Studies in Zechariah 05 Zechariah 5: — John W. Bramhall

The Flying Roll and the Judgment of God

Shall we turn again in the book of Zechariah tonight, and reading our lesson tonight, beginning in chapter five. Chapter five of the book of Zechariah, and reading the whole chapter of eleven verses. The prophet writes, and declares,.

Then I turned and lifted up mine eye, and looked, and behold, a flying robe. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying robe, the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.

Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth. For every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it, and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.

I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name. And it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof, and the stones thereof.

Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eye, and see what is this that goeth forth. And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said, Moreover, this is their resemblance throughout all the earth.

And behold, there was lifted up a talented lad, and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah, and he cast the weight of the lead upon the mouth thereof.

Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings, for they had wings like the wings of a star. They lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.

Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shina, and it shall be established and set there upon her own base.

May God bless the reading and the hearing of his word. Humbly but dependent upon the Holy Spirit, we look to the guidance and the teaching of the Spirit for our mutual blessing and edification from the scripture that we have read.

Just a brief summary of what we have already been covering in this wonderful book, The Prophecy of Zechariah. The section from which we have read our lesson tonight is taken from the second division of the great book.

That division beginning as we have stated in chapter one, verse seven, and going down to the end of chapter six. It is a series of night visions. Eight visions that were given to the prophet Zechariah in one night.

We have already noticed in the earlier visions the revelation of what God will yet do for the glory and the blessing and the restoration of his people Israel, the city of Jerusalem, and the re-establishing of the divine testimony to the glory of God upon the earth.

We particularly have the joy this morning of seeing in chapter four the wonderful fact that Israel will in consummation shine in its testimony of the nation upon the earth to the glory of God. We found Israel in that glory likened to the golden lampstand, and the shining out by the power and the presence and the fullness of the Spirit of God in that coming day of Israel's glory through all the earth for the glory and honor of Jehovah.

We come to a chapter, as we shall also on the morrow, which brings the closing visions of three that remain in relation to something far different than what we have covered. What we have seen in the earlier visions have certainly been messages of consolation, of encouragement, telling how God will rid the nation of their sin and defilement, and then set them for the millennial reign of their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

But before the blessings of that millennial glory can ever commence, it will necessitate that the Lord will also cleanse the land, as well as the people, from everything that defines or makes an abomination or maketh a lie in relation to Israel.

What we read tonight, and shall in the morning, is the importance of a dark episode which unfolds in these two visions and the one on the morrow. For we have noted in chapter three that God will deal in grace with his beloved people who are in repentance in that coming day turning to him.

But we must confess God is not only the God of grace, God is not only the God of love, but our God is the God of judgment. Our God is not only a loving God, but our God is a holy God. And our God, though he deals in matchless grace, must also unfold his true character in relation to the defilement of sin, and in relation to Israel.

These visions that we have before us tell that though God will deal in grace with the repentant part of Israel, he must and he will deal in judgment with the unrepentant part of Israel. Now may I repeat that?

For it is very clear in the teaching of the word of God, he not only will deal in grace and love and mercy and forgiveness with those who repent in the nation in that future day, but he will of necessity deal in judgment with the unrepentant part of the people.

The visions that lie before us in this chapter reveal that he will deal in divine judgment and retribution with the unrepentant part of the nation. And those who will persist in wickedness will be judged, for our God is the God of judgment as well as the God of grace.

There are those that magnify the love of God at the expense of denying the judgment of God. But our God is holy. Our God is a consuming fire. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, wrote the writers of the Hebrews.

And again and again, the scriptures bring out not only the love and the grace of God, but also the judgment of God upon unrepentant sinners. Now if his grace is rejected, then his judgment must and will be known.

And I believe if you will keep the application of this chapter to the unrepentant part of Israel, you will recognize that God will deal with the unrepentant portion of the earthly people to their destruction and to their final judgment.

