Mr Richard Pinelli
Sermon Transcript
November 17, 2002
The Law of Multiplication
Today I would like to speak on a topic that sounds a little long, but hopefully I think you will see the implications of it. I titled this sermon, ‘The Law of Multiplication and How It Is Found In The Triple Fulfillment of Joel 2:28-32’. Long title, right? But I think you will see - when we go through it — I think you will see what I what I am trying to drive at in the Word of God and the prophesies that we will be going through. You will probably think that I am going the same route that Mr. Luker went in the second sermon that he gave last week here at church and, actually, we will use a number of the same scriptures, but I think you will see we’ll have a little different look at them as we go through them.
I would like to ask you to do some ‘possibility thinking’ with me today in the area of prophecy — prophesies about the true church at the time of the end. Things that the Bible does seem to indicate and, certainly, we need to look at. As we said before, our God is a miracle-working God. He has shown in His Word, time and again, that our understanding must not be by human doing, not by human power or by human might, but by His Holy Spirit. Our God, being that miracle-working God, has simply wanted us to look to Him in faith and to realize many of the things that we are about to look at in this sermon today are going to be by supernatural interventions by this great God.
You know, in a world of 6.2 billion people we find it a little hard to understand what this little flock of people can do at the time of the end to preach the gospel of the kingdom to the world. We’ve got somewhere around eighteen — almost nineteen thousand people around the world. But, in reality, if you took the greater church of God and used all of them, you are not going to get more than about forty thousand people all over the world who are still adhering to the Word of God and adhering to God’s Law.
So, the point is, in a world of 6.2 billion people, what can forty thousand people - twenty thousand people be able to do? The answer is a very simple one: the law of multiplication. The law of multiplication as seen in the prophecies of Joel 2.
You know, in the book of Matthew we read about the kingdom of God being likened to the smallest of all seed, the mustard seed. And it is said that when this mustard seed has grown it becomes a tree into which all of the birds of the air lodge. It’s described as the growth that takes place over a period of time so that it literally envelops the whole of the area with this huge tree. There are so many other analogies that start small and you see that the end result of that is a very big action that the God of heaven and earth will carry out.
Now, how will this be done? The answer, again, is the law of multiplication. Let’s start by going back to the book of Exodus for just a moment. You don’t even need to turn there, just remember the examples. We had a cloud by day that the children of Israel had every day for forty years. Three hundred and sixty five days out of the year for forty years they saw that cloud before them during the day. And at night there was a pillar of fire. And they were reminded for forty years of this great God’s power; reminded of this great God’s presence. But also, He showed by the law of multiplication that He would provide every day, water in a wilderness. He would provide, unfailingly twice a day, manna and quail for two to four million Israelites every day for forty years - three hundred and sixty five days of the year. Why? Because this great God is a God of multiplication. This is a God who has shown us time and time again that He will take care of His people and He will do as He has willed and ordained.
This same great God multiplied for one year in the example of 1st Kings with the widow and her child and Elijah. He provided for the three of them for their meals for one whole year the handful of flour and the cruse of oil and it continued to be there. That handful of flour never diminished. That cruse of oil never diminished for one whole year during the time of Elijah being accepted by this widow into her home and being taken care of. Again and again and again, it was multiplied. It never ceased. It never ended. Why? Because the law of multiplication in the hands of this great God will do small things and it will do great things.
We read that Jesus Christ in the New Testament in a single miracle multiplied five loaves of bread and two fish. In that one particular miracle He provided a meal for five thousand men. Beside that, you had women and children. If you had one woman and one man and two children - which you know families back in those days were not small - you would have had twenty thousand people fed by one miracle by Jesus Christ in the breaking of that bread and in the multiplication of those fish for twenty thousand people. Can you imagine twenty thousand people being fed that type of meal? And then, a little bit later, in the same book of Mark, He multiplied seven loaves and a few fish to over four thousand, but he doesn’t tell us whether those were men alone or whether that was the total number of people. Twenty four thousand, just by the minutest numbers that you want to calculate, twenty four thousand persons were the recipients of the law of multiplication.
I want you to turn with me now to another example. This is going to happen in the millennium. This is the book of Ezekiel. But, it’s a part of what we want to look at today in understanding the law of multiplication. Ezekiel chapter 47. Let’s begin in Ezekiel chapter 47 beginning with verse 1. You have seen, I am sure, this particular example before. Let me again bring you to the example that is shown here.
