not a permanent arrangement.

   That's why we're told here that it's very important where we set our affection, where we place our loyalty. Our allegiance, our devotion. If we're wrapped up in this world and we want to be like the world and fit in with the world, we are setting our affection on something that will pass from the scene, something that will not endure, an arrangement of society that will not last.

   Man's society is not going to last because it's based on values that won't last. John summarized it: he said it's the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. What does it look like?

   What does it Feel like, and to what extent will it impress other people? This is the foundation value of the society in which we live. At the root of the value are the philosophies, the religions that underlie those values.

   The prophet Ezekiel exposes the consequences of false religion and what it has contributed. Oh, yes, the world has constructed many religions and many philosophies. You could look at the ancient Greeks who have contributed much to Western civilization, what have they contributed?

   Well, when you look at what their philosophy has contributed, and when you look at what religion has contributed, what has false religion contributed? God brings out, inspired Ezekiel to write in Ezekiel chapter 13. Ezekiel chapter 13, he talks about in verse 9 (Ezekiel 13:9-14): mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity and that divine lie.

   Individuals who are leaders that are not leading in the way of truth. Verse 10, because even because they have seduced my people, People saying peace, and there was no peace. Why?

   One built up a wall, and others daubed it with untempered mortar. Now it's describing constructing a wall and whitewashing the wall. You know, if you took a if you took cinder blocks or you took bricks and you stacked them up, you didn't have cement or proper mortar to join these bricks and to set them up.

   But you just stacked them up. You could make an impressive look wall, and if you whitewashed it and you put on some sort of a coating on it, the wall could look substantial.

   It could look like the real thing. But what you would have would be no more substantial than a Hollywood set. Have you ever been to where they make movies?

   From where you see it on the television screen or on the big movie screen, it looks impressive. If you've ever gone to one of those places, you realize most of them are shells, they're shams, they're held up with two befores that are sort of propping the front wall up. If you were to leave, against it, it would fall down.

   Walls built with untempered mortar are that way. There's no reality, there's no substance, there's form, and there's no substance. He said they've said peace when there was no peace.

   One builds up a wall, another's daubed it with untempered mortar. Well, that wall is going to collapse, and then God is going to say, as it says here in verse 12, where's the daubing wherewith you've daubed it? In verse 14, we're told that the foundations thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall.

   The foundations of this society are going to be uncovered. The foundations of this society will not support what is being built up because it is not of God.

   We're going to see in just a few moments what it is specifically that God will do differently that will ensure different results. He talks about down in verse 17 the various religious movements and the do-gooder movements. He talks about the fact that there are those who have healed the hurt of the people slightly.

   It's not to say that they have never done anything that is of any value, but they haven't really dealt with the problems. He talks about in verse 17 of Ezekiel 13 (Ezekiel 13:17-19): Set your face against the daughters of my people, which prophesy out of their own heart and prophesy against them.

   And it talks about here all of the various things. And in verse 19, Will you pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread? To slay the souls that should not die and to save alive the souls that should not live by your lying to my people that hear your lies.

   Well, they've set up the soup kitchens and the soup lines, and so often all these do-gooder movements have resulted in the deaths of those that should not die and saving alive those that should not live. They're out ready to pick it up and down for somebody who's a convicted murderer. And he's on death row, and boy, they're out and just crying out to save this individual, poor misguided soul that he was.

   He had. 37 people to death with an axe. And so we certainly wouldn't want to do anything to him.

   And yet, on the other hand, there is a Holocaust of the unborn that has been going on in this nation under the color and cloak of law for years. There are innocent people that die in the violence that besets this nation. Where are all the do-gooders then?

   Oh, it's not that they don't have good intentions, but the whole foundation of their approach is flawed. And so everything built upon it is. Notice what God says about society in Ezekiel chapter 22.

   Ezekiel 22:26, he says, Her priests have violated my law and have profaned my holy things. They've put no difference between the holy and the profane.

   Neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean. They've hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Then in verse 27, he talks about the princes, and in verse 28, the prophets.

   God indicts the three components, the three leadership components of society under the headings of the priests, the princes, and the prophets. The priests refer to the leaders of organized religion. The princes refer to those who control the wealth and the power of society.

   These are the individuals in whose hands are the control for wealth and political power. They're the princes. Now, the word prophets, we often think of it and limited in our thinking simply to religious speakers.

   And certainly, there are many false prophets that abound. But you know, the most far-reaching or the most pervasive religion in our Western society is a religion of secularism. The word prophet in the Hebrew language comes from the Hebrew word nibah, which means to proclaim or to announce.

   And it's a term that means basically those who proclaim or those who announce, those who speak. It is often used in the sense of those who speak for God.

   Here are individuals who are not speaking for God, but they're speaking. They're proclaiming, they're announcing. This term can refer in our modern society to the whole realm of the media, to television and newspapers.

   And certainly it includes all of the false religious speakers who utilize these media, but it also includes all of the secular false prophets, who frankly, most of whom deceive far more people than do most of those who claim to be outwardly religious. So here we have the religious leadership, the leadership of organized religion, those who control the political power and the wealth of society, and those who are the announcers, the proclaimers, the speakers, the whole realm of media, the influencers and molders of public opinion and public thought.

   And God indicts them. He indicts the leadership of organized religion. He says, You've violated my law.

   You have not put a difference between the holy and the profane. You've not taught the people the difference between the clean and the unclean. You've hid your eyes from my Sabbaths.

   And the leadership of organized religion who claim to recognize this book, the Bible, have hidden their eyes from God's Sabbath. They've not taught the people, the difference between the clean and the unclean, the holy and the profane. They have not taught the law of God.

   The princes, the leaders, and the controllers of wealth and political power, God says that they've been like wolves ravening the prey to shed blood, to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. They've been selfish, they've been greedy, and they haven't cared who suffered as a result of the consequences of their policies. And the prophets.

   The media, the opinion molders, they've daubed them with untempered mortar. Seeing vanity and divining lies unto them, they've been part of the cover-up because they haven't uncovered the foundations, they haven't pointed out the reality. They have been a part of it.

   Let's notice in the book of Hosea, Hosea 4:6: Prophet Hosea writing to God's people, the modern-day descendants of Israel, modern-day nations of Israel. He said, My people, Hosea 4:6, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. This isn't a lack of technological knowledge.

   It's not a lack of knowledge about computers. It's not a lack of knowledge about modern technology. We've had a mushrooming of technological knowledge.

   My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you've rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you shall be no priest to me. Seeing you have forgotten the law of your God.

   I will also forget your children, as they were increased, so they sinned against me. Therefore, I'll change their glory into shame.

   As they were increased, the more that we prospered, the more we were blessed, the more we grew in that way, the more corrupt, the more we as a nation have gotten away from the law of God. They're where we find continually even things that could be understood and could be known because they were simply even a generation ago are lost sight of. God says in verse 11, He says, Whoredom and wine and new wine have taken away the heart.

   A couple of things that he mentions here. One is immorality and intoxication. Immorality and intoxication have taken away the heart.

   They have sapped the moral, spiritual fiber of the nation. The whole realm of immorality, the whole realm of intoxication, whether you're talking about alcohol or the whole range of various drugs that can be utilized and are used in our modern society. For which intoxication is the purpose, it's why they're used.

   He says, Immorality and intoxication have taken away the heart. They've sap the very fiber and essence of God's people. Our nation is being destroyed as a result of these things.

   We could go on, we could look at the various prophecies that are brought out throughout, as God talks about through the pen. Of Hosea through the pen of Amos and others. He talks about in Amos 4:9 the civil strife and the tumults that will occur in the midst of our nation, of the breakdown of law and order.

   He talks about in chapter 4 of Amos, he talks about the famine that is going to come. He talks about drought. He talks about blasting and mildew.

