Content

Personal

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Other Works by Fred R. Coulter

About This Book

Prologue

Introduction

Section I - The Sabbath

Chapter One - The Background in Genesis-Sermon I

Chapter Two - The Background in Genesis-Sermon II

Chapter Three - The Background in Genesis-Sermon III

Chapter Four - The Sabbath-Sign of God

Chapter Five - Importance of the Sabbath

Section II - God's Holy Days Overview

Chapter Six - Introduction-Beginning and Ending

Chapter Seven - Should We Keep the Holy Days?

Section III - Passover

Chapter Eight - Origin and Meaning of Passover

Chapter Nine - The Passover-Abraham, Isaac, Israel and Christ #1

Chapter Ten - The Passover-Abraham, Isaac, Israel and Christ #2

Chapter Eleven - The Passover-Abraham, Isaac, Israel and Christ #3

Chapter Twelve - The Passover Exodus and Trusting God

All Old Testament Scriptures used in
this book are quoted from
the Authorized King James Version

All New Testament Scriptures used in
this book are quoted from:
The New Testament In Its
Original Order—A Faithful
Version With Commentary
ISBN 978-0-9675479-5-4
Copyright 2003 ©

ISBN-13: 978-0-9675479-8-5
ISBN-10: 0-9675479-8-9
Copyright 2007, 2013 ©
York Publishing Company
Post Office Box 1038
Hollister, California 95024-1038

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means— electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval systems.

Personal

From the Desk of
Fred R. Coulter

The contemporary world in which we live encourages individual opinions, insisting that everyone’s opinion is of equal validity. On the one hand, a person may consider something to be true simply because he or she believes it to be so—even when the facts do not support such a belief. A second person, however, may hold to an opinion exactly opposite the first—likewise accepted as fact because he or she believes it to be true. A dichotomy results in which truth becomes relative. Carrying this process one step further, when a conglomeration of divergent opinions on a subject is accepted as true, because people believe them to be true, we end up with a cacophony of opinions—which is confusion! Everyone believes and does what is right in their own eyes. Consequently, the majority of people today do not believe that there is absolute truth to the exclusion of all other opinions.

When viewing all the religions of the world—including Orthodox Christianity—we see precisely the same thing. We find a panorama of complex opinions and beliefs about God, and a confusing array of speculative schemes of men who are eager to promote their ideas about the purpose of life and the plan of God. Because learned teachers of philosophy and religion use some parts of the Word of God, their theories have a smattering of truth that sounds persuasive. Still others follow the inspiration of demons, unknowingly venerating Satan the devil himself, who appears as an “angel of light.”

The result—billions of people have been deceived and wholly embrace religious falsehoods as foundational truth. Sincerely believing what they have been taught, they have dedicated their lives to false gods and false saviors through their devotion to idols, religious works, vows of poverty, life-long celibacy and virginity—all for the purpose of achieving a greater reward in heaven. Fully convinced that what they have been taught is the direct will of God—and with great sacrifice of worldly gain and even life itself—the obedient and dedicated have traveled the world over preaching their version of the Gospel, as they genuinely try to save others. Ordinary people have resolutely adhered to religious fallacies for fear of death and being forever delivered into the torments of hell. Horrifying many as well is the nightmare of being reincarnated into insects or animals because of an unworthy life. And increasingly, the world today is confronted by Islamic fanatics driven by hatred, who irrationally believe that the road to heaven is through holy jihad.

The Bible tells us: “God is not the author of confusion” (I Cor. 14:33). Therefore, we can conclude that the mainstay of all these religions, philosophies and teachings conjoined with their opinions about the purpose of life for mankind cannot be correct!

But where is the truth? Is it possible to find and understand it?

The answer is, Yes! It is found in the Bible—the true Word of God. Isaiah gives us the starting point: “And when they shall say unto you, ‘Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter’—but should not a people [rather] seek unto their God? Should the dead be sought on behalf of the living? To the Law [the Old Testament] and to the testimony [the New Testament]! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa. 8:19-20, author’s version). In other words, if we truly believe God the Father and Jesus Christ and prove that the entire Word of God is true, then we can find the truth—the absolute truth of God. We can then begin to comprehend God’s plan for mankind as revealed by His Sabbath and holy days.

The Old and New Testaments combined comprise one complete book—the Word of God—the Holy Bible. To begin with, we need to understand certain fundamental truths about God as revealed in the Old Testament, which is the foundation of truth—the absolute truth of God. Here are a few scriptures that define the true God:

- The Lord God of the Bible is the true God (II Chron. 15:3; Jer. 10:10); the everlasting God (Isa. 40:28); the most high God (Gen. 14:20); the holy God (Psa. 99:9); the God of heaven (Psa. 136:26); and there is none other (Isa. 45:5).

- God is love (Deut. 4:37; 6:4-5; 7:6-9); God is merciful and gracious (Psa. 57:10; 130:8); God is forgiving (Psa. 51:1-4; 86:5; 103:3).

- The Law of God is truth (Psa. 119:142); all His commandments are truth (Psa. 119:151); His word is true from the beginning (Psa. 119:160); the Law of God is perfect (Psa. 19:7); the way of the Lord is perfect (Psa. 18:30).

From the New Testament we learn more of the truth of God:

- It is impossible for God to lie (Heb. 6:18; Titus 1:2); God is love (I John 4:8, 16). God loves the world (John 3:16); God is merciful (Luke 7:46-47; 18:13; I Pet. 1:3); God is forgiving (Luke 23:34; Eph. 1:7; 4:32; Col. 2:14; I John 1:7-10).

- Jesus Christ is God manifested in the flesh (I Tim. 3:16; John 1:1-3, 14); Jesus came to reveal God the Father (Matt. 11:27; John 14:28); Jesus is the Lamb of God, sent to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29, 36; Rev. 13:8); Jesus is Savior (Luke 1:47; 2:11; John 4:42; Eph. 5:23; Phil. 3:20; I Tim. 1:1; 2:3; I John 4:14); Jesus is full of grace and truth (John 1:14); Jesus is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the Ending (Isa. 41:4; Rev. 1:8, 11, 17; 21:6; 22:13).

- The Word of God is truth—Old and New Testaments (John 17:17; Col. 1:5; II Tim. 2:15; I Pet. 1:22); Paul and the apostles completed the Word of God—the commandments of the Lord (I Cor. 14:37; Col. 1:25; II Pet. 1:16-21; Rev. 1:11, 19; 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14; 21:5; 22:18-19).

Once we have an overview of the entire Bible, we can see the unity of the truth contained in both the Old and New Testaments—how it is intricately woven together through Jesus Christ and God the Father, forming the complete Word of God, to the exclusion of all other so-called “sacred books.”

In fact, the truth is personalized by Jesus Christ Himself Who said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Also, Jesus emphasizes, “No one can come to Me unless the Father, Who sent Me, draws him” (John 6:44).

While some may consider this to be “spiritual snobbery,” it is not. In the Bible and the Bible alone lies the complete revelation of God’s plan.

Because God is love, He does indeed have an awesome plan and purpose for all mankind— a fantastic destiny of eternal life. Yet, because of the sins of man, God has concealed this vital knowledge in the writings of the Bible. But in these last days, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, God has unveiled the secrets of His plan as contained in His Word—by His Sabbath and holy days. This knowledge is now available to those who truly love and obey God the Father and Jesus Christ.

May God the Father and Jesus Christ bless you with the spirit of understanding, that with confidence in Christ you may comprehend and take hold of the meaning and purpose of your life—“according to the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that is according to godliness; in the hope of eternal life, which God Who cannot lie promised before the ages of time” (Titus 1:1-2).

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, all honor and glory go to God the Father and Jesus Christ for Their great and awesome “Plan for Mankind.” Astonishingly, however, God has not openly revealed His plan even in the pages of the Holy Scriptures—choosing instead to deliberately conceal this vital knowledge. Indeed, the prophets of old—when writing the Old Testament under the inspiration of God—understood few aspects of His plan.

The prophet Daniel, for example, was inspired to write a major prophetic outline of events spanning from the 600s BC to the establishment of the Kingdom of God at Jesus Christ’s return. Naturally, Daniel wanted to know what the prophecies meant. But God’s final message to Daniel was that it was not for him to know: “And he said, ‘Go your way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand’ ” (Dan. 12:9-10).

During His ministry Jesus told the apostles that they would come to understand things that even the prophets had never understood: “[It] has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them [the people and religions of the world] it has not been given. For whoever has understanding, to him more shall be given, and he shall have an abundance; but whoever does not have understanding, even what he has shall be taken away from him…. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, ‘In hearing you shall hear, and in no way understand; and in seeing you shall see, and in no way perceive, for the heart of this people has grown fat, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed….’

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous men have desired to see what you see, and have not seen; and to hear what you hear, and have not heard” (Matt. 13:11-12, 14-17).

The apostle Peter reaffirms what Jesus said. “Concerning which salvation the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you have diligently searched out and intently inquired, searching into what way and what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them was indicating, testifying beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and these glories that would follow; to whom it was revealed that, not for themselves, but to us they were ministering these things, which now have been announced to you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit, sent from heaven—into which things the angels desire to look” ( I Peter 1:10-12).

Jesus Christ provided substantially more knowledge of God’s plan—the “Mystery of God”—to the apostles than any of the prophets and writers of the Old Testament. Yet, He did not reveal the fullness of God’s plan to all of the apostles. Most of them—with the exception of John, Phillip and Andrew—died without a complete knowledge of God’s plan. Jesus revealed the final missing pieces of the puzzle to John, who then wrote the book of Revelation and canonized the entire New Testament, with the help of Phillip and Andrew.

Indeed, the apostles received more knowledge and understanding of God’s plan than any of God’s servants had up to that time. It was not until the New Testament was completed and canonized, however, that God’s entire plan for mankind was recorded. And although the complete Word of God was subsequently preserved and made widely available, the knowledge of God’s plan remained, for the most part, hidden—and would continue to be a “mystery” until the time of the end, just as the Lord had told Daniel (Dan. 12:10). As we will see, the next vital step in God’s plan was to raise up His true Church through Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son—God manifested in the flesh.

God Revealed His Plan to His Church—the True Church of God: Jesus Christ personally proclaimed that He would build His Church and that the gates of the grave would not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18)—and that He would always be with His Church even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20). Jesus Christ Himself established the Church of God on the day of Pentecost in AD 30 (Acts 2). Under the inspiration and power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ used the apostles to preach the true Gospel of salvation and to raise up the many congregations that would comprise the Church of God. The true Church of God is not a building, cathedral, or corporation. Rather, it consists of all the men and women whom God the Father and Jesus Christ have chosen and called out of this world. It is a “little flock” (Luke 12:32) that has been set apart and sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit.

In New Testament Greek the word for “church” is ekklesia, which means “the assembly of called-out ones.” Jesus Christ is the living Head of the Church—also called the “body of Christ” (I Cor. 12:27)—for God the Father “has given Him [Jesus Christ] to be head over all things to the church, which is His body” (Eph. 1:22-23). Throughout the New Testament we find that the body of Christ—which is the true Church of God—consists of many churches, or assemblies, of called-out believers. It was through the preaching and inspired writings of the apostles that the New Testament churches were raised up. We find the early history of the Church of God in the book of Acts, the epistles of James, Peter and John, and especially in the writings of Paul.

Jesus Christ revealed God’s plan and purpose for mankind to His apostles and New Testament prophets, and they in turn taught the congregations of the Church of God. The apostle Paul, for example, wrote: “For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the ministry of the grace of God that was given to me for you; how He made known to me by revelation the mystery (even as I wrote briefly before, so that when you read this, you will be able to comprehend my understanding in the mystery of Christ), which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles might be joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a servant according to the gift of the grace of God, which was given to me through the inner working of His power.

“To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, was this grace given, that I might preach the gospel among the Gentiles—even the unsearchable riches of Christ; and that I might enlighten all as to what is the fellowship of the mystery that has been hidden from the ages in God, Who created all things by Jesus Christ; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places, according to His eternal purpose, which He has wrought in Christ Jesus our Lord, in Whom we have boldness and direct access with confidence through His very own faith” (Eph. 3:1-12).

Paul explains that the purpose of the ministry is to teach the brethren, grounding them firmly into the perfection of Jesus Christ: “And He gave some as apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; until we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; so that we no longer be children, tossed and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men in cunning craftiness, with a view to the systematizing of the error; but holding the truth in love, may in all things grow up into Him Who is the Head, even Christ from Whom all the body, fitly framed and compacted together by that which every joint supplies, according to its inner working in the measure of each individual part, is making the increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love” (Eph. 4:11-16).

Identifying Signs of the True Church of God: There are thousands of churches claiming to be “Christian.” But how does the Bible define and describe the true Church of God? Listed below are major characteristics of the true believers who make up the body of Christ:

1. Has an unwavering belief in Jesus Christ as personal Savior—as one Who was born of the virgin Mary, was God manifested in the flesh, and was crucified for the sins of the world as the perfect sacrifice from God the Father on the Passover day in AD 30; believes that after three days and nights in the grave Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of the Father and ascended bodily into heaven to be received by God the Father as the sacrifice for the sins of the world on the first day of the fifty-day count to Pentecost; and that He returned to the earth that same day to show Himself to the apostles and give them additional instructions for 40 days—and was finally received up into heaven again to sit at the right hand of God the Father as Savior and High Priest to intercede and mediate for His people.

2. Believes that salvation is by grace through faith in the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ—on the condition of deep repentance of past sins and baptism by full immersion in water, after which God the Father gives the begettal of the Holy Spirit to the believer.

3. Has the love and faith of Jesus Christ, and keeps the commandments of God.

4. Holds to the testimony of Jesus Christ and the spirit of prophecy—meaning they will understand the prophecies contained in the Scriptures as Jesus Christ reveals them; awaits the return of Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords, at which time all who have died in Christ—with the saints who are still alive—will be raised to immortality to rule and reign with Christ on the earth.

5. Faithfully keeps the seventh-day Sabbath, the Christian Passover and the annual holy days of God according to the God-ordained calculated Hebrew Calendar. A true Christian will also reject Sunday-keeping and the religious holidays of the established Roman and Protestant “Christian” religions.

A Brief Overview of God’s True Church Through History: For the purposes of this book, it is not feasible to give a detailed history of the true Church of God from the first century to today. A brief overview, however, is essential if we are to understand how the knowledge of God’s plan was both comprehended and disseminated by the churches of God down through the ages.

During the apostolic era, the apostles, elders and ministers of Jesus Christ spread the true Gospel into all the Roman Empire. Starting at Jerusalem, small church congregations were established over time throughout Asia Minor, as well as in Greece, Italy, North Africa, the British Isles, Ireland, Scotland and Norway. Stretching to the East, congregations were formed in Babylon, Parthia and India.

A prophetic history of the Church of God is detailed in the letters to the seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3—a period spanning from the death of the apostle John in AD 95 to the return of Jesus Christ. True to Jesus’ words, there has always been—from the time of the original apostles to today—a small, scattered body of true, faithful believers known as the “children of God.”

After the establishment of the great, state-ordained counterfeit “Christian” religion under Constantine in AD 325, the true churches of God were persecuted and thus scattered. But true followers of Jesus Christ—faithful, passionate and immovable—continued to keep the Sabbath, Passover and annual holy days and feasts of God in Asia Minor, Syria, Armenia and Babylon until nearly AD 1100.

Many who fled the confines of the Roman Empire in AD 325 settled in the Alps, where they were protected by God and continued to observe His Sabbath, Passover and annual festivals for 1260 years. Often referred to as Paulicans or Waldensians, they sent out teams of ministers, two by two, into all of Europe. Typically, they operated “under cover” as merchants in order to avoid persecution and arrest at the hands of Roman Catholic Church officials and clergy.

Likewise, they were able to preach the Gospel and raise up small home churches and small congregations in Switzerland, Austria, Bohemia, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and even Scandinavia. Toward the close of the 14th century, the Roman Catholic Church launched an intense campaign of persecution against the Waldensians—not only because of their adherence to the Sabbath, Passover and many of the holy days, but because they refused to acknowledge the authority of the pope and his hierarchical clergy. They were persecuted as well because they refused to accept Catholicism’s anti-scriptural, “Christianized” pagan sacraments and beliefs: the Eucharist and the transubstantiation of the wine and bread, that God is a trinity, Mary worship, idol worship, prayers to the “saints,” infant baptism, heaven, hell and purgatory, indulgences, Sunday-worship and the pagan holidays of the Roman Church. Thus, the Roman authorities declared them heretics and imprisoned, tortured and killed thousands of stalwart, true Christians. By 1627 the remaining Waldensians had been reduced to a pitiful few thousand who were released from prison and allowed to escape over the Alps to Geneva in the middle of winter.

Other historical records relating to the apostle Paul indicate that the gospel was preached to believers and new converts in the British Isles—as well as in Ireland and Scotland. From that time there were always small congregations of the Church of God—though called by different names. Some eventually formed what later became known as the Celtic Church in Britain. Schools were raise up in Scotland, sending evangelical teams out to preach the Gospel in Europe and Scandinavia.

After the Protestant Reformation in Europe and England, small groups of believers from the Puritans and Seventh Day Baptists fled to the American colonies, where freedom of religion and conscience allowed such groups to flourish. Continuing to call themselves Seventh Day Baptists, numerous small congregations were soon raised up throughout the northern colonies. Eventually they spread to nearly all parts of the United States, becoming collectively known as the Seventh Day Church of God or the Church of God, Seventh Day. In the 1840s, the Seventh Day Adventists church formed, splitting off from the Church of God, Seventh Day. (Detailed accounts of these events are found in two books, A History of the True Religion by Dugger and Dodd, and The History of the Church of God Seventh Day by Richard Nickels.)

While few of these small congregations of the Church of God kept the annual holy days and feasts perfectly, they did strictly observe the seventh day Sabbath and kept the Christian Passover on the 14th of Nisan—the night in which Jesus was betrayed. Though their works and knowledge were incomplete, they were nonetheless God’s people.

Beginning in the early 1900s, Church of God, Seventh Day minister G. G. Rupert began a revival of the observance of the holy days and feasts of God. As he and his followers began keeping God’s feasts, God began to reveal to Rupert the meaning of those days— and their importance in God’s plan. In 1917—after studying Rupert’s explanations of God’s holy days—Elder Cole Sr. brought this vital information to the attention of the Church of God, Seventh Day leadership, elders Dugger and Dodd. At that time, Dugger and Dodd rejected the scriptural information concerning God’s festivals. (In the 1950s, however, Dugger accepted the truth of God’s holy days and relocated his organization’s headquarters to Jerusalem— from which he actively preached God’s Sabbath and festivals, raising up many Church of God, Seventh Day congregations on the East Coast of the United States.)

Elder Cole Sr. taught his son Otis about God’s Sabbath and holy days. In 1927, Otis Cole and his family fellowshipped with a small Church of God, Seventh Day congregation near Eugene, Oregon. That same year, Herbert W. Armstrong and his wife Loma attended with Cole and began to understand God’s Sabbath and holy days.

Armstrong was ordained an elder in the Church of God, Seventh Day in 1931. In 1932, Armstrong likewise presented the truth about God’s holy days to Dugger and Dodd. Again, they rejected the information. Subsequently—after a split in the Church of God, Seventh Day in Eugene—Armstrong formed another congregation where he could preach the truth of God’s Word, including the holy days. While still working with Church of God, Seventh Day organizations headquartered in Denver, Colorado, and Salem, West Virginia, Armstrong began intensive evangelistic campaigns. In the early 1930s, radio broadcasting was fast becoming a powerful medium for preaching the Gospel. In 1934, Armstrong began a radio ministry in Eugene, Oregon—with a program called “The World Tomorrow”—which led to the formation of what he called the “Radio Church of God.” Later that same year, Armstrong began publishing The Plain Truth magazine, which ultimately proved to be the more effective of the two in building up church membership.

The church and radio ministry grew rapidly, prompting Armstrong to relocate to Pasadena, California, in 1947. He also founded Ambassador College that year—with a beginning class of only five students—in order to train men and women to serve the growing number of congregations God was raising up as a result of Armstrong’s efforts.

In 1953, the “The World Tomorrow” program began airing on Radio Luxembourg in Europe, a major step in the growth of what Armstrong called “the Work.” Indeed, “the Work” grew at an unheard-of pace throughout the 1950s and ’60s. Armstrong added a second Ambassador campus in Bricketwood, England, in 1960—with a third campus established in the early 1970s in Big Sandy, Texas. Beginning in the late 1950s, the responsibility of then-worldwide radio program began to shift to Armstrong’s son, Garner Ted. For the next 25 years or so, Garner Ted Armstrong would be the voice of “The World Tomorrow” program—which eventually grew to be heard on thousands of radio stations around the world, reaching millions of people.

But in the 1970s Armstrong’s organization—which by then had been renamed the “Worldwide Church of God” (WCG)—began to experience internal strife and division. Corruption was rampant, often involving gross sexual sin; millions of dollars of income were misappropriated. Armstrong attempted to “clean house”—and was ultimately forced to remove Garner Ted in 1978 for continued and repeated sexual sin.

Ted subsequently formed the Church of God International, from which he was expelled in 1995 for similar adulterous affairs. He then founded the Intercontinental Church of God, which continued until his sudden death in September 2003.

Throughout much of the 1980s the WCG again found its stride—powerfully proclaiming the true Gospel to the world until Herbert Armstrong’s death in January 1986 at age 93. By that time, worldwide attendance was around 120,000, with nearly a thousand ministers and thousands of elders. At its peak, there were nearly eight million monthly subscribers to The Plain Truth magazine, and “The World Tomorrow” television program was rated as the number two religious program in America. The WCG’s annual income neared $200,000,000—more than Jerry Falwell and Billy Graham combined pulled in.

Just before his death, however, Armstrong appointed Joseph W. Tkach Sr. as his successor— a move that would prove devastating to proclaiming the truth of the Scriptures and would signal the impending demise of the organization. As many would ultimately come to realize, it was in fact the beginning of the correction of God against an apostate church and ministry.

Strongly influenced by his son, Joseph W. Tkach Jr., and other apostate ministers, Tkach set out to methodically transform the WCG, bringing it into alignment with mainstream Protestantism—primarily to attract the admiration and approval of the world’s “Christian” leaders. In September 1995, Tkach died of cancer, leaving his son, Joe Tkach Jr., as successor. Almost immediately, the downward spiral accelerated: the Gospel was corrupted; the Law of God was proclaimed (as do Protestants) to be non-binding; the Sabbath and holy days were dismissed and rejected as “Jewish.” Tkach Jr. began to institute the observance of Sunday and several pagan holidays. These moves caused the WCG to fragment even more—with hundreds of ministers and thousands of members leaving to form other churches of God in order to hold fast to the true teachings of the Bible and Jesus Christ.

Within the space of a few years, the glory of the WCG was gone—its ministry and membership decimated, scattered among literally hundreds of so-called “splinter” groups. Indeed—because of the widespread collective sins of the church’s leadership, ministers and members—Jesus Christ, the true Head of His Church, has resoundingly brought the WCG and its colleges to “nothing.” In a few short years, their memory will all but evaporate— being only a footnote recounted by history. Thus, the Armstrong era came to an ignominious end.

But Jesus Christ is true to His word—for out of the ruins of the WCG and the Armstrong era, God has raised up a remnant of numerous faithful ministers who continue today to proclaim the true Gospel—teaching the true meaning of the Sabbath and the holy days, and serving the needs of God’s faithful brethren. As in ages past, they firmly stood for God the Father, Jesus Christ and the truth of the Word of God—and did not fall victim to Satan’s relentless assaults against the churches of God.

Because of the widespread corruption and sins of the WCG, the author resigned on the Day of Atonement, October 1979. He and his wife Dolores made their stand for the truth of God—especially for the Sabbath and holy days of God (See About the Author). The Christian Biblical Church of God and Coulter’s ministry—providing audio/video sermons, books and other literature expounding the truth of the Bible—has now grown worldwide and is serving approximately 4,500 faithful brethren. In addition, in 2006, nearly 400,000 people visited the church’s Website (cbcg.org) to download various audio messages and written material.

According to the Bible Sabbath Association, it is estimated that the churches of God today number well over 500 worldwide—with over 340 coming from the scattering of the WCG. This includes large and small church organizations in virtually every nation, comprising thousands of ministers and hundreds of thousands of true believers who keep God’s Sabbath and holy days. Of the known churches of God, the majority are located in the United States—not counting the tens of thousands of “house churches” across the nation and around the world.

In addition, there is an unknown number of small churches of God and isolated faithful believers around the world who live by the Bible, keep the Sabbath and some the holy days. The Seventh Day Adventist movement has grown into a vast organization with nearly three million members worldwide, including approximately 100,000 who also observe the annual holy days of God. Finally, it is estimated that there are ten million Sabbatarian Christians worldwide—including hundreds of thousands of underground Sabbath-keepers in China alone.

This short overview gives a thumbnail sketch of the history of the true Church of God from the time of Jesus Christ until today. It is quite different from the traditional “Orthodox” history presented by the counterfeit “Christianity” of this world.

Remember Jesus’ instruction to His disciples: “[It] has been given to you [the true disciples and the true Church of God] to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them [the world with its counterfeit religions] it has not been given” (Matt. 13:11). Thus, the true scriptural knowledge and understanding of God’s plan for mankind—as revealed by His Sabbath and holy days—will not be found in the churches of Orthodox Christianity. God only imparts this knowledge to those who love Him and keep His commandments— including His commanded seventh-day Sabbath and annual holy days. On the other hand, all who reject God’s Sabbath and holy days—and instead observe Sunday and various pagan holidays—are excluded from this vital, revealed knowledge. As Jesus said, in “seeing, they see not; and hearing, they hear not; neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, ‘In hearing you shall hear, and in no way understand; and in seeing you shall see, and in no way perceive; for the heart of this people has grown fat, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed…’ ” (verses 13-15).

Consequently, very little of the knowledge of God’s plan for mankind that you will read in this book and hear from the CD messages will be found in the Orthodox Christianity of this world. It is only found in the Word of God and revealed to those ministers and congregations of the true Church of God who observe the Sabbath and annual holy days. As Jesus said to His disciples, “Blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous men have desired to see what you see, and have not seen; and to hear what you hear, and have not heard” (verses 16-17).

May Jesus’ blessing be upon you as you read and study this book and listen to the sermons—so that you may be able to truly understand the biblical truth about God’s plan for mankind as revealed by His Sabbath and holy days.

Further Acknowledgments: Special heartfelt and loving thanks to my lovely wife, Dolores, who gave her encouragement and help in editing much of the introductory material of this book. Thanks to Jim and Betty Hyles—who first suggested that we produce this book. Jim personally assists the author in numerous aspects of serving the brethren, including writing letters and handling administrative and technical matters for the CBCG. His wife Betty reproduces and mails out our four special “Care Packages” of studies and sermons to people who request them.

A special thanks goes to those who did the wearisome work of transcribing the sermons that comprise the main text of this book: Carolyn Singer, Michael Schwartz, Bonnie Orswell, Judith Anderson and Sasha Vogele. John and Hiedi Vogele did the tedious job of compiling and laying out the pages of the book. Dick and Bette Young proofread many of the transcripts. We acknowledge our editor, Philip Neal, for his editing of the non-transcript portions of the book. Finally, special thanks go to Cindy Curley—Curley Creatives—for the beautiful art work and design of the front cover. None of this, however, could have been accomplished without the ongoing love, prayers and support of thousands of God’s people.

All of us together can affirm what Jesus told His apostles: “My meat is to do the will of Him Who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do not say that there are yet four months, and then the harvest comes. I say to you, look around. Lift up your eyes and see the fields, for they are already white to harvest. And the one who reaps receives a reward, and gathers fruit unto eternal life; so that the one who is sowing and the one who is reaping may both rejoice together. For in this the saying is true, that one sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that in which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor” (John 4:34-38). How true this is today! Indeed, we have entered into the sowing and reaping of nearly two thousand years of God’s true ministers and servants down through history—many of whom willingly gave their lives in standing up for the truth so that we, in the end times, may reap of their labor. May God the Father and Jesus Christ count us worthy to receive and share the knowledge of this awesome plan for mankind as revealed in the Word of God.

Fred R. Coulter
Winter 2007, 2013

About the Author

Fred R. Coulter attended the University of San Francisco and graduated from San Mateo State College before graduating from Ambassador University (Ambassador College), Pasadena, California, with a BA in Theology in 1964. He was ordained a minister of Jesus Christ in 1965 and pastored churches of God in the Pacific Northwest, the Mountain States, the greater Los Angeles area and Monterey, including the central coast area of California. Coulter completed advanced biblical and ministerial studies from 1972 to 1975 under the Ambassador University Master’s program. While completing these studies, Coulter was encouraged by his professor of Koiné Greek to consider translating the books of the New Testament.

After completing his formal instruction in Koiné Greek, Coulter continued to expand his knowledge of Greek for the next twenty years by undertaking a verse-by-verse study of the books of the New Testament using the Byzantine Text. In the course of his study, Coulter was ultimately moved to translate the New Testament into clear, easy-to-read English for contemporary readers. After twelve years of diligent translating, The New Testament In Its Original Order—A Faithful Version With Commentary was completed and published 2004.

Coulter has dedicated his life and talents to proclaiming Jesus Christ as personal Savior for all. Since 1983, he has had an active ministry as president and pastor of the Christian Biblical Church of God, Hollister, California. The CBCG has offices in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, South Africa and the United Kingdom serving thousands of people.

Each year nearly 400,000 people from around the world actively utilize the CBCG’s websites—where they find timely, inspiring audio sermons and in-depth biblical study materials covering virtually every topic in Scripture.

With his ministry now spanning 42 years, Fred R. Coulter has again been inspired to undertake the publication of this book, God’s Plan for Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days. This book expands upon the knowledge and information contained in another of his books, Occult Holidays or God’s Holy Days—Which?

Other Works by Fred R. Coulter

The New Testament In Its Original Order—A Faithful Version With Commentary is a new translation and is the only English New Testament that has the books arranged in their original order. It retains the grace and grandeur of the King James Version while clarifying many of its problematic passages. Included are commentaries that answer the questions: What is the New Testament? Who wrote it? When was it written? When was it canonized? Who canonized it? Other commentaries detail the history and preservation of the Bible. Appendices contain many detailed studies of controversial New Testament teachings. This 928-page book is an absolute must for all Christians.

A Harmony of the Gospels In Modern English brings to life the message and purpose of the true Jesus, portraying His life and ministry in their true historical setting. This easy-to-understand, step-by-step account of the life of Jesus Christ is an indispensable study aid for every serious Bible student.

The Christian Passover is a book of over 500 pages that details the scriptural and historical truths of the Passover in both the Old and New Testaments, leading the reader through every aspect of one of the most vital and fundamental teachings revealed in the Bible. It fully explains the meaning of the Christian Passover—a remembrance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ the Passover Lamb of God—in a most thorough and inspiring manner. The full meaning of the body and blood of Jesus Christ is revealed, showing the magnitude of God’s love for every person.

The Day Jesus the Christ Died—the Biblical Truth About His Passion, Crucifixion and Resurrection is the ONLY BOOK to present the whole truth and nothing but the truth! It presents the “rest of the story” left out by Mel Gibson in his epic movie The Passion of the Christ. Without the true historical and biblical facts, no one can fully understand the meaning of Jesus Christ’s horrific, humiliating and gruesome death by beating, scourging and crucifixion. The author presents the full biblical account in a most compelling way. As you will see, the truth is more astounding and profound than all of the ideas, superstitions, traditions and misbeliefs of men!

Occult Holidays or God’s Holy Days—Which? For centuries the leaders of Orthodox Christiandom have sold popular holidays—Halloween, Christmas, New Years, Easter, etc.—to the masses as though they had “Christian” meaning. This book effectively demonstrates that these celebrated holidays are not of God—but originated from ancient, pagan religions rooted in satanic occultism, witchcraft, the feminine divine and “New Age” spirituality. Contrary to the false ideas of men, the true biblical holy days and feasts of God have deep spiritual meaning and outline God’s fantastic plan of slavation for all mankind—past, present and future—as revealed in the Holy Scriptures.

The Seven General Epistles is designed for an in-depth verse-by-verse study of the epistles of James; I and II Peter; I, II and III John and Jude. As part of the living Word of God, these epistles are as meaningful today for personal Christian growth as when they were first written.

Lord, What Should I Do? is a book for Christians who are faced with a confusing world of a compromised “Christianity”—in which false doctrinal teachings undermine the true faith of the Bible. This book clarifies the problem and shows what God requires a person to do—if they are to truly find God the Father and the true faith of Jesus Christ. On-line Studies for the serious Bible student—with written study materials and indepth audio sermons—can be found at cbcg.org and biblicaltruthministries.org.

About This Book

God’s Plan for Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days is unique in four major ways. First, it is intended for the advanced, serious-minded Bible student who has a sound, basic knowledge of the Bible, as well as an understanding of God’s weekly Sabbath and holy days. This book contains what the apostle Paul calls “strong meat” or “solid food”—as opposed to the “milk of the Word” which is for beginners. “For everyone who is partaking of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness because he is an infant. But solid food [strong meat] is for those who are fully grown [spiritually mature and grounded in the Word of God through years of study], who through repeated practice have had their senses trained to discern between good and evil” (Heb. 5:13-14).

While this book is generally not for “novices” who have newly come to the faith of Jesus Christ—or for those who are simply curious—it is possible for anyone to understand what is presented here. However, such individuals will need to apply themselves more diligently in order to fully grasp the deeper spiritual meaning of the Scriptures. Consequently, it is strongly recommend that those who are “new in the faith” first read the book Occult Holidays or God’s Holy Days—Which? This book details the basic meaning of God’s Sabbath and holy days as contrasted with the holidays of the pagan “Christianity” of the orthodox religious establishments of this world. After first reading Occult Holidays or God’s Holy Days—Which?, the meatier material contained in God’s Plan for Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days will be much easier to comprehend.

Second, this book is a compilation of sermon transcripts. As such, it is not written in customary book-style composition. Rather, the transcriptions are a literal, word-for-word rendering of some of the best in-depth sermons by the author about God’s Sabbath and holy days. The sermon transcripts have a more flexible style and cadence in comparison to the more rigid style and structure of formal composition.

Third, it is not designed for passive reading. Rather, this book should be used for active, in-depth Bible study in combination with the thirty-two sermons that have been recorded on the accompanying set of four CDs (MP3 format). When you listen to the sermons and actively study along with the transcripts, you will absorb and retain the information longer because you are using both the sense of sight and sound in a concentrated manner at the same time.

Fourth, the bibliography for this book includes only the Holy Bible. No other sources have been used, with the exception of a few short quotes from historical sources that substantiate a few specific scriptures. As such, this book follows God’s direct charge for ministers to preach and teach the Holy Scriptures—and not the mythological religious traditions of men. Notice Paul’s charge to Timothy: “I charge you, therefore, in the sight of God, even the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is ready to judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the Word! Be urgent in season and out of season; convict, rebuke, encourage, with all patience and doctrine. For there shall come a time when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but according to their own lusts they shall accumulate to themselves a great number of teachers, having ears itching to hear what satisfies their cravings; but they shall turn away their own ears from the truth; and they shall be turned aside unto myths [the religious traditions of men]” (II Tim. 4:1-4).

Finally, this book lays out the critically important scriptural meaning of God’s weekly Sabbath and annual holy days, which are the major keys to understanding prophecy and that reveal God’s master plan for mankind. This knowledge has been concealed from the majority of people because they refuse to believe God—refuse to hear His word, to obey His laws and commandments and do not live their lives by every word of God. Consequently, the established Orthodox Christianity of this world disparages, rejects and refuses to keep God’s Sabbath and holy days.

For those who already have a basic knowledge of the Bible, this book can systematically cement your understanding of the deeper spiritual meaning of God’s Word. The reader is encouraged to start at the beginning and go step-by step through the book to the end, while simultaneously listening to the sermons. May God the Father and Jesus Christ bless you with understanding so that you may learn the inspired, deeper spiritual truths of God as you read this book and listen to the sermons.

Fred R. Coulter
Winter 2007, 2013

Prologue

As incredible as it may seem, God has deliberately hidden His plan for mankind from the wise and intelligent of this world—from the leaders in government, religion and education— as well as from philosophers, ancient and modern. In fact, God has blinded men to His true purpose throughout all ages!

Why has He done this? Surely God would want us to have an understanding of His plan, to know why mankind was created, why we are here—would He not? The answer is simple: Beginning with Adam and Eve, all humans have sinnned and rebelled against God (Rom. 3:9, 23). Sin is the transgression of the Law (I John 3:4). Rebellion is the refusal to walk and live God’s way. Consequently, the human mind has been spiritually blinded and God has hidden His plan from mankind.

This sin and rebellion began with Adam and Eve, who had direct personal access to their Creator God in the Garden of Eden. They walked with God and talked with God. They had personal, face-to-face fellowship with Him daily—and especially on the holy Sabbath. After putting Adam in the garden to dress and keep (or guard) it, “God commanded the man saying, ‘You may freely eat of every tree in the garden. But you shall not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. For in the day you eat of it, in dying you shall surely die’ ” (Gen. 2:16-17).

However, instead of loving and obeying their Creator, Adam and Eve chose to believe the serpent, Satan the devil. He lied to them and assured them that if they ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, that “in dying you shall not surely die.” (Gen. 3:4)

As a result, true to God’s word, they received in their very being a sinful nature that is enmity against God and His laws—and came under the penalty of death. Likewise, all of their descendants received by inheritance this sinful nature, which is the inner “law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2). After Cain murdered his brother Abel, sin and rebellion against God multiplied and intensified until the whole civilization of man became so corrupt and wicked that God had to destroy all flesh with the univeral flood of Noah’s time, saving only Noah and his family and the animals in the ark.

The apostle Paul describes this rebellion of men and their rejection of God—as well as God’s punishment against them: “Indeed, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest among them, for God has manifested it to them; for the invisible things of Him are perceived from the creation of the world, being understood by the things that were made—both His eternal power and Godhead—so that they are without excuse; because when they knew God [before and after the flood], they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but they became vain in their own reasonings, and their foolish hearts were darkened. While professing themselves to be the wise ones, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed creatures, and creeping things.

“For this cause, God also abandoned them to uncleanness through the lusts of their hearts, to disgrace their own bodies between themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie [Satan the devil’s lie that he was god]; and they worshiped and served the created thing more than the one Who is Creator, Who is blessed into the ages. Amen” (Rom. 1:18-25).

As a result of mankind’s sin and rebellion, both before and after the flood, God blinded their hearts and minds to His spiritual truths and abandoned them to their own devices and religions. In fact, because of their sin and worship of Satan, God deliberately hid the true knowledge of His plan and purpose for mankind.

Where then did God hide this precious knowledge? Must we go up into the heavens to find it? Or, shall we go to the bottom of the ocean to locate it? Is it written in some long lost book, or inscribed on golden tablets buried deep in the earth that are yet to be discovered? Where is the knowledge of God’s plan for mankind and how do we find it?

The truth is that today, the plan of God, also called the mystery of God, is hidden in plain sight—right in front of everyone’s eyes. It’s in the Bible. Incredibly, however, the vast majority of the billions of people who possess Bibles do not understand God’s true plan and purpose as revealed in the Scriptures. Yet, God put it there in plain sight! But people do not recognize the truth—because the truth must be revealed spiritually by God through the proper handling of the Word of God. While some people who read the Bible may know a few details about God’s plan, the fullness of that plan has been hidden.

Why is it possible for people to have the Word of God, read it, and yet not comprehend God’s plan for mankind?

First, most people do not keep the commandments of God, because they believe God’s laws have been “done away”: “[All] His commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness…. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they who do his commandments…. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who delights greatly in His commandments” (Psa. 111:7-8, 10; 112:1). Without first keeping the commandments of God, it is impossible for anyone to truly understand the Word of God and come to the knowledge of His plan.

Second, the majority of people who have the Bible have closed their eyes to God’s Sabbath and holy days—which are also holy Sabbaths—and refuse to keep them. They have instead substituted their own traditions—Sunday-keeping and the holidays of this world. God’s message to them is: Repent, obey My voice, and keep My laws, My commandments, My Sabbath and My holy days. As the prophet Isaiah admonished the children of Israel, and the Gentiles as well: “Thus says the LORD, ‘Keep you judgment, and do justice: for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed [together with His purpose and plan for mankind]. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it; that keeps the Sabbath from polluting it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil’ ” (Isa. 56:1-2). And again, “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words: then shall you delight yourself in the LORD…” (Isa. 58:13-14).

In the New Testament, in Paul’s epistle to the Hebrews, he makes it abundantly clear that Sabbath-keeping is for New Testament Christians: “There remains, therefore, Sabbath-keeping for the people of God [Jews and Gentiles]” (Heb. 4:9).

Third, most do not have the Holy Spirit of God to lead them to understand the spiritual meaning of the Word of God. Jesus said, “It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63). Furthermore, God does not give His Holy Spirit unless one has repented of sin and has been baptized, and is living a life of love and obedience to God (Acts 2:38; 5:32).

Thus, we find that although people may read the Bible, they cannot understand God’s plan contained in its pages. To them it is a great, unfathomable mystery!

God’s Plan for Mankind is Hidden Throughout the Bible

God’s plan actually begins in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. That plan, however, was not fully unveiled until the apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, in AD 95.

