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God's Holy Days and Plan of Salvation
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God's Seasonal Plan
Man's
fascination with spiritual ritual is endless. Archaeology, history,
sociology and other disciplines deal with the superstitions and
myths of societies which have disappeared. Museums around the world
are laden with the religious figurines, idols, icons, and jewelry of
buried civilizations. From their studies of these religious
artifacts, archaeologists glean much information about the people
who made and used them. Isn't it strange that man's fascination with
the mythological seemingly deliberately overlooked the rich typology
seen in God's annual Sabbaths given to ancient Israel?
Egypt,
Babylon, Rome; the Mayans, Aztecs, Iroquois, Cheyenne, or the
savages of Papua, New Guinea-all have been the subject of intense
study of religious idolatry, myth, and superstitions. In a recent
issue of National Geographic dedicated to the 500th anniversary of
Columbus' discovery of "India," dozens of mythological figures of
America's aboriginal inhabitants were featured. How many times have
you been told a fraction as much about the God-given picture of
God's plan for humanity as revealed through the seasons and God's
harvest festivals?
By Garner Ted
Armstrong
"They believed
that the 'Great Coyote' created the heavens and earth," drones the
tour guide, informing gaping tourists about the superstitions of
ancient savages. Placards in museums explain the use and purpose of
various religious artifacts unearthed in Babylon or Egypt, in China
or darkest Africa.
Children in
elementary school are taught about the religious beliefs of pagan
societies from the South Pacific to North America, about their
decorative tattooing and its religious significance, or about their
practices of human sacrifice.
When was the
last time you heard, either in a school classroom, or from the
pulpit, about the beautiful picture of God's great plan for mankind
as revealed in His harvest festivals He gave to ancient Israel? If
your answer is "never," perhaps you should ponder what God said
through Jeremiah: "For pass over the isles of Chittim [Cyprus], and
see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there
be such a thing.
"Hath a nation
changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have
changed their glory for that which doth not profit.
"Be
astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye
very desolate, saith the Eternal" (Jeremiah 2:10-12).
Historians
know much about ancient, bygone civilizations from religious
artifacts. As God charged, these nations, who worshipped false,
non-existent "gods" NEVER CHANGED those gods down through centuries
and centuries of mythological, superstitious religious practice.
Countless tens of thousands of helpless human beings have been slain
as a sacrifice to a completely fictitious "god" who "demanded" such
of his or her worshipers. Pagans have clung tenaciously to utterly
false gods for thousands of years. Has China departed from Buddhism?
India from Hinduism? Loyalty seems common among pagan religions.
Yet, God's own
people have turned away from the one true God, away from the
beautiful, detailed, seasonally-revealed picture of His plan for the
human family, embracing purely pagan myths, instead! Do you doubt
this? What are some of the pagan myths gleefully accepted by modern,
space-age "Christian" societies?
Annual
"Holidays": What Do They Picture?
Which is the
chief so-called "Christian" holiday? Why, "Christmas," of course.
Christmas means, simply, the "Mass of Christ." The Catholic
Encyclopedia admits, "Christmas was not among the earliest festivals
of the church" (Vol. III, p. 724), and explains, "The well-known
solar feast, however, of Natalis Invicti, celebrated on 25 December,
has a strong claim on the responsibility for our December date"
(ibid., p. 727, emphasis mine).
History
documents that the Roman Catholic Church did not settle upon the
final date for the "Mass of Christ" as Christ's birthday until
perhaps five centuries after Christ's death, burial, and
resurrection.
Christmas is
connected with purely pagan ceremonies: sun worship, ancient Roman
festivals, and even more ancient Babylonian mysteries. You will find
that holly wreaths, mistletoe, bulbs and orbs, trees, "Old St.
Nick," and many other trappings of Christmas are utterly pagan in
origin!
The little
tree represented Nimrod, or Tammuz-the "sun-god." Bulbs and orbs
were fertility symbols, hanging on the tree, which is found as an
object of worship throughout Europe and Asia.
Yet, for all
its paganism, Christmas is eagerly embraced by countless millions in
the professing Christian world as the birthday of Christ; a time to
exchange gifts, have family reunions, enjoy roast turkey or goose; a
time replete with its own nostalgic music, feelings of good will,
and hospitality.
For those
wealthy enough to enjoy it, Christmas comes with a marvelous sense
of excitement: anticipation of wondrous gifts, family and
neighborhood parties around the tree, with egg-nogs and "Tom and
Jerrys" helping create the feelings of cheer and camaraderie. Of
course, there is always the chance of a stolen kiss beneath the
mistletoe at the neighbor's house (all the while remaining
blissfully ignorant that mistletoe was viewed by the pagan Druids of
Ireland as an aphrodisiac, a fertility symbol) for those who have
imbibed enough to be experiencing "Christmas cheer."
On the other
hand, for those who cannot afford such things, Christmas is a time
of painful contrasts-a poverty-ridden, hungry, sad time of deprival,
cold, homelessness, and despair. It is a time of desperation for
America's "street people," the homeless. It is a time when suicide
statistics soar; a time of horrifying highway death and injury-a
riotous, frenetic, crowded, frenzied outburst of spending, shopping,
traveling, drinking, partying, eating; a time when America's
retailers either succeed or fail. For many, 50-75 percent of the
year's profit margins depend on Christmas spending.
From a child's
point of view, what does Christmas teach?
To be sure,
the wise men who journeyed to the house where Jesus was during His
first year brought expensive gifts. Three types of gifts are
mentioned, giving rise to the myth there were only three of them.
There could have been a dozen, or any number. They did not come to
the manger, but to the house (Matthew 2:11) where the "young child"
(not "baby") was. They then gave their gifts to Christ. They did not
exchange gifts among themselves. Few people know the truth of the
events surrounding Jesus' birth. Few know He was very likely born at
the end of September, and nowhere near December 25th, which was a
pagan celebration.
How much of
your childhood Christmas experience evokes thoughts of the purpose
of human life? To be sure, the "spirit of giving" is taught, which
is positive. That Christ was truly born, and came into the world as
Savior, is positive. Family togetherness is positive. But how much
does Christmas, with its pagan symbols of sex, fertility, and
Babylonian mysteries; tree worship, and Druidic myths, teach you
about your reason for being here, what you are, why you are here,
and where you are going?
The Four
Seasons
Pagan feasts
revolved around the seasons. They were based upon celestial
observations, the summer and winter solstices, the vernal equinox.
