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- Welcome to part two of the Days of Noah series.

I'm your host, Jeff Reich.

If you've missed part one,

we revisited the story of Noah and examined

the physical evidence that has remained.

These physical evidences are an unerring

record of the global judgment that occurred

in the past and are therefore also warning

of a judgment to come.

Noah was given a message of warning to prepare

a people for the coming flood.

And at the end of time, in the 14th chapter

of Revelation, verses six through 12,

God sends another message with another warning of judgment.

This is the message of Noah for the last generation.

It is comprised of three messages given by three

angels and has therefore become known

as the three angels' messages.

- The purpose of the three angels' message

is to warn the world about issues

that will exist at the end of time.

We know that the three angels' message

is the last message of God to the world

because as soon as the third angel proclaims

his message in Revelation 14, the next scene

is Jesus sitting on a cloud with a sickle in his hand

and the earth is ripe.

He's gonna harvest the righteous and the wicked.

- The story of the ark basically parallels

the three angels' messages.

It is an end time message and it is a message

that actually prepares the world for the coming of Christ.

- Now, what's gonna happen with individuals

who hear the three angels' messages

and yet they reject the three angels' messages?

Well, the fact is, the same thing is gonna happen

as in the days of Noah.

The possibility of living forever

depends on accepting these three angels'

messages at the end of time.

Those who reject the messages will be lost

in simple terms.

- And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven,

having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them

that dwell on the earth, and to every nation

and kindred and tongue and people,

saying with a loud voice,

fear God and give glory to him,

for the hour of his judgment is come.

And worship him that make heaven and earth

and the sea and the fountains of waters.

- The hour of his judgment is come.

This is the message of the angel.

The hour of his judgment is come.

And we know that this judgment takes place

before the second coming, because once again,

when you look at the context of Revelation

chapter 14, the hour of his judgment comes,

that's verse seven, and towards the end of that

chapter, you find the reaping and the coming

of the son of man.

So the hour of his judgment

comes before Jesus comes again.

The judgment is that which determines

who will be ready for Jesus when he comes

and who will not.

- Jesus referred to the period of time just before

the flood as the days of Noah because in it

Noah was preaching a warning message about

the coming judgment.

The days of Noah was a judgment hour because

it was a last opportunity for people to accept

or reject the warning message before the

execution of the judgment by a flood.

In the judgment hour, the warning message

is given to prepare the world for the judgment

and at the end of time, the first of the three

angels' messages proclaims the hour of his

judgment is come.

Just as the message of Noah was the last warning

message before the judgment of the world by water,

so at the end of time, the three angels' messages

gives a last warning message before the judgment

of the world by fire.

In fact, let's go to the end of time right now.

I'm walking next to a giant timeline spanning

the length of an entire football field.

The Bible gives us a detailed lineage of

descendants from Noah to the time of Christ.

So we know the flood occurred about 4,315 years ago

around the year 2298 BC, which means Noah began

to warn the world 120 years earlier

around the year 2418 BC.

This means the entire judgment hour spans

exactly 10 feet on our timeline.

And here is where Christ was crucified.

Here we are near the other end of the field.

Since we don't have a date yet,

let's just say this spot marks the beginning

of the world's last judgment hour.

This is the time that the first angel's

message is referring to when it announces

the hour of his judgment is come.

As the message of Noah was sent to warn the world

of the coming flood, so at this time the three

angels' messages began to proclaim the last

warning message preparing the inhabitants of the earth

for the execution of the final judgment by fire.

So this date marks the beginning of the days of Noah

for the end of time.

In order to understand when these messages

would be proclaimed, we need to look at a

prophecy in the old testament.

For this we'll need to go back to the year of 1816.

It was in this year a man named William Miller

began the study of prophecy in the book of Daniel

and much to his surprise, it would reveal the

very year the world's last judgment hour would begin.

- How pleasing must it be beyond possible expression

for a loving parent to look forward in imagination

and behold a son or a daughter,

seated hereafter on the right hand of the judge,

among the nations of the saved.

- William Miller was a former Baptist and skeptic

of the Bible, but he was to become the first to

understand when the last judgment hour message

would begin.

One week he was chosen to read a sermon to the congregation

and the words he read to the people

stirred his own soul.

- Suddenly the character of a savior was vividly

impressed upon my mind.

It seemed that there might be a being so good

and compassionate as to himself atone for our transgressions

and thereby save us from suffering the penalty of sin.

- A brief view of God's loving character

was opened to Miller's mind for the first time.

The impression made upon him this day motivated

him to a study of the Bible that would last

the rest of his life.

He wanted to know with certainty if a divine being

such as this really existed.

- And William Miller decided he was gonna study scripture,

beginning with Genesis one verse one,

and he was only going to go as fast as he understood

each verse that he was studying.

- He systematically studied his Bible day and night

with only a concordance.

He wanted to know for himself what the Bible taught

and not to be influenced by others.

He eventually came across a prophecy in the book of

Daniel that speaks about the cleansing

of the sanctuary.

A diligent study of this prophecy would lead

William Miller to discover the very year

when the last judgment hour would begin.

- I then devoted myself to prayer

and to the reading of the word.

I determined to lay aside all my prepossessions

and to thoroughly compare scripture with scripture

and to pursue its study in a regular

and methodical manner.

- Then I heard one saint speaking and another saint

said unto that certain saint which spake,

how long shall the vision concerning the daily

sacrifice and the transgression of desolation

to give both the sanctuary and the host

to be trodden underfoot?

And he said unto me, unto 2,300 days.

Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

- Miller didn't know it at the time,

but this prophecy about the cleansing of the

sanctuary would reveal the very year

the last judgment hour would begin.

- And so we have to go back to the sanctuary

and understand the cleansing of the sanctuary

to really understand what's gonna take place

at the end of the 2,300 days that's referenced

there in Daniel 8:14.

- The sanctuary was a tent and courtyard structure

that was given to Moses by God.

This is where the Israelites were commanded

to bring their animals as a sacrifice

for the forgiveness of sins.

The penalty of violating the 10 Commandments is death.

But a way of forgiveness was provided

through a substitute.

To do this, the sinner was instructed to place

their hand upon the head of the animal

and confess their sins.

Through this confession, the sins committed

by the person were symbolically transferred

to the innocent animal.

The animal was then slain in the sinner's place

and the blood of the animal representing his sins

were taken by the high priest into the sanctuary

and sprinkled before the veil.

Through this process, the record of those sins

committed by the transgressor was transferred

into the sanctuary where they continued to

accumulate throughout the year.

- The idea was as you do your sins,

get them in the sanctuary, get rid of them.

So all these services led up to the day of atonement.

And the day of atonement was a yearly service.

And at the end of that year is when they would

blot out all the sins that were brought in

by all those different offerings.

- Those sins were taken by the high priest

out of the sanctuary.

In other words, the sanctuary is cleansed

from the sins of God's people

on the day of atonement.

- All the blood that was in there was now going

to be taken out and it was an opportunity to start afresh.

- It is a day of atonement to make an atonement

for you before the Lord your God.

For whatsoever it soul it be that shall not be

afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off

from among his people.

- If your sins aren't transferred in, you're cut off.

The term cut off meant they were killed.

They were being judged whether or not they had

transferred all of their sins there.

