Welcome to our fifth lesson in 2nd Psalm. I've entitled it, Nations, Submit to the Son or Perish. And in this psalm, or in this lesson, we're going to cover the last three verses. Psalms 10, 11, and 12. Now usually we'll go back and look at preceding slides from the last lesson, but I think these verses here are the summation of the rest of the Psalm. They are the fourth act, as we've talked about before. But let's read the Psalm, the verses, and then we'll begin our lesson. And I want to say that it is a particularly difficult lesson for modern man to come to grips with. And I'll explain this as we go through this. Because from our perspective, It looks like God, through his son Christ, is standing up there demanding that you kneel or die. And that's not what's happening at all. That is Satan's perspective. And that is what Satan demands of those who are lost. And that is really what socialism is. You either submit or you will die. You submit or you will come under the penalties. And we have seen in the past, especially in the 20th century, that the socialist regimes that have actually come to national power have killed millions of their own citizens, millions, without a single regret, without a single tear, often not even caring. You don't even get the satisfaction of being hated. You're just in the way. If you're not a useful idiot, then you're a dead idiot. I can't even begin to tell you how devoid of emotion their totally callous disregard is. But this is not what's happening here, not by a long shot. And so why do we have this perspective? Because we do not understand what it means to submit. But let us read these verses. Now, therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned, O rulers of the earth. And of course, we see this duality at work again. This be wise, be warned. They're reinforcing the warning here. and they're to the kings and to those in authority and to those who support the authority as we've talked about in previous lessons in this psalm. That is, he's talking to the nations, he's talking to the governments, he's talking to those behind the governments. And certainly we see those in operation today that are actually controlling governments. Governments may think they are the final arbiter and they have the final say in power, but no, not by a long shot. And in this age of modernity, since it began after the Renaissance, this is not true. It's the financiers behind the scenes who are the true powers. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Once again, we see this duality, fear and trembling. But it's not fear and trembling as we would normally think of it, like we're being held under gunpoint, and we're mortal fear for our lives, and we must either submit, whether we want to or not, or we die. And we may die a most horrible death. Once again, this is because we've been ingrained with satanic values masquerading as right values. Now, Satan is a master of this. Part of the understanding or maturation in Christianity is understanding the difference of having a warning and just being put on the spot and you must decide now. That's not God's way. And God said, come, let us reason together. He woos you. The whole Bible is a logical argument, multifaceted, and yet, far too often rejected. Because you cannot understand it without being saved, without being taught by the Holy Spirit. And this is what is implied here. It said, kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. And that's reflecting back to our study in Zion, in our study of this psalm. And so I hope you're following along in the slides. In act one, the first three verses, we have the nations rebelled against God, thinking to be as gods, or actually a god, which would be Satan, because he's really the force behind the nations. He owns the nations. right now. When Adam sinned, his authority over the earth passed to Satan. He was defeated. Just like when Christ comes and he defeats the Antichrist, the Antichrist and all the armies that are gathered there from around the world, their authority now passes on to him. In act two, God scorned them for their arrogance. He has chosen his ruler, his son. Act three, the son was given symbols of rulership, the scepter. In English, it's mistranslated as rod. He's not standing there beating you with a rod with a stick. In this case, it is the scepter, the symbol of authority and power given to him by the father. and people. And of course, the authority that goes with that. In Act 4, which is what we're studying in this lesson, the nations, corporate man, this is their day of decision. To Remember in Hebrews it says today, and we in our study in this psalm, it says probably not the best translation. It's not today, which we think of it as a very specific time of right now. It is this day. or because it's used, we have to get the meaning from the context, it doesn't mean just this 24-hour day right here, right now, it is this time period. And we've seen that this time period, which we're going to draw it in a diagram toward the end of our lesson, includes this current physical material creation. Now we don't stretch throughout this creation. We