Now that is true in all the world. That is true with all people. Those who reject the grace of our God must of necessity submit themselves in the day of judgment to his divine retribution. Now what we have are two visions in the chapter.

The Flying Roll: Position, Size, Message, and Result

The vision of the flying rose, and then the latter part, the vision of the ephah. We open the chapter by reading of the flying rose. Then I turned and lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a flying rose.

And this is a message of deep and great importance that is coming from the living God. And there are some facts regarding this flying rose that are certainly interesting. First, the position of it. Second, the size of it.

And third, the message it contains. And then fourth, the ultimate result of it. Let me repeat it. First, the position. And note, the position is, it is a flying rose. Now because of this description of the rose being a flying one, it denotes the rapidity and the sudden approach of its execution.

Now please may I repeat that. It denotes the rapidity and the suddenness of its execution. But beloved, may I say, you that are familiar with the word of God, and you that are familiar with the events of the future, will acknowledge that the day, the great day of the Lord, the great day of his wrath, is coming very suddenly, and will be rapidly upon the human race, at the coming again of our Lord Jesus, when he shall come and appear in great glory and power.

And may I emphasize that I fully believe with earnestness of soul, the world is near that sudden day of divine judgment. And in the context of our prophecy, relating primarily to Israel, the nation of Israel is also nearer to the day of that judgment, when the visitation of God upon the nation for their accumulated sins will be visited in the day of his wrath, upon the unrepentant part of the people.

And then note the size of it. As you look in verse two, he said unto me, what seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying rose. The length thereof is twenty cubits, the breadth thereof ten cubits. It is uniquely the size of the holy place in the tabernacle or in the temple.

Twenty cubits by ten cubits. It is the size, the exact size of Solomon's porch in the day of his temple. And it indicates, because of its reference to the size, that is, the size of the holy place, it indicates that source of the impending judgment will emanate out of the holy place in accordance to the measure of God's holiness.

And my beloved, may I say, the world has never seen at large the pouring out of the fury and the wrath of a holy God, that when you and I read the book of the Revelation, and when particularly we come to the consummation of the judgments, following the seal judgments, the trumpet judgments, and then the final outpouring of the fury of the wrath of God, when you read Revelation fifteen and chapter sixteen, the pouring out of the final wrath of God upon the unrepentant, godless world, that wrath comes right out of the holy place in heaven above.

Likewise, in the primary teaching of our chapter, the divine wrath of Jehovah shall be meted out as from his holy presence upon the unrepentant part of his people. We can apply it to the whole world in that coming day of the Lord, but in its primary message of Zechariah, it is in relation to Israel.

Then note the message it has as we go to verse three. Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth, or the whole land, as some translate it, for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as in this sign according to it, and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that sign according to it.

There are two particular sins that are named in relation to this judgment, and the message of the final roll. One sin is the sin of theft, the other is the sin of perjury, stealing, lying, and particularly the sin of theft and perjury predominates in the judgment, as thus the visitation of God's wrath will be upon his earthly people.

And may I say, if it can be literal in verse three, if it is over the face of the whole earth, there is no reason to relegate it alone to Israel, though it is particularly against Israel and God's judgment upon the unrepentant part.

But the whole earth predominates with moral sins that stand out at the end of the age. May I go with you to the book of Revelation, please, chapter nine. I'd like to bring out what is a most important thought in the ninth chapter of the book of the Revelation, which applies not merely to Israel, but entirely to the whole earth.

Revelation 9 and the Moral Sins of the Whole Earth

As we read in chapter nine, let me begin at verse 21. Following one of the greatest pouring out of judgments, and that is the sixth seal judgment, or the sixth trumpet judgment rather, we have in verse 21 these words, and I wish you to note them carefully.

Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their facts. Now here, in relation to the whole world, is the predominance of four great moral sins. They predominate today.

You have the multiplicity of murders, and we know that. You have what follows, if translated in your authorized version by the word sorcery or witchcraft, which is the Greek word for mechia, and which means the administering of drugs, the illicit administering of drugs.