Few people realize that the Lord God of the Old Testament was the One Who became Jesus Christ of the New Testament. He was the One Who created Adam and Eve and all things. He was the One Who dealt directly with the godly men of old—Abel, Enoch and Noah. He was the One Who called the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and person- ally dealt with them. He was the One Who called Moses to bring Israel out of their slavery in Egypt. He was the One Who gave them the Law at Mount Sinai.

He was the Word of God Who spoke to the prophets of old, such as Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel and all the other prophets. He inspired the Psalms of David, the Proverbs of Solomon and the other writings of the Old Testament. In every one of these inspired writings, various aspects of God’s plan and purpose for mankind are concealed— they are a mystery. Though these great men of God were inspired to write the words of God, they did not fully grasp His plan or timetable for working out that plan. God intentionally did not divulge it to them. Even Daniel—to whom God revealed many prophecies that stretched from his time, in the fifth century BC, to the end of the age and the beginning of the Kingdom of God on earth—did not understand them. After receiving his final vision, he asked the Lord, “And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, ‘O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?’ And he said, ‘Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise [those who love and obey God] shall understand’ ” (Dan. 12:8-10).

The Teachings of Jesus Christ in the New Testament
Reveal More of God’s Plan—the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God

It was more than 4,000 years after God created Adam and Eve that He began to more fully reveal His plan for mankind through Jesus Christ, the Son of God the Father. Jesus was God manifested in the flesh, born of the virgin Mary. He came to magnify the Law and make it honorable, as Isaiah prophesied: “The LORD is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will magnify the Law, and make it honorable” (Isa. 42:21). In magnifying the Law, Jesus brought the Law to its fullest measure, making clear its spiritual meaning and intent. The Hebrew word for “magnify” is gadal which means: to advance, boast, exceed; to become, do, give, make greater, increase and magnify. The Hebrew word “honorable” is adar which means: to expand, to be great or magnificant.

Contrary to what many religious leaders teach, Jesus did not do away with the Law. Beginning with the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7), Jesus magnified the Law by teaching the spiritual meaning of the Law and the Prophets: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until the heaven and the earth shall pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no way pass from the Law until everything has been fulfilled” (Matt. 5:17-18). Moreover, He also said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’ ” (Matt. 4:4). (To understand how Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets, see A Harmony of the Gospels—the Life of Jesus Christ, Coulter, pp. 73-96.)

Jesus Christ’s first coming fulfilled hundreds of prophecies as recorded in the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms. In addition to magnifying the Law and the Prophets, Jesus revealed a great deal more about the meaning of God’s Sabbath and holy days.

Luke writes this account of Jesus’ teaching on the Sabbath day in Nazareth: “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and according to His custom, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. And there was given Him the book of the prophet Isaiah; and when He had unrolled the scroll, He found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; for this reason, He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal those who are brokenhearted, to proclaim pardon to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth in deliverance those who have been crushed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord’ ” (Luke 4:16-19). In fact, recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the direct teachings of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is God’s message of the good news of personal salvation and the coming Kingdom of God, which is also revealed by the Sabbath and holy days.

When Jesus began His three and one-half-year ministry, He preached repentance and forgiveness of sin: “Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time has been fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has drawn near; repent, and believe in the gospel’ ” (Mark 1:14-15).

Another primary purpose of Jesus coming in the flesh was to reveal God the Father to those whom He would call: “At that time Jesus answered and said, ‘I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to babes. Yes, Father, for it was well pleasing in Your sight to do this. All things were delivered to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son personally chooses to reveal Him’ ” (Matt. 11:25- 27). Jesus did not reveal God the Father to the world in general, but only to His called and chosen disciples—those truly converted believers who love Him and keep His commandments (I John 5:2-3).

For this reason Jesus spoke to the people in parables. His disciples, however, did not understand His use of parables and questioned Him: “And He answered and said to them, ‘Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has understanding, to him more shall be given, and he shall have an abundance; but whoever does not have understanding, even what he has shall be taken away from him. For this reason I speak to them in parables, because seeing, they see not; and hearing, they hear not; neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, ‘In hearing you shall hear, and in no way understand; and in seeing you shall see, and in no way perceive; for the heart of this people has grown fat, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and should hear with their ears, and should understand with their hearts, and should be converted, and I should heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous men have desired to see what you see, and have not seen; and to hear what you hear, and have not heard” (Matt. 13:11-17).

The apostle Peter later confirmed Jesus’ words, stating that even the prophets of old—though they had some partial knowledge and even wrote of the coming grace of God— did not understand God’s plan of salvation: “Concerning which salvation the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you have diligently searched out and intently inquired, searching into what way and what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them was indicating, testifying beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and these glories that would follow; to whom it was revealed that, not for themselves, but to us they were ministering these things, which now have been announced to you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit, sent from heaven—into which things the angels desire to look” (I Pet. 1:10-12).

Before Jesus’ death and resurrection, He revealed to His apostles and disciples additional knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God—the secret plan of God. Then, on the night of Jesus’ last Passover, before His arrest and subsequent crucifixion, Jesus informed them that God the Father would send the power of the Holy Spirit upon them which would give them additional insight and revelation: “But when the Comforter comes, even the Holy Spirit, which the Father will send in My name, that one shall teach you all things, and shall bring to your remembrance everything that I have told you…. [When] that one has come, even the Spirit of the truth, it will lead you into all truth because it shall not speak from itself, but whatever it shall hear, it shall speak. And it shall disclose to you the things to come [in prophecy and more of God’s plan]. That one shall glorify Me because it shall disclose to you the things that it receives from Me” (John 14:26; 16:13-14). When they received the Holy Spirit, they began to comprehend the spiritual meaning of Jesus’ teachings— just as He had said.

Jesus Revealed More of God’s Plan to the Apostles
After He was Raised From the Dead

After God the Father raised Jesus from the dead, Jesus personally appeared to His apostles and disciples and began to explain God’s plan as contained in the Old Testament. In fact, the apostles and disciples themselves did not fully fathom the meaning of the Scriptures until Jesus opened their minds: “And He said to them, ‘These are the words that I spoke to you when I was yet with you, that all the things which were written concerning Me in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘According as it is written, it was necessary for the Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day. And in His name repentance and remission of sins should be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. For you are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you; but remain in the city of Jerusalem until you have been clothed with power from on high’ ” (Luke 24:44-49).

With the exception of the apostle John, Paul wrote more about the mystery of God than any other New Testament writer. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he made it clear that in order to understand the mystery of God, one must have the Holy Spirit—for that mystery is spiritually revealed. All the human wisdom, philosophies and religions of the world cannot expound God’s plan. Notice: “Rather, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom that God foreordained before the ages unto our glory which not one of the rulers of this world has known (for if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory); but according as it is written, ‘The eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’

“But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things— even the deep things of God. For who among men understands the things of man except by the spirit of man which is in him? In the same way also, the things of God no one understands except by the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is of God, so that we might know the things graciously given to us by God; which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Holy Spirit in order to communicate spiritual things by spiritual means. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (I Cor. 2:7-14).

When Paul wrote to the Ephesians, he again emphasized that the knowledge of the mystery of God and of Christ must be revealed by God Himself through His Spirit and the Word of God: “For this cause [the preaching of the Gospel] I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the ministry of the grace of God that was given to me for you; how He made known to me by revelation the mystery (even as I wrote briefly before, so that when you read this, you will be able to comprehend my understanding in the mystery of Christ [God’s secret plan for mankind], which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles might be joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel” (Eph. 3:1-6).

In writing to the Colossians, Paul revealed that part of the mystery of Christ is Christ dwelling in every converted believer through the power of the Holy Spirit. He also made it clear that what he was writing to them was to become part of the New Testament, thus completing the Word of God. God has perserved His Word so that those whom He would call in future generations would have the knowledge of this great mystery: “Now, I am rejoicing in my sufferings for you, and I am filling up in my flesh that which is behind of the tribulations of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church; of which I became a servant, according to the administration of God that was given to me for you in order to complete the Word of God; even the mystery that has been HIDDEN FROM AGES AND FROM GENERATIONS, but has now been revealed to His saints; to whom God did will to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory; Whom we preach, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, so that we may present every one perfect in Christ Jesus” (Col. 1:24-28).

In the early AD 60s, God revealed additional knowledge of His plan to His apostles and prophets. In some of the most eloquent and spiritually inspiring words of the Bible, Paul wrote of God’s new fantastic revelation of His purpose for those whom He had called and described their personal participation in that plan: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly things with Christ; according as He has personally chosen us for Himself before the foundation of the world in order that we might be holy and blameless before Him in love; having predestinated us for sonship to Himself through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His own will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He has made us objects of His grace in the Beloved Son.

“In Whom we have redemption through His blood, even the remission of sins, according to the riches of His grace, which He has made to abound toward us in all wisdom and intelligence; having made known to us THE MYSTERY OF HIS OWN WILL, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself; that in the divine plan for the fulfilling of the times, He might bring all things together in Christ, both the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth; yes, in Him, in Whom we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestinated according to His purpose, Who is working out all things according to the counsel of His own will; that we might be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in the Christ; in Whom you also trusted after hearing the Word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation; in Whom also, after believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:3-14).

Paul warned the Gentile brethren in Colosse and Laodicea to hold fast to the teachings and knowledge of God’s plan because there were false teachers who were trying to drag them back into the vanities of pagan religious philosophy and angel worship: “Now I want you to understand what great concern I have for you, and for those in Laodicea, and as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, unto the knowledge of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

“Now I say this so that no one may deceive you by persuasive speech. For though I am indeed absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, be walking in Him; being rooted and built up in Him, and being confirmed in the faith, exactly as you were taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

“Beware lest anyone takes you captive through philosophy and vain deceit, according to the traditions of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, Who is the Head of all principality and power. In Whom you have also been circumcised with the circumcision not made by hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, by which you have also been raised with Him through the inner working of God, Who raised Him from the dead.

“For you, who were once dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has now made alive with Him, having forgiven all your trespasses. He has blotted out the note of debt against us with the decrees of our sins, which was contrary to us; and He has taken it away, having nailed it to the cross. After stripping the principalities and the powers, He made a public spectacle of them, and has triumphed over them in it [the crucifixion and resurrection]” (Col. 2:1-15).

Paul admonished the Colossian brethren to realize that they were complete in Christ Jesus. They had true forgiveness of sin and true conversion through the baptism of Jesus Christ and the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Although as Gentiles they were not yet physically circumcised, they had spiritual circumcision of the heart in Christ Jesus (also see Rom. 2:28-29). Since they were now living a life of love and obedience to God the Father and Jesus Christ, they were keeping the Sabbath and holy days of God instead of being involved in pagan sun worship and the heathen religious holidays of the past. As a result, false teachers from outside the church at Colosse were trying to deceive them. With persuasive words they tried to convince the brethren to forsake the true way of the Lord and to once again embrace their former beliefs, which they had forsaken.

In verses 13-14,* Paul was not abrogating the laws and commandments of God or His Sabbaths and festivals. Rather, he makes it clear to these Gentile Christians that it is absolutely essential that they obey God and keep the Sabbath and holy days of God.

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*The King James Version has a gross mistranslation of verse 14, which reads: “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.” The phrase the handwriting of ordinances in this verse comes from the Greek phrase to and has been misinterpreted to mean that the laws and commandments of God as found in the Old Testament were nailed to the cross. Therefore, some wrongly conclude that Paul was doing away with the need to keep the laws and commandments of God. This phrase in the Greek does not in any way mean that the commandments of God were nailed to the cross. The phrase the handwriting of ordinances should be properly translated: “the note of debt with the decrees” of our sins, or “the listing of our sins” against God. The laws and commandments of God were never against anyone. God has commanded us to keep them for our good, so that it may go well with us (Deut. 4:40; 5:16, 32-33; 6:3). When we transgress the Law, we sin (I John 3:4). Our sins are against us, not the laws and commandments of God. Jesus, Who bore our sins in His body, was nailed to the cross. Therefore, the debt of our sins was nailed to the cross with Him. Hence, this verse should be properly translated “the debt against us with the decrees of our sins.” Upon true repentance of sins to God the Father, He blots out the note of debt through the blood of Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins. Jesus Christ, Who knew no sin, was made sin for us. He was nailed to the cross as the sin offering for the sins of the whole world. The note of debt of our sins was symbolically nailed to the cross with Jesus Christ. The commandments of God, which stand forever, were never nailed to the cross.

The phrase the body of Christ in verse 17 refers to the fact that the true meaning of observing the commandments of God—including the festivals and Sabbaths—is found in Christ Himself and in the true church of God. Paul was teaching here that God’s plan is understood by keeping the Sabbaths and festivals—the holy days. The phrase new moon is singular, and as such it is a direct reference to the use of the calculated Hebrew Calendar for determining the true dates and times to keep all of God’s holy days and festivals as set by God. Detailed and technical information concerning the calculated Hebrew Calendar may be obtained by writing to the address in the front of the book, or by e-mailing your request to www.cbcg.org.

Colossians 2:16 does not abolish the dietary laws of clean and unclean meats, the festivals or the weekly Sabbath of God. Rather, Paul is clearly affirming that the Gentiles in Colosse were to continue to observe these commandments as they had been taught. Paul was instructing the Colossians to disregard the criticisms and harsh judgments of those outside the church—because the Sabbath and holy days continued to foreshadow things that were yet to come in God’s plan (just as they still do today). By being faithful and keeping the commandments of God, the Colossians would always be worshiping the true God, be built up in Jesus Christ and never loose the understanding of God’s plan. By true obedience to God the Father and Jesus Christ, they would not be deceived by vain philosophies of men, nor would they be seduced into the worship of fallen angels—Satan and his demons.

Therefore, he admonished them to not unduly worry about what other people thought, nor let anyone judge or condemn them because they were now obeying God and observing His commanded Sabbaths and festivals: “Therefore, do not allow anyone to judge you in eating or in drinking, or with regard to a festival, or new moon, or the Sabbaths, which are a foreshadow of the things that are coming, but the body of Christ. Do not allow anyone to defraud you of the prize by doing his will in self-abasement and the worship of angels, intruding into things that he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his own carnal mind” (verses 16-18).

Upon further examination of his epistles, it is evident that God’s revelations to Paul progressively built a clearer picture of the mystery of God. Thus we understand why God had blinded the children of Israel—so that the Gentiles might receive salvation as well. While he did not fully understand the timing, Paul also knew that at a future time all Israel would be saved: “For I do not wish you to be ignorant of this mystery, brethren, in order that you may not be wise in your own conceits: that a partial hardening of the heart has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in; and so all Israel shall be saved, according as it is written: ‘Out of Sion shall come the Deliverer, and He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is My covenant, which I will make with them when I have taken away their sins.’ On the one hand, concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes; but on the other hand, concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes; because the gifts and the calling of God are never revoked. For just as you once did not believe God, but have now been shown mercy through their unbelief, in the same way also, they have not believed at this time in order that through the mercy shown to you, they also may have mercy shown to them. For God has given them all over to unbelief in order that He might show mercy to all” (Rom. 11:25-32).

Realizing that in the future God would most certainly save all Israel, he glorified God for the greatness of His plan: “O the depth of the riches of both the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unfathomable are His judgments and unsearchable are His ways! For who did know the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who first gave to Him, and it shall be recompensed to him again? For from Him, and through Him, and unto Him are all things; to Him be the glory into the ages of eternity. Amen” (verses 33-36).

At the end of his epistle to the Romans, Paul again states that in past ages the knowledge of God’s mystery had been kept secret. “Now to Him who has the power to establish you, according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that in past ages has been kept secret; but now is made manifest, and by the prophetic scriptures [NT], according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations unto the obedience of faith; to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory into the ages of eternity. Amen” (Rom. 16:25-27). Again, we see that Paul recognized that God’s revelation was not yet complete.

Later, when Paul writes to the Ephesians, he mentions that he had received additional revelations from Jesus Christ about the mystery of God—that the resurrected saints would form a great spiritual family of God the Father: “If indeed you have heard of the ministry of the grace of God that was given to me for you; how He made known to me by revelation the mystery (even as I wrote briefly before, so that when you read this, you will be able to comprehend my understanding in the mystery of Christ), which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles might be joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a servant according to the gift of the grace of God, which was given to me through the inner working of His power.

“To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, was this grace given, that I might preach the gospel among the Gentiles—even the unsearchable riches of Christ; and that I might enlighten all as to what is the fellowship of the mystery that has been hidden from the ages in God, Who created all things by Jesus Christ; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places, according to His eternal purpose, which He has wrought in Christ Jesus our Lord, in Whom we have boldness and direct access with confidence through His very own faith. So then, I beseech you not to faint at my tribulations for you, which are working for your glory.

“For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of Whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; and that being rooted and grounded in love, you may be fully able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height [of God’s purpose], and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses human knowledge; so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him Who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that is working in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all generations, even into the ages of eternity. Amen” (Eph. 3:2-21).

The Keys to Understanding the Mysteries of God: Jesus Christ promised that His true, converted, spirit-led disciples would be given the knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Here are the keys to understanding the plan of God for mankind, as revealed by His Sabbath and holy days:

- We must fully understand and absolutely believe that all Scripture is “God-breathed” (II Tim. 3:16) and “that no prophecy of Scripture [OT or NT] originated as anyone’s own private interpretation; because prophecy was not brought at any time by human will, but the holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (II Pet. 1:20-21).

- In order to understand the Bible and the meaning of the Sabbath and holy days, we must rightly divide the Word of God—which is given precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little (II Tim. 2:15; Isa. 28:9-10).

- God reveals His mysteries only to those who have the Spirit of God, truly love Him, keep His commandments and His Sabbath and holy days, and worship God the Father in spirit and truth (Mark 12:28-30; Col. 2:16; Heb. 4:9; John 4:23-24).

The Revelation of John: While the apostle Paul wrote numerous inspired passages about the mysteries of God and of Christ, God did not give him the final keys that would open the full understanding of God’s plan for mankind. Rather, Jesus gave the final, pivotal revelation to the apostle John, who was the longest-lived original apostle, and the one Jesus specially loved. In approximately AD 95, Jesus gave John visions which He commanded him to record—which became the book of Revelation. This book is the most riveting book of the entire Bible because it encompasses the entire plan of God from beginning to end. In fact, Jesus revealed that He was the beginning and ending, the first and the last, the One Who began and would finish God’s plan (Rev. 1:8, 11; 3:14; 21:6; 22:13). It is vital to note that the book of Revelation cannot be understood without being coupled with critically important passages from the rest of the Bible. A survey of Revelation demonstrates that it is structured upon the framework of God’s holy days and festivals, which reveal God’s plan for mankind:

- Jesus’ death and resurrection (Rev. 1:18; 13:8)—pictured by the Passover.

- The mystery of the seven stars—the seven angels of the seven churches (1:20).

- The mystery of the seven lampstands—the seven churches. Chapters two and three are a prophetic overview God’s church throughout history from the time of John until the return of Jesus Christ—pictured by Passover, Unleavened Bread and Pentecost.

- Chapters four and five reveal the throne of God the Father; Jesus Christ is pictured as the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God, Who would open the seven seals and bring to pass the final, prophetic “great tribulation” of the end time as pictured by the seven seals (Rev. 6:1-17).

- Chapter seven shows the 144,000 and the great innumerable multitude—the last harvest of the saints of God, saved in the final year prior to the first resurrection, which is pictured by Pentecost.

- Chapters eight and nine show six of the seven trumpet plagues—pictured by the Feast of Trumpets.

- Chapter eleven shows the first resurrection at the seventh trumpet (Rev. 11:15- 19)—pictured by Pentecost.

- Chapter fourteen shows the 144,000 who will be the bride of Jesus Christ— pictured by Pentecost.

- Chapters fourteen and fifteen show the harvest of the firstfruits—all the saints from all ages who were faithful—pictured by Pentecost.

- Chapter sixteen details the pouring out of the seven last plagues—the final wrath of God—pictured by Trumpets.

- Chapter nineteen shows the marriage supper of the bride and Christ—pictured by Pentecost—followed by the return of Jesus Christ and the saints to the earth, pictured by Trumpets.

- Chapter twenty shows when Satan will be bound—pictured by the day of Atonement (verses 1-3). Then begins the thousand-year reign of Christ and the resurrected saints—pictured by the Feast of Tabernacles (verse 4-5).

- Chapter twenty describes the final judgment of Satan and the demons—pictured by the day of Atonement (verses 7-10).

- Chapter twenty pictures the Great White Throne Judgment and the second resurrection— the first phase for all those who lived and died from the creation of Adam and Eve until the return of Jesus Christ but were never called. They will be resurrected to a second physical life to be given their first opportunity for salvation— portrayed by the feast of the Last Great Day (verses 11-13).

- Chapter twenty also depicts the final phase of the second resurrection of the incorrigibly wicked (who had committed the unpardonable sin) to a second physical life. All of the wicked will receive their final judgment of the second death as they are cast together into the lake of fire to be utterly consumed—also pictured by the feast of the Last Great Day (verse14-15).

Chapters twenty-one and twenty-two show the completion of the mystery of God— the spiritual Family of God the Father and Jesus Christ having grown great, and the coming of the New Jerusalem with God the Father to the new heaven and new earth to dwell with His family: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice from heaven say, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men; and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His people; and God Himself shall be with them and be their God.

“ ‘And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, or sorrow, or crying; neither shall there be any more pain, because the former things have passed away.’ And He Who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ Then He said to me, ‘Write, for these words are true and faithful.’ And He said to me, ‘It is done [the plan of God is finished]. I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the one who thirsts, I will give freely of the fountain of the water of life. The one who overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son.’… And there shall be no more curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him, and they shall see His face; and His name is in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; for they have no need of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God enlightens them; and they shall reign into the ages of eternity…. ‘I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.’ Blessed are those who keep His commandments, that they may have the right to eat of the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city” (Rev. 21:1-7; 22:3-5, 13-14).

A Prayer of Encouragement: When Paul first informed the brethren of Ephesus about the purpose of God the Father and Jesus Christ, he ended with this prayer for them. It is fitting that we also end this Prologue with his prayer. May God answer this prayer for all those who read and study about the mystery of God and of Christ in God’s Plan for Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days: “I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. And may the eyes of your mind be enlightened in order that you may comprehend what is the hope of His calling, and what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the inner working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above every principality and authority and power and lordship, and every name that is named—not only in this age, but also in the age to come; for He has subordinated all things under His feet, and has given Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body—the fullness of Him Who fills all things in all” (Eph. 1:16-23).

Thus, the prophecy of Moses is fulfilled through the New Covenant with Jesus Christ and God the Father: “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed [in both the Old and New Testaments] belong unto us and to our children for ever [the Church of God, which is spiritual Israel, the children of God] that we may do all the words of this Law [which now includes the entire Bible]” (Deut. 29:29).

Even with all the knowledge that God the Father and Jesus Christ have revealed by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God and His Sabbath and holy days, we also realize that comprehending the absolute reality of God’s spiritual plan for mankind is still like looking through a glass darkly. However, at the first resurrection we will understand the fullness of God’s plan for mankind: “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part shall be set aside. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I reasoned as a child; but when I became a man, I set aside the things of a child. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then we shall see face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know exactly as I have been known. And now, these three remain: faith, hope and love; but the greatest of these is love” (I Cor. 13:9-13).

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“The secret of the Lord is with them who fear Him;
And He will show them His covenant.”
(Psa. 25:14)

“It is the glory of God to conceal a thing;
But the honor of kings is to search out a matter.”
(Prov. 25:2)

“Open my eyes to behold
Wondrous things out of your Law!”
(Psa. 119:18)

“Prove all things;
Hold fast to that which is good.”
(I Thess. 5:21)

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Introduction

The Secret of the LORD!

Greetings everyone—welcome! Today we are going to learn about the secret of the Lord, and how important that is, and our part in it. How is it that we understand the secret of God—and the world does not know? The place to begin is at the beginning.

In the beginning God created Adam and Eve. What God did was enter into a covenant with them—the covenant of the Garden of Eden. God created man and woman to be a in a created, loving relationship. We’re going to see that God desires a relationship with us, a very intimate personal relationship. But we also need to understand that every covenant of God is a created relationship. In those created relationships there are responsibilities that God has declared that are His, and responsibilities that God has declared that are those who participate in the covenant.

We know that when God called Israel out of Egypt, He created a relationship with them and said, ‘I will be your God and you will be My people.’ However, as we have seen, they have never really fulfilled what God intended them to do. We’re going to see some very interesting things concerning the secret of God and the will of God.

In addition to what God has said, here is really quite a profound chapter in the book of the Bible— Isa. 48. This tells us many things if we want to know what God has done, if we want to know what God thinks. We need to understand our response to it, as well. Then we need to study the Word of God. As we go through these things, let’s remember some basic things. God said that ‘man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’ (Deut. 8:3). He repeated it during the temptation that Christ had with Satan the devil that ‘man shall live by every Word of God.’

God has made His will known according to the bounds of the covenant that He has established. You can go back and go through the covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which we won’t do at this time, but what we want to do is focus in on the covenant that God gave to Israel and that how hidden within the words of God are the secrets of God and the secrets of His will—which was not fully revealed until we come to the time of the New Testament, though He has declared these things.

Remember when we first started the Feast in Lev. 23, when I said that God has put all the Holy Days there and that we are to understand them by faith.

In Isaiah 48 we find a review of God’s created relationship with Israel, and how they never really fulfilled it. Yet, in creating that relationship and giving the Word of God, and then later all the histories of the kings, the prophets and all together God revealed certain aspects of Himself and the relationship that He expected from those who enter into covenant with Him.

Isaiah 48:1: “Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and have come out of the waters of Judah; who swear by the name of the LORD and make mention of the God of Israel (but not in truth nor in righteousness)” What God is saying here is that Israel never lived up to the terms of the covenant.

Contrary to everything that men do, down to this day and the perversion of the New Testament and Gospel is this: Men want to take the Word of God and add to it or take away from it, or misinterpret it, and this is done very subtly. Then gradually, just like being a degree or two off course, sooner or later you have gone into strange waters and territory that you know nothing about, and God is not with you.

Here is what the children of Israel always do. This applies today to the modern descendants of the 12 tribes of Israel, especially the 10 tribes, and especially those that are descendant of Joseph. Verse 2: “For they call themselves after the Holy city, and rest themselves on the God of Israel; the LORD of hosts is His name. I have foretold the former things from ages ago; and they went out of My mouth; and I proclaimed them; I acted suddenly; and they came to pass…” (vs 2-3).

Isn’t that what God did when He brought the children of Israel out of Egypt? Yes! Is that not what God did at the time of Jesus’ birth? Yes! Brought it about suddenly! How did Jesus appear to the temple? Just exactly like it says in Mal. 3:1: the messenger was sent before the Lord to proclaim the way and the Lord shall ‘suddenly come to His temple.’ That was fulfilled in the Gospel of John, chapter two. Amazing, isn’t it? They came to pass!

The children of Israel were blinded because they didn’t obey, and here is a principle you can just count on absolutely: If you do not believe and hear and obey, you will be blinded! In being blinded then, you will do things that in your own eyes appear to be right, and something that God ought to accept. That’s the whole story of the children of Israel.

Verse 4: “Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your brow bronze.” Still today by those who profess to be Christians—isn’t that true? Those who profess to be God’s people, the descendants of the ten tribes of Israel. ‘Oh, God is with us.’ But you won’t listen to His Word.

He declares, v 5: “And I have even declared it to you ages ago. Before it came to pass I revealed it to you; lest you should say, ‘My idol has done these things, and my graven image, and my molten image, has commanded them.’ You have heard, see all this; and will you not declare it? I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, and you did not know them” (vs 5- 6). A lot of hidden knowledge in things of God.

Today we’re going to see that God has given us the understanding of His secret, His very plan for the world, of which keeping the Feast of Tabernacles and understanding the meaning of it is a great part. But the rest of the world does not know. Orthodox Christianity does not know. Not one single religion in the world knows anything about the secret things of God according to His own will. We’re going to see how that relates to us, and relates to our calling to be kings and priests and to teach the whole world the will of God.

Verse 7: “They are created now, and not ages ago; even before today you did not hear them; lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’ ” This is why the Word of God is ‘line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little,’ and the Word of God must be properly divided and put together in order to understand the Truth. God does not reveal His Truth—even contained in His Word—

- unless you do the things that please God

- unless you do as God has commanded

- unless you do as Jesus has commanded

Verse 8: “Yea, you did not hear; yea, you did not know; yea, from ages ago your ear was not opened…” We find in 2-Cor. 3 that the veil is over their eyes when the Law of Moses is read. They can’t understand it. That’s why they reject and hate the Holy Days of God. Isn’t that amazing. The very thing that would help them understand about God, they reject, and ‘profess’ that they know God, just exactly as it’s prophesied here in Isa. 48. Think of that!

Here’s why, “…for I surely knew that you would deal very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb…. [The ‘law of sin and death’ within us.] …For My name’s sake I will put off My anger, and for My praise I will hold it back for your sake, that I do not cut you off” (vs 8- 9). God still loves Israel. God is going to correct them, but God is going to glorify His name! God is going to show His greatness! When the Millennium begins, the re-gathering of Israel is going to take place, and He’s going to do a marvelous and wonderful thing. He’s going to remove this obstinance that they have and the ‘sinew of iron’ and give them a ‘heart of flesh.’ Then they will be able to understand. But the Church is given to understand now, and that is a tremendous thing.

Verse 10: “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake, for My own sake I will do it; for why should My name be profaned? …. [God is going to change it so it won’t be anymore.] …And I will not give My glory to another” (vs 10-11). Let’s really understand that, brethren. That’s why Jesus said, ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.’ There is no other way! That’s why Jesus said that He is ‘the door of the sheepfold’ and you have to enter in through the door, not climb up some other way.

Verse 12: “Hearken to Me, O Jacob and Israel, My called; I am He; I am the First, I also am the Last. My hand also has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has stretched out the heavens. When I call they stand up together.” The whole universe obeys God! But Israel doesn’t! The churches that profess His name do not! We in the Churches of God need to!

Verse 14: “Let all of you be gathered together and hear; who among them has declared these things? The LORD has loved him…” Still loved him; O Israel, why will you not hear the Word of God.’ And we can say also, ‘O Church of God, why will you not hear the Word of God and open your heart and open your mind and serve God in Truth, in love, in grace?’

Verse 15: “I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him… [Think about this! God has called you! You have answered the call!] …I brought him and he makes his way succeed. Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning….” (vs 15-16). NO! Everything that God wants man to know He spoke publicly, gave it to His servants and they wrote it so that we can have the Word of God. God says:

- You don’t have to go to heaven to try and find it.

- You don’t have to go clear across the see and try and find it.

- You don’t have to go to the depths under the sea to try and find it.

- It is very near you! In your heart and in your mind

—and that means put in a language that you can understand.

Isn’t that something? Why is it that people credit so much to God, but yet, they won’t love Him and obey Him? Why is it that when they read the Word of God they want to change it and try and improve upon it? Makes no sense at all. You have a perfect God, perfect law, perfect word, perfect character! Can the imperfect character of man, who wants to readjust it and make it better, really do so? Never can!

He hasn’t spoken in secrets. It’s all recorded. That’s why when we come to the New Testament it is the preaching of the Gospel of the witness of Jesus Christ, His crucifixion, death and resurrection and His personal intimate loving family relationship that He has created for us through Jesus Christ. That’s what God wants. The reason that He has given it to us, and it can be maintained the way God wants

- through prayer

- through study

- through yielding to God

- through doing His will

Then He’s going to perfect His character in us so we can bring it to the world. The secret things of God were spoken openly and publicly, but only He can reveal the secrets contained therein.

“ ‘…From the time that it was, there am I.’ And now the Lord GOD, and His Spirit, has sent me. Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, ‘I am the LORD your God Who teaches you to profit…’ ” (vs 16-17). And the only profit is to know—not money, not physical assets, not gold and silver, not power—but to know God! And the only thing that profits is what is done according to the will of God and through the Spirit of God. Only God can make that profit. He says so:

Verse 18: “Oh, that you had hearkened to My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river… [Psa. 1] …and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.”

- constantly coming

- constantly growing

- constantly renewing

Verse 19: “And your seed would have been like the sand, and the offspring of your bowels like grains of sand; their name would not have been cut off nor destroyed from before Me.” But that never happened with Israel. He’s yet to choose them. He’s yet to bring them back. Now He is dealing with His Church.

Psalm 25 is really a tremendous Psalm; it tells us a lot about understanding God, understanding His way, and they had this. Very few were there really ready to yield to God, to do his will. We know that David was. Let’s see how David sought God, and let’s see how it is that we are to do these things. Notice his attitude. Let’s this be part of how we think, of how we come to God, and how God is going to deal with us.

Notice the relationship that David had with God as we can discern it from this Psalm. We always look to God. Remember this: We are always dependent upon God for everything!

- everything physical

- everything spiritual

Psalm 25:1: “To You, O LORD, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in You…” (vs 1-2). That’s what we need to do:

- believe God

- trust God

- love God

- have faith in God

“…do not let me be ashamed, let not my enemies triumph over me.” (v 2). We’re to be overcomers— is that not true?

- overcome Satan the devil

- overcome sin

- overcome the self

- Yes!

Verse 3: “Yea, let none who wait on You be ashamed; let them be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause…. [notice what David cried out for; and God gives this to us as we grow, change, overcome and constantly seek after it]: … Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your Truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You do I wait all the day long” (vs 3-5). This is the attitude that we need to have, brethren, to really grow and fulfill what God has for us, so that we can teach it to the world, to the people.

Verse 10: “All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.” Notice the condition there. No one is going to stand the paths of mercy and truth if you don’t keep covenant. That applies directly to the New Covenant, which is a created relationship between God the Father, Jesus Christ and each individual believer. Combined together we form the Church. God is the One Who does it; those who don’t won’t know.

Verse 12: “What man is he who fears the LORD? He shall teach him in the way that He [God] shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease, and his seed shall inherit the earth…. [That is the Church.] (Here’s where we want to come): …The secret of the LORD…” (vs 12-14). God’s secret plan

- to understand God’s Word

- to understand His Truth

- to receive His Holy Spirit united with the spirit of your mind

- to be able to have the righteousness of

Christ developed within us This is so great, because it is:

- preparing us to rule the world with Christ

- preparing us to be in the Family of God

- preparing us to expand the Family of God beginning with the Millennium!

This is a tremendous thing, v 14: “The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.” That’s the New Covenant that we are in now. When we’re resurrected, there will be another covenant established— the marriage covenant with the Lord, the covenant of the work that we will be doing and teaching the whole world.

God is a covenant God and all of these things are created relationships. That’s the secret of the Lord! Your relationship with Him He created in a special and tremendous way so that through the Word of God you can understand the secret of God.

Let’s see how fantastic this is, brethren. We’re going to look at this and analyze these verses in a way so we can understand them and the truth of it. Of course, we are going to see that God has done something according to His will for us: for us to know, for us to understand.

We then—when we are kings and priests in the Kingdom of God—are going to show the rest of humanity that very thing. We will be elevated to a level of life that is immortal. This is why in the created relationship that we have now with God the Father and Jesus Christ, the covenant sacrifice is the sacrifice of Christ and His shed blood. Our covenant sacrifice is repentance and baptism by full immersion in water, which is symbolic of our death and we are joined to His death. The created relationship! God the Father is our Father and gives us of His Holy Spirit. Here’s what God want with all of us and I want you to focus in on the will of God:

Ephesians 1:1: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.” That means out beyond the city of Ephesus and to all of those who are in Christ all the way down through time. This has been preserved for us so that we have

- the words of God

- the knowledge of God

- the will of God

- the Truth of God

Notice what comes to us first. This is what God wants to bring to us, v 2: “Grace and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”—directly from God. This created relationship is a spiritual relationship that involves the Spirit of God from God the Father and Jesus Christ. We become the begotten children of God.

John expresses it this way, ‘Behold, what glorious love that the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God!’ (1- John 3). Paul writes that ‘if we are children then we are heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ.’ Think of the magnitude of that!

Verse 3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly things with Christ.” Don’t we have a lot of spiritual blessings that have come from heaven?

- the Spirit of God

- the Word of God

- the Truth of God

- understanding His plan Yes, inde ed!

Verse 4: “According as He has personally chosen us for Himself before the foundation of the world…” This doesn’t mean that He knew us before the foundation of the world, but from the foundation of the world, the very plan of building the world, He had a plan that those that He would call would be His spiritual children through Christ. Christ was slain from the foundation of the world.

When you put all of these things together, God has called us and brought us into a tremendous plan that He is fulfilling and working out in our lives, and working out in the lives of all those who have His Spirit; working out everything in the world according to the prophecies that He has given.

“…in order that we might be Holy and blameless before Him in love” (v 4). It is a loving relationship. We stand in grace, we walk in faith, we believe in hope, we live in love! Notice our destiny; this is the secret of the Lord that the world doesn’t know, v 5: “…Having predestinated us for sonship to Himself…”—to be His children. That’s why we can call Him Father, Abba, or Daddy (Rom. 8).

A close, personal, created relationship from God the Father, “…through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His own will.... [and what he is going to do] …To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He has made us objects of His grace in the Beloved Son” (vs 5-6).

That is so fantastic, brethren. Look down here at us, whatever age you are, whatever difficulties you have in your life, whatever things you need to overcome, you are the object of God’s love and grace. This is what we’re going to bring to people in the world. They then will become the objects of God’s love and grace. We were created to be totally dependent upon God in everything.

Verse 7: “In Whom we have redemption through His blood, even the remission of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” Think of that! Notice what he has done and compare this to what the world knows, all those who think they know everything—the elite of the world who proclaim themselves to be the ‘wise ones’—become fools in rejecting God.

Verse 8: “Which He has made to abound toward us in all wisdom and intelligence.” The true education from God—from His Spirit, from His Word.

Verse 9: “Having made known to us the [secret] mystery of His own will, according to His good pleasure…” So, we have:

- according to the riches of His grace

- according to His good pleasure

Stop and think about it for a minute! Remember this time, this moment sitting here at the Feast of Tabernacles and going over these words. When you have a trial, a difficulty, something that comes along, remember: God loves you! And you, through the love of God and the Truth of God— through Jesus Christ—are going to enter into the Kingdom of God and combined, all of us together, are going to bring the love of God to the world. Think of that!

“…which He purposed in Himself” (v 9). Only God could think of a great plan like He has. Look at all the other religions, what do they know? At best they can be a counterfeit! But God has given us the real thing!

Verse 10: “That in the divine plan for the fulfilling of the times, He might bring all things together in Christ, both the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth… [and He’s going to do it] …yes, in Him, in Whom we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestinated according to His purpose…” (vs 10-11). He proposed it before the foundation of the world.

- He has carried it out

- the call has gone out

- we have answered the call

- God has given us of His Truth and His righteousness

He has shown us

- His plan

- His secret

- the reason why we’re here

- the reason why we keep the Feast of Tabernacles, the Sabbath, the Passover—all the Holy Days of God

because contained therein is the secret of God that He reveals. Notice this:

- according to His purpose

- according the riches of His grace

- according to the good pleasure of His will

—this is something! Brethren, do you grasp it? Do I grasp it? Do we all grasp the greatness of God’s plan and His secret that He has given to us?

“…Who is working out all things according to the counsel of His own will; that we might be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in the Christ: (vs 11-12). That’s something! To the praise of the glory of God! That also tells you something very profound—doesn’t it? That just as Paul said, God can do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think! How is that for a God of love, truth and goodness? How do you then compare anything in this world to what God is giving, to the plan of God? You can’t!

Verse 13: “In Whom you also trusted after hearing the Word of the Truth, the Gospel of your salvation; in Whom also, after believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise…. [All of this according to the will of God] …which is the earnest of our inheritance…” (vs 13-14).

- the very fact that you have the Spirit of God united with the spirit of your mind

- the very fact that you understand the Word of God and the Truth of God

- the very fact that you understand the things that Paul has written here

- the very fact that the Holy Spirit of God leads you in Truth and righteousness

- the very fact that God has given you strength and the power to overcome inwardly

That’s the seal of the promise that God will deliver what He has promised! That is something, brethren! That is fantastic!

“…until the redemption of the purchased possession… [that we have been bought and paid for by Jesus Christ] …to the praise of His glory” (v 14). There are hardly any other verses in the whole New Testament, even in the whole Bible, that come close to conveying this tremendous relationship that God has given to us!

This is specially created by God, through Jesus Christ, through the Word of God, through God working His will in our lives. This is tremendous! Think of the responsibility that God has given to us. that He has revealed to us according to His own will His secret plan! That is something that we need to really keep in mind!

Now let’s look at little bit more at the will of God and what this requires of us. We’re going to

see some very important things.

John 1 is so fantastic and reveals so many things to us. Brethren, I want you to grasp and understand as never before. This is how we’re going to be able to endure the difficult days ahead of us. If things that we see happening in the world are any indication of what’s going to go on, we’re going to face some very difficult times. This is why we need to have the hope, the inspiration, the grace and the love of God just completely satiating our mind through the Spirit of God.

Here is what God has done for us, from God directly to each one of us through Christ, John 1:9: “The true light was that which enlightens everyone who comes into the world.” Everyone has the spirit of man—Christ gives it. However, look what happened; look what Jesus did:

Verse 10: “He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, but the world did not know Him.” Exactly what we read in Isa. 48 to begin. God called Jacob, but he just wanted to flatter God and not have true righteousness. Same thing in the world: they want the name of Christ, they preach the name of Christ, but they don’t know Him.

