Herbert W Armstrong

   I had an elderly woman come up to me after services. She said, 'Mr. Holladay, I appreciated your sermon.' But she said, 'You know, I don't want to be a king. I don't want to be a priest. I don't want to judge, I don't want to rule, I just want to make it into the Kingdom of God and be there and be satisfied.'

   You know, over the years, I've had many people who actually have said the same thing to me—that 'I don't want to rule in the Kingdom of God.' You know, 'I don't want all of that responsibility. I don't want to be a king or a priest. I just want to make it.' And actually, I let's say call that 'I just want to be a doorkeeper' attitude because a lot of people have that attitude. If I can only make it into the kingdom, all I want to do is be a doorkeeper.

   And yet last night, Mr. Herbert Armstrong, in his keynote address to us, mentioned how that no one in this first 6,000 years of man's calling has been called just for salvation—that God has called us out to do a job, to do a work. And you know, we're not going to get into God's kingdom just to make it. God has called us for a greater and a higher purpose. He doesn't want us just in the kingdom to say, 'Well, boy, I made it,' and that's it. God has a greater calling for us than that.

   You might remember the old protestant hymnal that I think illustrates this attitude. And if you're not from the South, where probably you can obviously tell I'm from, you may not have heard of this old protestant hymnal, but it goes something like this. You know it's talking about a person who has the idea or who has the concept that he's going to heaven. And this person says, 'Lord, just build me a cabin in the corner of glory land.' And the idea is that they didn't want to have a mansion, but they wanted a cabin over somewhere in the corner of glory land and, you know, just be able to have a cabin be there. You don't want to be stuck up and up on the hill in a mansion. You just want a cabin over in the corner somewhere.

   But yet God has called us to rule, brethren. I wonder if we fully comprehend what that means—the full implication of ruling in the kingdom of God. I know there's some of us here today who probably think 'I'm ready, you know, just give it to me and I'll rule and boy, I'll take my rod out and I'll bash a few heads back and forth and I'll straighten the world out.' And I think either extreme, you know, is exactly what God is looking for, what he desires in us. Because what you find is that this world has a totally false concept of what rulership is all about, what governing is all about. And it's totally opposite to what God's idea is.

   Let's turn in our bibles today, first of all, to Revelation chapter two in verse 26, and I'd like to show you here very briefly that God has called us to rule. I think most of us are familiar with these scriptures. But notice, first of all, Revelation chapter two, verse 26 (Revelation 2:26). It says, 'He that overcomes and that keeps my works unto the end, to him I will give power.' Notice that you're going to have power, it says, 'over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken into shivers, even as I received of my Father.' So you find here, brethren, that if we make it into the kingdom of God, we will have power and we will also rule over the nations.

   In Revelation chapter 20 verse 4—now a very familiar scripture, but I think it points out the fact that we have been called to rule. Revelation chapter 20 verse 4 (Revelation 20:4), talking here about those who partake in the first resurrection, John says, 'I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, in which had not worshiped the beast, nor had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands.' The Bible says 'they lived and they reigned with Christ for 1,000 years.' Now, that's not talking about raining like water coming down. That's talking about ruling, reigning over the nations and governing the nations in the world tomorrow.

   So brethren, whether you like it or not, the more you overcome today, the more involved you are in God's church, the more you do, the more you serve—guess what—the more you will rule in the world tomorrow. That's the promise that God gives to us. The more authority you will have in the world tomorrow is predicated on the more that you do now in this life.

   Let's turn to Luke chapter 19. Luke 19—I think we're all familiar with this scripture, but let's notice it from this point of view, of ruling. Remember Christ here, Luke chapter 19 verse 11 (Luke 19:11-13), had been asked by his disciples about when the Kingdom of God should appear, and they thought that Christ was going to immediately go to heaven and come back and that the kingdom would be set up, or that perhaps while he was even here on the earth, that he was going to set the kingdom up. So Christ gave this parable to show, first of all, that he had to go to heaven, there would be a period of time before he would return to the earth.

   So in verse 12, he said, 'Therefore a certain nobleman went into a foreign country'—obviously referring to himself, going off to heaven—'to receive for himself a kingdom and then to return.' And you'll find here in verse 13 that 'he called his ten servants and he delivered unto them ten pounds and said unto them, occupy till I come.' But you find his citizens hated him—they didn't want to have anything to do with him. And finally, you find Christ returns to the earth to find out what his servants—you might say, brethren—what we have done with what He has given to us.

   Now notice in verse 16 what the scriptures say here (Luke 19:16). The first came to Christ and said, 'Lord, thy pound'—you see, he had received one pound—'your pound has gained ten pounds.' And he said unto him, 'Well, you good servant.' He says, 'Because you have been faithful.' Let's notice that He says, 'You have been faithful in a very little.' Brethren, because we are faithful in the very small things that God gives to us today, God says, 'Have you authority over ten cities.' So notice if you are faithful in the very minute, small responsibilities that you have today, God says one day that will be magnified into authority over cities.

