Faithful and True

Good morning once again. We have been studying the theme of the Two Witnesses for several weeks now, and we're going to continue that study today with the Faithful and True Witness. We see Jesus described in these terms in his letter to the Church of Laodicea.

This was the church that had nothing good written about it. Jesus had nothing good to say about them. Unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.

So we're going to look at what that means, that he is faithful and true, that he is a faithful and true witness. We see the expression again toward the end of Revelation in that part of Revelation chapter 19 that describes Jesus' second coming when he comes on the white horse. And it says in verse 11, And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.

And he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness he doth judge and make war. So Jesus comes to make war.

That's an important point that we will be looking at. When we look at the sign of the Son of Man, we have the two heavenly witnesses, and the faithful and true witness, of course, is Jesus. So we're looking at Orion and/or Horologium. Those are two witnesses that both represent Jesus. So we're going to look at what it means, this faithful and true witness, this description of Jesus, and how we apply that to the sign of the Son of Man, to the two heavenly witnesses of the clocks. We get a clue in Psalm 89.

This psalm has many relations to the sign of the Son of Man, but I'm just going to look at this verse. Verse 14 says, Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth go before thy face.

So we have a contrast. We have justice and judgment on one side, and we have mercy and truth on the other side. Which side would correspond to which? The justice and judgment, that's corresponding to the Horologium. That's the time when Jesus is wielding his sword, the rod of iron, his weapons of warfare. On the other hand, mercy and truth. Which side is that pointing to? Obviously, the other side.

Does it fit? It fits the symbolism because Orion represents Jesus in what capacity? He's the high priest. So the high priest ministers mercy and truth. This truth is the connecting link to our faithful and true witness.

So we have the first indication that he is represented in Orion with the truth. But we will see more about that as we go on. Another verse in the same psalm, David is remembering in his current distress, he's remembering God's former loving kindnesses.

And he says, Lord, where are thy former loving kindnesses, which thou swearest unto David in thy truth? So the truth is connected with swearing. Jesus swore to David that he would give him a throne. An everlasting throne.

And David, in his distress, was reminding God of that. But for our purposes, we see this swearing and truth. When you swear an oath, you want to emphasize that this is the truth and you're not lying.

And so you swear. And when a person swears, it's normally done, like in Orion, with an upraised arm. So there again, we see the swearing and the truth, swearing the truth connected with Orion.

In the introduction to Revelation, chapter one, beginning with verse four, we see a little bit about Jesus and how he describes himself. John, to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before his throne. And we've talked about that before, the seven spirits moving through the hand of Orion along the ecliptic.

So we're generally looking at Orion in this setting. And he continues and he says, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead. And the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood.

Now here we have another clue, mentions the faithful witness without saying the true. When a witness is faithful, what does that mean? You can trust it, and in many respects, it's telling the same story. A faithful witness tells the truth.

Okay, but there's another way to be faithful, because when the witness is not just in words, but in our life, then our life is that witness. And when our life is a faithful witness, then what does that mean? What did Jesus say, or whom did Jesus say and encourage to be a faithful witness? Who did he encourage to be faithful and for how long? Smyrna. In the church of Smyrna, his letter, Jesus said, be faithful unto death, because our life should be a life of faithfulness.

And as long as we're living, that faithfulness should continue. So now we see another characteristic of the faithful witness that's, I believe, contrasted here in this verse, because he says, from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead. So he was faithful till death, and he was the first begotten from the dead.

So Orion shows us his resurrection, that first begotten from the dead, and in the Horologium, we have the representation of his cross, his death, where he showed himself faithful unto death. So we have both witnesses encapsulated in that expression, the faithful and true. That's what describes him.

He is faithful, and he is true. He's faithful unto death, and he's true even with an oath. Notice the last part of this verse.

It says, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins, in what? In his own blood. Of course, we see that in the river of the sign of the Son of Man, representing that blood, his own blood. He washed our sins in his own blood.

And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

In this verse, he mentions that he makes us kings and priests. Orion shows Jesus as in what office? The priest, the high priest, and the Horologium shows him as the king. But not only is Jesus the king and the high priest, or I should say the king of kings and the high priest, but he makes us kings and priests as well.

So, I want to explore that a little bit further. What would kings do? In historical times, the king would fight in battle. He would avenge the enemies of the nation, of the people, of his people.