- William Miller was able to see that when he

read in Daniel chapter eight that there was

this cleansing that it was a judgment message.

- If someone had not transferred all their sins

into the sanctuary when the day of atonement

was done and the sanctuary was cleansed,

then they would have to bear the penalty

of their own sin, which was death.

And this is what is meant by the term cut off.

- In the days of Noah, and on the day of atonement,

a judgment took place that separated

the innocent from the guilty.

God made a covenant with Noah.

And those who did not enter into that covenant

relationship and receive forgiveness from God

were cut off.

- And I will establish my covenant with you;

neither shall all flesh be cut off anymore

by the waters of a flood;

neither shall there anymore be a flood

to destroy the earth.

- So the day of atonement would be equivalent

to the judgment hour message that Noah preached in his day.

- Understanding the day of atonement and the

cleansing of the sanctuary both referred to the

day of judgment, William Miller looked at the prophecy

in Daniel which said, unto 2,300 days then shall the

sanctuary be cleansed, and understood that it pointed

to the time when the earth's final

day of judgment would begin.

As William Miller saw this connection,

he conclude the first angel's message

saying the hour of his judgment is come

would begin when the sanctuary is cleansed

at the culmination of the 2,300 day prophecy

given by Daniel.

- 2,300 days, 2,300 days.

And he looked at that prophecy and

accepting a common perception at the time,

that the cleansing of the sanctuary

spoken of in Daniel 8:14 represented

the cleansing of the earth by fire at the second coming.

And so he equated the second coming of Christ

with the termination of the 2,300 days

when it said the sanctuary would be cleansed.

- I can see we should be guided to the probable

time of their termination.

And as God would not bestow upon us a useless

revelation, I regarded them as conducting

us to the time when we might confidently

look for the coming of the chiefest of 10,000,

one altogether lovely.

- This prophecy in Daniel holds incredible

significance for us living at the end of time,

because it tells us when the last judgment hour will begin.

William Miller had no idea what he was about

to discover when he tried to calculate this prophecy.

Others had tried before him, but until this point,

the timing of this prophecy had remained a mystery.

- Nobody really knew when the 2,300 days would end

because nobody knew when the 2,300 days began.

- I have appointed each day for a year.

Each day for a year.

- Following his rule of making scripture

its own interpreter, Miller saw in Ezekiel 4:6

and Numbers 14:34 that each day in Bible prophecy

was actually a symbol for one literal year.

- In the Bible it's pretty clear that

when interpreting these prophecies,

you're to apply a day for a year principle.

- Understanding the 2,300 day prophecy to be a literal

period of 2,300 years, he knew whenever it began

it would extend well beyond the time of Christ

and the Jewish sanctuary, which was destroyed in 70 AD.

For this reason, he was deeply impressed

with its significance and longed to know its meaning.

He knew the duration of the prophecy

but did not know when it began.

- The one most significant contribution

that Miller gave us was to link Daniel chapter eight

and Daniel chapter nine.

And the advantage is that a starting point

is given for Daniel chapter nine.

- The angel is telling Daniel he's gonna give him

the starting point for not only the 2,300 day prophecy

that you find in Daniel 8:14 but he introduces

another prophecy about when will the Messiah come.

- Know, therefore, and understand that from the

going forth of the commandment to restore and

to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah, the prince

shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks.

It would be seven weeks plus threescore and two weeks

for a total of 69 weeks unto Messiah the prince.

In this prophecy however, the event marking the

beginning of the time to be calculated was given.

From the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem.

With a new fervor and zeal to understand this prophecy,

Miller searched for the date of the commandment

to restore and build Jerusalem.

Whole nights and days were devoted to the study

of what now appeared to be of stupendous importance.

His study paid off and he found the commandment

to restore and to build Jerusalem

in the seventh chapter of Ezra.

I make a decree that all they of the people of Israel

and of his priests and Levites in my realm,

which are minded of their own free will

to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.

It was given by King Artaxerxes the first,

which Ezra records was in the seventh year

of Artaxerxes the king.

- God is so good that when he gives an important

prophecy in the Bible, right in the prophecy he will

give us evidence so there's no question about the date.

In the same way in the book of Ezra,

he tells us right in the book of Ezra

that decree is given that is the starting point.

- William found the reign of King Artaxerxes the first

began in the year 464 BC.

The seventh year of his reign was 457 BC.

From this point, he could calculate the prophecy

unto Messiah the prince.

The period of 69 weeks with seven days per week

was a total of 483 days, which was a symbol

for 483 literal years, not counting the year zero,

which did not exist.

Miller eventually found the prophecy extended

from 457 BC, 483 years into the future

unto Messiah the prince, which was 27 AD.

In autumn of this year, Jesus was anointed

by baptism in fulfillment of the prophecy

to anoint the most holy.

And he began his ministry as the Messiah.

The apostle Peter testifies that God anointed

Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.

- In the book of Luke chapter three,

one of the most easily corroborated dates

is the date of Christ's baptism.

Luke gives more information there about who is ruling

and historians know that there's only one year

that, for instance, the 15th year of the reign

of Tiberius Caesar, and it tells who is high priest

and who is governor and all the different officials.

There's only one year when all of those dates overlap

and it was 27 AD.

- At his baptism, the last prophetic week of the

seven literal year period began,

marked by the anointing of the Messiah.

This was the 70th week.

The prophecy foretold he shall confirm the

covenant with many for one week.

And in the midst of the week,

he shall cause the sacrifice and oblations to cease.

On the cross, that system of sacrifices and offerings,

which for 14 centuries pointed to the lamb of God,

was ended, and the Messiah was cut off.

- I'm a Jewish Christian, but my mother was Jewish.

I know there are a couple of books in the Bible

that orthodox Jews forbid their followers to study,

one of them being Daniel chapter nine

that clearly tells from the commandment to

rebuild Jerusalem unto the Messiah

and they know that it lines up

when you use the day for year prophecy,

it lines up perfectly with Jesus.

And it causes them no small consternation when

Jews study that and find out and

accept Jesus as the Messiah.

- Having seen and confirmed the application

of the 70 week prophecy and its start date

of 457 BC, Miller now calculated the remaining

time from the 2,300 day prophecy to the cleansing

of the sanctuary when the judgment would begin.

- And as we follow that time prophecy down,

as we go from the date in which we finally began

and we move forward with the 2,300 day prophecy,

that's when we find that it comes to the year of 1844.

- William found that the 2,300 days of Daniel 8:14

would terminate in the year 1844, in his lifetime.

- I need not speak of the joy that filled my heart

in view of the delightful prospect,

nor of the ardent longings of my soul

for participation in the joys of the redeemed.

The Bible was now to me a new book.

It was indeed a feast of reason.

All that was dark, mystical, or obscure to me

in its teachings had been dissipated from my mind

before the clear light that now dawned on me

from its sacred pages.

Oh, how bright and glorious the truth appeared.

- Even in spite of his conclusions,

Miller hesitated to present them,

lest he should be in error

and be the means of misleading others.

Five years of further study left him fully convinced

of the correctness of his position.

At this thought, his soul was stirred with solemnity

and excitement, as were the tens of thousands

of others who would hear him preach in the following

years and be baptized.

