All right, let's go to Ezekiel. And we left off at verse 10, or we finished up verse 10, a very difficult passage that we did last week. So I've given you the handout that includes that section once again, talking about the eagles and the chutes. And today we're going to expand on that passage when we're going to talk about the Messiah who's basically being prophesied to come. All right, so let's set the context again. The book of Ezekiel, the first 32 chapters, is setting the stage for Babylon to go once again into Judah and take them completely captive. And that happens, of course, we know the date, 586 BC. So this is being, everything we're seeing in the first 32 chapters is being spoken to the Jewish people before that final deportation takes place. All right, so let's start going through it. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, which is speaking to Ezekiel, saying, say now to the rebellious house, and of course we're talking about Judah, where's the 10 northern tribes at this point? Where are the 10 northern tribes, or Israel at this point? They were taken captive, by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. So the 10 northern tribes have been, were in Assyria since 722 B.C. Were the Assyrians conquered by another empire? Who conquered the Assyrians? The Babylonians, all right? So we're now, the Assyrians have been, if you will, overcome. The Babylonians are now in power, and they have been in power. And there's been those two deportations that have already taken place, just as a review. 607 BC and 597 BC, or 605 BC and 597. Maybe if I looked at my slide, it would help. So in 722, the Assyrian deportation took place. All those 10 northern tribes, when Babylon overtook Assyria, did those 10 tribes go home? No, who then became, if you will, the guardians of the 10 tribes? Who took over Assyria? Babylon, all right? So don't miss this. And I can tell by the lack of response that we miss it, and a lot of folks miss this. The media, some Bible teachers will say the 10 northern tribes are missing. No, they're not missing. Because Babylon took over Assyria, all's it means is instead of being under Assyrian control, the 10 northern tribes went under what control? Babylonians. They didn't all of a sudden disappear. So they're not unknown tribes. So in 586, when Nebuchadnezzar is going to come back, and that's what we're talking about. We're looking at prophecies that are being given to the Jewish people about Nebuchadnezzar doing his final invasion in 586 BC. So that's the whole first 32 chapters is what's being looked at about the last Babylonian deportation. All right, so just to go way ahead now. In 586 BC, the remnant of the Jews is taken to Babylon. The temple is torn down, the walls are torn down. Bunch of Jewish people are killed. Few sick, lame, and injured manage to stay in Israel. but the majority are taken to Babylon. How many years, and I think you know this, how many years did the Jewish people spend in Babylon? How many? I heard it. 70 years, all right? And I'm not gonna go into all that, but that comes out of Daniel 9 where he makes it very clear it's gonna be 70 years. They're in captivity 70 years. A guy named King Cyrus of the Medes and Persians, after 70 years, pagan king, tells the Jews to go back to Jerusalem to start rebuilding the temple. All right, so God had prophesied that they were gonna spend 70 years in captivity for their disobedience. Specifically, 2 Chronicles tells us this, the one major thing that God was judging them for was for 490 years, the Jewish people failed to follow a particular law in the Bible. What was that law? The land starts with an S. The land what? Resting the land was called a land S. Sabbath, there you go. 2nd Chronicles 36 tells us that for 490 years the Jewish people did not rest the land every seven years, which was part of the Jewish law. Let me see, 490, if you disobey God's command every seven years, what is 490 divided by seven? 70. You see where that number comes from? The reason they spent 70 years in captivity was for violating 70 land Sabbaths. God said there's a heavy price for that. So for 70 years they spent in Babylon as payment for failing to follow the land Sabbaths. All right, so let's move on. And he took the king's offering, made a covenant with him, and put him under oath. He also took away the mighty of the land, that the kingdom might be brought low and not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand. Now we're gonna explain that as we go through here, so stick with me. We're talking about King Zedekiah. But he, King Zedekiah, rebelled against him, against Nebuchadnezzar, by sending his ambassadors to Egypt that they might give him horses and many people. Will he prosper? Will he who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and still be delivered? All right, now we're gonna explain this and then we got a couple of commentary slides here. Here's the deal. Zedekiah, the king at the time, when Nebuchadnezzar was coming in again, he made a pact with King Nebuchadnezzar. The Babylonians, like, I'll serve you, we're gonna do what you want, we're gonna be part of your team. But Zedekiah said, hmm, I really don't wanna make a pact with Nebuchadnezzar. So he goes down to Egypt and has a chat with the head of Egypt and says, hey, I got such a deal for you. Oh, we'll follow you. We'll do what you say if you'll get Nebuchadnezzar off our