   And so we are going to have authority and responsibility over cities. In Matthew chapter 25 and verse 14, we find a scripture that echoes the same thing. Matthew chapter 25 verse 14—this is a parable here of the talents, and the most encouraging thing about the parable of talents to me is that it shows that God gives everybody at least one talent. So that tells me that at least I've got one talent to work with, and I think that should be encouraging to all of us. God has given to every one of us at least one talent that we have that we can use.

   So again, you find here in verse 14, it says (Matthew 25:14), 'The Kingdom of Heaven is as a man traveling into a far country who called his own servants and he delivered unto them his goods. And he gave to one five talents, to another two talents, and to another one.' He says 'to every man according to his several'—or according to his natural innate abilities that he has. And you find that they went out, they traded.

   And let's notice what happens here in verse 20 (Matthew 25:20-23). It says, 'He that had received the five talents came and brought five other talents.' So he doubled what he started with. He had five, he increased it by five—he doubled. And he said, 'Lord, you delivered unto me five talents and behold, I have gained beside these five others.' And he said unto him, 'Well done.' He says, 'You good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a few things.' Now noticed in this life, we really have just a few things to be faithful over. 'I will make you ruler,' the Bible says, 'over many things.'

   So we're going to have the responsibility in the world tomorrow to rule over many things. Then it says, 'Enter you into the joy of your Lord.' And also 'he that had received two talents came and said, Lord, you delivered unto me two talents. I doubled them. I've got two more.' In verse 23, the exact same thing is said: because you've been faithful over a few things, and it says, 'I will make you ruler over many.'

   So brethren, we find that if we're faithful now in this life, we're going to be given much authority in the world tomorrow. Now, the problem is this: you know, a lot of times the reason why we don't want that authority, we don't want that rulership, or perhaps we shrink back from it, is simply because we don't realize—we don't have the proper perspective, the proper slant, the proper attitude, approach, whatever you want to call it—towards rulership. We don't view it as God views it.

   So let me show you God's perspective of rulership, and I'll guarantee you it is totally opposite, totally opposite to the world's idea. In Luke chapter 22 and verse 24, let's look at God's perspective of rulership. We know we're going to rule—God says we're going to have authority over the cities and nations of this world. So let's notice here in Luke chapter 22 verse 24 the proper perspective that God wants us to have.

   This is the Passover night. Actually, this is the last night Christ was alive before he was crucified. Here He has his disciples around him. And you would think that here they are, they're really spiritual, they're close to God, they are very attuned to him. What you find they're doing—they're fighting and bickering back and forth as to who's going to be the greatest, who's gonna have the highest position in the kingdom.

   So verse 24 says (Luke 22:24-26), 'There was also a strife among them, of which of them should be accounted to be the greatest.' And he said unto them, 'The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.' I want you to notice that even the temporal rulers of this world—to say the normal rulers of this world—exercise authority over people. Now, you and I have been told that we will one day exercise authority. But you see, we have to exercise it differently than they do. They lord it over the people. You know, they're in charge and they lord it, as the Bible says here, over the people. We cannot be that way.

   Notice verse 26, here's how Christ said you have to rule: 'But you shall not be so.' Christ said, 'But he that is greatest among you'—okay, if you want to be great in God's sight, here's what you should do—'let him be as the younger, and he that is chief as he that does serve. For whether is greater, he that sits at meat or he that serves? Is not he that sits at meat?' You know, the wealthy individual, the great landowner who has servants. But Christ says, 'Look, I am among you as he that serves.' And even though Jesus Christ was God in the flesh, he was there to serve his disciples and to start his church.

   You know, I think the basic principle that Christ is bringing out here, brethren, is if you have authority and you do not use that authority to serve people, then you abuse your authority. You abuse the responsibility that God gives to you. And the way God looks on ruling is simply: ruling is an opportunity to serve. It is an opportunity to help. It is an opportunity, as Mr. Armstrong has stated over and over again, to give—the giving way of life of helping and serving.

   I think every one of us perhaps have been so frustrated at times when you look around you in this world and you look at the masses of people, of humanity living around the world—with say nations like India and Africa, you know, over in the Far East—you see people starving to death. I think the figures today are that approximately 20,000 people starve to death a day. And you look at that and you say, 'Well, boy, I wish I could do something to help these people. I wish I could change things so that these people do not have to go to bed hungry at night.'

   And yet brethren, when you are in the Kingdom of God, you're going to have that responsibility. Do you realize that if you're in the Kingdom of God—let's say you make it—and if you could help 10 people who are starving to death, wouldn't that be great to just help 10 people who are about to starve to death, to be able to show them the right laws of God concerning health, concerning food, what to eat, what to do? That would be a tremendous opportunity to help just 10 people.