- We've seen this story of William Miller to some degree,

at least, but he wasn't the only one.

And North America was not the only place.

There were others coming to similar conclusions.

Joseph Wolf, who was a Jewish convert to Christianity.

Edward Irving, who was an eloquent preacher

in England at the time

advocating the soon coming of Christ

and using many of the same arguments.

There was Robert Winter was also in England at the time.

Manuel de Lacunza was a Jesuit priest.

But he wrote a book on the second coming of Christ

about that same time saying it was gonna happen

and using the same rationale.

Johann Bengel in Germany, a Lutheran minister

who had similar thoughts and preached

that message through Germany.

- There were clergy from every denomination

imaginable in New England that were working

with William Miller in proclaiming this message.

- There were children who had no knowledge,

could not read, couldn't write,

but not only were they speaking on behalf

of Christ and Bible truth, present truth,

but they were also singing hymns of which

they had no knowledge.

- In Sweden, where laws forbade the teaching of

anything contrary to the state church,

God spoke in a miraculous manner through

little children as young as five.

In the summer of 1843, a young girl who had

never learned to read or sing stood up and

perfectly sang a Lutheran hymn.

And then with great power proclaimed

the hour of his judgment is come.

- So there was an awakening not only in the eastern

part of the United States but also in many

other places of the world, which gave additional

evidence to William Miller that he was on the right track,

because this prophecy was being fulfilled.

It was being announced that the hour of

God's judgment had come.

- The prophecies of Daniel fit perfectly.

Beginning with Artaxerxes decree in 457 BC,

these prophecies pointed to Jesus' baptism in 27 AD

and his death on the cross in the middle

of the 70th week.

This method of calculation pointed perfectly

to the first coming of Jesus,

and therefore it gave unquestionable validity

to the date of 1844 as the year the judgment hour

would begin, but Jesus did not return in 1844

as commonly believed.

So what went wrong?

- As the Bible students then looked at that in

more detail and more carefully, obviously realizing

that something had gone contrary to expectation,

they saw for the first time clearly that

this prophecy spoke of the sanctuary.

They were expecting the cleansing of the earth.

But it turned out that they were mistaken

in that equation.

If the sanctuary was to be cleansed at the

end of the 2,300 days, then that forced the

question of what sanctuary.

- There's a great danger in misunderstanding

Bible prophecy because if the prophecy doesn't come

to pass the way that people expect,

they can face a great disappointment.

And that disappointment will be proportionate

to how big their expectations are.

And that can cause many people to lose their faith.

- Hiram Edson and O.R.L. Crosier were walking

through the corn field the next day

to avoid the mocking crowds.

Both were firm proponents of William Miller's

conclusions and the Advent message.

When Jesus did not return when they had hoped,

their minds solemnly struggled to grasp what went wrong.

- They were on their way to visit some of the

other brethren that were also very saddened

by the fact that Christ had not come.

They expected him to come in 1844 and he didn't come.

- Hey, Hiram.

You coming?

- The day after Christ didn't come,

inspiration dawned on Hiram Edson

and he came to understand the key that would

unlock the mystery to their disappointment,

and it brought to their minds a new revelation

about the sanctuary.

- It's in Hebrews.

It's in Hebrews!

It's in Hebrews!

Look, look.

Look, look, chapter eight, verse one.

We have such a high priest who sat on the right

hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens,

a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle

which the Lord pitched and not man.

Do you see?

The sanctuary is in heaven.

(laughs)

- And they got excited about it and they said,

we weren't wrong with the date.

We were wrong with the event.

The cleansing of the sanctuary was not this

earthly sanctuary, but it's the heavenly sanctuary.

- The sanctuary is never used as a term

to represent the earth.

But they'd been misled by common thought.

So what sanctuary is there to be cleansed?

That turned their attention to the books of

Hebrews and of Revelation where it brings

to light the heavenly sanctuary.

- The Bible is really very clear that there's

a heavenly sanctuary and they didn't really

recognize that.

- The sanctuary was actually a scale model

that God showed Moses on the mount.

In other words, it's a miniature of the

true sanctuary in heaven.

- Everything they did in the earthly sanctuary

just pointed forward to the things that was

gonna take place in the heavenly sanctuary.

- But Christ, being come in high priest of

good things to come by a greater and more

perfect tabernacle, not being made with hands,

that is to say, not of this building,

neither by the blood of goats and calves,

but by his own blood he entered in once

into the holy place, having obtained eternal

redemption for us.

- After Jesus' resurrection, he ascended into heaven

into the holy place, which is the first room

of the heavenly sanctuary.

Just as the priests in the Old Testament

went into the holy place every day to

intercede on behalf of the sins of Israel,

so Jesus went into the holy place of the

heavenly sanctuary to intercede on behalf

of the sins of those who believe in him.

- But into the second went the high priest alone,

once every year.

- On the day of atonement when the sanctuary was

to be cleansed, the high priest then moved into

the most holy place to perform the work of judgment.

In fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy after the

2,300 years, Jesus our high priest moved into the

most holy place to cleanse the sanctuary in heaven

of the sins of mankind.

- And that's the work that Jesus is doing

in the heavenly sanctuary today.

It's the work of judgment.

- So as Jesus moves into the most holy place in 1844,

that means that today since we're past 1844,

we're actually in that time frame of the judgment.

- We are now living in the final day of atonement

where the sanctuary is being cleansed.

What we should be doing is sympathizing with the

work of our high priest in the heavenly sanctuary

as he performs the work of judgment.

- Jesus is our great high priest in the sanctuary in heaven

and we have not in high priest which cannot be

touched with the feeling of our infirmities.

In these words, we see Jesus feels the infirmities

of the whole human family, the loss of a loved one,

the despair of loneliness, fear, the suffering

of the disabled, and the affliction of the sick.

All are felt by our high priest in heaven.

Christ feels the woes of every sufferer.

When fever is burning up the life current,

he feels the agony.

Jesus is sympathizing with the suffering of mankind

and during the judgment hour, we are to be sympathizing

with Jesus in his effort to put away sin

and relieve the suffering it brings upon the human family.

For in doing this work, we are relieving the suffering

of Jesus who said in as much as ye have done it

under one of the least of these, my brethren,

ye have done it unto me.

- Too often we think of judgment as a negative thing

and not as the vindication of the innocent

or the end of suffering in this world.

And even in our own unbelief, we might fear being

left outside the ark.

But we are going to learn exactly what the

ark is for those living at the end of time

and how we can enter into it.

Armed with the certainty of this truth,

doubt will fade away.

And like Noah, you'll find rest in the ark,

having removed all fear of the judgment to come.

We all look back in history to the days of Noah

and try to fathom what it must have been like

when Noah was preaching to the world.

And yet we are living in the final judgment hour

of which the days of Noah was just a symbol.

This means we are living in the days of Noah today.

- A lot of Christians view prophecy,

the prophetic portions of scripture,

as being too hard to figure out.

For us to turn from them will be disastrous,

just as it was for those in Noah's day.

- And it should stand to reason for everybody

that the Bible says behold the Lord comes

and my reward is with me.

Well, if the Lord is rewarding everybody when he comes,

some investigation takes place before he comes.

And that's what this pre Advent judgment

is really talking about is that there is a

time of judgment that happens

and we're living in that time now.