Most pagan holidays were essentially harvest festivals. Pagans
prayed to their "invincible sun" (invictus solis) in the depths of
winter to begin "his" journey further north once again, putting an
end to winter, and bringing the springtime, and new growth.
The springtime
festival of Ishtar, the pagan goddess of sex and fecundity of the
ancient Babylonians (pronounced "Easter," with a long "ee" sound on
the "I" and a silent "h.") was in thanksgiving for the advent of the
spring, the end of winter, and new life. It was celebrated with a
plethora of mythological ritual: rabbits, for their rapid
procreation; eggs, as the source of life and the pagan concept of
the beginning of creation; the "bous," or symbol of Tammuz (Nimrod),
represented by the Ox, and cakes to Semiramis, Nimrod's mother-wife,
and high priestess of the Babylonian mystery religion, as the "queen
of Heaven." Such cakes, called "boun," or "bous," featured a cross,
as a solar symbol, and were baked in honor of "Ishtar," or
"Ashtoreth," and are seen today at "Easter" (Ishtar) time as "hot
cross buns."
What did you
learn, as a child, about your purpose for being here, the plan of
salvation, from "Easter"?
Your parents
probably told you it was about the resurrection of Christ. Perhaps
you went to a sunrise service, faced the rising sun as a minister
chanted or prayed. Then there was the excitement of wonderful new
clothes-yellows, greens, and whites, the colors of springtime-white
patent-leather shoes for little girls; "Easter" (Ishtar) bonnets,
parades, and, of special excitement to little children, "Easter egg"
hunts! Cuddly little bunnies and eggs. How cute. How wondrous. How
nostalgic.
But not one
child in a million was taught that the rabbits and eggs were sex
symbols; that sunrise services were conducted in sun worship; that
"Easter" means "Ishtar," or "Ashtoreth," the pagan goddess of sex
and fertility.
Consider next
the frivolous, capricious, demoniacal trappings of "Halloween." What
is Halloween? Even the spelling has been altered, as the passing
years and obfuscating tradition contrive to obscure the true, pagan
symbolism of this most transparent of all the pagan harvest
festivals.
Originally,
the word was spelled, "Hallowe'en," which meant "The Eve of All
Hallows," or "All Saints Day." Were you taught this as a child?
Catholics often celebrate the day of their favorite saint, perhaps
the "saint" after which they were named. When the calendar was
filled with 365 names, a convenient date was chosen, our November
1st, as a day for "All Saints." Many Central and South American
countries feature towns and villages named "Todos los Santos,"
meaning, "All Saints."
However,
Halloween is not an invention of the Catholic Church, but an
adaptation of an ancient, pagan festival. "Though now known as
little else but the eve of the Christian festival, Hallowe'en and
its formerly attendant ceremonies long antedate Christianity"
(Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Vol. XII, p. 857). History
proves most of the superstitions connected with Halloween, including
"apple ducking," and the like, are purely Druidic, from the pagan
priests of pre-Christian Ireland.
The pagan
Greeks and Romans celebrated a fall harvest festival in honor of
their goddess "Pomona," which featured apples and nuts. Since the
Druids believed "Saman," or Samhain, or Shaman, the "lord of the
dead" (Satan), consigned the departed souls of people to the bodies
of animals as punishment for wickedness, it was natural for them, in
their darkened, pagan superstitions, to imagine it necessary to
attempt to placate Saman with offerings, and to attempt to frighten
away wicked spirits with "Jack o' lanterns."
Halloween
features symbols of witchcraft, demonism, and death. What does it
teach little children? The common practice of "trick or treating" is
nothing more than children playing the part of Saman and his demons,
approaching homes, demanding an "offering" of candies and the like
in return for refraining from vandalizing the house!
Today, people
festoon their houses and yards with "ghost decoys," in blissful
ignorance. Are they attempting to attract "ghosts," or demons?
Naturally, were you to make such a suggestion, a neighbor who has
festooned his yard with Jack o' lanterns, witches, black cats and
plastic ghosts would look at you in utter amazement, and wonder if
you had gone crazy.
It would not
seem "crazy" to the neighbor to decorate his home and yard with
symbols of Satan, demons, and death.
Do modern
space-age Americans, Canadians, Britons and many other nations
actually "believe" they are frightening away evil spirits by pieces
of white plastic hung in trees, or orange leaf bags with hideous
faces, "Jack o' lanterns," placed on their lawns. Of course not.
They are "innocently" mimicking pagans, entering into the "spirit of
Halloween."
Perhaps you
have not realized Halloween is the most important annual festival to
Satanists. You will be astounded at the rank paganism associated
with this fall harvest festival!
These
three-Christmas, Easter, and Halloween-are probably the most
important among "Christian" holidays. Then there is "Valentine's
Day," also rooted in paganism, with connections to Nimrod; and other
days, like "New Year's" day, in the middle of a dead winter;
"Groundhog Day," and many, many more. Among them all, only
"Thanksgiving" stands out as a celebration one may safely assume God
endorses.
For Americans
to gather around a bounteous table, giving thanks to God in
commemoration of the early Pilgrim's practice of doing so is surely
a wonderful thing to do, and has no pagan connotations.
But why, in
all your church-going and religious experience, have you never been
told about the rich, CHRIST-centered, NEW Testament meanings of
God's annual Sabbaths given to Israel and Judah? Let's investigate
the first one, the Passover.
The Passover
and the Exodus-Pictures of Christ
When God
called His nation out of slavery under Moses, it was for the express
purpose of "sacrificing the 'Passover'" (Exodus 3:18; 5:1-3; Exodus
12).
Egypt is a
type of sin. As ancient Israel was living as captive slaves in
Egypt, so each one of us has lived as a slave to our appetites; to
this world, with its false, vanity-ridden, materialistic values;
held captive by the sway of Satan, who is the present world ruler
(II Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2; Revelation 12:9).
Pharaoh is a
type of Satan. Moses appears in two distinct shadowy roles: (1) as a
type of God the Father, calling His people out of sin, breaking the
grip of Satan, and granting repentance. Also, Moses typified the
Father in giving the law of God from Mount Sinai. (2) As a type of
Jesus Christ: as the shepherd of God's people, leading them from
Egypt; as the advocate for the people before Pharaoh (Satan); and as
a "redeemer," conveying them out of slavery, toward freedom.
Moses and
Aaron are also seen as shadowy types of the future "two witnesses"
of Revelation 11. Continually, Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh
(type of Satan), performing miracles (see Revelation 11:4-6).