EZE 47:1 Afterward he brought me unto the door of the house; and, behold, the waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward...
So, what we recognize is that in this particular house of God that was built in the millennium, because this is millennial period in which God is going to bring about the children of Israel being brought down to Jerusalem and He is going to be there in His presence according to the last chapter — in person, Christ will be there — and the prince will be there as well — obviously David and others who will be serving. And this entire section from chapter 40 through 48 is millennial. And we see here, waters issuing out from the threshold. The threshold is approximately three feet by three feet, maybe a little bit more, maybe a little bit less, but the point is that out of this little, small threshold will come living water. Beautiful, clear, crystal, cold, refreshing water. And the interesting thing is that you can’t bring out of that little threshold as much water as we are going to read about going down through the verses. Notice what it says in verse 3.
Verse 3: And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubit... away from that threshold… and he brought me through the waters; they were up to the ankle.
So, all of a sudden, you see from that small threshold water that was about that deep. Then, it says, he went another thousand cubits and the waters, it says in verse 4 were up to the knees. Now, stop for just a moment and ask yourself the question, how can this be? And the answer is, by supernatural miracle, by the law of multiplication we see occurring here. Then he went another thousand, in the last part of verse 4 and the waters were up to the waist. And then, he measured a thousand more and it was a river was so deep he couldn’t even walk across it and therefore it says… a river that could not be passed over. The point is a very simple one and that is God performed an absolute miracle in the law of multiplication.
Notice what happens, then, in verse 8. He said unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and they go down into the desert, and go forth to the sea... part of them go toward the Mediterranean and part of them go down to the Dead Sea. And it says… the waters shall be healed.
So not only did the waters multiply, but the waters then were used for the healing of the waters of the Mediterranean where all of the terrible poisoning had occurred there. The Dead Sea had been dead for thousands of years. That particular sea was now revived and it was made to bring forth with fish and with vegetation.
And it says in verse 9, It shall come to pass, that every thing that lives, or moves, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a great multitude of fish, because these waters come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river comes.
The point is a very simple one: whatever God does in this law of multiplication not only expands, not only grows, but it also heals. It also brings about positive, sound, beautiful things that are going to occur.
Now, let’s go over to Zechariah chapter 4 for a moment. Zechariah chapter 4 and read a prophecy that has to do with Jesus Christ. It has to do, of course, with a prophecy that goes all the way back to the period of time of the two witnesses. It goes back to the period of time that has to do with the church in its early beginnings. But the point is, I am not going to spend all of the time explaining those things, but just interpret for you about four verses. This is Zech. 4 and verse 6.
Zechariah 4:6 Then he answered and spoke unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the LORD of hosts.
Now, what he is simply saying is that men, everywhere trying to go about doing what they need to do will not be able to do it simply by human strength. It must be done by a sustaining power that comes from Christ and the Father. And it says, simply that by My Spirit, says the Lord. It tells us that simply there is a time that is going to come when God is going to bring forth His will in a very powerful way, not by the doings of men, but in spite of men. Now, notice what verse 7 says.
Verse 7: Who are you, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone... and, of course, the headstone is speaking of Christ. It’s a prophecy of how Christ would finally come on the scene… thereof with shouting, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
Verse 8 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Verse 9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house…
Now Zerubbabel was a physical human being in the days of Judah. He was a part of the governing body of that particular time. But his type in the New Testament is Jesus Christ. So we recognize in the parallel this Zerubbabel is Jesus Christ who has laid the foundation, and his hands shall also finish it. So we are talking about 31 A.D. all the way through until the time Jesus Christ returns. Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of the grave shall not prevail against it. He would foundationalize His church in the early beginning with apostles and prophets and then He would build upon that for the number of years needed to finally bring about the fulfillment of this and He goes on to say to us in verse 10:
Verse 10 For who has despised the day of small things?...
Small things. Jesus called the church a little flock, so how many is a little flock? I don’t have the slightest idea! We had a time when we had a hundred and probably fifty or a hundred and sixty-five thousand people in your day and my day who professed to be members of God’s true church. Then we saw periods of time when the church was so small that the very thin line of that church was just a few hundred to perhaps a few thousand. But it says here that you can’t despise the day of small things whether it means right now or whether it meant back then. The point was, Jesus Christ said, I will build my church, the foundation. And notice what He says, his hands will finish it. How? By power - by power of the Holy Spirit! By His spirit doing the work that needs to be done! Going on,
Verse 10 ...They shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; for they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.