(inspiring music)

- Noah gave a specific message to prepare

people for the flood, and this angel that announces

the hour of his judgment has come also has

a specific message for our time.

Both of these messages are calculated to prepare

mankind for the judgment by calling us into

an ark of refuge.

We'll begin to understand what this ark of refuge

is for us today by closely examining

the message of Noah.

- In Second Peter, the book of Second Peter,

we're told that he was a preacher of righteousness

through whatever means and whatever manner

he was preaching righteousness.

- In Romans chapter one, Paul says therein is

the righteousness of God revealed.

But what is he referring to that reveals

the righteousness of God?

In the previous verse, he tells us it is the

gospel of Christ.

The Bible tells us Noah was a preacher of righteousness

and the gospel reveals the righteousness of God,

which simply means that Noah was preaching the gospel.

It also means that at the end of time

when the first angel is seen proclaiming

the everlasting gospel that this angel is

repeating the message Noah gave to the world

before the flood.

And because we are again living in the judgment hour,

the gospel must once again be given to the world

to bring everyone to a decision.

- For the time is come that judgment must begin

at the house of God.

And if it first begin at us, what shall the end be

of them that obey not the gospel of God?

- Peter tells us judgment will come to believers

and non-believers alike, and our acceptance or

rejection of the gospel will determine our fate

when the judgment is finally executed.

The apostle Paul answers his own question

regarding what will happen to those who reject the gospel.

- The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven

with his mighty angels in flaming fire,

taking vengeance on them that know not God

and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

- In other words, when the gospel is preached,

the gospel divides human beings into two groups.

Those who accept and those who reject.

And so the message of Noah was a message of judgment.

Because when he finished preaching his message,

how many groups were there?

There were two groups when he finished preaching.

Those that were inside and those that were outside.

When the message at the end of time is finished,

the world will be divided into two groups

and therefore the warning back then is a warning

for us today.

- The gospel message in the days of Noah

was a call to enter into the ark.

When we look at the word ark,

it's defined as a shelter or refuge.

So the principle behind the gospel in the days of Noah

was an invitation to enter into a place of refuge.

So what is the place of refuge for God's people today?

Again, when we look at the word ark, it's also defined

by the Oxford Dictionary as a vessel or a sanctuary.

Interestingly, the word sanctuary is also defined

as a place of refuge.

So an ark and a sanctuary are the same thing.

This is important for us to understand

because God gave man a sanctuary

to be a place of refuge.

- Now be not stiff necked as your fathers were,

but yield yourselves unto the Lord

and enter into a sanctuary which he hath sanctified forever

and serve the Lord your God that the fierceness

of his wrath may turn away from you.

- The everlasting gospel proclaimed by the first

angel's message is like the gospel Noah preached.

It was a call to enter into the place of refuge.

Every component of the sanctuary teaches us about

the everlasting gospel.

And by studying this ancient structure,

we will discover how it will provide a place

of refuge in the day of judgment and how like the

gospel message given by Noah, the sanctuary is pointing

us to the ark for God's people at the end of time.

- And the message has the everlasting gospel.

I like that because some people think the gospel

did not come until Jesus.

But the gospel really began back at the fall

in the Garden of Eden.

It's always been the gospel of trusting in

the sacrifice of the lamb.

- And the entire message of the everlasting gospel

and the final judgment and the final choice

is linked with the sanctuary message.

- In the Old Testament, the lamb was killed

at the entrance of the sanctuary.

This sacrifice pointed forward to the sacrifice

Jesus would make on the cross.

And this is why Jesus is called the lamb of God.

Therefore, the gospel was not first proclaimed

by Jesus when he came to earth.

It was revealed centuries earlier

through the sanctuary service and its symbols.

- Each article of furniture in the sanctuary

symbolized a particular aspect of the plan of salvation.

- There's a lot of biblical truth that is reflected

in those three dimensional symbols.

And the whole sanctuary, really,

is an allegory of salvation.

- It is difficult to comprehend the dynamics

of the gospel without understanding the foundation.

- It had the purpose of teaching Israel

and teaching us as we study it how Jesus

step by step saves human beings from the curse of sin.

- Thy way, oh Lord, is in the sanctuary.

And that's where you had the lamb that was slaughtered.

- You go right through the colors of the gate

and there you have the altar of sacrifice.

- You have the place of sacrifice, which is the altar,

representing the cross.

- The altar of sacrifice is where the animals

were sacrificed on a daily basis.

Children of Israel were supposed to understand

that this was pointing to the coming Messiah

who would die for the sins of the world.

- And if you go around that piece of furniture,

the next piece of furniture there in the courtyard,

you would find the laver.

- And it had water and the priests would wash there.

And that represents baptism.

- But when you entered the next part of the sanctuary

which would be the holy place, you're gonna find

there's three pieces of furniture there.

- The showbread represents the word of God.

Man shall not live by bread alone

but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

- So God is telling us, your spiritual life is

dependent upon the consumption of the word of God.

- And then when you came to that altar of incense

that represented the prayers that would ascend

into the presence of God.

- In Revelation chapter eight verses one through three,

the Bible tells us that an angel stands before God.

With this incense it was a symbol to show how

our prayers rise before God's throne.

- Well, it's through Christ and his merits

and his name that we pray and our prayers

are made acceptable to God.

You had the candlestick, which represents

the illumination of being a witness,

letting your light shine.

- And God says, you are my light and I want to use you

as a witness so that the world can see

what I have done through you.

- Now, the last 15 feet, it is separated by a veil.

And so you move into the most holy place.

Now you find the throne of God.

- And this is where the ark of the covenant was found.

- Everything was focused towards the ark of the covenant.

- And this is where the presence of God

dwelt within the sanctuary,

which is where the law of God is contained.

- In Deuteronomy it says that God wrote the 10 Commandments

on tables of stone and that the 10 Commandments

were his covenant.

- And he declared unto you his covenant,

which he commanded you to perform even 10 commandments,

and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

- A covenant is a contract.

It's simply a promise.

God promises to save those who enter into the ark

and the gospel message

illustrated through the sanctuary

points us to the covenant containing God's

promise of mercy.

God promises by saying he will show mercy

unto thousands of them that love me

and keep my commandments.

You see, it was in the promise of mercy

given in his covenant that God's people

found the source of their refuge

in the promise they found an ark.

Remember we saw the word ark as defined

as a place of refuge.

So when you think of the ark of the covenant,

think of it as the refuge of the covenant.

There was safety in entering into the covenant.

To illustrate this, there's an interesting story

in the Old Testament about a king named Hezekiah.

He recognized God's covenant as a source of refuge

when he spoke these words to the priests of Israel.

- Now it is mine heart to make a covenant

with the Lord God of Israel

that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.

- By calling the people to enter into the covenant,

the king was preaching the gospel.

And before the flood, when Noah was preaching the gospel,

he too was calling people to enter into the refuge

of the covenant, and we see in this in Genesis chapter six.

- But with thee will I establish my covenant,

and thou shalt come into the ark.

In this verse, God reveals Noah entering into the ark

was synonymous with entering into the covenant.

- Noah's entering into the ark is a symbol

of entering into the covenant of grace.

I don't think we can separate both the ark and the covenant.

I think the two are united seamlessly.