   But what if you had the opportunity of helping 100 people? You see, if you could help 100 people, that's better than helping 10, isn't it? And what if you had the opportunity of helping 1,000 people who are starving, who are going without? Project that even further—to help a million people. If you have the opportunity of helping a million people, I think you would feel very richly satisfied, inspired, and feel like that you've accomplished something.

   You know, that's exactly what rulership is all about—that the greater your position in God's kingdom, the higher your responsibility means the more people you will be able to help, the more people you'll be able to serve, the more people you will be able to give to. Not that you're exalted like on a white horse and just sitting, you know, where you're on a pedestal. Let's say a higher position in God's family doesn't mean that you're put on a higher pedestal. It means that you have a greater opportunity to serve and to help humanity.

   Now, that's what God's rulership is all about and brethren, that's what we have been called to do. To illustrate what I'm talking about, if you want to use the analogy, it's just like the president of the United States. If you just were to take our country, the president of the United States has the greatest opportunity to do good for the most people in this country because he sits in the very highest position, and so decisions that he makes affect everybody in the whole country.

   Now, if you come on down to each state—there are 50 states within our country—and the governors within each one of those states has the responsibility of helping the most people within the state because laws that he might enact, policies that he is responsible for are going to help more people. And then if you bring it right on down to the local cities, they are mayors over cities and those mayors over cities have the responsibility of helping the people within their city, but they don't have as great of an opportunity as a governor because they're only ruling over a city, whereas the governor rules over a whole state and a president rules over the whole country.

   And in the world tomorrow, brethren, the same principle is going to apply because when Jesus Christ comes back to this earth as King of kings and Lord of lords, he is going to have the responsibility of ruling over the whole nation—or the whole world, I should say—and he will have the opportunity of serving more than anyone because he will be in the very top position. And the next ones under him who will have the responsibility of serving will be Abraham and probably Isaac and Jacob along with him because they will be ruling right under Christ. And then David will have the opportunity of helping all Israel. And then the Bible says the 12 apostles will rule over the 12 tribes. So each one of them will have a great responsibility, but you see, lesser than the one over him.

   And then finally, we come down to the saints who will be ruling over cities, who will be ruling over the, let's say, lesser responsibilities. But can't you see that in ruling in the world tomorrow, the higher your position that you qualify for, the greater will you have a responsibility of helping, of serving other people?

   You know, you can apply this principle in any way that you want to. You stop and you think about unhappy marriages—if I were to ask how many people here, and I won't do it, but I think you will find that if I were to ask how many people here have been involved in a divorce, either personally or as a child, had a parent involved in a divorce or someone in the immediate family, I would say almost every one of us would raise our hand because we've all been involved in this way.

   And yet in the world tomorrow, brethren, if you are over a city or two or three cities, think that you will have a opportunity of helping more people to have happy marriages, to rear their children, to teach them the laws of health—or health, I should say—and be able to do good.

   Now, sometimes I think we can't imagine ourselves ruling simply because, you know, if you were to come up here on this stage—I don't know how many we have here today, somewhere close to 10,000—but I would imagine if you were to look out at this crowd and you see 10,000 people, most of us would say, 'Well, I'm not qualified to rule over 10,000. You know, how can I rule over 5,000 or 1,000?'

   Well, let's notice a very interesting principle back in Ezekiel chapter 38. Ezekiel chapter 38, and we'll pick up the story here in verse eight. The you and I, brethren, are going to rule and even though it might seem impossible to us right now, looking at ourselves and, you know, quite frankly, I think I fall in the same category that you do. You know, I look at myself and I say, 'Who, me? You know, rule over cities, maybe nations, be responsible for tens of thousands of people?' Sometimes we shake our heads and we wonder, 'How am I going to do that? How will I ever be qualified to do that?'

   Well, let's notice here in Ezekiel 38. Now I'll just summarize Ezekiel 38 and 39 for you. This—these two chapters are after the millennium has begun, or let's say after Christ is on the earth, and you find that Jesus Christ does not immediately come to the earth and all nations submit to his government. Now, you'll find here that only Israel is under God's government at this point. The Gentile nations have not yet come under God's government.

   And so let's notice here in verse eight (Ezekiel 38:8). It says, 'After many days, you shall be visited in the latter years, you shall come into the land that is brought back from the sword and that is gathered out of many people against the mountains of Israel which have always been wasted, but it is brought forth out of the nations and they shall dwell safely, all of them.' This is describing the Israelites coming back out of national captivity, coming back to Jerusalem and Palestine. And that's where the Kingdom of God is going to begin in the world tomorrow. Christ will begin at Jerusalem.