back. Now, God is now talking about that King Zedekiah made a very foolish move here in dissing King Nebuchadnezzar and trying to attack on to Egypt. So, and this is in the handout that I gave you. I'm going to go through a couple of slides here, but you'll find it in the handout. Nebuchadnezzar was kind to Zedekiah. Of course, King Zedekiah, he's king of Israel at the time, and the king took an oath to obey and serve him. Had he faithfully kept his treaty, Zedekiah would have saved the city and the temple. Instead, he chose to break the covenant and turn to Egypt for help. But Ezekiel made it clear that it wasn't only Nebuchadnezzar's covenant that Zedekiah broke. Zedekiah broke God's covenant, and it was God who punished King Zedekiah and the Jewish people through Nebuchadnezzar. All right, so again, things took place, a covenant, a peace treaty was made, Zedekiah breaks it, he goes to Egypt, which was not what God wanted, and we have a horrible result take place. Zedekiah had sworn his oath in the name of the Lord. Oops. If you vow something and you bring God into the equation, you better make good with what it says. And again, we're in 2 Chronicles 36 again. Therefore he was obligated to keep it. In looking to Egypt for help, Zedekiah turned a deaf ear to the warnings of Jeremiah and Isaiah, which had preached the same message over a century before. It was the Lord who caught the king and his officers in his net and turned them over to the Babylonians. All right, so we just have, this is just another one of the many, many scenarios as to why God judged the Judah and why they suffered. Many, many other different things as well, but here's another thing that just added to why they were going to be destroyed in 586 BC. All right, verse 16. As I live, says the Lord God, surely in the place where the king dwells, who made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he broke with him in the midst of Babylon, he shall what? All right, so King Zedekiah basically sealed his own death sentence. He went against the vow that he had made to God, he went against the vow that he had made with King Nebuchadnezzar, and God made it very clear, shouldn't have done that, buddy, and it cost him his life and he is going to die in Babylon as we know from history. All right, verse 17. Now who's Pharaoh? Who's he the head of? What group? What place? Egypt, all right. Nor will Pharaoh, obviously from Egypt, with his mighty army and great company do anything in the war when they heap up a siege mount and build a wall to cut off many persons, since he despised the oath by breaking the covenant and in fact gave his hand and still did all these things, he shall not escape. So it's just basically a redundant saying King Zedekiah is going to be judged for breaking that covenant. Therefore, thus says the Lord, as I live, surely my oath, which he despised. Wait a minute, you make a promise to God, you make an oath to God, is that something that you should break? No. And God is making it very clear, you're gonna make an oath to me, you're going to make a covenant with me, You better pull through on it in my covenant. He broke in bottom line Redundant statement again and all is going to end up with the same results. I'll recompense on his own head, which was the death penalty All right. I will spread this last verse on this issue I will spread my net over him and he shall be taken in my snare Here we go Babylonian captivity. I will bring him to Babylon and try him there for the treason which he committed against me." I don't know if you can grasp the depth of that statement. God Himself, the Creator of the universe, the Creator of all things, your Creator, is saying, when you vow something to me, when you make a commitment to me and you break it, you've committed what? What's the T word? Treason. Treason. Even in America, and I don't know that they would make good on it in the military or whatever today, but if you commit treason, what is the, I mean, what's the normal penalty? I mean, you die. It's like you do not commit treason. Most countries you commit treason, you die. If, I mean, as, this is kind of in a bad place, but you think about gang warfare, you think about some of the 1% motorcycle gangs, you go against them, you turn on them, you betray them, and you're not gonna come out in good shape. The death penalty is usually inflicted. Well, what I'm just trying to state here is if you're gonna make something and it's like, God, I'm gonna do this, and you're saying, this is where I'm going, I would highly advise making good on it. Now, let me give one little caveat. We're in the age of grace. Sometimes people say, listen, Lord, and they do it out of frustration, and they're like, listen, I don't, and they'll name a particular sin that they've done. Well, God, I promise I'm never gonna do it again, and if I do it, kill me. And people make vows like that all the time. It's kind of a foolish thing to do, but it happens. Now God in His grace and God in His mercy, does He always make good on what their vow was? The answer is no. I mean, I can tell you dozens and dozens of cases where people have said, man, I made this vow to God, I was dead serious when I made it, but I broke it. And it may not be death, it may be, well, take my arm or my legs or my head or whatever it might be, and it's just foolishness. Well, in this scenario, God took it dead serious and called it treason, and