Pharaoh's two magicians, Jannes and Jambres (types of the "beast and
the false prophet" of prophecy [Revelation 19:19-20]), empowered by
Satan and his demons, counterfeited the miracles until the plague of
the lice, when they were forced to admit, "This is the finger of
God."
The perfect,
helpless little sacrificial lamb is a type of Jesus Christ (Isaiah
53:7). The shed blood of the lamb on the lintels and door posts of
the Israelites' houses is a symbol of Christ's shed blood atoning
for our sins, causing the penalty of death (Romans 6:23) to pass
over those who call upon Christ for forgiveness.
The death
angel symbolizes God's judgments against unrepentant sinners who
will not obey God (Ezekiel 9:2-11; Revelation 14:17-20). The
"firstborn" are to be sanctified to God. Instead, the Egyptian
firstborn, and everyone else, was lost in the most repugnant
idolatrous paganism. God reaped a bitter harvest of the firstborn of
Egypt as a terrible penalty for sin, but spared Israel as the
"firstfruits" unto God from the earth, His own chosen people,
protected under the symbol of the blood of Christ.
Once God had
broken the hold of Pharaoh over the Israelites, they were hastily
thrust out of Goshen. In like fashion, when one repents, receives
baptism and God's Holy Spirit, former friends-sometimes even beloved
family members-have no further use for a person whose new
understanding makes them uncomfortable. Instead, they attempt to
dissuade such a repentant sinner from accepting God's truth, talk
them out of it, make them feel "out of step" with the rest of
society.
When Israel
was hemmed in by the wilderness, facing the Red Sea on one hand,
Pharaoh's army pursuing to the rear, and steep mountains on both
sides, it typifies the newly-repentant sinner contemplating baptism,
as a symbol of the burial of the old man; the washing away of sin in
the waters; the resurrection of the "new man," or the "new creature
in Christ," to live a new and different life, free from sin.
Satan and his
minions do not give up easily. As Pharaoh's armies pursued Israel,
so do former friends, habits, appetites, moods and attitudes attempt
to overtake the repenting sinner.
Moses had to
say, "Stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Eternal!" at the
Red Sea.
By a
stupendous miracle, Israel walked through the Red Sea bed dry shod!
When Pharaoh and his army assayed to follow, they were drowned. Paul
wrote, "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant,
how that all our fathers passed through the sea; and were baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same
spiritual meat [manna]; and did all drink the same spiritual drink
[water, brought forth from the rock miraculously. Christ is the
rock; the water is a symbol of God's Holy Spirit]: for they drank of
that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ" (I
Corinthians 10:1-4).
When Israel
passed through the Red Sea, a Christ-centered, New Testament type,
or picture, of God's plan of redemption and salvation took place.
Notice how Paul mentioned their miraculous sustenance on manna,
which God sent down from heaven.
The Israelites
were commanded to eat the Passover with "unleavened bread," called
the "bread of haste," bread which was flat, plain-not light and
fluffy, puffed up. Immediately following the Passover were the Days
of Unleavened Bread.
God commanded
them, "In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the
Lord's Passover.
"And on the
fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread
unto the Eternal: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread"
(Leviticus 23:5,6).
Leaven, as an
agent which spreads throughout moist dough, and which causes bread
or cakes to rise when baked, lending a light, airy texture, was
pointed out as a type of sin. Jesus said, "Take heed and beware of
the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees" (Matthew 16:5-12).
Unleavened
bread, on the other hand, pictured sinlessness; humility, an absence
of vanity, pride, and sin. Christ said, "I am that bread of life.
Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
"This
[pointing to Himself] is the bread which cometh down from heaven,
that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
"I am the
living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this
bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my
flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (John 6:48-51).
Do not all
Christian-professing churches believe in Christ as Savior? Then why
do they never teach the rich meaning of God's annual holy days-the
plan of redemption and salvation centering around Christ and His
sacrifice as pictured in each of God's annual Sabbaths?
Can anything
be more New Testament oriented than the meaning of the Days of
Unleavened Bread?
Yet, nominal
Christendom remains totally ignorant of these days. Years ago, when
God's people gathered on church grounds near several small towns in
East Texas, local restauranteers were amazed and incredulous when
they learned why.
"The days of
WHAT?" they asked. When representatives of the church explained,
informing the restaurants that none of these thousands of people
would be eating regular bread for a week, but eating "hard tack" or
"matzos" instead, the people of the local towns, mostly Baptist,
Methodist, Church of Christ, or Pentecostal, shook their heads in
dumbfounded amazement.
Quickly, they
lay in stocks of unleavened bread.
That autumn,
the same church group was to return to the church grounds to observe
the Feast of Tabernacles. In careful preparation, all the local
restaurants and grocery stores once again ordered large stocks of
unleavened bread. They were shocked when not one single person asked
for it, but wanted regular bread, instead!
This true
story serves to illustrate the point.
There is an
incontrovertible anti-Judeo BIAS among professing Christianity! From
the earliest moments in the first century, when many
Gentiles-Greeks, Romans, and others-were being converted, when the
church wrestled with the problem of circumcision (Acts 15), a
gradually increasing anti-Jewish bias began to emerge.
This rejection
of all things Jewish took quantum leaps over the passing centuries.
Though Christ Himself was Jewish, and though the apostles and the
vast majority of the early church were Jewish, the Gentile leaders
of the apostate church of the second and third centuries threw out
the baby with the bath water: rejected God's Sabbath day; rejected
God's annual Sabbaths; changed the date for the observance of the
Passover, and called it "Ishtar" (Easter), instead; embraced the
purely pagan festivals of Roman idolatry, such as Christmas, and
effectively stamped out all knowledge of God's holy days.
Finally,
during the days of Constantine, who had "converted" from sun worship
to apostate "Christianity," the then visible church (God's true
church had been forced "underground" by horrible persecutions)
issued a decree that Christians were not to be found "Judaizing" by
observing the Passover on the 14th of Abib, but were ordered to
observe Easter, instead!
Is there
anything "Jewish" about the CHRIST-centered meaning of the Days of
Unleavened Bread? No, nothing. Yet, you have not heard sermons
preached in the Sunday-observing churches explaining the rich types
and shadows of God's holy days as they pertain to repentance,
baptism, the receiving of God's Spirit, the Second Coming of Christ
to set up His Kingdom, the binding of Satan, and the final great
resurrection.