are only allocated a tiny segment of time. Just a finite moment, a blink of an eye, no matter how long you live, it's a blink of an eye. And Christ talks about this. James talks about this. We think we're lasting years, decades, forever. but it's like a flower. And when the sun rises and you get hit with the blasting heat, you wither, you're gone in an instant. And you're fit only to be tossed into the furnace used for heat. Though people characterize God in the Old Testament as harsh, He demonstrates mercy and long-suffering and forgiveness as he takes no pleasure in the death of sinners, Ezekiel 33 11. Now this act begins with God appealing to the nations through their chosen authorities to be wise. Now, wisdom, we've talked about this in the past in other lessons and in other studies, wisdom is not a body of knowledge. It's not a collection of facts. Though you need a collection of facts, you need a body of knowledge, but wisdom is the proper understanding hermeneutical interpretation of that body of knowledge and its correct application to your situations. That is wisdom. You don't teach wisdom out of a book. Trust me, because all we'd have to do is read Proverbs and we'd all be wise. But I don't care how many times I've read Proverbs. I used to read, you know, a chapter a week. A chapter a day. And every month I would go through and look at the next verses in that chapter and meditate on it for 24 hours and then go to the next one and go to the next one and go to the next one. Because there's 31 chapters in Proverbs. And guess what? It wasn't any wiser. It's a painful process that God puts us through, the hagizo process. But if you're not undergoing that, then you're not gaining a body of knowledge from a godly perspective. And you're then not being taught by the spirit how to use it because you're not listening to the spirit. You're listening to self. And self ain't gonna teach you wisdom. It's just gonna teach you how to stay stupid. Because that's what self does. You think you're being the smartest, baddest person on the block. And that's the problem right there. You're not. Because the baddest person on the block is the one who commonly looks at you, finds you utterly insignificant, and steps on you just because you're in their way and because they can. That is the person to fear. Read the Scriptures. Submit to the Son, their King Redeemer. That is what is being implored here, to be wise. And it takes reading the Scriptures, and it takes submitting to the Son, i.e. being saved. And that is what is being implored here. He's laid down this reality. The nations are in rebellion. The people of the earth are in rebellion. And guess what? They're going to stay in rebellion. And he scorns them for their arrogance, thinking they can replace him. But he's infinite. In fact, everything they are and everything they stand on and everything around them comes from him. How are you going to defeat one that is the very basis of your own existence? See, this is the simpleton. This is the foolish. This is the lost. But they just ignore it. And soon they're seared in their own ignorance. Now here's where modern man struggles, to serve, to submit in awe, in fear. And we're saying, let's go back to, you're going down the highway, you're speeding, you get pulled over by the policeman, you see the lights flashing, and you pull over, and your palms sweat, and you get nervous, and you start getting agitated, because you know you messed up. And you know you deserve that ticket and it's gonna be a fine. But you don't want it, but you deserve it. And you know they have the authority and they caught you. And that's a just judgment. Now you can be stupid, because you're standing there talking with a guy with a gun, and you can attack him and more than likely get shot, which seems to be demonstrated monthly here in America. With people thinking that, not thinking, just reacting and doing those things, rather than saying, you got me. That's what the Christian says. You got me, I am guilty. And so when it talks about fear, that's the kind of fear that God has the power not only to judge you righteously and cast you into the lake of fire righteously where you deservedly should spend all eternity future. But even more importantly, and even a greater power, he exercises when he forgives you. Now he doesn't forgive you so you can live any way you want to, because you can just keep asking for forgiveness. And if that's your understanding of salvation, you need to go read Romans, the first eight chapters. because that's just lost talk right there. See, modern man, we've not been taught the proper meaning of submission to authority. Even in the medieval Renaissance period, they understood with submission to authority, admission to the monarchy, admission to the emperor, whatever that authority was. They understood that. But we don't. We take pride in being individuals, even though individuals, that's an American myth. Rugged individualism did not win America. It was a collection of people working together in rebellion against God's word. Now, until you recognize that, you're not going to learn wisdom, at least not