And he would also judge the people. And they would have a difficult problem with the elders. He would gather and they would bring their questions to the elders or to the king as well.

And he would give, if he is a righteous king, a righteous judgment. That was the main role of a king. Defense, fighting their battles, avenging their enemies, and judging the people.

On the other hand, the priests, they would teach the law of God. And they would serve in that ministry of reconciling the people to God. They would offer their offerings and process the blood in the sanctuary.

They would exhort the people to live a holy life. And the priests were above the kings. They would anoint the king, not the other way around, at least in God's order.

There are examples where the kings took the prerogative to anoint a priest, but that wasn't recognized in God's sight. It was Samuel who anointed the first kings of Israel. Samuel the prophet or the priest.

But let's remind ourselves that in the sign, in the central part of the sign, these 10 constellations, as we have talked about before in the video, the yoke of heaven, I described how those 10 commandments are represented in the symbolism of the sign of the Son of Man. So, looking at the kings, they would fight in battle. So, let's look at Revelation chapter 19, because this is where the Lord is coming as a warrior.

He's coming as a king, and he's described exactly in those terms, fighting a battle. We know where that sharp sword is. All symbols in the horologium, in the pendulum clock, the rod of iron, the wine press, the entire constellation.

And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven. We'll see this in the heavens in just a second. But they say, the angel says, come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God.

So, when we look at the heavens, we want to see where are those fowls that he's calling to. The fowls are like the spirits. They fly along the ecliptic.

And so, along the ecliptic, we have all the planets and the sun and the moon. Those are the fowls. And the angel that stands in the sun is that comet.

You can't see it, but it's up here. 12P Pons/Brooks. As we're recording this, it's April 6th.

In two days, there will be a solar eclipse. And I captured this image representing that day on April 8th, when the sun and the moon are in conjunction at the time of that total solar eclipse. And it happens that at the time of totality, when the sky goes dark, there's at least a possibility that this comet, 12P Pons/Brooks, will become visible. At any rate, it's a comet, an angel, who's standing in the light of the sun. And at the time of the eclipse, then this will become visible for a brief period of time. Now, it's interesting.

The passage specifies, in his call to the birds, that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them. That's five so far. And the flesh of all men, both free in bonds, both small and great.

Ten different classes of flesh that the birds are called to feast on. Now, it's remarkable that in the sky, at least in some parts where the eclipse is visible, in addition to 12P Pons/Brooks, the angel standing in the sun, if we count the number of bodies, we have Uranus, Jupiter, Mercury, we have the sun and the moon. That's five.

Then we have Venus and Neptune. We have Saturn and Mars. Mars.

And then, last but not least, the tenth little dwarf planet, Pluto, is even there in the sky as well. Ten planets representing the ten classes of flesh that the birds of heaven are called to feast on. So that's how that scene is represented in the heavens at this time on the 8th of April, pointing to a short time ahead when there will obviously be a great supper for these birds.

In other words, a lot of carnage. That's what's being represented here. The Lord is going to be avenging the blood of his saints.

Now, if we look a little bit more closely at the sun and the moon at this time of eclipse, you'll notice they're at a significant location. They're there at the band of the fish that's lying down on the ecliptic. One is lying down, the other one is upright, representing the living and the dead among God's people, the fish that have been caught.

And here we have the comet, that angel standing in the sun. And by the way, it has a nickname. Who can tell me the nickname? It has two nicknames now.

It's been called the Devil Comet because it had two emissions that looked like horns of the devil. And now it's called the Mother of Dragons. So that points to something contrary to what the lamb represents.

We have Christ in the background and we have the devil represented in the comet. And then we have this solar eclipse pointing to those who have died in the Lord, those who gave their life, signifying this war with the lamb when he takes vengeance for the blood of the saints and the prophets and all the martyrs who have died in the ages. So this is a very significant sign pointing to a time of vengeance.

And we know that time, it's the time that is represented in this additional year. At the same time, we have the enemy also waging war. And we see that, like we saw last week, the comet path crosses the six o'clock line on the pendulum three times, pointing to the beast, the number of the beast, as it's written in the Bible.

And we connected that with the World Health Organization logo from the spiral. Spiral goes once, twice, and then has a little tail. And here we have once, twice, and a little tail.