You and I are told not to despise the day of small things. Now, I say to you that the law of multiplication is going to be seen in the prophecies I am going to show you.
Now, let’s go to Joel 2. Let’s put it all together in Joel 2 and then see where we need to take this particular understanding. This is the book of Joel, chapter 2. This particular prophecy is quoted in one other place in a very profound way. We will get to that in just a moment. There are considered by the commentaries, three fulfillments of this particular scripture, so let’s read it.
Joel 2:28 It shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
Verse 29 And upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out of my spirit.
Verse 30 And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
Verse 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD.
Verse 32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.
Now if you take verses 28 and 29 and verse 32, you will see that the commentaries say that the millennium is talked about in this particular case. That the millennium is talked about in the sense of the principle of the millennium, that God’s Spirit would be there, that there would be a wonderful outpouring of that Spirit according to the 13th chapter of Zechariah and other places. And we understand that is true.
But, then we see Peter beginning to use this scripture in Acts, the second chapter, in a very different way because Peter said that this particular scripture that you and I just read was going to be fulfilled — and was being fulfilled in his day. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he was showing that it was being fulfilled in his day. He called his day ‘the last days’. The last days! So, here’s the church that begins on Pentecost in 31 A.D. - he says this is the fulfillment of the scripture - the Holy Spirit inspires it to be put in the book of Acts for a very important reason. For a very important reason! Because it was true that the Holy Spirit of God was driving what was occurring on the day of Pentecost and the early years following that. That is true. It was the fulfillment, the second fulfillment of Joel 2.
But, brethren, when you look at this scripture beginning in verses 30 and 31, its actual powerful fulfillment pales the rest of the time of the book of Acts into insignificance. Because this scripture in verses 30 and 31 are going to open up an understanding to us in the Church of what Christ is going to do through the law of multiplication. Because this scripture, verses 30 and 31 in their greatest fulfillment, occur after the Great Tribulation and they introduce by the heavenly signs the Day of the Lord. This particular event occurs before Christ comes back to earth — at least one year before He returns. We understand a two-and-a-half year tribulation and one-year for the Day of the Lord. Everybody agrees with that in God’s Church; that’s the way our booklet is written in ‘The Book of Revelation Unveiled’. It is, therefore, following exactly as God’s Word said. So, we see millennium in type, we see Peter saying that it is fulfilled, and it is seeing the Holy Spirit of God being poured out, but it is only a type of something far greater that we haven’t paid too much attention to. We haven’t paid too much attention to! And the reason we haven’t is because we have had a lot of people telling us things about the Gospel not being preached anymore. We’ve had a lot of people saying ‘Well, you know, you can’t do much of anything." And the answer is, oh yes, we can. The law of multiplication says He will do it! And you can put your money on that because the scriptures are there as we are going to see in just a moment.
So, the end time, after the Great Tribulation, after the fifth seal, it is during the period of the heavenly signs which signal the Day of the Lord. If we are willing to look at the duality of prophecy, we can draw from the parallels of the early chapters of the book of Acts to see how this prophecy will be fulfilled at the time of the end.
Now, before we go there, let’s go to a vague prophecy that was quoted by Mr. Luker last week. Let’s go to Daniel 11, verses 32 through 35. This is what we have described simply as a short prophecy of the church — a short prophecy of the True Church. Let’s read it:
Daniel 11:32, 35 And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits… Now, he pointed out the positiveness of that. Do we understand what it means at the time of the end? Because if you go down to verse 35, it says, notice right in the context...
Verse 35 Some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end…
Even to the time of the end. So the prophecy has to do with the time of the end and it has to do with people who do know their God and are strong and do exploits. I say to you in the interpretation of that scripture that when you put this together with the examples I am going to show you in a few minutes that there is no way - there is no way that you cannot see a tremendous harvest of human beings at the time of the end. There is absolutely no way because we see all kinds of things going on in the Church and in the world at this time and yet these individuals who know their God are going to be strong and they are going to do exploits. It seems to be a time when the Church is fairly large. It is, probably, the most difficult period when you see its actual, final fulfillment when iniquity would abound and the love of many would wax cold; where some individuals were encouraged in a very powerful way to remain faithful to their belief.