the full breadth of it. And you're certainly not going to learn about submission because submission is literally that. You submit to that authority in totality. The Father, or the Son through the Father, literally holds life and death. And we are deserving of death. And the reason we don't die in eternity is because Christ bore that punishment for us And the Father does not see us, he sees Christ. We are hidden in Christ. But we, when we exercise authority, because here, so if you don't know how to submit, if you don't know the full implications of authority, how do you know how to act with authority? Because All of life is a chain of command. It's not just the military, it's not just the police, all of life. You have a chain of command in the family, but we don't appreciate that, we don't comprehend that. Thus, we tear the family apart, we tear the marital relationship apart, we violate it. And the kids produced from it have no understanding of how to submit to authority. And they produce kids who really don't know how to submit to authority and so forth and so on. One submits to the position, not the person. The position. The position carries the authority. When I was a naval lieutenant, my position carried authority. You responded to the authority of the position, not to me, the individual. When I respond to authority, I respond to that office, not to the individual. Now the individual is carrying it out, but the individual, like me, being a husband and a father, is sinful. And with the best of intentions, I will do sinful things, and I will make wrong decisions, and I will make selfish decisions from time to time. And those under my authority will respond with their own sin, their own arrogance, their own, I'm not going to follow this person, and I don't recognize the authority of this person, but this person has no authority. It's a position that gives one authority. And when you step out of that position, like I'm a retired Naval Lieutenant Officer, so I no longer exercise that authority because I'm not in that position. It's not inherent to me. Now it is inherent to God because he is the creator of all. So authority is inherent to him, and he has passed this authority on to his son, his monogenesis, his only begotten, to be this representative of his the interface between the Father and His creation. That is why Christ is the author of creation, John 1, 1 through 18. And we believe that prayer is efficacious, that it works, that we can pray for those people in that position of authority that God guide them because God can guide the heart of the king. Proverbs 24, one through four. But when the people choose to obey a foolish king, a simple king, you get what you get. You get corruption, you get unrighteousness. They get oppressed. But even choosing one who is dedicated to doing right, they still do wrong. Now, the quintessential example of that, and there are two of them that come to mind, is Saul. Remember, God gave him a new heart, but he just struggled. in that position. He never really grasped that authority did not rest with him. That he was not, that authority was not inherent to him. It was inherent in the position that God had given him to fulfill. Thus God vacated him and said, well, David is going to be in that position of authority. And eventually he was. And authority did not lie with David. It wasn't inherent to David. It was inherent to the position that God created. And even David forgot that several times. So we're going to study this because people should be afraid. They should fear to rebel. as one actually rebels against God who hates rebellion. And who wants to stand before God saying, yeah, yeah, I did kind of rebel against you, because you're going to fear. Because what is inherent to fear? Judgment. Accountability, righteous accountability, 1 John 4, 17. We have fear because of judgment, accountability. Now we're gonna study this at the national level and the family level because both are inherent. The psalm is primarily addressing it at the national level, but if you do not learn at the family level, how to properly react to positions of authority and submit to them, you will not be able to do it at the national level. And thus, that is why the nations rebelled. That is why the nations murmured. That is why the people murmured in the wilderness. They were wanting a leader so they could rebel. But God did not give them that leader. Moses was not that leader. They didn't leave the land until Pharaoh said they could leave the land. Because God is not the author of rebellion ever. And so these last three verses, this is where Christ returns. This is the second advent. This is the second coming. First coming, as we talked about in our previous lesson, was he came as a humble slave of God because he came to die. When he comes the next time, he's not coming to die. He's coming for his kingdom. He's coming clothed in holiness. Holy Christ returns and defeats Antichrist, and not just Antichrist, but all the nations that are gathered together. Remember, they are gathered together at Armageddon, not because they expect Christ to come, they're gonna make war on