The Sabbath Journey and the Cloud

Father, God, thank you for being a God of love,

nothing less. We're going to look at what happened at

the Mount of Olives in Jesus' ascension, what happened.

Before and will happen.

But help us to be drawn into the hoarded love

of eternity, the love of God in Jesus' name.

Amen.

The title of the message this morning is the Sabbath

Journey in the Cloud. It's focusing on Acts one. What

series are we in right now?

The Book of Acts?

And what book did I recommend to help you with

the Book of Acts? It's called The Acts of the Apostles.

By Ellen White.

I was listening to three chapters this morning for my devotions.

Amazing material in that book. If you want to accelerate

and jumpstart your knowledge of the Bible, take advantage of

those books. Some people say, pastor mind, how did you

know the Bible so well? I learned Bible at the

feet of someone who wrote those books. We have been

blessed as a people now. The Mount of Olives is

no ordinary spot. Jesus hung out there on that mountain

to pray all the time.

You read the New Testament.

That's evident Jesus slept there many a night among the

ancient olive trees. You ever camp out at night under

the trees, that's awesome. Jesus went back and forth to

the Mount of Olives. When he taught the people in

the temple, he went back to the Mount of Olives.

The Garden of Gsemine was located on the Mount of Olives,

and there Jesus is the second atom, reversed the failure

of the first atom in the garden. On the Mount

of Olives, where Adam rebelled against God, Jesus surrendered to

God on his knees, clinging to the Earth.

And to his Father.

On the Mount of Olives, Jesus made the decision there

with great clots of blood, Luke says, thrombosis falling from

his body, as the sins of the world came into him,

the human nature of Christ, and he decided right there

to die for the whole world that includes you and me.

On the Mount of Olives. The triumphal entry was from Bethany.

The road that led to the Eastern Gate was over

the summit of the Mount of Olives. The alder of

the red heifer. You know what, the alder of the

red heifer is how ma of you know what that is.

It's the most sacred altar in Israel's history. It's outside

the city gate. It was about two thousand stadia from

the Eastern gate, across a ramp, the very ramp that

Jesus came in the press of the triumphal entry. It's

right there near the summit of the Mount of Olives,

the most sacred altar in Israel's history. The word red

in Hebrew means Adam the halfer part appointed to Eve.

The red heifer sacrifice was the sacrific for the purification

that is necessary when you come into contact with the dead.

The red heifer sacrifice points to the Eden problem, to

our contact with Adam and Eve. You see, we touch

the dead every day of our life. In our dna.

We are defiled because our nature goes back to our

parents who rebelled against God. Adam and Eve are dead,

but we touched them every day, and so the red

heifer sacrifice points to the sacrifice that would take care

of the sin of Adam and Eve that goes back

to Eden. Thus, the sacrifices of that time pointed forward

to the great sacrifice outside the gate. It is the

Adam and Eve heifer sacrifice that brings us back to Eden,

back to God, purifies us from touching the dead. That

red heifer was sacrificed nine times in Israel's history. You

had to have a red heifer that was perfectly read

or they couldn't you. And it's hard to find those

nine times in Israel's history. But it was not enough.

You see, number ten was Jesus. Jesus was number ten

in eighty thirty one, when Jesus hung upon.

The cross for you and me.

Jesus is not just the lamb of God who takes

away the sin of the world. He's also the red

hepper sacrifice that takes away the sin of Adam, the

sin of Eve.

Which touches us in our own nature.

The Book of Hebrews tells us plainly that Jesus died

right there near that sacred altar.

That was a pit.

It wasn't an altar built of stone they dug into the ground.

It was an altar in the earth. Now, the word

Adam comes is the same word for earth. It's one

of the words for earth, the red earth. Atam came

from the red Earth, and right there in the earth

the red earth. A fire was kindled and they burned

the red heifer to ashes, and from the ashes they

would create a solution to purify the those who touched

the dead. The Book of Hebrews tells us plainly that

Jesus died right there near the altar of the red

heifer Hebrews thirteen, verse tent. Take your bibles, let's open

them verse eleven, and notice the language of the last

chapter of the Book of Hebrews.

Paul wrote the Book of Hebrews.

How do we know that there's not one Christian witness

to anyone else writing in the Book of Hebrews for

three hundred years in the early post Apostolic history of

the Church Fathers and others. So it's a modern invention

that would say the writer of Hebrews, the writer of

Hebrews is Paul. The early Church understood it, and it's

affirmed in the spirit of prophecy that.