And beloved, in one decade you and I have seen this grow to an enormous vice, and constantly increasing in the last days. Coupled with it, fornication, promiscuous, licentiousness in sexual relationships in the world today.

Predominating and accompanying these tests, they are the predominant sins that prevail at the end of the age. Now, in relation to Israel, there is the predominance of theft and perjury. And may I point out, these are two sins against that are found recorded in the great decalogue, the Law of Moses.

Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not lie. My beloved, may I say, I say it humbly, but in Israel and the history of the nation, there has been a predominance of those sins. They have sworn, they have perjured themselves, often even in the name of Jehovah.

But oh God, he's going to bring the culmination of those national sins to judgment in relation to we lusty people. And I want you to notice, you read verse 4 if you please, or the end of verse 3, let me read.

Everyone that sweareth shall be cut up, or everyone that stealeth shall be cut up. Everyone that sweareth shall be cut up. And God says, I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts. It shall enter into the house of the thief, into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name.

And it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume him with the timber thereon, and the stone thereon. Oh, how we can recognize that very similarly, as you may read in Leviticus chapter 14.

Here is a house that is full of leprosy, and the leprosy must be judged, and the house becomes rotten, and comes under the judgment of God. Oh beloved, may I still qualify my statement? It is the unrepentant part of Israel.

I think that we could safely assume, and we shall see it in a later chapter, at the end of chapter 12, or, yes, right, chapter 12 or 13, you will find that possibly only one-third of the nation of Israel comes through the fire of the great tribulation to be the redeemed remnant to enter the kingdom, and two-thirds are cut off.

One of the solemn facts in relation to Israel today is the fact the majority will be cut off in judgment. Well, you can think of the statement of the Lord Jesus in relation to the whole world, when he said long ago, Straight is the gate, narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

But broad is the road that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. It is a solemn fact that there seems to be the majority on the road to destruction, and when one sees the return of the exiles to their land today, we wonder how many of them will come through the fiery trials that lie before them, and the visitation of God's judgment in that soon-coming day.

Oh, beloved, don't forget, our God is a holy God, and our God will judge the guilt of the nation's sin, as indicated in this vision, and bring to judgment and conclusion the inevitable reward of their sins.

And that's true for the whole world. Now let's go to the second vision in the chapter, for in the second vision we find that God will not only judge the guilt of their sin, but he will also judge the sin itself, as indicated in this vision before us, the vision of the ephod.

The Ephah and the Full Measure of Israel’s Sin

Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth. And I said, What is this? And he said, This is an ephod that goeth forth.

He said, Moreover, this is their resemblance, their appearance, through all the earth. The going forth of an ephod. Now an ephod was the largest measure of dry weight used amongst the Jews. And here we can recognize this large measure of weight that is used in the vision, could certainly indicate the full measure of Israel's sin.

You know, may I say it reverently, one of the, one of the, one of the hardest things for a Jew to believe, is the enormity of the nation's sins against Jehovah. Will you go with me to 2 Chronicles chapter 36 please.

We mentioned it the other evening, and I'd like to turn to it and read the words, before the Babylonian captivity, concerning what God declared regarding the sins of the nation. The last chapter in the second book of Chronicles, chapter 36.

Let me begin reading at verse 14, and read if I may, through verse 16. For the enormity of the sins of his earthly people cannot, and neither should they be minimized. Listen to the word of God as he writes,.

Moreover, all the chief of the priests and the people transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen, and polluted the house of the Lord, which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up the times and sending, because he had compassion upon his people and on his dwelling place.

But, they mocked the messengers of God, they despised his words, they misused his prophets, until the wrath of Jehovah arose against his people, till there was no remedy. And then what follows is his judgment at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.