But there are dates associated with those crossings. The first, February 20th, already passed. The second, May 28th, a little in the future, when this time of the feast of the birds can be expected, at least the year of that feast beginning, not to say that it has to all happen on that date.

And then the third crossing is later in 2025, about a year later, 372 days later, as we've talked about. But the interesting thing about this is the relation to the World Health Organization. And that's what I didn't mention last week.

And so I want to mention that now. On February 20th, it was a big day for the Digital Health Initiative of the World Health Organization. And this is basically a way that they can track who has what government-regulated injection, concoction, or whatever they might have for you.

If they can get it digital, then they have much greater control and ability to monitor and segregate the population, those who comply and those who don't. So on February 20th, 2024, was the day when this global initiative on digital health was launched. The next date, May 28th, is during the World Health Assembly.

That's the gathering of the World Health Organization, which happens on May 27th until June 1st. So just as they are underway with that, with the 77th World Health Assembly, then that's when we enter into that year of recompenses. And then the last one, there's no specific dates in 2025 that have been set yet.

But the World Health Organization's global strategy on digital health that was begun in 2020, and I don't need to mention what happened then that promoted all of this, but it concludes in 2025. So these three dates are directly or indirectly connected with this digital health initiative of the World Health Organization. It represents essentially the snake taking control over the whole world, envenomating the whole world.

That would correspond with the third woe of revelation. All right, so that's just to illustrate the war that we see building up. There's a lot of emphasis on the contrast between God's kingdom and the enemy's kingdom, especially during this time, a time of war, a time of retribution.

So going back to the kings, they would not only fight in battle like we see the Lord preparing to fight for us in battle, but they would also judge the people. And they judge the people according to a standard, according to the Ten Commandments, the law of God. That is the standard on which the judgments are given, a righteous judgment.

In the book of Zechariah, chapter 8 and verse 16, the Lord is giving counsel through the prophet, and he says, These are the things that ye shall do. Speak ye, every man, the truth to his neighbor. Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates.

So he's talking about truth and the judgment of truth, giving a righteous judgment, a true judgment, one that meets the standard of the law. You know, in ancient times, it was at the gate where they would gather with the elders, and that's the picture that we see in the sign of the Son of Man. We see the gate in this open part, and the elders are represented in the constellations of the Horologium and Orion.

But let's look at the priests, because they teach the law. And in John, chapter 7, it speaks of Jesus. Now, about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught.

So he went to the temple, represented here in the sign of the Son of Man, and he taught the people. So like the priest, they would teach in the temple. They would teach the law of God.

In Hebrews, it mentions that process of reconciliation, and there's an important aspect that he mentions that we will talk about further. He says, Wherefore, in all things it behooved him, that is, Christ, to be made like unto his brethren. This comes from Hebrews, chapter 2, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest.

So we have the high priest there, and his role is to be merciful. That's what the priest is for, to extend mercy. And being faithful to the commandments and faithful in judgment as well.

To make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor to help them that are tempted. So he's saying that Jesus endured the suffering, endured temptation, so that he could relate to us.

Because as God in heaven, not being tempted or suffering, there was a distance. But he made himself to be subjected to that suffering, to be subjected to temptation, so that he could understand where we're coming from, and we can relate to him. Because he then did that without sin, and gave us the way out of that bondage.

But how did he reconcile us? In Romans, chapter 5, he explains, But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And he continues much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. So while we were yet sinners, do you see sinners represented in the sign of the Son of Man? Where? Yeah? In the dog? Where else? This dates back to one of our earlier messages.

We haven't talked about it for a while. The enemies. Where are the enemies? The hare. Exactly. The enemies who are made the footstool, Jesus' footstool, they're represented in the hare, where they're blotted out with the path of the comet. Of course, the sinners are represented in all of the constellations outside the sign, but specifically those, in fact, in the next verse, I don't have it here, but he mentions while we were enemies of God.

And as we were enemies, he died for us, even in that condition. And so we see the enemies here in the hare, and he commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us on the cross. Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

So his wrath is represented in the Horologium, and through him and Orion, we're saved, where we have that life of his resurrection as represented in Orion. So we see this process, this relationship between Orion and the Horologium. We were enemies.