of course the king, his life was taken. All his fugitives with all his troops shall fall by the sword, and those who remain shall be scattered everywhere, and you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken. In other words, the king, who speaks for the people, made a dumb move, an unfortunate move, and God said, not only are you going to suffer, but the people will suffer, All right, here's, we're gonna go into the next section now. I mean, King Zedekiah done over with. Now we're going to talk about what is going to come out of prophetically in the next passage here. So I'm gonna introduce it, then we'll look at the verses. Let's see, here we go. King Zedekiah had reigned for 11 years and was the 20th and last king of Judah. So in other words, when we're looking at 586 BC, King Zedekiah was taken into custody, he was killed, there were no more kings that came out of Judah at that time. His dethronement and death in Babylon seemed to mark the end of the Davidic line, and therefore the failure of God's covenant with King David, but this wasn't the case. So you'll read some commentaries, and you're like, well, King Zedekiah was definitely from the line of David, and if he's dead, how is the line going to continue? Where's the bloodline that's going to continue in the Davidic line? So we're gonna examine that for a few slides here. The prophet Hosea predicted that the children of Israel would be without a king and without a prince, but the Messianic line did not die out. Okay, when we're talking about the Messianic line, we're talking about the line of whom? Of Jesus Christ. Okay, so he's the Messiah of the Messianic line. So were there still those that were keeping the line going outside of King Zedekiah? The answer is yes. After Babylon was conquered by the Medes and Persians, Cyrus, we talked about him a few minutes ago, King Cyrus of the Medes allowed the Jews to return to their land and one of their leaders was, what's the name? Zerubbabel. I think it was, I forget, maybe Sunday school we were talking about this. And who was the individual that was given, if you will, the accolades for building the first Jewish temple? Who was the person? Solomon, right? Solomon was the son of whom? King David. God told King David, I'm not gonna let you build the first temple because he had what? He had blood on his hands. He was a warrior. He'd shed blood. and had also been involved in murder as well. But he said, I'm not gonna let you build my temple. David got all the supplies, a lot of the different things. He got it all set up, but God said, listen, your son Solomon will build the first temple. So Solomon was the head of that project. All right, so the first temple comes down. Who is given, if you will, the credit for getting the second temple up? Zerubbabel, okay, so it's basically known as the second temple is known as Zerubbabel's temple. And he was of the line from the Messiah. All right, so one of the leaders, Zerubbabel, a great, great grandson of godly King Josiah, and an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ. So now he's going to take a strong piece here, and we'll pull this into Ezekiel in a moment. Once again, a godly remnant stayed true to the Lord and the promised Messiah was born. The name Zerubbabel means shoot of Babylon, but he helped to make possible the birth of the shoot of David, Jesus Christ, the savior of the world. All right, so one thing we know, 2 Samuel chapter seven, the Davidic covenant, 2 Samuel 7, six to 16, makes it very clear that Jesus would come from what line? the line of David, all right? And did God make good on that? Absolutely he did. So this is just a part of, if you will, the genealogical record, how this came about. So did God fulfill Jesus coming from the Davidic line? Absolutely he did. All right, so let's move on a little bit to the verses. Ezekiel, or I'm sorry, yeah, Ezekiel 17, verse 22. Thus says the Lord God, I will take also, now here we're gonna get into a little bit of apocalyptic symbolic type statements, but we'll dissect them and make it clear. Thus says the Lord God, I, speaking of God, will take also one of the highest branches of the high cedar. Now we go back to the first verses in chapter 17, and we know this high cedar symbolically was talking about the Davidic kingdom. So he's going to take one of the high branches of the high cedar, basically the Davidic kingdom, and set it out. I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one. Now again, when you go through this and you read the scholarly arguments for this, we're talking about this individual, the Messiah or Jesus Christ. What is he going to do with this tender one? and will plant it on a high and prominent mountain. All right, again, in Israel, Mount Zion or Mount Moriah, synonymous with Jerusalem, Jerusalem is the focal point here. Now, let me see. Think about this verse. Has this come to pass? No takers? No, you don't wanna be a taker. No, it didn't happen. No, it's not happened yet. This is all future. And this is what's interesting in prophecy. Ezekiel was talking about things that happened way back before 586 BC. Now he's jumping ahead. Well, today, this is 2,500 years since this was written, hasn't happened. When can it happen? Well, we have to get through the seven-year tribulation period. So if the rapture happens today, that's a minimum of another seven years. We're looking at probably 2,600, 2,700 