Today, the
Christian-professing world is lost in a sea of ignorance about God's
plan! Embracing the pagan doctrines of the "immortality of the
soul," and "going to heaven when you die," they fail to understand
the plan of God as revealed in the progression of the seasons-fail
to understand the truth about God's mercy upon the darkened races of
Gentile nations who have never heard the Gospel.
More Bible
Types Revealed
The next holy
day following the Days of Unleavened Bread is the "Feast of
Sabbaths," or the "Feast of Firstfruits," which became named
"Pentecost," meaning "fiftieth," by the Greek speaking world.
Why
"fiftieth"?
Because the
high priest was to cut the very first sheaf of grain on the weekly
Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread. This meaningful
ceremony pictured the first of the firstfruits; the very first sheaf
of the springtime barley harvest.
It pictures
the RISEN CHRIST, now "cut off" from the world, ascending to the
Father in heaven. The ceremony became known as the "wave sheaf"
offering, since the priest would select a sheaf of the grain,
harvest it, and then wave it toward heaven in thanksgiving to God.
God said, "And
ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the
day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering, seven sabbaths
shall be complete:
"Even unto the
morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days..."
(Leviticus 23:15,16).
Christ
ascended to His Father on a Sunday, after being resurrected late
Sabbath afternoon. The wave sheaf pictures CHRIST, as the FIRST of
the "firstfruits" of God's righteous harvest of the earth.
The number
seven pictures perfection. Seven times seven symbolizes complete
perfection. Built around the land sabbaths and the year of release
was the Jubilee. This shadowy type of the Kingdom of God is found in
the seven sabbaths (49 days) which were to be reckoned until the
fiftieth day (Jubilee), which was the Feast of "Sabbaths," or
"Firstfruits."
The
firstfruits pictures God's righteous harvest from among mankind from
the time of Christ until the Millennium and the Great White Throne
Judgment (Revelation 20:1-5; 11-15).
Is anything
more richly rewarding to a farmer than seeing the fruits of his
labor coming from his land, the early grain harvest of abundant
food-giving thanks to God for rain in due season, for the new wealth
coming forth from the soil?
God's
springtime holy days picture repentance, acceptance of Christ's shed
blood, allowing Christ to dwell within us through His Spirit (by
eating unleavened bread for seven days), and shows us that we are
part of an early harvest, a "firstfruits" unto God (James 1:18). It
also shows us that God is not trying to save the whole world now,
that there is to come a later, fall harvest unto God.
This is a
vitally important point, for the vast majority of professing
Christians simply do not understand the schedule of events in God's
plan. If they knew the beauty of His plan as revealed seasonally
through His annual Sabbaths, they would never suppose most of the
world is lost forever, never believe that God could be so cruel as
to punish, in a blazing hell fire, little oriental infants who have
never so much as heard the name of Christ.
Ample biblical
proof exists to demonstrate that Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles,
not only kept God's annual Sabbaths, but taught Gentile converts to
do so.
He wrote to
the Corinthians, "Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a
little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
"Purge out
therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are
unleavened [a clear contradiction of terms, unless he plainly means
they were observing the Days of Unleavened Bread, for he had just
told them they were "leavened," meaning they were guilty of sins
which needed to be purged, or expunged. When he said "as ye are
unleavened," it can only mean that they received this missive during
the Festival of Unleavened Bread, that they were keeping it!]. For
even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:
"THEREFORE LET
US KEEP THE FEAST, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of
malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity
and truth" (I Corinthians 5:6-8).
Can anything
be plainer?
Paul
instructed these Gentile Christians in the large Gentile city of
Corinth to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread!
Not only did
the Feast of Sabbaths picture the risen Christ, and the firstfruits
unto God, it also forshadowed the momentous events on the Day of
Pentecost, explained in Acts, the second chapter.
How
appropriate that the Feast of "Firstfruits" unto God should fall on
the very day God sent His Holy Spirit to this earth, as Christ
promised! (John 16:7).
Though many
Protestants celebrate "Whitsunday," they do so 50 days after Easter
(Ishtar), not 50 days from the weekly Sabbath during the Days of
Unleavened Bread.
Many myths and
traditions sprang up surrounding "Whitsunday." The Church of England
formerly celebrated three days surrounding it, and in May, 1871, the
British government declared "Whitmonday" a legal bank holiday.
Those who keep
God's annual holy days know that Pentecost is the birthday of the
church, the Christian festival in commemoration of the great events
on that original Pentecost when the Holy Spirit, with a loud,
roaring sound like a rushing wind, filled all the room where the
apostles and others were assembled, when the apostles appeared to
have flaming crowns of fire atop their heads.
Nearly 30
years following Christ's resurrection, Paul, the apostle to the
Gentiles, wrote to the Gentile church in Corinth, "But I will tarry
at Ephesus until Pentecost" (I Corinthians 16:8).
Trumpets and
Atonement
When was the
last time you heard a sermon expounding all these rich, detailed
types and shadows of Christ, of salvation, as revealed through God's
annual holy days? If you are among the majority, you will probably
answer, "Never!"
Yet, all the
annual Sabbaths given to Israel convey to our minds part of the
detailed tapestry that is God's great plan of redemption and
salvation.
Passover, the
Days of Unleavened Bread, and Pentecost all come in the springtime.
Just before the fall comes the Feast of Trumpets. God said, "In the
seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a
Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation"
(Leviticus 23:24).
The trumpet
was Israel's means of communication. Study Numbers 10:1-10 for
further details. To assemble the people, trumpets were blown. They
were blown as "officers' call," just as in the military, to cause
this or that tribe to march, or to herald the arrival of special
occasions. They were blown as an announcement-to say, in effect,
"ATTENTION, everyone!" They were blown as an alarm if an enemy was
approaching, and blown on solemn holy days.
In a sense,
the trumpet was ancient Israel's "radio and television," for it was
a means of instant, mass communication.
God's
prophetic messages clearly show that God announces each great
intervention of God by the sound of a trumpet (Revelation 8:6).
Christ said, "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in
heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they
shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power
and great glory.
"And He shall
send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall
gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of
heaven to another" (Matthew 24:30,31).
Though this
final trumpet blast occurs suddenly, God shows that the process of
calling out God's elect from this earth over many decades is also
typified by the blowing of a trumpet!
"Cry aloud,
spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people
their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sin," wrote Isaiah
(Isaiah 58:1). Christ said, "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" (Matthew 24:14), and told His disciples, "What I
tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in
the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops" (Matthew 10:27).