He died for us, and we're justified by his blood, and we're saved through his resurrection. Amen. In 2 Corinthians, Paul continues in this theme or mentions this theme of reconciliation as well with an important twist.

And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. And then he says, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. So Jesus reconciled us to himself, but now he has given to us the ministry of reconciliation.

He continues to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. And again, he emphasizes, hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. What does it mean that he didn't impute their trespasses unto them? Where did they go? Where did the trespasses of the world go when he reconciled the world to himself? They went on him.

He took their trespasses. Like Moses said, if you won't take the people into the promised land, then blot me out. He said, put their sin.

He said, forgive their sin, if you will. But if not, blot me out. Put their sin on me.

And that is how we fulfill this second part, where we do the reconciliation. We can't forgive sin. The Lord forgives sin.

But we can not impute the trespasses of those who trespass against us. You understand, we can not impute them to the offender, but take them on ourselves in the way that Moses did. In Galatians, Paul says, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness.

Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

So Paul is telling them that this reconciliation, it's about restoring somebody who has been overtaken in a fault. And he mentions specifically doing it in a spirit of meekness. And why is that important? Why is it important that we, besides the obvious, it's good to be meek, to be humble.

But why is it really important? The reason is because we have to consider ourselves understanding that Jesus is the one who died for our sins. And we are all brethren. We are all equal.

We're all equally in need of salvation. We're equally in need of the mercy of the Lord. And so he says, consider yourself.

You also are in the same position. Lest thou also be tempted. And so with that, he says, bear ye one another's burdens.

And in so doing, we fulfill the law of Christ. We follow the same path that Jesus leads the sinner on. From the enemies, to the cross, to salvation.

We bear one another's burdens. We take, that's our cross. That's our burden.

We bear one another's burdens. We bear that cross. Nothing like Jesus's cross, who bore the sin of all of us.

But we bear a cross. We bear one another's burdens. And in so doing, we fulfill the law of Christ, which is a law of love.

Now what is this that he's saying? If a man thinketh himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. Much like I mentioned already. If you think yourself to be able, then beware lest you fall.

But in Corinthians, he mentions something that should give us all pause for reflection. 1 Corinthians 13, in the first two verses. Because he says, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels.

Do we speak with the tongue of angels? I think it can be argued that we do. And though we do, if we have not charity, if we don't have love, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries.

Many of the mysteries of the revelation we understand. And have all knowledge, though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. He defines it.

I am nothing. That's what he was saying. If you think yourself to be something, when you're nothing, when you don't have that love in your heart, you deceive yourself.

Now I ask the question, if one who is deceived or is in that state of self-deception, is that person able to make a righteous judgment? No, they're not. We'll talk more about that. In Proverbs, in the mouth of the foolish is a rod.

We know where the rod is, but it's a rod of pride. That's the rod that the World Health Organization uses. It's a rod of pride.

That's not God's rod. But the lips of the wise shall preserve them. Where are the lips? We have an animal.

What animal? The fish. The mouth and the lips of the fish, and they form a path. We've talked about that path before.

In contrast with the rod of pride, which is on the 666 line, we have the lips of the wise. They have the path for the righteous, that 777, the seven o'clock hour, and then seven weeks until the solar eclipse, another seven weeks until the crossing of the pendulum. The lips of the wise shall preserve them, like coming into the arc of safety.

Jesus told the church of Thyatira that he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. So Jesus gives the overcomers this rod of iron. As the vessels of the potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my father.

Jesus gives a rod of iron to his people, to those who overcome, and it's a weapon. Now, for most weapons, not just anybody can go down and buy a weapon, right? You have to have what? You have to have a permit or a license to use a weapon. The license in this case is him that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end.

What are Christ's works? What are his works? As the priest, he has works of reconciliation. He that keeps my works of reconciliation until the end. Then he gives the power over the nations.

That's then the work at the Horologium part, but that only comes at the end, after you've kept the works of reconciliation. So the reconciliation continues until May 28th, or not to set a specific date, but that's the crossing on the pendulum. And like we've seen before, I think the more logical point is the connection between Alnitak and Meissa, the head star, pointing to the crown of Orion. That's on May 19th, when his crown, the bride, the bride of Christ, that's his glory, is given to him. Then comes the time when he will give the power over the nations. And we can hope that his people will be able to use them properly, that rod of iron.