   He talks about disease epidemics that are going to come. The destruction that is going to come. And he says to the people of Israel in Amos 4:12, he says, Therefore, thus will I do unto you, O Israel, and because I will do this unto you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel. Prepare to meet your God, because the great God, the great Creator God, is going to step into history. He is going to intervene in the affairs of mankind.

   Well, God talks about the event that occurred, the things that are sapping the very vital resources of our nation. False religion ultimately is at the core. The foundation upon which society is based, the foundation upon which the entire society and culture is built, that foundation is fatally flawed because that foundation ignores the law of God.

   That foundation ignores the law of God. The religious leadership has not pointed people to the law of God. The political leadership has ignored the law of God and not let it stand in the way of their greed, the molders of public opinion and public thought. They've not pointed people to the law of God. They have just further undermined, have provided the cover-up for religion and politics.

   We could go on and on with the futility of man's hope. But the point is, brethren, Daniel brings it out in Daniel chapter 2. Remember, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed a dream.

   He couldn't remember the dream, and Daniel came in finally to interpret it. And Daniel said, in that dream, you saw a great image. It had a head of gold and shoulders.

   And chest of silver, and it had thighs of brass and legs of iron. And the image culminated in two feet, ten toes, composed partly of iron and part of miry clay. And as Daniel described that vision, he described the fact that a great stone came down, cut out without hands.

   A stone that was not of human origin, that was of supernatural origin. And that stone was cut out without hands, and it came down and it smashed the Image on its toe. And the image turned to dust, and the wind blew it away.

   We're told in Daniel 2 that in the days of those final ten kings, the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom that shall never be removed. The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be removed. All of man's politics and all of man's various attempts at solving his own problems, his own ways.

   Those problems or those attempts at solutions are not real solutions. No, there's no point in getting out and getting involved in this world's politics and boy, going to elect this fellow or get this guy in office. That's somehow going to solve the problem.

   Absolutely ridiculous. The God of heaven is going to establish a kingdom that shall never be removed. The kingdoms of this world are going to become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.

   This world's great Babylonian system is going to be smashed. By the returning Jesus Christ. And the government of God is going to be restored to this earth.

   The government of God. I want to comment a little bit about the government of God because I think sometimes we have not fully understood exactly what is involved in that. There are four components to a kingdom, to any kingdom.

   There are rulers, they're kings, there's laws, they're citizens, they're subject, the people, and there's a territory over which the kingdom rules. Four simple components that any kingdom, any government must have. Now, there are different ways of configuring some of those components.

   The form of government is determined by the way that some of these components are configured. The first way of looking at it is the Babylonish form of government. That's the form that we have described in the book of Daniel that is descriptive of the kingdoms of Babylon and Persia, the kingdoms of the Gentiles that Jesus Christ made reference to when he described the way that the kings of the Gentiles, referring specifically to the Roman rulers, the Roman leaders, exercise dominion and overlordship. In this form of government, which is a totalitarian form of government, the top consists of the ruler. The ruler is at the top of that structure, and whatever the ruler says, that goes.

   The ruler's word is law. So you've got the ruler who makes the law, and then the people are at the bottom. They have to do what is said.

   Now, that's not God's. Form of government. That's a Babylonish form of government.

   That's the law of the Medes and the Persians. Whatever the king said, no matter how ridiculous, that was what we did, because the king's word was law. So you had the king, and his word was the law, and the people had to obey.

   Now, if you don't like that form of government, and sooner or later people get tired of it, Satan has an alternative. If you don't want the whole society to be based on the whim of one man, let's let the whole society be based on the whim of the majority of people.

   And so let's turn our structure upside down and let's have the people at the top. We call that democracy. The people are at the top, and the people choose whomever they want as the ruler, and he makes the law.

   And if the people get tired of the ruler, they just boot him out and get another one. And so they tend to put in the ones who promise them the most. Therefore, they put in those who are the most unrealistic and the least honest.