Paul wrote the Book of Hebrews. As well.

We have an altar from which those who serve the

tent have no right to eat, for the bodies of

those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by

the high priests and sacrifice for sin.

Are burned, And what does it say? They're burned?

Here are burned outside the camp, the altars outside side

the camp, where the sacrifices are burned outside the camp.

And that was the altar of the red heifer that

was near the summit of the Mount of Olives. And

so the Bible is pointing us to the place where

Jesus died verse twelve. So Jesus also suffered. What does

the Bible say he suffered where outside the gates? And

that would have meant the eastern gate that went up

the hill to where that altar was at. That's outside

the gate in order to sanctify the people through his

own blood. We are purified because of what Jesus did

for us. Now, don't give me some theory that we're

purified because we weren't hard enough to be accepted by God.

Last time I checked my righteousness as rags. What about you?

My best efforts to obey are not good enough. There

is nothing to boast about in my life. God forbid

that we should both in anything except the cross of

Christ by which we have been crucified to the world

and the world to us. So Paul affirmed in his

own life. We need to come to the altar. It

was on the Mount of Olives. That means that Jesus

died near the summit of the Mount of Olives, where

the altar is outside the camp, which is the atom

heaper sacrifice at the altar of the Red Heifer, and

this was very prominent place where the sacrifices were prepared

at the great feasts as well. When they couldn't take

the heavy load inside the city, they sacrificed on the hill.

And so as Christ was dying for the sins of

the world, people were coming from all over the world

by the Altar of the Red Heifer, and they would

see the cross there in the olive grove verse thirteen. Therefore,

let us go forth to him outside the camp.

And bear the abuse he endured.

Those early Christians said, forget the old city, forget the

old sanctuary. We're going where g Jesus went. Christ suffered

on the Mount of Olives. Christ was put out, pushed

out of the eastern gate all the way up to

the most sacred altar, and crucified in an olive grove.

The best evidence is on the southern ridge line facing the.

Veil of the Temple.

It's the only spot where you can see the veil

ripped from top to bottom.

Because the wall was low enough and the priest had.

A signal that would be given from the altar of

the Red Heifer on the day of Atonement of the

times to proceed with services. There was communication between that

sacred altar and the temple, and there they could see

when Christ died, the veil of the temple ripped from

top to bottom. You know, Hebrews ten says Christ is

the veil. He was ripped to pieces on the cross.

Simultaneously the rail was ripped. Veil was ripped from top

to bottom. We know from Josephus first century story in

the Jewish Church on the Jewish Church Judaism and who

was there in the destruction of Jerusalem in seventy a

d that forty years before the destructure of Jerusalem, which

would have put you right in the zone of the

seventy weeks eight thirty one, there was an earthquake and

the great Lentil broke that had that veil, and so

it's recorded by historians that would.

Happened at the Cross really happened.

That is where they executed criminals on the Mount of Olives,

who were under the curse of God facing the temple.

As they died on the Mount of Olives, they were

hung in those trees. They were later crucified in the

Roman era, that is the cursed hill where Solomon erected

pagan altars to please his wife's for the sake of demons. Now,

according to Roman law, if you were to be crucified,

it would be near the place of the crime or

the arrest or both. Christ the triumphal entry over the

Mount of Olives is the crime King of the Jews.

He was arrested in the Mount of Olives, and it

was Roman law he would be crucified in the Mount

of Olives. That is where they sacrificed children in ancient times,

when Solomon directed those pagan altars to please his wife

wives for the sake of demons. There they sacrifice children

to demons, like they do today in the secular world

in which we live. That is where they buried the dead,

because it was the place of death. That is where

Jesus died outside the gate near the summit of the

Mount of Olives. Friends, Mount Calvary is called the Hill

of the Skull. Have you noticed that what's the term?

And New Testament starts with the g gawgatha, and that's

the word. It means it comes from Galau, to go

around like Galilee, to be round. A skull is round gallgutha.

And why is it called the place of the skull?

Was not called the place of the skull because it

looked like one. Mount Calvary is called the Hill of

the Skull because the ancient Jews believe that Shem, mostly

thought by the rabbis to be Molkezedek, and I agree

with them, buried Adam skull there somewhere near Mount Mariah.

Now this is in the Old SDA Bible commentary. I'm

not inventing this. Have you read these Bible commentaries?

Maybe not.