Now he says, even as I received of my father, how did Jesus receive? Let's look at Revelation chapter 5. It's a familiar passage for us. This is where the Orion clock originally came from in the symbols of the Bible, but we're not looking so much at those details. But let's see how Jesus received from the father.

In verse 6, and I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb as it had been slain. The setting here is about this sealed book. And they're looking for somebody who can open that book, and nobody can open the book.

And it's important enough that John, who's seeing this, is weeping, because nobody is found worthy to open the book, because this is a book of judgment. It's a book that allows the end of all of the sin, and misery, and death in the world. And then comes the lamb who was slain.

The lamb having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth. And he, that lamb, came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts, and four and twenty elders, that's the judgment scene, the elders at the gate, they fell down before the lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials of odors, which are the prayers of the saints.

What are the prayers of the saints? Okay, Moses's prayer, for example, there are many, many prayers of the saints. How would you categorize the prayers of the saints? What kind of prayers do you give? Do we give, there are intercessory prayers, how many parents pray for their children, for their salvation, or you might pray for your friends, you pray for various things. Those are the prayers of the saints.

Prayers that, in one form or another, represent God's intercession, whether on behalf of somebody's salvation, or needs being met, that God would intervene and provide those needs. But that is a holy thing, and who has those prayers? No. It says, the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before the lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints.

It's the elders, and these four beasts. The elders have the prayers of the saints. That's a precious thing that is entrusted to those elders.

That's a weighty responsibility. You're handling the most intimate and close relationship that we have with the Father. He puts that in the hands of these elders, and what is the role of the elders? They're the judges, and they need to have righteous judgment, because they're handling most holy prayers.

They sung a new song saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof. For, now here comes the answer to how Jesus received. The lamb. How did the lamb receive from his Father? For thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God.

By thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. So how did Jesus receive from his Father? What was the price? His sacrifice. Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood.

That is how Jesus received from his Father. And he says, even as I received, so you receive. And therefore, we also shall reign on the earth.

It continues, and I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels. So now not just the 24 elders, but many angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders. And the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb.

Here it is again. They acknowledge it also. That was slain to receive power, or ability, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.

Seven attributes corresponding to the seven horns of the lamb. His strengths. The horn is where the strength of the animal is.

It represents his power. And Jesus's power is in his attributes of strength, and wisdom, and honor, and glory, and blessing, et cetera. But he was slain to receive those things.

He didn't receive them before he was slain. And neither will we receive them before we take up our cross. You'll notice this path during this time of bloodshed, as it's described in the Bible, the supper of the great God, when he calls the birds together.

And during this time, there is great loss of life. Notice where it ends. It ends at the heart.

It strikes the heart. Do you think the Lord wants to do that? Do you think he wants this supper? Birds eating the flesh of the people that he died to save. He paid a high price so that they can be saved.

And it strikes in the heart when you pay that price, and it's rejected. That's why it says in Isaiah chapter 28, For the Lord shall rise up as in Mount Perazim. That was when David was anointed king over all of Israel.

And he shall be wroth, angry, as in the Valley of Gibeon. The Valley of Gibeon is when Joshua was fighting against his enemies, and the sun stood still, and God rained down hail. And more were killed by the hail than by Joshua and his army.

And there's a hail that is prophesied to come at the end of this period on the wicked. So we see that correspondence. That he, that God, may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act.

It's not God's desire to execute his wrath. It's a strange work for him. And this is brought out in Psalm 15, where David says, Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? The temple.

Think Philadelphia. I will make you a pillar in the temple, and you shall never come out. Who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, walketh uprightly, like through the law, in obedience, and not rebellion.

He that worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart, not just with his lips. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor, in whose eyes a vile person is condemned, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. So there's discernment.

The vile, he sees they're vile, and they're condemned. He has righteous judgment. Those who fear the Lord, he honors, whereas those who are vile are condemned.

He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. And that's the example that Jesus left for us. He swore in Orion.

You see, this is a covenant. A covenant has an oath. You swear to a covenant, and that covenant is in the Ten Commandments, represented in the Ten Commandments.

But what else is a covenant relationship? A marriage. From the beginning, God sought a family. He made a covenant of marriage.

