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transcript:

Greetings brothers and sisters from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a truly Millennial venue along the fantabulous Atlantic Seaboard. Before I begin, I would like bring greetings to all our German speaking brothers and sisters in der Schweiz, Oesterreich und Deutschland: Wir wünschen euch allen ein wunderbares Laubhüttenfest voller Freude und viel Gemutlichkeit.

God’s called-out saints over the entire earth are keeping the Feast of Tabernacles, symbolizing the glorious Millennial Sabbath when the resurrected saints will be ruling under Jesus Christ, bringing blessed rest and peace for the first time in 6,000 years, after mankind’s disastrous, futile attempts to substitute their combative warmongering governments—everyone a colossal failure, including Democracy, the worst form of government of all when a mere 51% of the population rejects God’s holy and spiritual law, which sadly all of Jacob’s offspring in America, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and brother Judah’s postage stamp domicile, the state of Israel, have recently done, instead of accepting the benevolent blessed rule of Almighty God, encouraged by the prophet Samuel (I Samuel 8:7). Sadly, Jacob’s rebellious offspring around the globe have also glommed on to the evil principle of divisive party spirit and factions, condemned by the apostle Paul in I Corinthians 1:10-13 and Galatians 5:19-21.

Exodus 20:8-11 “Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gate. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”

The Amplified Bible adds the additional salient details: “Remember the Sabbath (seventh) day to keep it holy (set apart, dedicated to God). Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath [a day of rest dedicated] to the LORD your God; on that day you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant or your female servant, or your livestock, or the temporary resident (foreigner) who stays within your [city] gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested (ceased) on the seventh day, [that is, set it apart for His purposes].”

I trust that most of us understand the crucial difference between cardinal and ordinal numbers. Cardinal numbers signify quantity (three oranges, two pomegranates, or five loaves of bread and two fishes), but ordinal numbers signify order or position, just as the musical scale carries God’s indelible watermark, the ordinal number 7. For example, we sing C-D-E-F-G-A-B, bringing us back to another C one octave higher, bringing us to a brand-new beginning, such as the magnificent Eighth Day, following seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles.

God blessed the seventh day, not one day out of seven, as many antinomian Protestants insist. An equally egregious antinomian falsehood is that Moses gave us the Sabbath. God hallowed the Sabbath at creation and reintroduced it to Moses (after 2,668 years) on two tablets of stone to give it to our ancestors on the Sinai who had fallen under pagan influence in the land of Egypt, drifting into apostasy, having nearly rejected all of God’s laws, including the Sabbath, which were fully in force then, since creation, and still are today, and will furthermore be in force throughout all eternity (Psalm 119:152).

Sadly, one of my former students in England, who had fallen under the influence of Grace Communion International, the group that devolved from our previous fellowship, “out-Protestanting” all the other Protestants, accused me of worshipping the day rather than God. I replied to her that the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Lutheran Church, the Anglican Church, the Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Baptist Church, the Church of Christ, and yes, even the new swaggering kid on the block, Grace Communion International, pitifully lacks the power and authority to hallow or sanctify a day or any segment of time or that matter. Only Almighty God can hallow or sanctify time.

As God’s called-out saints, we keep only the days which Jesus and the apostles kept, not those introduced from faulty pagan human traditions including the rebirth of the sun on December 25^th or the ancient fertility rituals Ishtar concurrent with Easter which the vast majority of professing Christians adhere to, as Craig pointed out in his September 23^rd message, “Is Jesus Christ a Christian.”

In my previous messages in the Simplifying Life series, I have stressed,

1) eliminating clutter (physical and spiritual)

2) Redeeming time through organization

3) Managing relationships with love and wisdom, and

4) Waiting on God’s timing with patience.

Today we will explore the topic of how the seventh day Sabbath simplifies our lives by anchoring us to God’s perennial rhythms of rest and renewal. Indeed, the seventh day Sabbath is no burden (another antinomian lie), but rather a divine spiritual gift, bringing us simplicity, rest, and spiritual renewal to our daily lives, aligning and synchronizing us with Almighty God’s rhythm and purpose.