   And you'll notice here verse 11 (Ezekiel 38:11), the attitude of many of these surrounding Gentile nations—because you see, the land of Palestine is beginning to blossom like a rose, they have abundant crops, they have good weather and things are going well for them. But yet all of these other nations are still having the same old problems they've always had. So verse 11, they say, 'Well, come, let's go up to the land of unwalled villages.' That means, you know, a land that doesn't have an army, a navy, doesn't have missiles—it's undefended, doesn't have a defense. Says 'I will go up to them that are at rest'—see, we're talking about the time of the millennial rest—'and that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls and having neither bars nor gates.'

   And then it shows how they're going to come up against the land of Palestine and how God will supernaturally protect Israel at that time. And in this way, he will finally get the attention of the Gentiles. And you find finally, God's government will begin to expand out over all nations. So the principle is this: it's going to take a little time in the world tomorrow before all nations come under the government of God. Christ doesn't come back to the earth and bang, immediately all nations bow before God and say 'yes, we accept you.' No, it's got to begin at Jerusalem. Then it expands out to Palestine and then out to all of the other nations.

   Now, what this simply means is this, brethren: that you and I as spirit beings will not have to rule over all of the nations immediately. We will begin at Jerusalem and then we will expand out to Palestine. You know what's going to happen? For a period of perhaps 3, 3.5, 4-5 years—I don't know how long it will be—but for a period of time, we will be right in Jerusalem and Palestine with Jesus Christ, with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and others very high in the government of God. And we will have the opportunity to observe how to rule. We will be able to see how Christ does it firsthand, we will be able to emulate him, see his example.

   And then we'll start small. You know, I think a lot of times a person maybe who hasn't had any background in public speaking, hasn't had any background in counseling or meeting with people, wonder, you know, how can I take over a city and begin to rule immediately? But have you ever thought of the fact, maybe God might start us off small? I'm not saying he will start all of us off this way. But, you know, for some of us like myself or whoever might apply to, God might have to say, 'Hey, you know, I'll start you off over maybe six families.'

   And just stop and think if you started ruling only over six families to begin with in the world tomorrow, the same in the city of Jerusalem—you'll have six families, maybe those six families because of the time of prosperity and peace have five children. That's 30 people. One generation, you might have 30 people that you're ruling over. You know, most 30 people then had five more children. Guess what? Within two generations, you would have 150 people that you're ruling over and believe me, within 10, 15, 20, 25 years, you are going to be more than qualified to rule over 150 people.

   What if those 150 people had five children? What you're talking about within three generations, 750 people. And you can multiply five times 750—I'm just using numbers—and you'll come up with 3,750 people, which very shortly you'd be ruling over. Within about six generations, you've got 93,750 people that you might be ruling over. And if you just stuck with those six families that you started with and then their children and their children and their children, you know, by the end of the millennium, you could be ruling over millions of people because as those families expand, they're not going to be killed off in war, they're not going to die of natural causes. Like I shouldn't say natural causes—they shouldn't die of diseases like people do today, but they'll live to a ripe old age and they'll have children and grandchildren.

   And by the end of the millennium, brethren, you and I may be ruling over millions, and it may have started off very small, ruling over maybe a half dozen, a dozen or, you know, a few hundred people to begin with. But we'll start off and by the end of the millennium, we will be capable, we will be able to rule over millions because we started small and we grew, as I said, we'll be able to observe Jesus Christ on personal example and we'll know how to rule because we'll see him and we'll have the best teacher there could possibly be.

   I can remember back when I first started in the ministry, started out in Pittsburgh and I was working with Bill McDowell at that time, and I can remember one of the first visits I went on was a marriage problem. And I can remember sitting there—I was fresh out of Ambassador College, green behind the ears and you know, I didn't know anything about marriage problems. I just got married myself and we hadn't had problems yet. The first thing I can remember, and this has stuck in my mind to this day, I can remember sitting there thinking, 'I am glad that Mr. McDowell is in charge of this visit because I don't know what to do, I would not know what advice to give those people.'

   And yet within about a year and a half or two, you know what happened? I was ordained. And the first thing I found I was sitting in people's homes and I was having to help them with their problems. But you see, first of all, I had to start small. I came out as a trainee. I was ordained as a local elder. Then I became a preaching elder, later on a pastor. And greater responsibilities, you know, came my way as I matured and was able to take more responsibility.

   Well, I think the same thing is going to happen in the world tomorrow, brethren. We will grow with the job, we will mature with the job and we will progress throughout the millennium in that way. So that at the end of the millennium, you and I could be capable of ruling nations and millions and millions of people.

   In fact, back in Proverbs chapter 11, verse 14, scripture you're all familiar with—Proverbs 11:14—we find here a principle of governing and counseling. This is where 'no counsel is, the people fail, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.' And this is a principle that I've always tried to apply in the ministry. If I have any doubts about a decision or advice, I always go to somebody older than myself in the ministry and consult with me, and generally in this area, I'll call Carl McNair up and I'll talk to him and I'll ask his advice, or someone like Dean Blackwell who's been around for ages and, you know, I'll ask his advice as to what I should do.