At the Church of the Holy Sepulcher there is a

mosaic of the cross, and just beneath Jesus' feet on

the cross.

Is a skull in the ground. It's Adam skull.

Those early Christians didn't think it was the Hill of

the skull because it looked like a skull. They thought

it was the hill of the skull because Adam skull

was buried there. Noah had divided the bones up of

Adam to his three children, and Sham got the skull,

and so in the very place where the Melkezedic ministry

would start to save Canaan before the destruction of the Canaanites,

he brought adam skull there and buried it. And there's

early Church evidence, based on writings in the second of

the second century, that the Mount of.

Olives is the hill of the Skull.

The Mount of Olives was understood by the early Christians

to be at the sacred spot where Adam's skull was buried,

and thus it's brought out in the New Testament.

It is the place of weeping. Remember David who was

fleeing from.

Apsolom, he went up over the Mount of Olives, weeping

as he went over the mountain. The top of the hill,

the garden tomb was there near the summit until the

time of the Emperor Diocletian. How do we know this

because history bears record in the early Church fathers until

the time of the Emperor Diocletian when it was destroyed

in the Great Persecutions of three to three to three

thirteen AD. So that the very place where Jesus was

buried was still remembered almost until the time of Constantine.

Based on Hebrews thirteen. Those early Christians until the fourth

century believed that Jesus died right there, and that he

was buried right there, until Helena, Constantine's mother came and

reinvented this stuff. So, oh, I had a vision. It

was really here. No, the Christians had it right before Constantine.

His mother rewrote things a little bit, and they understood

that the new Jerusalem will not be in the old city,

but it will be on the Mount of Olives. Hebrews

thirteen fourteen continues, for there we hear, which is in

the old city, we have no lasting city, But we

seek the city which is to come outside the gate

where Jesus died, on the summit of the Mount of Olives,

where Jesus suffered, in the garden of Goseimite, where Jesus

gave his last discourse, a prophecy in Matthew twenty four,

the all of It discourse, where Jesus wrote on a

donkey as a king, where Jesus died as the final

judgment of God. There on that holy mountain, Jesus' feet

which are Yahweh's feet, And I'll prove it to you.

His feet are Yahweh's feet will touch the mount of

Olives at the end of the millennium, and the one

who died for us will touch the ground zero where

the cross was at, and that mountain will split from

north to south. It will become the center of the universe.

Turn with me to Zachari have fourteen, verse three. Then

the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations,

as when he fights on the day of battle. And

a revelation twenty says the wicked or resurrected in the millennium.

They come up like a mighty army. They surround the.

Holy City, and fire comes down from God out of

heaven and consumes them.

And it says the dragon.

Is thrown in the lake of fire with a beast,

and the false prophet are and it talks about God's

throne being exalted and lifted up, a great white throne.

And the word in Greek means bright lucas it's blue,

but it's bright, so it's a white blue throne, lucas

like leucocytes in your cells. And those who have not

been found written in the Book of Life, were cast

and the lake of fire, the Holy spirit. Fire will

come from the glory of Christ and from the throne

of God.

An evil will die in a day.

According to the Book of Isaiah and other places, Jesus said,

don't fear the ones who can destroy the body first,

it's Matthew ten twenty eight.

But fear him who can destroy both body and soul.

And Hell.

Hell is not a place where the center has eternal life.

Hell is the place where the life of the center ends.

According to Jesus.

So verse four. On that day his feet will stand

on the Mount of Olives.

So he comes, and he touches them out of Olives,

which lies before Jerusalem. The east and the Mount of

Olives shall be split in two from east to west

by very high valleys, so that one half of the

mountain shall withdraw northward and the other half southward. And

the valley of my mountains shall be stopped up. For

the valley of the mountains shall touch the side of it,

and you shall flee, as you fled from the earthquake.

In the days of Ziah, king of Judah.

Then the Lord your God will come and all his

holy ones with him. This is the final destruction of

the wicked. At the end of the millennium. That will

happen when Jesus will come and finally touch the earth.

In first Essenians four, his feet do not touch the

earth when we're caught up at the second.

Coming, we meet the Lord in the air.

But at the end of the millennium, the Lord comes

with the Holy City, and he touches the earth. Because

this world will become the new Heaven.

It will be the new creation, be the center of

the universe.

And that will happen when Jesus will come with ten

thousand of his Holy ones to exercise judgment at the

end of the millennium destroy evil. So the book Revelation

pictures a resurrectionin of the millennium of those who have died,

who have not been faithful to God, who have not

accepted Christ, who have resisted the Holy Spirit in their life.