Now, let’s start with Matthew 24. Let’s go to Matthew 24 for a few minutes and read a prophecy that is dated, again, for the period called the Time of the End. Beginning in verse 8 we see the four seals of Revelation having been fulfilled by looking at what it says in verses 5, 6, 7. These show you simply, they are a parallel to what happens in Rev. chapter 6. If you don’t understand that, get "The Book of Revelation Unveiled". It goes through all that for you. But now it says:
Matthew 24:8 These are the beginning of sorrows.
Verse 9 They shall deliver you up to be afflicted… or on to tribulation, so it’s leaning toward a time of what the Bible calls the Great Tribulation. …and they shall kill you: and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake...
Did you ever wonder why we are going to be hated of all nations? It says ‘all peoples’ is another translation of it. But the point is, it has to be something that is going on around the world. It has to be something that is not just happening in Israel, but is happening all over the world. And it says, going on...
Verse 9 Con’t: you shall be hated of all nations… or peoples…for my name's sake.
Verse 10 And then many shall be offended… obviously because they can’t handle the stress and the pressure and the trial that is going to come. And they are going… to betray one another, and shall hate one another.
So there is going to be a tremendous amount of discord that is going to occur at that particular time. And he goes on to say,
Verse 11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
That’s nothing new. We’ve been watching that go on for the last six years. We’ve watched it go on for the last ten years - people who consider themselves servants and prophets of God. That has been a part of what even went back to the days when I was a young man in Ambassador College — that type of thing.
Verse 12 Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
You know, continued stress brings the loss of feelings. That is just a simple principle.
Verse 13 But he that shall endure unto the end...
Now, the prophecy is actually aiming not toward just the end of his life or hanging on until he dies but it is aiming toward the end of all of these things because verses 21 and 22 talk about the very fact that except those days be shortened, no flesh would be saved alive. But, notice what he goes on to say.
Verse 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Verse 14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
So we begin to realize that when all of these things occur, in the midst of these things the Gospel is preached as a witness. The Gospel is proclaimed in a very special way to the world before it’s all shut down.
Now the question is, how in the world is that going to be done? We recognize that there will be two witnesses in Jerusalem and they certainly will play a big part, as we are going to see in a few minutes, because they will be on worldwide television. Do we not understand that by what CNN has done over the years of going to Iraq and being right in the middle of the country while the bombs were going off? Do we not understand that when we see a number of the photos that are taken from places in the world where they were live, bringing transmissions back? Absolutely!
If we are going to be able to watch for three and a half years wherever that’s capable of happening — this type of warfare that is going to go on between the beast and the prophet and the two witnesses. There is going to be one head-on collision over control of the Temple of God. Whatever that may mean there is going to be a war that is going to go on for that period of time. The point is, the two witnesses are stronger and by what they do, they witness that they are the servants of God. They come as the final fulfillment of Elijah. They come as the final fulfillment of a witness to this particular world. But other people are going to be there before the Tribulation comes upon us and these people are individuals who are not going to be corrupted. These are individuals who know their God and are going to be strong and are going to do exploits. How do we know that? By the prophecy of Joel, by some New Testament prophecies we are going to see in just a moment.
But, what are exploits? We asked the question as we read there in Daniel chapter 11. What are exploits? I think as the Jewish translation simply translates it, it shows strength and prevails. The Moffatt translation says they take action. So, what does that mean? Do we have an example of that? You better believe we do. You better believe we do! We’ve got fantastic examples that I’m going to show you in a moment.
Let’s go to John chapter 14 and verse 10. Let’s read one more scripture before we take you right into some of the prophecies that show what God is going to do. This is John chapter 14 and beginning in verse 10, the promise that Christ made.
Jo. 14:10 Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works.
Verse 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.
He goes on to say,
Verse 12 Truly, truly, I say unto you, He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to my Father.
If you don’t understand what He just said, hang on for just a minute because you are going to see something that is absolutely awesome. Because when you and I go to the book of Acts and what happened during the Pentecost period, you are going to be amazed at the very fact that this Great God has said through His Son that the church would do greater things than He did! And we are going to see that occurring!