   Well, do you think it's going to be any different in the world tomorrow? What if you're just starting out, your greenhorn? You've got your few people here, you're ruling over and you don't know exactly what you should do. Well, you're going to have the opportunity of going and counseling with Elijah, with John the Baptist, and I will throw in there, Herbert Armstrong, because I think those three men are going to be working together very closely in the educational aspect of the world tomorrow. You will be able to go to those over you and you'll be able to sit down and counsel and talk, and the first thing you know, you'll get your answer and you'll come back as the Bible says 'in a multitude of wisdom, there's safety' and we will be able to rule in the world tomorrow.

   You see, you and I are learning right now how to rule. And I think a lot of times we don't realize that. I've had women tell me, 'Oh, this church gives all the men the breaks, they get to speak, they get to teach, they've got spokesman's clubs. We women don't have the opportunity to learn how to rule, to be in charge, you know, to have those responsible positions.' But I'm going to show you today that's not true.

   You know, you could give a whole sermon dealing just with this one facet of rulership. But let me show you what I'm talking about. What is wrong today with rulers is simply that our rulers are human—they're human beings and human beings are not qualified to rule over nations. And there are two reasons why they're not qualified. One, they lack character—or the right character. And secondly, they lack the power. Even if they had the character, they lack the power to do in many cases what they should do.

   Now, what you find brethren is God is qualifying us to rule and he is by, let's say, going through stages. God is correcting these problems in us and he's got a two-stage process that he's doing it in. Let's go to Matthew chapter 20. Let me show you how every one of us here—I don't care if you're a woman or if you're a man, if you're elderly or if you're young are, you know who you are—that God is teaching us and correcting the problem that human rulers have today, which is the lack of the proper type of character to rule and to reign on this earth.

   Notice here, Matthew chapter 20 in verse 20 (Matthew 20:20-24). You have Mrs. Zebedee here. It says, 'There came to him the mother of Zebedee's children.' So here's Mrs. Zebedee, she comes to Jesus Christ and she brought her sons and she worshiped him and she wanted something of him. And verse 21, he said unto her, 'What wilt thou?' And she said unto him, 'Grant that these my two sons may sit the one on your right hand and the other on your left hand in the kingdom.' You know, that's not asking much is it—to sit on the right and left hand of Jesus Christ? Well, this is what Mrs. Zebedee was wanting.

   Verse 22, Jesus answered and said, 'You know not what you ask. Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?' And they said unto him, 'Why, we're able!' And he said unto them, 'You shall indeed drink of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. But to sit on my right hand or on my left hand,' Christ said, 'you know, it's not up to me. It's in the Father's charge.'

   Verse 24—now, here were the other 10 disciples and they observed all of this going on and they were able to see what was happening. And you notice here what they said: 'When the 10 heard it, they were moved with indignation.' Why? Because they wanted to sit on the right and the left hand, that's why—they wanted those positions. And here Mrs. Zebedee was getting in there first with it.

   Well, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren, but Jesus called them unto him and said, 'You know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them and they that are great exercise authority upon them, but it shall not be so among you.' Christ said, 'Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.' And Christ goes on to show that he didn't come to be served but to serve.

   Okay, you know what the greatest principle of rulership is that every one of us should be learning here? That is service. If you can learn the lesson of serving other human beings and helping other people, you will have the proper mentality, the proper slant, the proper perspective approach on rulership. You see, the problem with most rulers today is once they get into position, they want to be ruled, they want to be served, they want to be helped, they want to be aggrandized, looked up to. But you find that that's the exact opposite of God's principle.

   And every one of us has been called into the church to learn how to rule, how to serve, and the Feast of Tabernacles, as we heard last night in one of the announcements, provides a wonderful opportunity for every one of us to be involved and to serve and to help in a certain way. What is service except thinking of the other person, being concerned about his needs, about his feelings and helping him? That's outgoing concern, that's love. And that is the primary attitude that God is looking for.

   Now, let's go back to Isaiah chapter 11. Let's notice another characteristic that we're all learning. And I would say that during this last year that we've had to learn this lesson more deeply than we've ever learned it before. Isaiah chapter 11—you find here this chapter that deals with the millennium, the world tomorrow. And it talks here about Jesus Christ and it gives his qualifications and quite frankly, it shows why Christ will have the highest position in the kingdom because he's the most capable and he has these characteristics that you and I want—the character that we need to have. He has it, let's say, because you find it mentioned here, he's developed that particular character.

   You find here, verse two says (Isaiah 11:2), 'The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him.' You see, that's one requisite. You have to have God's spirit—'shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.' You can go on and read this whole section. But let's notice verse five. I want to zero in on one point here in verse five (Isaiah 11:5). And it says, 'Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins.'