Verse 11: “He came to His own… [He came to Judea. He came to those of which it was prophesied that He would be of the physical linage and to whom He would come can preach the Gospel] …and His own did not receive Him.”

- They hated Him!

- They judged Him!

- They crucified Him!

But through the power of the resurrection God overcame all of it, and here is what He has done for us—this is to us:

Verse 12: “But as many as received Him…” To receive Christ involves everything concerning

- repentance

- baptism

- growing in grace and knowledge

- believing His Word

- living by every Word of God

- receive Him as Savior

- receive Him as Redeemer

- receive Him as our High Priest

“…to them He gave authority… [No one else has the authority, because you have to enter into that created relationship through covenant.] …to become the children of God, even to those who believe in His name… [this is a spiritual thing that must take place]: …who were not begotten by bloodlines, nor by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man, but by the will of God” (vs 12-13). God has done that!

- What does He expect back from us?

- What are we to do?

Let’s see what Jesus says; let’s see what we are to do with the will of God; all the will of God in our lives and everything that we do. Here’s a very basic Scripture that we’ve gone over many times:

Matthew 7:21: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’… [there are a lot’s that do] … shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven…”—what we’re striving to do, enter into it through the power of the resurrection

- to have immortality

- to have a spirit body

- to have a spirit mind

- to love God

- to see God

- to serve God

- to bring peace to this world

“…but the one who is doing the will of My Father Who is in heaven” (v 21). Think on that! Everything that Jesus did was the will of God. He didn’t do it on His own. He didn’t come here to preach His words.

This becomes important because what are we going to do to serve the people in the Millennium? We’re going to teach them God’s ways, God’s words! We are going to open up as God gives us the knowledge. Remember, the knowledge of the Lord is going to cover the earth as the seas cover the earth. What is that going to be like? That’s just on the earth. What is it going to be like in the spiritual realm, the spiritual plane of the Kingdom of God? Here we have the will of the Father!

Let’s see something very interesting in Luke 6. It’s not only the will of the Father that we saw in Eph. 1 and John 1, but come here and let’s see what Jesus also said in addition to the will of the Father. It said in Matt. 7 that you ‘have to be practicing the will of the Father Who is in heaven.’ To practice means that you live by it. Likewise, when we teach people in the Millennium they’re going to learn to practice the will of God; they’re going to understand the will of God.

Everyone who is a good ‘dyed in the wool’ Protestant or Catholic or belonging to any other religion—Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam—all are rejected of God! All are satanic counterfeits of the Truth! Think on this, here’s how you judge these things. Jesus said we have to be practicing the will of the Father Who is in heaven, notice:

Luke 6:46: “And why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but you do not practice what I say?” All the teachings of Christ. No one is going to receive eternal life without practicing the things that Jesus has said.

Verse 47: “Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and practices them, I will show you what he is like.” That has to be the way that you live. God has revealed His secret to us. So, we have to be practicing all of the Word of God—living by it.

Verse 48: “He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the Rock [Christ]; and a flood came, and the torrent beat against that house, but could not shake it, because it was founded on the Rock.”

Let’s just stop and think here for just a minute. How many people did not build their spiritual houses on the Rock of Christ? What’s going to happen? Remember this: there is always a test coming, always a divide coming! These things are going to happen to test and to prove and to eliminate the dross, and to eliminate all those unprofitable servants, those wicked, evil servants, even within the Churches of God.

If you’re built on the Rock, you are going to believe

- through thick and thin

- through every trial, through every difficulty

- through every blessing

- through every great thing of God

and God will give you understanding of His Word, of His Truth. Everything that we saw there in Eph. 1 God is going to give, and He is going to give it to us first, because we believe in Jesus Christ now. Think what it’s going to be like when Christ returns. What are we going to bring to those in the world? The very same thing!

For us, v 49: “But the one who has heard My words and has not practiced them is like a man who built a house on top of the ground, without a foundation; and when the torrent beat against it, it fell at once, and the ruin of that house was great.”

We’re going to look a little bit more at the created relationship that God wants us to have. This is important, because God has given it to us to save the world! Think on that for a minute.

Let’s continue on, brethren, in our study concerning the created relationship that God has with us, and also the secret of the Lord. The world does not know these things. It cannot know these things. It cannot understand these things. We don’t learn them all at once. We learn them by constantly growing in grace and in knowledge.

Even though we’ve gone over this before, let’s go over it again from the point of view that we learn more and more and more even from the same Scriptures that we know and have studied previously. This is why also in the Word of God we study all the way through the Word of God, we go back over it again when we study it again. BING! We understand more things. God’s Spirit gives us understanding. God is working with us and revealing to us the secret of His own will!

1. -Corinthians 2:9: “But according as it is written, ‘The eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’” That’s the key, important thing, brethren: to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, being and everything that is in us, and to love our neighbor as ourself, and the brethren as Christ has loved us— and even to love our enemies.

Remember what Jesus said, the very first words when He was crucified, hanging on the cross: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing! Likewise, they are blinded in the world. But God reveals to us. There’s another principle that we find in Matt. 13—they’re blinded, they can’t hear, so therefore, He speaks to them in parables. Even that which they have understood will be taken from them. But Jesus said, ‘To you it has been given to know the mysteries—the secrets—of the Kingdom of Heaven.’ That has to be revealed by God.

When Jesus asked Peter: ‘Who do men say that I the Son of man am?’ Peter asked all the disciples and they said, ‘Well, some say one of the prophets, some say John the Baptist, and some Elijah.’ Jesus said to Peter, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ Peter said, ‘You are the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus said, ‘Blessed are you Simon Bar- Jonah—that means the son of Jonah—because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but My Father has revealed it to you.’

There is an active illustration of how God reveals things to us. And just like as we have been going through in the series, Grace Upon Grace, God has given us:

- a greater understanding of grace

- a greater understanding of our relationship with Him

- a greater understanding of His Word

—as revealed through His Spirit and through His Word by Jesus Christ and God the Father. It can’t come by intelligence. It can’t come by just reading.

Verse 10: “But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things—even the deep things of God.” That agrees with Eph. 1, the deep things of God.

This is wonderful, brethren! This is marvelous! Keeping the Feast of Tabernacles and understanding what God has given us to understand is absolutely glorious and magnificent! This is just only kind of a foretaste of understanding of what it’s going to be when the real thing occurs. What a thing it’s going to be to the whole world.

Then Paul says, v 11: “For who among men understands the things of man except by the spirit of man which is in him? In the same way also, the things of God no one understands except by the Spirit of God.”

Contrasted with the world—we’ve covered this earlier, but it’s good for us to understand this, v 12: “Now, we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is of God, so that we might know the things graciously given to us by God.” What we’re understanding here is

- by the graciousness of God

- by the goodness of God

- by the Spirit of God

- by the love of God.

God wants us in this created relationship with Him. Then when we’re resurrected and we enter into the covenant with Christ with the marriage, and we enter into covenant of the work that we’re going to do under Christ. Then we are going to directly assist God as the sons and daughters of God to bring every man and woman into this covenant relationship with God. Isn’t that something? Brethren, the whole universe is out there! The whole universe! God’s plan is so great and so marvelous and so beyond the comprehension of our mind, that even though we can state certain things that we know and understand is true, that doesn’t tell us the deep things of God! That doesn’t tell us the depth of what God is going to give to us.

Verse 13: “Which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom…” I’m going to give a sermon down the road about this: How can they preach from the Bible and never know the Truth? That’s something! You talk about the ‘blind leading the blind.’

“…but in words taught by the Holy Spirit in order to communicate spiritual things by spiritual means” (v 13). We can only understand this with the Spirit of God. God has to reveal it! God has to teach it! Christ is directly behind it! God the Father is behind it! He is opening our eyes to see the Truth of the secret of His plan!

Verse 14: “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” That’s why if you say, ‘Read the Bible.’ No, I can’t understand it. So you give it to someone who is unlearned and he says, ‘I can’t understand it either, I’m unlearned.’ That is the dividing line. That’s the whole Truth concerning grace.

Let’s see what Paul writes of this, and let’s see where it’s going to go, and let’s see what it’s going to do, and let’s see what we are going to do, and how then God, through each one of us individually and the Church collectively—remember, the seven churches (Rev. 2 & 3). It has to be done spiritually, and that the eyes of our mind are opened to see, know and comprehend how great a thing this is going to be, brethren.

Romans 8:9: “However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God is indeed dwelling within you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” They don’t receive the Spirit of Christ except legally, lawfully, through the grace of God, through repentance and baptism.

Verse 10: “But if Christ be within you, the body is indeed dead because of sin; however, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Now, if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead is dwelling within you… [we have the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of the Father—both of Them— dwelling in us (John 14). We are a temple of God as Paul defines.] …He Who raised Christ from the dead will also quicken your mortal bodies because of His Spirit that dwells within you. So then, brethren, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh; because if you are living according to the flesh, you shall die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you shall live” (vs 10-13).

That’s growing in grace and knowledge constantly, day-by-day, week-by-week, month-bymonth, year-by-year. Here we are in 2012 at the Feast of Tabernacles—Whoa!—how many more do we have to go? We don’t know! Every time we think it looks like prophecy is going to be fulfilled then something happens so that it gives us understanding. The prophecies of God are going to be fulfilled in such a way that it is going to be to the maximum. When we are looking at things and we see a little bit of it fulfilled, let’s not get all excited and try and speed God up and say, ‘Oh, prophecy is speeding up.’

Remember, prophecy never speeds up or slows down, it is always on time—God’s time! We have a book about that, called: The Appointed Times of Jesus the Messiah.

Verse 14: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. Now, you have not received a spirit of bondage again unto fear, but you have received the Spirit of sonship, whereby we call out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit itself bears witness conjointly with our own spirit, testifying that we are the children of God” (vs 14-16).

Notice what that means; it blends into the Millennium and then this blends into the completion of the Millennium and New Jerusalem and the New Heavens and the new earth. The Word of God goes on forever! These things are here. Here’s a promise, a blessing:

- don’t ever be discouraged

- don’t ever get down

- don’t ever get depressed

Verse 17: “Now, if we are children, we are also heirs—truly, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ…”

- that’s why we will be kings and priests

- that’s why it is worth it to be in the first resurrection

- that’s why God is going to depend upon us to bring His plan of salvation to every man, woman and child beginning with the Millennium.

After that is done, on into the Great White Throne Judgment, and on into the meaning of the Last Great Day, and on into the opportunity for salvation for all the rest of mankind that have been cutoff before because they didn’t respond to God.

“…—if indeed we suffer together with Him, so that we may also be glorified together with Him. For I reckon… [this is how we need to think] …that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us” (vs 17-18). Brethren, that is an amazing, awesome thing, just so inspiring and uplifting!

Notice what the world is waiting for, v 19: “For the earnest expectation of the creation itself is awaiting the manifestation of the sons of God.” They don’t know it! They don’t realize it! They’re out there deceived by Satan the devil, doing his will, his plans, his bidding at the present time, working to bring in Satan’s counterfeit millennium, which is the ‘beast’ of Rev. 13 & 17. Remember, God said He has revealed His secret to us!

The reason they’re waiting for us is, v 20: “Because the creation was subjected to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who subjected it in hope.” All to prove and to show that we all have come from God!

Verse 21: “In order that the creation itself…” That’s why the prophecies talk about the change of the environment, the change of the things in the creation, because the sins of mankind collectively down through time. There have been cycles of it good and bad, blessing and cursing, because it had been subjected to the “bondage of corruption”; “…subjected it in hope.”

Verse 21: “In order that the creation itself might be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God”

I hope that through this Feast of Tabernacles that we can all get a spiritual grasp and understanding and vision of what God wants us to do, and how great that this is going to be. It says in the Proverbs that ‘without vision the people perish.’ We’re talking about the vision of God, knowing that God has “…subjected it in hope.” We are part of that hope. He began this with the Church.

Let’s see what God is doing in the Church right now. Brethren, we all have things we need to change and grow and overcome in. We all have things that we need to work on, and the Truth of God that we need to understand even more. Brethren, let’s all learn together. There’s no such thing as coming to the full knowledge of the Truth in this life. We constantly are growing in it—constantly! I am, and as I do I teach you and you do, and all of together are growing in grace and knowledge. This is the whole purpose of the Church:

Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this especially is not of your own selves; it is the gift of God.”

- How could we ever do the things that are prophesied that we’re going to do without the Spirit and power of God?

- How could we ever overcome evil human nature and be perfected unless it were by the Spirit of God?

Verse 9: “Not of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto the good works that God ordained beforehand in order that we might walk in them” (vs 9-10). Are you going to let God:

- work with you

- mold you

- shape you

- help you

- strengthen you

in everything that you do

- to qualify you

- to bring you to knowledge of the Truth

as never before. It can happen!

Concerning the Gentiles, God did not bring you into Israel. Don’t worry, Israel is not the sum total of what God is doing. The sum total of what God is doing is through His Church

Verse 13: “But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off are made near by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, Who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition” (vs 13-14). The religion of Judaism and the pagan religions of the Gentiles were those walls of partition. How did Christ do it?

Verse 15: “Having annulled in His flesh the enmity, the law of commandments contained in the decrees of men, so that in Himself He might create both into one new man, making peace.” That’s how important the Church is, and how the Church needs to function; how we need to work together; how we need to love each other. That helps us to grow in grace and knowledge and overcoming.

Verse 16: “And that He might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, having slain the enmity by it. Now, when He came, He preached the Gospel—peace to you who were far off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have direct access by one Spirit to the Father” (vs 16-18)—collectively now, the whole Church. Remember, God is no respecter of persons. We all are built on the foundation of Christ.

Verse 19: “So then, you are no longer aliens and foreigners; but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of the household of God…. [In His Family!] …You are being built up on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Cornerstone in Whom all the building, being conjointly fitted together…” (vs 19-21). We all have a part together; the way God brings us together, brethren. This is why understanding these things and having the love of God is so important.

“…is increasing into a Holy temple in the Lord; in Whom you also are being built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit” (vs 21-22). That is accomplished by the grace of God. Let’s see here in Rev. 19 that this proclaims the relationship, proclaims what is going to be done, and it is going to be accomplished while we’re on the Sea of Glass in the clouds before we descend to the earth. God has not left the world to anyone. He’s going to give to Christ and the saints together. We are going to work together to bring it.

After the resurrection takes place and we’re on the Sea of Glass, and the marriage of the Lamb takes place, the marriage supper of the Lamb takes place, that is a New Covenant with Christ. This New Covenant with Christ is going to be between us and Christ and God the Father for

- setting up of the Millennium

- bringing peace to the world

- reconstruction to the world

- the understanding of the Truth of God to everyone

- the changing of human nature from hostility to a heart of flesh

to be able then

- to teach

- to preach

- to guide

- to direct

and all of that under Christ. The greatest time that the world have every seen up to that point. I would have to say that I imagine the second resurrection is going to be greater than that. Just think of the things that God has called us to do, brethren. Have that vision!

Notice, this is just before come to the earth and then we’ll be kings and priests under Christ, Revelation 19:1: “And after these things I heard the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, ‘Hallelujah! The salvation and the glory and the honor and the power belong to the Lord our God. For true and righteous are His judgments; for He has judged the great whore, who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and He has avenged the blood of His servants at her hand.’ And they said a second time, ‘Hallelujah! And her smoke shall ascend upward into the ages of eternity’” (vs 1-3).

Even the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures are all subject to God, as well. They are celebrating in this, as well. Brethren, this is going to be the most fantastic thing that is ever going to happen in our lifetimes and after the resurrection.

Verse 4: “And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, Who sits on the throne, saying, ‘Amen. Hallelujah!’” Think about this, they have been there over God’s throne for eons and eons of the ages of eternity. They have seen how God has unfolded His plan. They didn’t understand all things either, but now they’re seeing, and seeing what God is doing. They are worshipping and praising God, as well.

Verse 5: “And a voice came forth from the throne, saying, ‘Praise our God, all His servants, and all who fear Him, both small and great.’ ” What a praise that is going to be! I wonder what that great hymn is going to be that we are going to be singing.

Verse 6: “And I heard a voice like that of a great multitude, and like the sound of many waters, and the sound of mighty thunderings, saying… [this is all of the resurrected saints collectively together, standing on the Sea of Glass.] (we’re going to say): ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord God Almighty has reigned.’ ” That introduces the Kingdom of God on the earth.

Verse 7: “ ‘Let us be glad and shout with joy; and let us give glory to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb has come…’ ” Now we come down to the earth, we destroy the armies of the ‘beast.’ The false prophet and beast are cast into the Lake of Fire, and that Lake of Fire is for Satan the devil later on. Then we begin. When we’re on the Sea of Glass at the first resurrection.

- we receive our new names

- we receive our assignment

- we receive what we’re going to do

- we’re there for the marriage supper of the Lamb

- we’re there for the giving of the rewards

all of these things! Now, everything is ready to go! God has fully prepared.

Revelation 20:4: “And I saw thrones; and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given to them…

- now we will have the spirit mind of Christ

- now we will have immortal glorious bodies

- now we will have the righteousness of God so we can make the judgments

Remember, we read earlier that we are going to judge angels. Judgment was given to them.

“…and I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and those who did not worship the beast, or his image, and did not receive the mark in their foreheads or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (v 4). Just think what the world is going to be like for the thousand years.

- I wonder what it’s going to be like when we get toward the end of the thousand years?

- I wonder how many people will enter into the Kingdom of God during that time?

- I wonder how fantastic the whole earth is going to be with no sin, no deception: with

- the Spirit of God

- the sons of God

- the love of God

- the faith of God

- all families growing up together

- in happiness

- in joy

- in Truth

- in knowledge

That’s going to be something!

Verse 5: “(But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were completed.)….” There’s and interjection right here, because there’s more in God’s plan to come— which we’ll cover on the Last Great Day.

“…This is the first resurrection. Blessed and Holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (vs 5-6). And then after that into all eternity!

Brethren, this is the work of God, the calling of God, the unfolding, unveiling, revealing secret of God, of what He is doing. This is what the world does not know. This is what the world does not understand.

Ephesians 1—Let’s read Paul’s prayer, so that we can understand even more. I’m sure that when Paul wrote these words—though he was in prison, though he was in chains, though he was in fear of his life—this is one of the most inspiring and glorious books of the New Testament, and we understand it even more today. Here’s Paul’s prayer, and this prayer is meant for us today, especially for us today, on whom the ends of the earth have come, so that we can understand it:

Ephesians 1: 15: “For this cause, I also, after hearing of the faith in the Lord Jesus that is among you, and the love toward all the saints.” What’s it going to be when Paul is resurrected and sees all that was done because of his epistles? It’s going to be awesome, indeed!

Verse 16: “Do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers”—and we do everyday, brethren. We all pray for each other everyday. We pray for:

- God’s blessing

- God’s mercy

- God’s forgiveness

- God’s healing

- God’s love

- God’s Truth

Everyday! And everyday it seems as though so great is God’s way that in growing and overcoming we really see that without God’s direction we don’t know which way to go.

Here’s what God wants to do, and this is what we’re going to help Christ do to the world— every man, woman and child—all during the Millennium.

Verse 17: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” This is what we need now! Let the Word of God be able to reveal to us even more and more. Like David said in Psa. 119:18—open my eyes so that I may see wondrous things from your law. Let it be also that we see and understand wondrous things from the Word of God, the New Testament, the words of Christ, and the inspiring personal letters from God the Father and Jesus Christ through the apostles to us.

Verse 18: “And may the eyes of your mind be enlightened in order that you may comprehend what is the hope of His calling, and what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the inner working of His mighty power” (vs 18-19). That’s what God wants for us!

Brethren, what a calling! What a fantastic thing! It is so great! It all comes back to Christ:

Verse 20: “Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above every principality and authority and power and lordship, and every name that is named—not only in this age, but also in the age to come” (vs 20-21). That means us!

Verse 22: “For He has subordinated all things under His feet, and has given Him to be head over all things to the Church, which is His body— the fullness of Him Who fills all things in all” (vs 22-23).

Brethren, this is how the Millennium is going to produce great and overwhelming fruit. God has called us to have a fantastic part in that!
This is the meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles!

All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version (except where noted)

Scriptural References:

Isaiah 48:1-19
Psalm 25:1-5, 10, 12-14
Ephesians 1:1-14
John 1:9-13
Matthew 7:21
Luke 6:46-49
-Corinthians 2:9-14
Romans 8:9-21
Ephesians 2:8-10, 13-22
Revelation 19:1-7
Revelation 29:4-6
Ephesians 1:15-23

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

Deuteronomy 8:3
Leviticus 23
Malachi 3:1
John 2
Corinthians 3
Psalm 1
John 3
Romans 8
Matthew 13
Revelation 2; 3
John 14
Revelation 13; 17
Psalm 119:18

Also referenced:

Sermon Series: Grace Upon Grace

Book: The Appointed Times of Jesus the Messiah
by Fred R. Coulter

Section I

The Sabbath

Chapter One

The Background in Genesis—Sermon I

Let’s go to the Gospel of John, please, and let’s read a promise that is given to us here. Let’s apply that today, because we’re going to go back and look at some very basic things, beginning in the book of Genesis. And we are going to see that there is an awful lot there.

I remember making the comment sometime ago, “I wonder what it would have been like to hear a sermon by the Apostle Paul—going into the Old Testament to tell us and show this, that and the other thing that is there.

Here’s a promise that is given that the Holy Spirit will do for us. John 14:26: “But when the Comforter comes, even the Holy Spirit, which the Father will send in My name, that one shall teach you all things…” That’s quite a promise—isn’t it? If we have the Holy Spirit of God, which we do; and if we’re yielding to God and trying to live by every Word of God; will the Holy Spirit teach us all things—that is what we need to know for salvation? It’s not going to teach us all information in the world, obviously. It doesn’t mean that.

“…and shall bring to your remembrance everything that I have told you” (v 26). That can’t happen to us because we didn’t hear the words of Jesus Christ.

Here’s another promise concerning the Holy Spirit, John 16:13: “However, when that one has come, even the Spirit of the Truth, it will lead you into all Truth…” There is this special blessing that comes when we really take God at His Word, study His Word, and add precept upon precept. Here’s tremendous promise given to us. If we follow the Word of God and we do put ‘line up line; here a little, there a little,’ and put it together correctly. Here’s a promise:

“…it will lead you into all Truth… [and the Greek there means all the Truth.] …because it shall not speak from itself, but whatever it shall hear, it shall speak. And it shall disclose to you the things to come.” This is the thing necessary for us to understand concerning how we’re going to understand the Truth. I think we’re going to understand this even more in relationship to the very beginning parts of the Bible.

Here’s something else that we add to the knowledge of the Scriptures. I think this is very, very profound; I think it’s also most comforting and understanding when Jesus gave this promise here:

Luke 24:44: “And He said to them, ‘These are the words that I spoke to you when I was yet with you… [Jesus’ promise that the Holy Spirit would bring to remembrance all things that He said] …that all the things which were written concerning Me in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (vs 44-45).

We’ve seen and we’ve experienced this from time-to-time a little bit as we’re going along step-by-step-by-step. {see booklet: Grace of God in the Bible} There’s one thing I’ve learned with writing: you have to get in it and you have to really have your mind concentrating on it and be able to know the things that are there. What I’ve been doing, I’ve been writing concerning the grace of God in the Old Testament. And it’s brought out some very interesting things and help me clarify and help me understand even the first part of the Bible even more. I guess, when we get down to it, we will have to say that you never know anything the way that you really ought to truly know it.

What I did, since we have the Interlinear Hebrew-English Old Testament (Genesis-Exodus) by George Ricker Berry. We checked out and, unfortunately, he did not do the whole Bible. He just did Genesis and Exodus. However, I think in there there’s quite a bit that we can learn. This is going to help us also understand more about how important the Sabbath is right at a time when people are throwing away the Sabbath. It’s almost a dichotomy that is unreal.

Let’s take the literal translation of the Hebrew. There’s something that is going to make it just a little difficult in following along, and that is that the English must be read from the right to the left, rather than from the left to the right. With the literal translation in linear form it must be done that way, because Hebrew is read from the right to left.

And we’re going to see something just little different but profound translations of different words that really mean more to us. As you look at the Interlinear translation here, you will see that there are two columns with an English translation. One is the King James Version, which is on the left -hand side and one is the Revised Version, which is on the right-hand side. Then you have the Hebrew text with the English directly below it. We’re going to go into other sections of the Bible as we’re going along, but let’s read the English from the Interlinear. You will also see that the verb in Hebrew is put before the subject.

If the Interlinear is too hard for you to follow along, then you can follow along with your own Bible. The purpose of this is because there are several sections, which are important for us to know, read and understand.

Genesis 1:1 (Int): “In the beginning when created God the heavens and the earth…” Let’s understand something that’s important: God had to be before the beginning. If God were not before ‘the beginning,’ then God would be ‘the beginning.’ As you will notice, when we’re going through here, there may be some changes in your notes in your margin of your Bible—as someone just pointed out.

There is only one real ‘the beginning’ in relationship to us—and what the Bible reveals to us. That is ‘the beginning.’ Some people have put down there a beginning trying to indicate that there was a beginning before the beginning. But you cannot have a beginning before the beginning, otherwise the beginning is not the beginning. You have one beginning and you may have subsequent renewals. You may have subsequent changes. You may have subsequent additions. But there is only one the beginning.

The reason it is justified in the minds of some by saying, ‘a beginning,’ because some people have in mind that there was ‘a beginning’ before ‘the beginning’ of the heaven and earth as we know it. However, in this particular case it is not talking about this.

Let’s look at some other Scriptures concerning “the beginning.” And John is the one who does this. Now, I’m going to go in a little more detail on this later on when I go through a very thorough word-by-word analysis of the Gospel of John, the first chapter. There are only three places in all of the Scriptures—Old Testament and New Testament— which talks about ‘in the beginning.’

In the Gospel of John we find it is not a beginning, but the beginning. This is very important for us to understand concerning the nature of God. I will give a little detail here and, at a later time, I will amplify it even more.

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The importance that we need to understand is this. “In the beginning… [and it can actually read: before the beginning. I don’t want to get in too much detail with the Greek.] …was the Word...” Why did He have to be in existence before the beginning? Because He’s the Creator!

“…and the Word was with God...” This is very important from the point of view of this paper concerning ‘the thinker’ and ‘the thought.’ What they’re trying to do is eliminate two beings Who are God and say there’s only one Being who is God by saying that the Word was ‘the thought’ of God, since He was ‘the thought’ in ‘the thinker’ He was with God. But that’s not what this means at all, because when we get to the detailed study of it, we will see it is with—and the Greek is ‘pros’—which means with or toward face-to-face!

“…and the Word was God,” so that we understand the One was the One Who became Jesus Christ. All of this is to counteract and go against all the philosophical doctrines of the nature of God. When we get there it’s going to open your mind like you have never understood this before. But, I want to get it all prepared and laid out word for word so that you can see it clearly.

I’m currently reading a book by John Goodenough, which is called Light by Light. Of course, it says a lot about light here in the John 1— doesn’t it? Yes! What he’s essentially showing is the, the pagan’s concept of the nature of God. Going through that, I can see how that they were going absolutely contrary to those religions at that time, philosophies which are being resurrected and being dumped upon us today.

Now let’s notice something else v 2: “He was in the beginning with God…. [which means He had to be there] (notice what He did): …All things came into being through Him, and not even one thing that was created came into being without Him” (vs 2-3). No such thing as creation by sub-gods. No such thing as creation by angels. No such thing as evolution. All was made by Him!

Now let’s go to 1-John 1 because we want to have it in there; we’re talking about something just a little bit different in relationship to it. We’re talking about the One Who was from the beginning. And that is after everything was created, the One Who became Jesus Christ as the Lord God of the Old Testament continually existed from the time of the creation. He existed before the creation; He existed after the creation. So that’s what he is saying here. And he’s giving us a very, very personal account of their relationship with Jesus Christ.

1. -John 1: “That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our own eyes, that which we observed for ourselves and our own hands handled, concerning the Word of life; (and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and are bearing witness, and are reporting to you the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested [revealed] to us); that which we have seen and have heard we are reporting to you in order that you also may have fellowship with us; for the fellowship—indeed, our fellowship— is with the Father and with His own Son Jesus Christ” (vs 1-3).

Now let’s go to Hebrews 1 and we find something that adds to this

- concerning the beginning

- concerning God

- concerning what He did

- concerning what Christ was

We know that in the beginning was God. And we know that the word for God is ‘Elohim’—a word which means more than one. So, there was a time when there were the two of ‘Elohim’ and then there was a time when one of Them became the Father and the other became the Son.

Hebrews 1:1: “God, Who spoke to the fathers at different times in the past and in many ways by the prophets, has spoken to us in these last days by His Son, Whom He has appointed heir of all things…” (vs 1-2). When it says that we’re going to be ‘co-heirs with Christ,’ I don’t even think that our minds can grasp the magnitude of what that is going to be. He’s the heir of all things.

“…by Whom also He made the worlds; Who, being the brightness of His glory and the exact image of His person…” (v 2-3). We’re dealing with the fact that God is a person—as revealed throughout the Scriptures. That is why God wants us to have a personal relationship with Him and with Christ.

“…and upholding all things by the Word of His own power…” (v 3), or ‘by the power of His Word’ because God, when He created, when He spoke it came into existence.

“…when he had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; having been made so much greater than any of the angels, inasmuch as He has inherited a name exceedingly superior to them. For to which of the angels did He ever say, ‘You are My Son; this day I have begotten You’?….” (vs 3-5). That’s when the Father became the Father. That’s when the Elohim who became the Father, became the Father. That’s when the Elohim who became the Son, became the Son.

Verse 5: “For to which of the angels did He ever say, ‘You are My Son; this day I have begotten You’? And again, ‘I will be a Father to Him, and He will be a Son to Me’? And again, when He brought the Firstborn into the world, He said, ‘Let all the angels of God worship Him.’” (vs 5-6).

This is telling us about the person and the power and the work and the activity of Jesus Christ. Now let’s go back to our Hebrew Interlinear in Genesis 1. When we are talking about the beginning it is the beginning—not ‘a.’ Anything subsequent of the beginning, is an addition or renewal or whatever, but it is not a beginning.

Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning when created God the heavens and the earth.” As I mentioned, the verb comes before the subject. God here being ‘Elohim’ means more than one. That’s why He said later, ‘Let Us...’

Verse 2: “And the earth being a desolation and a waste…” How did the earth become “…a desolation and a waste…”? When He got done creating the earth He said, ‘Behold, it was very good.’ Let’s see how this came to be. Let’s first understand that these two words come from the Hebrew, ‘tohu’ and ‘bohu’—you’ve probably heard that before— which means chaos and confusion. Is God the author of confusion? No! God is not the author of confusion (1-Cor. 14:33[transcriber’s correction]).

How did it become this way? There was something before human beings, which was on this earth, that’s what happened! Let’s look at the Scriptures that help us with this, to give us understanding. Let’s see what Isaiah tells us concerning God and His creation. You will also note that the King James translation says, ‘the earth was without form and void’ (Gen. 1:2).

Isaiah 45:18, a very interesting, and very profound verse: “For thus says the LORD the Creator of the heavens… [we’re talking about ‘in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’] …He Himself is God, Who formed the earth and made it; He has established it. He created it not in vain…”—‘tohu’—it’s not in vain. How could it become ‘in vain’ right at the beginning after God created it, if He didn’t make it ‘in vain’ or in chaos and confusion?

“…but formed it to be inhabited. ‘I am the LORD, and there is no other’” (v 18).

Jeremiah 4—we will see another place where the expression, ‘tohu’ and ‘bohu’ is used. This will give us an understanding as to how the earth became that way. Jer. 4 is talking about the punishment coming to Jerusalem and Judah. It’s talking about the things that are happening in punishment.

Jeremiah 4:19: “My bowels, my bowels! I writhe in pain. O walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly within me; I cannot be silent because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the ram’s horn, the alarm of war.” This is going to tell us how the earth became that way, and why the earth is so literally upside down.

Verse 20: “Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are laid waste, my curtains in a moment. How long shall I see the banner of war and hear the sound of the ram’s horn? ‘For My people are foolish; they have not known Me; they are stupid children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.’ I looked on the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void…” (vs 20-23)—a condition subsequent to the creation. In this case, a condition subsequent to what we find of the completed creation (Gen. 1), and this is ‘tohu’ and ‘bohu’ or being a desolation and a waste. That’s what war does!

Was there war in heaven before the creation of man? That becomes very important. We want to understand something. In all the accounts that we have concerning Adam and Eve and the garden and so forth, we have four beings who are noted in the Scriptures besides all the animals in the creation. Who are those four beings?

1. God

2. Adam

3. Eve

4. the serpent—Satan the devil

He’s called ‘that old serpent, Satan the devil which deceives the whole world’ (Rev. 12:9).

Was Satan already evil by the time he met Adam and Eve? Yes! Which means he had to become evil and Satan, before Adam and Eve were created. When was that? How did that happen? Let’s go to Ezekiel 28 and we will see!

Ezekiel 28 is a very interesting chapter because it talks about the ‘prince of Tyre’; it talks about Tyre; and it talks about the king of Tyre or Tyrus. But, we want to focus in on something that is very important because this tells us some very important facts. This is very basic, fundamental. I think it’s important that we go through it because there are some people who are denying that Satan is even a being, today—even within the Church of God.

Ezekiel 28:11: “And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘Son of man, lift up a lamentation over the king of Tyre…” (vs 11-12).

Verse 2: “ ‘Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre. “Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, “I am a god, I sit in the seat of God…”’”’” Well, you can’t get any higher than that, can you? No! Why then does he address the king of Tyre? Because, in this case, the king of Tyre is the spirit power behind the prince, who says he’s God. And we’re going to see that this is the same spirit power that, in the book of Revelation, inspires the final beast power to say, ‘I am God.’ And all the world is going to worship him and worship the devil.

Let’s notice what it says about this king of Tyre which has to then be the one who became Satan the devil as we will see by what the Scriptures tell us here.

“…and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “You seal up the measure of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You have been in Eden the Garden of God…” ’ ” (v 12-13).

We have the four identified who were in the garden: God, Adam, Eve and the serpent. What happened after they sinned? They were put out of the Garden of Eden, and no one could enter into it!

If he was in Eden, the Garden of God, this could only be talking about the one who became Satan the devil, because no one else went into the Garden of Eden after the sin of Adam and Eve. They were cast out and cherubim were put there with flaming swords to keep the way so they couldn’t go back in there.

Notice we have something here that is important. “You have been in Eden the Garden of God…” and then it talks about all of his beauty— all of the tremendous coverings and the stones, which is a sign of regalness, royalty and exalted position.

“…The workmanship of your settings and of your sockets was prepared in you in the day that you were created” (v 13).

We saw that everything was created by Jesus Christ—correct? Nothing came into existence that He did not make! So, we have a created being. Now let’s find out a little bit more about him:

Verse 14: “You were the anointed cherub that covers…” We know that over the Ark of the Covenant were two cherubs guarding it. Here we find an additional cherub which has nothing to do with the two cherubs that are over the Ark of the Covenant, nor having anything to do with the two cherubs placed at the gate going into the Garden of Eden.

“…and I set you so; you were upon the Holy mountain of God…” (v 14). The Garden of Eden was not the Holy Mount—was it? No! This is talking about a time prior to when the earth became desolate and without form or void—or ‘tohu’ and ‘bohu.’

“…you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire…. [showing that he was right there with God. This is talking about the way you could visualize things composed of spirit.] … You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until iniquity was found in you” (vs 14-15). We don’t know how long it was, the Bible doesn’t tell us. But, something happened. And it happened over a period of time.

When I was in Grand Junction I was given this little saying by Carl Quist. So I entitled it An Old Prov erb—and this is true:

You don’t go bad in a single day,
You just sort of shuffle along.
Then lighten the load of your moral code
Till you don’t know right from wrong.

I thought that was a very nice little proverb. But it’s the same way with Satan the devil, same way with the one who was the ‘covering cherub’—right over the throne of God. “…until iniquity was found…” in him,” which shows us that there had to be a period of time. There had to be an activity by the angels. Angels do not exist just to pluck on harps. Angels are greater in power and ability than human beings.

What kind of civilization did the angels have before they fell? We don’t know! But it had to be greater than ours, because they had greater abilities.

Verse 16: “By the multitude of your merchandise…” I don’t know what it was that they were doing, but what is it that Satan is inspiring the whole world to do today? To buy and sell and trade and merchandise! Is that what he did with the angels, also? then do it illegally? do it improperly? Could very well be!

“…they have filled your midst with violence, and you have sinned….” (v 16). And sin is the transgression of the laws and commandment of God.

- Do you not suppose that there are commandments for angels that they have to obey?

- If you have righteous angels, are they not obedient angels?

- If you have disobedient angels who have become demons, then you have also apply the principle.

- If you don’t believe that there are laws and commandments for angels to follow— what is that principle?

- Where there is no law there is no sin!

So, he could not have sinned unless there was some law that he broke or commandment that he broke. And we’re going to see what that was in just a little bit here.

“…Therefore, I will cast you as profane from the mountain of God, and I will destroy you, O covering cherub, from among the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness…. [got totally sold on himself] …I will cast you to the ground; I will lay you before kings, that they may behold you. By the multitude of your iniquities, by the unrighteousness of your trade, you have profaned your sanctuaries…” (vs. 16-18).

There must have been some form of angelic worship with sanctuaries, what we might call assemblies or churches. We have to deduce that from here, because you cannot have a sanctuary unless there is some place that’s set aside to be Holy, can you?

Verse 18: “By the multitude of your iniquities, by the unrighteousness of your trade, you have profaned your sanctuaries; therefore I brought forth a fire from your midst; it shall devour you, and I will bring you to ashes upon the earth, before the eyes of all who see you.”

It carries forth right from there to the final, final punishment of Satan the devil. Rev. 12 tells us what occurred, and then we’ll go from there to the book of Jude and then to the book of Isaiah. Let’s understand something concerning fallen angels, which are called demons. There’s going to be a future war, and that future war is going to result in, again, the casting down of Satan the devil to the earth—which is just somewhere in the very near future ahead of us.

So that we can understand something with him, something about this, Revelation 12:9: “And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent… [What happened when he was cast out the first time? This is the second casting out; the first one was a ‘fall.’] …who is called the Devil and Satan, who is deceiving the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.” Those angels are called in the Gospels, demons or unclean spirits. Now, we’ve seen in the past that sin causes uncleanness: spiritual and physical.

Verse 1: “Then there appeared a great wonder in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun…” This is symbolic of the whole completed work of God, with the bride of Christ. This is depicting the woman, the bride of Christ.

“…and having the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. And being with child, she cried in travail, and was in pain to deliver. And another sign was seen in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon… [which we saw was Satan the devil] …having seven heads and ten horns… [we have the powers and principalities] … and seven crowns on his heads; and his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth.…” (vs 1-4).

When did that happen? This first fall? Let’s go to Luke 10, and let’s see what Jesus said concerning Satan and the demons, because this is also a very revealing Scripture.

Luke 10:17: Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us through Your name.’ And He said to them, ‘I beheld Satan fall as lightning from heaven” (vs 17-18). That’s what we just read in Rev. 12:3-4, “…his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven…” We know that in Rev. 1, that a star is an angel. So, this is saying—combined together— that when Satan fell “…as lightning from heaven…” he drew a third of the angels with him.

Let’s confirm that by this Scripture in the little book of Jude, what Jude wrote concerning the angels and see what he says about them. Jude 6: “And the angels who did not keep their own original domain… [they rebelled against God] …but deserted their habitation, He is holding in eternal bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.”

Now, we also know that Satan had to fall before man was created, otherwise he would not show up in the Garden of Eden as Satan. So, let’s put this all together and let’s see what happened.

Let’s understand that Satan is called the god of this world. 2-Corinthians 4:3: “But if our Gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those who are perishing; in whom the god of this world…” (vs 3-4). Jesus called him the ‘prince’ of this world or the ‘ruler’ of this world. He’s also called ‘the prince of the power of the air; that spirit that now works within the children of disobedience’ (Eph. 2). The “god of this world!”

Now let’s go to Isaiah 14, and we will put this all together and we will see when Satan was cast down; when the war took place. When there is war, what happens? We saw in Jer. 4 when there’s war there’s desolation and destruction—wasting!

Isaiah 14:12: “How you are fallen from the heavens, O shining star, son of the morning!.…” Isn’t that what Jesus said, He saw Satan ‘fall from heaven as lightning.’ Lucifer means light-bringer. He was to be the ‘light-bringer’ in God’s plan, but he rebelled.

Now let me just mention something here that’s important. In all of the secret religions of the philosophies and also in Masonry, they worship Lucifer as the ‘light-bringer.’ And Lucifer is declared unequivocally by Albert Pike as ‘God.’ And they know what they’re worshipping. That’s why they have to have degrees, to kind of let you in on the secret step-by-step. Because, if they told a new initiate first out what they were doing, they would undoubtedly reject it. You have to be brainwashed and brought along, degree by degree. When you get to be the 33rd degree, then they know that are coming to the stream of light from Lucifer. Now, you will see that in this other paper that I gave you.