Let’s go to Matthew 10 to begin the prophecies of what the Bible says are going to happen. Matthew, the tenth chapter. We looked at this as an example of twelve men who went out in what we described as a missionary journey to learn how to deal with the children of Israel and to preach to them. What we don’t recognize is that the prophecy that is given and what they were commanded to do goes all the way down to the time of Christ’s return. And so, what was to be done by the apostles and what was to be done by the ministry of God follows a pattern that throughout history you would see signs of this occur in the beginning and you would see signs of it, according to what we read in the Bible, at the end. It is interesting to note that you will see a tremendous scattering after 70 A.D. and miracles from the early beginning of the church were never recorded again in the history of the true church until we come to the later prophecies. I don’t know why, but simply, we need to look at what is happening here.
Matt. 10:1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them… authority or… power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
Then He began to tell them in verse 5, not to go into the way of the Gentiles at that time,
Verse 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Verse 7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Verse 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons: freely you have received, freely give.
And that’s what they did during that time. They learned in the experiences that they went through. But the point was, that’s the authority and the power that Christ gave to His church. That’s the responsibility that He gave to His church.
Now, you begin to look in verse 16, and you see them begin to face struggles and difficulties that seem to appear to the twelve apostles at that time, but look at the way the prophecy begins to move.
Let’s drop down to verse 22.
Verse 22 And you shall be hated of all men...or all people…for my name's sake: but he that endures unto the end…the same…shall be saved.
He has taken you to a parallel statement that He made in Matthew 24 and verse 13. It’s the exact same parallel, the exact same wording. Is He only referring to the time of the early New Testament church? I don’t think so, because watch where it goes. Watch where it goes. And He goes on to say,
Verse 23 And when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for truly I say unto you, You shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.
It dates the prophecy. It tells you that from the time Christ gave power to His church, until He returned, that these are the things that the church should be looking to have happen. It happened in the early days of Pentecost. And the Bible shows right here by this particular prophecy that the church has been endued with the power to heal the sick, to cleanse the lepers, to raise the dead, to cast out demons at a time or times within the history of the church where Christ saw it was necessary. We are going to see that in the book of Acts that it was a tool by which the Gospel was preached to the world. It is the use of those things that God used to bring the attention — and to get the attention of the people by the noisy gifts of the Spirit. And the necessity to do that brought about a tremendous harvest. You see, this prophecy spreads out to cover all the way down to the time of Christ’s return. To do what? Simply, to give power to do great exploits - first, to the apostles, and then to the church. At least, we recognize by the prophecies, to the church at the time of the end. And so, the context that you see is: fleeing for their lives, great tribulation, total destruction of human life, and preaching the Gospel — preaching the Gospel and not being able to go over all of the cities of Israel before the Son of Man be come.
Jesus said, in Matthew 28 — let’s go there secondly. We see here in Matt. 28 a scripture and I didn’t read this scripture correctly all the years that I was in the church until now. So, I am going to read it correctly. I really didn’t understand it until I was told this by a certain number of people. Let me just read it to you now. Christ said in verse 18:
Matt. 28:18 All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Verse 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them… or it says also, another way of translating this, making disciples of all nations…baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit:
Verse 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the death of Herbert Armstrong.
And I had not read that before. I was really amazed to know about six to eight years ago that I had been using a false translation. The sad part about that is the fact that it doesn’t say that. And yet, you have people who will tell you that. And it is simply not biblically correct when you look at Matthew 10. It is not biblically correct when you look at verse 20. We must recognize, brethren, that in 1985 there were over four billion people on the earth when he was alive. Today, there are 6.2 billion. Right now, at the present time, we have one billion, eight-hundred-and-forty-six-million more people on this earth than were alive at that particular time. And somehow, we are supposed to have shut down from 1986 on until Christ’s return. Give me a break. Give me a break! You know, these are some of the most ridiculous things you have ever seen. You know the reason why people have to use that particular argument. This is not what Christ said.
Verse 20 Teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
Doing what? Making disciples of all nations. Baptizing them into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All the way down to what? The time of the end. What’s the time of the end? The time of the end. The end! The end! When you come to the end, it’s the end! No, it’s not 1986, it’s not just before Christ returns, it’s the end. We’re going to see in a moment that there are people that are being converted down to one year before Christ returns. Now, why is that? It’s because God has always done a work on this earth, and He will continue to do so and He is going to make sure that at the time of the end a great work is done! That’s what the Bible says. Matthew 10 is telling you that. Matthew 28, when you read it for what it says, says that. We’re going to show you some more examples of that.