Jude fourteen and fifteen Enoch, the first prophet in the

Book of Genesis, propheside of that event. It was of

these also that in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied, saying, behold,

the Lord comes with his Holy ones to execute judgment

on all, to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds,

of ungodliness which they have committed in such an ungodly way,

and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have

spoken against him. Now let's look at that word harsh.

Do you see that word harsh in your Bible? Do

you say it with me?

Harsh?

So what kind of people should we be in our

interaction with others in the church and in our families?

Should we be harsh or kind? Now we can all

get harsh at times, right, Come on, honesty is.

Good for the soul. But you know how you get

out of the woods. You can say I'm sorry. Isn't

that right? That is I'm sorry? Harsh? Not at all.

Look, God doesn't want harsh people in his kingdom. He

doesn't want spouses bullying the other to get their way.

He doesn't want children say no, daddy, you know money

and all that. He wants kindness in the home and

the church. So in the book Revelation, John goes up

to a high mountain vision Revelation twenty one to ten

to see the Holy City coming down from God out

of Heaven. That Holy City, the New Jerusalem, will rest

upon the Mount of Olives.

When Christ's feet touches it.

And Zachariah says, the one whose feet touches the Mount

of Olives is Jehovah Yahweh.

That's Christ.

And the Spirit of Prophecy affirms it is the feet

of Christ that will touch the Mount of Olives.

And the book Great Controversy and.

The wicked of all ages will attack that holy city

in Revelation twenty, and God's throne will appear before the

city as recording Revelation twenty. And the Holy Spirit fire

will come down from God out of God like it

did at Sodoma Gomorah, and destroy evil at the altar.

Now hear me, destroy evil at the altar where Jesus

died for every person. That's where the judgment will convene.

The Cross is the judgment. The place where Jesus died

will be the throne center of the universe. Relation twenty

one to ten. And the spirit he carried me to

way to a great and high mountain. What's the highest

mountain on earth today? Does anybody know?

Here?

It is not Mount Everest, It's the Mount of Olives.

That's a trick question why, Because high means more than tall,

High means significant. It was on that mountain that Jesus

died for us, facing the Eastern Vale, the Eastern Gate,

and for all eternity, the throne of God arrest where

Jesus died. The river of life will flow from that city,

just as it flowed from Jesus' side on the Cross

of Calvary when he was pierced on the Mount of Olives.

Those early christian Is understood correctly that the new Jerusalem

will settle on the Mount of Olives, where Jesus died

for you and me. Sometimes it pays to read a

little history so we can read our Bible a little

more accurately. They look at that mountain to the east

for their future. Now there's a book written by Ernest

del Martin called The Secrets of Gaugatha.

It's not in publication.

It's like fifty dollars on the t one hundred dollars

on the used market. He was a I think it's

Church of Christ or Church of God. But he was

a meteorologist. He was not a theologian. But he has

done the best history on this of anybody out there.

I recommend the book. I did a chiastic structure in

the book the Desire of Ages chapter It is finished

and that chiostic structure also indicates that Jesus died on

the Mount of Olives. It'll say upon the cross. On

the other side, I'll say upon the eastern mountain. And

it gives those correspondences which tell us that we're right

in this France. God's throne be right there where Jesus died.

Where would you put the throne of God? Follower Tranny?

If you were a god, would you say, well, let

me find a nice spot in the Bahamas? Is that

what you put God's throne? Would you put it in Mecca? No,

would you put in Washington, d c.

Or Rome?

Where would you put God's throne? You'd put it where

you lost your son in the darkness of the cross,

the most important real estate in the universe to the

heart of God.

Doesn't take a genius to.

Figure out why the Mount of Olives is the most

important real estate to God. The center of the universe,

of the whole world, will be right there Eden. Now

here's the point. The Bible describes that Eden was at

the center of the earth at the dawn of time.

A great river flowed from even became rivers and went

to the earth. According to Ezekiel, thirty eight to twelve.

Palestine is at the center of the earth. That means

it is where Eden used to be. I'm not an archaeologist.

I'm not a geologist, but I listened to my Bible.

A river flowed out of Eden that became four rivers

that flowed and one of them was the Geehone River.

Do you remember the Geone River? The gusher.

The remnants of that ancient Eden river is still there

as the Geehone Spring, just below the Mount of Olives.