“…How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart, ‘I will ascend into the heavens… [this had to happen before the creation of man] …I will exalt my throne above the stars of God… [stars being angels, ‘above the angels of God’—get the advantage] …I will also sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north’” (vs 12-13) —which is the Mt. of God where the central government of God the Father and Jesus Christ is located, wherever that is in the universe. I’m convinced that it’s a whole lot closer to the earth than maybe we have imagined.

Verse 14: “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds…”

- Where are clouds? Clouds are on the earth!

- What do you need to make clouds? You need water!

- Where’s the only place that they truly have found any amount of water where there can be clouds, in as far as our whole solar system is concerned? That’s the earth!

They think that on Mars they can detect some things where there used to be water—possible. So, I just through this in the mix, as just a thought, it makes you wonder, was there something on Mars before it was desolated in its present condition? Could be!

Everyone is anxious to find out what is on Mars. Some people have said that there are some temple-looking buildings or something on Mars, but the United States government is holding back the information on that. I do not know. You can read that in the Enquire or Star, whichever you prefer.

“…‘I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God…’ ” (v 13). Could that refer to literal stars? Yes! It could refer to angels. It could refer to both and still have the same meaning.

“ ‘…I will also sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High’” (vs 13-14). Now, that’s an impossibility. Why? Well, we have a lesson from Paul, ‘Shall the thing created—which it was—be greater than the Creator?’ No! or ‘Shall the thing created say to the Creator, What are you making?’ That’s what he’s doing by this statement: “…I will be like the Most High.”

Verse 15: “Yet, you shall be brought down to the grave, to the sides of the pit.” That’s what’s going to happen.

What we are dealing with in Gen. 1 is that after God created the heavens and the earth, in the beginning something happened, and the word was can be translated became, or it’s state of being became a desolation and a waste (Gen. 1:2). So then, what we are dealing with here, which is true, when we are looking at the earth in this condition, what does God do from that time forward? He renews the surface of the earth, or recreates it—doesn’t He? Yes!

When Christ returns, is He going to make a new heaven and a new earth? Yes, He is! Because all the stars are, again, be out of whack—are they not? The earth is going to be all suffering from the wars and desolation and plagues—is it not? Yes!

He’s going to have to make a new heaven and new earth. How? By renewing the one that is here! It talks about that during the Millennium one of the things we will be doing is helping the people rebuild the waste places, which is the result of war. Now, notice what else happened here.

Genesis 1:2 (Int): “And the earth being a desolation and a waste, and darkness being upon the face of the abyss…” Who is the prince of darkness? Satan the devil! So, we have dual meaning here.

1. The light of God was not shinning, because Christ is the Light (John 1)

2. Satan is the prince of darkness So we have:

- symbolic: the spiritual quality of the absence of light and darkness

- literal darkness: that it was dark, maybe a thick darkness like it was in Egypt during the plagues

“…and darkness being upon the face of the abyss… [the great deep] …and the Spirit of God hovering upon the face of the waters” (v 2).

What is one way to get rid of radiation? You bury it in water, and you keep it there a long time. We do not know how old the earth literally is. It could be many hundreds of millions of years old as we reckon time—could even be billions of years old. When you look at the geographical strata what do you see? You see two floods! You see the killing of the warm-blooded animals in the flood of Noah; and you see the killing of the dinosaurs in a different strata in a different time; and that is always buried way down low with the so-called ‘primitive rocks.’

I will have to say that most of the things that they test, they don’t test the literal thing. I found out this concerning the testing. They go to Africa like Professor Leeky and he’s walking along the ground and sees part of a skull there. And he picks up this part of the skull and he says, ‘I wonder how old this is? Well, we’ll take it in and do a scientific testing.’ What they do, they go and get some of the dirt and they test the dirt for the age, not the skull.

If you understand the error in that, then you’ll understand why most of these things are wrong with the carbon dating and even the argon carbon dating, though the dating is correct. The age of the soil maybe totally different than the age of the bone which is found in the soil. We have a member who used to live in Utah where the Dinosaur National Park where the dinosaur bones are right in the limestone. So, when you test the stone…

Let’s look at it this way: You could take a calf, it died, you bury it, it’s left there—say, maybe 50 years. Someone comes back and does an archeological excavation. They find these bones, they want to know how old the bones are, how long has it been there? Well, if they take the bones and test the bones, they will get an accurate test. But, if they take the soil in which the calf was buried and test the soil, they’re not going to get an accurate result because the soil was there long before the calf was buried in it. So, that’s why you find this great divergence.

How long it was that the angels were here in peace and harmony before sin, we don’t know. But, God then had to renew the face of the earth— which is what He did here. So, we have the spiritual darkness and we have the physical darkness and now God is going to do something about it.

Verse 3: “And God said…” We note that ‘by His Word, He commands.’ This is going to be so profound when we come to the creation of Adam and Eve. This also tells us our relationship and our destiny with God that God intended from the very beginning of the creation of Adam and Eve. So He commanded:

“…‘Let light be’ and light was…. [light came into being] …And saw God the light that it was good, and divided God between the light and between the darkness. And called God to the light day… [or assigned to it the name ‘day’] …and to the darkness He called night; and the evening and the morning was, day one” (vs 3-5)—in the recreation of the earth for human existence. He already began with an earth that was in ‘chaos and confusion’—a wasteland and desolation, as a result of the war with Satan and his angels, who fell and became demons.

Let’s also notice something here that’s important: when there was night and when there was day we have on half of the earth it is night, half of the earth it is day continuously at all times!

But, when it says “…the evening and the morning were day one” the evening ended the darkness where God was when He created and called into existence the light and separated it. And the evening ended the darkness. Just like when we go through—and that follows the pattern all the way through the Bible—when you come to evening or sunset, it ends that day. This first evening ended the darkness because it was light just enough where God was so that it was evening; and then morning was day one.

Verse 6: “And said God, ‘Let be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it be dividing between waters to waters. And made God the expanse, and He divided between the waters which were from under to the expanse and between the waters which were to the expanse; and it was so. And called God to the expanse heavens; and evening was and morning was, a day second” (vs 6-8).

Some people think that the waters above had to do with perhaps an envelope of water or some sort of water-covering above the earth. I do not know whether that speculation has any validity or not. Some people have said well maybe there was a ring of water around the earth. And if there was a ring of water around the earth, it had to then end up being frozen, because once you get out of the temperature it’s going to freeze. Possible! This doesn’t tell us exactly.

Verse 6 (KJV): “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so” (vs 6-7).

- Could this also refer to clouds?

- Are clouds full of water? Yes!

- You know they are when it rains—right?

- Do they contain lots and lots and lots of water? Yes, they do!

Especially when you get caught in some horrendous rain you wonder when it’s going to stop.

I would have to surmise from what is here that what He was doing was separating the waters from the oceans, which became the oceans, from the water which He wanted to have in the clouds. Now, whether there was a ring of water or a disc of frozen water around the earth, I do not know. It doesn’t tell us. We have to leave that in the realm of speculation.

Verse 8 (Int): “…and evening was and morning was a day second. And said God, ‘Let be collected the waters from under the heavens unto place one, and let be seen the dry land earth’”. …” (vs 8-9).

Now, sometimes you have rearrange the words as you’re reading, because it’s a little awkward with the literal translation. But, it’s good to have a literal translation though.

There is some evidence geologically speaking that there was one major continent on the earth at one time and the seas all around it. Could be. This seems to lend some credence to that. And then they say that the earth was moved around and formed the continents as we have them now.

When you look at some of these continents, you can see that it makes sense. Some of them, which are close by, you can see the difference. Like in the English Channel, you have the white cliffs of Dover on one side and then you have the white cliffs, but not as much, on the other side, and you can tell that it was ripped apart and separated. However, I do not believe any of these things were gradual. I think they happened BAM! and it happened—not a gradual thing.

When you look at the mountains that didn’t happen just a little—it went BAM! and it happened all at once. We can talk about that a little bit later. So, there was the dry land.

Verse 10: “And called God to the dry land earth, and to the collection of the waters He called the seas; and saw God that it was good. And said God, ‘Let cause to spring forth the earth grass, herb seeding seed, and tree of fruit making fruit after its kind…’ ” (v 10-11).

We’re beginning to get a lesson here, as He’s teaching us, that it’s after its kind. I think that if we ever do get to the point of Noah’s Flood, I think it’s telling us that the whole earth was corrupted. I think the animals were, the vegetables were, everything that man set his hand to do was corrupted. Just like today. Everything is becoming hybrid and cross-genetics.

Men have thought of and conceived quite a few things. If you have potatoes now that you cut open and they never turn black, you know that they have inserted a gene from a moth into that potato to keep it from turning black. They have done that, yes! They’ve done that with genetics. I know some may not believe it. That’s what they say. What else they can do I don’t know. It’s “after its kind.”

“…and tree making fruit after in which is its seed in it after its kind. And saw God that it was good. And evening was and morning was, a day third” (vs 12-13).

Each one of these things in their sequence. I want you to understand that God is speaking or commanding all of these things into existence. Now, if you want to know the power of the Word of God, and if you want to know what God can do, here’s part of it. He can command and it exists!

Verse 14: “And said God, ‘Let be luminaries in the expanse of the heavens, to divide between the day and between the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years.’”

This also let’s us know that since there was light and day, and we’re up to the third day, the question becomes: Did God wait until the fourth day to create the moon and the sun? No! I think He set them back in the proper orbit that they needed to be, because I believe that they were knocked out of orbit when there was a war; the war between Satan and his demons and God and the angels.

What does God use? God uses the things that He has made! When you look at the moon, look at it very carefully. I think you will see that the majority of those things are not really volcanoes, but craters from different elements—rocks or parts of the universe—hitting it.

We have an unusual thing in our solar system. I may stand corrected on this at a later date— but, I do believe, if my memory serves me correctly, there is an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Now, they know, from what they’ve been able to see, looking out into the heavens, that these are really just chunks of junk rock. That’s all they are.

God, in cleaning up the universe around us, just took all of those and put them into that orbit. Now, when “stars fall from heaven” as we look at stars from heaven, is that going to be God sending a lot of those meteoroids back down to the earth and when they hit our atmosphere they’re burning up. I do not know, could very well be. But, everywhere you look in our solar system, there are signs of chaos and confusion and war. In the earth, though it’s re-created for man’s habitation, in Mars in particular, and with the asteroid belt that is there.

Some of the other planets, we would have to say we don’t know if there was any habitation on them. I would have to doubt that there would be just looking at the way that they are now. Then He set them for times, for seasons, for years.

Verse 15: “‘And let them be for luminaries in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth.’ And it was so. And made God the two luminaries great, the luminary greater ruling for the day and the luminary smaller for ruling the night; and the stars. And put them God in the expanse of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule in the day and in the night, and to divide between the light and between the darkness. And saw God that it was good” (vs 15-18).

Here’s another reason why the Holy Days are to be kept: they are part of the creation of God based upon seasons. Verse 19: “And the evening was and morning was a day fourth. And said God, ‘Let swarm the waters with swarms soul of life…’ ” (vs 19-20).

Verse 20 (KJV): “…‘Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature’….” Swarming is a good word—when you see some of these pictures of the schools of fish and so forth—a good word.

“ ‘…and fowl let fly upon the earth, upon the face of the expanse of the heavens.’ And created God the monsters-sea great, and all the souls of life that creep, with which swarmed the waters after their kinds, and every fowl wing after its kind; and saw God that it was good. And blessed them God, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and the fowl let multiply in the earth.’ And evening was and morning was a day five” (vs 20-23).

Again God is commanding this creation by the Word of His power. They’re coming into existence. So therefore, let’s understand something, when God told Moses—or anyone who was to write the Scriptures—‘Write this and put it in a book,’ you know, it has power to it. That’s why the Word of God is a living word.

Verse 24: “And said God, ‘Let cause to go forth the earth soul of life after its kind, cattle and creeper, and beast of the earth after its kind…. [you find a breakdown of the animals as God would see it] …and it was so. And made God the beasts of the earth after its kind, and the cattle after its kind, and every creeper of the ground after its kind.’ And saw God that it was good” (vs 24-25). Again, God did it by speaking.

Let’s see what happened here beginning with man. Then we’ll go to Gen. 2 because there’s some very interesting things concerning man.

Verse 26: “And said God, ‘Let Us…’” Carl Franklin was writing in his paper The Two Jehovahs of the Pentateuch, he’s showing that grammatically in the syntax in the Hebrew—which means the way that it’s written and the meaning behind the words—this is not God talking to angels. This is not God talking to a council in heaven. This is one of Elohim saying to the other of Elohim:

“…‘Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness…’” (v 26). It’s interesting, he didn’t say any of the cattle or any of the birds or any other thing was after the likeness of God—they were after their own created kind.

What is true concerning an image is very important. An image is made in the likeness of something that is other than the image. In other words, in this case being God. God is the reality from which the image was patterned. After His image, after His likeness. Supreme creation as far as the physical things are concerned. So much so supreme that He said:

“ ‘…and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of heavens and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeper that creeps upon the earth.’ And created God the man…” (vs 26-27). Notice He didn’t speak—did He? God created! In the other cases, God created and made by speaking.

“…in His image , in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.… [We will see that it was a special creation, and that’s why it’s recorded this way for us.] …And blessed them God, and said to them God: ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over every beast that creeps upon the earth.’ And said God: ‘Behold, I have given to you every herb seeding seed… [the seed within itself] …which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree seeding seed, to you it shall be for food…” (vs 28- 29).

There are those who say that, at this time they did not eat any meat. We don’t know whether that is exactly so. He didn’t say they couldn’t eat of any of the animals here at this point, but He was describing what kind of, of vegetation or fruits that they could eat—and that was with its seed within itself.

Today we have oranges with no seeds. They can’t quite get away with it, because it pops up with a seed every once in a while. Have they come to a hybridize a seedless watermelon, yet? I’m sure, in the scheme of things, God intended that there be certain things that man could do with plants and animals that are lawful and legal and proper. But, I’m also sure that we’re entering a time where there are a lot of things that human beings are doing to plants and animals that are not lawful. And, I think we are reducing the seed reservoir, in particularly for wheat, because everyone is trying to have great abundance of wheat and rice, and they are getting into the hybridized production of those that I heard of in one, one show that I saw, that they are down to just maybe a dozen genesis seeds of wheat. I don’t know what it is for rice, but I do remember the wheat.

What they’re doing in the potato, they’re going to South America to try and get new genetic strains from the potatoes down there—because we’ve pretty well destroyed the genetic strains that we have up here. They’re subject to all kinds of weakness and sickness and disease. You can’t outdo God’s way! When God made this, this was tremendous, this was great!

“…to every beast of the earth, and to all of the fowl of heavens and to every creeper upon the earth, in which is a soul of life, I have given every greenness of herb for food;’ and it was so. And saw God all which He had made…” (vs 29-31)—or the soul of them, which is a living soul, as it were, the soul of life.

And, it’s true. We also have something here that’s important, and let’s understand something, which is true—absolutely, profoundly true— concerning all flesh, concerning human beings.

Isaiah 40:6: “A voice says, ‘Cry!’ And he said, ‘What shall I cry? “All flesh is grass, and all the beauty of it is as the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades because the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the Word of our God shall stand forever”’” (vs 6-8).

It is actually literally true. We are all grass! Even if you eat a steak, guess where that

came from? Grass! Some kind of vegetation. You eat a chicken, where did that come from? Grass and worms and a few other things.

People even smoke it. Yes! There are various kinds of grass: you have tobacco and then you have marijuana and you have other things. It’s amazing what people do. Sometimes all you can do is just shake your head as how great that our creation is, of our bodies and everything. Because what mankind does to itself, and still survives, is really just something else.

Genesis 1:31: “And saw God all which He had made, and behold, it was good.…” The Hebrew there for good means gracious or beautiful. In a sense, the whole creation of God was an act of grace by giving and providing all of these things rightly.

“…it was good. And evening was and morning was a day sixth” (v 31). I want you to look at the Hebrew lettering for “day six.” We can’t understand what they are, but we can see similarities and differences between that. I just call you attention to that.

Genesis 2:1 (Int): “And were finished the heavens and the earth and all their host. And finished God in the day seventh…” (vs 1-2). I want you to look at the way the Hebrew seventh is spelled there. Just look at the letters and compare that with sixth. You see the only difference between the two is a middle letter. Do you see that? Letters are the same, but there’s a different letter in the middle. I want you to notice at the end, on the left-hand side of the Hebrew lettering, which is seventh, there is a little ‘a’—that means there’s a footnote.

Now, go down to the bottom and look where it says ‘a’—it says ‘the sixth’ not ‘seventh.’ This helps us understand something. It shows here, as read by the ‘sm’—which is the Samaritan version, the ‘G’ and the ‘S’—an intentional change. This is one of these changes that were made, because God ended His work on the sixth day and rested the seventh. He didn’t end His work on the seventh day.

What have we always had to say of that verse. That means He ended His work just before the seventh day began. Which may or may not be exactly true. But, if it is, God ended His work on the sixth day, what, He’s following is His own laws, isn’t He? ‘Six days shall you labor and do all your work’—correct?

I thought this was really a very meaningful understanding of what was going on here. God finished His work in the sixth day—#6.

“…His work which He had made; and He rested… [both cases in] …in the day seventh from all His work which He had made” (v 2). That helps clarify a lot—doesn’t it?

One day I was in busy doing some things and all of a sudden the fax went, here was this page faxed to me from Carl, noting these things. And here I had the Interlinear and hadn’t had a chance to get in and study it yet, and here is a very profound, meaningful understanding concerning that— that should be sixth day when God ended His work.

In other words, God Himself also prepared for the Sabbath—correct? Yes! Let’s understand something: When God created the day and night, He started the cycle. Therefore, when it came to the seventh day, He made that day Holy vs creating it Holy. God created time and the days, and then He made the seventh day Holy.

Made is a little less than created. Created is bringing it into its initial existence. Then made is maybe using the same thing only doing something else with the same thing, which He did here in relationship to a day. Remember, Jesus said, ‘The Sabbath was made for man.’ He did not say created.

He said ‘made.’ Time had already been created, but then God made this section of time Holy—the seventh day.

Well, we’ll get into that a little more in part 2, because there is an awful lot here concerning the Sabbath. Then we will get into the relationship between God and man and what God really intended is revealed, and how He created man and woman.

All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version (except where noted)

Scriptural References:

1. ) John 14:26

2. ) John 16:13

3. ) Luke 24:44-45

4. ) Genesis 1:1

5. ) John 1:1-3

6. ) 1 John 1:1-3

7. ) Hebrews 1:1-6

8. ) Genesis 1:1-2

9. ) Isaiah 45:18

10. ) Jeremiah 4:19-23

11. ) Ezekiel 28:11-12, 2, 12-18

12. ) Revelation 12:9, 1-4

13. ) Luke 10:17-18

14. ) Jude 6

15. ) 2 Corinthians 4:3-4

16. ) Isaiah 14:12-14, 13-15

17. ) Genesis 1:2-31

18. ) Isaiah 40:6-8

19. ) Genesis 1:31

20. ) Genesis 2:1-2

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

- 1 Corinthians 14:33

- Revelation 1

- Ephesians 2

- John 1

Also Referenced: Books:

- The Grace of God in the Bible by Fred R. Coulter

- Interlinear Hebrew-English of the Old Testament (Genesis-Exodus) by George Ricker Barry

- Light by Light by John Goodenough

- The Two Jehovahs of the Pentateuch by Carl Franklin

Chapter Two

The Background in Genesis—Sermon II

Today we’re going to study two very important things right in the first part of the book of Genesis. We reviewed the Creation last week. This week we’re going to study more in detail the creation of man and the Sabbath.

I’m going to read some of the things from the Interlinear Hebrew-English Old Testament by George Ricker Berry. He only did Genesis and Exodus, and I’m very sorry that that’s all that he did, because he does a very good job in translating.

We’re going to cover some very important things and first of all I want to concentrate on the creation of Adam and Eve first, because I think we’re going to find this very important; because the detailed instructions of Adam and Eve and their creation have to do with the finishing of the work on the sixth day. I just want to cover this thing concerning the Sabbath and the sixth and seventh day once again.

Genesis 1:31 (Int): “And evening was and morning was a day sixth.” As you saw in the Hebrew last time, the difference between six and seven is one little letter inserted between two of the other letters.

Genesis 2:1 (Int): “And were finished the heavens and the earth and their all their hosts. And finished God in the day sixth his work which he had made… [It should be the sixth day, not the seventh. There’s a little footnote there to verify that.]

…and, he rested in the day seventh from all his work which he had made. And blessed God the day seventh and sanctified it; because in it he rested…” (vs 1-2).

We’re going to learn an awful lot concerning rest. I want you to look at the word ‘rest’—see how that is written there, those three letters, because that is the basic three letters which are used for the Hebrew word ‘Sabbath’—Sabbath means rest.

Verse 7 (Int): “Then formed Jehovah God, the man out of dust from the ground, and breathed in his… [the man] …nostrils breath of life…”

We need to understand that everything else that God created, He commanded it and it was so. Let’s look at some Scriptures which will verify that, and this shows that God commanded and everything came into existence.

Psalm 148:1: “O praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise Him in the heights. Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His hosts. Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you stars of light. Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and waters that are above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He commanded and they were created]” (vs 1-5).

He brought them into existence by the Word of His power. He intended for those to tell us a story. He intended the creation of the heavens to be a witness of His power and His glory, and to be perpetually that which all human beings could see so that they would understand that something greater than themselves had to create that.

Psalm 19:1: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims His handiwork. Day after day they pour forth speech …” (vs 1- 2). There are noises that they have been able, sounds, that come out of the heavens, right. Don’t they have these big gigantic tracking machines and radio, radar devices, huge great disks to try and pick up a message from outer space—maybe they’re trying to communicate to us is the reasoning behind it.

“…and night after night they reveal knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard” (vs 2-3). In other words, the things that God has created and commanded into being are there in such a dynamic way that every people, every language, every generation has learned from it.

It’s also very interesting to know that if you read the account of Josephus and Abraham, you find out that Abraham was a mathematician. And Abraham was the one who brought mathematics to Egyptians. So, Abraham was no mean, grunting barbarian stumbling over the stones of the Near East. He understood these things. And, of course, this also has to do with the ultimate, concerning our salvation.

Verse 4: “Their line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun.” Showing that the greater universe is out beyond what the tabernacle for the sun is. You could say the tabernacle for the sun is our solar system. And, it’s very interesting, when you view how the different solar systems or stars in the universe, they are shaped like discs, or as some people would say, flying saucers. I’m not going to get into a discussion of flying saucers, but I do believe there are phenomena, which are accountable for that.

Verse 5: “Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man set to run a race... [In other words, always cheerful, uplifting and an inexhaustible source of energy, is what it’s telling us here.] …its going forth is from one end of heaven, and its circuit is to the other end.… [they knew that things were in a circuit—wasn’t flat] …And there is nothing hidden from its heat” (vs 5-6). And then it reflects back to the Law of God beginning in v 7.

Now let’s go to Psalm 33 and we’ll understand even more concerning the creation of God and how it was that He made these things—and why then the forming of man, by God Himself, becomes a very important and deep thing for us to understand.

Psalm 33:1: “Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous ones; praise is becoming for the upright. Praise the LORD with lyre; sing unto Him with a harp of ten strings” (vs 1-2).

That’s why on the Sabbath it is good— when we can—to sing. That’s why, in the New Testament it talks about singing with ‘psalms in your heart.’ It’s very important, and especially on the Sabbath, because the Sabbath becomes a very important day and link to the creation of man.

Verse 3: “Sing unto Him a new song; play skillfully with shouts of joy, for the Word of the LORD is upright; and all His works are done in faithfulness…. [nothing wrong with what God has done and created] … He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the loving kindness of the LORD. By the Word of the LORD were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth” (vs 3–6).

God commanded, they came into existence. That’s why the Word of God is so powerful and so important. If God says something once, that’s quite sufficient for all eternity—is it not?

- Is not God eternal? Yes!

- Is not His Word forever? Yes!

Let’s go back to Psalm 19 and see the Word of God. What that is to do for us once we understand the great and tremendous creation of God. Th at is to help us understand that

- God is Lawgiver

- God does things in order

- God does things in organization

- God has made everything for a purpose for its own part in God’s plan that He has done

Verse 7: “The Law of the LORD is perfect… [nothing wrong with it] …restoring the soul…” This is the first step which leads you to conversion. Because then when you understand that the law of God is perfect then it becomes a standard to which you see you need to measure up to.

“…the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandments of the LORD are pure, enlightening the eyes” (vs 7-8) —giving us understanding and wisdom. God made us in such a way that we are to have understanding and wisdom and judgment and righteousness and goodness.

Verse 9: “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether, more to be desired than gold, yea, much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned…” (vs 9-11). Keeps you out of trouble—that’s why the commandments are you shall not.

Why did God give the commandments…? There is a positive commandment with parents:

- ‘Honor your father and your mother that the days, your days may be long on the earth.’

Then the next one is:

- ‘You shall not murder.’ That is the extreme! You cross that line and you have sinned. Within it then there are a lot of choices that you can make.

- ‘You shall not commit adultery.’

Negative commands, because negative commands are the very best when you are given a choice, so that you determine your choices. When it says you shall not commit adultery, the positive command is that you will always be faithful to your wife—that is if you’re married. So, they’re good; they’re right. “…in keeping them there is great reward.

Who can understand his errors?…. [No one can because every way of a man is right in his own eyes, so he needs God’s Word to give him the understanding of his errors. I do; you do.] …Oh, cleanse me from my secret faults” (vs 11-12). This is really a New Testament doctrine. ‘Cleanse me from my secret faults’—in other words, my thoughts of sin that are in my own mind here.

Verse 13: “And keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; do not let them rule over me; then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer” (vs 12–14).

All of these things have to do with the tremendous creation and showing us that now man is different. God can command every one of these things. But, now he made man differently.

God did something that He did not do with any of the rest of the creation. He did several things here. Of all the rest of the creation, God commanded and it was so. And then God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and it was so.’

Now then, with man we have something that is quite different. None of the other creations of God were made like humankind. That’s something very important for us to realize. And this is a great death-mill for evolution, because the creation of man is very special in every way; well thought out, well planned and formed by the hand of God.

Genesis 1:26: “And God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness…’” God is saying here that He is giving human beings Godlike characteristics.

Now then, all of the others that God created said, ‘after their kind.’ Obviously, we are after the human kind and we pro-generate our own kind, but also being made in the image of God is the first fundamental step of being in the God Family. That’s why we’re made after the image of God. None of the other creatures. You can look at apes; you can look at chimpanzees and gorillas and you can see some humanlike characteristics in them, but I’m sure God made them that way for us to realize that even though you can have humanlike characteristics—in hands and some facial features— unless you’re made in the image of God you’re still a beast! Rather than we evolved from this thing.

We have to understand that we’re made in the image and the likeness of God. And then, He gave “…dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of heaven and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that crawls upon the earth” (v 26). We’re going to look at the continuing account of the details of the creation of man.

Verse 27 (Int): “And created God the man…” God personally formed. Now this, I am sure, is telling us that God wants to have a personal relationship with this part of His creation in a way that separate and different from all the rest of His creation. That’s why He made us in His image and after His likeness. The rest of the Bible then is to tell us that we’re going to be after His kind. He did not command the man to live. He could of, because nothing’s impossible with God.

Genesis 2:7 (Int): “…and breathed into his nostrils breath of life…” I think this shows that God wants us to have a close, personal, intimate relationship with Him. In other words, I believe—we’ll have to draw out of this from what we see—that He breathed into man, what is called the spirit of man and He imparted to his mind, at the same time, a fully functioning language; because man was an intelligent, talking, responding, decision-making being from the instant of his creation. Obviously, he had to be taught. In order to be taught he had to be teachable; in order to be teachable he had to have a language; in order to have a language, from creation it had to be put into him. I believe that that’s what God did at this point.

“…and became the man for a living soul” (v 7). God began to show a purpose in this creation. I believe that the final acts of His creation on the sixth day was the creation of man—and then the final act was the creation of woman. Then the Sabbath began.

But let’s carry on and see the events that happened on the sixth day, v 8 (Int): “And planted Jehovah God a garden in Eden from east[ward] and placed there the man whom he had formed…. [That’s interesting: He formed him, He made him with His own hands and formed him.] …And caused to sprout Jehovah God… [or the Lord God] …from the ground every tree pleasant for appearance and good for food; and the tree of life was in the midst of the garden…” (vs 8-9).

Now immediately, God wanted man to know something that’s symbolized by the Tree of Life. I am sure there was a literal tree. I am also sure that this Tree of Life symbolized the way that man would go, which then would be God’s way, which would lead to eternal life—or, the other tree:

And he says, v 9: “…and the tree of knowing good and evil.” Both of them were there in the midst. I don’t know if they were side-by-side. It could have been that they were side-by-side. We’re not told, but it says ‘in the midst,’ so I would have to take, by this account, that it was in the middle of the, the garden.

The rest of it describing where Eden was is really using the names of rivers that were known on the other side of the Flood, and it’s very difficult to find out where Eden was, because all of that was destroyed with the Flood—naming a general area where they thought it was close by after the Flood does not give us the direct geographical area. However, it would have to be somewhere, we would assume, in the Middle East. Some people assume that it would be somewhere in what is called the Holy Land today or what we know as Palestine or Israel—however your division divides on that. That could be, but that’s not the purpose of what we’re going through here.

Then God did something, and all the way through it shows responsibility, ability and accountability. Man has ability; he is responsible, and he is accountable.

Verse 15 (Int): “And took Jehovah God the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to till it and to guard it” Very interesting translation here, isn’t it. Not just to keep it, but to guard it, to protect it. To make sure that it was done the way that God would want it done.

Verse 16 (Int): “And commanded Jehovah God (upon) the man saying…” Whenever God gives a command; it is a command!

Psalm 119 is one of my favorite Psalms, and this is the one I always try and use to stop the mouths of the gainsayers. I think this is important, Psalm 119:127: “Therefore, I love Your commandments above gold—yea, above fine gold. Therefore, I esteem all Your precepts concerning all things to be right…” (vs 127-128).

- if God is perfect—which He is

- if God is righteous—which He is

- if God does things which are correct and beautiful and wonderful

—would not all of His precepts be right concerning everything? Is any man going to go up and point out to God a sin that He has done? No, because God does not sin!

When we come over here concerning the commandments given to Adam and Eve, I think this has a great weight of importance; because the whole principle of God commanding, the whole principle of God instructing then is all found right here in the first part of the book of Genesis—which tells us that man then was responsible, accountable and had ability. He put them in the garden to guard it and to keep it!

Genesis 2:16 (Int): “And commanded Jehovah God upon the man, saying: From every tree of the garden eating, thou mayest eat… [In other words, anytime you want to eat, go ahead and eat.] …but, from the tree of knowing good and evil not thou shalt eat from it; for in the day of thy eating from it dying thou shalt die” (vs 16-17).

That is the literal meaning. It doesn’t mean in that very instant, in that day, that you would drop dead the minute you took a bite from it. But it means that once you transgress that and do this, then you are surely going to die and that’s how it’s translated.

They had as the sentence of their transgression, death imparted to their very being. Though they lived many hundreds of years after that, if the account of the time is correct, but they still died— yes, they did. I am sure that implied in that, ‘in dying you shall die,’ that also implies an aging process from which we all today suffer. So, if you want to blame anyone, you can blame Adam and Eve.

Verse 18 (Int): “And said Jehovah God: Not good is being the man’s to his separation… [That really means being a separate being. It is not good for man to be alone.] …I will make for him a helper as his counterpart. And formed Jehovah God from the ground every beast of the field…and brought unto the man…” (vs 18-19). Every one, all of the animals that God made, God had them all pass by. So we have the animals on ‘review-march’ with Adam, who was there.

So, the Lord “…brought unto the man to see what he would call to it…” (v 19). Adam had a full-functioning language; he was able to name all of the animals. It would be interesting to know what that was. He wasn’t polluted with any kind of wrong thoughts. He was not polluted with wrong notions at all. He was standing right there with God and God said, ‘All right, now Adam, here comes this animal, what do you think you should call it?’ So, he gave a name to it. This shows a great responsibility.

Doesn’t this indicate that the language that he had, had words in it that would fit? Yes! So, he had a complete language. Adam was made totally complete. There was nothing missing, except his wife. God intended that. He caused all of them to pass by to see what he would name them. And the reason for this was, so that Adam would realize of everything else that God had made, there was nothing in that which was wholly compatible for him.

So then, after that object lesson, v 20 (Int): “And called the man names to all the cattle and to the fowl of the heavens and to every beast of the field; and for a man not he did find a helper as his counterpart….” (vs 20-21). God wanted Adam to understand something very important, too: only God could make for him that which would be right for him.

Verse 21 (Int): “And caused the fall Jehovah God a heavy sleep upon the man, and he slept; and he took one from his ribs, and closed (the) flesh instead of it. And built Jehovah God the rib which He had taken from the man in to a woman, and brought her unto the man” (vs 21-22).

This also becomes very important for us to understand. As He made the woman, He also then had to breathe into her the breath of life so she could become a living soul. He also had to breath into her what would be, what we would call the spirit of man or human beings—and also give her a fully functioning language; because God did not want to produce an incomplete product and provide for Adam something which was not a counterpart and compatible, and somebody who knew nothing. She had intelligence, she had mind, she had ability and all of that sort of thing. The point here that is, I think the most profound thing for us to understand is this: God made both man and woman! In breathing into them the breath of life. He desired with this and showing this—that’s why this account is so important—that He wanted to have a personal relationship with them and be their God.

Verse 23 (Int): “And the man, this, now at last, (is) bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh…” (v 23). Which shows that God must have sat down and said, ‘Now, Adam, since there is nothing here for you in all of the animals and I didn’t create anything for you, I want you to see by looking and naming all the animals that there is nothing for you. I’m going to put you asleep and I’m going to take one of your ribs and I’m going to make a woman, a help meet, a counterpart for you.’ That’s why Adam, when he saw her, said, ‘this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.’

“…this, at last now… [in other words after everything else had been understood] …is bones from my bones and flesh from my flesh; to this it shall be called woman, because from man this was taken. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall become (for) flesh one. And were they two naked, the man and his wife, and not they were ashamed before each other” (vs 23-25, Int).

This was before they had sinned. Now, we also know that there is a great lesson for us in this, concerning marriage. What we are dealing with here now is the ideal complete state of the creation of God.

Let me read to you what I have written here in The Grace of God in the Old Testament, so we can, this will help summarize some of these things:

In order for us to fully understand that the entire Creation was an act of love and grace, we need to examine the Scriptural account of the creation of Adam and Eve. The very words of God reveal His love and grace where He said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image and after Our likeness and give them dominion’ and so forth. When we consider that, of all the creation of God, only mankind was made in the image of God. Such a blessing is a profound act and expression of God’s Supreme love and grace, which was created within and bestowed upon mankind.

To further reveal the uniqueness of the creation of mankind, when the Lord God made Adam and Eve He personally formed them with His very own hands. This act alone reveals that the Lord God intended from the very beginning to have a deep, personal and intimate relationship with them. Whereas all the other created things and beings which God created He brought into existence by the word of His command through the power of His Holy Spirit. However, in the account of the creation of Adam and Eve, notice what the Scriptures tell us.

And we just read those: formed them, breathed into them the breath of life.

The very act of the Lord God Himself breathing the breath of life into man, reveals the intimate relationship that God desired to have with mankind.”

That’s why He made the Garden of Eden, see, would be there with them. That’s a tremendous thing. And this all relates then, when we come to it, to the very first Sabbath.

Apparently, when God breathed the breath of life into the man He also imparted the special spiritual lessons called ‘the spirit of man’ which gives to mankind the special unique ability to think, to reason—hence, intelligence. Apparently, at the same time He also breathed into Adam the breath of life, God also imparted into his mind a fully functioning language. Furthermore, in order to show the close, personal relationship of love, which God intended man and woman to have as husband and wife, He personally formed Eve from one of Adam’s ribs…. [We just read the Scriptures on that.] … And then gave her the breath of life and imparted the ‘spirit of man’ into her with a fully functioning language.

Of all the other living creatures that God created, only man and woman were created to receive and to give love in a most intimate and personal relationship… [in a personal way] …None of the other created beings were made to give and receive sexual love face-to-face. That blessing was reserved for mankind alone.

This is also to reflect and show the personal relationship that God the Father and Christ have—that is face-to-face, though there is no sexual intimation in that because they are spirit beings. And being face-to-face, this means that God made it so that man and woman would also grow together and, as it were, see things God’s way: eye-to-eye. So, it’s really a very special thing.

That blessing was reserved for mankind alone. Moreover, through the process of pro-creation, all human beings were blessed with a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual ability to give and to rec eive love.

Greater still, only mankind was created to have a personal, spiritual, loving relationship with God, their Creator. This special blessing of love and grace was not extended to any of the other created beings which the Lord God created.

Now then, thousands of years later…

and then I put in here what David said.

Psalm 139 is also one of the Psalms of David; this is quite a very profound Psalm. I think we’ve covered this a couple of times in the past, but I think it’s good for us to review and go over, because this is really very scientific and up-to-date.

Psalm 139:13: “For You have possessed my reins; You have knit me together in my mother’s womb.” This shows that even though—in whatever the process may be—God, in creating mankind through pro-creation (legitimate or illegitimate) God is the One Who created that being.

Exactly how everything is done, I would have to surmise that each of us are able to impart half-life—father and the mother, the father determining the sex. I also believe that at the instant of conception that a spiritual thing takes place— whether legitimate or illegitimate—to give, because after all, the illegitimate child had no say so, so God is not going to deprive him necessarily just because it was not consecrated in marriage. There are going to be enough problems beyond that. We all understand that, looking out in, in the age today. And, I know there will be some people who will say, ‘Well now, legitimate or illegitimate.’ You might find that there are some of the people that God has used were illegitimate by birth—that is, father and mother were not married.

God still, being ‘no respecter of persons,’ gives the individual the spirit of man or the, the beginning essence of life. When there is that conception, God caused it to be—whether human beings by determination or by mistake caused it to be. In other words, God has a hand in every human life.

Verse 14: “I will praise You, for I am awesomely and wonderfully made; Your works are marvelous and my soul knows it very well. My substance was not hidden from You when I was made in secret …” (vs 13-15). Before an embryo becomes an embryo, which then is the stage before what they call a fetus. It is technically called today, unless they’ve changed the term recently, substance.

“…when I was made in secret…” And, it’s still a secret. No one really knows, do they, even with all the scientific endeavors, how human beings are created in the womb. They’ve done a lot of scientific investigation. They’re able to know and understand more than they ever have, but they still don’t know! I think it’s very important for us to understand when we bring up the subject of abortion, we need to understand this: that a human being is fully formed—or nearly so—in six weeks. Every feature of a human being is there. It’s just a matter of growth. The only difference between a newly conceived individual and us is a matter of growth and birth and age. Because once there is the conception of a human being, it is what it is from that instant forward—have to be. You did not become yourself sometime after you were conceived. You were yourself from the instant you were conceived and it will be until the instant you die.

When he’s talking about this, I think this is very interesting here, v 15: “My substance was not hidden from You… [In other words, God can know whatever He needed to.] … when I was made in secret and intricately formed in the lowest parts of the earth…. [that’s just a symbolic way of talking about in the womb] … Your eyes did see my substance, yet being unformed; and in Your book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them” (vs 15 -16). In other words, until it was complete.

What they’re trying to do with the genetic coding of human beings today, and they actually use this terminology, ‘the book of your own genetics’ is what they’re trying to write. We find that here this is very scientific, and this is very up-to-date in the creation of all human beings.

Verse 17: “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!” So, David really had an insight concerning the creation of human beings—his own creation— reproduction of human beings.

Let’s go back to Psalm 8, because this tells us and gives to us an understanding concerning the reason why human beings were made in the first place—and the reason why we were ‘made a little lower’ than God, made in His image, having abilities like He has.

Psalm 8:1: “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens! Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings You have ordained strength because of Your adversaries, to silence the enemy and the avenger” (vs 1-2). I’m going to try and do this real soon, give a sermon concerning why God uses the least, the smallest. Here’s part of it right here. This is what David was alluding to.

Verse 3: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him? For You have made him a little lower than God and have crowned him with glory and honor” (vs 3-5). Now, the word ‘angels’ (KJV) here in the Hebrew is not angels. The word for angels comes from the Hebrew word ‘malak.’ This word here, in the Hebrew, is ‘Elohim’—translated everywhere else as God, or gods.

“…You made him a little lower than God... [which ties right in with the creation of man and woman after the ‘image and likeness of God.’] … and have crowned him with glory and honor.” YES!

One of the most gracious acts, one of the greatest gifts that God gave mankind was the whole world. You talk about an act of grace. A tremendous gift, and God says, ‘Here it is. Now, all I want you to do is take care of this garden, and then from there you’re to overspread the whole earth.’ That’s tremendous, brethren. That’s a wonderful, wonderful thing for us to understand.

We’ve got greedy men in there that buy and sell and parcel it up and fight and war and shoot, and all this sort of thing and try and take the best. Well, God is going to reserve that for the saints when they’re resurrected.

Verse 6: “You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet… [Everything!] …all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the birds of heaven, the fish of the sea, and all that pass through the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!” (vs 6-9). David understood that we were “…made a little lower than God...” This also helps reveal the purpose that we are to be eventually in the fullness of the God Family.