Let’s go to Acts the second chapter and let’s begin to look at the parallel that we can draw from the book of Joel. This is Acts the second chapter. Let’s read what is stated here in Acts 2 beginning in verse 4 through 6 notice what he said:
Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Verse 5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
Verse 6 And when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded...
I mean, this is absolutely unbelievable — this is something that we have never seen the likes of before. And so they said, they
Verse 6 ...were confounded, because they heard every man speak in his own language.
And so we recognize that a miracle was done and these individuals had it noised abroad and everybody began to go racing over to find out what in the world was going on. We had a noisy gift given to the church so that we could have a recognition of where God’s Spirit was working. The early history of the church showed tremendous miracles in the beginning to attest to where Christ was working.
We begin to realize, then, in chapter 2 and verse 41 that it was such a great and powerful thing that it says in verse 41,
Verse 41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
I’ve never had the opportunity to baptize that many people. I don’t know what it would be like to have to do that. I’m sure that a few people slipped on through during that period of time, but I think you begin to realize that all of a sudden by reason of this, these individuals caught on to something great that was going on. I think we recognize that just simply as creatures of habit we’ve gotten to certain things happening in a certain way, in a balanced way, in a sound way within the church, but all of a sudden, we go back to Acts and we realize that a tremendous thing has happened to get the church off to a great start. The same thing that happened then is going to be fulfilled according to what the book of Joel said and what Peter said. The parallel becomes the same because we have powerful things being done and people being called.
Now, you read over in chapter 4. Let’s go over to chapter 4 for a minute. I don’t want to take all of the time to cover all of these, but we see that a number of miracles occurred. A number of things were done. People were healed. Individuals were raised up. This was noised abroad and it tells us over in chapter 4 and about verse 4:
Acts 4:4 Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men… beside women… the number of men was about five thousand.
So, stop for just a moment and look at - pardon the expression - this is instant church! I mean, we’ve got in this country instant coffee, we’ve got instant potatoes — but we’ve never had instant church! I mean, there’s no place on the face of this earth you can have instant church like this. This is absolutely awesome! But the point is, in just a short period of time you had a hundred and twenty multiplied to three-thousand-one-hundred-and-twenty and then you had five thousand more added plus women. And the Bible doesn’t say exactly how many, but that is somewhere in the neighborhood of probably nine, ten thousand — maybe eleven thousand people that all of a sudden (snap) just like that, you had instant church.
Now, we see that by the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were performed. The very shadow of Peter passing over individuals — God healed them. Even Jesus Christ did not have that happen in His day. So, Christ’s words were fulfilled at that time in the book of Acts that greater works shall you do because I go to My father. So a greater thrust of God’s Spirit being seen in the world of the book of Acts is only a parallel — it’s only a type of a greater harvest that is going to occur at the time of the end. The church started out with great power and after 70 A.D. they were scattered throughout the entire empire. Miracles like these were not recorded. We don’t know exactly why, but we do recognize that perhaps God may have had reason for doing that, but we recognize that some of the very same things that occurred in the book of Acts are to occur at the time of the end because of the prophecies.
Now, let’s go to Daniel 12 for a moment. I want to go to this scripture because this particular scripture is used by a certain number of people to point out that when Herbert Armstrong died, the work died and that, just simply, is not true. The prophecy is not understood that way. But I want to read it to you. Chapter 12 and verse 7. I am not trying to be nasty, I am just trying to show you, brethren, that people grind away on our faith and they don’t realize that they don’t understand what the scriptures actually say. The Bible is very explicit about these things when it comes to these prophecies. It doesn’t show us exactly how it’s done, but it does show us the prophecies and he shows us the end result of the harvest that is going to take place as we are going to see in the next few minutes in the sermon.
Dan. 12:7 And… he said, …I heard a man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by him that lives for ever that it shall be for a time... that’s one year… times... that’s two years... and an half… three and a half years …and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
Now, if you go back to chapter 12 and verse 1, the prophecy actually deals first and foremost, in context, with Israel — the power of Israel being broken up for three-and-a-half years. The same three-and-a-half years you find in Revelation 11. The same three-and-a-half years you find in Revelation 12. The same three-and-a-half years you find in several other places. They are synonymous as you look at them; they only come at you from different angles of prophecy. But the point is that Israel for three-and-a-half years will, at the time of the end, be scattered or have been broken in pieces the power of the holy people. It is at this particular time that we recognize that when you have this tribulation, a work of God cannot be done in the same way that it was done before. You will find out that the hatred and all of those things will shut down certain aspects of doing the work. We’ve said that for years. We understand that — that you will find that within a society that the power of numbers together is simply going to be stopped and thwarted. You and I have, by the reason of the numbers that we have together — as we had years ago — the ability in the law of synergism to bring together through a centralized work going out from a headquarters or from a home office, a tremendous amount of growth. The synergism that God has given to His church is what we see.