The primary
focus of the Feast of Trumpets is the return of Jesus Christ to this
earth. God says, "Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all
sleep [die the first death], but we shall all be changed,
"In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump [the last of all the
trumpets listed in Revelation, the same trumpet call to which Christ
referred]: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be be
raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (I Corinthians
15:50-52).
Today, God
sends out His announcement of Christ's coming Kingdom through His
church, through the preaching of the Gospel, through proclaiming the
sins of our peoples, through witnessing, warning, forth-telling,
inviting people to repent!
But the time
is coming when God will no longer speak through human voices, but
will cause mighty angels to blow on ear-splitting trumpets! Then,
the whole world will hear! The final trumpet blast heralds Christ's
Second Coming as KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS to rule this earth
with a rod of iron (Revelation 2:26; 3:21; 19:11-16).
The emphasis
on the Feast of Trumpets is mostly prophetic! It focuses mainly on
Christ's coming and the resurrection, but also foreshadows the
announcement God is sending to mankind through His church, through
the preaching of the Gospel of Christ as a witness and a warning!
Then comes the
only commanded fast day of the year, the solemn Day of Atonement.
God said,
"Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of
atonement: it shall be an holy convocation [a commanded assembly]
unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls [lives]..." (Leviticus
23:27).
In a solemn
ceremony on this day of fasting, when God commanded Israel not to
eat or drink from sundown of the previous day until sundown on
Atonement, the high priest enacts a fascinating, meaning-laden
ritual. Study Leviticus the 16th chapter to understand all the
types.
Two goats were
to be presented. One was "for the Eternal," and the other an
"Azazel," erroneously called a "scapegoat." The "Azazel" goat was to
have all the sins of Israel symbolically placed upon its head, and
then was to be led in the hands of a "fit man" who would not allow
the goat to turn back into the distant wilderness, where it would be
released.
One goat was
sacrificed, symbolizing an atonement for sin, a shadow of Christ's
impending sacrifice. The other was to be allowed to wander in the
wilderness, bearing, figuratively, the sins of Israel upon it
(Leviticus 16:21).
Only once in
the year was Aaron, and the high priests to follow him through the
centuries, to enter into the "Holy of Holies" in the tabernacle
(later, the temple). The ninth chapter of Hebrews explains the deep
meaning of this ritual. Paul wrote, in part, "But into the second
[the Holy of Holies] went the high priest alone once every year, not
without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of
the people:
"The Holy
Spirit this signifying, that the way into the holiest [type of
heaven, and God's presence] of all was not yet made manifest, while
as yet the first tabernacle was yet standing...But Christ being come
an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this
building;
"Neither by
the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered once
into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us..."
(Hebrews 9:7-12).
The sacrifice
on the Day of Atonement was extremely elaborate. The priest had to
carefully wash and dress, had to sacrifice an animal for his own
sins, had to sprinkle blood upon the book and the people (Hebrews
9:19).
In this
elaborate ritual, accomplished on a day of fasting, one sees the
terrible consequences of sin. God has decreed that the penalty for
sin is death (Romans 6:23). Yet, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, as
the "Lamb of God" to die for the sins of you and me, for all
mankind-to atone for sin so that those who call upon Christ are
symbolically covered by His shed blood, their sins forgiven.
To be sure,
the ancient ceremony of Atonement was a bloody one. Now, see the
whole picture: The high priest was a type of Christ, entering
"through the veil" that separated the outer holy place from the
"Holy of Holies," a type of heaven itself. The veil in the temple
split when the miraculous earthquake struck at the moment of
Christ's death, signifying that Christ's death had made it possible
for mankind to have direct access to God the Father through Christ!
The "Azazel"
goat is not a type of Christ, but a type of Satan! Notice: "And I
saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless
pit [the abyss: see Jude 13] and a great chain in his hand.
"And he laid
hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan,
and bound him a thousand years" (Revelation 20:1,2). This angel was
pictured by the "fit man" selected to take the goat over whose head
the sins of Israel were confessed into a trackless wilderness, and
there release it, alive.
Thus, God
shows we have all had a partner in sin! This goat is not a
"scapegoat," for God places guilt where guilt squarely belongs! The
Hebrew word "Azazel" comes from a word meaning "fierce, mighty,
rough, or strong," such as "rough goat." It means, literally, "the
rough goat that is sent out."
Thus, the
detailed ceremony of the Day of Atonement shows the necessity for
Christ's sacrifice to atone for sins; shows how His death opened the
way into God's presence in heaven itself; shows how Satan will
finally be bound, unable to deceive the nations any more.
Paul wrote,
"Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the
vessels of the ministry.
"And almost
all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of
blood is no remission.
"It was
therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens
should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves
with better sacrifices than these.
"For Christ is
not entered into the holy place made with hands, which are the
figures [types, pictures] of the true; but into heaven itself, now
to appear in the presence of God for us:
"Nor yet that
He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the
holy place every year [on the Day of Atonement!] with blood of
others...but now once in the end of the world [age] hath He appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (Hebrews 9:21-28).
Do you see how
these rich New Testament truths were pictured so ceremoniously, so
richly, and in such detail, by the accompanying rituals of the
annual holy days?
WHY, then, do
the churches utterly ignore these annual Sabbaths? Why have you not
heard the Christ-centered, New Testament meaning of God's annual
holy days?
Now for one of
the richest of all-the fabulous fall harvest festival, the Feast of
Tabernacles, followed by the "Last Great Day."
The Feast of
Ingathering
At the time of
the great fall harvest season, God set His "Feast of Tabernacles."
The word "tabernacle" merely means "booth," or "kiosk," a temporary
domicile. God said, "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
"Speak unto
the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh
month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the
Lord.
"On the first
day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work
therein...Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye
have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto
the Lord seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the
eighth day shall be a sabbath.
"And ye shall
take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of
palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook;
and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.
"And ye shall
keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a
statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the
seventh month.
"Ye shall
dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell
in booths:
"That your
generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in
booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord
your God.
"And Moses
declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord"
(Leviticus 23:33-35, 39-44).
Notice that
the Feast of Tabernacles, or little "booths," was coincident with
the time of the gathering in of the fruit of the land-a festival
which emphasized the harvest.
Notice also
that God said the purpose for their dwelling in these little
tabernacles or temporary domiciles for seven days was so that they
would remember that God "made the children of Israel to dwell in
booths...."