And recent archaeology about fifteen years ago excavated underneath the

parking lot and a prominent Israeli archaeologist discovered Melchazidek's temple

that dates back.

To the time of Abraham. It's called Temple.

Zero and you can go google it. There's lots of

stuff on the Internet about it. Daniel, I think your

dad has been to that spot, if I'm not mistaken.

I think he told me he went there when he

went to Jerusalem.

But you have to get special permission to go in.

But there's a large stone there that they pour all

on and you can see where the sacrifices occurred. The

whole floor and some of the walls have been preserved,

and that stone goes all the way back to the

time of Jacob. I believe the evidence supports well. Kezidek's

temple has been discovered. That sacred stone is right there.

Abraham went to Mount Mariah, which became the temple mount,

to offer up his son Isaac on the al tree.

Remember when Jacob was fleeing. He was sleeping, fleeing from

his brother Esau, and he took a stone and he

made it what into a pillow, and he became a

temple and they called it Bethel, the house of God.

What's not where the traditional Bethel is at. I believe

the evidence is strong that it was there where he

had that dream and.

That stone that has been found.

I am convinced personally it is the stone that Jacob

and it was placed there to be anointed. No Kezdek

if he Sham died after Jacob was online.

If you look at the Masoretic.

Text, Abraham went to Mount Mariah, which became the temple

amount to offer up his son Isaac on the altar.

Remember Jenesis twenty two.

Take your son, your only son, Isaac, and you love

and go to the place that I will show you

and offer him upon the mountains a sacrifice. That's Mountain Mariah.

That's where the temple would be built years later. And

then the Angel the Lord called from heaven Abraham, Abraham,

Now I know you fear God, since you have not

withheld your only son from me. Now wait a second.

If the Angel of the Lord has called himself me

and he's saying you fear God, he's saying, I'm God.

That's Christ, pre existent Christ. And then of course Abraham

lifted up his eyes and he saw a ram caught

in a thicket. Now, if you're on the Temple mount

there's a higher spot than the Temple mount it's the

Mount of Olives. And the text in the Hebrews says,

a ram was caught in a thorn thicket.

A savakh.

Now hoop had a crown of thorns on his head

on that mountain. Who was caught in the thorns Jesus

the Angel Lord. He says Abraham, Abraham, don't touch the

lad Now I know you fear God, Eloheim, because you

have not withheld your only son from me.

I'm God.

And then it was written in that chapter, in the

Mountain of the Lord, it will be seen or it

will be provided. It's the place of the mare of

the appearance, where Jesus would show the glory of God.

Abraham told Isaac that the Lord himself would provide the sacrifice.

That is why the Book of Hebrews says that we

have an altar outside the gate where Jesus died, and

that is where we need to go for the city

that is to come. That is the altar we need

to focus on in our lives to have a future.

We have an altar beside the atom heifer altar outside

the gate, the altar with a thief on the cross

said remember me when you come into your kingdom. That

Jewish thief was hanging on a tree with Ji Jesus.

Now they hear each other, they'd have to be on

the same tree. Three crosses put up into a single

olive tree facing the temple so they could hear each other.

Growing one cursed Christ the other said, Lord, remember me

when you're come into your kingdom. That Jewish thief didn't

know that he was dying on the very spot where

the throne of God and the Lamb will be planted

at the end of the millennium, The very spot where

the feet of Christ, who is Yahweh, will touch the

Mount of Olives and it will split. He was at

ground zero for the future city. He didn't know that Abraham,

it says in the Book of Hebrews, was moving toward

a city that has foundations. He knew the new city

would be in the land of Canaan. Friends, you may

not know many details about the future, and you may

not remember everything I just told you, but hear this.

But if you come to know Jesus, you have the future.

That's the point. If you come to know Jesus surrendered him,

the future is yours.

There is no.

Higher mountain than the mountain where Jesus died for you

and me, the Mount of Olives. The river of life

flowed from Jesus' side right there when the Roman spirit

pierced him, because Jesus is the king, and because Jesus

is the throne, and because Jesus died where Adam failed

and where we lost Eden at the dawn of time,

where Adam's skull was at There, Christ died for the

whole world. Blood and water came out to wash our

guilt away, and to wash away our sins, and to

make us clean with Holy Spirit power on the Mount

of Olives. Abraham left her of the caladies or means light.

It was a dark place to come to the land

of Canaan, because he was looking for a city. In

Hebrews eleven ten, whose builder and maker is God that

has foundations, Christ is the foundation for the future of

the universe.