Because the vehicle of the covenant is the ark,

so the covenant and the ark itself,

the promise in the ark itself,

they're just mutually inclusive in this particular case.

- Many have heard the story of Noah entering the ark,

but how many have understood this as a symbol

of Noah and his family entering into God's covenant?

With this lesson in mind, we can see Noah's ark was

in a sense the first ark of the covenant.

Therefore, when we see the first angel's message

at the end of time proclaiming the everlasting

gospel to them that dwell upon the earth,

we can see it's the same message echoed by Noah,

calling us to enter into the ark or the refuge

of the covenant before the execution

of the final judgment.

- For he cometh to judge the earth.

He shall judge the world with righteousness.

- When we understand that righteousness means

right doing, it becomes very clear.

- And what is it that reveals what is right?

It's God's holy law.

- My tongue shall speak of thy word

for all thy commandments are righteousness.

- In other words, righteousness is conformity

with God's holy law.

- And so when Noah was a preacher of righteousness,

he was preaching the will of God that was reflected

in the commandments in the law of God.

- The fact is that the law is the law of love.

- The law, Paul tells us, is holy, just, fair,

righteous, and good.

All of these are attributes of God's character.

- The Bible tells us that God is good.

The Bible tells us his law is good.

God is just, his law is just.

God is holy, his law is holy.

God is eternal, his law is eternal.

Just about every definition you might find

for God and the character of God,

you'll find that's the same definition for his law.

- And love to others is the fulfilling of the law.

Basically, we might sum this up as generosity

versus selfishness or love versus self centeredness,

or something of that nature.

- Lucifer's argument demonstrated that it was

a love of self, that it was all about me, me, me.

- What we see in the biblical record,

it says that the imagination of the heart

was evil continually.

The principle of self interest and self preservation

was taking the preeminence.

- And this is how people live today.

- And he's the first one to go inside the store.

- Oh gosh, oh gosh.

- Who can ever get more?

Who can ever do more?

Who can ever have more?

Whatever it might be, it's all about me.

What's in it for me?

That's what the world says.

Christianity, on the other hand, pure Christianity,

is about how can I pour out myself

to be a blessing to others?

- Bear ye one another's burdens

and so fulfill the law of Christ.

- And so when we reject the law of God,

we are living wicked, selfish lives.

No matter what we might say, selfishness is sin.

- Sin is breaking the law, which always results in death.

And so the law is not there just because

God thought that would be a fun thing to do one day.

The law is there because it's the only means

to preserve the good things that he gives to us.

- The purpose of the 10 Commandments

is to preserve selflessness in the earth.

In a thousand ways and in a thousand forms,

we see the selfishness of man has lead our world

down an unsustainable path of sorrow, pain, and suffering,

revealing that our selfishness will ultimately

end in self destruction.

- In a universe without sin,

there has to be righteousness and harmony.

And once you get to know that,

you could fall in love with it.

Because imagine what a planet would be like

where people cared for each other

more than they care for themselves.

Selfishness, which is the basis of all human misery,

would be something of the past.

- Obedience to the law of God was to protect us

from all of this.

By beholding the perfection of selflessness

in the 10 Commandments, we see our true condition.

And by the knowledge of sin, we now understand

our need for the mercy of God.

And this is the purpose of the gospel message.

Pointing us to the law of God is not to condemn

us to punishment, but to show us our need to enter

the refuge of his mercy.

- And so God chose Noah because he still understood

that human dependence on God and the necessity

for incorporating God's righteousness

into the human life.

And so he spread the message

and warned mankind to make a choice.

- The laws of man are the standard of judgment

for the courts of this world.

And the law of God is the standard of judgment

for the courts of heaven.

The law of God is a transcript of his selfless character.

We've all fallen short of this standard

of selfless love because we've all been

overcome by selfishness.

In his covenant, God makes two primary promises

to restore the character of man from the

selfishness of sin.

- For this is my covenant unto them.

When I shall take away their sins.

- The purpose of the judgment in the days of Noah

and in our own day is to cleanse the earth of sin

without destroying us.

By removing from man the record of all his sins

and by restoring his character to that of selfless love,

God is able to destroy sin from the earth

and preserve alive those who have been

restored through his promises.

And in this way, the promise of mercy and the

promise of restoration are to all of them

that receive them an ark of refuge.

And the sanctuary illustrates how God will fulfill

these two promises in us.

- The 10 Commandments point us to Jesus,

who said I have kept my father's commandments.

To offer his perfect life as a substitute

for the sins of man, Jesus began his journey

by leaving the presence of God and his throne in heaven

to come to earth to offer his perfect life

as a substitute for the sins of man.

The candlestick also points to Jesus who said,

I am the light of the world.

He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness

but shall have the light of life.

The altar of incense points to Jesus,

who became our intercessor in prayer.

He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh under the father but by me.

Jesus became the bread of life and said,

I am the bread which came down from heaven.

Jesus became the living water and he became the

lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world.

Through the sanctuary we see the path of Jesus'

condescension from the throne of heaven

down to earth to meet mankind at the cross.

- I now enter into the door of the sanctuary.

And I come to the cross.

And by faith, I turn my life over to Christ.

- When we are forgiven, we're freed from the punishment

that comes from breaking God's law.

This process by which Jesus left the throne of heaven

came to earth and died in our place so that we might

have mercy is called justification.

- Justification means that when I repent,

I confess my sin, and I trust in the life and death

of Jesus Christ, who lived and died in my place.

If I'm really sincere, Jesus takes his life

and his death and he applies them to my account

and I'm looked upon as if I never sinned.

- The very fact that Noah sacrificed a lamb

after the flood was not only a sign of worship

but it was a sign of appealing for redemption

for his sins and the sins of his family.

And that's what we can all do.

Every believer can continually turn to that

lamb for forgiveness.

- This covenant is God's promise to show mercy to man,

and by this mercy, man is justified and treated

by God as though he'd never sinned.

I like to say it this way so I don't forget.

God looks at me 'just if I'd,' never sinned.

- However, that is the beginning of the Christian life.

- It doesn't stop here.

So many people want to stop at the cross.

But we need to keep moving through the sanctuary.

- After the Christian accepts Jesus,

they are baptized, represented by the laver.

This is a public commitment acknowledging the death

of the old selfish nature and a commitment

to a new purified life in Christ.

The bread in the sanctuary represents our study

of the Bible, the word of God.

Jesus said man shall not live by bread alone

but by every word that proceedeth out of the

mouth of God.

As we depend upon food to live, so we are to depend

upon his word for spiritual life in the soul.

Through Jesus, the Christian is able to hold

direct communion with the father in prayer.

As the incense from the altar rises up before

the most holy place, so our prayers rise

up to heaven before him.

The candlestick represents the Christian's call

to minister and share the gospel with the world

as Jesus commanded when he said,

let your light so shine before men

that they may see your good works

and glorify your father which is in heaven.

Finally, the Bible calls the Christian to enter

into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

which is to enter into the most holy place,

into the presence of God and the ark of the covenant,

representing God's promise to restore us from sin

and bring our lives into harmony with his

commandments of selfless love.

This promise of restoration is called sanctification.

- Jesus' mission in coming to earth is not merely

to grant us pardon for our sins and to leave us

to be then perpetually overcome by its power.