years if the rapture happens right now. And then this can be fulfilled. When does the Messiah come? And we're gonna see what he's going to do here. It spells it out much more detail. We're just starting to get into it. Messiah takes his spot in the kingdom when he sets up his earthly kingdom on this earth. So we're just introducing it now, and we're gonna get a little bit more depthy here. Jehoiachin, who was the king before Zedekiah, had been a shoot plucked from the top of the cedar and taken to Babylon, but his descendants were rejected. While Zedekiah, the next king, was a shoot planted in Judah, but both of these men failed to please the Lord or do his will. Was there any hope left for the people of God? All right, so these two kings, right before the tragic Babylonian final captivity takes place, when Jerusalem is destroyed, when the temple's torn down, when the people are scattered, is it over? And God says, but wait, there's more. So what do we see? The Lord promised to take a tender sprig of the highest branch of the high cedar and plant it in the land of Israel where it would grow and become a great kingdom. We'll see that in the verses in just a minute. This shoot is the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who came from the stem of Jesse and one day will establish his glorious kingdom on earth. All right, so what's the big thing? We currently live in what's known as the Church Age. You'll hear people say these words all the time. We are building, and they usually tack on these two words, the kingdom. Well, in one sense, yes, but in a literal sense, the answer is no. Is God's literal, physical kingdom on Earth today? The answer is no. If you think we're in the kingdom now, then you missed the first half of our lecture today about all the horrible things taking place. When Jesus' kingdom is on earth, the violence stops, to a great deal anyway. The nonsense stops, the lawlessness stops, the satanic culture stops. That hasn't happened yet. So we're looking at something that's going to happen in the future. keep pushing this concept for a few things. The high mountain Ezekiel wrote about is probably Mount Zion where Messiah will reign over his people. The small shoot, Messiah's kingdom will grow into a mighty tree and provide shelter. All right, so again, Jesus starts out, things are small. He goes to the cross, he's crucified, he's up in heaven now, he's going to come back and then all of a sudden he's gonna come back things are gonna start growing and the kingdom is going to grow and grow and grow for that 1,000 year period. And basically, you can go to the Daniel passages, but you can also go to Revelation 20, one to seven, you can go to a multitude of Old Testament passages that talk about the building of the kingdom. Let's go to something that most of you are familiar with. And this particular which of course Jesus was on earth at this time. The Mount of Beatitudes is where he's giving Matthew 5 and 6. And Jesus is talking to his disciples. His death, burial, and resurrection, and ascension have not happened yet. And now he's going to teach the people about what they should be praying. And we're going here on purpose. And Jesus is telling, The Jewish people, which were his audience at that time, sit on the Mount of Beatitudes in Israel. And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward, basically the acclaim of people. But you, when you pray, here's what I want you to do. Go into your room. And when you have shut your door, pray to your father who is in the secret place, and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And now he's going to tell them what we commonly call the Lord's Prayer, some will call it the Disciple's Prayer. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore, do not be like them, for your father knows the things you have need of, before you ask him. Well, wait a minute. If dad in a family knows what you need, why doesn't he just give it to you? The kids, I mean, they're like, you know, my bike is broke. I need a new bike. I need something to eat today. And, you know, they just walk in and they expect it to be there. And dad says, I'm not gonna give it to him yet. Well, why aren't you gonna give it to him? I want him to ask me. I want him to come to me. I want him to say, hey, dad, I wrecked my bike. The front tires broke and the rim is broken. I need it fixed, please. Would you take care of it? And dad says, well, I think I can do that. Thanks for asking me. And that's the same way with the father. He wants us to talk to him. He wants us to ask things of him because he's more than happy to fulfill the orders most of the time. Sometimes he's not going to, but he wants to hear from us. the purpose of prayer, having communication with the Lord. And he said, when you pray, just don't keep saying the same thing over and over again. He already knows what you need, but come to him and ask him. All right, now here's the actual, what we call the Lord's Prayer. In this manner, therefore pray. And I want you to take very specific care on what these words are. Many of you, and if you were in a denominational church, you prayed them a thousand times, maybe 10,000 times. What are you praying when you're praying this prayer? Our Father, of course, most versions say who art in heaven, or our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Is that true? Should it be true? Absolutely. Our Father