In the book of Ezekiel Yahwegh Jehovah, God.

Leaves the doomed city that is to be destroyed as

he drags his thrown with them with the Cherubim, out

of the sanctuary from the most holy place, and he

moved slowly to the summit of the Mount of Olives,

and then he ascends to Heaven, leaving the doomed city behind.

Look at Ezekiel eleven, twelve and thirteen. Then the cherub

them lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them,

and the glory of the God of Israel was over them,

And the glory of God went up from the mints

of the city and stood where. What does the text say,

We don't see it there, But that's all right if

you don't have it. That's why you need your bibles out.

Ezekiel eleven twenty three it's not twelve and thirteen. It's

twenty two and twenty three. Of a type of my

riding here Ezekiel eleven twenty three, and the glory of

the Lord went up from the mids of the city,

stood upon the mountain which is on the east side

of the city. What mountain is on the east it

is the Mount of This is easy because I've been

talking about the Mount of Olives. Friends, when God left Jerusalem,

he left it as he journeyed to the summit of

the Mount of Olives east of the city.

Now, why do I giving you all this?

This is the context in Acts one for the ascension

of Jesus.

This is ground zero. This is the golden spot.

That's why Christ will as sind as he goes over

the top of the Mount of Olives. Go to Acts one,

verse six. You can take your bibles out if we

have a slide back online. The reason with the slide

was I gave the wrong verse in my manuscript. I

wrote it down wrong. It's not Ezekiel eleven, twelve and thirteen.

It is Ezekiel eleven twenty two and twenty three, Acts

one six. So when they had come together, they asked

him Lord, will you at this time restore the king

of Israel. He said to them, it is not for

you to know times or seasons which the Father has

fixed by his own authority. But you shall receive power

when the Holy spirits come upon you, and you shall

be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria,

and to the end of the earth. And when he

had said this, now look at verse nine. They were

looking on, and he was come on. He was lifted up,

and a cloud took him out of their sight. Jesus

left in a cloud just over the summit of the

Mount of Olives, on his way to Bethany.

That day.

They weren't looking down when Jesus left them. They were

looking up as Christians looking to the future. We have

no reason to look down in our life. Have you

been down as you've been listening to this awful news

in our country? I'm not getting into politics. I'm getting

into feelings here. How many you can feel there's intensity

and anger in our culture.

It's awful. I mean, don't pick which side two sides

of awful? Still awful?

Right, They weren't looking down, They were looking up as

Christians looking at the future.

We have no reason look down anymore in life.

We are looking up, kind of believers, because Jesus has ascended.

To the right hand of God in our behalf. The

cloud is.

The symbol of the divine presence, and Jesus ascended to

heaven because God took Jesus back. You've had him for

thirty three and a half years.

I want him home. He was there for centuries as

the angel of the Lord. I want him home.

Let me have him for a while. And that's why

the Holy Spirit comes on light. The representative who brings

the Christ to us is the third person. The God

had the Holy Spirit, blood and water came out to

wash our guilt away, and Jesus got it done on

the Mount of Olives. Now they kept on looking up

when actually I looked at the wrong spot in my manuscript.

They kept on looking up when Jesus left, and so

should we. So if they were looking and gazing to heaven,

what should our focus be in the Apostolic age? Should

be how bad things here on earth? Who wins an

election or not? Or should it be heaven? The King

of God acts one to ten. And while they were

gazing to heaven, as he went and behold, two men

stood by them in white robes. Two angels in white.

We're at the tomb, and Mary went in to see Jesus.

In John twenty, verse twelve, So as an angel his head,

angel his feet, the Greek says, facing his head. The

Greek says, facing his feet like this. So yet, two

angels in the garden tomb. What is the picture of

an angel like this? An angel like this hovering over

what's in the middle. It's the ark of the covenant.

And who's in the middle. In the ark of the covenant, God,

Yahweh Jehovah. That's why John says in the beginning was

the word. The word was with God. The word was God.

He is the true Temple, because God in Christ became

a human being. Two angels in white were at the tomb,

and Mary went in to see it. Two angels faced

his feet. Here two men stood at his ascension.

In verse eleven.

These two men, who are angels, spoke to mortal men

with a heavenly hope and purpose. Let's listen to them.

Act on eleven, and they said, men of Galilee, why

do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who has

taken up from you into heaven. What does it say

in the Bible? Will come read with me in the

same way as you saw him go into heaven. The

Book of Acts starts with the prophecy of the future.