   Because if you tell people the truth, they don't want to hear it. They want to be told that you can have it all and it won't cost you a dime.

   We're going to give you free health care, right? We're going to have that in this country now. Free health care.

   Well, we haven't made a lot of improvements since Huey P. Long ran for governor in Louisiana and he promised a car in every garage and a chicken in every pot. Every man a king and no man wears the crown.

   Share the wealth. Some of you older brethren remember the share the wealth clubs that existed. Particularly in the South back during the 1930s.

   Well, whose wealth, pray tell, is going to be shared? Free. Who pays?

   Well, when you have that form of government, you see, when the form of government where the people are at the top, the people choose the ruler who's the least realistic, promises the most. So the people are at the top, and they choose the ruler, and the ruler makes the laws. Now, there's a third way of configuring it, and that's God's form of government.

   You see, in God's form of government, the people aren’t at the top, and frankly, the ruler is not at the top. You know what's at the top in God's government?

   The law is at the top. You see, in God's government, the law is at the top, and the ruler obeys the law and teaches the law to the people. The law is not based on the will of the majority, and it's not based on the whim of one man.

   The law is not the word, the king's word isn't the law. God's word is the law. That gives us the components of a kingdom rightly ordered.

   You could go back in Deuteronomy chapter 17. Let's just notice briefly, because the monarchy of ancient Israel, ancient Israel had a kingdom that was established, of course, under Saul and down through David and Solomon. But you know, the monarchy of ancient Israel, the monarchy that God gave ancient Israel, was not an absolute monarchy.

   It was a constitutional government. You see, the essence of God's government is that it is a government based upon law. It is therefore a constitutional government.

   It is not a tyranny of one, and it is not a tyranny of the majority. It is a constitutional government. That is based upon the law.

   So, in Deuteronomy 17:14, we're told that when the people say, I'll set a king over them, that this is what is to be done. Here is the law regarding the king. There are restrictions on the king's power.

   Verse 16, he was forbidden to multiply horses to himself. He was not to build up great standing armies, so he would go out and conquer his neighbors. Interestingly enough, notice what else he was not supposed to do in verse 16, nor cause the people to return to Egypt. King wasn't to cause the people to return to Egypt. He wasn't to go out and build up great armies to conquer his neighbors.

   He wasn't, in verse 17, to multiply wives and indulge in immorality and luxury, taking advantage of his position. And he was certainly not to be responsible to try and lead the people back into Egypt. That's the place from whence God brought his people.

   God brought his people out of Egypt. The king didn't have the authority to lead him back.

   No, he was told in verse 18 that he was to write a copy of this law in a book taken from the temple scroll. And he was to read therein all the days of his life, verse 19, that he may learn to fear the Eternal his God, to keep all the words of his law and these statutes, to do them, that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandments to the right hand or to the left. The king was under the law.

   He was subject to the law. We could go through an entire sermon going through and proving that and going through even examples from the Old Testament of how the king's power was not absolute. The king was bound by the law.

   I'll just give you one example, just refer to it. Remember the story when Ahab wanted Naboth's vineyard? In any Middle Eastern despotic kingdom that existed among the Babylonians, the Persians, the Egyptians, if the king wanted your property, he just took it.

   That was not the case in Israel. Ahab wanted Naboth's vineyard and he went to him and said, Hey, I'd like to buy your vineyard.

   Naboth said, I don't want to sell it. Ahab said, hey, make you a good deal. I'll pay you more than it's worth, or else I'll trade you some land.

   I've got some good land over here better than yours. I'll trade you that. Naboth said, no.

   Don't want to. It's mine. It's been in the family for years. I want to keep it. And Ahab went back to the palace mad because Naboth wouldn't sell him the vineyard. He didn't have the authority to take Naboth's vineyard because the law didn't allow for that.