We all realize that modern life is perpetually cluttered with endless tasks, notifications, and stressful pressures. Almighty God has blessed us with His holy Sabbath, offering to simplify our lives by providing rest, focus, and connection to His divine purpose for us as His called-out saints. Consequently, the seventh day Sabbath (weekly, annually, and millennially) greatly simplifies our lives by:

1. Providing physical and spiritual rest.

2. Realigning our priorities with God’s purpose

3. Fostering fellowships with family spiritual siblings and the rest of mankind.

4. Pointing to eternal rest as well as responsibility in God’s Kingdom.

Genesis 2:2-3 And on the seventh day [ordinal not cardinal] God ended His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh [ordinal not cardinal] day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Let us flesh out some additional details from the Amplified Edition. “And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested (ceased) on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. So, God blessed the seventh day [I repeat, ordinal not cardinal] and sanctified it [as His own, that is, set it apart from other days], because in it He rested from all His work which He had created and done.”

The Sabbath was not merely a law but part of God’s entire creation design. We must remember that the seventh day Sabbath, established at creation before sin entered the world, is not merely a law, but a universal principle of rest, reflecting Almighty God’s own example and perfect character. When we rest, we emulate our Creator, simplifying our lives by trusting His providence in our lives.

My May 28, 2016 message, “Spiritual Leitmotifs: Patterns of Seven,” made the case that the recurring pattern of seven exists in both public and private revelation. God’s signature, the repeatable pattern of the recurring number seven, can be seen in astronomy, geology, physics, chemistry, genetics, and all other sciences, which are merely alternate expositions of the mind of God eternally present before the foundation of the world. God’s perennial leitmotif, the recurring seven, analogized by the ascending seven note musical scale, is embedded throughout Scripture, beginning with the seven days of creation (with a 24/7 cycle beginning in Genesis 1:14) and the weekly Sabbath, the appointed times outlined in Leviticus 23, including the Passover, Days of Unleavened Bread, the counting for Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles leading to the magnificent Eighth Day, as well as the embedded patterns of seven revealed in the gematria of the Hebrew and Greek texts.

The Bible itself has a seven-part division with 22 books (using the Jewish numbering in the Old Testament, containing the Law, Prophets, and Writings), and 27 books in the New Testament, containing the Law, Prophets, and Writings, adding up to 49, or 7 times 7. God’s called-out ones, by keeping the seventh day Sabbath, have been metaphorically plucking a harp of seven strings on a weekly and annual basis rehearsing God’s holy days, spiraling and ascending continually to a higher level of understanding. The new song sung by the 144,000 saints will likely be based on existing spiritual motifs and scales practiced throughout the sanctification process, motifs to which the rest of the world is oblivious.

The foundational commandment (Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 20:8-11; and Deuteronomy 5:12-15) establishes the seventh day Sabbath as a divine mandate to pause. In his commentary on Genesis 2:2-3, John Ritenbaugh stated that, “The Hebrew word shabbat means to cease or stop, indicating that God’s rest was an act of observance and sanctification rather than a need for recuperation. This act should be viewed as a climax of the creation week rather than an afterthought, highlighting its importance as a divine example for all humanity, not just Jews and Israelites to follow.”

In his commentary “Genesis 2:2-3: Understanding the Sabbath, God’s Example of Rest” in Genesis 2, Martin Collins asserts that the Sabbath is a memorial of creation, a day set apart for holy use, where God’s Holy Spirit is present, guiding God’s people in proper behavior through principles rather than strict mechanical rules, elevating Sabbath keeping to the spirit rather than the letter.

Additionally, Martin also underscores the universal validity of the Sabbath as it originates from creation itself, rather than from later cultural or religious developments. The Sabbath plays a critical role in the ongoing spiritual creation, symbolizing that God’s work continues to progress beyond the current physical creation, shaping the spiritual destiny of His called-out saints.

Because of modern culture’s ardent obsession with boundless speed and productivity, as demonstrated by overpacked schedules and constant connectivity with spam e-mails, texts, and invasive phone calls, many of us have, from time to time, teetered on the treacherous brink of adrenaline overload and massive burnout.

In a recent study conducted last year by Deloitte University in Los Angeles, 77% of workers in the Los Angeles basin reported symptoms of burnout (and they were not talking about the Palisades-Altadena blazes) but instead a profound shock to their overburdened nervous systems living in an endless rat race coping with increased exploding, out of control knowledge. If these poor stressed-out souls could glom onto God’s holy Sabbath, which interrupts this infernal, idiotic Daniel 12:4 rat race, requiring and mandating a full day of cessation from work, reflecting God’s own rest after creation, they would find profound relief.

The hallowed, sanctified seventh day Sabbath is a stark, radical simplification (one day is non-negotiable) reserved exclusively for Almighty God and wholesome rest, not arduous, pesky mundane tasks. When we make a complete 24 hour stop, we sensibly acknowledge our puny and futile limits, trusting instead on Almighty God’s provision, pushing back on the lie that only constant busyness determines true and genuine worth, a lesson which my sons and I have had much difficulty understanding and applying to ourselves.