But rather salvation also includes the

restoration of character.

And this is the second promise of his covenant.

- For this is the covenant I will make with the

house of Israel after those days, sayeth the Lord.

I will put my laws into their mind

and write them in their hearts.

- Christ renews the mind and the heart,

giving us a new desire to do right.

But we're powerless to do this in our own strength.

So when the sinner meets the lamb of God

at the altar of sacrifice,

human effort is united with the divine power.

Jesus gives us the desire.

Jesus gives us the power.

And with our willful cooperation,

the work of restoring our character begins.

- It takes a paradigm shift to work in harmony with God.

And it's not a magic wand.

It is a process.

It's called sanctification.

- Sanctification is the process whereby God

rids us of our iniquity.

Either he gives victory or he can't.

And if he can, then what can't he give us victory over?

- Here in the sanctuary, we see the workings of

the gospel illustrated by Christ's journey

from the throne of heaven to the cross

to offer man mercy for the forgiveness of his sins.

And by uniting his divine power with fallen man,

we see the restoration of man's character

in the journey from the cross into the refuge

of the covenant.

These are the two promises that show how God

fulfills his covenant to save man from sin.

- Instead of being written merely on tablets of stone,

God takes the 10 Commandments and he writes them

upon the tables of the heart so that we delight

to do God's will.

When Noah preached righteousness,

he was preaching that people should accept the Lord

and their lives should change.

Their lives should be righteous.

Because it wasn't only, oh, change your thinking

and keep on behaving the way you've been behaving.

When the Bible says that Noah was a preacher

of righteousness, he was calling people

to be righteous in their lives.

And this is an example of what God wants

from his people at the end.

- Now here we are at the end living in the world's

last judgment hour more than 4,300 years later.

The first angel's message, like the message of Noah,

is proclaiming the everlasting gospel,

calling all who will listen to enter

into the refuge of the covenant.

By this covenant, we're to receive the promise

of mercy through Jesus Christ and the promise

of sanctification through his power.

Meaning that God will grant us the power to bring

our lives into conformity to his commandments.

In the days of Noah, simply proclaiming the promises

to the people was not enough to save them.

In order to receive the promises, the people needed

to respond to the gospel call by entering into the ark.

But how do we enter into the ark of God's covenant

at the end of time?

The way into the covenant is revealed in three commands

given in the last part of the first angel's message.

- Fear God and give glory to him,

for the hour of his judgment is come.

And worship him that make heaven and earth

and the sea and the fountains of waters.

- And the first message of the three angels' messages

is to fear God.

Not a fearful fear, but to reverence God.

- Which is linked very frequently in the Old Testament

with keeping God's commandments.

- Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.

Fear God and keep his commandments,

for this is the whole duty of man.

- In this statement, Solomon links fearing God

or reverencing God with keeping his commandments.

Furthermore, he gives his reason why this is

important and says, for God shall bring every

work into judgment.

In this same way, the reason for the first angel's

command to fear God and therefore keep his commandments

is given for the hour of his judgment is come.

- So fear God, then it says give glory to him.

- How do you give glory to God?

Well, God says that let him that glories glory

in this that he knows me.

- The Bible says that this is how we know that we love God

when we love him and keep his commandments

and that his commandments are not grievous.

- In fact, in 1 John it says he who says I know him

and does not keep his commandments is a liar

and the truth is not in him.

So when the law is in the heart,

we delight to do his will

and people see a difference in our lives.

- The ultimate glory of God is to reflect his character

and to demonstrate the same attributes that he has.

So getting on the ark in the last days,

getting on the ark at the end of time,

is going to combine the principles of God's law,

which are love to God and love to fellow man.

The manifestation of his character,

this is how we bring glory to him.

It's not works of righteousness.

It's just simply the working out of the principle of love.

- God's love has to be manifested through us,

which can only happen through a total divestiture of self.

And instead of being motivated by selfishness

and love for self, when we fall in love with the Lord

and we're motivated by love for him and love for God,

we will be obeying this law.

Placing him above our own interests,

That's the character of God.

That's what God is all about.

And in his commandments, he's not asking us to do

anything that he doesn't do or wouldn't do himself.

He's asking us to live the same way he lives.

He's asking us to portray his attributes,

his characteristics.

- When our lives begin to portray the selfless

characteristics of Jesus, it's evidence that

we've entered into his covenant.

Because it reveals that Jesus is working in us

to fulfill his promise to restore our character.

Then God is glorified because it demonstrates

that he's able to fulfill his promise to restore us.

- When Noah and his family entered into the ark

it was evidence of their faith in God's promises.

So in the same way, entering into the covenant

today involves the demonstration of our faith

in his promises.

So if it's our desire to enter into the ark today,

we need to know what it is we are to do

that demonstrates our faith in the promises

of his everlasting covenant.

The answer is in the last command of the

first angel's message.

This message contains the world's last call

to worship the creator and the way we worship

God is also a demonstration of our faith

in the promises of his covenant.

- And worship him that made heaven and earth

and the sea and the fountains of waters.

- The first angel's message in a very specific sense

calls people back to worship the creator.

- The story of the flood is inherently bound up

with the story of creation.

The evidences of the flood are inherently

bound up with the story of creation.

And as we become familiar with the flood

and we recognize the physical evidence

which it left behind, it bears eloquent testimony

to the one who made heavens and earth,

the one whose day of judgment has come

and the one whom we're commanded to worship.

- If we give up on the idea of a flood

and a creation, a literal creation,

we lose all the basis for our faith.

We can't have a basis for worship because

the basis of our worship is God's creatorship.

- God ended His creation sequence

God ended His work in six days.

But He didn't stop there.

God set aside a seventh day.

God sanctified it.

None of the other days of Creation

were sanctified, set aside and made Holy. Why?

God set aside as a memorial to His creation.

- And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it;

because that in it He had rested from all his work

which God created and made.

- If I believe that God created

then why shouldn't I honor Him on the day that he set aside?

- And that day was for that sacred time to worship him.

- And there's no way you can talk about worship

without talking about the creator.

We worship God because he's our creator.

And the question is, what is the sign that God

gave us that he is the creator?

It's the Sabbath.

Wherefor the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath,

to observe the sabbath throughout their generations,

for a perpetual covenant.

It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever:

for in six days the Lord made heaven

and earth, and on the seventh day He rested,

and was refreshed.

- The last part of that first angel's message

points us to the fourth commandment.

And we see that in the very fact that

it's almost a direct quote from the fourth commandment.

- and worship him that made heaven, and earth,

and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

The first angel's message not by coincidence

is pointing us to the first table of the decalogue

to the worship of the true God.

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea,

and all that in them is,

and rested the seventh day;

wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day,

and hallowed it.

- And so you find reference to the Sabbath

commandment even in the first angel's message.

- Every week when the Sabbath is observed,

we're announcing to the world that

God is our creator and our redeemer,

that we serve the true God.

So we worship God because he's the creator

and the sign of the creator is the Sabbath.

So worship the creation and the Sabbath

are all linked together.

(soft piano music)

- If God is the creator,

then God has the right to expect our worship.

He has the right to tell us what is right and wrong

and people don't want God telling them

that their sins are inappropriate or wrong

or that they'll be judged.