   And you find that today, so many rulers are not righteous. You find that their morals are like alley cats, that their morals, you know, are atrocious, and yet the rulers in the world tomorrow will be righteous. And you find 'righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins and faithfulness, the girdle of his reins.' God has absolute faith, confidence, trust in Jesus Christ, and brethren, that's another attribute that we must have in our character.

   If we're going to rule, we have to prove ourselves totally faithful and loyal to God. And as I said, God's church has been tried over the last year, especially to see if God's people are faithful, if they're loyal. And Jesus Christ, brethren, is totally faithful to God. God the Father knows that when he sends Christ down to this earth, that Christ will carry out his government, his way of life, his policies, exactly the way that He wants them carried out and that He will not swerve from them.

   And this is something that God has to see in us, that we have to have that total faithfulness and loyalty. Because when we're in the world tomorrow and we're over a city or we're ruling people and you know, you're there maybe on a Sabbath, you get up and you say, 'Well, look people, I know that over in Jerusalem, they're doing this. But we're not going to do it that way in my city. You know, we're going to let, let's say men have long hair and your women can cut their hair off short.' You know what will happen? You won't even be there if that's your attitude because God will not allow anyone who, let's say, is disloyal—anyone who is not faithful to his government and his way of life—to even be there.

   So what God is looking for in our character right now is our faithfulness, our loyalty. And finally, you find back here in Exodus 18, there are many, many things that you could cover on this. But Exodus 18, in verse 21, let's notice here another aspect that God is looking for in His people. And I guess you could summarize it by saying they believe in the government of God—they believe in the government of God.

   Notice here the qualifications—these were just physical Israelites and these were the qualifications that they had to have or should have had to rule over the people. Exodus chapter 18 verse 21, here is where Jethro told Moses he needed to pick out men to help him and to assist him in governing. And brethren, when Christ comes back, Christ isn't going to look around and say, 'Hey, I wonder who's going to help me to rule the world here in the world tomorrow.' He will already have hand picked and trained his servants who will then be resurrected and help him rule.

   So notice here, verse 21 (Exodus 18:21), it says, 'Moreover thou shall provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God.' How many rulers today fear God? You find that something that Christ does—He has a fear of God, a respect of God—'men of truth.' Do you love the truth? God's word? 'Hating covetousness.' You see, these are all attributes of character that we have to have. And then it says, 'And place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, and rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And let them judge the people at all seasons. And it shall be that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge.'

   And then it goes on to say, 'So shall it be easier for thyself and they shall bear the burden with thee.' And brethren, that principle of God's government is true today. God's government has always been from the top down. And in the world tomorrow, you and I are going to have the opportunity and the responsibility of perhaps, you know, ruling over cities. And whenever we don't know a matter, we'll go one step higher, we'll go to the fellow over us and we'll counsel with him, and if we have to go all the way up to the top, we will help bear the burden with Christ of ruling and serving people in the world tomorrow.

   I want you to notice here in verse 21 again, it says 'able men' or 'able individuals.' Again, a lot of us wonder, 'I'm not able, you know, I'm not qualified, I'm not the greats of this world. I'm not the talented of this world.' And I think all of us can look around at other people who have all kinds of ability, humanly speaking, all types of talent. And we say 'I'm not able, how can I rule, you know, even if I have the right type of character, how can I rule in the world tomorrow?'

   Well, let me show you that God is going to qualify every one of us to be rulers. He is going to perfectly equip us so that we will be ready and we will have all the proper tools. I Corinthians 15 shows what our proper tools are going to be. You see, you and I have a responsibility of developing character now. As I brought out to you, the main character that God is looking for in us is the attitude of ruling, which is serving. It is the attitude of faithfulness and loyalty. It's the attitude of submitting to God's government.

   And when you talk about submitting to God's government, I've seen a lesson this last year that many people have forgotten, brethren. You realize that if you do not believe in the government of God, that you cannot have faith. A lot of people have left this church and the reason they have left God's church is because they don't have faith. And when you do not believe in God's government, which is simply to say that you believe that God is in charge, that he's placed Christ in charge of the church—and you believe that and you know that and that He is responsible—when you lose sight of that, you don't have faith and people left God's church because they don't have that faith, that their faith has been undermined.

   But when you believe in God's government and you know that Christ is in charge of this church, you know, you have faith and the more you believe that, the more strongly you submit to that government and obey it, the greater your faith becomes. And I think all of us should be able to look back and see that our faith has grown, has developed.

   But let's notice here in I Corinthians chapter 15, how we are going to be equipped because you see, if we have developed the character, if we have the right slant, the right perspective on rulership, Christ is going to take care of the rest and let's notice how he takes care of it. Verse 42: 'So also is the resurrection of the dead.' And here we're talking about the resurrection. This is I Corinthians 15:42-44. 'So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.'