in heaven, and is our Father in heaven? Absolutely. Hallowed be, glory to your name, praise you for who you are. Now here's the next phrase I want you to pay attention to and remember who's praying this and why they're praying it. Your kingdom come. Wait a minute. You've prayed that a thousand times. Your kingdom come. Now if you're a Christian and you believe in the rapture of the church, are you waiting for the kingdom to come? Like, well, kind of, but not really. Because the next major event on God's prophetic calendar is not the kingdom. It's the rapture of the church, 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15, where we're taken out of here. Keep in mind who is being talked to here. We're talking to the Jewish disciples who had no knowledge about the rapture. They had no knowledge about the age of grace, which would start after the death, burial, and resurrection, and ascension of Christ. The only thing that the Jewish people knew about at this time was what? They knew about tribulation from the book of Joel. They knew about a kingdom that would come. They knew Isaiah 9, 6, and 7 that said, for unto us a son is born, unto us a son is given. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Well, wait a minute. They hadn't seen the Son given yet. He hadn't been crucified. They hadn't seen the Lord come up and start the kingdom yet. Neither have we. And they say, and the government will be upon his shoulders. Has the government ever been on Christ's shoulders? Nope, hasn't come. He's telling the disciples, listen, yeah, tribulation's coming, tough time is coming. You better be praying, your kingdom come. During the seven year tribulation period, if you read Revelation six through 16, it's the most devastating, horrible time on this earth. Horrible time. And we've talked about these things. Well over 50% of the world's population will die during that time. Two thirds of the Jewish people will die during that time, Zechariah 13, eight and nine. Terrible destruction. And he said, listen, disciples. Now these disciples, did they see the kingdom come? Did they see the kingdom come? No. It hasn't happened yet. It's still future. It's still prophecy. Hasn't happened. Is it going to happen? Well, you betcha it's gonna happen. Again, if you read Revelation 19, 11 through Revelation 20, verse seven, it talks exactly, it gives you a full scenario how it's going to prophetically come to pass. The disciples didn't know that. So he's like, listen, you're gonna go through tough times. You ought to be praying that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now they had a good reason to be praying for their daily bread because the next major event they knew about was gonna be the tribulation where one of the hallmarks of the tribulation from the sealed judgments in Revelation six is a lack of what? Lack of food, horrible famine, pestilence worldwide. Revelation 6.18 says one fourth of the world's population is going to die from famine and pestilence and sword. Does it make sense to be praying this when the tribulation's going on? Huge sense. And those that'll be alive in the tribulation, they ought to be praying this day and night. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts. Wait a minute. Bible also tells us that people will work all day for a denarius, one day's wage to put enough food for one day on the plate. Horrible famine, horrible poverty, horrible devastation, death everywhere. When you understand the prophetic context, these things just jump off the page. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation. Wait a minute, everything is going to be going horrible during the tribulation period. People will be killing people just so they can survive. Matthew 24 tells us that children will go against their parents. Parents against their children, they'll basically have them arrested and killed. Horrible things that'll be taking place. And don't lead us into temptation. Deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. So in its rightful context, it's the exact same thing Ezekiel's talking about. We're talking about the future kingdom that will be right here on this earth for that 1,000 year period. So you say, well, pastor, how come we don't pray liturgically the Lord's Prayer here every Sunday like many of the denominational churches do? There's a couple of reasons. Number one, in context, most people have no idea what they're praying. Now you say, pastor, is it wrong for us as Christians to pray for the kingdom to come? No, it's not wrong at all. But we know the prophetic scenario that there's multiple things that have to happen before we get to that point. You know that the rapture has to come. You know that the seven year tribulation has to come. And then we know that Jesus Christ will have his second advent when he comes to this earth to set up the kingdom. The Jewish disciples had no clue about that stuff. They had no clue that there was gonna be a 2,000 year gap known as the current church age. They didn't know that. They were expecting to go into the tribulation period and then into the kingdom, but God paused the prophetic calendar. So these things are important when we go through it. So again, there's nothing wrong with following God's formula, if you will, for prayer here, but it leaves out a couple of the key components that you in the age of grace know about, that the Jewish people had no clue. But is Messiah going to return to this earth? Only one person believes that? First time he comes in the air, right? Next time he comes, 1 Thessalonians 4, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first Then we which are alive and remain, if it happens in our generation, shall be caught up together with them in the air, in the clouds, and so shall we, us, ever be with the Lord. Does Jesus touch down on the earth at the rapture? No, he comes in the clouds and the air, boom. Those that died before me and you, again, if it happens in our generation, their soul spirits are already with Christ. 