And so there is this massive effort

on the part of the devil and the world

to eliminate God from the equation.

- I find it fascinating that all of these issues

come to a head precisely at the point

where the 2,300 day prophecy ends

and that is a date which is called 1844.

What is significant about 1844?

- A number of very significant things were happening

on the world scene.

- You have two different worldviews clashing

right close together in time.

- As God gives a message in terms of trying to

get his people to come back to him,

the great adversary will do whatever it takes

to pull them away.

- Hey, how's it going?

- And so I have no doubts in my mind

that Satan knew that there was gonna be

a movement that would arise at the end of

the 2,300 day prophecy that would attract

the attention of people to the creator, to his Sabbath,

to the cleansing of the sanctuary, etcetera.

- So while people were preparing for the

eminent return of Jesus Christ,

there were other forces in conflict

with this particular message.

- And so I believe that the age of reason,

the age of enlightenment was Satan's

preemptive attempt to try and destroy

what prophecy had said that was gonna happen

in the early 1800s.

- The first angel's message is so loaded

with its command to worship him who made heaven and earth

to recognize the hour of God's judgment is come.

These were the things that science was moving away from.

You had a call for a much more formal and complete

abandonment of Christianity coming in with the

introduction of the concept of evolution.

- Darwinism develops in 1844 when he wrote his first

Origin of Species and sent it for discussion

to his various colleagues.

- They didn't want to address or to accept the creation

and there is in many hearts a strong desire

to avoid the hour of judgment.

- Darwinism removes the fear of a judgment

because we are hearing a process developing

towards something as opposed to humanity

is coming to an end in a great final judgment.

Ecumenism develops in 1844.

The ways to communicate.

The Morse code, the first information that goes

across the lines and the air waves of the world

happens in 1844.

Communism comes in 1844.

Spiritism raises its head in 1844.

- Spiritualism comes in here and says, look,

we go over here, we'll take the evolutionary part,

but now also we have additional.

We can talk to the spirits and they will guide us.

So we have all of these conflicting areas.

- You have these two in juxtaposition,

all of them developing around 1844.

- One message points to the creator.

The other message, on the other hand,

points to the adversary.

One, shall we say, based on catastrophism,

creation, the other based upon uniformitarianism.

And all these things were converging.

It was the birth of a new era.

- The three angels' message is a call, again,

to recognize God.

Mankind says, don't need God.

- And if we can see that he didn't really

create the world and that all of it happened

by accident, then we really become

the final arbiter, we become God.

And the Sabbath and the Bible,

it's a constant rebuke to that teaching.

It's under attack because of that.

It shows us that God made things

and we're to worship him.

- The first angel's message says,

his judgment is coming, you should fear him,

you should bring glory to our lives,

and we should acknowledge him specifically

as the creator, a fantastically important message

to come in the 1800s right when it did.

- By remembering that the Sabbath is a memorial

of creation, the first angel's message shows that

we confess that God is the creator.

But the Sabbath has much more significance

than this one fact.

The Sabbath identifies the author of the covenant,

and if we believe that God sanctified the seventh day,

then the Sabbath becomes a sign of God's ability

to sanctify us.

Noah's message to find refuge in God's covenant

began to be preached again in 1844

and in that same year, the Genesis account

of creation came under attack.

By proposing a counterfeit story of our origins,

Satan undermined the sign of God's authority

in the form of the Sabbath day,

which was given to be a sign of our confidence

in the promises of his covenant.

- The Sabbath really is, it's something that

God made holy, and if God can make a day holy,

if he can make a time holy,

then he has the power to sanctify,

and he needs to sanctify us.

That's why he told God's people in both

Exodus and Ezekiel, the Sabbath is a sign

that I am the one that sanctifies you.

I'm the one that makes you holy.

- Speak thou also unto the children of Israel,

saying verily, my Sabbaths ye shall keep,

for it is a sign between me and you

throughout your generations that ye may know

that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.

- We're remembering that God has the power to create,

re-create us, and he has the power to sanctify

and to sanctify us to make us holy.

- We are to be transformed into the image of Christ,

which points us back to the Sabbath again

in terms of the fact that we are to be re-created.

- You know, keeping the Sabbath doesn't make me holy.

The Sabbath is an external sign of an internal

experience of rest with Christ.

- So the memorial in the Sabbath is a recreation

of the human soul into the image of Christ.

- We see the real significance of the Sabbath

in the very reason God gave for its observance.

He said the Sabbath was given that ye may know

that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.

I've often said that the Sabbath is an outward

sign of an inward work, because observing

the Sabbath is a sign that we acknowledge

only God can sanctify us, which also means

that it's a sign whereby we confess that

our works cannot save us.

Throughout the Old Testament,

the Israelites do not fully understand this.

And when God gave them his covenant at Mount Sinai,

all the people answered together and said,

all that the Lord has spoken we will do.

Shortly after making this promise, they broke it.

You see, the problem with the old covenant was

that it was based upon man's promise,

as if man somehow could sanctify himself by his own efforts.

This is why we read God was finding fault with them.

And so he sayeth, behold the day has come,

sayeth the Lord, when I will make a new covenant.

This new covenant mentions God's law,

which is the 10 Commandments.

But now it's based upon the promise of God.

He now says I will put my laws in their mind

and write them on their hearts.

Man can do nothing to save himself,

and this is why Jesus offers a better covenant,

which was established upon better promises

because it was established upon His own promise.

- From a spiritual perspective,

we are saying, Lord, I cannot save myself.

By keeping the Sabbath in a temporal means,

here on this planet from week to week,

demonstrates that we trust God,

that he is going to do all that he has said.

- It's an analogy of our entry into the rest of Christ

and that we believe his righteousness is adequate.

And this idea of the Sabbath is to be a sign.

A sign between God's people and God himself

that those who embrace the Sabbath,

those who cease from their labors,

in other words, stop trying to save yourself

and look at the covenant of grace,

embracing that, this is the idea of the Sabbath.

- The everlasting covenant has two signs or symbols

and one of those signs is the Sabbath.

- Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the

Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their

generations for a perpetual covenant.

It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever.

- The Sabbath was a sign for perpetual covenant.

And the Hebrew word for perpetual

is the word everlasting.

And the everlasting covenant is the same covenant

God made with Noah.

- And the bow shall be in the cloud

and I will look upon it that I may remember

the everlasting covenant between God

and every living creature of all flesh

that is upon the earth.

And God said unto Noah, this is the token

of the covenant which I have established

between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

- Both of these signs of the everlasting covenant,

the Sabbath and the rainbow, each represent

one of the two promises God makes to man

in this covenant.

- The rainbow was given as a sign of the

everlasting covenant, and more specifically,

it represented the everlasting covenant's

promise of mercy.

This is further clarified in the book of Isaiah

when God said, as I have sworn that the waters

of Noah should no more go over the earth,

so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee

nor rebuke thee.

And he concluded the vow of his promise to Noah saying,

my kindness shall not depart from thee.

Neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed,

sayeth the Lord that hath mercy on thee.

- In the rainbow of promise, we may behold the

emblem of mercy and forgiveness God has promised us

through the everlasting covenant.

- The rainbow is a sign of God's promise of mercy

and the Sabbath is a sign of

God's promise of sanctification.