I was highly moved when I learned that slain beloved martyr, Charlie Kirk, had so much love for the Sabbath that he and his wife Erika totally disconnected themselves from e-mail, phone, and texts for 24 hours during Almighty God’s sanctified holy time. Personally, I have a long way to go to emulate their sterling example.

We, as God’s called-out saints, must assiduously silence work-related apps and endless e-mails to create mental space to reflect and grow close to Almighty God as well as our spiritual siblings.

I believe God helped me to understand this principle on September 30^th, 13 days ago when He permitted our Internet to go out of service for three whole days (even after all our neighbors had their Internet service restored). After calling a technician and later purchasing a new router, I felt a new dramatic sense of relief of not being bombarded with disturbing interruptions from mendacious media sources and relentless social media, preventing and stifling me from making progress on this Feast message I am delivering to all of you today. I made substantial progress on this message the three days the Internet was not in service, finally concentrating and giving my sole undivided attention to what Almighty God was inspiring me to prepare—without the perpetual interruptions from social media and the disturbing, often discouraging messages from the evil mendacious legacy media.

I remember a piece of valuable advice from the late Rush Limbaugh who encouraged his frustrated listeners that if they wanted to remove the horrible stress and discouragement from listening to the daily news, they could disconnect from the poisonous, agenda driven legacy media (CNN, MSNBC, ABC, BBC, CBS, NBC, PBS, NPR) for two weeks and their sense of well-being and productivity would be fully restored. Consequently, we should be able to abstain from legacy and social media for at least one 24-hour period, as Charlie and Erika Kirk have been practicing for several years. The Internet outage Julie and I experienced from September 29^th to October 1st has indeed proved to be a profound blessing.

God’s sanctified holy Sabbaths—weekly, annually, and millennially—provide an opportunity to reconnect with the teachings of Almighty God through sermons, sermonettes, Bible studies, and commentaries restoring our flagging faith (Romans 10:17), as well as reconnect with our spiritual siblings (Hebrews 10:25) who are preparing to rule with us under Jesus Christ in the coming Millennial Kingdom of God on this earth.

Mark 2:27-28 And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”

The Amplified Classic edition provides some additional salient details, “And Jesus said to them, The Sabbath was made on account and for the sake of man, not man for the Sabbath; so the Son of Man is LORD even of the Sabbath.”

The context of these verses is the condemnation from the Pharisees of Jesus’s disciples picking heads of grain on the Sabbath to quell their hunger. Jesus responds that the Sabbath is a gift for humanity’s well-being rather than a burdensome rule.

Science substantiates the benefits of a weekly 24-hour pause. A Harvard Medical School study in 2019 maintains that a non-negotiable 24-hour rest improves cognitive function (something all of us could profit from), greatly reduces cortisol (the pesky stress hormone), and lowers risks of chronic diseases. Consequently, the Sabbath’s weekly rhythm offers a blessed “reset” that combats anxiety and fatigue, simplifying life by prioritizing restoration over obsessive break-neck achievement.

By declaring Himself “Lord of the Sabbath,” Jesus affirms its purpose as a life-giving, liberating practice under His authority rather than a legalistic trap of petty do’s and don’ts concocted by the Pharisees and Sadducees, placing human tradition over God’s holy and spiritual law and word, as well as elevating judgment over mercy. As Jesus’s half-brother proclaimed, “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

Jesus assured the Pharisees that the Sabbath has been created for the benefit of mankind, designed to liberate individuals from bondage to endless toil, reminding them of their redemption from slavery, both literally and spiritually. This blessed day of rest frees us from the cycle of a work-driven life, allowing time for reflection, worship, and reconnecting with spiritual siblings. It greatly simplifies life by setting a clear boundary between work and rest, ensuring that people firmly prioritize Almighty God over any competing material pursuits, thereby reducing or neutralizing the irritation and complexity of competing demands.

Asserting His authority as Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus declared that the Sabbath must remain a day of freedom rather than oppression, rejecting man-made laws which turn the Sabbath into a burden rather than the blessing it was intended to be.