him. They're there to make war on each other, decide who's gonna be king of the earth. Antichrist has not ever ruled the entire earth. But that is Satan's plan is to have him do that through conquest. But that will never happen. That happened once before man tried to be king of the earth. And God sent Noah's cataclysm to make sure that wasn't going to happen. Well, here it is now, going to happen again. And God has sent his great tribulation, cataclysm, and at the end of that, Christ returns to claim his throne. make hasty truces with each other to band together to fight Christ. How are you going to do that? They don't give a lot of thought to that. He speaks and they instantly disintegrate into a puddle of glue that's seven feet deep for miles around. That's how many men and animals that are turned to goo. And then Christ determines who is worthy to enter his millennial kingdom. When you talk about the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, 31 through 46, this is exactly the scenario. He has spent seven years sending his missionaries, the called out Jews, because the church has literally been called away, into the world. And the world has killed them as fast as they could find them. And these people weren't hiding. And they were teaching the message. Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the Savior. Jesus is the One. The book of Hebrews comes to life. And they preach Him far and wide, far more effectively than the church ever did. Even during the missionary age of the 18th and 19th centuries, far greater. Some were saved, most were not. Now the nations stand before him. The armies were vaporized at Armageddon, but the nations themselves now have to be judged. So you have a rapture at the beginning of the Great Tribulation where the church is called out, and you're going to have a rapture at the end of the Great Tribulation when the goats are sent into hell. These are the ones who stood against His messengers, who would not submit to Christ, who would not call Christ King, Lord, and Savior, because He is all three. If you believe that He is Savior and not Lord, you know nothing of authority. You know nothing of submission to authority. You cannot be one without the other. They are all rolled up into one. And the fact that most religions that call themselves Christian deny this fact, how can you be Christian? You're christened dumb. If you deny that He is Lord, you are denying the very fact for which He died. He died not just to save you, as valuable as you think your hide is, He died for his kingdom, for his entire people, to present them back to the Father. And so, the sheep are those who submitted, who believed the message, even though it was gonna cost them horribly. They will enter the millennial kingdom. And give birth to little sinners who start off being saved, but later on there are more and more who will refuse to be saved until they rise up at the very end. And guess what? Once again, try to subdue the entire earth and eliminate the truth. And that will be the third cataclysm that ends the entire creation. So these nations, rulers, and people that rejected and persecuted his witnesses, they stand in judgment, the goats being raptured into hell. That is the second rapture. They rebelled against him, supporting Antichrist with worship, because they feared judgment. So that's happening at the national level. Now we can all grasp that. All we have to do is just look at our own history through biblical, spiritual, Holy Spirit guided thoughts. And it's gonna be clear as crystal. But how do you get there? Because when we're born, we don't have too many thoughts in our head, and the thoughts we do have are corrupted, because of sin. And as we grow and develop, that sin becomes very pronounced. The terrible tooth, screaming, lying, throwing fits, I want my own way, it's only about me. And you spend, as a parent, you spend your whole life trying to teach children not to be like you. And you're doomed to failure because you gave birth to little sinners. But neither should you ever delude yourself that you just smother them in love and they'll grow up properly. They will grow up hating you. They'll grow up disrespecting you. They will grow up despising you. And the more you cater to them, the more they will despise you. You just have to look around today because hardly anybody knows how to discipline their children, at least in America. I'm assuming other Western-type nations have the same issues because they seem to drink out of the same polluted water as we do. But this is so vital. Because if you're not taught properly, you don't know how to think properly. Because it all begins at home. It begins with mother and father. In fact, it's so important, it's the fifth commandment, honor. That would be respect, submit, stand in reverence and awe, fearful awe. of mother and father, that your days may be long on the earth, that you may know wisdom. In fact, the book of Proverbs opens with that, and you'll see it sprinkled throughout the entire book. Listen to the commandments of your father. Listen to the instruction of your mother. Listen! And of course, parents don't