All you really
learn from this scripture, standing by itself, is that God said they
were to "dwell in booths" so they would remember that God made them
to "dwell in booths."
It is only
when one looks at all other relevant scriptures concerning the
meaning of dwelling in temporary domiciles; only when one considers
the Feast of Tabernacles in light of its logical seasonal
progression, viewing it from the perspective of all the other annual
Sabbaths, that the rich, detailed, inspiring picture of the meaning
of the festival of temporary booths, or tabernacles, becomes clear.
God reveals
that He has placed within each human being the "spirit in man," or
the human spirit, which, while it has no separate consciousness or
intelligence apart from the brain, it is nevertheless spiritual.
Paul wrote,
"The spirit itself [God's Holy Spirit] beareth witness with OUR
SPIRIT that we are the children of God" (Romans 8:16). All of us are
endowed with the human spirit. This entire eighth chapter of the
book of Romans says a great deal about how God's Holy Spirit is to
dwell inside our mortal bodies.
Jesus said we
are not to fear man, who after he has destroyed the body, cannot
destroy the "soul."
The
traditional concept of the "immortality of the soul" misses the mark
by a wide margin. There is no separate, intelligent, feeling, living
"soul" which departs the body at death.
That there is
something which is spiritual in connection with the human brain
which man cannot destroy is obvious from Christ's words. Christ
said, "...fear not them which kill the body [Greek: soma] but are
not able to kill the soul [Greek: psuche]: but rather fear Him which
is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna" (Matthew 10:28).
Notwithstanding the fact that the traditional concept of the
"immortal soul" is erroneous, it is clear from Jesus' words that
there IS something spiritual in connection with the human mind which
man simply cannot destroy.
That is why
the Bible speaks of a complete conversion by the receiving of God's
Holy Spirit.
Paul put it
this way, "...put off concerning the former conversation [conduct]
the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and
be renewed in the spirit of your mind: and that ye put on the new
man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness"
(Ephesians 4:22-24).
Few have
understood that God is begetting children, that a new spiritual life
is engendered within each human being who repents and receives God's
Spirit. Plainly, it is "created." Conversion-receiving the begettal
of the Holy Spirit-is not merely a change in attitude or outlook;
not turning over a new leaf, or making minor adjustments in life
style. It is the creation of a new creature in Christ!
He wrote to
the Colossians, "Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off
the old man with his deeds;
"And have put
on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him
that created him..." (Colossians 3:9,10).
Paul also
wrote, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (II
Corinthians 5:17). The word for "creature" is used for "creation" in
many instances.
To be sure,
there IS something "spiritual" about each human mind.
Almighty God
is reproducing after His own kind. Creation was not completed in the
Garden of Eden-only begun, in physical prototype.
God is the
author of all life, Creator, and Life Giver. God has created the
process of reproduction in all species of life, and is the Inventor
and Designer of human procreation.
You will come
to understand the beautiful analogy of human reproduction; where you
came from; the miracle of human birth as it portrays the spiritual
begettal, and ultimate spiritual rebirth into the very family of
God.
What has this
to do with the Feast of Tabernacles? Everything!
As Christ
showed, though man can destroy this mortal, temporary body, he
cannot destroy the real you!
Notice how the
apostle Paul expounded this beautiful concept: "...we preach not
ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants
for Jesus' sake.
"For God, who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our
hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ.
"But we have
this treasure [and it is real treasure, the priceless truth of
eternal life] in earthen vessels [our physical bodies], that the
excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us" (II
Corinthians 4:6,7).
Paul went on
to explain, "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward
man perish [the aging process, and the ultimate fate awaiting every
human being, death] yet the inward man [the new "creature in
Christ"] is renewed day by day.
"For our light
affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
"While we look
not of the things which are seen, but at the things which are not
seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; [like a temporary
domicile, or "booth" made of branches, leaves and other materials,
which will soon perish] but the things which are not seen are
eternal.
"For we know
that if our earthly house of this TABERNACLE were dissolved, we have
a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens.
"For in this
we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which
is from heaven:
"If so be that
being found clothed we shall not be found naked.
"For we that
are in this tabernacle [the new creature in Christ, dwelling
temporarily in these physical bodies] do groan, being burdened: not
for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality
[this human body, this temporary existence] might be swallowed up of
life" (II Corinthians 4:16-18; 5:1-4).
What a
beautiful analogy. Notice how many times our physical bodies are
likened to a "tabernacle," or a little booth, a temporary dwelling
place.
The apostle
Peter put it this way: "Yea, I think it meet [fitting], as long as I
am in this tabernacle [Peter, the "new man in Christ" living in his
human, physical body], to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;
"knowing that
shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, [knowing his death was
approaching!] even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me" (II
Peter 1:13,14).
Can anything
be plainer?
The apostle
Paul plainly wrote, "There are also celestial [heavenly] bodies, and
bodies terrestrial [earthly, of the flesh]: but the glory of the
celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another...so
also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it
is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in
glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
"It is sown a
natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural
body, and there is a spiritual body...as is the earthy, such are
they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they
also that are heavenly.
"And as we
have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of
the heavenly" (I Corinthians 15:40-49).
This human,
physical body in which we dwell is only a temporary "tabernacle."
While it is a
little bizarre to contemplate, what of someone who has lost a limb?
That individual, with all his or her character traits, personality,
knowledge and intelligence is still there! As horrifying as it is to
contemplate, there are those who have lost all four limbs. Yet, they
are still there; the person is still alive, though missing limbs.
You see, your
personality, your innermost being, where your decision making powers
reside, where your deepest and innermost thoughts dwell, where your
moral character lies, is in your mind!
God's Holy
Spirit does not come into our elbow, or our big toe, or our femur or
clavicle. God's Holy Spirit comes into, and unites with the human
spirit that dwells in our minds!
It took living
cells to beget you, cause you to be born as a unique, once only,
individual human being.
By the uniting
of your father's life with your mother's life, YOU became to be.
In the same
fashion, by Almighty God placing His life-giving Spirit within a
human mind, uniting it with the "human spirit" to become a "new
creature in Christ," He reproduces His "children" after HIS, God's,
kind!
Look how
plainly Paul puts this beautiful truth: "For as many as are led by
the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
"For ye have
not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have
received the Spirit of adoption [sonship!], whereby we cry, 'Abba,'
Father.
"The Spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of
God:
"And if
children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ..."