O beloved, let us not minimize, and neither will God minimize the extent of the sin of the nation in that coming day. May I go even further, to remind your heart, they have not only despised his word, they have not only despised his messengers, the prophets, but they despised his beloved son when he came to the earth, and slew the one who was the Prince of Light, their very Redeemer.

And also when you come at the end of the book of the Acts, Paul consummates his testimony of Israel as having, in the words of Isaiah, despised his Holy Spirit. And my beloved, may I say solemnly, the guilt of Israel's sin as a nation, will yet be faced as a nation.

The repentant part will find forgiveness. The unrepentant, there's nothing left but judgment. And that same analogy can be given to the whole world. Now my beloved, may I say, insert this fact, if you are not saved, may I remind you of the words of Paul, as he said in Acts 13, through this man, Christ is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and all that believe are justified from all things, by which you could never be justified, from which you could never be justified by the law of Moses.

But beware! Beware! Beware! And despite none, that offer of mercy lest you perish. Our God is the consuming fire. I listened to a program last week. My eye caught the message of it, as it was advertised.

Is atheism a religion? I listened to the words of that woman, Mrs. Murray, and as I listened to what she had to say concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, and called him a despicable character, that he would ever consign men to a place where there would be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

And my beloved, let us not fail to realize, though our God is a God of love, of which he knows nothing, yet our God is a consuming fire. And I indeed tremble to realize what such a woman and many others are facing.

But oh beloved, if tonight you're here without the Lord Jesus, may I plead with you to realize the day of judgment is inevitable. There is only one inevitable alternative. Listen to the words. The wages of sin is what?

Death. Eternal death. But the gift of eternal life, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. You either have the gift, or you take the wages. And thank God I've received the gift, and I hope you all have too.

And when the prophet saw the vision of the epoch, that largest measure of weight, oh perhaps it would indeed suggest that the weight of Israel's sin had undoubtedly come to its full measure. And one thing is sure, that in relation to the whole world, the world's sin will have come to its full measure in that day of the Lord.

Oh beloved, what a terrible day lies before the world. What a terrible day before many of the people of Israel. Now note, the prophet goes on to say in verse 7, there was lifted up a talent of lead, and a talent of lead.

Now here is a weight, one of the weightiest pieces in Israel. A talent weighed about 115 to 125 pounds in weight, according to the time of Israel's history. It varied between them. And this is a woman that sitted in the midst of the ephah.

And he said, this is wickedness. And he cast it in the midst of the ephah, and he cast a weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. A circular mass of lead holding in the contents of the ephah. Now note what the ephah represented, as typified by the woman in the midst of it.

Wickedness, wickedness, wickedness. Beloved, may I propel the truth of this message to the closing days of this age. For again, this may have been true, partially true in the days of Zechariah concerning Israel, as well as the preceding vision.

The sin of theft, the sin of perjury. But don't translate these to the end of the age. And you will find at the end of the age, that wickedness will be consummated in its fullness. Go into 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, please.

The Man of Sin and the Restrainer

2 Thessalonians chapter 2. I want you to note the weight of lead, as suggested by the Spirit of God in the letter of 2 Thessalonians. Let me read in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and may I begin, if you please, at verse 1.

2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from mouth, that the day of the Lord, which is the right translation, is at hand.

Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling, or the falling away, the apostasy first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Remember ye not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things? Now may I point out what we have read, describes the confirmation of wickedness at the close of the age, as represented and embodied in this man of sin.

The man of sin! But then go on and read with me, please, verse 6 and 7. I want you to see the talent of lead that restrains the final manifestation of this wicked one, and wickedness is represented in him.

Now ye know what withholdeth, what restraineth that he might be revealed in his time, for the mystery of iniquity doth already work. Only he who now letteth, or hindereth, will hinder until he be taken out of the way.

My beloved, as in the vision of the ephah, there is a restraining influence to the final, full manifestation of apostasy and wickedness at the end of the age. But when that restrainer is removed by the taking out of the world, undoubtedly of the church, by the spirit to meet the Lord in the air, then, verse 8, then shall that wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.