teach their children to do that. And they don't. They're taught some kind of sickly, sticky, gooey, lovey stuff that is insincere. It's not there. That is not love. Love is teaching them to do right. Love is teaching them to be sufficient, to know when to speak and when not to speak. See, when I was a child, the adage was children should be seen and not heard. Why? They should be listening and learning from the adults. Now you're not always going to get the best instruction listening to a bunch of adults sitting around a campfire or sitting around the dinner table gossiping and backbiting. That's because parents are sinners. But today they don't even bother with that. Now the parents are listening to the children. Today it's parents should be seen and not heard or respected. turned it on its head. And how can you raise godly children when you've not taught them properly? How are they going to come to understand what it is to submit to God when you haven't even taught them how to submit to the position of mother and father? Why should they? Submission is taught at home by saved parents. And it's not taught by just beating the tar out of people, out of kids. Because that's not discipline. Discipline may involve corporal punishment, though many say that's not really viable today. But discipline has a point, it has a purpose, it has a lesson, it has a goal. and the punishment or the direction matches that goal. Because if you're doing it out of anger or temper, you have lost control. And that is what you're teaching the child, is that force is the primary means. And of course, you're growing older and weaker, and they're growing older and stronger. And if you're ruling by force, at some point they're gonna return that force. Either indirectly or directly. God despises children who reject proper parental teaching, because that means they're rebellious. Even against ungodly parents, God does not condone rebellion ever. And God is training you from conception. It says, train a child in the way that he will grow, and when he's old, he will not depart from it. God begins that process at your conception in designing you. And as you're exposed to the scripture, you may reject it. You may wander. like the prodigal son, he wandered. But at some point, God woke him up and he came back. He learned wisdom. He learned it was better to submit to his father, though he was going to get nothing from it now because he had already squandered what he had taken earlier. He found it was better to submit than to be overcome by the world. That's why Proverbs says in chapter 30, verse 17, children who refuse the instruction of the parents are blind, falling into Satan's trap. The vultures plucking out their eye is a metaphor for the spiritual blindness. The writer's not actually saying vultures are gonna come pick your eye out and God says, good for you, you deserve it. That's not what he's saying. It's a metaphor. You are blind, and these birds of carrion of death, because you are dead in your sins and your trespasses, and they're already beginning to feed on you. And these evil spiritual forces around us, they're already eating on us, devouring us, and yet we thank them for it. And God saves us from that to those who do become saved. He gives us our eyes back. He gives us eyesight. Like Paul, the scales fell off his eyes. That was a demonstration of what had happened to him spiritually. But it's not just about children. Because remember, that position of authority is held to a greater accountability than those who are under that authority. So if you are in a position of authority, you give a special accounting for how you administered that authority. Because remember, that authority is of God. So he's gonna come and ask you, and demand of you, how did you handle that position I gave you? I thought it was mine. No. See? You can delegate authority, but it's delegation, it's not yours. So we have to look at this relationship. And Paul does a beautiful job of telling us about this relationship in Ephesians 5, 22, all the way down through Ephesians 6, verse 4. And we want to look at the position of the husband, the authority in the family. Now, I want to say that the 20th century through the many means of media and informational systems have consistently and constantly attacked the position of the husband and father in the family. In the media, they're idiots. In the media, they're degraded. In the media, they're manipulated by the wife and the children because they're just stupid. or evil, and they've done everything they can to tear that position down. So much so that men today don't even want the position of father or husband. They just want sex. So the women will trade their body for power, for control. And so what you have is a form of prostitution that's going on that masquerades as a family, and oftentimes it's not even called family. It's just called living together. That should never happen between a Christian couple. So the position of the husband is as Christ to the church. Remember, the Christ is the head of the church. The Christ is the reason the church exists. And the church is knit together by the