Those early Christians, we're advent believers because they believe that

Jesus is coming again.

You hear me.

They believe that Jesus. The modern church movement doesn't believe.

That doesn't matter to them. In fact, he got it

started Cedar Ridge with Brian McLaren, famous author who taught, well,

we don't need prophecy, We don't need.

The future, we don't need any of that.

We want we just want kingdom living here, to feel

community here. It's nonsense. We need the future to have

it here. We need to know the truth to live

it here. And a number of churches in our denomination

have adopted that philosophy fee and have diminished Bible prophecy.

And thus they have left the truth.

And for this end and hope, the Christians labored for

the coming of Christ for this purpose. They waited to

receive the Holy Spirit so they could preach and teach

the Gospel. Friends, The Bible does not teach that Jesus

comes in a secret rapture that no one can see it.

Teaches us that Jesus comes in.

A cloud where the whole world sees. Look at Revelation

one seven. Behold he is coming. And what does the

text say? With the what with the clouds? And only

a few people are gonna see?

What does it say?

Every eye will see him, and then a few more

everyone who pierced him. He's gonna resurrect it Caiaphas, the

soldiers and others so they can see the Second Coming.

He told Caiaphas, you won't see me again? Do you say,

blessed as he who comes in the name of the Lord.

And he's talking in the Second Coming, I'm gonna resurrect you.

I'm gonna pull you out of your grave so you

can see me coming. And then you're gonna die again.

Calaphus will die three times, the first time, the Second Coming,

and the end of the millennium, because Christ wants to

make a point that he is who he claims to be,

and all tribes.

Of the earth will weil on account of him.

Even so amen global event when Jesus comes, this entire

world will see it. The early Church was deeply motivated

by the expectation hope of Jesus soon returned, and so

should we as advent believers. If you're too smart for

Bible prophecy, then you're too smart for the blessed hope

of Jesus return. Friends, we are living on the eve

of the Advent of Jesus. Jesus is coming again, and

we will see him come in the clouds. Every believer

needs a journey to the altar outside the gate on

the Mount of Olives, where Jacob's ladder is at, where

the Son of Man is scended, and where the Son

of Man will come again, where angels will go up

and down. You cannot make that journey without the Sabbath

rest of the Gospel in your heart, and so Verse

twelve is very important in our walk with God. In

the Apostolic age of the Holy Spirit, the seven Eyes

of God on the lamb is identified book of Revelations

the Holy Spirit. The seven torches that burn before God's

throne is the Holy Spirit, and the Seventh Day is

the Holy Spirit day when you can find Jesus in

your life in a deeper walk with God. Acts one twelve.

Then they returned to Jerusalem, from the mount caught all

of it, which is near Jerusalem.

And what kind of journey was it? What does it say?

It says a sabbath day's journey away. At the beginning

of the Book of Acts, we will find that the

disciples respected the seventh day Sabbath. Right there in chapter

one in the Book of Acts, they worship on the Sabbath.

Paul baptized on the Sabbath outside of Philippi Lydia in

her family, which is the city of brotherly Love. He

was a baptizing church leader. On the Sabbath, Paul preached

the Gospel and the Sabbath of the Jews, and then

to the Gentiles. Don't tell me the early Church didn't

keep the Sabbath. We have a record of in the

Book of Acts. The people lingered long on the Sabbath

to hear Paul's word. The next Sabbath, the Gentiles showed

up and he preached again. The Sabbath is important of

those early Christians because Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath,

and because they learned to appreciate the Sabbath. In fact,

they lingered long in a Sabbath service till was late

at night Eudicus fell out of the window, and he

was resurrected by Paul. They lingered in sabbath teaching.

In the early Church.

They heard Jesus' own words on the summit of the

Math of Olives just before he died. And so the

early Church was a sabbath keeping church. We know this

from history, and we know it from the Bible. When

Jesus predicted the Mount of Olives that the Sabbath would endure,

he doesn't just before he dies.

Now, if you're going to do a way of the.

Sabbath by making Sunday the new Sabbath, why would you

tell people just before you die the Sabbath is important

at the tribulation, at the time of the end, would

you say something like that. No, let us turn to

Matthew twenty four, verse thirteen, thirteen to fifteen, and let's

see what it says. Jesus says, But the one enduras

of the end will be saved?

Does it say might be saved? Will be saved?