But there will come a time when the Bible says in Amos chapter 8 and verse 11, that there will be a famine of the Word. Now, the work has to have grown so big that it tells you in Amos chapter 8, verses about 8 through 11 that they will wander from sea to sea seeking the Word of God. It means that somehow before we get shut down, there has to be a big enough work for human beings to go hungry. Where did they go? We don’t know, but all of a sudden, they are gone. But, somehow, they have got to be found and sometime, because these individuals were going to come along to the great tribulation have to have somebody who is going to baptize them. You haven’t seen anywhere in the Bible where you get into a bathtub and you say, ‘I baptize myself into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the name of Christ’ and plant your hands on you head and go under the water. You have never seen that done. Now, I am being facetious because of the stupidity of the argument that there will be nobody around to take care of those people. The form of those people will no longer be a work that is going to be a synergized work doing the will of God from ‘central out’, but we will see the fact that these individuals will be looking for someone — someone to show them the way and teach them what needs to be done. The church will be persecuted and we do recognize the power that the church had as one, will now be scattered in pieces.
So, in that sense of the word, this last three-and-a-half years shows that you have a total dissipation of the way things were. But it doesn’t say anything about the church being broken in pieces because of heresy by a certain man and the other man who died. It doesn’t say that. Yet, human beings try to drive that. So how in the world will all of these people we are going to read about in a moment — these multitude of people — how are they going to hear? How are they going to be baptized? How are they going to be taught? By the law of multiplication. By the very same thing that happened in Peter’s day is going to happen during the time which ends the great tribulation and starts introducing the Day of the Lord - the heavenly signs. We are going to see that individuals are going to be converted and they are going to be brought into God’s church. Now it says it right in ‘The Book of Revelation Unveiled’, our own booklet, it says right in there. I made sure that I read that before I got up here lest I be in trouble for something I shouldn’t say. But the point is, a great work has to occur even though the famine of the Word has stopped the work from being preached in an organized way. The gospel is somehow stopped and yet God permits us to be able to find these people and these people to find us. Now how is that done?
Well, let’s go to Rev. 11 for just a moment. Let’s go to Rev. 11 before I run out of time. I’ve got three more, four more, five more, six more, maybe seven more scriptures depending on how much time I have. Over in Rev. 11 — these are the two witnesses. They come on the scene when? Forty-two months, the last three-and-a-half years. Verse 2 tells us that. Now, it says in verse 3:
Rev. 11:3 I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth...
Of course, minus three-and-a-half days they will be dead in the streets of Jerusalem because God allows them to lose their lives as a result of what happens there. But it talks about how these two individuals witness; they stand before the God of heaven and earth with that power.
Verse 5 says that fire proceeds out of their mouth, and they devour their enemies.
Verse 6 said these have power to shut the heavens as Elijah did and then, it says in verse 7 that they will be killed.
But it shows you here in verse 9 that they have been seen for this three-and-a-half years.
Verse 9 They of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in the grave.
There are two witnesses in Jerusalem during the famine of the Word. The world sees them on worldwide television. They begin to show by miracles and wonders where God is working and they begin to show for that three years minus that period of time the ability for people to understand that God is with them and the beast and false prophets can’t win the battle with them.
But let’s go over to Rev. chapter 6 and introduce you to one final thought today in the sermon. One final thought in the sermon today, chapter 6 beginning in verse 12. We recognize that we have seen the four seals; you recognize, brethren, that we have also seen that the fifth seal shows the martyrdom of the saints - it shows tribulation on Israel. You know both of those. But here we have a world that still sits out there — a tremendous number of human beings out there who have had some form of witness, they have had some form of warning that has been given to them.
Rev. 6:12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood...
This occurs, as the Bible says, before the great and dreadful Day of the Lord. The stars of heaven fell.