Holy Spirit who points the body of believers to look back to Christ. Not just his head, but when you speak of the head, you're speaking of submission. reverence and awe and he looks at you in his holiness you tremble because you're your inherent sinfulness in your flesh that you still retain go read Isaiah chapter 6 when he had his vision of the Christ on the throne he said whoa is me or John on the island, and he heard the voice, and he turned, and he saw the Holy Christ. He didn't see his buddy from 60 years ago. He saw his Holy Christ. And he said, whoa. And Christ said, peace. Now I'm not saying we should treat the fathers and husbands that way, because I am not holy. None of us are. But it's the position. God made that position. He made it at the very beginning with Adam and Eve. Adam said that. One body, one flesh, joined together, interdependent, but not co-equal. The husband is the final authority in the family. The wife is his counselor, his support, his cheerleader, his mirror. This is, he is her mirror. So that they both, working together, self-correct each other based on the scriptures. See, the scripture is the final authority. the children, the wife, they can appeal to the scripture that the person in that position is being unjust. Now they can ignore it and continue to be unjust. And you're still not authorized to rebel. Understanding that you're praying to Christ, you're literally responding to Christ. And remember, the husband is to love his wife as his own body, because it is his body. That family is his body, just as the church is the body of Christ. And no one hates their own body. In fact, he should be embodying love. But in so doing, that means he has to, 1 Corinthians 13, four through eight, bear all things, hope all things, believe all things. He's got to serve the family. I got in work to serve the family. The position of the wife is as the church to Christ. She is to respect with awe, with fear. her husband obey him as obeying Christ who oversees and protects her. In Genesis 12, 10 through 20, and Genesis 21 through seven, we see a father Abraham, a great saint of God, giving his wife away, save his own skin. And guess what, his son Isaac picked up the same habit. Now God protected her. Women, God protects you if you are looking at obeying the position because Christ is in that position. God protected Sarah. and Sarah, as she became known. In 1 Peter 3, one through six, let's go look at that, because this is what wives are not taught today. Or if they're taught, they're taught it in a superficial and slavish way. But he says here, Peter does, Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husband, so that even if some do not obey the word, that means they're lost, or they just immature. They may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives. In other words, you always should be doing what is right to do. When I go to work, I have to obey those in authority above me, which are usually doctors. Since I'm a nurse and I work in anesthesia, I have to obey the doctors, even when I disagree. Now, if it's absolutely wrong, I will just absolutely say, I can't do this and cite my reasons. That's not rebellion. Because I'm held accountable for malpractice also. In other words, I can't order my wife to kill someone. My wife will say, no, I cannot do that. And rightfully so. That's not rebellion. Because you should not order people to do that which is against the scripture. This is embodied in Acts 4 when Peter and John were admonished by the Sanhedrin to not preach about Christ. They stood up and said, well, you're gonna have to judge whether it's right for us to obey God or obey you, but from our perspective, we just gotta obey God. Now notice, they didn't say, we're not listening to you and you can't make us do it. They're saying, you can make your laws and you can hold us accountable, as painful as that might be, but we gotta obey God first. When they see you're respectful, and pure, a right conduct. Let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is precious." This is how holy women who hoped And God used to adorn themselves by submitting to their own husbands. Now, husbands, if you cannot submit to the authorities above you, well, unless your wife is very strong spiritually, she's not gonna listen to you. Because you have taught the family how to rebel. And you cannot be whining when they're rebelling, because you taught them that. Everyone sins. When parents sin and do not repent, the children repeat it, but on a grander scale. See, Isaac in Genesis 26, 6 through 11, he picked up his daddy's lie. Except for Abraham, it was a partial lie. Because Sarah was indeed his half-sister. So he could pawn her off as his sister, and he'd be absolutely correct. He'd only be partially correct, though. She's my sister and my wife, because that was allowed in those days. But Isaac, he just out and out lied. He said, she's my sister. And Rebecca was not his sister. Not even close. and thus he lied. Abraham told a half lie, Isaac told a full lie, and God still respected Rebekah. Now it makes a woman harder to trust you when you lie and throw them under the bus