1. -John 3 is for us to understand and realize and to inspire us! God did not make us so that He could whip us, that He could beat us, that He could scourge us, that He could do all of those things. When there is sin, sometimes some of those things are necessary. But, as we will see, even with The Grace of God in the Old Testament, God didn’t, didn’t bring those things upon people except as a very last resort.

Here’s the whole purpose: Once we receive the Spirit of God and know the Word of God, 1- John 3:1: “Behold! What glorious love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God!.…” This shows us here in the New Testament that we’re going to be ‘after the kind’— the God kind! But, in order for us to be after ‘the God kind’ we have to be made first in the image and after the likeness of God so that then we can learn of God’s way and have that become a very part of our being through the power of God’s Holy Spirit, so that at the resurrection we can be born into the Family of God.

Verse 2: “Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be; but we know that when He is manifested, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him exactly as He is.” Remember, human beings started out face-to-face with God—correct? Yes!

They started out in their rest. We are to enter into the ‘rest,’ which is: after we have been all detoured because of the sin, we have to be redeemed, but God’s goal is still the same, that we are going to be in the Kingdom of God and be as God is God. And that is not a doctrine of Satan. That is a doctrine of God. However, as we are going to see, Satan counterfeited that doctrine and said, ‘I’m a god, you can be like god’; that is ‘like me.’ That is Satan’s doctrine. God’s doctrine is that we will be ‘like Him.’

This is to inspire us, v 3: “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, even as He is pure.” That’s through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. To inspire us, to uplift us, to just thrill us to the bottom of the souls of our feet, as it were. That’s a tremendous thing, brethren. And that’s what God wants for all human beings. Even though being called and having received the Holy Spirit of God, we are Abraham’s seed, where there is:

- neither male nor female

- neither Jew or Greek

- neither free or bond

- neither Scythian or barbarian

That still does not take away from the fact that it’s our spiritual relationship with God; does not take away from the fact that we are still human beings. We still have human problems in relationship to the way that God made us and created us, and the order of things as they need to be.

1. -Corinthians 11:1: “Be imitators of me, exactly as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, because you have remembered me in all things, and you are keeping the ordinances in the way that I delivered them to you. But I want you to understand that the Head of every man is Christ…” (vs 1-3).

When God created man and woman, He set also in order a natural order of things that God intended to be. God always intended that the man always be under God, under Christ. Meaning that everyone is under the authority of God—one way or the other. You can’t get away from it even if you sin, because ‘the wages of sin is death’ as Adam and Eve found out.

Verse 3: “But I want you to understand that the Head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man…”\ [Now, in the marriage estate nothing can change that. That’s just the way it is. And so, it’s not a matter of going against God or trying to set down some sort of rule or something that isn’t right.] …and the Head of Christ is God” (v 3).

Let’s go back here, there are a few Proverbs that we need to cover here I think are important concerning, concerning man and woman and so forth.

Proverbs 8:35: “For whoever finds me finds life… [the wisdom of God] …and shall obtain favor from the LORD. But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul; all who hate me love death” (vs 35-36). This is just a general principle applying to all the relationships of men and women. All the relationships in our life and our relationship to God.

Proverbs 9:10 says in relationship to this then: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” And God is the One Who gives us understanding. He’s given us a mind; He’s given us a language; He’s given all these things so we can understand the ways of God.

Proverbs 18:22: “Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.” Well, God intended that to be from the very beginning. Husband and wife—man and wife—and that’s the way God made it. That’s the way that God intended it to be—and so should it be.

Proverbs 19:14: “Houses and riches are the inheritance of fathers, and a prudent wife is from the LORD.” We saw in the creation that woman was to be a counterpart to man.

Trust me, there are a lot of instructions in here for men, and God is going to hold men accountable as well women accountable. It is all there. These things are very important for us to realize.

Proverbs 12:4: “A woman of virtue is a crown to her husband, but she who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones.” Well, you can turn it around the other way, too. When you have a husband who’s a rotten fool and a philanderer, and goes around and does the things he shouldn’t do, it’s misery and wretchedness and pain and suffering and sickness and disease, too—is it not? Yes! And it’s harder on a woman when she suffers those things because she was made to be a counterpart for man and for the man to be ‘the head.’ Now, that’s why a husband and wife relations are most important and the way they need to be.

You can go through the entire Bible and you can see that God never slighted women in the least. As a matter of fact, Jesus Christ did a lot to show, and Luke did more, in showing his relationship in teaching women and things like that than any of the others.

There is just a slight thing that we need to cover today, which is very important, which is not a big problem but it is something that just needs to be covered. Today we’re going to get into just a little touchy area, because I see it wherever I go and I will have to that many women—and they have it on Star Trek, too: bald-headed, shavedheaded women. And then there’s this Susan Power who encourages every woman to become whatever she can be, separate and apart from a man— whatever that may be!

Let’s just understand something here very, very clearly. God says it’s not good for a man to be alone, therefore, it’s not good for a woman to be alone. Whenever the circumstances are that way, and nothing can be done about it, you don’t go out and create another problem by running out and marrying the first one that comes along; because now then you end up with a dual problem. Maybe you weren’t made for each other. So, you get a double set of problems. I’m not advocating immediate running out and marriage because you happen to be alone. Please understand that.

But, we’re living in a time where the Babylonian woman rides supreme. I see it everywhere I go. And sometimes it gets very obnoxious. There’s also another thing about, about men that women, I’m sure know: when things get very contentious, we’re cowards! We run and hide, because we don’t like animosity and hatred and shouting and yelling and screaming anymore than anybody else. Even though I’m sure all of us can do a pretty good job of it if we have to.

Now, here’s a principle that we need to understand, because I think this is a slight problem in the Church, which I’m sure that can be corrected very easily.

1. -Corinthians 11:4: “Every man who has a covering on his head when he is praying or prophesying puts his Head to shame….” Who’s the head of the man? Christ! And, I think it interesting that the Orthodox Jews will not pray without hats. They won’t go into the synagogues without them.

Verse 5: “But every woman who has her head uncovered when she is praying or prophesying puts her head to shame … [the man] …for it is the same as being shaved. For if a woman is not covered, let her be shorn. But if it be shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered” (vs 5-6). We’re not talking about an outright sin. It is something which is a shame.

Verse 14: “Or does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a shame to him?” We used to have that problem more than we do today. And I can never figure it out. When I watch some of these, some of these singers—like on TNT or something—they’ve always got to have this long hair hanging down all around, and it just makes you wonder about it. It always looks bad!— at least it does to me.

It’s says, “…it’s a shame.” That’s why, with a Nazarite vow, what happened was this: when the vow was taken, then the man shaved his head and he did not cut it—or do anything to it— until the vow was over and the hair would grow. Now, this was to show the sign of humility and shamefulness. In other words, in this vow a man was to show that he wanted to yield himself to God and so put himself in this shameful condition.

When we understand that John the Baptist was a Nazarite from the beginning, from his birth, and never cut his hair, never drank wine, never took anything that was made of the grapes, nor any strong drink. He was put into that position physically because he was the one who was to announce the coming of Christ. We find that very important.

We’re talking about something that is not an absolute sin, but is something that is not necessarily right—and Paul covers it here: let her be covered! We’ll find out what the covering will be.

Verse 7: “For, on the one hand, a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but, on the other hand, the woman is the glory of man…. [In fact, taken from his rib, made from his very inner most being.] … For the man is not of the woman…” (vs 7-8). This means in the Greek, for the man was not taken out from the woman. That’s why the creation was the other way around.

“…but the woman is of the man. And also, the man was not created for the sake of the woman, but the woman for the sake of the man” (vs 8-9). He’s saying, We’re going all the way back to the proper order of creation, which everything that God has done is right and everything that He’s done from the beginning is true and righteous all together.’

Verse 10: “For this reason, it is necessary for the woman to have a sign of being under authority on her head because of the angels”—which means you ought to have a covering and sign that she is under the power of her husband because of the angels.

I think the slight thing that needs to be taken care of—and I’ve seen this a lot wherever I go, especially in traveling—and I have not mentioned it, even though it may have been brought up to me on several occasions, but here’s an appropriate time to handle it and take care of it. And I think, just as any of us who want to go ahead and do the things that are pleasing to God, that this should also be taken care of for men and women in the right way.

Verse 11: “Nevertheless… [he goes on to say, this doesn’t take away from the fact that] … neither is the man separate from the woman, nor the woman separate from the man in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, so also the man is by the woman…” (vs 11-12). Of course, even Christ was born of the woman—right? Yes, of Mary!

“…but all things are of God. You judge for yourselves. Is it becoming for a woman to pray to God uncovered?…. [Then he says the other way around]: …Or does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a shame to him? But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; because the long hair has been given to her instead of a veil to cover her head” (vs 13–15).

This is not the first age of mankind when they ran around with shorn-haired women—or shaved-headed women. Apparently Paul had that problem back in Corinth. It’s not unusual that we would also have—we don’t have a great raging problem concerning it—but it’s something that each one should address themselves before God in their own way in their own lives. I’m sure that, that since these things are so, the blessings of God will come when this is taken care of in the way that’s pleasing to God.

Don’t ask me how long is long; don’t ask me how short is short. I think it’s quite evident. It’s one of these things that you make a judgment. Verse 13 says you judge this yourselves. So, I’ll leave the judgment to you.

Verse 16: “But if anyone is contentious over this issue, we have no such custom, neither do the Churches of God.” That is, concerning the subject that he just covered here. I think that since we’re going back and talking about the creation of man and woman and so forth, then we need to cover this in this particular way.

Now then, so everyone will know that this is not picking on women’ time—hope you all understand that—read all the book of Proverbs, if you want to, men and women take the instruction there because there are a lot of spiritual lessons for us that we can learn. I might mention that that’s New Testament doctrine.

Let’s come look at the situation concerning the Sabbath, because this becomes very important. Let’s go back to Genesis 2 and let’s read that again. There are some things we need to learn about it. Let’s understand this: the very root word for Sabbath is rest.

Genesis 2:2: “And by the beginning of the seventh day God finished His work which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day... [When God blesses something, it is for a particular purpose.] …and sanctified… [When God sanctifies something that means it’s set -aside for a Holy purpose. So, this is a day which is set aside.] …because… [the first Sabbath is very important] …on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (vs 2-3).

What was the last thing that He made? Eve!. Now, the next morning, on the Sabbath Day, what do you suppose happened? God ran off and hid some place? If God blessed it and sanctified it, He did it for a very purpose—didn’t He? Yes!

Let’s look at a couple of things showing what the Sabbath Day is for, and then we’ll come back and establish that the seventh day we have today is the same seventh day which they had then. All right, I’m going to read to you just a little bit out of this because I think it summarizes it quite well.

from: The Grace of God in the Old Testament:

In addition to God’s loving and gracious act of His Creation, God further expressed His love and goodness by blessing them (Gen. 1:28). To reinforce their own their own personal state of grace, so they would always know their Creator, so that they could be with the Lord God Himself, in His personal presence, He specifically created and made the seventh day as a perpetual day of rest and fellowship. The weekly seventh-day Sabbath was intended to be more than a memorial of God’s creation. Few realize that God blessed and sanctified the Sabbath day as an act of kindness and goodness for all mankind, so that mankind could fellowship with Him, their personal Creator.

God specifically created and made the seventh day for mankind. Jesus Christ, Who was the Lord God of Creation, made this fact absolutely clear and declared that He and He alone was Lord of the Sabbath day—not any other day. He said, ‘The Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the So n of man is Lord also of the Sabbath’

Which means that’s the New Testament day of worship. We have a more profound way of understand ing it today.

Moreover, from the Scriptural account of this first Sabbath, combined with other Scriptural commands, we can learn a great deal about the grace of God. God personally rested and kept this very first Sabbath—obviously with Adam and Eve. Undoubtedly, He fellowshipped with them and instructed them [would he not? Yes He would!

He would have to tell them, then, about the tree of life and what it meant. He would have to tell them why He created them. Would not God want them to know that first? Yes, He would! From the other accounts in Genesis, chapter three, we know that they were personally taught by God. They saw God face-to-face. They talked with God, they walked with God before they had ever sinned. This means they kept this first Sabbath with God in a perfect state of grace in His presence.

Therefore, there can be no doubt that God instructed them on that first Sabbath. What a marvelous day that very first Sabbath must have been. There could be no greater grace than being in the presence of, and being taught by the Lord God Himself, their very Creator.

Now then, let’s go to the book of Isaiah and let’s put a couple of Scriptures together to show the whole meaning and the intent of the Sabbath. This is a key thing for us on how to keep the Sabbath and why we keep it the way we do.

Do you think that God, being the ‘same yesterday, today and forever,’ would have instructed Adam and Eve any differently than this? Some people say because it’s not told that Adam and Eve fellowshipped with Him and kept that first Sabbath, therefore, there’s no indication that they kept it. And I say that is reasoning from your carnal mind to destroy the Sabbath. Here is what God says concerning the Sabbath thousands of years later— so, would this not also be the instruction that He would give back then?

Isaiah 58:13: “If you turn your foot away from the Sabbath, from doing your own desires on My Holy Day…” When was it Holy? When God sanctified it, when God blessed it! That’s when it was Holy—correct? It’s God’s Holy Day from the beginning. Does God run down here and destroy every person who’s breaking the Sabbath? No, He does not! He let’s them go their own way, and they are missing a tremendous blessing of God.

Let’s notice we’re not to do ‘our own pleasure.’ That doesn’t mean that we don’t do things which are not pleasurable—it’s a pleasure to eat; it’s a pleasure to fellowship. But, why should this day be the way it is? Let’s go back and think of the first Sabbath. What do you suppose that God told them? ‘I’m your Creator. I’m your Maker. This is a special day of a memorial of My Creation. This is a day in which we are going to come together every week and I’m going to teach you what you need to know. And we’re going to have a personal relationship. I’m your Creator and you have a great and fantastic opportunity as the very first human beings.’ Don’t you think that God told them what was going to be if they would obey Him? Yes!

“…from doing your own desires on My Holy Day, and call the Sabbath a delight…” (v 13) —and what a delight that must have been—the first one. No sin, no hostility, no animosity, no television, no radio, no driving a long way to come to Sabbath services, no worrying about anything. God provided it all—and I just wonder if God did not provide the food for the Sabbath for that very first Sabbath Day. They had it all right there, didn’t they? Yes, they did! Now, it would not be a sin on the Sabbath while you’re sitting there with God and maybe God reached up and plucked some food for them to eat—I don’t know. Very possible.

“…the Holy of the LORD… [belongs to Him] …honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor pursuing your own desires, nor speaking your own words…” (v 13). What does this mean? This means we’re to:

- know the words of God

- speak the words of God

- study the words of God

That’s why today, in Sabbath services, it’s important that we study the words of God—because these are not our words—are they? No! God inspired them—this is instruction for us!

And it’s the same way with our fellowship, too. It should be centered on those things in our lives that have to do with serving and loving God. And too many times, in the recent past—and I’m sure this is something that all human beings cycle through—that the Sabbath became more their own day, and their own day of doing what they were going to do for their own social things.

When you do this, notice it is if, which means that if you don’t do v 13, the if, then you’ll never understand v 14, because ‘great understanding have they who do His commandments.’ Verse 14: “Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD…”

Now, you go back and think of all the Sabbaths that you have kept that turned out to be kind of a dud. What happened? You didn’t do v 13—did you? No, you did your own thing! And I found this, I’ll confess it’s no work to sit in front of a TV. So therefore, you can sit in front of a TV and kind of justify yourself, ‘Well, this is really not working.’ But, is the TV from God? Did God send it into the tube for you to watch? No!

I found that when I have done that, when I shouldn’t have done it, my Sabbath turned out to be a dud! You can draw the parallel, not just TV, but whatever it may be. I’ve also found this: I’ve tried to have, or someone talk me into having a wedding on the Sabbath—it was just to be a simple affair. It became very complicated and the Sabbath was a dud. Why? Because we were not doing what God wanted us to do!

When we do that; when we do all of v 13: “If you turn your foot away from the Sabbath, from doing your own desires on My Holy Day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the Holy of the LORD, honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor pursuing your own desires, nor speaking your own words, then…” (vs 13-14). They had all of that with the first Sabbath. Absolutely did! Plus being in the very presence of God. Today we have the blessing of fellowshipping with God spiritually. Then they had it face-to-face.

Verse 14: “Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth…” (v 14). This is going clear into the spiritual salvation that God is going to give us. So, understanding God and His way, and the purpose of being created are intrinsically tied to the Sabbath. Intrinsically tied! The Sabbath is to be e very week when we draw close to God

- to know of His way

- to study His Word

- to pray to God

- to fellowship with Him

- to fellowship with each other

And since this is true, going all the way back, it had to be true of that very first Sabbath.

Let’s understand a principle that follows all the way through. Whenever you truly begin to enter into a relationship with God—or God begins dealing with you—then the Sabbath question always comes up—does it not? Yes, it does! When Moses first went into Pharaoh:

Exodus 5:1: “And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel, “Let My people go that they may hold a Feast to Me in the wilderness.”’ And Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.’” (vs 1-2). After all, Pharaoh was god on earth—right?

Verse 3: “And they said, ‘The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go, we pray you, three days’ journey into the desert and sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest He fall upon us with plague or with the sword.’ And the king of Egypt said to them, ‘Moses and Aaron, why do you keep the people from their work? Get to your burdens!’ And Pharaoh said, ‘Behold, the people of the land now are many, and you make them rest from their burdens.’” (vs 3-5). Has to do with the Sabbath, the very first question was resting. You truly, truly cannot understand God, nor fellowship with Him, when you’re busying doing your own works and your own business.

A lot of people claim there was not Sabbath- keeping from Genesis all the way here. We’re not going to take the time, we’ve proven that other places, but you know that Abraham, if he did the things that pleased God, he kept the Sabbath—so did Isaac, so did Jacob—everyone who comes in contact with God keeps the Sabbath. If they don’t, then they’re not in contact with the right God or they have the wrong doctrine, one of the two.

We have then the renewing of the Sabbath for the children of Israel. Remember they started counting —didn’t they? They counted:

- day one—getting the manna

- days two, three, four, five

- day six—double manna

Exodus 16:23: “And he said to them, ‘This is that which the LORD has said, “Tomorrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil. And that which remains over, lay up for yourselves to be kept until the next morning.”’ And they laid it up until the next morning as Moses said. And it did not stink; neither was there any worm in it” (vs 23-24).

They were all in close quarters—weren’t they? God was right there in the pillar of the cloud by day and the fire by night—wasn’t He? Therefore, they were in the very presence of God.

Verse 23: “And he said to them, ‘This is that which the LORD has said, “Tomorrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath to the LORD… [it’s to the Lord all the way through. One of the greatest arguments thrown against the Sabbath is that it was given to the Jews. Not so! Never says so in the Bible. It is the Sabbath of the Lord]: …Bake what you will bake today…”

Verse 26: “Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, in it there shall be none.”

- Did God cease from the work of creating the manna? Yes!

- God also rested on the Sabbath and ceased from His work—didn’t He? Yes!

- What kind of work is God interested in doing on the Sabbath? Spiritual work!

That’s what He does.

Now let’s look at another one to know that they had exactly the right day. The Sabbath was intended to be more than just a memorial of Creation. But the Creation, and the fact of it, tells us what God is meaning in relationship to the day.

Exodus 31:13: “‘Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, “Truly you shall keep My Sabbaths… [plural; it’s not an option whether we decide to or not] …for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations to know that I am the LORD Who sanctifies you.” You cannot know the Lord unless you keep His Sabbath Day. That’s very simple! And with it we are sanctified.

Verse 14: “You shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is Holy to you. Everyone that defiles it shall surely be put to death, for whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done, but on the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest…” [ ‘sabbath’ and ‘rest’ are almost identical words] …Holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath Day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant” (vs 14- 16)—which, as we have covered before, is always ongoing continuously.

Verse 17: “It is a sign… [the Sabbath] … between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.” This tells us that they had the same exact seventh Sabbath Day as the day that God rested on.

- If God tells us to keep the seventh day Sabbath, would He change the day? No!

- Would He hide the knowledge of it if it’s required? No!

- Who is the one who have put up arguments that it was changed? Men!

Nowhere in the Bible has the day ever, ever, ever been changed. The knowledge of why we were created is intrinsically linked together. That’s why it begins with the Sabbath Day. There may be another thing or two that we can learn from this.

Is this where people take it? Well, they take it because the Jews claim that they are all of Israel and actually, when you understand how the Jews feel about the Sabbath, they don’t feel anybody but Jews only should keep the Sabbath. That’s why they’re very anxious to get anybody who is not a Jew off from keeping the Sabbath. They want them keeping Sunday.

All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful V ersion (except where noted)

Scriptural References:

1. ) Genesis 1:31

2. ) Genesis 2:2, 7

3. ) Psalm 148:1-5

4. ) Psalm 19:1-6

5. ) Psalm 33:1-6

6. ) Psalm 19:7-14

7. ) Genesis 1:26-27

8. ) Genesis 2:7-9, 15-16

9. ) Psalm 119:127-128

10. ) Genesis 2:16-25

11. ) Psalm 139:13-17

12. ) Psalm 8:1-9

13. ) 1 John 3:1-3

14. ) 1 Corinthians 11:1-3

15. ) Proverbs 8:35-36

16. ) Proverbs 9:10

17. ) Proverbs 18:22

18. ) Proverbs 19:14

19. ) Proverbs 12:4

20. ) 1 Corinthians 11:4-6, 14, 7-16

21. ) Genesis 2:2

22. ) Isaiah 58:13-14

23. ) Exodus 5:1-5

24. ) Exodus 16:23-24, 23, 26

25. ) Exodus 31:13-17

Also referenced: Books:

- Josephus

- The Grace of God in the Old Testament by Fred R. Coulter

Chapter Three

The Background in Genesis—Sermon III

Today we’re going to finish getting through Genesis 3. I think we learned an awful lot concerning the Sabbath; and by putting it together from the things that we’ve understood in other parts of the Scriptures, so that we would understand why God made the Sabbath. And the most important thing concerning the Sabbath being the seventh day is that God made it for us so that we could be in contact with Him. And of course, God wants that. God made His creation of, of man and woman so that we would be in contact with Him; so He especially created that day for the purpose of fellowshipping, of teaching and knowledge and understanding.

We’ve been going through this Interlinear Hebrew-English Old Testament by George Ricker Berry here. Before we get to Gen. 3, let’s understand something here. The Bible does not tell us how long it was from the Creation—and from God’s initial instruction to them in the garden of Eden—how long it was from that time until the serpent was let loose.

Let’s look at it this way: let’s use a modern day example, from our own experiences within the Churches of God: How many years was it that people were in the Church of God, studied the Scriptures, got the instructions from God, knew their Bibles, and then kind of let things slack and then in came the serpent?—almost identical!

Coming in with another teaching by saying, Yea, God is not two, but one or three.’ What happened? People fell for it hook, line and sinker; however, not everyone. I would have to conclude that since God wants—before we make a choice— it to be knowledgeable for us that we know what we’re doing. That He certainly gave sufficient time—whatever that was—for Adam and Eve to be instructed by God, to live in the garden of Eden, to know what God wanted, to keep His commandments and so forth, before the serpent was let loose.

I do not believe that it was done the day after they were created or a week or ten days after they were created. I don’t know how long, but I’m sure that it was longer than a week or ten days. So that they would know, they would have knowledgeable choices, they would understand what they were doing. And the reason I say that is because we’re going to see the consequences of their sin in relationship to all human beings—and it’s past on to all of us. And so, with the stakes so high and the, the situation so profound, I think God let them know in, in a pretty definitive way what His overall plan was, what they should be doing and then He let the serpent come into the garden.

God let the serpent come into the garden, Genesis 3:1 (Int): “And the serpent was crafty above (from) every beast of the field which had made Jehovah God; and he said unto the woman: Is it so that has said God: Not ye shall eat from any tree of the garden?”

A direct challenge to what God had said, ‘You could eat of every tree of the garden, you could eat, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.’ So, the woman always had to correct him—isn’t that so? Once you have some knowledge that is true, what is something that you do? You try and correct the false statement! In that, you have to be careful because there may be a trap set. In this case, there was a big trap set.

Just refuting something is not necessarily enough. Not only do you have to refute what is said in the way of a false statement, but you also then have to obey God and keep those things which are right and correct in addition to it. That’s why it says that ‘knowledge puffs up, but love edifies’—because you can get all carried away with knowledge.

Verse 2 (Int): “And said the woman unto the serpent, from the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, has said God, not ye shall eat from it, and not ye shall touch (in) it, lest ye die.”

This shows subsequent instruction— doesn’t it? Because when you read Gen. 2 God says you shall not eat of it. It’s ‘not eat’ and ‘not touch.’ Here’s evidence of some subsequent instruction. I don’t think, as some have concluded, that Eve added her bit to it. I think that God pretty well told them. Because you see, once you touch it then you’re going to start with lust. And so, I’m sure that’s why He said you should not touch it. And I think her statement was true.

“…not ye shall eat from it, and not ye shall touch (in) it, lest ye die…. [that means in dying you shall die] …And said the serpent unto the woman, not dying ye shall die. For is knowing God that in the day of your eating from it, then shall be opened your eyes, and ye shall become like God… (vs 3-5, Int).

I think the King James says ‘as God’—but it is you will be ‘like’ God. You will be similar to God in a certain way. You could take that statement just like we do today when you talk to the Russians about democracy. Their version of democracy is far different than ours. So, when we’re communicating on a word, the understanding of that word is not the same in both minds. I am sure that they had—at least Eve did—come to have the understanding that she would be exactly as God is.

I also believe that God told them that their eventual destiny was to be in the God family. And I’m sure that He indicated to them that it would take a certain amount of time to do so. Here comes the serpent along and says, ‘Well now, you want to be like God now. Don’t’ wait. Now!’ That’s the same philosophy that Satan has with every life. Get to it early. Get to it quick and destroy it now! That’s what he did with Adam and Eve here.

Here’s how they would be ‘like God’: obviously, they wouldn’t be eternal, because they didn’t eat of the Tree of Life. Obviously, they weren’t going to improve and be righteous, because, you see, every indication is that up to this point, Adam and Eve had a neutral disposition. In order to make the choice they had to have a neutral disposition. They were neither inherently righteous nor were they inherently evil. They had to make the choice! Here’s the choice, here’s what they would be like.

I think this is interesting in the Interlinear here: “…ye shall become like God, knowers of good and evil.” Now, it says in the King James: “knowing good and evil (v 5, Int)”

Knowers here actually means deciders. You’re going decide what is right and what is wrong. In other words, the message is: Who is God to tell you what is right? Who is God to tell you what is wrong? Why don’t you decide for yourself?

- Does that not sound like a lot of things we’ve heard today? Yes!

- Is that not what is taught in the schools today? Yes, exactly!

You will be deciders of what is good and what is evil. Well, that makes you very important—doesn’t it? That just lifts you up—doesn’t it? You can decide. You can decide for yourself, apart from God, and this is going to make you like God.

It’s also interesting that knowers or knowing is one of the most interesting facets of all the pagan religions: it’s Gnosticism. It comes from the Greek word ‘gnosis’ and that’s why the English word know for knowledge is ‘kn’—it’s a carry-over from the Greek with the two consonants there.

We also find that Masonry is a Gnostic religion. And it’s interesting: what is the symbol of the Masons? What is the symbol of the Masons? They have 33 degrees or steps in which they go with varying degrees of revelation of lies until they get to the top where they are told Lucifer is god. That’s why they have to go through all of these degrees, step-by-step. But, the symbol of Masonry is a ‘G’ with a square in a triangle and over the triangle is the all seeing eye!

Get out a dollar bill, and just to let you know that this same system is still going today, you look at the back side of the dollar bill. Now, it says, ‘in God we trust.’ However, to the left of it is a total rejection of God, which is the pyramid with the all seeing eye—the New World Order, that’s what it means. They’ve been trying to get the New World Order for a long time. The New World Order began back here with Adam and Eve—when you really understand it—with the deception that Satan brought forth.

There are still Gnostics, and that’s the same thing that Satan held out to Adam and Eve, ‘You will be knowers and deciders of what is right and what is wrong.’

Verse 6 (Int): “And saw the woman that good [was] the tree for food…” You can’t tell by looking, that’s a very important thing to understand. That also applies to clean and unclean meats. You can’t tell by looking—some of them you can. I mean, if you look at some of these oysters and clams, you ought to have enough sense to realize that that’s not something to eat. You can’t tell.

The other day I was in the Kings Table. We’re going on down through the line, getting the things they we need and we come to this meat that looked like roast turkey. I said, ‘Oh, roast turkey!’ And they said, ‘No, roast pork!’ Just looking at it you could not tell that it is not good for you. God has to tell us what is right, tell us what is wrong, especially in those areas that we cannot decide.

Her looking at it didn’t prove a thing. Just like buying a used car. You can get one that looks good, that sounds good, because it has 90 weight oil in the crankcase; that runs quiet, because it has a little sawdust in the differential. But, you drive it home and it’s a pile of junk. So, not just how it looks!

“…and the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that a delight it [was] to the eyes, and desirable [was] the tree to make wise…” (v 6 Int). This is the proposition that Satan said that you will be wise! When you have intellect, when you have a mind that is designed to learn, you want to learn in knowledge. You want to increase in knowledge—don’t you? That’s a whole life-long, driving force that God has put in us, which we need. Here he was appealing to all of those things.

“…and she took from its fruit, and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. And… [sure enough] …were opened the eyes of those two, and they knew that naked were they…” (vs 6-7 Int). They saw something they didn’t see before. I’m sure they saw themselves being naked because they were brought together as husband and wife and they were naked and not ashamed.

You have something that takes place here that brings about shame. That brings about a guilty conscience. What is not said here—and we don’t want to speculate too much in what was done here—some people say that Eve had relations with the serpent and from that comes the seed of Cain. Not so! Not so at all! But some people like to perpetuate their own hostilities, so they try and do it that way.

Some people also try and indicate that there was perhaps a lot of sexual perversion that went on between Adam and Eve. That is possible. I do not know what it was that the serpent told them, or showed them, but whatever it was, it had to do with their nakedness. They knew that they were naked. That’s the first thing that they knew. They did have some understanding—didn’t they?

“…and they sewed leaves of the fig tree, and made for themselves girdles… [or coverings]” (v 7 Int). It’s interesting, some say it’s the fig tree from which they ate. I don’t know. It could be, it could not be. There’s one reference to a fig tree back here in the book of Mark. There is a fig tree that Jesus refers to, which definitely has to do with non-productive Satan religion.

Why did Jesus curse the fig tree? Well, let’s look at the account here and maybe we can come to understand. First of all, we know that Jesus condemned the Pharisees and Sadducees for following their father, Satan the devil. So, when He’s referring to the fig tree, we are going to see that He is referring to them and this may stretch all the way back to the false knowledge in the garden of Eden that never produced any spiritual fruit unto salvation.

Mark 11:12: “And in the morning, after they left Bethany, He became hungry. Then, seeing a fig tree afar off that had leaves, He went to it to see if He might possibly find something on it. But after coming to it, He found nothing except leaves because it was not yet the season for figs” (vs 12- 13).

Why did He go to the fig tree and try and find something on it if there were only leaves and it wasn’t time for figs? We’re talking about here, in parable, the religion of Judaism, which goes right back into Satanism, which goes right back to the Garden of Eden. This tree, this fig tree, as symbolizing Judaism didn’t bring forth any fruit. It didn’t produce anything of any lasting spiritual value— because it was all steeped in Satanism and paganism.

We have the same thing today with Catholicism. We have the same thing with Buddhism. But, since Judaism was so close and they were claiming they knew God, but they were rejecting God with all their traditions. This is why I am sure that it was a fig tree. Notice, it wasn’t a peach tree or an apricot tree or an apple tree—it was a fig tree.

Verse 14: “And Jesus responded by saying to it, ‘Let no one eat fruit from you any more forever!’ And His disciples heard it. Then they came into Jerusalem; and after entering the temple… [this is how we tie it in with Judaism] …Jesus began to cast out those who were buying and selling in the temple; and He overthrew the tables of the money exchangers and the seats of those who were selling doves. Moreover, He did not allow anyone to carry a vessel through the temple. And He taught, saying to them, ‘Is it not written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations”? But you have made it a den of robbers’” (vs 14-17)—a den of iniquity. Wherever Satan is, it is a den of thieves. Whether it is in a church. Whether it is in a corporation. Whether it is in a government. Or whether it is in a family. It makes no difference, wherever Satan is, it’s a “den of thieves.”

Verse 18: “Now the chief priests and the scribes heard this, and they sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the multitudes marveled at His teaching. And when evening came, He went out of the city. And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots…. [right from the very ground up] …Then Peter remembered and said to Him, ‘Look, Master! The fig tree that You cursed has dried up.’….” (vs 18-21). This is showing a complete repudiation of Judaism.

- not the Truth of God

- not the laws of God

- not the commandments of God

but of Judaism—and that they should have faith.

Verse 22: “And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Have faith from God.” Then He gave a very important lesson concerning prayer, concerning what we need to ask, how we need to ask and in what attitude:

Verse 23: “For truly I say to you, whoever shall say to this mountain, ‘Be taken away and be cast into the sea,’ and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he said will take place, he shall have whatever he shall say.” We have to temper that and tie that in with other things like: ‘keep My commandments and receive the Holy Spirit,’ and all of those things have to be tied in with that.

Verse 24: “For this reason I say to you, all the things that you ask when you are praying, believe that you will receive them, and they shall be given to you. But when you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive, so that your Father Who is in heaven may forgive you your offenses. For if you do not forgive, neither will your Father Who is in heaven forgive you your offenses’ ” (vs 24-26).

The whole lesson here is another one of these things that’ll be a complete divorcement away from Judaism and into the way that Jesus Christ was teaching. And of course, one of the first things you have to have is faith and then you live by prayer. So, that’s why we have that.

It’s interesting that the fig tree was cursed and it may go right back to the garden of Eden showing that what they were doing and what they were following was harkening all the way back to some of the original teachings of Satan the devil.

Let’s continue on with the account given in Gen. 3. It’s interesting that God gives us all the basic knowledge we need to know:

- How we got here

- Who our first parents were

- Who God is and the commandments of God

- How we got evil—why is that human beings are evil?

Could it be that Adam and Eve had previous encounters with Satan? or the serpent that was there? and that maybe he ‘softened them up’ for this point here? It’s possible! It doesn’t tell us, so we can’t say dogmatically. But, the very fact that she didn’t say, ‘Who are you? What are you doing here? How did you get here?’ sort of gives the credence to the question: Could it be that that they knew of the serpent before the particular time of the eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? It’s possible! We can’t rule it out, but we can’t dogmatically say ‘yea.’ But at least it gives us a little more basis of understanding.

Genesis 3:8 (Int): “And they heard the sound of Jehovah God walking about in the garden at the breeze of the day…” This is in the evening or the cool of the day—and it shows that they were right there with God, they had complete access to God all the time.

“…and concealed themselves the man and his wife from the face of Jehovah God in the midst of the trees of the garden…. [there they were, right there] …And called Jehovah God unto the man, and said to him: ‘Where art thou?’” (vs 8-9 Int) I don’t know if there was a designated place that they would meet every day at this particular time— it’s very possible. So, God came down and said: ‘Where are you?’

Verse 10 (Int): “And he said, ‘Thy voice I heard in the garden, and I feared, because naked am I; and I concealed myself.’ And He said: ‘Who made known to thee that naked art thou? From the tree [from] which I commanded thee to not eat (from it) hast thou eaten?’ And said the man…” (vs 10-12)

Here’s the classical case that always happens. No one likes to take blame for whatever they do. And of course, it’s interesting that modern psychology is based on that. They are now understanding that people have to be responsible for what they do. But, when psychology first started this out and people get the way they were, it was blame father, blame mother, blame school, blame everybody else—you poor little thing, you can’t help it— cain’t hep it! So, that’s what Adam did. He said, ‘Now look…’

Verse 12 (Int): “And the man said: ‘The woman whom thou gavest with me… [It’s God’s fault. It’s not ‘my fault’ it’s God’s fault.] …she gave to me from the tree, and I ate.’ ” That let’s ‘me off the hook.’ Now, you know, ‘if it wouldn’t have been for the woman, Lord, I wouldn’t have eaten, but there it was.’

Verse 13 (Int): “And said Jehovah God to the woman: What, then, hast thou done? And said the woman: The serpent seduced [deceived] me and I ate.”

So, everyone is trying to blame everyone else. The reason that I’m using Jehovah is because that’s the translation in the Interlinear and that is the really the correct pronunciation of the Hebrew word, YHVH—which is translated, Lord. To read it in the King James it would be ‘the Lord God said.’ The King James translates YHVH as Lord, and when you first have God dealing directly with Adam and Eve it is the One Who created them— the Lord God, in this particular case or the One of Elohim Who revealed Himself as, as Jehovah—or as some people like to say Yahweh.

That is not in any way indicating that we’re switching over and believing in sacred names at all, we’re not; that is not required at all whatsoever. But, it is still, nevertheless, one of the names of God. So, in reading this, please understand that we’re not trying to do that.

Verse 14 (Int): “And said Jehovah God unto the serpent: Because thou hast done this, cursed be thou from all the cattle and from all beasts of the field; upon thy belly thou shalt go and dust thou shalt eat all the days of thy life.”

When you compare our discussion that we were having before services about how human beings are made to stand upright, fully erect, and walk on two feet, made in the image of God—now here, the adversary of God now is made so he can never stand upright.

Did he stand upright at one time? It’s possible, I don’t know! All we know is what we see today in the particular case. But, I think that is very profound that the one that symbolizes Satan the devil being the serpent, cannot stand upright. It has to go on his belly. And I think one of the most gruesome ways of eating is the way that a snake eats. I’m sure you’ve seen that on some of these Discovery programs showing how serpents eat. And so, the whole thing with the serpent is really quite a struggle. And what we’re finding here is that everything that God said is true.

And, He says, v 15 (Int): “And hostility I will put between thee and between the woman, and between thy seed and between her seed; he shall bruise thee as to the head and thou shalt bruise him as to the heel.” That did happen when Jesus was crucified. When they crucified Him and, and put the nails through His feet. It wasn’t through the front part of His feet because He would have bones broken. It was prophesied ‘no bone would be broken.’ So, it went through the Achilles tendon and the heel, so it would go that way—and it did bruise His heel.

Verse 16 (Int): “Unto the woman he said, Multiplying I will multiply thy trouble and thy conception… [I will greatly multiply your trouble, your sorrow—I think that’s a little broader definition] …in pain thou shalt bring forth children; and unto thy husband shall be they longing {or your desire} and he shall rule over thee” (v 16, IH).

God gave equal punishment to all. God is not picking on women here—please understand that. Man had his sorrow increased, and his work increased just as well. Let’s see what happened here:

Verse 17 (Int): “And to Adam he said, ‘Because thou hast hearkened… [listened] …to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten from the tree as to which I commanded thee, saying: Not thou shalt eat from it; cursed be the ground on account of thee… [Everything that he would set his hand to do he had obstacles to overcome and problems to overcome] …in toil thou shalt eat of it all the days of they life; and thorns and thistles it shall cause to sprout for thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy nostrils… (vs 17-19).

That’s a literal translation. I think showing that he’s going to have not just the sweat of your brow, but it’s going to be a breathing, difficult, very exasperating kind of existence.

“…thou shalt eat bread, until thy return unto the ground; for from it thou wast taken; for dust [art] thou and unto dust thou shalt return” (v 19 Int).

That was the punishment that was given to man. Let’s look at the punishments here, as it was given out to all of them. Let’s, first of all, understand that there is a parallel for us to learn which is drawn on continually. Let’s see the result of what happened as is in relationship to Eve and then into Adam.

There is a lesson for us here continually concerning the Word of God, continually concerning how Satan is going to be out there to try and turn God’s way upside down and to interfere in our lives. I think living in the end-time we’re going to experience a lot of that. We’re going to see a lot of it. We’re going to see a lot of obstacles brought up against us.

1. -Corinthians 11:2: “For I am jealous over you with the jealousy of God because I have espoused you to one husband, so that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness… [clever arguments, sounding good, having logic] …so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (vs 2-3). That’s exactly what’s been happening today— coming along with philosophical and theological arguments that just boggle the mind. They’re just so mind-twisting that it’s difficult to even read it.

I know, I’ve been studying quite a bit of it now so I can really understand how much of the New Testament has been written to combat all of this satanic philosophy—and it’s amazing. It is amazing how much is there to combat everything that Satan has done.

Verse 4: “For indeed, if someone comes preaching another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit, which you did not receive, or a different gospel, which you did not accept, you put up with it as something good.” It says, ‘you’re putting up with it, you’re allowing this to happen.’ That’s why he said that you need to be careful that you don’t be deceived.

1. -Timothy 2—here’s a section of Scripture which has been used against women in ways which are not exactly correct. But, as we’ve pointed out before, we’re still male and female and God expects us to live our lives in a way that He wants them to be lived.

2. -Timothy 2:9: In like manner also, let the women adorn themselves with clothing that shows modesty and discretion, not with elaborate braidings of the hair, or with gold, or pearls, or expensive apparel.” That is, overly done. I don’t know of any women that I’ve seen in church at all who was doing that—so don’t take this as a personal thing.