The Two Women and the Spread of Apostasy

Now let's go back to our chapter and connect it in Zechariah chapter 5, and let us see what happens in verse 9. Then lifted I up mine eyes and looked, and behold there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings.

Women, that certainly are the embodiment of iniquity, and undoubtedly, as we find the expression, they come out like the wind in their wings, and they have the wings like the wings of a star. And if you know your Bible sufficiently, the Old Testament declares in the Pentateuch, the star was an unclean bird.

And when you find a woman associated with wickedness, you have that which is unclean. And how we can recognize, please let me repeat what the Lord Jesus said in chapter 2 of the book of the Revelation, as he spoke of that wicked woman, Jezebel, as he speaks in chapter 17 in the vision to John, of that wicked woman Babylon, the great mother of harlots.

My beloved may I say this, you and I have no conception of the rapidity of the lawlessness and wickedness that will continue after the rapture of the church. I never thought I'd live to see such wickedness as exists today.

But may I say again, when the restrainer is removed, the two women come out of the heathen, and with the wings of the wind, they do their diabolical work rapidly at the end of the age. And the apostate state comes to its final fulfillment, and its final accomplishment.

You know, the apostasy is bad enough now, but how terrible it's going to be later. I'm glad the Lord's coming for his people, to take us on. Oh, please let me state as we wait in 2 Thessalonians, you and I will not be living on the earth, if believers now living on the earth, during that terrible, great and terrible day of the Lord.

And that wicked one will not be redeemed until you and I have come to glory. Hallelujah! I'm glad I'm going to leave the net. You know, I don't know anything better than to get out of this world. What?

Yes. Especially when you know you're going to glory. The world is the best place I know to get out of. And the longer I live in this world, the less I feel like living longer in it. The way it's going.

Oh my beloved, you know it's wonderful to see the glory that lies before us, even before Israel. But let's face the practical issue, that as far as the ungodly and the unrepentant part of the world, is divine wrath and judgment.

Shinar, Babylon, and the Judgment of Apostate Religion

Now let's look and see what happens to the women as they carry the ephah. They had wings like the wings of a star, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and heaven. And then the prophet says to the angel that talked with him, whither do these go that bear the ephah?

He said unto me, to build it an house in the land of China, and it shall be established, and it shall be set there upon their own base. Beloved me, I say two things. The two women could certainly indicate and represent apostate Judaism as well as apostate Christianity.

Go with me to 1 John chapter 2 please. The first epistle of John chapter 2. Note these words that John writes in chapter 2 of his first epistle. May I read these words of verse 22. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?

He is antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. Now I want you to know something. If you read the preceding section of this chapter, this portion, you will find John telling the young believers of his day there were many antichrists, many antichrists in the world.

But here he refers to the antichrist. And when you look at verse 22, that antichrist denieth Judaism that Jesus is the Christ. My, you speak to an unbelieving Jew. You try again to acknowledge that Jesus is Messiah.

You have a great difficulty. Only the Spirit of God can remove the scales of blindness and reveal the Messiah to a Judane. And thank God he's able. But the majority are blinded to the reality that their Messiah was none other than the Christ.

And my beloved, at the end time, the antichrist will deny that Jesus is the Christ as he claims himself to be the Christ. But he not only denies Judaism, but he denies Christianity. And Christianity is the denial of the Father and the Son.

And may I say, as you see the two women lifting the ephah and they settle it down on the plane of Shinar, may I go back very briefly to remind you that the very first mention of Shinar is in relation to Nimrod, who was the founder, the first one who built Babylon.

And that great system of Babylon as a religious system from which, without doubt throughout all history, from which idolatry has sprung, began in Babylon. And the figurative expression is, God says, I'm going to bring it back where it started, at its base and judge it.