like that if they're looking at you. But if they're resting in Christ, they forgive you because they sin too. See, more responsibility falls to the husband who is to discipline in Christ and not in cruel anger. The wife and children can respectfully appeal to the Bible, which is God's Word, like Daniel did in Daniel 1. Him and his three buddies did not want to eat the non-kosher food. They wanted to remain respectful to God. But they just didn't fold their hands and say, we're not going to do this and you can't make us because obviously, he could just kill him. So that was not going to be helpful to them or anyone else. So instead, Daniel said, let us not rebel. Let us give us an opportunity to prove that this path we're suggesting will not harm you and will actually benefit everybody. And thus, they did. And they were allowed to eat kosher food after that because they grew healthy. We seem to forget these things, and that's what happens when you call the Bible a book of stories. You don't really take any stock into them. It's like Three Little Pigs, Red Riding Hood, Rumpelstiltskin. They're all stories. You don't expect them to be true. You just get some moral from them, like Aesop's Fables, and you forget them. That's not what the Bible is, though. It's not a collection of stories. It's an overview of history. And Psalms 2 certainly is this overview of history. It sweeps us from eternity past into at least the millennial kingdom, which we're seeing here, but literally lays the groundwork for all eternity future. God declared Christ his only begotten son before creation. as we've talked about. The nations, the peoples, were to be His. This is the working out of history during this creation. And those people that refuse Him get to have a future without Him. That's what they wanted, so it's what He does. On His return in holiness, He will set up his earthly kingdom, millennial kingdom, ushering only the saved, as we've talked about. They will give birth to sinners who gradually outnumber the saved. Not unlike today. You and your wife are saved. You have children. Guess what? They ain't saved. And if you're not careful, you inoculate them against the scripture and they can never be saved. It is easier to save the lost than it is to save those who have been exposed to Christianity and have rejected it. They are some of the most depressed sinners I have met in my lifetime. It is a dangerous trap to fall into. And of course, at the end of the Millennial Kingdom, these children, these adults, these generations that have lived, they will rise up in rebellion to sweep Christ and his believers off the earth. And that's the plan anyway. That's not how it's going to work out. The Bible history, which is human history, is literally the history of the flesh failing sin and being replaced. This is the new covenant. We find this in Jeremiah 31, 31 through 34. 2 Corinthians 5, 17, all things have passed away. old things, and they're replaced with the new. Your old nature is replaced with the new nature. Your fleshly body will be replaced. If not now, unless the rapture happens while you're alive, then later you will receive your new body, 1 Corinthians 15, 50 through 58. Now, I have this graphic here I've created. Another historical perspective, physical creation and the flesh. And I include this in my lecture, so I hope you're following along and are able to see it. You see that in eternity past, we had creation. Christ, in eternity past, God told Christ, this day, you are my monogenesis. Here is your scepter. Here is bara, physical out of nothing, shape it. And of course, Christ did that, John 1, 1-18. Genesis 1, verses 3-5, He is the light. And thus, you have Adam through Noah. And it is the beginning of sin. Genesis literally is just beginnings. That's all it means. Even in the Hebrew, it's just the book of beginnings, in the beginning. So they picked the first big word they came to, and beginning. That was the name of the book. And then in Latin, they said, oh, beginnings, we'll call it Genesis, because that's what it was in Latin. And in English, they just transliterated it into English. Remember what I said? The evil multiplied, subduing everyone and trying to engulf the world in absolute darkness by illuminating the truth. It began with Adam sinning, and woman raising her first son given of God, King, to be the Redeemer. And so he killed the one he considered worthless, the one the whole family considered worthless, Abel, rather than protecting him. See, Christ protects the weak. He protects those who humble themselves and come to him, which is, according to 1 Corinthians 1, they're not so wonderful of the earth. We're the ones the earth rejects, the useful idiots. And then he remade the earth through Noah's cataclysm. Then from Shem to our time, we have this period of preparation. It's all about the flesh. And Christ came in the middle of this period, figuratively, in the form of flesh. to die for sins, but also to suffer so that He could identify with our plights and understand us, not stand afar off like Satan does, like the lost do. They stand afar off, aloof, condemning you, saying, you