Verse 10: “but with that which is fitting for women who profess to have reverence for God— with good works. Let a woman learn in quietness and be submissive in every respect” (10-11). It doesn’t mean you are to be still and to not ask questions or anything like that.

Verse 12: “For I do not permit a woman to teach, nor to exercise authority over man, but to be in quietness.” That is, teaching in church. That doesn’t mean that a woman cannot teach. We have the example of Aquila and Priscilla—they taught Apollos, but they were not teaching him in the church.

Verse 13: “For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived; but the woman came to be in transgression by being deceived” (vs 13-14). We’re going to see that this doesn’t mean that Adam didn’t sin. A lot of people read this and think, well, it’s just the woman, and then they get the hard-heel and put down women all the time. No, we’re going to see, Adam not being deceived, knew what he was doing so therefore his sin was worse than Eve’s.

Verse 15: “But she shall be saved through the childbearing, if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with self-control.”

Now, let’s look at the effect concerning Adam. What happened here to all mankind. I know Rom. 5, in this particular case, is a somewhat difficult section to understand, but let’s see if we can untangle it here at this particular point. Adam did sin! And we’re going to see it here, very clearly. And his sin had a great effect on all humankind.

Romans 5:12: “Therefore, as by one man sin entered into the world…” Didn’t say ‘woman’—‘one man’. Does that mean that Adam probably could have stopped the whole thing even though Eve may have eaten of it? If he would have kept God’s way and not eaten of it? I don’t know, it’s possible! I do not know—that’s an open question. And that’s one of those we’ll have to wait for the resurrection to get the answer on, because it doesn’t tell us directly.

We’re going to deal in a little scenario now, so we’ll have a little speculation: What if Adam would have eaten first, instead of Eve? I don’t know, doesn’t tell us! He ate second; he knew better, he was not deceived. When you’re deceived, you don’t know better. You’re deceived. He wasn’t. He knew what he was doing. And, I’m sure he knew the consequences that was going to happen to the whole human race.

Now here in Rom. 5, it shows us something very important that happened. And this helps give us an understanding as to what happened to human nature and why the world is so evil. Though everyone is trying to do good in their own way, except those who are totally dedicated to evil.

Verse 12: “Therefore, as by one man sin entered into the world… [and the ‘world’ here being the human realm] …and by means of sin came death; and in this way, death passed into all mankind…[ We are as good as dead from the instant of conception—just a matter of time. Some live longer, some shorter.] … and it is for this reason that all have sinned.” With the passing of death inherent within their genes, sin also was passed to all human beings, that we have a sinful nature. No longer neutral, as they were originally created. Now there was a sinful nature. And this is the reason why all men have sinned.

Verse 13: “For before the law, sin was in the world. However, sin is not imputed when law does not exist.” What he’s saying—in kind of double twist on the words here is—before the Covenant given to Israel, there was law in the world, that’s why there was sin. Because ‘sin is the transgression of the law.’

Verse 14: “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even upon those who had not sinned in the likeness of the transgression of Adam… [His sin was a profound sin. His sin was a knowledgeable sin.] …who was a type of the One Who was to come.”

Now we’re going to look at a couple of things in 1-Corinthians 15 concerning Adam and concerning Christ. We know that Paul tells us that all of us have ‘the law of sin and death’ within us. That’s reflected in the carnal nature that when you want to do good you can’t.

No one has been able to beat this yet. If you want to know the truth of God’s Word, all have died. That verifies the truth of God’s Word. No one has been able to overcome it. Everyone has tried to prolong life as long as they can. But the aging process is a very part of our being.

1. -Corinthians 15:22: “For as in Adam all die… [They all die because of the sin of Adam— death was passed on, sinful nature was passed on.] …so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”

Let’s get the comparison here in v 45: “Accordingly, it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam became an ever-living Spirit.’ ” There is a comparison here. IF Adam and Eve had not sinned, then Adam would have been the first man changed from flesh to spirit and we would all go through Adam. But now, because they sinned, we all go through Christ.

It’s not like the Mormons, they come along and say that Adam and Eve had to sin so that all of these spirits up in heaven could be sent down and be put into human bodies, because they need a human body. Well, that is just demonism—that’s just another version of Hinduism in the guise of a Christian-sounding religion.

So, because of that sin, we have all sinned and we come up with this human nature.

Let’s see another verification of this, and this is something that the world cannot figure out. Why is it that all human being tend to do evil? In varying degrees, one way or the other! Mark 7:21 shows that it’s from within, inside! So therefore we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Mark 7:21: “For from within, out of the hearts of men, go forth evil thoughts… [and this just almost lists out the sins as they come along in the experience of a lifetime]: …adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickednesses, guile, licentiousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; all these evils go forth from within, and these defile a man” (vs 21-23). That kind of nature was put into us, passed on to us by inheritance from Adam and Eve down to this day. And only God can change it. Only Christ can remove it. It’s the only way. Can’t be done any other way.

With a life like that, here let’s go look at one of the most righteous kings that we have. Let’s look and see what David said of his own conception. Now, we saw before what he said of it: how wonderfully and awesomely he was made. We have the other side of it. Now we have what happens when you are sinning and you are confessing your sins and you really understand and realize how in-depth the sin is that human being have.

Recently, there was a murderer down in San José. Something worked out that they could not convict him, so he was set loose. And he says, ‘You got to kill me.’ No, there’s nothing we can do legally. He says, ‘I’m unreformable.’ At least he was honest. He said, ‘I think of murder and mayhem all the time. And if you don’t lock me up and do something with me and take me out of my misery, I know I’m going to do it again.’ That was really something!

And you know, true confession, that a man would really admit that. And, of course, these socalled ‘serial killers’—that they just kill one person after another, they are the same way. They get so obsessed with the evil and so compulsive with it, that every thought is to execute this evil. Every thought is to carry out this evil.

When David was repenting, here’s what he said, Psalm 51:1: “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your loving kindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion, blot out my transgressions.” What did he have in mind? What was it he did? Adultery and murder—listed in the same order right there as in Mark 7—correct? Yes! And he schemed and he planned and he plotted and all this sort of thing.

Verse 2: “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me…. [When God convicts you of your sin it is ever before you.] …Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done evil in Your sight, that You might be justified when You speak and be in the right when You judge. Behold, I was brought forth

in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive

me” (vs 2-5).

That doesn’t mean it was a sinful, illegitimate birth, it means ‘just from the very conception of my being sin was within me’—that’s what it means. That’s why the sweetest, nicest children— you often wonder, I wonder what Stalin was like when he was a little baby? Wonder what Hitler was like when he was a little baby? Wonder what Cleopatra was like when she was a little baby—and on and on and on and on. All little babies are sweet and lovely, but they have inherent the “law of sin and death” in them. And the more they are exposed to an evil world and Satan, the more in degree that this evil becomes more profound.

You can even take this human nature and you can raise it in a relatively good environment, with a minimal amount of influence of sin and you can come up with someone who the world would say is a “upright.” That is, they are not given to too much sin. But, nevertheless, they will lie. Nevertheless, they will cheat. Nevertheless, they will covet. Nevertheless, they will still want their own way. Even in the very best. That’s why “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and none can save himself.”

David understood that it was from right within. Now, let’s look at a couple of Proverbs concerning that. There are a couple of Proverbs that we have memorized there. As a result, man’s way is the way of sin. The way that seems right. Proverbs 16:25: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death.” The wages of sin is death. Man’s way that seems good and right leads to death.

Proverbs 21:2: “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes…” That’s how we have the excuse that you try and palm it off on someone else. “…right in his own eyes...” And because of that you can’t come to God on your terms. We’re going to see that’s what Cain was doing. He was going to God on his terms. You can never come to God on your terms. Here’s why:

Proverbs 15:8: “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD…” If you don’t repent, if you don’t change, if you don’t have a heart that God can work with, even whatever you do in the way of sacrifice—not only just animal sacrifice but time, but labor, whatever it may be, is “…an abomination to the Lord…” Who is the mother of abominations? Babylon the Great—mother of harlots and abominations in the earth! All comes from her.

Verse 9: “The way of the wicked is an abomination…” And that’s what, as we’re going to see, happened to the world before the Flood.

Verse 10: “There is grievous correction for him who forsakes the way… [Did that not happen to Adam and Eve? Was not their correction grievous? Oh yes—even affects us!] …he who hates reproof shall die. The grave and destruction are before the LORD—how much more the hearts of the children of men?” (vs 10-11). God knows the heart (Mark 7:21), it tells us what our human hearts are like.

Verse 15: “All the days of the afflicted are evil…” And that’s what it was before the, before the Flood. It go so bad, so bad. And it’s, it’s just like God is always done. When people come to a certain point that they just turn their backs on God, God says, ‘Okay, you can have it all. All your own way and I don’t have to do anything but just let it run its course.’ Then history is written.

Verse 25: “The LORD will destroy the house of the proud, but He maintains the border of the widow. The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD…” (vs 25-26). So, we have the way of evil is an abomination; and we find here—all the way through here—these things are called abominations. That is amazing!

Verse 27: “He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house…” Didn’t that happen to Adam and Eve? They were greedy of gain. They wanted to be made wise in their own way? Yes! This is something the way that these parallels really follow along.

Genesis 4—God had to do something. He withdrew the opportunity of salvation until the Messiah should come. With the exception of those few that He would call.

Genesis 3:19 (Int): “…for dust art thou and unto dust thou shalt return. And called the man the name of his wife Eve; for she became mother of every living [being]. And made Jehovah God for Adam and for his wife tunics {coats} of skin, and clothed them” (vs 19-21).

That is to clothe their nakedness. Some people say that this was also an offering for a sin sacrifice. It’s possible, but if you read what a sin sacrifice is, how they handled it, everything had to be burned: the skin, the innards and everything had to be burned. It’s possible that it was, but I am not going to completely say that this was an animal sacrifice for sin.

Here’s what God had to do, v 22 (Int): “And said Jehovah God: Behold, the man has become like one of us, to know… [or ‘to decide’] … good and evil…” And now—which he can’t do, he just thinks he can do—God is the One Who decides what is good, and God is the One Who decides what is evil. But, now that mankind had taken it to themselves they were ‘like God’ in that particular sense, to decided good and evil.

“…and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever…” (v 22 Int).

God closed off the way to the Tree of Life. And the reason being is, not that He wasn’t going to bring salvation at a later date, which He was, without a doubt; but you cannot live forever in a state of sin. And, I know I’ve said this before: How would you like to live forever the way you’re living now? With the pulls of sin, with the pulls of the flesh, and all this sort of thing—forever and ever and ever? So therefore, He cut off the way of the Tree of Life.

“…and so sent him Jehovah God from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken there from. And he drove out the man, and he stationed (from) East of to the garden of Eden the Cherubim and the flame of the sword whirling itself about to guard the way of the tree of life” (vs 22-24 Int).

It’s called ‘the way of the Tree of Life’— symbolizing a way to live! I’m sure there was a literal tree. What happened to the Tree of Life? I don’t know! I do know that after the Flood it was no longer mentioned in the sense that it was here. Could it be that God took the tree back with Him, I don’t know, at the time of the Flood? It’s possible!

Could it be that the tree was destroyed? If it’s a Tree of Life, can it be destroyed? I can’t answer that either! We’ll have to wait for God to tell us quite a bit. Now then, we start the whole chronicle of human sin! Sin starts in the family.

Genesis 4:1: “And Adam knew Eve his wife… [which means they had sexual relations] … and she conceived…” (Gen. 4:1, KJV). It wasn’t with the serpent, trust me! And the Word of God, that if Cain was the offspring of the serpent, God would have made it clear. But then you’re also violating the laws of God, which is kind after kind. And so, you cannot have something, which then would be impossible to take place. So he was human as human can be and his father was Adam and not the serpent. And here’s what she said:

“…and bore Cain, and said, ‘I have gotten a man from the Lord’” (v 1). So, right away she began to think this was the One that was prophesied about. That Cain was the One Who was going to then bring the deliverance to them.

Verse 2: “And she bore again, his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.”

In the account of Josephus it shows that the ‘process of time’ was perhaps as much as 120 years. Those of you who like to do a little mathematics— and I’ve seen this in some publications— you take 1500 years, which is 1550-some years from the time of Adam and Eve until the Flood. And you start out with two and then you start increasing the population. And it’s estimated that there could have been as many as a billion and a half people on the earth at the time of the Flood.

When you consider there is a tradition— and I will have to put it that way—that Adam and Eve had 56 children. That would not be hard to believe that they had 56 children. All God gives us is the loose linage of the line of Cain; and the exact linage of the line coming down to Noah. Nothing else is preserved for us. Everything else of the world before the Flood has been obliterated.

Verse 3: “It came to pass that Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground.” We know that firstfruits are to be brought. We also know that a tithe of the ground was to be brought. So this was an improper offering; and I think it’s probably true—the tradition that they had—that Cain was forcing the ground and doing things that he shouldn’t have been doing.

Verse 4: “And Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat of it….” There are some people who believe that this could have been on a Holy Day—it’s possible! It doesn’t say that it was, doesn’t say that it wasn’t.

“…And the LORD had regard unto Abel and his offering” (v 4). Why? Because he did it according to the commands of God, that’s why! Whenever you do anything according to the commands of God, He will have respect unto you.

Verse 5: “But He did not have regard unto Cain and his offering. And Cain was extremely angry and his countenance fell…. [he got mad at God] …And the LORD said to Cain, ‘Why are you so angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, shall you not be accepted?….’ ” (vs 5- 7). All He said was, ‘Look, Cain, all you have to do is do what’s right. Won’t you be accepted?’

“…But if you do not do well, sin lies at the door….” (v 7). There’s a couple of interesting things here, which may fit into this:

When they brought their offering, where did they bring it? I’m sure that God was still in the Garden of Eden, so when they came up to the east gate, where the Cherubim were—now remember, what is over the altar of God in the tabernacle and the temple, but the Cherubim. I think this: when they brought an offering, they came to the entrance— the east entrance of the garden of Eden, where the Cherubim were—and there was an altar for offerings. And that’s where they offered it. And if they did well, they were accepted of God.

When He says, “…sin lies at the door…” could it be that He is telling Cain that ‘Your offering here at the door is sin’? Could be!

“…Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it” (v 7). You have to be responsible and control your own self—so Cain didn’t accept that.

Then we have the account here concerning Cain killing his brother. And God knows. God knows everything. And so “Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?” (v 8-9).

Immediately, right in the family here is the strife going on. When you have children, do you have fights with the kids? Yes. Is there strife between them? Yes! Nothing new. Started out with the first family. That’s part of the sorrows that Eve would go through. More than just the pain of bearing children, but also the turmoil and the sorrow of fighting and arguing and, you know, rearing the children.

Verse 10: “And He said, ‘What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to Me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the earth, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you, and you shall be a wanderer and a fugitive upon the earth.’ ” (vs 10-12). So then, he was cast out.

Verse 13: “And Cain said to the LORD, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, You have driven me out from the face of the earth today, and I shall be hidden from Your face….’ ” (vs 13-14). No more access to God— totally cut off from God. Now, no more could he come up to the entrance of Eden and make an offering. No more, totally cut off.

So you have a double removable in this particular case. Adam and Eve were put out of the garden for their sin—which was the first removal. They still had access to God coming to the entrance of Eden on the east side. Now Cain, because of his sin, is removed even further—to wander, to travel, to have no roots, to have nothing permanent.

Cain said, “…‘And I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth, and it shall be that anyone who finds me shall kill me.’ And the LORD said to him, ‘Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.’ And the LORD set a mark upon Cain so that anyone who found him should not kill him” (vs 14-15).

What was the mark? I don’t know! There’s been a lot of speculation, but I have not found any validation to any of the speculation. I have thought maybe it was an ‘X’ or a mark or a cross and perhaps that was the origination of the cross—I do not know! But, whatever it was, I’m sure his children, when they got up on his knees and said, “Grandpa, what is that?” I’m sure that he told the biggest fib in the world. I’m sure that he said, “God put this on me to set me apart from and make me special above all men.” You can almost hear the story.

Now, the question is, where did Cain get his wife? Obviously, from one of the daughters of Adam and Eve. And obviously, it was at that time, because of the inheritance that they had, determined that they could marry their own sisters because they had not had—how shall we say— enough intermarriage where then it would create problems genetically. It had to be.

Verse 17: “And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch…”

The reason I suspect that Cain told all of his descendants that this was a special mark from God—not a sign of a curse—is because you read the names of the linage of those of the line of Cain and they are very similar to the names that you find in the linage from Adam and Seth on down to Noah, very similar.

We won’t go through any more in chapter four or chapter five. Let’s come to chapter six and we will end this study here, in chapter six, to see what the earth became like. When you have people having the “law of sin and death” in them and just give them free reign and let them do whatever they’re going to do, it’s going to be a mixture of good and evil.

Genesis 6:1: “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply…” You reach a certain point in human reproduction that you’re having a multiplying factor. Right now they say there are what, 5.5-billion people on the earth—somewhere close to that. And they say that within 20 years that it will double! Now, they’re doing all they can to try and stop this with abortion and so forth, but they reached the same point here:

“…began to multiply on the face of the earth, and when daughters were born to them, that the sons of the mighty ones saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful…” (vs 1-2). These were those who were called ‘sons of God.’ These are not some special, giant Nephilim, as they are called. This is not some sort of angels intermarrying with human being to produce a super race.

“…and they took wives for themselves from all whom they chose…. [rather than do it the way that God said] … And the LORD said, ‘My spirit shall not always strive with man in his going astray… [that’s how we know those sons of God were men, because he says so] …for he is but flesh… [not an angelic being] …and yet, his days shall be a hundred and twenty years’” (vs 2-3).

God pronounced sentence right then: he’s only going to live 120 years longer!

Verse 4: “There were tyrants on the earth in those days…” Do we have giants today? Yes, we do! All you have to do is stack up the watusi along side of the Japanese and you’ll see, there are giants.

“…and also after that, the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. They were mighty men who existed of old, men of renown” (v 4). Or men renamed after the term: ‘sons of God.’ Here they were building up the master race. That’s what they were doing—mighty men.

Verse 5: “And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great… [absolutely incredible] …was great on the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

Now we’re reaching the same point again today—aren’t we? How far advanced were they technologically? We don’t know! Could they have been advanced as we are? Could be, maybe even more! We don’t know, but the end result of man’s way, under Satan’s influence, is that “…his heart was only evil continually.”

And it was so bad: “…And the LORD repented that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. And the LORD said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the crawling thing, and the fowl of the air; for I repent that I have made them’ ” (vs 6-7).

Why would God destroy every living thing? I do not know! Was it that they were having genetic engineering at that time, on a grander scale than we understand today? Why does it say:

Verse 8: “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man and perfect in his generations…” (vs 8-9)—or his pedigree or his progeny. Is that telling us that the rest of mankind was so twisted and defiled? Is that telling us that they were doing things with animals that they should not have been doing? Doing things with animals and human beings combined together that they should not have been doing? I don’t know! I think I’ve mentioned this a time or two, but I’ll mention it here since we’re covering this very basic fundamental section of the Scriptures.

There is, in mythology, the man’s torso on a goat’s body. And this was called one of the gods. Could it be that that actually happened? I don’t know! But, I’ll tell you one thing, today they are looking for as many ways as they can to enhance a super race, so that they can do something with the genes to make better athletes, to make stronger men, make smarter men. They have a whole university dedicated to that, many different places, but in particularly, the Rockefeller University in their genetic section there. Very advanced into this.

Could this refer to Noah being the firstborn? It could but it doesn’t say firstborn! It says he was ‘perfect in his generations.’ I think that whenever we have something referring to a ‘first born’ it lists them as firstborn. So it’s possible that it could, but it’s also possible that in his pedigree or his genetic makeup there was nothing foreign in it. There had to be reason why God had to kill all life. ALL LIFE! Now, that’s drastic. ALL human beings and ALL life. And we can see the evidence of the Flood everywhere.

Verse 10: “And Noah begat three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now, the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence…. [everything was corrupted] …And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt— for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth” (vs 10-12).

What do you mean “…all flesh had corrupted…”? Does that mean it was rotting? No! This would have to be that all flesh was all mixed up. I would have to conclude “all mixed up” genetically. And it was so bad and the evil was so rife that

Verse 13: “And God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. And, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.’ ”

So then, He told him to make the ark. And that was some, some big vessel. And God is the One Who sent the animals to Noah. So apparently God picked out those animals that had a pure strain in their, in their genes, so that on this side of the Flood—which we live on now—things would not be all mixed up and twisted around. But this whole phrase here: “that ALL flesh” not just human beings. See, there’s a differentiation here.

Verse 5: “And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

Verse 12: “And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt—for all flesh… [not just human flesh] … corrupted its way upon the earth. And God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. And, behold, I will destroy them with the earth’” (vs 12-13).

Now let’s come to Matthew 24, because there’s also a prophecy that in our time that it’s going to get very similar to it. Yet, at the same time, when all of this evil is going on, as it was back then—we saw that “all flesh had corrupted its way and “…the earth was filled with violence.”

Matthew 24:37: “Now, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also be at the coming of the Son of man. For as in the days that were before the Flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark’ ” (vs 37-38).

In spite of all the violence, in spite of all the corruption, there were the normal functions going on which human beings were doing. And to them, they had been so accustomed to their way of life, so accustomed to the evil that was on every side about them, that they just took everything for granted. And they didn’t have a clue until the Flood came.

Comment was made that the scientists are doing what they can to try and alter the genetic substance of certain of the monkey family and, in particularly, pigs, to try and have replaceable livers and hearts from pigs and other animals. That’s something! That’s something!

Which reminds me, the greatest blow to the abortion movement took place this week. Which was, the woman who was Jane Roe in Roe vs Wade has changed and repented and is now a pro-lifer. And the thing that did it—you know, sometimes the overwhelmingness of evil will get to you—and she said that the thing that got to her was when she opened up a freezer at the Planned Parenthood or the abortion clinic that she was working in, and saw a freezer full of fetuses. She said, ‘that was it.’

Even though she’s now pro-life she says it’s still all right in the first trimester. Well listen, as we have studied in the past, a baby is fully, fully formed—it’s just a matter of growth—with just six weeks. So, by time a woman has definite conformation that she is pregnant the new little person is already formed—it’s only an inch long.

Yes, she was baptized by a Baptist preacher, yes that’s correct. So, at least in the letter of the law she’s doing something reasonable. But, it’s interesting, she still hasn’t come all the way to abhor all abortion. So, she’s trying to, you know, like you do when you repent of your sins to a certain degree, you kind of like to straddle the fence so you can still justify what you’ve done in the past, but, kind of say you’re getting away from it. So that’s what’s she’s doing.

But, I thought that that was profound when she opened up the freezer and it was full of fetuses— so that the doctors could use them for experiments and all those things that they want to do. They sell them, make money on them.

Yes, the Chinese are going to have population control by having very strict laws—execute people for the smallest little crime so they can kill them and sell their heart and sell their liver and their eyes and all that sort of thing.

History repeats itself without a doubt. And we don’t know how bad it’s going to get. And we don’t know what the technology is going to do. Now, there, I am sure there are a lot of propagandistic statements put out which are not true. But, nevertheless, I think they are endeavoring in trying to do that.

One of the things they want to do is come up with the “divine” man. One who’s going to live forever. One who’s going to be smarter than ever before. And that’s Satan’s whole goal.

And, I think this—I’ll just have to give you a little speculation here: I think that when the Beast comes on the scene it’s going to be the result of a tremendous and profound Satanic religious experience. Which is, for those religions of the world in Masonry and all that sort of thing, they are going to have a “divine” man. And once they get this “divine” man then I think they are going to conclude that many more people can now follow in his footsteps if they just make an image to the Beast.

I’ll let you think on that. Well, we’ll end here. We’re through with our little study there in Genesis, but I think it’s been very good to go back to the very basics and understand that and come forward from there.

All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version (except where noted)

Scriptural References:

Genesis 3:1-7

Mark 11:12-26

Genesis 3:8-19

1. Corinthians 11:2-4

2. Timothy 2:9-13

Romans 5:12-14

1. Corinthians 15:22, 45

Mark 7:21-23

Psalm 51:1-5

Proverbs 16:25

Proverbs 21:2

Proverbs 15:8-11, 15, 25-27

Genesis 3: 19-24

Genesis 4:1-15, 17

Genesis 6:1-13, 5, 12-13

Matthew 24:37-38

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

- Proverbs 14:12

Also referenced: Books:

- Interlinear Hebrew-English Old Testament by George Ricker Berry

- Josephus

Chapter Four

The Sabbath—Sign of God

What does the word Babel mean? Anybody remember? This is going to be kind of an open Sabbath, so we can have questions and answers and different things. [It means] confusion. Do you think this world is in confusion today? Yes, it is. Remember President Bush announced the New World Order? Well, that hasn’t come together the way he thought, has it? Because the other day with the assignation of Rajiv Gandhi, he said, “What kind of world is this?” And it is confusion.

Now, Evelyn gave me this: It’s Prophecy in the News by J. R. Church and he does quite a bit keeping up on what the Jews are doing, but let us end a myth about Jews and Jewish religion today. There are as many, what we would call denominations, of Judaism as there are [of] Catholicism, and Protestantism. [That’s] just the way that it is.

Now here is a headline, Jews believe Messiah came at Passover [1991]. How is that? Okay, and that there are going to be two Messiah’s—one called Messiah Ben Joseph, and he is going to die for the sins of the people. Now, you see what kind of rebellion this is toward Christ? You see they won’t accept Christ, but now [they write] we are going to create our own Messiah and he is going to die for the sins of the people. Then there is the other one, and the first of the two Messiahs would come Passover 1991, we can’t confirm he actually appeared. And Messiah Ben Joseph is to die for the sins of the people, then guess who is going to come as king? Who is the greatest king that the Jews look to? David. Messiah Ben David is going to come and conquer Gog and Magog.

Then it [the article] shows all the pictures here, I’ll let you take a look at it here. Here are the Jews with their long beards and curly locks and everything, and you know that’s supposed to get them righteousness, but it doesn’t. It doesn’t get them righteousness.

Then it shows the Bar Kofka coin which was a rebellion against God [131-135 AD], and let’s see, there are a couple of other things in here. Meet the man who plans to rebuild the Jewish temple. So you’ve got all of this division here. Now he says, “Well, they don’t need to offer sacrifices, but they can just make a big synagogue out of it. Then some of the Jews believe that Elijah has arrived and that’s in the person of Rabbi Menachem Schnerson. It shows his picture with his long locks and his big beard and his black hat on there. Now I don’t want to ridicule him from that point of view because I do believe that the two witnesses are going to be Jews, and I think it is going to be the Governor of Judea and the priest at the temple that they rebuild, because that’s what Zechariah [3 and] 4 tells us.

Then he’s got advertisements of all the tapes and it goes through here showing some other things. So the thing I just want to bring out is that the Jews are as much denominationalized and confused about religion, and their own religion, and their own Bible as Protestants and Catholics are about theirs.

And then Belinda brought this in, which really is something we need to pay attention to, so I’m going to go through this article, because it’s very, very important for us to know. Europeans Primed for New Age and this is under the section of alternative religions which was found written by Don Lattin. He is the religious writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. And it’s written more from the point of view, as you will see when I read it, that we Californians were right in the first place, with our New Age religion and all of our freakisms here in San Francisco.

Now we know San Francisco is confused, don’t we? All you have to do is drive in San Francisco, I mean you know that. Here, let’s go to Revelation 17, and we have understood, and I have said for quite a while, which is nothing to my credit, you know—if I believe something is in the Bible and then I say this is going to happen because it’s in the Bible, now, it is nothing to my credit. You understand that. So I am not going to be like some ministers and stand up and say, “See, I am great. I told you this years ago. So therefore, you better believe me because I said this years ago.” No, that’s not the case. God had this in the Bible before any of us were here. So if I come along after the scene and understand it, and God’s Spirit leads us to understand it (that this is correct) and then I say, “Hey, according to the Bible, let’s look and see that this is going to happen in the future.” And lo, and behold, it does happen in the future—that’s because the Word of God is true and not that I as a person am anything special. Now with that caveat, Revelation 17, and you know what it is there, it is the great whore, verse 5, that is called: “… MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” As it should read.

Now, all religions, all modern day religions are resurrections of the [ancient] Babylonian worship system that has been in Babylon from time immemorial under different guises and different names and different whatever you want to call it.

Now then, Satan has never changed in his desire to corrupt the whole world, has he? No. But what he has to do, he has to make the old look new, so he has dressed up his lady with new clothing. But then some of them are really happy that it’s the old lady in new clothing, because they still believe in the old lady. See, so now they are able to believe anything they want to believe, and what is it that we have said? We have said that the Catholic Church will probably umbrella all of these under their hierarchy.

Let me read you this: “New religious movements are finding fertile ground in Europe where low church attendance and a changing world order has led to a search for spiritual alternatives. There are several indications that California is no longer the undisputed Mecca of the new and unusual.” Hooray, finally, good—the land of fruits and nuts and they tilted the whole U. S. and they all rolled out here to California. “When the Berlin Wall came down, the first encounter many East Germans had with the West was provided by the Church of Scientology.” How many know what the Church of Scientology is? Yes, L. Ron Hubbard and the book Dianetics, and you see it advertised all the time on television. That’s the book that first came out that is this: I’m OK, You’re OK—which sounds great, but it is: I accept myself with all my perversions that I have and I accept yourself with all the perversions that you have, so then, therefore, I’m OK, and you’re OK—which is the same philosophy that we are having today in acceptance of all of the evil abominations under the sun under the guise that you cannot discriminate, right? Right. [Continuing with article]: “And they posted staff members at the wall to hand out free German language copies of Dianetics.” Well now, after being under Communism for so long, this sounds great! You see, so the way that Satan sets something up to do. What he wants is maybe [to] destroy something old, but then what he brings in as the new is really something that is older than what he destroyed that was old, so he can still get you. So that’s what they are doing.

Dianetics—What does Dianetics mean anyway? [Continuing with article]:“In the Swiss town of Dodesville violent demonstrations broke out when a spiritualist group predicted the end of the world and nothing happened.” So what’s new? Look when the end of the world is going to come, all you need to do is read Revelation 16, it is not going to be some little flash in the pan; it’s going to shake the whole world. (The word Dianetics is not in the little 40,000-words handbook dictionary that you can carry in your purse. We just found that out.) [Continuing with article]: “Holistic healing centers are springing up across Poland. There are about fifty New Age magazines in England, many of them targeting Neo-Pagans.” There are people who say, “I want to be Pagan.” Can you believe that?

The comment was made that there is a new bumper sticker out that says… Born Again Pagan. Now what is a born again Pagan? Let’s think about this for a minute. What is a born again Pagan? It’s a new philosophy. Somebody’s tapped into the spirit world. Someone’s rediscovered the old teaching, right—and tapped into the spiritual power of Satan. Did they have a spiritual experience? Yes! Sure they did. The comment was made that Dianetics is trying to get a lot of the…I don’t think trying to, I think they already have a lot of the actors and actresses and musicians and, you know, all that sort of thing and then they control them by fear, and that’s the way Satan always does. He says, “Try a little, you’ll like it.” Then after you’re hooked he says, “How dare you.”

All right let’s read on in this article because this is really very revealing. “Neo-Pagans— In Italy the motherland of Roman Catholic Church and it is abuzz with the revival of Renaissance magic and occultism with some two hundred esoteric groups operating.” Now what does the word Esoteric mean? Esoteric means that it is held within a small secret group. What is Exoteric? [It is] something that everybody shares in and knows.

Now the reason the Catholics are going to take hold of this officially as a church, is because the exoteric, the outer knowledge that they give to the world appears to be biblical. The esoteric, the inner knowledge that the hierarchy knows is Satanism. That’s how all of these now then can communicate.

Now what Satan is going to do, he is going to go, “Voila!” and everybody is going to believe the same thing—what a great and marvelous thing, and the Pope will have miracles, and all the New Agers will fall, bang, right in line.

So these esoteric groups have inner secret rituals that they perform, many of them being what—black magic, yes, they are all black magic one way or the other. I talked to a man the other day—he says he works with this woman who is very religious, but she says she is a witch and worships the earth. I said, “That’s true.” Human sacrifices— that’s correct.

“ ‘Europe…’ ” quoting now, “ ‘…has become the growth market for the new religious movement,’ said Gordon Melton, Director of the Center for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara. Gurus who settled in America and built a movement here are now expanding into Europe at the same time,’ Melton added, ‘many of Europe’s burgeoning occult sects and Neo-Pagan movements are not exotic American transplants, but native to Europe. Many came to believe that the new religions of Europe resulted from a migration eastward across the Atlantic to California,’ said Melton, who has spent the past few years examining the development of new religions in Europe. He argued that the modern occult revival was not created by Americans, but by such spiritual leaders as the Austrian Franz Messmer 1733–1815, Emanuel Swedenborg of Sweden 1688–1772, Louie Claudeseine Martin of France 1743–1803, and Britain’s Allister Crowley 1875–1947.

“Melton, who brought about sixty scholars from around the world last week to the Solvang Holiday Inn Resort near Santa Barbara…” (which is one of the nicer places of the world, you see) “…For the Fifth Annual International Conference on New Religions said, ‘Europe has at least three times as many new religious groups per capita as the United States. The Maharishi Mahash Yoga, the Indian guru who founded the Transcendental Meditation…’ ” Whose guru was he—the Beatles, yes, correct—where did they get the inspiration for their music then?

And remember the series I did what, about four years ago, three years ago, I don’t expect you to remember it, but the one we did on the Catholic Church in transition? Remember the book written by Malachi Martin, where he was lamenting the fact that the New Age religion was taking over Catholicism, still is and will continue to do so—how he pointed out that at the turn of the century that they had this international religious symposium and they brought in this Indian guru and they found so many things of Hindu religion that were so much like so-called Christianity, that they couldn’t believe it, and that’s when all of this really started taking hold in America. You see? Well, Satan is going to bring it all back.

“And an infamous Indian guru, the late Begawan…” I like that name “Begawan Sheri Rashi Rashni”. Who is he? He is the one who had the sex cult up there in Oregon, and they finally ran him out of town, remember that? His followers were so gracious that he had thirty Rolls Royces. He died at the wonderful old age of 51 from spiritual and sexual exhaustion. That’s what that religion is.

Continuing now, “ ‘There can be no doubt that in Europe in 1991, there is taking place a comprehensive religious change,’ ” and he says that ‘the religious world view in Europe is subtly shifting from Christianity to a westernized version of Buddhism and Hinduism. Most Europeans are not formally converting to new religious faiths,’ he stressed, ‘But their New World view is shifting away from one grounded in Christian teaching (i.e. the Bible) to that of these religions.’ At a three-day conference some European scholars in attendance described the view as New Age and see it as an outgrowth of the hippie culture of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury and the human potential movement of the sixties with the Eslon Institution at Big Sur as the mother church.’ ” Okay, I won’t read the rest of it, but it goes on saying here “We’re about five to ten years behind the U.S. in the reviving of these things.”

Watch, it is in every TV program you will see, either robotism or reincarnation and, by the way, Mormonism is just another version of reincar-nationism. You will see things mentioned on TV programs such as Karma. Have you ever heard that mentioned? Karma or fate. What is Karma? Karma is another word for reincarnation and that the gods have control over you, and the great god of the Indians who is it, Krishna? Is that it? A substitute name for Christ. Krishna, Jesus Christ—isn’t that something? He says, “It doesn’t matter what god you worship because any of the gods that you are worshipping, you are really worshipping me.” Now if you want to know the results of that kind of religion, just look at India.

Now, that all gets down to one of the reasons why I have been translating 1 John. I won’t get into it today, but because at that time there was a tremendous movement against the truth, which we have today. There is a tremendous movement against the truth in the Bible. So what did John say was the thing that was one of the ways that we know that we are doing the truth? By keeping His Commandments. Let’s go to 1 John 3 for just a minute. There are two important things that we are to remember concerning our behavior. What are the two important things that we are to do, summarized in a summary? Okay, actually there are three important things that we need to do, and we find those right here in 1 John 3:1. It says, “Behold!…” I couldn’t find a more adequate word than behold because in the Greek really means See, pay attention, look. That is what behold means. You can’t translate it that way. I mean, you would soon have so many words you would never get through the verse. So I just used behold, but then I was stuck on “what manner of love” manner, kind, and I really researched the word out and I translated it “Behold, what glorious love” and that’s what it means. It’s a very highly exuberant expression of this, you see, “…the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God!” That is a glorious love. We understand that. The children—the word there for sons is Teknon which means children and should not be translated sons, so that all you women know that God is not slighting you in a masculine put-down of the female gender, okay? God made women; God made men. Enough said on that. “…For this very reason, the world does not know us…” or is not knowing us, or does not comprehend us “…because it did not know Him.”

Now let’s go to 1 John 5. So the first thing is: the love of God to us and our love back to God—Number 1 absolutely, importantly Number 1. Numbers 2 and 3 we find right here, 1 John 5:2: “By this…” now that expression is used throughout here and I was really laboring over this because it is an expression in the Greek and it’s pronounced en touto which means by this and then what is understood by that expression must be supplied in English. It’s not supplied in the Greek but the thought is there in the Greek. But in the English, it is not there, so they translated it herein, hereby, therein which in this case I said, I think I had it, “In this or by this…” I think I translated it “…one standard, one method, one way…” I think it is, I did it here, “by this standard we know that we love the children of God…” Now why does John stress this? It’s in relation to the Commandments. Exactly correct, but it goes one step further. Why does he stress this? Let’s look at the question the other way around, because they were having trouble in the New Testament church then. What happens when there is strife in the church? There is division, and what is the first thing the division does? [It] allows Satan to come in, that’s correct. What is another thing that it does on a more personal level? Destroys love. Now hold your place right here.

Let’s go back to John 13:34 and John reiterates this Commandment time and time and time and time again. Verse 34: “A new commandment I give to you: that you love one another…” Now this is in a command sense. This is a command! Okay, and it means be loving. (Comment was made he heard a Presbyterian minister say that there are now eleven commandments because the word commandment is there.) Well, you could probably go through on different things and actually have more than ten, you see, but you have to also keep in mind Matthew 22:37-40 which is: “the first commandment is love God with all your heart and mind and soul and being. The second one is to love your neighbor as yourself, and on these two hang all the law and prophets.” [Paraphrased.] You see, all the law and the prophets, everything hangs on those two, but here is a new commandment especially given for brethren. Why is this important? Because we have all been beaten up enough by the world, God wants us to quit beating up on each other in the church, okay? It’s that basic and it’s that simple—to love each other.

So he says, “A new command I give to you, that you love one another;” and He gives the standard “…as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all know…” who all, the whole world? Well, if the world doesn’t know us, how is it going to know? The all know means: all of those in the church. This is a reverifying thing with God’s Spirit to us. That’s why it’s so difficult when you have a church that gradually becomes so unloving that every little problem or big problem that a person may have, now makes you cannon fodder and a target. That’s not what God wants it to be. You see that’s why it’s very, very important. So what He is stressing here in 1 John 5 is this, He says, “By this shall everyone know that you are My disciples—if you love one another” (John 13:35). And it is something that you have to keep working at—something you have to really be diligent at.

Now I know from experience, and you ought to know for experience, those of you who are married, that marital love has its ups and downs. And it has its high points and it has its low points, and there are times when there are more lower points than there are higher points! And that’s just the way that it is. So it doesn’t mean that, necessarily, that you’ve got to be on this super plane of high love all of the time—it doesn’t mean that, because love sticks in there even in the low times and even in the down times and even in the bad times, sure. Even in marital love, even Paul said the older women teach the younger women to love their husbands. Love is not some magical thing that happens like it is portrayed in the world and now everything is happy from there on. For example: No woman knows the pain of childbirth until she has a child, correct? So there are certain things that you never know until you experience them. Lots of times the down points we get even in the church and in married life, both, are so that we appreciate what is right when we come around to doing what is right in loving each other, and then we treasure that. But the first thing that Satan is going to do in a church is, he is going to get in there and start casting doubt, and start cutting down love.

So back to 1 John 5:2, so he is giving us our bearings—where we need to go, what we need to do, how we need to head, because one of the first things that happens after you start this kind of thing with brethren is that you start taking away from keeping the Commandments of God. Isn’t that true? [It] always happens—that’s a tactic. 1 John 5:2: “By this standard we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments.” The two go hand-in-hand, you cannot say you love God and [yet] break His Commandments. You cannot say you keep the Commandments if you don’t love God. They go hand-in -hand, it’s just like water. Okay, now I’ve got [a bottle] here, I was thirsty—I don’t know where they came up with that name, but it’s an interesting name; it says Cobb Mountain. (Oh thank you, we have an expert on-hand who says this is actually a geographical place near Napa called Cobb Mountain. So it comes from the spring at Cobb Mountain. Thank you. Now we know, the mystery is removed.) I have in my hands here, some water. What does water do? [It] quenches thirst, waters, causes things to grow, like God’s spirit, cleans you, you bathe in it. What else? It’s so vital to life that you could say it’s life itself, especially if you’re an Arab and you live in the desert. You can have all that oil, but you can’t drink it. You’ve got to have the water, right? And what is the Mohammedan’s view of heaven—an oasis where there is lots of water. What is coming out of the throne of God, literally, in Revelation 22, but the pure rivers of living water, yes. But what makes up water? Hydrogen and oxygen, true? Separate hydrogen and separate oxygen are the most inflammable things in the world, right?