   He offered to buy it, and Naboth wouldn't sell it. Now, Jezebel cooked up a treason charge and hired false witnesses and under color of law, wound up and had Naboth executed on a trumped-up treason charge. She subverted the law in order to achieve an end, but the point was that the king was bound by the law, just like everyone else. He didn't have absolute power. God never intended that.

   Now, let's look at an ideal kingdom, there are components that have to be solved. You see, the world's millennial dreams had ended in nightmares because none of the world's millennial dreams were anchored upon the law of God, they were dependent. Upon the whim of one man, and whatever his will was, and whatever his word was, or they were dependent upon the whim of the majority of people.

   But none of the millennial schemes, none of the utopian schemes that men have ever come up with have been based and founded upon the law of God. In Deuteronomy chapter 31, we are given instructions about what is normal, what would what God instructed Israel to read at the Feast of Tabernacles. And they were told that in the seventh year, the year of release, the year that would normally, have the highest attendance at the Feast of Tabernacles. It would be a time that it was a time of renewal in various ways. That on those occasions, the law, the book of the law, was to be read in its entirety to the people assembled during the Feast of Tabernacles.

   So the people were to be kept in constant reminding of the law. Now, the Feast of Tabernacles is connected with the law. When you lose sight of the law, then you, when you lose sight of the law, then you have lost sight of what it is that guarantees the success of a society that is going to be built.

   God tells us to learn to apply our hearts to wisdom. When we lose sight of the law, we have ceased to apply our hearts to wisdom. He tells us in Deuteronomy 4:6, he told Israel that the law was to be their wisdom in the sight of all the nations.

   God's law is a source of wisdom and stability. It is a stabilizing factor in our lives.

   You know, we all base our lives on something. Most people base their lives on one of two factors: on either just their own feelings, their own emotion. A lot of people base their lives just on sort of what they feel like.

   Well, I just don't feel like this or feel like that. And their decisions are emotional decisions based on how they feel. Other people base their lives primarily on what other people around them think.

   And they're very conscious of public opinion. And they try to conform to what others want them to do. Well, brethren, the scripture tells us that it's not in man that walks to direct his steps.

   Lean not to your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your path. We can't afford to base our lives and our decisions based on simply how we feel. And we certainly can't afford to base our lives and our decisions simply on the basis of what everybody else thinks we ought to do.

   God has given us a guide. He's given us a basis for our lives and our decisions.

   God's law. You see, God will establish a utopian society because, a society that will endure, a society that will last because it will be based upon the law of God. Notice in Leviticus chapter 19, how's God going, how are we going to start out in the beginning of the millennium?

   Leviticus 19:1. Notice, the Eternal spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel and say unto them, You shall be holy, for I, the Eternal, your God, am holy. So, what is it that we are seeking to convey to the people at the beginning of the millennium?

   We're to teach the people to be like God. To teach the people to be like God, to be holy, because God is holy. We come to the feast that we may learn to fear the Eternal our God.

   That doesn't mean to go crawl up under the stage and cower in terror because God's going to get you. That's not the kind of thing of God that's being talked about.

   It's not that God wants us to cower and hide because God is some sort of monster. God wants us to stand in deep awe and reverence, to be deeply impressed with God, to realize there is a real God who is the creator, the giver of life. That every breath that we breathe is made possible by that God.

   We're to come to the feast that we may learn to continually be more and more deeply impressed with the great God whom we worship and serve, and may learn his ways more deeply. So, Israel was to learn to be holy.

   For I, the Eternal your God, I'm holy now. Going right on, verse 3: What did he start out? How did he start out teaching them to be like God?

   Verse 3: You shall fear every man his mother and his father, and keep my Sabbaths. I am the Eternal your God. I'm convinced that the starting point as we begin to instruct the people who were regathered at the beginning of the millennium.

   You have to start somewhere. You can teach the whole counsel of God, but you have to start somewhere. And I'm convinced that Leviticus 19 gives us a pretty good guide as to a starting point.