Isaiah 58:13-14 “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, not finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

The Amplified Edition adds a few more clarifying details, “If you turn back your foot from [unnecessary travel on] the Sabbath, from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a [spiritual] delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable, and honor it, not going your own way or engaging in your own pleasure or speaking your own [idle] words, then you will take pleasure in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the high places of the earth, and I will feed you with the [promised] heritage of Jacob your father; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Consequently, this passage describes the Sabbath as a delight rather than a burden, promising joy and blessings to all those who honor it by setting aside competing personal pursuits, thereby reframing this day as a bountiful source of spiritual enrichment. When we focus on Almighty God and our Savior Jesus Christ, we are liberated from the horrible stress of personal agendas, enabling us to find true fulfillment in divine connection, providing a pleasant break from working concerns. One of my former professors back at Minnesota State University at Mankato, instead of posting office hours on his door, placed a poster with the words: “It’ll wait.”

The promise from Almighty God of delight simplifies our life when we align our focus with God’s will, ensuring that the Sabbath will bring reward rather than restriction, thereby enhancing our spiritual and emotional well-being. My third favorite verse in the Bible, in Psalm 37, highlights this principle.

Psalm 37:4-5 Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.

David’s son Solomon reiterated his father’s admonition about yielding to God’s superior wisdom in Proverbs 3:6, 16:3, and 16:9. Please permit me to read these passages from the Amplified Edition:

Proverbs 3:6 (AMP) In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him, and He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way].

Personally, I interpret that as a solemn promise from Almighty God that He will profoundly simplify our lives if we yield and submit to Him, wrapping ourselves in holy spiritual law. I will now scroll ahead to Proverbs 16.

Proverbs 16:3 (AMP) Commit your works to the LORD [submit and trust them to Him], and your plans will succeed [if you respond to His will and guidance].

Scrolling down to verse 9, we read:

Proverbs 16:9 (AMP) A man’s mind plans his way [as he journeys through life], but the LORD directs his steps and establishes them.

I prefer a continuous, smooth pathway to one perpetually dominated by obstacles. Scrolling down to Proverbs 22:5, we learn that:

Proverbs 22:5 (AMP) Thorns and snares are in the way of the obstinate [for their lack of honor and their wrong-doing traps them]; he who guards himself [with godly wisdom which includes embracing God’s holy and sanctified Sabbath] will be far from them and avoid the consequences they suffer.

Please turn to Exodus 31, verses 13-17, the passage which declares that God’s hallowed, sanctified seventh day Sabbath is a sign throughout the generations forever and though eternity.

Exodus 31:13-17 “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore the children of Israel shall keep observe the Sabbath as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh [ordinal not cardinal] day He rested and was refreshed.’”

Consequently, the Sabbath is a perpetual covenant as well as a sign of sanctification, simplifying life by marking believers as Almighty God’s sanctified people, providing identity and purpose beyond worldly roles. The strict prohibition against work accentuates the importance of rest, reducing life’s chaos by enforcing a clear barrier between labor and worship, prioritizing spiritual over physical or material concerns. As a generational command, it simplifies family traditions by establishing a consistent perennial practice of rest and communion with Almighty God, promoting stability and continuity across time.

Ezekiel 20:12 Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.

The Amplified Edition adds some additional clarifying detail, “Also I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know [without any doubt] that I am the LORD who sanctifies them (separates and sets them apart).” The Sabbath is a divine sign of sanctification, setting God’s called out saints apart, liberating them from burdens and worldly identities, simplifying spiritual life by renewing and reinforcing a relationship with Almighty God, bringing holiness and purpose to their spiritual pilgrimage.

The Sabbath is a sign of Almighty God’s covenant with His called-out saints, setting them apart for His divine purpose, offering them a weekly rhythm countering the chaos of worldly pressures. When God’s people faithfully observe His weekly seventh day Sabbath, they are reminded of their identity as God’s redeemed, which simplifies their perspective of life’s challenges, aligning their priorities with divine will.

Our ancestors on the Sinai greatly defiled God’s Sabbath, leading Almighty God to pour out His fury upon them in the wilderness, to utterly consume them. Ancient Israel’s pitiful failure to keep the Sabbath led to punitive judgment from God, proving that neglecting the Sabbath greatly complicates life through severing contact with Almighty God. Obedience simplifies life by maintaining divine favor.

The warning God gave to our forebears on the Sinai also applies to the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16), who are admonished to learn from their horrible example of what not to do (I Corinthians 10:6). God’s people are obligated to keep the sanctified holy Sabbath to avoid disastrous spiritual consequences, focusing life on God’s will rather than on rebellion.

For the past week, we have been rehearsing the coming 1,000-year period of rest and peace on earth, based upon II Peter 3:8, which states that “With the LORD a day is like a thousand years.” Finally, after 6,000 years of botched human history marked by horrific wars, arduous toil, sin, and endless conflict, the Millennium, symbolized by the Feast of Tabernacles, represents a Sabbath-like era of total restoration under Christ’s rule, in which God’s resurrected saints will be serving as kings and priests.