I saw a report, as I mentioned the other day, on blimps and Zeppelins. Remember the German Von Hindenburg Zeppelin, the last one that flew over here? Because the Nazi government took over the finalizing and building of the Von Hindenburg, and it was owned by the Nazi party at that time, there was an embargo on selling helium to Germany because of the government. Now helium is different than hydrogen, it’s non- flammable, it can burn, but it’s not dangerous. So they decided that since they couldn’t get the helium from the U. S. which was the only place in the world to get it at that time, that they would put the hydrogen gas into the Von Hindenburg. Well, I don’t have to tell you the rest. When they got here it was just after an electrical storm and guess what, boom, it caught fire and it was a miracle that 65 people survived. Today that’s nothing in the way of a tragedy, but at that time they thought it was one of the greatest tragedies in the world.

The point is: when you have the right proportion of hydrogen and oxygen, you have something which will put out fires, but if you have them separately and not together in the right combination, you can blow things apart. So that’s a very good analogy as to what will happen if you try loving brethren without keeping the Commandments or try keeping the Commandments and don’t love the brethren and don’t love God. You’ve got the wrong mix and it’s going to blow up! And we have all experienced little and big booms haven’t we, because of that very factor.

So He’s stressing here something that is absolutely and vitally important. He says, in 1 John 5:3: “For this is the love of God: that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.” They are not grievous, not burdensome. So that is an absolutely basic, fundamental thing.

Now, we have had some people who have said that… let’s look at it this way: Which Commandments do people not like most of all? Let’s go to Romans 8, and let’s see something about the carnal mind and we all know this. (Oh, there was an article in the paper this morning, quite a long one about deception, how that it’s inherent in all human beings and all human beings must be deceptive to survive.) Now does that sound a little biblical? “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” That’s the best of our hearts. Here is why. Romans 8:7: “Because the carnal mind…” that is the mind devoid of the Spirit of God “… is enmity against God…” that’s the same word for enemy, e-n-m-i-t-y. All you have to do is just substitute the i-t and put an e in there and you have enemy, and it’s the same in the Greek. “…For it is not subject to the law of God; neither indeed can it be.” So when you have religious people in the world, I don’t care what religion that they are of, but let’s look at some of those who claim they are Christians. What two Commandments do they always disagree with…actually there are three, but basically two and the third one is subject to the second one. Now they may be nice people. They may be kind people. They may be what the society would say would be model citizens, but what is it that they always do not agree to? Sabbath—and what is the other one? Idols—[Commandments] Two and Four.

Now what is the third one then, subject to the second one, the Sabbath? The Holy Days. Now there are some people who say, “God, I believe I ought to keep the Sabbath, but not the holy days.” And I listened to this tape, I think I mentioned it last week, from this Protestant minister who said that, “Since Jesus was resurrected on Sunday, and since Pentecost is on Sunday, therefore, I keep Sunday. Case over and done, case closed.” Now does he have an open mind? No. He said also, “And I don’t want to hear any more of this Sabbath bit. Because you are not to go out and just lay around and be lazy and stay in your bed all day Saturday.” So guess what he knows, he knows something doesn’t he? He knows which day is the seventh day, doesn’t he? Yes, he does.

Now let’s go to Genesis 2, because this becomes very important and I have never heard this explained this way, okay? Who was the Sabbath made for? You all said it was made for man. Where do you find that scripture? Yes, Mark 2:27 that is correct and 28. Now this minister quoted here, Genesis the second chapter and I have never heard it this way. Let me read it to you, because he forgot his New Testament, he forgot what Jesus said about the Sabbath that He was Lord of the Sabbath. Genesis 2:1: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the beginning of the seventh day God finished His work which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” Therefore the Sabbath was made for God. Now of all of the years I’ve been in the church and all of the Sabbath arguments I’ve heard, you know, not to make fun of anyone who has false teeth because you need them, but if I had false teeth they would have fallen right out of my head. That’s how shocking it was to me. Can you believe that it was only made for God?

Now, then we go to Exodus 20, we don’t have to go there, we ought to have all of that memorized, right? Why are we to remember the Sabbath? To keep it Holy. Why? That’s right: He set it apart right here, and why? Because God is Holy. Let’s go to Exodus 20. Remember what we went through here recently, Exodus 16, that God gave them the Sabbath day so therefore it is said, which we will read in a minute, that it was given to them for a sign. And the Catholics later on, as you find in this book by Samuele Bacchiocchi concerning the enmity between Christians and Jews when Sunday worship was coming [into the early Church]. And I want you to understand that when John was writing the Epistle of 1 John, what was starting to come into vogue? Sunday worship was starting to come into vogue!

Now, Exodus 20, God gave them the Sabbath. Before we get to Exodus 20, let me finish the thought here. In the book Anti-Semitism or Anti- Judaism and the Origin of Sunday those who were the initiators of Sunday-keeping which later became the Catholic Church said that God cursed the Jews with the Sabbath to set them aside for punishment. Isn’t that something? Now God doesn’t say anything about that here in Exodus 20. He says, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” And of course they just had the lesson of getting it with the manna. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD…” yes, it is His, but He doesn’t say that I made it for myself to rest on, did He? No, He didn’t.

However, this becomes very, very important, because I know for sure that it’s not going to be too long before there are going to be people we know that were keeping the Sabbath who are going to be keeping Sunday. You can be almost guaranteed of it.

Now let me finish where we got interrupted when I ran to the end [of the tape], sorry about that. Exodus 20:10: “…In it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your livestock, nor the stranger within your gates;” verse 11, for this reason: “For in six days the LORD made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.” For whom? For all of mankind, that’s correct. Did He bless it just for Himself? Did He sanctify it for just Himself? Wherever God is and whatever God does it is Holy, correct? Moses went up on the mountain, and God said, “Take off your shoes because you are standing on holy ground.” So God didn’t make it [the Sabbath] for Himself.

Now let’s go to Mark 2:27. I know that this is very basic, but it’s something that is the very key as to why there were the problems going on in the early New Testament Church. And I still like the answer that was given when asked by a Protestant when it became obvious that this particular person was keeping the Sabbath and all of the rest on this tour to the Holy Land were keeping Sunday. They came up to this man and he was a minister that I knew and they said, “By the way, what day do you keep?” And his answer was, “The same day Jesus did. What day do you keep?” Now you cannot argue with that can you? Remember that if someone ever corners you and asks you, “What day do you keep?” You just tell them, “Well, I keep the same day that Jesus kept. What day do you keep?”

Now, here is why, verse 27 of Mark 2, again, this we should memorize. “ And He said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man…” and that means on account of the creation of man. That’s what it means. “…and not man for the Sabbath;’ ” and what does that phrase mean? That phrase means that man has no jurisdiction over the Sabbath. That’s what it means. “Therefore, the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Now what is this telling us? Very simple—Jesus is LORD of the Sabbath, so therefore which day is the LORD’S Day if Jesus Christ is your LORD, which day is the LORD’S day—the Sabbath. Right? It’s got to be. It can’t be anything else.

Now Jesus said in John 14, which we covered recently so I won’t belabor the point, that “… if you love Me, keep My commandments—namely, My commandments.” Did Jesus say this? Yes, He did. Now if, and let’s take this a little bit further, if the Sabbath was made for a curse to put on the Jews, then why didn’t Jesus when He brought the New Covenant, reveal that and relieve us from that curse? He didn’t because that is not a true statement, you see? It is not a curse.

Now, let’s look at a couple of other things here concerning this. There are several other places we can go to. Let’s go to Ezekiel. Ezekiel 20 is a very instructive verse, set of verses. Let’s ask the question: When has obedience to God ever been a curse? Nowhere. Now obedience to God may cost you your life, in some cases it’s going to be martyrdom, but is that a curse, or is that a witness? It is a witness. What does the curse come from? Not keeping it—Deuteronomy 28. You read Deuteronomy 28, what does it say? It says, “If you will, indeed, listen to my voice and hearken to my commandments, and do all of that which I say, ...blessed shall you be in the city, in the country, in the fruit of your womb, in your basket, in your store, and fighting your enemies and all those things: But if you will not listen and will not keep my commandments, cursed shall you be [paraphrased].” So the curse comes not from obedience but from disobedience, correct.

Here in Ezekiel 20, it talks about what God did for the children of Israel. Verse 1. Let’s get the scene before we go through some of the verses. “And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that some of the elders of Israel came to ask of the LORD, and sat before me. And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them, “Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Have you come to inquire of Me?’ ” ’ ” (Ezekiel 20:1-3). Now remember that they were in captivity. They were in this place of captivity. Why were they in captivity? Disobedience, that’s correct. So now they are wanting to come to God and say to God, “Now God, why am I in this captivity?” So God answered and said, “ ‘…Have you come to inquire of Me? As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I will not be inquired of by you.’ ” In other words, what are you going to do to come and question God? “Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers. And say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD; “In the day that I chose Israel, and lifted up My hand to the seed of the house of Jacob, and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt; when I lifted up My hand to them, saying, ‘I am the LORD your God;’ ” ’ ” (Ezekiel 20:4-6).

I want to ask you a question: If God would have promised to give the blessing that He promised to give to Abraham, if it would have been through someone other than Abraham and someone else’s descendants; (Okay, this is a hypothetical question) which laws do you think that God would have given to them? The same ones! Yes! Why? Because they came from God, right? What does it

say of God in the person of Jesus Christ in Hebrews

1. :8. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” So therefore, He would have given them exactly the same laws. And what did He tell them through Jeremiah the Prophet? He said, “You go tell those sinning children of Israel that had I gone to some other nation, they would have kept my laws until now. But unfortunately I’m stuck with these rebellious children.” [Paraphrased.] Because God promised, once you promise, you can’t get away from it, right? Yes. He says, “But Israel has changed from Me being their God, to serving all of these idols.” So God really indicted His people didn’t He? Isn’t that something? Look at the Indians in India, I mean we could stand up here and say, “Boy look at all these Hindus. What a mess their religion is, which is true.” But God is saying, “Had I gone to those people, they wouldn’t have done to Me what you have done to Me.” So He made it known.

Ezekiel 20:6: “In the day that I lifted up My hand to them, to bring them out from the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands, then I said to them, ‘Let each man throw away the abominations of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’ ” So right when God was getting the Ten Commandments, guess what they did. You know what they did, they made the golden calf, worshipped it, had a great sex orgy there, the whole thing—I mean just like one of our rock concerts that we have today. All right, no different, same thing going on (Ezekiel 20:6-7).

Then we come down here to verse 10: “And I caused them to go out from the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. And I gave them My statutes and showed them My ordinances, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. And also I gave them My Sabbaths…” plural, sign there are the holy days involved. Now you see there are some people who are good enough to accept Jesus, to accept the Sabbath, but not accept the holy days. So you see you are confronted with a problem in that particular case. Now they try and doctrinally somehow show that these are tied in with the sacrifices, but they had sacrifices on every day, so the argument of sacrifices being on the holy days [and] whether they ought to keep the holy days or not or the Sabbath or not is really having no bearing whatsoever to do on the Sabbath or the holy days—none whatsoever.

So He gave the “…Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.” Okay, in the next verse it says, “But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes, and they despised My ordinances, which if a man does, he shall even live in them. And they greatly polluted My Sabbaths.” So then He poured out His fury (Ezekiel 20:10-13).

Now if God is merciful, which He is, anybody doubt that God is merciful? And if God gave the Sabbath for a curse, which some people believe that He did, don’t you think that God being merciful would remove that curse and tell them about another day? Wouldn’t that make sense? For those of you who believe in logic, is that not logical? Yes, it is. So they despised God’s way. Then He even said to their children after He took care of them in the wilderness, you know, and you saw all of them dying. Then He said to them again, verse 20: “And keep My Sabbaths holy; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.” So they rebelled.

Now then, we come to Chapter 22 and we find that the priests are in on this, the prophets are in on this. You know the problem is not with ordinary people as much as it is with the leaders.

A person comes to a minister, maybe a Protestant minister, and says, “Boy, you know Pastor, I’ve been reading my Bible and you know, I think that we ought to keep the seventh day. And I really see there in Jeremiah 10 that it’s also telling us not to have Christmas trees. And in Ezekiel 7 that we are not to have hot cross buns and all this Easter stuff, and furthermore, I went to the library and looked it up in the encyclopedia and those things are Pagan. Now what do you think?” [The minister might answer] “Well now, Jesus has delivered us from those things. We don’t have to keep them and besides we have Christianized Christmas and we have Christianized Easter so now it’s all okay.” So the person, not wanting to offend the minister, the minister after all is what? He is the expert, right? So they take his word. But notice what God says here in Ezekiel 22:25. It’s like this one minister who said, “Well about Saturday, we’re not to sleep all day Saturday.” Okay, well, we’re not. If any of you are sleeping here, wake up. I hope you’re not, no you’re not. It’s not too hot. There are times when you feel like you need to.

“There is a conspiracy…” and that’s a nasty word today. Anyone who talks about a conspiracy, you’re mentally off because you’re imagining something. Listen, who is the greatest conspirator in history? Satan the Devil. Is he conspiring, is he working? Yes. Who does he want to get? If he gets one minister then he gets how many hundreds or thousands of people? “There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst, like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured souls…” Now that’s especially vivid in my mind because I just saw one of these wild, wild, documentaries, you know, and it showed the lions, and boy, I tell you those lions—they can jump on top of a zebra or a wildebeest and one big gash right on the back of the neck, you know, and that’s it. And then they devour them—the whole pride of lions comes in and you talk about table manners, boy, you talk about conversation around the table. They are fighting, tearing and the poor little kids [cubs] have got to get in there and try and get something. Well just picture that with these ministers. That’s what they are spiritually doing to people! And they come and say, “Oh Mr. Minister I read my Bible and it looks like we ought to keep the seventh day.” “Which day is the seventh day?” Conspiracy. “… They have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they made many widows in her midst. Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things. They have put no difference between the holy and the profane…” Who made the difference between holy and profane? God did, He is the one. That’s why the Sabbath is Holy, because God made it Holy. That’s why the days that we keep are called Holy Days because they are days that God made Holy.

So they violated, “…have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean…” And just on the way up I was listening to the news and guess what they were saying, cholera has spread because of unclean cooks serving unclean food, namely shrimp and clams and those unclean things that should not be eaten which God said, “Don’t eat them.” Not because He wants to take some tidbits away from you that you may like, but because there are certain things in these animals that may make you sick, may make you prone to disease, so later you are going to have problems. “...and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.” So that becomes important. Now I know this is really basic, but I haven’t gotten to the point that I want to get to yet.

If you find yourself in this terrible and horrible condition that you are trying to find God, now there are a lot of people out there trying to find God, right? Some people say, “Well, if God would show me a sign, I would believe Him.” Isn’t that what they said to Jesus, and isn’t that what people say today? “If I could see God, I would believe Him.” There is a man who was a minister of God. Before he was a minister he was a quadriplegic. (This is an experience within the Church of God now.) And he was paralyzed from the neck down. When he came to the knowledge of the truth and felt he had faith that God would heal him, he called for the elders of the church and was anointed. Within ten days he was walking. It was such an unusual thing that even the Veterans Administration, when he went to say, “My conscience is overloading me, I cannot bear it. God has healed me. I am walking. Please take me off of disability…” they said, “We don’t believe it; we are not going to take you off disability.” He said, “Okay, my conscience is clean, I can receive my check every month and it’s clean. I tried.” And he tried two or three times to do that. And he was a pretty powerful minister. He was always in pain even though he had this and he would get around and he would still limp and things like that, and he was a very friendly and gregarious, outgoing man and could really speak in power, and sing and lead songs—a tremendous, fantastic person! He would tell you about how God healed him. Furthermore, he married the nurse that was taking care of him. Now then, because of men within the church, and because of difficulties that he had, now he doesn’t believe in keeping the Sabbath, when God led him to it, or necessarily the holy days.

So if someone asks you the question: Give me a sign O God and how can I find you? God has already given the sign and He has already given the thing that you can do. You don’t have to be a cripple to find God or to see the sign. What is that sign—the Sabbath, Yes! And why is it such a fantastic sign, because in spite of all of the calendar manipulations by men, the seventh day on the calendar on your wall today, unless it’s been changed by some modernists as it has in some areas of the country and Europe, what day is the seventh day of the week—Saturday, The Sabbath. You can verify that by asking any Jew who still keeps the Sabbath. You can verify that by asking any Protestant which day is the first day of the week—It’s the day after the Sabbath, right? [There is] No doubt. So there is the miracle and there is the sign.

Now, what if you really want to get right with God? Let’s go to Isaiah 56:1: “Thus says the LORD, ‘Keep justice and do righteousness;’ ” I talked to a man the other day and he says, “Boy, the first place to begin to solve all the political problems is to pass a law, if you could, if you think that would be possible, to outlaw all politicians from being attorneys as professionals” (Laughter). Sounds like a good thing, but you see it won’t work. That’s why God has to destroy the system because you can’t repair it. God can repair an individual life, but He is not going to repair the system, He is going to destroy it. So there is no justice, there is no judgment. Now notice continuing, “… for My salvation is near to come…” When is God’s salvation coming—when Christ returns, exactly right. Are we close to that? We can also say when Christ came the first time too, right? Yes. “…and My righteousness to be revealed.” And this is a prophecy then for the end time. Anyone at the end time who wants to get right with God, who wants to draw close to God, who wants to serve God, here is what God says, “Blessed…” not cursed “…is the man…” because man there is in the general sense of a human being “…who does this…” Now that’s a pretty specific thing isn’t it, huh? “…who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it;” that takes a hold of this thing as something to do. “… who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it; and keeps his hand from doing any evil” (Isaiah 56:1- 2).

Now then the question comes up: What if he is not an Israelite or a Jew? Because the argument is always made, “Well, the Sabbath is for the Jews, but Sunday is for the stranger or the Gentile” and that is a name that the Jews have coined which is really a misnomer and it should be the nations. Let’s go on, verse 3: “And do not let the son of the stranger…” gentile, someone other than an Israelite, “…who has joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying ‘The LORD has utterly separated me from His people.’ And do not let the eunuch say, ‘Behold, I am a dry tree.’ ” That is: “God, why can’t I have any kids?” Verse 4: “For thus says the LORD, “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths…” Now we have the holy days involved here too, don’t we, huh? “…who keep them..” Now I don’t know what more you can do except look at that, “who is keeping…”

Mr. Minister, which day should we keep? I heard one minister say when it was brought up to him that we shouldn’t keep Christmas. He said, “Look, I’ll put on the beard, and the Santa Claus suit if it’s going to bring more people into this church.” I mean think about that for a minute. Got all the priorities totally backward. The Bible says what if you gain the whole world, but lose your soul? The wicked, though they walk hand-in-hand, are all going to fall. God says, “that you keep My Sabbaths, … and choose things that please Me, and take hold of My covenant” which is a prophecy of what—the New Covenant, Yes! Isn’t that something? (Isaiah 56:3-4).

Now, let’s go to 1 John 3. Hold your place here in Isaiah because we’ll be back in that vicinity again. You know sometimes we get so bogged down in technical things and sometimes we get so bogged down in detailed, interesting doctrine in teaching which we can learn, because we’ve been in the church a long time and we need to learn those things, but you know it’s absolutely amazing and fantastic how you can go back to a basic thing like the Sabbath which is so vitally, vitally, important and ask the question: Is that important for me to return to God? Yes. Especially in light of the situation that, you know, the sermon I gave concerning the Sardis Church and Laodicean Church and things like that, you see, because there are a lot of people out there that just feel justified, because they’re hurt by a man, to give up on God. No one is justified to give up on God because they are hurt by a man. Listen, human beings are going to hurt you over and over and over and over again, why, because they are human beings—don’t be surprised. Even the best intentions sometimes hurt people. Why, because they are misunderstood. And if you’re wanting to be hurt, you’re going to be hurt. If you are looking to be hurt, it’s going to come, but don’t let it take you away from God.

Now 1 John 3:22, I want you to notice the similarity between this verse and what we just read in Isaiah 56. Verse 22: “And whatever we may ask we receive from Him, because…” here is the cause “…we keep His commandments, and practice…” and that means practice “…those things that are pleasing in His sight.” Now hold your place here and go back to Isaiah 56 and look at that verse again. Isaiah 56:4: “…For thus says the LORD, “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose things that please Me, and take hold of My covenant” not too much different is it? Why was Jesus always faithful? Yes, He said, “I always do those things that please God.” Did Jesus keep the Sabbath? Yes, He kept the Sabbath. Did that please God? Yes, that pleased God.

Back here in Isaiah 56—that’s amazing isn’t it? Now let’s continue on verse 4, we just read it, now verse 5: “Even to them will I give within My house…” which is the house of God—the church. “…and within My walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters…” Now what did we just read concerning one of the churches of God? Behold I will give you a new name which no man knows, but he who receives it, right? So there it is right there, New Testament doctrine. “… I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. Also the sons of the stranger, who join themselves to the LORD to serve Him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath, and takes hold of My covenant; even them I will bring…” where, what was the sermon topic for Pentecost? Come to the mountain, right? “Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer…” then it says some burnt offerings and so forth, that’s when they had them, but now we have the offerings—what are the offerings that we have? They are offerings of praise, the offerings of thanksgiving, the offerings of glory to God through our prayers, through our life because we worship Him in spirit and in truth (Isaiah 56:4-7).

Now, let’s come over to Isaiah 58:1 and God is now talking to the children of Israel. Now He’s got something to say to them. He just talked to all the Gentiles, right, in Isaiah 56. Now let’s go on to Isaiah 58. Now He is talking to the children of Jacob, verse 1: “Cry aloud, do not spare, lift up your voice like a ram’s horn, and show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” What were they? Let’s go clear back to the first chapter. Hold your place here, because we’ll be there. Now here is a famous Scripture that a lot of people turn to, to say that we should not keep the Sabbath. Now notice Isaiah 1:14: “Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates…” that’s right after He said in verse 13, “Bring no more vain sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me—new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies; I cannot endure iniquity along with the solemn assembly!”

Question, very basic simple question: Whose sabbaths, whose new moons, whose feast days—God’s or theirs—theirs, right? So when the Protestants say, “My sabbath is Sunday, what is he saying? His sabbath—what does God say about their sabbath? He says, “My soul hates…” I will remember this as long as I live. I had the unusual duty of being the minister in Salt Lake City which was the heart of Mormon land, and so I was driving, and this was when I first moved there, and I was driving down this road and here is the sign “Remember the Sabbath to keep it Holy—See you in church on Sunday.” I almost wrecked the car (Laughter). This is the Sabbath that God hates, but that’s how people…they take the name that God has and [they] put it on their days. That’s what he hates. This has nothing to do with God’s Sabbaths.

Now let’s ask one more question, because people are very mentally astute today: Can a person keep the seventh-day of the week as we know it, the true Sabbath, and still be not a Sabbath to God, but a Sabbath to themselves even though it’s on God’s day? Yes, they can. How can they do that? Keep it their own way, add so many man-made traditions on it like the Jews do today, that the Sabbath is an absolute total burden. You know like they do in Israel if a car goes down the street, they stone it. Now which is more work, the person driving the car down the street, or the stoning of the car? Can you imagine that? Stoning a car, that’s something.

Now let’s go back here before we get to Isaiah 58, let’s go to John 4, because here is what it has to be in worshipping God—the day is important, but what is secondary importance on that day, actually the primary importance, primary importance, but you’ve got to have the right day in order for this to work. John 4:20 the woman of Samaria said, “ ‘Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, but you say that the place where it is obligatory to worship is in Jerusalem.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you shall neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You do not know what you worship. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth…’ ” Now that’s what makes the seventh-day the spiritual day to keep, when you worship the Father in spirit and in truth. “ ‘…for the Father is indeed seeking those who worship Him in this manner. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must…’ ” and the word there in the Greek is ordained, obligatory, mandatory “ ‘… worship in spirit and in truth’ ” (John 4:20-24).

Now let’s go back to Isaiah 58 and I hope we have enough time to finish it, I think we do. So He says, verse 1: “Cry aloud, do not spare, lift up your voice like a ram’s horn, and show My people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins.” What do you need to do then? You need to repent and what—worship God in spirit and in truth. Because if you are keeping the Sabbath but you’re not keeping it by loving the brethren and loving God, then you are not keeping it in spirit and in truth and worshiping God. Now we all have to grow with this more. I can’t say that any of us are perfect in it. Verse 2: “Yet they seek Me daily, and seem eager to know My ways…” and boy, nothing could be truer of Americans than this. Verse 2 is so true of Americans. “In God we trust.” “We are a Christian nation.” “Oh, we want to know God’s Word and all this sort of thing.” “…as a nation that did righteousness, and one that did not forget the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they seem eager to draw near to God. They say, ‘Why have we fasted, and You do not see? Why have we afflicted our soul and You take no knowledge?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you pursue your business and exploit all your workers.” There was just in the newspaper today about fasting for political things and it showed this Chavez, this labor union farmer union guy, fasting and they were, you know, depicting that and showing … the whole thing. Verse 4: “Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness…” and then he goes on saying well, you’re not going to have your voice heard on high and all this sort of thing (Isaiah 58:1-4).

Now let’s come down here to verse 13, we are running out of time so I need to get here to finish it. Here is one of the conditions if you are going to return to God. “If you turn your foot away from the Sabbath…” that is walking on it polluting, trampling it, doing your own thing. “…from doing your own desires on My holy day” God’s holy day. “…call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD,” and of course this applies to the holy days—the same thing can apply. “…honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor pursuing your own desires, nor speaking your own words, then…” now notice all those conditions “… then you shall delight yourself in the LORD…” And that way then no man is going to stand in the way and make you bitter or turn you from God. “…and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it” (Isaiah 58:13-14).

So that’s why it is so very, very, important, so it comes all right back to the very basic thing that the apostle John said, he said that if we love God and keep His Commandments, this is how we know that we know God. And so brethren I know that none of you are disbelieving in keeping the Sabbath because you’re all here, but it’s very important for us to know and understand what God thinks about it and what we need to do so that we can also do better than we have been doing and how that it is important and right. Okay, so the next time you hear anyone say, like I did, “Well, I keep Sunday because…” then you will know that they have chosen their own sabbath which God says, “I hate.” But if you want to delight in God, keep His way, keep His Sabbath, keep His Words.

All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version (except where noted)

Scriptural References

1. ) Revelation 17:5

2. ) I John 3:1

3. ) I John 5:2

4. ) John 13:34

5. ) Matthew 22:37-40

6. ) I John 5:2-3

7. ) Romans 8:7

8. ) Genesis 2:2-3

9. ) Exodus 20:8-9

10. ) Exodus 20:10-11

11. ) Mark 2:27-28

12. ) John 14

13. ) Ezekiel 20:6-7, 10-13, 20

14. ) Ezekiel 22:25

15. ) Isaiah 56:1-4

16. ) I John 3:22

17. ) Isaiah 56:4-7

18. ) Isaiah 58:1

19. ) Isaiah 1:14

20. ) John 4:20-24

21. ) Isaiah 58: 1-4, 13-14

Chapter Five

Importance of the Sabbath

I want to start out by reading a couple of letters. These are quite illustrative of what I have been receiving lately as well as phone calls similar to this. This past week I talked to one minister in Texas and I am convinced, as we have said, that when you don’t really stay close to God and so forth, when the difficulties and troubles come, you have no reserve at all, and you really don’t know what to do. So I told him I would send a care package, and in the care package would be some information on grace. And he said to me, “Oh I gave a sermon on that one time…” and [he] gave the definition of the word. And I thought to myself, “You don’t have a clue.” So there will be six tapes there.

Then I got a call from a woman who said she wanted to know about the covenants, and I asked her, “Are you serious?” And she said, “Yes.” I said, “Do you really want to study?” She said, “Yes.” So I said, “Okay, we’ll send it to you.” There will be twelve tapes on that plus some other things. Because you see, many times people will go through and they will give a sermon topic, and they will answer part of a question, and assume that they have answered the whole question. So that’s why we do things a little differently, we stick with it until we are done with it, which helps us all understand.

So anyway he says, “I believe you know my son. He gave me a copy of your book Lord, What Should I Do? We were members of Worldwide for twenty-five years.” Now I wonder how many thousands are out there in addition to the ones who are beginning to understand, who have read the Bible on their own, and are keeping the Sabbath.

Let’s look at something very important here in Mark 13 and Matthew 24. I know when I first thought about this, and when I first let it penetrate into my mind to get some of the thinking of God, rather than the thinking of men about what they think God says; because some people have said, “Well you know, we’ve published the gospel around the world already. They have already had their witness.” But those people are long since gone and the magazine they claimed that did it, now has been reduced in circulation from 8 million, to a million and a half, and the world is still going on. But here is what it says right here, verse 10 Mark 13, it’s talking about the end times. “And the gospel must first be published among all nations.” What do you have in your hands? You have the gospel. The gospel being published in all nations refers to the Word of God. [It] does not refer to someone preaching about the gospel. The gospel will be preached in all the world, Matthew 24 tells us.

Now let’s go to Hebrews 4, and let’s understand something concerning the Old Testament. We’re going to make this just a little bit different today. We’re going to answer some of the questions that some of the difficulties people are bringing up are related in some of the things that we cover here. Hebrews 4:4, now we’re going to come back to Hebrews 4 and look at it a little later because we are going to see that one of the major teachings of Jesus Christ did in fact, have to do with the Sabbath day and with your capacity to work and with your capacity to eat and drink, verse 2, Hebrews 4: “For truly, we have had the gospel preached to us, even as they also did…” Who is he talking about? The children of Israel. So they had the gospel preached unto them in the form that God gave that to them. “…but the preaching of the word did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith in those who heard.” So they had the gospel preached to them as well. What is this telling us? This is telling us that the gospel includes both what is known as the Old Testament and the New Testament, does it not? Yes, indeed it surely, surely does.

Remember several weeks ago we covered the scripture—let’s go there for just a minute just to review—because I think a lot of times when someone comes along with dynamite and blows up your foundation, which is what has been happening, you need to go back and repeat some things. So let’s go back and repeat some of these things. Let’s go to Luke 24, and here’s why the gospel was also in the Old Testament and as we know a covenant is God’s arrangement or agreement with you. And in every covenant, there are always the laws of God that go right through all the covenants.

Now here Luke 24 is a very, very important section in the Scriptures. Let’s pick it up here in verse 25: “Then He said to them, ‘O foolish and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!’ ” Does Christ expect us to believe the prophets? Yes, absolutely. Is that part of the gospel? Well, it surely is. It told an awful lot about Jesus Christ didn’t it? And it’s telling an awful lot about what’s going to happen at the end of the world isn’t it? And is that not part of preaching the gospel to the whole world? Sure it is.

He says, verse 26: “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning with Moses…” So you see, Moses is part of the living Word of God. Verse 27: “And beginning with Moses, and from all the prophets, He interpreted to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” So that was quite a Bible study. How would you like to have been at that Bible study where Christ Himself was telling you?

Verse 28: “And as they approached the village where they were going, He appeared to be going on farther. But they constrained Him, saying, ‘Stay with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is declining.’ And He entered in as if to stay with them. And it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and after breaking it, He gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened…” and that’s what has to happen with Christ, your eyes must be opened. That’s why Judaism is so dead. As we covered several weeks ago, the fig tree was cursed from the roots up. You have to have your eyes opened and only Christ can open them. “… And they knew Him…” and then what did He do? He immediately “…disappeared from them” (Luke 24:25-31).

Now if you are born again, that’s what you should be able to do. So there are some people who say they are born again, and they make fun of those … what was the old test, the hatpin test? Stick yourself and see if you bleed. The better one is just walk through the wall. That will be far more convincing.

Verse 32: “And they said to one another, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us as He was speaking to us on the road, while He was opening the Scriptures to us?’ ” And they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and those with them assembled together, saying, “In truth the Lord has risen! And He has appeared to Simon.” Then they related the things that had happened to them on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of the bread.”

Verse 36: “Now as they were telling these things, Jesus Himself stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be to you.’ ”

Now this is part of the glory that the disciples, especially John, wrote about where he says, “…and we beheld His glory as the only begotten Son of God.” Now they saw Him transfigured on the mountain. They saw Him in His glorified form at that point, and now they see Him raised from the dead. Verse 37: “But they were terrified and filled with fear, thinking that they beheld a spirit. Then He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled? And why do doubts come up in your hearts?’ ” And we need to understand that also, today, in our day. Now they had to live through the time to see Christ killed and then resurrected from the dead. Now today people come along and try and put fear in your hearts and fear in your minds and try and manipulate things to their own use.

Now as Carl and I were talking yesterday. We talk quite often, and he’s got some good things coming, and we have the publication on Grace back there all ready to go. I’m going to start working on the Sabbath publication some time right after the Passover. I’ve got a couple of other things I need to do before then. But he said and so I wrote it down—it’s just like some of the things that Ed has said through the years. Ed said, which is true, “If you have a movement, which is where you are doing something in the name of Christ, but Christ is not there—If you have a movement, you must have a monument.” And we’ll add to that, a dead saint.

Carl said yesterday, “It’s one thing to be moved by God to do His Will…” isn’t that something? That is true. And that’s what God wants. God wants someone to love, because He is capable of loving the whole world perfectly, correct? Yes. God wants someone who will have a relationship with Him, with His Spirit, to love Him. So, “it’s one thing to be moved by God to do His Will…” And that’s why there are a lot of independent Sabbath keepers out there; they are being moved to do the Will of God. And how many people are out there doing that? And God is going to bring them. God is going to call them. I don’t think we can get things up and running fast enough to meet the demand as it comes, just like with the Beliefs booklet, we have already done seven hundred of them and I only have a hundred left at home, all the rest are gone. And I have orders for more. Then he says, “It’s one thing to be moved by God to do His Will; it is another thing to presume that you can force God to be moved to do your will.” Now that’s really quite a profound thing. “It’s one thing to be moved to do the Will of God; it’s quite another thing for you to presume that you can move or force God to do your will.” Now this is why this is so important here, when we come to Luke 24 about understanding the Will of God.

So, “…He showed them His hands and His feet” verse 40. “But while they were still disbelieving and wondering for joy, He said to them, Do you have anything here to eat? Then they Him part of a broiled fish, and a piece of honeycomb. And He took these and ate in their presence.” Verse 44: “And He said to them, ‘These are the words that I spoke to you when I was yet with you, that all the things which were written concerning Me in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” That’s how you understand the Bible, by Christ sending His Spirit to be with you to open your mind. Can God do that anywhere, anytime with anyone? Yes, He can. And I think God is going to demonstrate it. I think God is going to purposefully do that so that if any minister, any minister at all, or any person be so presumptuous to think that they have a corner on the market with God to force Him to do their will, God is going to do just the opposite. You can be guaranteed that.

Now let’s go to Matthew 6 and let’s see something concerning the Will of God, concerning what is in the law of Moses, and what is in the law of Moses that is most objected to—obviously the Sabbath, that is the most objected to. And it’s even to the point now where people are being taught “Well, it’s okay to work on the Sabbath if your family is starving. It’s okay to go out and do good humanistic works on the Sabbath, such as build houses for Habitat for Humanity. Because, after all, God doesn’t want you to starve and God wants you to provide for your family because if you don’t provide for your family, you’re worse than an infidel.” Hear those scriptures, and yes, yes, yes, and if you’re sleepy and not studying the Bible and if you don’t know what the Word of God is, then you’re going to be in really bad shape. But you see the truth is, the Ten Commandments are a part of the gospel, are they not? If the gospel is also contained in the Old Testament, are not then the Ten Commandments part of the gospel?

Hold your place here in Matthew 6 and let’s go back and let’s just read this section. Let’s go to Deuteronomy 5 since we go to Exodus 20 all the time, let’s go to Deuteronomy 5 where the Ten Commandments are listed there and let’s just read the ones concerning the Sabbath. And then we’ll ask some questions concerning the Sabbath so that we will know. Now I’m covering some of this, and I know it’s very basic, and I kind of feel like the apostle Paul when he wrote the Book of Hebrews. He said, “Can’t we just go beyond the principles of Christ unto perfection?” [Paraphrased.] Well, I would have to say, no, because we’ve got to go back and pick up the basics every once-in-a-while. Too many people are not ready to go on to perfection. I’ll try and start that next week, but we need to cover this so we know exactly what we are saying.

Let’s pick it up here in verse 12, this is Chapter 5 of the Book of Deuteronomy, and Deuteronomy means, The Second Giving of the Law. And in the Book of Deuteronomy, as we will see next week, there are many things concerning the gospel of Christ and the gospel as to how we should keep it in the New Testament—many, many things. Notice verse 12: “Keep the Sabbath…” Now in Exodus 20, it says “Remember the Sabbath…” Here he says, “Keep the Sabbath…” Now that’s pretty direct isn’t it? Question: Does God want us to keep the Sabbath? Yes! Yes! It says, “Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work:” Unless you’re unemployed, unless your family is starving—no. “But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God…” Now if you love God and fear God and keep His Commandments, are you going to keep it? Is it not part of the gospel of Christ? Yes, it is. “But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall not do any work…” Unless it’s time-and-a-half, or perhaps, double-time—no, it doesn’t say that does it.

So, if any man comes along and says to you, “Well now, the Sabbath for us today is Christ in us, and the rest of Christ, being in us, is our Sabbath.” Do you know what that explanation is? Any guesses? That is mental insanity! That’s not true. Christ in you motivates you to keep the Sabbath correctly, not the opposite to give up on it. “…you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor your stranger within your gates; so that your manservant and your maidservant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt…” Now when we come to the days of Unleavened Bread which we will be coming to here very quickly, it will be upon us faster than we know, what does Egypt picture? Egypt is a type of sin. The Pharaoh is a type of Satan. They’re the ones who have you working seven days a week because you are slaves to the system. So he is saying remember you were a slave in the land of Egypt.

Now today if Christ were here to open our minds to tell us what it would be, it would not surprise me one bit if He said, “You are a slave to this world system. Therefore, you keep the Sabbath and on the Sabbath day, you remember what it was like to live without the Sabbath.” It is quite instructive you see. “…And the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand…” Question: Who calls any individual? God does, doesn’t He? Does it take a mighty hand—sometimes something even greater than a mighty hand? What is the strongest thing in the world to change? The human mind. So when God’s Spirit comes to call you and bring you out of the world, that’s greater than a mighty hand, because He is not just changing your position from one place to another, He is changing your mind from being hostile to God to opening your mind to love God. That’s a tremendous difference. So He “… brought you out from there with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.” He commanded you.

Now let’s go back to Matthew 6 and see that Matthew 6 is built upon the Sabbath Commandment, since we understand that the Sabbath is part of the gospel, and we will see that confirmed when we come back to Hebrews 4. And this is very basic for us to go through, because you know brethren, there are people now who have kept the Sabbath for years and are wondering, “Should we keep the Sabbath?”

What happens when someone comes along and teaches you to sin? Does anyone know what that is called in the Bible? It is the doctrine of Balaam, yes. Because Balaam was hired by Balak to come and curse the children of Israel. You can read that in Numbers 22, 23 and 24. And he went up on a mountain and he saw all the children of Israel and all he could do was bless. So Balak gave him all this money and he was coming out of his gourd. He said, “Now look, I gave you this money, and I hired you to curse them.” And he said, “And you went up here on the top of the mountain and you blessed them. Now go on up there and curse them.” So he goes on up again, and he blesses them. And Balak is really getting out of shape, see, he’s really getting mad. He said, “Didn’t I hire you to curse them!” He [Balaam] said, “Well, I can only do what the LORD will allow.” Then he [Balak] said, “Now go on up there again and curse them.” So he went up and blessed them with the longest best blessing that you could read. And so Balak was really angry so Jude tells us that what Balaam did was teach Balak to cast a stumbling block in front of the children of Israel to entice them to sin so that God would have to correct them. Now that’s happening within any church, Sunday keepers are doing that in relationship to Sabbath, are they not? Yes, they are. Sabbath keepers who are now ready to shift over to Sunday keeping, are they not doing the same thing by saying it’s okay to work on the Sabbath, when God says you shall not do any work? It’s one thing if there is an “ox in the ditch,” it’s another thing if a car is broken down, but you don’t go to the junkyard every Sabbath and resurrect all the cars. You see, in other words, you don’t throw them into the ditch, and that’s what they are doing.

Now we are going to see that Matthew 6 is inexorably tied to the Sabbath; it has to be. Verse 24: “No one is able to serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other…” it always happens, does it not? Have you ever worked for a partnership where the bosses were equal, and then they got into a feud? Try that some time, it’ll…give you fits. “…or he will hold to the one and despise the other.” Now is that not happening with those who are rejecting and despising the Laws of God, the Commandments of God? Yes. Yes, indeed! “…You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Now hold your place right here and let’s go to Mark 2. Let’s look at this thing concerning master. [master in Matt. 6:24] It could also be translated lord because it comes from the Greek word kurios. Now let’s look at that in relationship to the Sabbath, and you’re going to hear a passel of sermons that are coming out that are going to cover a lot of these same things. Now let’s come to verse 23: “Now it came to pass that He went through the grain fields…” as it should read—not corn as we understand corn, but that wouldn’t be too bad. If you were back in Iowa walking through a corn field and the corn was ripe and you just reach up and snap off an ear and peeled it back… have you ever eaten that fresh, sweet corn right off the cob, raw? Oh man, it’s good. “…and as His disciples made their way through the fields, they were picking and eating the grain. Then the Pharisees said to Him…” Now this is their own law, because it says that you shall not reap the corners, you shall leave it for the poor, and if anyone is passing through your field, he can pluck a little and eat, but he is not to stop there and encamp and harvest. But the Pharisees said if you pluck a head of corn on the Sabbath, you’re working, you’re laboring, you’re harvesting. That’s not a law of God. So they said, verse 24: “… Why are they doing that which is not lawful on the Sabbaths?” There was no law against it, except their own tradition. So that’s why they are saying this.