want to live? You worship me. You want to live? Pay homage to this or die. But then what happens? Toward the end of this period, Christ is remaking the world back into one continent. That is what is occurring during the Great Tribulation, preparing the earth for his return. And then the millennial kingdom is the fulfillment for the flesh. This is their chance to shine. See, right now people say, well, it's a book. I don't know if it's true. I don't see Christ. You can't give me any proof of Christ, and you can't. You absolutely cannot. There is no empirical proof of Christ. But there will be there. And guess what? The flesh rebels. So throughout the Kingdom Age, it ends in the final rebellion. And of course, the end of creation at the end, and the flesh is judged. That's the White Throne Judgment. Then we have eternity future, and we have our new bodies. Well, those who have been raptured at the beginning of the Great Tribulation, which is the Church, we are the firstfruits. We do get our new bodies. And we help out in some respect during the Millennial Kingdom. But I'm talking about everybody will then be ushered into the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, in the New Yerushalom, which is all born-again believers, not just the Church. And then eternity future in the new heaven and new earth. And whatever God has planned, whatever Christ has planned, he is Lord, he is holy. And we know this because he said, kiss the son. That is a mark of submission. When it talks of kissing the king, it means submitting to him. Not out of fear, I'm gonna die if I don't. You do it out of love. Because He loved us and died for us, Romans 5. Those who refuse are rebellious. They don't want anything to do with Christ. They reject this act of submission and love, violating His holiness with their hate. His return is a time for all to declare themselves. Well, they already have. Thus, he is quickly angry because they had spurned his messengers in Bible to attack him, proving themselves worthy of death. He said, I died for you, and you want to attack me. I'm God, so, not only are you worthy of death, but you're idiots. And we see this betrayal very poignantly executed by Judas, the man from Ischariot. Judas betrayed Christ by identifying him with a kiss. Mark 14, 43 through 46. The kiss signified loving submission to Christ's authority. But he wasn't submitting to Christ's authority, and he wasn't doing it out of love. Judas feigned submission, but his kiss was a lie. His kiss was for death, literally for death. But whereas he meant it for Christ's death, it was his own death he was foretelling. Judas was of his father the devil, a liar and murderer from the beginning, as all are sinners. So when we come to the end of this, we have to put ourselves in the mindset of the writer of around 1000 BC. who understood submission, who understood authority, who understood these things and wrote about them from his perspective. We can't read it from our perspective because our perspective is not correct. We have to read them from his perspective. And that is extremely difficult for us to do. But if you do not, You will never have that intimacy with Christ that you want, because you're always wanting a buddy. And Holy Christ ain't a buddy. Oh, He loves you. He feels for you. Hebrews 2 tells us this. As High Priest, He knows our infirmaries, and thus He is merciful and compassionate. But if you don't want His mercy, you will see the other side of Him. And that is what's being portrayed here. The world at large wants a world without Christ, which is a world of degradation and violence and murder and death. Their own death, ultimately. Separation from God, eternally. That is the second death. That is what they want. And they revel in it. And they will not kiss Him. They will not submit to Him. And Christ looks on the heart. He's not going to let you be like Judas and give him a false kiss. He will declare you for what you are. And he's doing it today. Now he will let you go your way today if you want. but not the Christian, not the one who he actually saved. You can't do that. He's not gonna let you go. He's gonna whoop on you. And then you're gonna have to stand and give an account. But you still do not lose your salvation. Like that prodigal son, you get a place. That's mercy and compassion and longsuffering. that we can't even begin to understand. But it's not because of a sickly, syrupy, sweet hatred that we call love. It's because of a genuine love that He disciplines us. for our own good, Hebrews 12. If he does not discipline you, then you are not children of God. And parents, if you do not discipline your children properly, according to the scriptures, you cannot love them. You do not love them. This is the scripture. This is the psalm. It begins in the family, but it ends, as all things will end, standing before Christ. Will you stand before Him saved? Well, still having to give an account. Or are you gonna stand before Him lost in utter terror while your own life declares the righteousness of His judgment in casting you into the lake of fire. This, I'm afraid, is lost on most people. Thank you.