And all I want to do, and time doesn't permit going into it in detail, for we couldn't do it tonight, you read Revelation chapter 17 and 18. And in those two chapters of Revelation 17 and 18, you will find that the greatest sin in Israel of old, which was idolatry, will come to its subtle abode at the place of its inception, and be judged as mystical Babylon, the mother of all this is seen in that coming day.

Oh beloved, may I say, when you, when you think of what is going on today, the ecumenical movement of today, beloved, frankly, the whole ecumenical movement is going ultimately to come to its own base, where it began in the history of mankind.

Nimrod the Great, Babylon, where he established his city and his kingdom. And thus you see it consummated in Revelation 17 and 18, as thus the religious system of idolatry, whether it's apostate Judaism, which will worship the image of the beast, or whether it's apostate Christendom, for they'll all bow down to that image, except those who will be the lords in that day.

And the judgment of it will be poured out from a holy God of us to destroy it completely. You know, Israel has never been an idolatrous nation since they went into Babylonian captivity. But their greatest idolatry of the nation is yet to come.

Let me read Matthew 24 verse 15 with you. The words of the Lord Jesus, if you please. The greatest sin in Israel of all was idolatry. The consummating sin of Israel will yet be idolatry. Listen to the words that our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 24 and verse 15.

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation. Abomination is always linked with idolatry in its meaning. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of God by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, then flee.

And my beloved, though the house has been cleansed of idolatry, yet the spirit of idolatry is to return back and bring the nation under the fierce judgment of God. Let's conclude our chapter in Zechariah and recognize that He sent unto me to build in a house in the land of Shina, and it shall be established, it will be placed there, and set there upon her own base.

And God will bring a final judgment, not only on the sins of the people, but also as we have seen, He will judge the sin itself as it consummates in the worst form of idolatry the nation has ever known.

The worship of the beast and his image in that coming day. O beloved, what we must say, God is a God of judgment, and the unrepentant section of Israel will be visited with His judgment in that coming day.

Where one can say humbly but gratefully, how thou could think so well of me, and be the God thou art, is darkness to my intellect, but sunshine to my heart. Thank God that those of us who were saved have been awakened from the wrath to come, and to flee from it, from cunning judgment, to Christ for safety.

My beloved, may I ask, if God declares what He will do with Israel, may I ask the question, what will He do with you? Flee from the judgment to come, and find your safety in the Lord Jesus Christ. Shall we pray?

Prayer for Salvation, Holiness, and Israel

Blessed Father, it's difficult to speak of thy strange work of judgment, but thou art a God of righteousness and holiness. Holiness becometh thy house forever, wrote the psalmist. Thou art too pure an eye to behold iniquity, and to tolerate evil.

And our Father, we know that at Calvary we see the manifestation of not only thy love and thy grace, we see the manifestation of thy holiness, that thou shouldest place upon that sinless sufferer the sin and the guilt of the whole world, and that upon him the guilt and the judgment of sin should ever be placed.

Lord, we read thy love and thy grace there, but we also read thy holiness. For the fires of judgment fell upon that blessed sin offering, when he gave himself for our sins. Now, Father, if there's any unbelieving sinner in our midst, we pray that the Holy Spirit will convince them they need the sacrificial value of that precious blood.

And as we sang in our opening of the service, would you be free from the burden of sin? There's power in the blood of the Lamb. We pray tonight, if there's a soul that has the sword of divine wrath and judgment hanging over it, that soul will now flee to the Lord Jesus for salvation and safety forever.

Otherwise, they will bear the judgment through a never-ending eternity. Lord, we pray for thine earthly people. We know, Lord, they're back in the land, many of them in unbelief. Lord, wilt thou not open the eyes of many today to see their Messiah was the one who died at Calvary, whom they ignorantly and willfully crucified?

And may many be brought to him before those awful days of tribulation come. Hear our prayer and sanctify thy truth and its solemnity to all of our hearts. We ask it in our Savior's name and we ask it for his honor and glory.

Amen.