   So brethren, after the resurrection, you and I are going to be changed from human, physical, mortal and we will become incorruptible. You know what that means? That means you won't have to worry about being assassinated. You know, that's a problem today with our world rulers. You and I will be incorruptible. We will no longer be subject to corruption. And every day, you know, you can sort of smell yourself, you can look at yourself, you become a little more corruptible, few more hairs fall out. You know, body odors and first one thing and another and make us realize how human we really are. But at this time, brethren, we will not be corruptible.

   And that means that there's going to be a continuity of rulership in the world tomorrow. Today, you have a president, he's elected, four years later, you know, the people don't like him, they throw him out, they elect somebody else and there's no continuity of leadership. In the world tomorrow, there will be because we're going to be there for the whole 1,000 years and then for all eternity, and there will be a continuity of leadership going on out into the world tomorrow.

   Now notice also verse 43, another way that we will be perfectly equipped by Christ to rule. Verse 43 says about our human body that 'it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory.' And so that means that you and I will come up with a glorified spiritual body—won't be a limited body like we have here, we're limited. You know, if I were to come out here and be so foolish to tell you I'm not limited, I can fly—you know, I could spread my arms and I could go over to the side of the stage and say, 'Watch me fly,' do a swan dive and break all my teeth and bloody my nose and bump my head and my knees because that's exactly what would happen. But you know, when you receive a glorified body, you're a spirit being and you have a powerful body.

   The Bible describes a spirit body so like electricity or like the sun and the energy compacted into a body, and we'll have that type of glory. So in the world tomorrow, brethren, when you're dealing with human beings, if somebody, you know, he's sort of smart aleck, he doesn't respect God's government, you'll be able to turn the glory on a little bit and appear to him and say, 'Hey buddy, you know, I'm God and look how powerful I am.' You know, his eyes will get real wide and he'll look and you know, he'll fall down and worship God. You'll be able to use a little bit of that glory.

   Now going on here in verse 43, it talks about our human body, the difference in the resurrection: 'It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.' You see, we will have the same power that God has. We will be God and we will be powerful and we'll be able to use that power.

   Now, here is where the problem is today with world leaders—world leaders today have power, but they lack the character, brethren, and I will be given the power only if we develop the proper character to use that power. God is not going to give power in the world tomorrow to anyone who does not have the proper governor over that power, the proper control of power. And the governor that God gives to us is character. And so at the resurrection, God will give to us the spiritual body, but we have to have the right character first.

   And if the character is right, the approach is right, you put that within a spirit body and you will be a perfect spiritual being. Also, it goes on to talk in verse 44 how our human bodies are 'sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.' You see, all of this will take place immediately after the resurrection. When Christ comes back, we will have a spiritual body, we will be powerful. We will be just like God is and you know what, we will be qualified to rule because we will be spirit beings at that time and we will rule.

   You see, we'll have a mind that's just like God's mind. We'll have the depth of mind that God has. If you're like I am, I can look at somebody and I can say, 'Hey, I think I know you,' but we forget people's names. God says that he calls every star in the universe by name. And we're talking about billions and billions of stars. You and I have a very limited vocabulary of a few thousand words even that we even think with and that we're able to communicate with. We'll have a mind like God has at that time and we'll be able to deal with human beings from the perspective of God.

   You imagine what it will be like in the world tomorrow when you're talking to somebody, like, you know, maybe today a political ruler or leader, maybe like President Carter might be talking to someone and the man says something to him, you know, politics. Yet in the back of his mind, he wonders if the man is sincere. You see, in the world tomorrow, you and I will know if they're sincere or not because we'll be able to read their minds. We'll be able to see what's going on in their thought processes. We'll be able to say, 'Uh uh, none of that, you know, I know exactly what you're thinking' and we'll be able to set them straight.

   Now, I know the CIA today wishes they had a few of us around because they could spread us around throughout the world and we could sit in the conference rooms of many nations and be able to come back and report what's going on. Well, once you have been changed, you instantly, as a God being, will be able to handle problems anywhere. Today, if a problem occurs, you have to get on a plane, you got to fly. But as a spirit being, brethren, it would be just as zap—you know, you can instantly be anywhere you want to.

   So what I'm saying is that God at the resurrection by giving us a spiritual body is going to give us the tools that are needed to rule. But you and I first of all have to develop the character. In Hebrews chapter 5, in verse seven, we notice the principle here. A lot of people muse over this scripture and wonder about it. But let's notice here about Jesus Christ.

   This is Hebrews chapter 5 and verse seven (Hebrews 5:7-9). We'll begin to read verse seven, talking here about Christ. He says, 'Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, was heard in that he feared.' So he feared God. 'And though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things that he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.'