Revelation 20:1-6 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after the thousand years were finished he must be released for a little while. And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

Isaiah 14:7 “The whole earth is at rest and is quiet; they break forth into singing” [foreshadowing a lengthy period of global tranquility].

Please turn over to Hebrews 4, verses 4-11, a passage directed at us in the Israel of God.

Hebrews 4:4-11 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.” Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given then rest, then He would not afterword spoken of another day. There remains a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

This passage links the Sabbath to an “ultimate rest” for God’s people, extending beyond the weekly observance to an eternal promise.

Isaiah 2:4 He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

Let us scroll ahead to Micah 4, verses 1-5 reiterating this promise of world peace and Millennial joy.

Micah 4:1-5 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established at the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go forth [You remember that Old Covenant relic which many antinomian protestants believe was nailed to the cross], and the word of the LORD [the same one we are holding on our laps] from Jerusalem. He [that is, Our LORD, Savior, Bridegroom, and King] shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks [bringing to a rapid end the military-industrial complex former President Eisenhower warned us about on January 17, 1961]; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken. For all people walk each in the name of his god, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever.

The Millennial Sabbath has multiple spiritual implications, including:

1. Rest from Sin and Spiritual Warfare—which God’s saints have had to endure since their calling. When Satan is bound (Revelation 20:2-3) humanity will experience relief from continuous deception and temptation, allowing widespread knowledge of Almighty God (Isaiah 11:9): proclaiming “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea”). This abundance of knowledge, also described in Hebrews 8:10; 10:16; and Jeremiah 31:31-34, represents the fulfillment of God’s sanctification process, in which believers enter a state of holiness and direct communion with Christ.

2. Role of the Saints—Resurrected believers (the Bride of Christ) will rule as priests and kings (Revelation 5:10, 20:6) embodying God’s glory as glorified spirit beings, shepherding survivors, the remnants of Jacob’s family as well as Gentiles. This Millennial practicum implies a period of teaching and spiritual growth, preparing for eternity.

3. Sabbath Observance—Prophecies (including Isaiah 66:23) reinforce the seventh day Sabbath will be universally kept during the Millennium. The Millennial Sabbath contains several societal and global implications such as:

a) Peace and Justice: Some have proclaimed the Millennium as a golden age without war, poverty, or oppression; perhaps a divine mandate to ‘Make the World Great Again” (MWGA) ushering in a theocratic government under Jesus Christ, resolving human failures like democracy, nationalism, or tolerance for or legalizing sin, which the children of Jacob have had to endure recently.

b) Population and Survivors: Post-Tribulation survivors (namely those who endured judgments like the Four Horseman or plagues) will repopulate Earth under Christ’s rule. Some suggest that the massive depopulation beforehand during the Trumpet Plagues will finally lead to a humbled society, focused on rebuilding and repentance.

c) Environmental Restoration: Finally, the Earth can rest from vicious human exploitation, akin to a Sabbatical Year for land ( Leviticus 25:4). The curses from Genesis 3 (thorns, toil, painful childbirth) are finally lifted, resulting in blessed abundance and harmony, where even wolves and lambs can peacefully live together (Isaiah 65:20-25).

As we are gathered here today in Myrtle Beach to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, we have caught a glimpse, a tiny foretaste of the glorious Millennial Sabbath, when our Lord and Savior will return to bring true rest and lasting peace to a weary world. My mentor, the late Bob Hoops, used to tell the Rapid City congregation that we should consider the weekly Sabbath as a miniature Feast of Tabernacles, which is a miniature Millennium, which is a miniature new heavens and earth.

Every weekly Sabbath, bearing God’s watermark or signature—the ubiquitous number seven—we keep it as a rehearsal for that magnificent day, a moment to practice the rest and rule we will share with our Savior. Brother and sisters, the Sabbath simplifies our lives today by anchoring us to God’s eternal plan.

We need to make sure that we do not measure our identity with our work, our achievements, or the chaos of this world, but in our calling as God’s sanctified saints. Let us embrace the Sabbath with joy, knowing that each seventh day which we honor brings us closer to the day when we reign with Christ, bringing rest to all nations. Let us go forth from this Feast in Myrtle Beach with renewed zeal to keep God’s holy Sabbath, for it is our sign, our delight, and our destiny.

DFM/jjm/drm