Verse 14 - the heavens departed as a scroll
Verse 15 and the kings of the earth... went racing to hide themselves —
Verse 16 — from the face of him that sits upon the throne…
Verse 17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
We recognize that during this period of time there is something that is going on with the two witnesses. There is something that is going on where the church has been able to do something because we are going to see now in chapter 7 something most unique. The Tribulation is ended. It is signaled by the heavenly signs and now, Rev. 7 comes into play before the Day of the Lord — before Christ pours out upon this world the seven trumpet plagues. Notice chapter 7 beginning in verse 3.
Rev. 7:3 He said, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
So, a miracle is about to occur. These individuals are going to be sealed with the Holy Spirit. This particular group of individuals, according to what you read here is a multitude of individuals - twelve thousand from each one of the twelve tribes of Israel - twelve thousand from each one of the tribes - with, of course, one particular tribe not mentioned in this particular case for whatever reason. But the point is in verse 3, they are going to seal before the Day of the Lord during this period of time, they are going to have sealed these individuals. These are called the hundred and forty-four thousand.
Now, brethren, if you go back and you look for the word ‘sealed’ you will find it in only two places: in 2 Corinthians 1 and in Ephesians 1:13. In both places it tells us that you are sealed with the Holy Spirit - that is, when you are baptized you have hands laid on you and you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Where did these people go to get baptized? Where did these people go to have hands laid on them? I tell you again, you don’t baptize yourself. You don’t lay hands on yourself. It is something that you see from the beginning that God has always followed a process: repent and be baptized and have hands laid on you. These are people who have had the seeds sewn to them in times past and they have repented in the Great Tribulation and now, they receive the Holy Spirit and salvation. Our booklet simply says a great harvest of faithful Christians will occur during the first years of the Great Tribulation. These things will begin to formulate until these individuals are sealed and it says the immense harvest will be reaped, not only from the literal tribes of Israel, but from the other nations and people. And the powerful preaching of God’s two witnesses and the point of others in the true church will cause these individuals to find where God’s true church is found.
How did these individuals in Acts 2 find the true church? They found it by seeing where the miracles were done — where the wonders were done — the very same things that occurred according to the prophecy of Matthew 10. So the point is, a great harvest is going to occur. Who baptizes them? The church of God. How do they find the church of God? Miracles, signs and wonders, by the church doing great exploits (remember verse 35 of chapter 11 of the book of Daniel) the same way they found the early New Testament church in Jerusalem. Now we see the anti-type back in Acts 2 and now you see the final fulfillment in chapter 7 of the book of Revelation.
I want you to notice one last thing here in chapter 7 and verse 9. This is the second group that is a part of that.
Rev. 7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, that stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.
It is a symbol of peace. Some people say this means that these are individuals who have died and they have received salvation, but I think if you will go back and you will read what our booklet says, that is a possibility. But the greatest probability is the fact that as the hundred and forty-four thousand, so also is a great and numerable number of people.
Verse 14 And I said unto him, Sir... he asked the question …who are these in white robes… in verse 13? And in verse 14 And I said unto him, Sir you know... These are they which came out of the great tribulation... proper translation in the Greek... These are they which came out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
So they came out of it. And I believe that by that particular statement, it tells you that a great outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit at the time of the end to show them where God’s church is and an outpouring on them is going to show that Rev. 7 is the fulfillment of Joel 2. What a tremendous promise that we have there that people have not even looked at, people have not even seen, brethren, because I think they have forgotten that God’s church will always do a work. No matter what condition — perhaps in different ways — but God will always give us the power because it simply says that the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.
So when you take the law of multiplication and you apply it in Joel 2 and you see it’s three fulfillments you can’t help but come to the realization that something is going to happen at the time of the end to bring about what we have seen here in Revelation, the 7th chapter.
I am amazed that a man named Gideon because Gideon had thirty-two thousand people that went with him when he first went. And God simply said, "Too many. Too many people." And so finally God used him to tell the people a certain number of things and twenty-two thousand left him. He had ten thousand left and God said, "Too many people." And he said, "Okay, what shall I do?" And He says, "Take them down to the river and we’ll find the difference between those who drink water one way and those who drink water another." And finally, from that ten thousand, he chose three hundred people. I think you begin to realize that when you look at the scriptures, when you look at the law of multiplication - when you see it at the time of the end - I think we have to say: we need to think small about ourselves and think big about what God can do through a handful of human beings called His Church.