   Now notice verse nine, it says 'being made perfect.' Does that mean that Jesus Christ was not perfect to begin with? No, it doesn't mean that. He never sinned. You know, a lot of times I think we, we have the concept that when we make it into the Kingdom of God, that's it. We've made it, we qualified, and we don't realize that even as Jesus Christ was made perfect, so you and I once we're into the very family of God will continue to be made perfect.

   The Hebrew word here for perfect means 'to mature.' It doesn't just mean that you're imperfect—it means that you grow in perfection, you grow in maturity. You think that Jesus Christ at age 12 knew more than he did at age two? At age 20, did he know more than he did at age 12? At age 30, did he know more than he did at age 20? Sure he did. He learned just by experience, by living, and he knows more today than he did when he was on this earth over 1,900 years ago. And you and I in the very family of God, brethren, will continue to mature. We will continue to grow with the job. We will grow in maturity. We will learn, we will become more capable, capable.

   As I mentioned earlier, we will learn from Jesus Christ. We'll learn from those in higher positions in Christ's family, and what you and I will do for all eternity or let's say, excuse me, for all the millennium, we will be assisting Jesus Christ as the bride of Christ. Remember Mr. Armstrong mentioned last night in Revelation 19 verse seven (Revelation 19:7), that the church is preparing itself, that the church is the bride of Christ and all of us who partake in the first resurrection are going to be the bride of Christ.

   And the book of Genesis says that when God made woman for man, remember it says God made the woman to be a help, mate for her husband. Brethren, throughout the millennium, you and I as the bride of Christ will be a help meet—an assistant to Christ, assisting him to rule and to govern. Just like a wife might assist her husband in ruling the family today. So we will in the world tomorrow rule over human beings.

   Now let's turn to Revelation chapter 21, one final scripture here. Revelation the 21st chapter. I want you to notice something that is going to happen because you and I, brethren, will continue to mature, continue to take on more responsibility as the world tomorrow goes along and you will be more qualified because you see, you will mature, you will learn, you will have 1,000 years head start on all of those who come up in the white throne judgment because you've been ruling with Christ for 1,000 years.

   Now, let's notice in Revelation chapter 21—Revelation 21 and 22 speaks of a time after the white throne judgment, after every human being has had an opportunity for salvation. This is talking about the time living on over into eternity, you might say.

   Verse one says (Revelation 21:1), 'I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heavens and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea.' And 'I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride.' So here's a city that's compared to a bride adorned. And the word 'adorned' means simply that she's adorned or decorated or put it in order—that she has been put in proper order for her husband.

   'And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men and He will dwell with them and they shall be His people and God Himself shall be with them and be their God.' Finally, you find that God the Father himself comes down to this earth and the earth becomes God's headquarters forever. This becomes the very nerve center of the whole universe.

   Now, let's notice in verse nine, same chapter (Revelation 21:9). So there came to me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues and talked with me saying, 'Come hither and I'll show you the bride, the Lamb's wife.' And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and a high mountain and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.

   Brethren, here you find the bride of Christ—and remember the bride of Christ is all those who are resurrected in the first resurrection—and the new Jerusalem are described as being one. What that simply means or indicates to me is that the New Jerusalem will be the permanent home for the bride of Christ for all eternity. This is where God the Father himself will be. This is where Jesus Christ will be and this is where the bride will be.

   You realize, as is indicated in verse 23, 24, 25 of the same chapter, that apparently there will even be other cities. It mentions nations here in the new heavens and the new earth that apparently the bride of Christ will reside in this city and will assist Jesus Christ forever and ever. You and I who are being qualified now, brethren, we're being qualified at this point by our character that we're developing. All at the resurrection, I'm going to be given a spiritual body and we are going to be made Gods. God will equip us with what is needed to rule in the world tomorrow. We may start out slow, we may start out small. But as we go through the millennium, we grow, we mature, we progress and by the end of the millennium, we will be capable of ruling over millions.

   The great white throne judgment when billions of people are resurrected, you and I will have the main responsibilities because we will be the ones most qualified and most capable of serving. And then for all eternity, brethren—for all eternity—you and I will assist Jesus Christ as part of the bride. And we will have the opportunity at that time of carrying out the very government of God, of serving the rest of the family of God. Because in God's family, there's still going to be government, there's going to be authority. And Jesus Christ, you know, will perhaps send people out into the universe. You know, who knows exactly what God has to do. But you and I are going to have the opportunity of continuing to serve this God family—those who come in under us in the millennium, those who come in under us in the white throne judgment. We will be the ones most capable, most mature, most qualified to assist those people in the world tomorrow. And you know why? Because we are now developing the proper slant, the proper character, the proper approach towards rulership. So let's realize brethren, as Hebrews chapter 11 states, truly the first Resurrection is a better resurrection.