   You start out by teaching them about the family structure, and that's the basis of giving cohesion and definition to society, to the community, the whole basis of reordering the community. You've got to start with the family and to learn to keep the Sabbath. That's the sign of identity.

   That identifies who is the true God. He's the Creator God. He's the one that reformed and fashioned the face of the earth six days and six nights and rested upon the seventh day and sanctified it and hallowed it.

   The brethren, remember there are seven days of creation, not six. If God didn't, if the seven days of creation are not literal days, then what, pray tell, is the basis of the sanctity of the Sabbath? The sanctity of the Sabbath is based on the fact that the Creator God set apart one 24-hour period of time at the beginning of the history of man.

   And if that was simply a poetic allegory, then there is no time that is holy. The only way that any time is holy is that God, the holy God, placed His presence in that point of time. When the commandments were given on Mount Sinai, Moses assembled the people and God spoke them.

   Moses didn't speak the Ten Commandments, God spoke them. And he said, Remember the Sabbath day. And he reminded them that the basis of Sabbath sanctity is the fact that God had rested at the time of creation.

   So that's an important concept to remember. The Sabbath identifies the true God. And of course, we have therein contained an overview of the very plan of God.

   The seven-day week, typifying the great 7,000-year plan that God is in the process of working out. When we start out in the millennium, the first. The starting point.

   You've got to teach people about the family and the way the family ought to be structured and the way the family ought to function. Because we live in a society that is increasingly dysfunctional, unable to properly function and relate, unable to connect and relate with other human beings because they never learned in the home. So we start in the home and we start out teaching people about the family and about the Sabbath, going on to idolatry and teaching them that the gods of the nations are no God. And then we go right on through as the law of God progresses right here in Leviticus 19, principle after principle, teaching them to be generous and giving with their neighbor, to have a concern, to love their neighbors, it brings out in verse 9. They're not to how to deal justly with one another in economic matters, on down in verses 11 and 12 and 13.

   Talks about being a tailbearer in verse 16. Talks about many, many different of the statutes. God's law is at the basis of reordering society.

   First, we orient people toward the law. God has a perfect law. The law of God is perfect, converting the soul, converting the life, changing and transforming lives of people.

   But then there are rulers who are administering that law. Now, God is preparing rulers who will administer that law. And how is He doing that?

   We're told, aren't we, in Hebrews 8, about the new covenant? This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord. I will write my laws in their hearts and in their minds, and I'll be to them a God, and they'll be to me a people.

   God is writing his laws in our hearts and in our minds. You know, the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant was not the fact that God did away with. You could go back and we could read in various places.

   We could read it back in Jeremiah. We could read it in Hebrews 8, which quotes from Jeremiah. The fact that God says that there was a fault with the old covenant. You know, if the first covenant had been found faultless, there would have been found no place for the second. Where did he find the fault?

   Was the fault with God? Did God say, oh no, I made a horrible mistake. I gave him a terrible law.

   No. Hebrews 8 says, for finding fault with them, finding fault with them, because they continued not in the law. For finding fault with them, he says, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord.

   I will write my law in their hearts and in their minds. Under the old covenant, the law of God was written with the finger of God on tables of stone.

   Under the new covenant, the law of God is written with the Spirit of God in our hearts and in our minds. The very character and nature of God is indelibly placed in us. Our character is transformed to be like His, with God's nature placed within us.

   You see, God is preparing rulers who will administer His law, rulers who have internalize his law and have gone through living life as a human being and developing God's holy, righteous character within them. Learning to apply the principles of God's law in daily circumstances and situations, and struggling against the pulls of our own human nature, against the pulls and the temptations of this corrupt world and society around us, and the temptations and pulls of Satan, the devil, showing that God's Word and God's law means more to us, God's way means more to us than anything that this world has to offer.

