[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]
A Year of Insanity—With More to Come?
What a year 2020 has been! And as of this recording, there are still four months to go. If the eight previous months are any indication, we had better hang onto our seats, because it may be a very bumpy ride. Do you sense that world order is breaking down? If so, you’re not alone. How often we hear people remark that they have never seen anything like this—floods, hurricanes, droughts, fires, locust plagues, the Coronavirus pandemic. We see unrest in cities around the world. Shockingly, the United States is under siege from within as anarchists burn, loot, and tear at the very fabric of civilized society, while mayors and governors sit on the sidelines allowing chaos to reign. We hear news commentators and citizens alike struggle to find words that are adequate to describe what they see, and the word we hear most often, is, insanity.
Perhaps you read my July/August Tomorrow’s World magazine article, “The Perfect Storm,” with the subtitle questions, “How did 2020 go wrong? And why?”
We might also ask, what will 2021 and beyond be like? Our world is coming to a crisis like nothing in the history of the world, but there is good news beyond. There is hope in tough times, so if you would like to know the future, stay tuned.
Is There Hope in All This Chaos?
Welcome to Tomorrow’s World, where I’m addressing what everyone can see, but few understand. I especially welcome those of you tuning in for the first time, as we have a number of new stations and new viewers. Today I’ll reveal to you what is certain for humanity’s near future, foretold some 3,500 years ago.
The July/August 2020 lead story in Tomorrow’s World magazine was “The Perfect Storm: How did 2020 go wrong? And why?” The article describes how events are converging in a way the world never saw coming, but viewers of this telecast and readers of Tomorrow’s World magazine should not be surprised.
Australia’s perfect storm saw a seven-year devastating drought broken by catastrophic floods that killed some 600,000 cattle. But that was only the beginning. This was followed by the hottest and driest summer on record, resulting in nasty bush fires. CNN Australia reported on the aftermath:
“Nearly three billion animals were killed or displaced by Australia’s devastating bushfires—almost triple the figure estimated in January—according to a report released Tuesday….
‘The interim findings are shocking. It’s hard to think of another event anywhere in the world in living memory that has killed or displaced that many animals,’ said WWF-Australia CEO Dermot O’Gorman. ‘This ranks as one of the worst wildlife disasters in modern history’” (“Nearly three billion animals killed or displaced by Australia’s fires,” CNN, July 28, 2020).
This was the perfect storm that Australians had never seen to the same degree, but then came the “black swan” event of COVID-19. For those unfamiliar with this term, here is how it’s explained in Investopedia.com:
“A black swan is an unpredictable event that is beyond what is normally expected of a situation and has potentially severe consequences. Black swan events are characterized by their extreme rarity, severe impact, and the widespread insistence they were obvious in hindsight” (“Black Swan,” Investopedia, August 17, 2020).
The economic impact to Australia is yet to be fully comprehended, but it isn’t Australia alone. Similar 2020 perfect storms along with the black swan of COVID-19 are being experienced in other parts of the world.
East Africa saw the worst desert locust plague in more than half a century. This was followed by massive flooding described as “of biblical proportions,” with Lake Victoria, the third largest lake in the world, rising more than two metersthat’s more than six feet. Then throw in COVID-19 to hamper rescue and aid efforts for flood victims. Our Tomorrow’s World representative in Kenya reported on these developments:
“Countries in East Africa are suffering a ‘triple blow’ of locusts, COVID-19, and flooding. There are nearly 300,000,000 people being affected by these events.”
No matter where you look in the world, it’s disaster upon disaster, and nowhere more pronounced than in the United States. At the beginning of 2020, the economy was humming along better than anytime in fifty years, but that ended with the coronavirus—businesses closed, millions thrown out of work, and trillion dollar bailouts were instituted, to say nothing of the large death toll. Then came the George Floyd incident. Peaceful protests turned violent, with riots and anarchy in the streets of major cities. And all of this in the context of what is considered by many to be the most significant election in American history.
And friends, I’m only scratching the surface here. Many South American and African countries are struggling economically as unrest grows over government corruption. And let’s not forget Brexit!
Surely things cannot get any worse! Sadly, they can, and they will! But there is also good news. In the remainder of today’s program we will look at four commanded celebrations given some 3,500 years ago that explain in surprising detail what is ahead for your near future. Few people realize that the God of the Bible gave annual festivals to reveal His master plan for humanity. Many professing Christians tragically reject them and have instead followed counterfeit traditions mixed with pagan ideas. That leaves them in the dark regarding their future.
God’s True Holy Days Show the Way Ahead
But what do religious Holy Days have to do with the real world in which we live?
Actually, they have everything to do with current and future events! They’re relevant to your personal life, and the life of everyone who has ever lived. Now, if I can prove that, wouldn’t you want to know more about these special days?
Our booklet The Holy Days: God’s Master Plan explains all seven Holy Days and Festivals. The first three have already been fulfilled in part or in whole. The remaining four are entirely for the days ahead and that is why the remainder of this program will focus on the events portrayed by:
Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah)
Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)
Feast of Tabernacles
Last Great Day
The Feast of Trumpets was anciently celebrated by the blowing of trumpets, but as our resource on the Holy Days points out, the New Testament reveals meaning far greater than any ancient festival. Each holy day or festival foretells something to occur in the future. As an example, Israel was protected in Egypt from death by the blood of a lamb. This was called Passover, but it pointed to a far greater salvation. It pointed to the Son of God, that Lamb of God who shed His blood to pay the penalty for our sins—that is why Jesus died on the day of the Passover. As we are told in 1 Corinthians 5:7:
“For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7).