(Romans
8:14-16).
You were the
child of your parents. You are like them in many ways, for you came
from them.
It is no mere
accident that the analogy of family relationships occurs in the Word
of God. It is not some theologians' ideas, but God's own revelation
to us that He is our "Father," while Christ is the firstborn Son,
and we can become the "children of God." In shadowy type, the
invisible church, which is called a spiritual organism, is seen as
"Jerusalem above, the mother of us all." We are referred to in the
Word of God as "brothers and sisters in Christ."
When you were
born of your parents, what did you become? Why, you became you, with
your parents last name, and many of their own likenesses and
characteristics.
And when you
are finally born of God, when this temporary domicile that is your
human body is of no further use, and has been completely changed by
the resurrection from the dead or instantaneous change at Christ's
return (I Corinthians 15:50-52), what will you become?
You already
read it: "And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall
also bear the image of the heavenly!" (I Corinthians 15:49).
The word
"image" in the Greek is rendered substance in the Ivan Panin Greek
Numerics Text, and can be so rendered. As you and I presently
consist of physical flesh-our substance is earthly, from the
ground-so God's Word says the spiritual creature, called the "new
creature in Christ," is to become spirit. John wrote, "Beloved, now
are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be:
but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we
shall see Him as He is" (I John 3:2).
More Beautiful
Types and Shadows
Remember the
many shadowy types and analogies we learned concerning the Passover
and the Days of Unleavened? With the Passover, Almighty God brought
His people, Israel, out of the slavery of pagan Egypt, and into a
wilderness, where that older generation wandered for 40 years (a
number which connotes trial, or testing).
But did you
know that that entire older generation, save the family of Caleb,
died in the wilderness, including Moses?
Look at the
obvious analogy: Forming in the bodies of this older generation
during the time of their trial and testing in the wilderness were
new human beings who had never known Egypt! During those 40 years, a
whole new generation of Israelites was born.
It was this
new generation which crossed the River Jordan, which is a shadowy
type of the transition from physical to spiritual, into the promised
land.
Their leader?
It was Joshua, which is the Hebrew form of the Greek word for Jesus!
Even as God is
begetting His own children within the human physical bodies
(temporary tabernacles) of a present-day generation, so those "new
creatures in Christ" will emerge as a completely new, never-before,
unique spirit being in the Kingdom of God!
These human,
temporal, physical bodies, with all their diseases, debilities,
deformities, aches and pains-these fleshly bodies, which are growing
older every day and will only ultimately return to the soil of this
earth from which they came, cannot inherit the Kingdom of God!
Paul said,
"Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
Kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
"Behold I shew
you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
"In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall
sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed.
"For this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality" (I Corinthians 15:50-53).
Now consider
another beautiful type: When the member of the Godhead who became
Jesus Christ "emptied Himself" of His divine, powerful, spiritual
form and "...took on Him the seed of Abraham," (Hebrews 2:16) He was
God, temporarily "tabernacling" in the human flesh! Thus, Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, the first begotten of Almighty God among all
humankind lived a life of 33 1/2 years as "God in the flesh,"
tabernacling in a human, physical body which was later on changed to
spirit!
After Christ's
resurrection, He was able to appear and disappear at will. He would
appear in a room where His frightened disciples were gathered,
literally materializing through a stone wall! Yet, this resurrected,
spiritual body still bore the wounds and scars inflicted by His
torture and crucifixion, for He forced doubting Thomas to actually
put his hand into the spear wound, and his finger into the wounds in
His wrists.
Christ had the
power to materialize in His previous human form, yet was once again
very God, and ascended to the right hand of the Father in heaven, to
await His return to this earth as the conquering King of kings and
Lord of lords.
When was the
last time you went to a church service where the minister
expounded and explained all of these many wondrous Christ centered
New Testament truths concerning God's plan of redemption, and
salvation?
The Last Great
Day
Immediately
following the Feast of Tabernacles comes the "Last Great Day"
(Leviticus 23:36). This is the seventh annual holy day in God's
seasonal plan, and falls on the 22nd day of the seventh month.
It is
followed by late autumn, and the winter, when all nature holds its
breath, and there are no annual holy days or festivals of any kind
in God's beautiful plan of salvation, as revealed through the
progressing seasons, until the early spring, and the Passover.
Now, review
what we have learned. The Passover primarily focuses on Christ and
His sacrifice for sin. The Days of Unleavened Bread focus on Christ
coming to live within each newly repentant Christian, thus driving
sin out. The Feast of the Firstfruits, or Pentecost shows us that
God is calling only a comparative few at this time, that God has
never attempted to "save the world" in the past; that He did not
attempt to "save the world" during the time of Christ, that He is
not attempting to save the world now! Rather, it emphasizes that God
is calling only a "kind of firstfruits of His creatures" in this
dispensation, and shows that the great latter, fall harvest of human
lives is to come during the millennium, and even afterward.
The New
Testament observance of Pentecost portrays Christ sending the "other
Comforter" to be available to human beings for the first time.
The Feast of
Trumpets pictures not only the announcements of
Almighty God from the time of Christ until the time of the end by
the preaching of the Gospel, but God's own righteous angels,
sounding the alarming trumpets leading up to the last plagues and
the final great trump, announcing the Second Coming of Jesus
Christ.
The Feast of
Tabernacles not only portrays all the beautiful types of our
temporary dwelling places in these human physical bodies, but
presages the Kingdom of God.
The Feast of
Tabernacles acknowledges that we are living, as human beings, in but
a temporary dwelling place, but it looks ahead to the PERMANENT
dwelling place in God's Kingdom! Jesus Christ said, "In my Father's
house are many mansions," which can also be rendered "positions of
responsibility," or "offices."
So, in
addition to acknowledging our temporality, the Feast of Tabernacles
also is aforetaste of the very Kingdom of God, the millennial reign
of Christ.
Now, remember:
The first resurrection of all of the "dead in Christ" occurs at the
last trump, at the exact moment of Christ's Second Coming (I
Corinthians 15:50-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:17; Matthew 24:31).
Now, notice:
"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given
unto them: and I saw the souls [Greek psuche, meaning spirits, or
lives] of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for
the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his
image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in
their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand
years" (Revelation 20:4).
Christ
promised, "And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the
end, to him will I give power over the nations ... To him that
overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also
overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne" (Revelation
2:26; 3:21).