2 Corinthians 5.8, absent from the body, present with the Lord. Their bodies are in the ground or wherever they are, burned, buried, whatever it is. And God says the rapture is when the church age saints dead in Christ rise first and we which are alive and remain in the twinkling of an eye, 1 Corinthians 15, 15 through 54, will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, bam, changed, get our glorified bodies, go up to be with Christ. Seven years of tribulation. Revelation 1911 kicks in, Jesus comes back. Do you come back with him? Absolutely. Again, before you go to bed tonight, read something happy, Revelation 1911 and on. Jesus mounts up on a white horse, he comes back, the battle of Armageddon takes place. He takes over the world and sets up his kingdom. You say, how do you know it's a thousand years? Revelation 21 to seven, six times in seven verses, he says it is a one, thousand year period. So that's what's coming. All right, let's close this out. Ezekiel 17, 23. And again, we're talking about the future millennial kingdom here. Ezekiel's telling us about things that have not yet happened, but will happen when the Messiah sets up his kingdom. On the mountain height of Israel, I will plant it. and it will bring forth boughs and bear fruit and be a majestic cedar. Under it will dwell birds of every sort. In the shadow of its branches, they will dwell. Again, he's talking about, in symbolic terms, the beautiful millennial kingdom where Jesus Christ is dwelling, and things are basically back to an Edenic state, like the Garden of Eden. And all the trees in the field shall know that I, the Lord, have brought down the high tree and exalted the low tree. dried up the green tree and made the dry tree flourish, I the Lord have spoken and have done it. So basically where we're ended with is this picture of what's going to take place. Again, we're living in the church age. We're waiting for Christ to come in the air to take us home. Shortly after that, the Antichrist comes on the scene, confirms a peace treaty with the Jewish people for that seven-year period. At the end of that horrible seven years of tribulation, Revelation six through 16, Jesus Christ comes back at his second advent to the earth, Revelation 19, starting in verse 11. Jesus comes back with his saints and starts setting up his kingdom on earth. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. That's exactly where it's going to come. Thy will be done, where? On earth as it is in heaven. Why is his will gonna be done on earth as it is in heaven? He's gonna be here. He's gonna be here. Set up for a thousand year period. And that's when that actually literally will take place. After the 1,000 year period, we looked at it when we were in Revelation 16 a bit earlier. The kings of the East mount up. All the other detractors of Christ will mount up. At the end of the 1,000 year period, Armageddon will take place where all the detractors are literally wiped out, which happen, strike that. Armageddon will happen at the end of the tribulation period when Christ returns to set up his kingdom. At the end of the kingdom, Revelation 20, it's not the Battle of Armageddon, that had already taken place, a final battle happens. In Revelation 20, verses eight through 10, It tells us that Satan is loosed from prison where he's been locked up for a thousand years. He goes around the world, collects all the detractors of God, all the nations, brings them to Jerusalem, and what does God do to them? Wipes them out. That's the end of the earth. That's the end of humanity as we know it. And we move into eternity, just for fun. After that 1,000 year kingdom, what happens to this earth? Literally burned up. According to 2 Peter 3, the entire earth is burned up. How about the heavens? Burned up. In Revelation 21, God says he is going to institute a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem. All that's yet to come. Father, thank you for your love for us. So much in these couple of verses that we looked at, Several thousand years are covered in just this one little chapter. So Father, as always, help us to do what you've instructed us to do in 2 Timothy 2.15. Help us to study, to show ourselves approved unto God, workmen, workwomen, that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly handling, rightly dividing the word of truth. Father, bless the groups now as the young people come to a close. Pray that anyone right now in this building that's not put their faith in Christ, that that will happen in the last moments before we take and depart. So Father, watch over us as we go our separate ways. Keep us safe, help folks to keep the heat on, and we just look forward to getting back here on Sunday and worshiping you. So Father, we commit all this to you in Jesus' name. Amen, have a good night.