- We see that God gave the Sabbath to be a sign

of our sanctification in Ezekiel chapter 20.

- Moreover also, I gave them my Sabbaths

to be a sign between me and them

that they might know that I am the Lord

that sanctified them.

- When we look at Noah, we see that he received

both the promise of mercy and sanctification.

- Looking forward in faith to the promise of mercy

that would come through the Messiah,

Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

In the next verse, we read Noah was a just man

and perfect in his generations.

And Noah walked with God.

As Noah walked with God, he became more like God

and was sanctified according to the promise

of the everlasting covenant.

To make you perfect in every good work to do his will.

He was forgiven and sanctified.

That Noah's life was sanctified and brought back

to obedience to God is further clarified

at the end of the chapter where we read,

thus did Noah according to all that God commanded him,

so did he, and as a result, we read in the next verse,

and the Lord said unto Noah,

come thou and all thy house into the ark,

for thee have I seen righteous before me

in this generation.

- Both the promise of mercy and sanctification

are guaranteed to us as to Noah

through the blood of Jesus.

- The means by which God fulfilled this promise was

our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep,

through the blood of the everlasting covenant.

The life and sacrifice of Jesus has guaranteed

for all generations the promise of mercy

and this is why it is called the everlasting covenant.

So the next time you see a rainbow,

remember this sign God gave Noah as a token of his mercy

is also a sign of his promise to show you mercy.

And this promise was paid for in full

by the blood of Jesus.

- The Sabbath and the rainbow are beautiful

emblems of the everlasting covenant

that Jesus desires to make with us.

The rainbow being a sign of mercy we receive

through Jesus' death and the Sabbath a sign of

sanctification or restoration from sin

that Christ is working to do in us.

- Both are promises of what God said that he would do.

They got on the ark, that was their covenant,

and it was sealed by the rainbow at the end.

And when we take a look and compare the rainbow

given unto Noah that said never again will I

bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy it.

The covenant of God's people today

is the invitation to enter into his rest.

The Sabbath is a sign of that covenant.

- From the beginning to the end of time,

the everlasting covenant has been the means

by which God saves man.

And God made the Sabbath a sign of this covenant.

This is why when you look in the Old Testament,

those from other nations who were not Israelites

could enter into the refuge of the everlasting covenant

through the keeping of the Sabbath.

- The Sabbath is not the Sabbath for the Jews exclusively.

In Isaiah 56, it says my house shall be called

a house of prayer for all peoples, even the Gentiles.

- Referring to the Gentiles, Isaiah writes,

also the sons of the stranger that join themselves

to the Lord to serve him and to love the name of the Lord,

to be his servants, every one that keepeth the

Sabbath from polluting it and taketh hold of my covenant.

Even them will I bring to my holy mountain

and make them joyful in my house of prayer.

According to this verse, it was by keeping the Sabbath

the Gentiles were to take hold of

or enter into the covenant.

- So even in the Old Testament period,

the Sabbath was not exclusively for the Jews.

It was a sign of the covenant for Jews, Gentiles,

eunuchs, whoever wanted to enter into

a covenant relationship with the Lord.

- And being made with Israel, we have to understand

that Israel in the new covenant or in the New Testament

symbolizes all who come to Christ.

- And so it is today that all who wish

may enter into the ark of the everlasting covenant

through the keeping of the Sabbath,

a sign of our faith and rest in the promises of God.

In the days of Noah,

all who entered into the ark were saved.

The door was open.

Anyone could enter in.

But only a few trusted in the promises of God.

Noah entered into the ark and found rest

in the promises of the everlasting covenant.

And this is a lesson for us today as we stand

on the precipice of eternity,

preparing for the culmination of earth's final judgment.

- Have you ever imagined yourself back in the days of

Noah, listening to him preach,

wondering what you might have done?

Well, realize this.

Right now you are in that exact same position.

- More than 4,300 years after the flood.

The first angel's message is now once again

proclaiming the everlasting gospel preached by Noah

to every nation and kindred and tongue and people.

- The sanctuary showed us that right now even though

the house of his judgment has come,

Jesus is still in the most holy place

of the sanctuary in heaven,

interceding on behalf of man for the forgiveness of sins.

This is our last opportunity to confess our sins

upon the lamb of God and to receive his mercy.

- This is also our last opportunity to walk with

Jesus through his sanctuary and to enter into

the refuge of the everlasting covenant.

- The name Noah literally means rest.

And as Noah lifted up his hand, pointing at the

way into the ark, he was pointing out the only place

where the people might find rest for the judgment.

And that place of rest was in the promises

of the everlasting covenant confirmed by the blood of Jesus.

- So today the first angel's message is likewise

pointing our attention to the Sabbath

by commanding us to worship him that made

heaven and earth and the sea.

Because it's by remembering the Sabbath day

to keep it holy that we may too enter

into the ark of the everlasting covenant

to find rest in the promises of God.

- For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day

on this wise and God did rest the seventh day

from all his works and in this place again

if they shall enter into my rest.

- Those that embrace it and accept it

are really entering into an everlasting covenant.

And every Sabbath day that we keep,

the literal Sabbath represents that.

You find that in Hebrews chapter four.

Entering into his rest, entering into that covenant,

just like when Noah entered into the ark,

he entered into that covenant that God had made

to save him and his family.

- While Noah was calling the people to enter

into the refuge of the ark and to accept

God's everlasting covenant,

they had a multitude of excuses why they didn't need to.

I'm sure some of them said God won't judge the people.

God's a God of love.

He won't destroy the world.

Or things like, all things have continued as they were

since the beginning, so there's no reason to believe

that God will destroy the world with a flood.

Whatever the reason, they prevented the people

from entering into the ark and the same is true today.

The multitude of differing ideas will prevent

the vast majority of people entering into the ark

of the everlasting covenant.

However, many people are still seeking God

with all their hearts.

But for these people, Satan has prepared another deception.

A counterfeit covenant.

In the Bible, God warns us the entire world

will embrace this counterfeit covenant.

And even now the great body of Christ true believers

have placed their faith in its empty promises.

For those who really desire to know the truth,

God will not permit Satan to deceive them

about the issues of the controversy.

So in his love, Jesus sends another angel

with another message, this time addressed

to his own people, and this is the second angel's message.

The most meaningful revelation of the sanctuary for me,

was when I understood that the ministry of Christ

changed in 1844.

When I understood this truth, that the idea of the

investigative judgment was about

a God that wanted to save me, who wanted to prepare me

for translation,

that just floored me,

in a way that this message never has.

God is warning me, by giving me a picture

of what it means to be in the right character.

And that, if I join myself to Him

if I have the faith of Jesus

and I keep the commandments through Him, not of anything

that I do. But rather it's an outcropping of He who dwells

within me. As John the baptist said

He must increase but I must decrease.

There can be no piece of self left if I hope to make it.

Many erroneously teach that we're getting

better and we're getting better in terms of our walk with

Christ as I'm growing in grace,

and what not, so I become more righteous.

That's incorrect thinking.

That's evolutionism.

But rather we are losing more and more of self

as we allow Christ to come in.

He must increase, I must decrease.

When I saw that in the Most Holy Place message,

that made me have a deeper appreciation

for the God we serve

than I had ever had before.