Therefore, the
"firstfruits unto the Lamb" as pictured by the Feast of Firstfruits
or Pentecost, will "live and rule over the nations with Christ" for
one thousand years, which is foreshadowed, in part, by the Feast of
Tabernacles!
Now, what
remains to be done to accomplish God's great plan for the redemption
and salvation of the vast majority of the human race?
God's Word
answers: "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the
thousand years were finished!" (Revelation 20:5).
Jesus plainly
said there is a resurrection unto life and a resurrection unto
"judgment."
But judgment
is not sentencing! The "rest of the dead" includes the entirety of
the human race who are not among the "dead in Christ."
And who does
this include? It includes the vast majority of all human beings who
have ever lived and died from Adam until the present! It includes
the hundreds of millions of China, India, many other Asian nations
such as Japan, Bangladesh, Korea, Taiwan, etc. It includes the vast
multitudes of the Soviet Union, and all the world where paganism,
anamism, heathenism and idolatry-yes, and "professing" Christianity
which has been largely deceived (Revelation 12:9-dwell.
This last,
great resurrection brings perhaps more than six billion people out
of their graves!
It is simply a
staggering, stupendous event!
All of these
virtually countless human beings of so many races and nations will
be resurrected at the end of the millennial reign of Christ, and
will be given a glorious opportunity for salvation, at last!
This is what
is pictured by the "Last Great Day." It logically follows
immediately after the Feast of Tabernacles, which foreshadows, in
many ways, the Kingdom of God.
And what comes
immediately after Christ's millennial reign?
Read it, in
the 20th chapter of Revelation: "And I saw a great white throne, and
him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled
away; and there was found no place for them.
"And I saw the
dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened:
and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead
were judged out of those things which were written in the books,
according to their works.
"And the sea
gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up
the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man
according to their works.
"And death and
hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
"And whosoever
was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of
fire" (Revelation 20:11-15).
These "books"
which are opened mean nothing more than biblos, the Greek word for
"book," or "books." It is only when the word "holy" is placed with
the word "book" that it connotes the Bible. These "books" which are
open, out of which these billions of human beings are to be judged
are nothing more than the books of the Bible, the same books which
are judging the Church of God today. God's Word plainly states that
the church is being judged now. Since God is consistent, and says He
"changes not," and the Bible says Jesus Christ is "the same,
yesterday, today and forever," we know that God's master plan for
salvation will not change.
This vast
multitude from all of the human family will receive a one hundred
year lifespan (Isaiah 65:20-25), during which they will experience
the incredible blessings and benefits of living on an earth which
has been under God's own divine rulership for one thousand years!
It is then, in
that climate and at that time, that these countless millions of
Asians, Africans, and so many more will finally be given a thorough
education in God's marvelous truth, and will be required to choose
whether to obey God, repent of their sins and receive God's Holy
Spirit, or to rebel and force Almighty God to destroy them.
Jesus Christ
gave us a shadowy type of the meaning of this Last Great Day from
His inspiring invitation to repentance made on that very day during
His earthly ministry.
"In the last
day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If
any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
"He that
believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water" (John 7:37,38).
Notice how
Jesus made it clear that "any man" was being invited to come to
Christ! Surely, this open invitation to all, including Gentiles
presaged the meaning of this Last Great Day.
The Last Great
Day typifies the "Great White Throne Judgment" of the 20th chapter
of Revelation.
This final
annual holy day signifies the completion of God's plan, the last
great general resurrection and the final destruction of the
incorrigibly wicked, and leads directly from the Great White Throne
Judgment in Revelation 20 to the "new heavens and new earth" of the
last two chapters of your Bible.
Once again we
must ask, WHY have you not heard? Why have not the Sunday-observing
churches preached the beautiful truths about God's plan of
redemption and salvation by informing and educating their
congregations of these rich shadows and types revealed through God's
annual Sabbaths?
Why on the one
hand should there be such a fascination with rank paganism, as seen
in Christmas, Easter, and Halloween, and an anti-Hebrew prejudice
against the beautiful and merciful truths revealed in God's seasonal
plan?
The plain
truth is, Almighty God commanded His annual Sabbaths to be observed
down through all living generations of His people. Jesus Christ and
the apostles kept these days. The apostle Paul-an apostle to the
Gentiles-urged Gentile churches throughout the Greek and Roman world
to observe these annual holy days! It took the large, visible
apostate church many centuries to stamp out the observance of God's
Passover on the 14th of Abib, to eradicate any remaining knowledge
concerning the rich meanings conveyed to the human mind through all
seven of God's annual Sabbaths.
Today,
professing Christendom is locked into an annual ritual of pagan
mythology, all the while thinking it is celebrating Christ's
birthday or His resurrection, or "All Saints Day," yet doing so amid
the symbols and accouterments of rank heathenism, Satanism,
Babylonian mysteries, and caricatures of death.
One final
question: Will you be keeping God's Feast of Tabernacles after the
Second Coming of Christ? For your answer, turn to and read Zechariah
14:16-19: "And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of
all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from
year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the
Feast of Tabernacles.
"And it shall
be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth
unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon
them shall be no rain.
"And if the
family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there
shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that
come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
"This shall be
the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come
not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles."
There can be
no mistake as to the time setting of this beautiful chapter. It is
when the returning, conquering Christ fights against the nations
resisting Him, and when His feet shall stand "...in that day upon
the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east..." and
when "...living waters shall go out from Jerusalem ... and the
Eternal shall be King over all the earth: in that day there shall be
one Lord, and His name One" (Zechariah 14:3-9).
One thing is
sure. Every living human being of whatever religion, nationality,
race or creed will be absolutely forced to observe God's annual
Feast of Tabernacles shortly after the arrival of Jesus Christ on
this earth!
Those who are
rebellious against God, those who adamantly refuse to obey Almighty
God now, will no doubt be absent at this time, for they will very
likely be among the stiff-necked, antagonistic, rebellious human
beings who will resist God's truth and will suffer the terrible
consequences of the tribulation and the Day of the Lord.
When
Jesus Christ is King over all this earth, the time of gentle,
merciful invitation is past! Then, He will command and all will
obey! May God grant you the spirit of repentance, the spirit of
surrender to God, and lead you into His truth and an humble
acceptance of His will in your life.
PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE
WITHOUT MAKING ANY CHANGES AND WITHOUT CHARGE TO ANYONE
The Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association
P.O. Box 747
Flint, TX 75762
More FREE literature is available at our Internet Web Site:
http://www.garnertedarmstrong.org/
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