And the problem was, his bride didn't keep her part of the bargain. She broke the covenant. So what does that mean? What is the Lord to do? He swore to his own hurt.

That means he entered into this covenant, and the way that a covenant works is you commit to the agreement, and if either party breaks the agreement, then it's paid for in the life of the one who entered into that agreement. So Jesus swore into this covenant with his people, but the agreement was broken. That means not by him, but by his people.

They broke the covenant, and therefore, he had a choice. Jesus could either abandon them and let them pay for breaking the covenant, or he could take the hurt himself. He swore to his own hurt.

Now, what would lead Jesus to die on the cross in the place of the one who actually broke the covenant? What would lead him to do that? Okay, to fulfill his word, but in a more relational aspect, it's his love. Because he loved his people, he took it to himself. He took the penalty on himself, and so you have to ask, which is greater, the love or the justice? John, in 1 John 3, verse 16, also tells us about this relation, because Jesus showed his love.

And it's easy to remember, because we know John 3, 16, for God so loved the world, and then 1 John 3, 16 is our part. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us. We broke the covenant, he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

That's the example that Jesus gave us. And that is what is required before we can receive that throne of judgment. Before he makes us a king to reign, we must first be willing to make that sacrifice on the cross.

To lay down our lives for the brethren. There is no selfishness in God's kingdom. If we want to sit on a throne and judge, you know, a king has a scepter.

That scepter is a stick that represents his authority. That stick is the rod of the pendulum. But what else is it? Well, it's a sword.

What else? Before it's a rod of authority, before it's a sword with which you can take vengeance, it's a cross. If we don't take our cross first and lay down our lives for each other, we have no authority to judge, because we will not make a righteous judgment. It's a rod of pride that goes before the sacrifice. The rod of the Lord, the scepter that he gives, comes after our sacrifice. If we're not willing to carry that burden, that burden that comes not from us, but from somebody else that broke the agreement. If we're not willing to carry that burden, then we're not qualified to sit on any throne of judgment in God's kingdom.

That's the important point. That's what the faithful and true witness tells us. That's his testimony that he gives us, is that he was willing to sacrifice.

He was willing to give his life for somebody else's misdeeds. It hurt him. And we ought to do the same for each other.

And so I ask, have you heard the testimony of the true and faithful witness? It's summarized in Micah 6 verse 8. He hath showed thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. To do justly, but to love mercy. If we don't love mercy, we can't walk humbly with God, and we can't do justly.

Because then we're walking in pride. Then we execute judgment, not according to righteous judgment, but because we were offended, or because it caused us a great deal of inconvenience, or because we just simply don't want to, or like it. Selfish reasons.

But there's no selfishness in God's kingdom. There's a cross, and that cross is borne because of a love for mercy. And so I leave you with those words.

He has showed thee, Jesus showed the way, O man, that is good. And what does the Lord require of thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. Walk humbly, taking your cross, your burden, to your own death.

Because we are crucified with Christ. Our flesh is crucified with Christ. Then those who overcome at the end and not before will receive.

The reward of being entrusted with the great responsibility of handling those sacred prayers, and of wielding God's rod of iron. That he can trust you, not to beat the people down in pride, but because they truly rejected the blood of Jesus. Because that's the only reason that anyone should be in that camp of the enemy.

And so, when we follow that path, then he can trust us to make a right judgment. To be among the elders at the gate of the holy city. So let's stand for a word of prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your great love, for your mercy that you have shown to us. Not one is worthy, not one could open the book, but you. And you, because of your love for us, give your life.

That we might see your example and follow in the same way. Not looking at our own interests. Whether we can escape in a rapture, or we can enjoy the good gifts that you give.

But looking rather to your lost sheep. To those who don't understand and know you. You.

So Father, I pray for your people. Because when I look, at least in my limited view of your church, I see very few who really show that readiness and willingness to sacrifice that is necessary in order to sit on a throne of judgment that you have prepared. And the time is short.

And so I ask that you will minister to your people. Send your spirit to convict the hearts of your people. That they may repent from their selfishness.

And look to Jesus for our example. And not let his example out of our eyes. But to be sealed with that message in our foreheads and in our hands.

That we may live your character in all that we do. I pray these things in the name as we see it in the heavens. Alnitak of Orion.

Amen. Thank you and we will continue next week.