Another obvious example is the Feast of Pentecost. The law was given in codified form on the first Pentecost, but on the first Pentecost following the resurrection, God poured out His spirit to write that law, not on stone, but in our minds and on our hearts. The first three festivals have been fulfilled in part or in whole, but not so the last four.
So let’s look for the meaning of the Feast of Trumpets. Throughout the New Testament there is a single emphasis on the blowing of trumpets. It involves the one year day of the Lord, which culminates with the return of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the saints. Notice some examples. The first is found in Matthew 24, beginning in verse 29:
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:29–31).
The second example is found in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 16:
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
Again, we see Christ returning at the sound of a trumpet and the dead in Christ resurrected. But 1 Corinthians adds a very important detail. Notice it in chapter 15, verses 51 and 52:
“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51–52).
The Greatest Mystery Revealed!
Now, my friends, did you notice it? I’ll read that passage again:
“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51–52).
Now, did you catch it this time? “The last trumpet.” This Feast is about more than one event. It is the Feast of Trumpets, plural. Paul tells us the return of Christ and the resurrection occur at “the last trumpet.” So how many are there and what happens when each is blown? The answer is found in the book of Revelation, which describes the blowing of seven trumpets, and as we’ve seen so far, a dramatic event occurs at the sounding of the last one. Let’s read it in Revelation 11:15 and 18:
“Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’ … And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth” (Revelation 11:15, 18).
So what happens when the first six trumpets are blown? Revelation chapters 8 and 9 give details of traumatic occurrences that will shake mankind to our core, and our booklet, The Holy Days: God’s Master Plan is a ready study guide to help you understand these six trumpets that lead up to the seventh. The last three of the seven Holy Days are:
The Day of Atonement
The Feast of Tabernacles
The Last Great Day
It is difficult for me to express how wonderful the news is, that these days describe, but let’s try. As we saw, the Feast of Trumpets pictures the sounding of seven trumpets at the end of the age. The first six symbolize terrifying events, with our world becoming more dangerous, requiring that the seventh trumpet be blown. As it tells us in Matthew 24:21–22:
“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened” (Matthew 24:21–22).
So as a result of our unrestrained sins, the return of Christ to stop our insanity is good news—it’s wonderful news! But why is it that mankind cannot solve our problems? To a great degree it is because there is a real spirit being that influences us in ways we do not realize. He works through moods and attitudes, stirring up strife, confusion, conflict, and rebellion against our Creator. Notice Ephesians 2, verses 1 and 2:
“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1–2).
While we might individually be at one with God through Christ’s sacrifice, the world is hardly at one with God and cannot be as long as the prince of the power of the air continues to work in the sons of disobedience. The Day of Atonement pictures the joyous event, when this worker of rebellion is removed. We can read of it in Revelation 20:
“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while” (Revelation 20:1–3).
What a wonderful event shown by the Day of Atonement! Imagine when the one who directs the course of this present evil world, with all its hatred, cruel violence, and immorality, will be removed.
The Feast of Tabernacles and Mankind’s Greatest Hope
The biblical Holy Days show God’s master plan for humanity. So far we’ve very briefly touched on the following Holy Days:
The Feast of Trumpets—Christ’s intervention and return
And, The Day of Atonement—Satan removed from influencing mankind
Now let’s look at how God’s plan progresses with
The Feast of Tabernacles
The prophet Zechariah describes the day of the Lord, the time of the Messiah’s direct and open intervention in mankind’s affairs. Notice how Christ will intervene for Jerusalem and how His feet will once again stand on the Mount of Olives.
“Behold, the day of the Lord is coming…. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem…. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives…. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth” (Zechariah 14:1–4, 9).
We find near the end of this chapter, after describing the defeat of His enemies, that all nations will be commanded to come up to keep the next Feast in God’s master plan for humanity. This passage is of no small importance. Notice verses 16–19:
“And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles” (Zechariah 14:16–19).
This Feast pictures the time described in these verses, the time, when Christ rules on the earth to bring peace to our troubled world. Following the verses that describe Satan being removed, we next read in Revelation 20, about this time of rule by Christ and His servants on the earth.
“And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4).
But God’s wonderful plan for mankind does not end with the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles. There is an eighth day attached to it. John 7 describes how Jesus went up to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, but then we read beginning in verse 37:
“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:37–39).
Most people reading this have no idea what this is about. This is “The Last Great Day,” a separate Feast with a different meaning. Nor do they understand the time setting—a time of judgment for all those individuals who lived and died, not receiving an understanding of God’s plan for them. These are people who never heard of the name of Jesus Christ, or if they did, their minds were blinded. Notice how Jesus spoke of a future time of judgment for the self-righteous city of Capernaum and the sinful city of Sodom in Matthew 11:23–24.
“And you, Capernaum… if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you” (Matthew 11:23–24).
There are many references to this time of judgment, but how does it fit in with the timeline of events? The book of Revelation answers that question. Remember that chapter 20 and verse 4 described the resurrection of the saints to rule with Christ for a thousand years. Now let’s pick it up with verse 5:
“But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection” (Revelation 20:5).
These are not Christ’s servants, or they would have been resurrected upon His return. Now, here’s what we read about that resurrection beginning in verse 11:
“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it…. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened [the books of the Bible that were previously closed to their understanding]. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. [Notice this book is open for these people to have their names recorded in it, it’s not a closed book] And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books” (Revelation 20:11–12).
The world is filled with bad news, and my friends, there is so much more to these prophetic Holy Days, so if you want to read about some really good news for the future, order your free copy of The Holy Days: God’s Master Plan. Do it now before you forget. You need this resource.
And join us here at Tomorrow’s World next week, when Richard Ames, Wallace Smith, Rod McNair, and I will again share with you the clear teachings of God’s word, what prophecy declares is coming in the days ahead of us, and Jesus Christ’s Gospel of His coming Kingdom.