   You read in Hebrews chapter 11 of Moses, who accounted that reproach for Christ was greater wealth than all of the glitter and glamour of Pharaoh's Egypt. Greater wealth. In Isaiah 32:1, we read of a time when a king shall reign in righteousness, princes shall rule in judgment.

   God is preparing a people, He is preparing a people to rule and reign with Jesus Christ. A king shall reign in righteousness. What is righteousness? Psalm 119:172. All thy commandments are righteousness.

   A king shall reign in righteousness. Princes shall rule in judgment. Who are those princes, brethren?

   Look around you. Are being prepared to be those princes who shall rule and reign with Jesus Christ in judgment. We read back in Revelation 20:6.

   I saw thrones and those that sat on them, to whom judgment was given. Revelation chapter 20 and verse 6. Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection, on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years.

   Up in verse 4, he says, I saw thrones and those that sat on them, and judgment was given unto them. We're told they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. We're going to be kings and priests.

   We're going to exercise the government of God. And what is it that a priest does?

   Well, according to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 44, it brings out Ezekiel 44:23 and 24. It talks about as a prophecy of this time in the world to come, the world ahead, the world, the age that we are here celebrating. He says the priests at that time in verse 23 of Ezekiel 44, he says, They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

   And in controversy, they shall stand in judgment, and they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my statutes and my laws in all my assemblies, and they shall hallow my Sabbaths. The priests of this nation, the religious leaders, the leaders of organized religion, God says, have caused my people to err because they've hidden their eyes from the Sabbath.

   And they've not taught the people to properly distinguish between what is clean and unclean, what is holy and what is profane. That's what judgment is, judgment is drawing distinctions.

   It's knowing where to draw the line. It's making proper distinctions, proper decisions. God's law is the basis of drawing proper distinctions.

   That's what the priests were to do. God reminded Aaron of it after the death of Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10:10, and he says that you may put difference between holy and unholy, between unclean and clean, and that you may teach the children of Israel all this. Well, brethren, if we're going to teach the world to distinguish between what is holy and what is profane, between what is clean and what is unclean.

   Then we have to be learning to make those distinctions in our lives day by day. We're confronted with a society that entices, it allures, it attracts. It's got the razzle-dazzle of doesn't it look good?

   Won't it be impressive to other people? It feels good. We live in a society that is predicated upon the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.

   And it is a society that is passing away because the values upon which it is based will not endure and stand the test of time. And if we place our allegiance and our loyalty, and we want to fit in with this world, and we want to look like this world and act like this world, and just blend in and be part and parcel of this world and this society, and that's where we place our allegiance and our loyalty and our devotion, then we are setting our hopes on something that will not last and that will not endure because the God of heaven is going to smash this world and this society, this civilization, and he's going to build up a society that will last and that will endure. God has established a law, and he is preparing a ruler who will administer that law. And you know, God is also going to deal with the people in that time ahead.

   After the Ten Commandments were given, we find the statement in Deuteronomy 5:29. God said, Oh, that there were such a heart in them, that they would obey my laws. You see, the people of ancient Israel did not have a heart to obey. Well, what are we told in Jeremiah chapter 31? God is going to give a new heart.

   Jeremiah 31 talks about it when God is going to make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. He's already started making that new covenant with us, but we're the starting place, not the stopping place, because it's going to continue right on over into the world tomorrow, the world ahead, the world to come, the world that we're here celebrating. The new covenant.

   Not according to the Covenant that I made with their fathers. No, verse 33, this will be the covenant. I will put my laws in their inward parts and write them in their hearts and will be their God and they will be my people.

   They'll teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord, for they will all know me. From the least of them unto the greatest of them, says the Lord, for I'll forgive their iniquity and I'll remember their sin no more. Continuing on down in chapter 32, in verse 37 (Jeremiah 32:37), he says, I'll gather them out of all the countries where I've driven them in my anger and in my fury and in great wrath, and I'll bring them again into this place, and I'll cause them to dwell safely.

   And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for the good of them and of their children after them. God's way and God's law is for our good.