And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached throughout

the whole world as.

A testimony to how many nations.

Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world,

and then the end will come. So it's not gonna

come because you're perfect. It's not gonna come because you

want to make a point in your life. It'll come

because God's mercy reaches the world. So let us what

book he says we need to read. So when you

see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the prophet Daniels

standing in the Holy place, let the reader understand you

need Daniel to know what's happening. Just before Jesus returns

go down to verse twenty. Here it is pray that

your flight may not be in winter. Remember, the love

of many will grow cold and mantour. So pray that

your flight will not be a cold one in the

winter or.

On a sabbath.

Why because you need a prayer life, You need a

strong relationship with God. You need to hang in there

and keep the sabbath. And look we he says in

verse twenty one, for then there will be great tribulation

such as not ben from the beginning of the world

know of the world.

Not until now, no, and never will be.

He's saying, before the plagues hit, before in time events.

The sabbath is an issue in your personal walk with God.

You need it, don't give it up. Now, I'd like

to make a little admonition to many of you who

come to church late on Sabbath. Can I meddle a

little bit? No, amens, can I meddle just a little bit?

We need to get the church on time to Sabbath

school to study the Word of God and to benefit. Now,

we got fine teachers who get here for the kids.

That they strive to get here on time. We very

appreciative that. But we do not need to just stay

away from church and show up for the sermon. We

need the whole worship experience here on a Saturday morning.

So I'm gonna I'm not trying to put you on

a guilt trip. I'm just trying to say, get here

on time. The Lord is waiting for you, friend, Jesus

is coming in a cloud, and the Sabbath is needed

for the journey that takes us into the future Kingdom

of God. The book Relation teaches us that the mark

of the beast's issue will be a direct attack on

the sign of God within God's ten commandment law that

is identified as Ezekiel twenty twelve. As the Sabbath, I

gave them my Sabbath to be a sign. God's sign

is the Sabbath. The mark of the Beast is the

Beast sign, and Sabbath is Saturday. In the Bible, the

seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.

Jesus is the Lord of Sabbath. The early Church was

a Christ centered church, not a Sabbath centered church. A

Christ centered church because they knew the Sabbath points to

the Lord of the Sabbath, and they were filled with

the Holy Spirit because the seventh Day is the Holy

Spirit day. And they made the journey to know Jesus

every day in their lives. They renewed it every week.

They met often in worship because they were not afraid

to celebrate the Sabbath journey that brings Jesus to us

in the road that leads.

To the King of God.

Are you afraid of the end that we are living in?

How many of you are afraid of the end? A

little bit, get a little concerned, Look to heaven, Look up,

not down. Keep on looking up to heaven till Jesus comes.

Focus on heavenly things. Are you wearing your life journey

to know God? Prince Jesus is the true rest that

the Sabbath points to. Walk with Jesus every day of

your life in prayer, study your Bible, look for the

day when Jesus will come in the clouds in power,

and don't look back.

Move forward in your life.

The Gospel points us back to the death, the burial,

and the resurrection of Jesus. That is the kingdom cause

we looked at last week, but it also points us

forward to the coming of Jesus, a hopeful outcome for

our faith. Friend, God has kindly given us this Holy

Spirit so we can be used of God every day

to prepare the world for the glorious day of Jesus' return.

For this end, the Holy Spirit has been given. Dear friends,

look up and never look down again in your life.

Why because you have good reasons to look up. Christ

didn't do all that stuff for you on the Mount

of Olives for nothing.

He did for you what you can never do for yourself.

He brought you into him, He dealt with your sins,

he judged them everyone, and when he was done, there

was nothing left to condemn. So God could put his

arms around you without setting aside his law and bring

you into eternity free from guilt. For this end, the

Holy Spirit has been given to us to help us

live for God, to live and obey. Dear friends, look

up and never look down again. Look up and never

give up your sabbath journey, the rest journey to know

Jesus on the way to the Kingdom of God. Dear

Heavenly Father, help us to use every ounce of our

time to help people be ready for your coming. Maybe

not waste it on things that don't matter. Help us

to be in our bibles, to be in worship and prayer,

meeting and church on time, and sharing our faith for

the good of others. One day it'll be a dark

time and we'll have no opportunity to do this anymore.

Thank you that we're looking up, kind of believers, and

thank you is the will of the Father to give

this little flock the kingdom. Bless your peoples they go

home with Jesus lots of Him through the abiding presence

of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, Amen.