   And so here are people, human beings in this world to come, that will have the availability of God's Holy Spirit, as God has brought this world to a crashing climax, this world civilization will have collapsed. And except those days had been shortened, there would no flesh have been saved alive.

   God will intervene. The basis of a society that will endure is a law that is right and perfect. And leaders that have been transformed to where that law is written in their hearts and in their minds.

   They're not going to govern based on selfishness and greed. They've proven that they want to practice God's way, the way of give, the way of love, the way of outgoing concern, the way that is predicated upon the law of God because that law is written and inscribed in their very hearts and minds and beings.

   And they will teach the people of God the difference between the holy and the profane, the clean and the unclean. And those people will have the availability of the Spirit of God. And you know, even the land itself, even the land itself, we read back in Isaiah 35: God will reform the law, he'll reform the rulers, he'll reform the people, he'll even reform the land. Isaiah 35:1 tells us the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them. The desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose.

   We're told in verse 7 that the parched ground will become a pool. The deserts, the areas of this world that are unusable, will not remain so. Many times there have been revolutions, and one of the things that has been promised, it was promised in Mexico and promised in various areas, land reform.

   Land reform. Well, it never solved the problems, never got very far. God's going to have land reform that is land reform.

   One, He's going to make all of the land worth having. You know, people divide things up. It's not going to, the reallocation of resources in the world tomorrow is not going to be like the Oklahoma land rush.

   You know, if you read that, read about that period. They're going to claim the land, had free land. So they had the starting line, lined them all up, fired the gun, everybody took off.

   And the one that was the fastest and the strongest and the biggest, he got there first and got the best and the most. That's not the way it's going to be. If you want to know how God's going to do it.

   Just go back and read when he brought Israel into the land. He didn't line them up at the Jordan River, fire the gun, and say, take off and grab what you can. No, Joshua cast lots.

   And God allocated out. And he said, all right, this tribe goes up here, and this tribe goes there, and this tribe goes over here, and then this land for this tribe is allocated out to this family, and this family, and this other portion over here. God allocated it out.

   You can go through the law in Deuteronomy and Leviticus 25. We don't have time here this morning. Maybe comment will be made later on in the feast.

   But God said, up and established a law that people could not perpetually bankrupt their descendants. Somebody couldn't come in with some slick line, get you to sign away the family farm, and it was gone forever. As our society has become increasingly a society that is polarized at both extremes of wealth and poverty, with the middle being squeezed out, as we have moved from a society that is based in the land to an urban society.

   We have inherent in an urban society the extremes of wealth and poverty that do not exist in a society of small landholders. God is going to ensure. You can go back and read it in Leviticus 25.

   God will reallocate to the nations. You can read in the book of Deuteronomy how the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance. He separated the sons of Adam and divided to the nations their inheritance.

   You know, everything that people inherit is going to be worth having. Somebody's not going to be stuck with the Sahara Desert and not be able to grow anything. Because the desert will blossom like a rose.

   The parched ground will become a pool. Nobody's going to draw the short straw and come up with a piece of property that won't grow a turnip patch. That's not going to happen.

   And all will be able to sit under their own vine and their own fig tree, and none will make them afraid. So God is going to produce a society that is based on a total reformation of the law, the rulers, the people, and the land. All the components of a kingdom will be reformed.

   It will be based and predicated upon the law of God, a way of life that endured, a way of life that is described in the book of Isaiah. It is so descriptive of this time ahead, this time that we are here celebrating, this feast, the time that is described in Isaiah 11:9. Because we're here celebrating the culmination of all the things that men have hoped for and dreamed for down through the centuries, things that people have yearned for, things that so many corrupt politicians have promised, so many millennial dreams have turned into horrible nightmares.

   This is a millennial dream that will not turn into a nightmare because it is predicated upon the law of God and the word of God and the promises of God. We're here celebrating this time, a time when they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of God as the water covered the sea.