So Jesus answered with another one for them to figure out which was greater and harder to figure out. Mark 2:25: “And He said to them, ‘Have you never read what David did when he was hungry and in need of food, he, and those with him? How in the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered into the house of God and he ate the showbread…’ ” Now the showbread, if you recall from the slides or the book on the Tabernacle, there was a loaf of bread which was especially baked and was in a special container and there was one loaf for each one of the twelve tribes of Israel and these were before the LORD constantly. They had to change them every week. The priest could eat it.

Now let’s ask the question concerning David, because here is the correct answer. Who was David? Not yet, he was not yet king at that point, he was the king-designate. What was David also in addition to being the king-designate and later to be king? Was he not also a prophet of God? Yes, he was. Did he not prophecy concerning Christ in the Psalms, concerning many things in the Psalms? Yes, he did. So you see the correct answer is that, even though it was unlawful for anyone else to eat it, the truth is, to give it to David and David to give it to his men, because they had need was not against the laws of God whatsoever. Let’s go on. “…And he ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?’ ” So He gave them something to try to figure out. If they are so smart and condemn people for plucking a head of grain, then go figure this one out. If you want to figure out between what is lawful and what is not lawful, because the most important thing is that you worship and serve God in spirit and truth.

So He said, verse 27: “And He said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man…’ ” and as we have seen in the past, for the purpose of fellowshipping with God—not just for the purpose of fellowshipping with each other. That is necessary and that is true, but if we just fellowship with ourselves and God is not there, well then there is no reason for us to come together then is there? It was made for man for that specific purpose. “… and not man for the Sabbath...’ ” In other words, man is not going to go tell God who made and created the Sabbath, “God, I don’t want to keep your Sabbath. It gets in the way. Now I can’t earn a living.” Well, what do you think Satan wants to get the whole world bound up into—[being] so busy, just like in Egypt that you have to work seven days to meet the bare meager things of even living. So man is not going to come along and tell God, force God … (That’s why this is so significant: “It is another thing to presume that you can force, or make God to be moved to do your will.”) No it’s not for a man.

Verse 28: “Therefore, the Son of man (Jesus Christ) is Lord…” Now the word for Lord is master, kurios. “You cannot serve two masters” Matthew 6:24. And He is saying the same thing here. The Sabbath was made for man by God, and not man for the Sabbath. Because there is one Lord of the Sabbath which is Jesus Christ. And you can’t serve two Sabbaths to do the activities of men. “Therefore, the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” This, brethren, tells us that the Christian Sabbath is the same day that God gave to ancient Israel, the seventh day of the week, and Christ is Lord of it (Mark 2:23-28)!

Now let’s go back to Matthew 6 and let’s read what He says, and this ties directly in with the Sabbath. Now Dwight Blevins from Grand Junction called me and he’d been studying this and so he is the one who planted the seed for today’s sermon. He said, “When you read Matthew 6, is this not tied directly into the Sabbath and working?” Let’s read it. Verse 25. After He says, “…You cannot serve God and mammon” That’s very interesting isn’t it? You can’t keep the Sabbath while you are working on it to earn a living. And mammon is living, riches, to get money. Verse 25: “Because of this I say to you…” Go work on the Sabbath, it’s okay because I know you’ve got to live. I know you have to survive. Now that’s perfectly all right with me. No. He doesn’t say that. He says, “…do not be anxious about your life as to what you shall eat and what you shall drink;” the very basic necessities, correct? “…Nor about your body as to what you shall wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” Is it not? Yes. Yes, indeed.

Now He says, “Observe the birds of heaven: they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor do they gather into granaries; and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they?” What is He really saying here? He is saying that, if you don’t trust God to provide for you, obviously in the Sabbath keeping situation here, then you are counting yourself less than the birds. You are counting yourself in a situation that you are really actually saying, “God cannot provide for me.” Which then is what? That’s accusing God, is it not? Yes, it is. “…But who among you, by taking careful thought, is able to add one cubit to his stature? And why are you anxious about clothing?” He says, “Now I know you need to be clothed, don’t worry about it.” [Paraphrased.] Continuing with verse 28: “…Observe the lilies of the field, how they grow: they do not labor, nor do they spin; but I say to you, not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these.” God is going to clothe you, if He is going to take care of the plants, if He is going to provide for the birds, if He is going to provide for His whole creation, which He does, and His whole creation is an expression of His love to all of mankind. Verse 30: “Now if God so arrays the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much rather clothe you, O you of little faith?”

Now that’s why we have said that the Sabbath is a test Commandment. Is it not? Yes. Well, the truth is, every Commandment is a test Commandment. Is it not? “…Will you keep My Commandments or no?” Yes, every one is. So you have to have faith. Verse 31: “Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or, ‘With what shall we be clothed?’ ” [But some will say] Boy you know, this Sabbath Commandment is pretty tough. And you know my bank account’s really getting low. And my wife over here is nagging at me, and my children are hungry and they have holes in their shoes, and they’re just about ready to go barefoot. Therefore God, I’m going to break the Sabbath and go work because I don’t have one bit of faith in you for you to provide.” That’s what they’re saying, are they not? What should they do? They should go to God, and if they are having a difficult time on the Sabbath day, pray and draw closer to God. Ask for His Spirit in love and do the things that please God. He’ll gladly provide for you.

I just talked to a man recently, whose wife was just beating him over the head, so to speak. “Well, you turned down all these jobs because of the Sabbath. And this last one was really a good one. And now the church says you can work on the Sabbath, and yet you refused.” So he held to keeping the Sabbath and God blessed him with a better job than any of those that he turned down. God was able to provide. Can He not do that? Yes.

Now verse 32: “For the nations seek after all these things.” And they work seven days a week don’t they? And they don’t keep the Sabbath do they? So this is intrinsically bound up in the Sabbath Command isn’t it? “…And your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things.” God knows. If you know, God knows, and if God knows, He’ll take care of it—maybe not in the way you think or in the means or the manner in which you suspect, maybe it will not be as much because there are other lessons to learn. Maybe it will be more than you expect because God is blessing you above and beyond. And that’s all in God’s hands, and that’s all in God’s relationship with you. “… But as for you, seek first the kingdom of God…” That’s what it needs to be. God will take care of it. Now can you truly seek the Kingdom of God if you’re not keeping the Sabbath, when the Sabbath pictures the whole situation concerning the Kingdom of God? No. “…and His righteousness…” Now let’s just plug in here, the imputed righteousness of God. That’s what you are to seek. Would God break His own Sabbath? Did God break His own Sabbath? No! Now if you go back and read Exodus 16 and the giving of the manna, what did God do? He gave manna for six days and five of those days, he said, “Now look you just go out and you get a certain much for everyone. Now don’t keep it over to the next day because it’s going to breed worms and stink. But on the sixth day, you go out and you gather twice as much, and then you prepare for the Sabbath and you can keep it over and it won’t breed worms and stink.” Now consider the fact that this happened for forty years, every single week. That’s quite a thing isn’t it? Now some of them thought, “Boy, I’m going to go out and get some manna on this Sabbath day!” So they went out to look and God said, “Now look, how long refuse you to keep my commandments?” [Paraphrased.] And that was long before the giving of the Ten Commandments.

Continuing with verse Matt. 6:33: “But as for you, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” Just exactly what you need. Now some people are going to be blessed more than others. Does that mean they are more righteous? No. No. No. No, it does not. It just means that God has blessed them more than others. So therefore, if someone has more than you, you don’t get mad at God and say, “Well, You didn’t give it to me, You gave it to him.” No, that’s not it. Here is what we are to do, verse 34: “Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow;” that means do not be anxious, do not be worried. If you have faith in God and trust in God, He will provide. “…For tomorrow shall take care of the things of itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil of that day.” Now isn’t it true, every day has got it’s own problems, right? Yes! So handle those, day by day. The question is: How do we differentiate what I said by one person receiving more of a blessing than another, as compared with what it says in the Old Testament that if you do these things, you will be blessed? I didn’t say the lack of blessing, I just said that God may give someone more, bless them with more rather than you, I’m not saying that He isn’t going to bless you or provide for you (Matthew 6:24-34).

Now let’s just turn the page back, Matthew 6, and let’s see how this all ties in together. Matthew 6:9: “Therefore you are to pray after this manner…” which is how you develop faith, “…Our Father Who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name; Your kingdom come; Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven:” And that’s what we need. We need the Will of God. And that will answer the question, how is God going to bless us? Maybe God is going to bless us with a trial because He has a greater purpose in mind. And sometimes we don’t know while we are going through those trials that He has a greater purpose in mind, but nevertheless, that’s how God works. Notice the next verse, verse 11: “Give us this day our daily bread;” So that ties in with the rest of Matthew 6 where He says, “Give no thought about what you will eat, what you will drink…” so forth, for God will take care of you (Matthew 6:9-11).

Now in relationship to that let me finish this letter here, “We were members of the WCG for about twenty-five years. Then things started to change. First off, they had first, second, third tithe, tithe of the tithe, excess second tithe, building fund, and special funds, work two or three jobs if you had to, etc., to keep it up, and tithe on the gross. They live like kings in mansions and pools and two or three homes, get planes— something is rotten in California. I had to get out. Now changes again! Work on the Sabbath! Work on the Holy Days! Holy Days are not commandments. Eating unclean meats is okay, etc. Anyway, your book, Lord, What Should I Do is refreshing. Please send me four copies.” So I will.

Here is another letter from a man, and this is pretty typical as to what we are able to do to help the people, and so he says, “Although belatedly it is with much thanks and appreciation that I send this for the package and the box of tapes forwarded. I honestly can’t put into words what all this means to me. So you may never know how much you have done regarding where I am at in my pilgrimage” obviously with God. “I have listened to all but a couple of tapes so far and will have them digested very soon. Yes, I most certainly will look forward to the other package you mentioned and I will be eagerly looking forward to it. When I first wrote you, I knew God was still there somewhere, but I never thought I would feel like the Prodigal Son…”

“But I never thought I would feel like the Prodigal Son coming home to a loving father as I experienced when going through your tapes and books.” That’s what it needs to be. That’s why I just did the video To Return to God. It’s going to help out a lot of people. [The man wrote]: “I was very inspired with your resignation tape. If my memory serves me right, I recall that (he gives the name of the minister) being sent to that area at that time to troubleshoot after a lot of questions were raised regarding various church matters. Needless to say, it would take me many pages to relate my thanks and experience since coming into contact, but time limits me. Either you are a servant of God, or the best con-artist I have come across. I can’t remember when so much care was shown to me by the ministry. The only care package I received from other groups that left WCG was a co-worker letter and small bundles of tithe envelopes. I believe very strongly in God’s laws on tithing and like many others, I don’t need to be reminded like that. Thanks for treating me like a child of God and not another one of the dumb sheep. Best wishes to you in your service Mr. Coulter, and I am praying for you and with you in the meantime.”

So that’s what happens when we send out a care package. We get many, many such letters back. And we can help that way, brethren, an awful lot. When you wrap your whole life up in serving God and then someone comes along and steals it from you, and then after they steal it they begin throwing it away, it’s no wonder that there are a lot of people in just such terrible, terrible, terrible shape out there.

Now let’s go back and read some commands concerning the Sabbath. Because we do need to have this basic sermon concerning the Sabbath, in the light of the things that are going on, and I just want you to understand, we related here Exodus 16 already, but let’s go back there for just a minute because this is important. Exodus 16:25, after the whole incident concerning the giving of the manna, “And Moses said, ‘Eat it today; for today is a Sabbath to the LORD. Today you shall not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, in it there shall be none.’ ” There will be no manna there. Now what is this also telling us? What was manna? [It is] food, correct. Who provided it? God did. That ties right in with Matthew 6, is that not correct? Yes. Is not God able to provide? Yes! Does He want you to work on the Sabbath? No! No, as we saw, he said no work, not any work. And don’t be throwing everything into the ditch so you have an excuse to work. There won’t be any out there.

Question: If God was not going to send the manna, and there wasn’t going to be anything out there for them, do you think that God will bless anyone for Sabbath breaking when they know better? Do you think that God is going to bless them with their work? Now what’s going to happen to these poor people who say, “Well, I believe what so-and-so said about it being okay to work on the Sabbath. I’ll go ahead and work on the Sabbath.” Now what happens if they lose their job? Now they are going to be in worse shape, because with the devising of men, you are not going to force God to do your will. God is not going to bless that effort. God is not going to prosper you in what you do when it is sin. We have all tried it haven’t we? Haven’t we all kidded ourselves and said, “Well, God understands, this sin won’t hurt a little bit. After all I’m trying to do good.” That’s what everyone wants to do—do good in their sinning. No. No! I’ve done that. Did I prosper in it? Nope. Did I do well in it? Nope. Was I happy in it? Nope. Was God pleased in it? No. Did God in His mercy and graciousness and love, lead me to repentance? Yes. Which means then, He doesn’t want me to do it, right? Right. So it is the same way with any of us and in anything we do.

Now verse 27: “And it came to pass that some of the people went out on the seventh day in order to gather…” Now these are hardworking people, right? [They are] diligent, yes, “workaholics,” in this case, “mannaholics.” They want to go out and get more manna. “… and they did not find any. And the LORD said unto Moses…” Now this is really quite something, what He said here. He didn’t say, “Now I understand. You know these people have been bound up in Egypt for so long, and I know that they worked every day. Now you know I understand that they had to go and look just to satisfy their own curiosity.” No! He said, verse 28: “...‘How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?’ ” Now I want you to make special note of that and always remember Exodus 16:28. That’s a very important verse. Why? Because when people get into these arguments concerning Old Testament/New Testament Laws and Commandments and the giving of [them] and so forth; please understand that the Laws and Commandments of God were in effect before they ever got to Mt. Sinai, before God ever spoke them. That’s what it is saying right here. “...‘How long do you refuse to keep My commandments, and My laws? See, because the LORD has given you the Sabbath…” It is a gift! The Sabbath is a creation and a gift from God so that you can fellowship with God, so that you can love God, so that God can love you, so that God can instruct you out of His Word. God is the one who has a corner on the Sabbath. God is the one who has a corner on the truth, not us. “…The LORD has given you the Sabbath, therefore He gives you the bread of two days on the sixth day…” So here is another gift, a miraculous gift, “...‘the bread of two days...Let each one stay in his place. Do not let any one go out of his place on the seventh day.’ So the people rested on the seventh day” (Exodus 16:27-30).

Now let’s come to Exodus 20:8, we’re just going to read some very important things here, very fundamental for us to understand. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” No other day can be holy, except the Holy Days. Sunday is not holy. God never made it holy. Verse 9: “Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter; your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your livestock, nor the stranger within your gates; For in six days…” It goes back to creation. What is the authority of the Sabbath and the Ten Commandments? It’s a creation, God made it. When you keep the Sabbath, you know that, “… in six days the LORD made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it (Exodus 20:8-11).

Now all the way through—let’s come to Chapter 23, and let’s see what He says here. The Sabbath is perhaps one of the most often mentioned commands in the whole Bible. Verse: 12: “Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your handmaid, and the stranger, may be rejuvenated. And be watchful in all that I have said to you. And make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of your mouth” (Exodus 23:12-13).

Let’s come to Chapter 31—this is just in the Book of Exodus. I mean we could go through Deuteronomy and Numbers and Leviticus and all of that. Now what I want you to do with Exodus 31 which becomes a very important thing concerning the Sabbath, which is this: Let’s understand something—remember what we did a couple of weeks ago, going through and showing in Numbers 11 concerning that the church was an extension of Israel, and that those Gentiles who are called, are grafted into the olive tree of Israel? Now with that in mind, let’s begin reading in verse 12: “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, “Truly you shall keep My Sabbaths…” It’s very important “…for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations to know that I am the LORD Who sanctifies you’ ” ” (Exodus 31:12 -13).

Let’s ask some questions here. What is the whole purpose of the New Testament for each one of those who are called saints? Why are you called saints? Because you have the Holy Spirit of God and you are sanctified. God is the one who is sanctifying us. God is the one who sanctified the Sabbath, did He not? He blessed it and He sanctified it. Okay? [It’s the] same way with us—that’s why we are to keep the Sabbath. Now remember the “children of Israel throughout your generations…” If we are part of Israel, now spiritual Israel, are there still generations of Israel? Yes, indeed. Can we not have spiritual meaning out of these verses as well because it’s part of the gospel? Absolutely.

Exodus 31:14: “You shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy to you. Everyone that defiles it shall surely be put to death…” maybe not that day, maybe not for many years, but what is the ultimate outcome—“The wages of sin is death.” When you teach people to sin, the wages of sin is death. “…Shall surely be put to death, for whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.” Now I tell you what’s going to happen, those who begin breaking the Sabbath by working on it because now the leader says it’s okay to do it and after all, you know, “He said I could, Lord.” Did he not? If he says I could, Lord, I’m going to. Therefore, I’m justified.”

Let’s go back to Genesis 3 for just a minute. That’s the same old thing of human nature going way back, Genesis 3, when they got caught in their sins. Notice whose fault it was. Hold your place here in Exodus 31, we’ll be back there. Notice what happened. God came and He was calling them, “Where are you?” They were hiding. And let’s pick it up here in verse 10: “And he [Adam] said, ‘I heard You walking in the garden, and I was afraid, because I am naked, and so I hid myself.’ And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you that you should not eat?’ ” Now you can put any commandment in there, right? You can put anything in there. “Have you done that which I said you should not do?” Have you—be it the Sabbath, be it idols, be it taking God’s name in vain, be it any of the Commandments of God, be it anything in the New Testament; you put it there.

Verse 12: “And the man said…” Yep, I sure did. God I’m terribly sorry. No, what did he do? He said, “…‘The woman whom You gave to be with me…’ ” Now what is he really saying? God you’re the one. You are at fault, not me, but the woman you gave me. Now he wanted her, desired her, presented to him he said, “Now this is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman.” So you see, you’re not going to have a cop-out by blaming the church leader. Even if the church leader comes and says do this or that or the other thing. If it is against the Law of God or the Commandments of God, you’re not to do it!

Let’s go on here verse 13. So, “…the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ And the woman said…” Well look; it really wasn’t my fault. It was this serpent that snuck in here, see? “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” So God took care of them all. He said, “Look, you’re not going to escape the judgment or the penalty for what you have done.” [Paraphrased].

So likewise today, those who go out and work because a church leader has said it’s okay to work—let’s understand something concerning things like childbirth, or an accident, or something like that. There are things that need to be done, and you know, babies come because babies come, and it is called child labor; it is painful and it is in travail. So God certainly expects that to be taken care of. And I am sure that if you are coming to Sabbath services and you are in an accident, that you are going to be very happy a Highway Patrolman is there to help you, or an ambulance is there to help you. Now in this world there are those things that go on. However, how many of you have had an accident coming to Sabbath services? No hands raised. How many here (well, you might remember and you might not) had your children born on the Sabbath day? If a person is a nurse and, say, works in a hospital, there are certain things that need to be done, but I was talking to a nurse last night who called and she said, “Well, there are always plenty of people who want to come and work on Saturday, so I just swap shifts with them.” So you see where your desire is to please God and serve Him, there is going to be a way. God will provide a way.

I have often had people ask me this: “Well, how do you keep the Sabbath at the North Pole?” And my answer is: “When I get a letter from someone at the North Pole, I’ll answer it.” In the meantime, that question cannot be answered because no one is there to keep the Sabbath. What do you do when you live in a high northern latitude and you have a whole lot of dark? Then you calculate it by what you see. And that’s how you calculate the Sabbath, and it will generally work out to be approximately 24 hours long. What about when the sun never sets in the summer? Well, when it dips to its lowest point, in the middle of the lowest point, that’s the ending of the day so you go from there (Genesis 3:10-13).

Now let’s come back to Exodus 31:15: “Six days may work be done; but on the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as…” look at this next word, “…a perpetual covenant.” This is in addition to the covenant that was given at Sinai. This is a special Sabbath keeping covenant. Why did He make it a special Sabbath keeping covenant for a perpetual covenant? I would have to say, brethren, for the New Testament church, why else? Knowing that we would not have a temple, knowing that we would not have a priesthood, but still keep it, right? Verse 17: “It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed” (Exodus 31:15-17).

Now you can go through many other places. Let’s go clear over to Ezekiel 20. Why did the children of Israel go into captivity? [It was] because they broke the Commandments of God and broke the Sabbath. Ezekiel, Chapter 20—this is quite a lesson. How important is it, and when we read this, let’s understand that God says in the Book of Ezekiel three times, “I don’t delight in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his ways.” [Paraphrased.] Now, Ezekiel 20:1: “And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, of the tenth day of the month, that some of the elders of Israel came to ask of the LORD, and sat before me. And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘…Speak to the elders of Israel and say to them, “Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Have you come to inquire of Me? As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I will not be inquired of by you.’ ” In other words, just like I started out: “It is one thing to be moved by God to do His Will; it’s another thing to presume that you can force or make God to do your will.” That’s what He just said here. “Are you going to come and question me?” That’s what God said. “…‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I will not be inquired of by you.’ ” Verse 4: “Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers…” So now we have a history lesson.

Hold your place right here and go to 1 Corinthians 10. Paul gave a history lesson there didn’t he? What was the history lesson? Let’s pick it up here in 1 Corinthians 10:5: “But with many of them God was not pleased, for their dead bodies were strewn in the wilderness.” Now we are going to read about that again in Exodus 20 here in just a minute. [But] Verse 6: “Now these things became examples for us, so that we might not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.” Now what did we just read about in Exodus 16 on lusting, going out to break the Sabbath, correct? Yes. Verse 7: “Neither be idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.’ Neither should we commit sexual immorality, as some of them committed, and twenty-three thousand were destroyed in one day. Neither should we tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted Him, and were killed by serpents.” Do we not tempt Christ when we reject the Sabbath? Yes, we do. “Neither should we complain [murmur]…” and is that not what’s happening, complaining murmuring, criticizing against God, see? That’s what He is saying in Ezekiel 20. “Are you going to come and inquire of Me?” Are you going to come and complain to Me? Go read the whole Book of Jeremiah, how merciful God was where He said over, and over, and over again “You find some people who will do what is right, and I will turn back this captivity. I’ll change it, I don’t want them to die.” [Paraphrased.] [ I Cor. 10] Verse 11: “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages are coming.” Are we living in the last days? Yes! More so than Paul? Yes! “Therefore, let the one who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall.” They are not falling now, they are pushing. Yeah, they are running [Away from God] (1 Corinthians 10:5-12).

Let’s go back to Ezekiel 20 again. So let’s have a little history lesson here in Ezekiel 20, quite instructive. Verse 5: “And say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD; “In the day that I chose Israel, and lifted up Mine hand to the seed of the house of Jacob, and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt…” Now has God made Himself known to you? Did God send His Spirit today to make Himself known? Yes. What is the whole thing that we are to know? We are to know God—we are to know Christ, we are to know the Father. Is that not correct? “He that says I know Him and keeps not His Commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.” Didn’t we study that in 1 John? Yes, indeed. And the one who is keeping the Commandments and walking the way that Jesus did, …in him is the love of God being perfected. Correct? Yes! So just as God chose them, he chose us. Continuing in verse 5: “…When I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the LORD your God;” Verse 6: “In the day that I lifted up My hand to them, to bring them out from the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:” Verse 7: “Then I said to them, ‘Let each man throw away the abominations of his eyes…” whatever it may be, an idol, fornication, adultery, stealing, idolatry, taking God’s name in vain, breaking the Sabbath, whatever it may be. “…And defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt…”

And what are we doing today? Back in Memphis Tennessee they’ve got a whole pyramid back there—did you know that—where they take people through and they run them through the demonic initiations into the ancient rites of Egyptian religion—right here in the United States.

He says, continuing in verse 7: “Do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.” Verse 8: “But they rebelled against Me and would not hearken to Me, They did not each man throw away the abominations of their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. And I said, ‘I will pour out My fury against them to fulfill My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.’ ” Verse 9: “But I worked for My name’s sake, that it should not be profaned before the heathen among whom they were…” In other words, He said even while they were in the land of Egypt they were so involved in idolatry that He was even going to destroy them right in the land of Egypt before He ever called them out. So what did they do when they got to Mt. Sinai and Moses was up on the mountain for forty days? They said, “Aaron, make us calves.”

So He didn’t do it. Continuing verse 9: “…for I made Myself known to them in their eyes, by bringing them out of the land of Egypt. And I caused them to go out from the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. And I gave them My statutes and showed them My ordinances, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.” The righteousness number one of the letter of the law. Correct? Yes. “And also I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD Who sanctifies them.”

Verse 13: “But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes, and they despised My ordinances…” Can you imagine what it must have been like? No wonder Moses complained all the time, “Oh Lord you got me saddled down with all these people.” You know, when they were good they were the people of God; when they were bad, they were Moses’ people all the way through there. Continuing with verse 13: “…And they greatly polluted My Sabbaths. And I said, ‘I will pour out My fury on them in the wilderness to destroy them.’ But I worked for My name’s sake, (I held back, no I didn’t do it) so that it should not be profaned before the heathen in whose sight I brought them out.” Even Moses said, “Now God consider what the other nations are going to say if you kill them—that you brought them out here to destroy them. Now think about that LORD.” [Paraphrased.] And He did. Verse 15: “And also I lifted up My hand to them in the wilderness, and swore that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them—flowing with milk and honey, the glory of the lands—because they despised My judgments and walked not in My statutes, and they polluted My Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.”

Now what is the idol today? Mammon, money, dollars, bucks, power, prestige, notoriety, clothes, car—we have so many things out there that could be abominations— it’s unreal. Continuing in verse 17: “Nevertheless My eye spared them— from destroying them; nor did I make an end of them in the wilderness. But I said to their children…” now He is referring to the Book of Deuteronomy— the children, the second giving of the Law. “…I said to their children…” before they went into the land “…Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols. I am the LORD your God. Walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances, and do them.” What did Jesus say? “If you love me, keep my commandments.” “If you love me keep my words.” [It is the] same thing, exactly the same thing. Verse 20: “And keep My Sabbaths holy; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God. But the children rebelled against Me…” And all you have to do is read the Book of Joshua, and the Book of Judges, and as soon as Joshua and the elders died, what did they do? [They went] Right back to Sunday keeping, right back to Christmas keeping, right back to those things, and mark my words: When they quit keeping the Sabbath, that’s exactly what’s going to happen again. It will happen.

So they “...rebelled against Me. They did not walk in My statutes, nor keep My ordinances to do them—the ordinances which, if a man do, he shall even live in them. And they polluted My Sabbaths, and I said, I would pour out My fury on them, to fulfill My anger against them... Nevertheless I withdrew My hand…” So God just finally threw His hands up and said, “All right, if you want it I’m going to let you have your own ways, and when you get so filled with your own ways and your own idolatry, and your own pollution, and your own wretchedness, and your own rottenness, then you come crying to me, then I’ll hear.” [Paraphrased.]

So verse 24 He said, “Because they had not done My ordinances, but had despised My statutes and had polluted My Sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols. Wherefore I also gave them over to their own statutes that were not good…” their own ways, their own laws, their own civil governments, correct? Yes. Their own religion. He just said, “I’ll just give you over to it. If you want it, have it, you got it—the whole thing.” “…that were not good, and their own ordinances by which they could not live. And I defiled them in their own gifts…” worse thing that could happen to anyone, brethren, is just be left to wallow in your own sin. Isn’t it? Yes. “…In that they caused all that open the womb to pass through the fire…” In other words, they just went into the whole same situation that the Mayans down in ancient Mexico went through. The reason God destroyed those civilizations is because they were doing the same thing, going through the fire, cannibalism, offering to the gods, so evil and awful that one of their special sacrifices was to cut open the sacrificial human victim and take out the heart while it was still beating and drink the blood of it. Now you see some of these things and all the archeologists say, “I wonder why these civilizations no longer exist?” Read the Bible, okay? “…That I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.” So sometimes God just does that—just turns you over to your own devices until you learn the lesson. Some things you can learn quite quickly (Ezekiel 20:5-26).

Let’s go to the Book of Hebrews now. Let’s finish off there in Hebrews 4. I’m going to have to say that this is the last sermon I’m going to give any answer to things going on in the Church of God. We have too much to do, we have so much to cover and we’re going to do a series on the Love of God in the Bible that is really the whole heart and core as to why the church is going through everything it is. When you really understand it, the love of God is the greatest thing, the greatest fulfillment and attainment in your life, and it does take your life. That’s why as you go through life and life is empty and you get older and there is no satisfaction—that’s why the whole experience of Solomon is there. He had all these physical things and all the power, and all the money and wealth and every convenience you could ever want and he said, “I am just a bag of wind. I am just an empty, hollow, frustrated old man.” Why? Because he never learned the love of God. The love of God is the greatest thing. We can’t be playing third grade sandbox any more, going back to these things. If someone is not convinced they ought to keep the Sabbath after being in the Church of God twenty-five years, well then I cannot be too much help to you. You should go help yourself. Isn’t that what Jesus said, “You go learn what these things mean.”

Now let’s come back here to Hebrews 4 and this will help us understand. Remember where we just read in Ezekiel, Chapter 20 where He destroyed those in the wilderness because they didn’t believe. Then He said to the children, “Now look, you’re going to go into the Promised Land, now here is what God says…” [Paraphrased.]

Now let’s come back to, well, let’s go back to Hebrews 3:15: “As it is being said, ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.’ For some, after hearing, did rebel, but not all who came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was He indignant for forty years?” Now notice He didn’t say angered, but grieved. “…Was it not with those who had sinned…” Can you have the very presence of God in the cloud by day and the fire by night, every day and every night, and have the manna come six days every week, and the Sabbath every week, and still have the gall to keep your own idols? Wow! That’s something, isn’t it? Yes! “…Whose dead bodies were strewn in the wilderness?”

Verse 18: “And to whom did He sware that they would not enter into His rest…” And boy, going into the Promised Land, that’s a tremendous rest—you compare that with wondering in the Sinai (Hebrews 3:15-18). I remember one time we went down to Palm Springs. Boy was it hot, and I thought, “Man, how would you like to walk in that desert in all that heat?” Yet they did and still didn’t believe God. So you see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. The spies came back and said, “Oh look, they’re giants. Oh we can’t go in.” Joshua and Caleb said, “Oh yes, God will take care of it for us.”

Now Chapter 4, verse 1: “Therefore, we should fear, lest perhaps, a promise being open to enter into His rest…” and that is the ultimate reward of God in the Millennium. Now we are not talking about the Promised Land, we are talking about the Kingdom of God. That’s the rest we are talking about. “…Any of you might seem to come short. For truly, we have had the gospel preached to us, even as they also did; but the preaching of the word did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith in those who heard. For we who have believed, we ourselves are entering into the rest, as He has said, ‘So I swore in My wrath, “If they shall enter into My rest—” ’ although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He spoke in a certain place about the seventh day in this manner…” so this is showing that the Sabbath is a continuous type of the rest of God. The rest of God is not Christ in you, so therefore, you perpetually keep the Sabbath everyday. And as one man said, “When do you work then?” See, it doesn’t happen that way. “…And God rested on the seventh day from all His works; And again concerning this: ‘If they shall enter into My rest—’ ” which we just read about in Ezekiel 20.

Verse 6: “Consequently, since it remains for some to enter into it, and those who had previously heard the gospel did not enter in because of disobedience, again He marks out a certain day, ‘Today, saying in David…’ ” And what was that day? That’s pictured by the Sabbath Psalm which says, “…Today…” that’s what he quoted over here, “…if you will hear His voice…” “…after so long a time; ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts’ ” (Hebrews 4:1-7).

Now is this not the same thing as it is with every covenant of God? Hear His voice, obey His words, thus says the Lord, thus says Jesus, thus say the prophets, “…if you will hear His words, harden not your hearts.” Verse 8: “For if Joshua had given them rest…” Now this should read Joshua and most Bibles have an explanation of it there and some of the newer translations have Joshua because they understood that it was Joshua that led them into the Promised Land. And the sense of it is this way: “For if Joshua had given them rest…” in other words, and that was the fulfillment and the completion of God’s plan “…He (God) would not have spoken long afterwards of another day.” And that other day is the coming of the Kingdom of God, that other day is the millennial rest of God!

Verse 9 [of the Faithful Version], very important: [Unfortunately the King James is not clear] “There remains, therefore, Sabbath-keeping for the people of God.” Now this is an entirely different word. All the way through, the word for rest in the Greek is katapausis which means rest, recline, repose from your labor and hard work.

This one, verse 9, is an entirely different word for rest and it in the Greek is sabbatismos, which means a keeping of the Sabbath. New Testament command. “Therefore, there remains for the people of God…” Who are the people of God? [They are] the ones that have the Spirit of God. Correct? “…A keeping of the Sabbath…” Why? Because God’s plan is not complete and the Sabbath pictures the completion of that plan, doesn’t it? “There remains, therefore, Sabbath-keeping for the people of God. For the one who has entered into His rest, he also has ceased from his works, just as God did from His own works.”

Now then comes a statement showing that after we have the Sabbath keeping what are we to do spiritually? Verse 11: “We should be diligent therefore to enter into that rest…” the ultimate reward of God to us “…lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.” And what is it when you tell people you can work on the Sabbath? It is unbelief, is it not? Sure it is—plain and simple (Hebrews 4:8-11).

Now let’s go to Isaiah 66 for just a minute, because when Christ returns, and every Sunday keeper knows this if they have read their Bible, and a lot of Sunday keepers read their Bibles. That’s why some Sunday keepers are still either closet Sabbath keepers or they keep the Sabbath. When Christ returns He is going to obviously do away with the Sabbath because it’s an inconvenience to everyone, right? Of course not! Isaiah 66:23: “ ‘And it shall come to pass, that from one month to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me,’ says the LORD” Every Sabbath.

Now since we are in Isaiah and we have just a little bit of time left here, let’s go to Isaiah 56:1, is this not part of what Christ opened the mind and understanding to the disciples? Yes it is. “Thus says the LORD, ‘Keep justice and do righteousness; for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.” This is just before the return of Christ. Verse 2: “Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it; who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it; and keeps his hand from doing any evil.” That means all the Commandments doesn’t it? Sure it does. “And do not let the son of the stranger…” the Gentile now “…who has joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, ‘The LORD has utterly separated me from His people.’ And do not let the eunuch say, ‘Behold, I am a dry tree.” Now a eunuch is, you know, that’s the most shameful thing to happen to a man, right? “For thus says the LORD, ‘To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose things that please Me, and take hold of My covenant” Did we not just go through the things that please God? Yes. And this covenant “…takes hold of My covenant…” this can be concerning the New Covenant, but did we not read of a special covenant concerning the Sabbaths of God which include the seventh day and Holy Days in Exodus 31? Yes, we did.

Verse 5: “Even unto them will I give within My house and within My walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.” You go back and read the promise to the seven churches, “…And I will give him a new name…” Correct? Yes. Verse 6: “Also the sons of the stranger, who join themselves to the LORD to serve Him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath, and takes hold of My covenant;” Isn’t that amazing? Yes it is (Isaiah 56:1-6).

Sermon Scriptures:

1. ) Mark 13:10

2. ) Matthew 24

3. ) Hebrews 4:2

4. ) Luke 24:25-41, 43-45

5. ) Matthew 6

6. ) Deuteronomy 5:12-15

7. ) Matthew 6:24

8. ) Mark 2:23-28

9. ) Matthew 6:24-34

10. ) Matthew 6:9-11

11. ) Exodus 16:25-29

12. ) Exodus 20:8-11

13. ) Exodus 23:12-13

14. ) Exodus 31:12-14

15. ) Genesis 3:10-13

16. ) Exodus 31:15-17

17. ) Ezekiel 20:1-4

18. ) I Corinthians 10:5-12

19. ) Ezekiel 20:5-26

20. ) Hebrews 3:15-19

21. ) Hebrews 4:1-11

22. ) Isaiah 66:23

23. ) Isaiah 56:1-6

Section II

God’s Holy Days Overview

Chapter Six

Introduction—Beginning & Ending

This sermon is going to be the introduction [in Second Section] for the book, God’s Plan for Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and HolyDays.

Now, this book will have 30 [now 37] sermons and they will all be put on three CDs, MP3. And we will also entitle this, The Beginning and the Ending. Because what we are going to cover needs to be for an introduction, but we’ll also need to understand that what this book is: This is for those who know the Sabbath, know the Holy Days; and this book is not for someone who is brand new, who has never read the Bible. However, if you’re what might be called “a neophyte” and you have some understanding of the Bible, it will be difficult for you to understand most of what we’re going to cover here, so I suggest that you do this: While you begin here, you go through all the rest of the sermons in the book, and when you get to the end, come back to the beginning, so that’s why we’re calling it The Beginning and the Ending.

And I also thought on this, because at the time of doing this, we’re just about ready to write the introduction, preface and things like that for the book, everything else is ready to go. And, I was wondering what I would do for the introduction. And different things came to me that is what needs to be to explained about the Holy Days, the way they fall and the meaning of them. And why it is, that only those who know the Word of God will understand this; and why those who don’t know the Word of God will not understand it.

Let’s come to Matthew 13. Let’s see what Jesus Himself said, which we have covered at different times. Now, let’s begin here in verse 10, Matthew 13: “And He spoke many things to them in parables… [verse 10 now, Matthew 13]: …And His disciples came to Him and asked, ‘Why do You speak to them in parables?’ And He answered and said to them, ‘Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven…” Now mysteries is secret—God’s secret. We’ll see that it is a secret being opened for the understanding of those that God calls. And is also a mystery and a secret that is closing the minds of those who will not obey. So, we’ll see what He has here, what He has to say. “…but to them it has not been given’ (Matt. 13:3, 10-11).

Verse 12: “ ‘For whoever has understanding, to him more shall be given, and he shall have an abundance…’ ” and that’s what this book, The Plan of God Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days does—it gives understanding to those who have understanding and more understanding as we go along, and you will see why I say that. “…but whoever [continuing now, verse 12] does not have understanding, even what he has shall be taken away from him. For this reason I speak to them in parables, because seeing, they see not; and hearing, they hear not; neither do they understand” (vs 12- 13).

They can have the Bible, they can have Sunday services, they can have Sunday, Sunday school classes, but they keep their Halloween and Christmas and Easter and all the occult holidays. And, while I’m speaking of that, let me mention this: That if you are new to the Sabbath and Holy Days as shown in the Bible, let me suggest that you get the book, Occult Holidays or God’s Holy Days, Which? You can e-mail us, you can write us or you can call the office and we’ll be happy to send you a copy of it because you need to have the knowledge that is in that book before you can understand what is in this book.

So, continuing now: “And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, ‘In hearing you shall hear, and in no way understand; and in seeing you shall see, and in no way perceive; For the heart of this people has grown fat [that is through sin], and their ears are dull of hearing [because they want to do their own thing], and their eyes they have closed…” Which we know they have done with the Word of God so they can justify the way that they teach it. Now, here’s what happens: they are cut off from salvation till a later date. “…lest they should see with their eyes, and should hear with their ears, and should understand with their hearts, and should be converted, and I should heal them’ (vs 13-15).

Now let’s see this in operation. Let’s come back here to Isaiah 29:9, and here is another prophecy concerning why people don’t understand the Bible. Verse 9: “Be stunned and amazed! Blind your eyes and be blind! They are drunken…” Put in your margin, there, Rev. 17:2—‘they are drunken by the wine of the fornication of Babylon the Great,’ “…but not with wine…” not physical wine, but false doctrine “…they stagger, but not with strong drink, for the LORD has poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes; He has covered the prophets and your rulers, and the seers. And the vision of all has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which they give to one who is learned saying, ‘Please read this,’ and he says, ‘I cannot; for it is sealed.’ And the book is delivered to him who is not learned, saying, ‘Please read this,’ and he says, ‘I am not learned.’ And the LORD said [Now here is a key: you must be serious in your commitment to God, not curious about what the Bible may or may not say,] ‘Because this people draws near Me with their mouth, and with their lips honor Me, but their worship of Me is made up of the traditions of men learned by rote, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandments of men; therefore, behold, I will proceed to do again a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder, for the wisdom of their wise ones shall perish, and the wisdom of their intelligent ones shall vanish’ ” (Isaiah 29:9-14).

Now, verse 15-16: “Woe to those who go deep to hide their purpose from the LORD! And their works are in the dark, and they say, ‘Who sees us? And who knows us?’ Surely, you have turned things upside down…” And that’s what the pagan ‘Christianity’ of this world has done—and the religions of the world, they have turned God’s way upside down, and they don’t understand. And the very thing they ought to keep they don’t keep, and the very things that God say you shall not keep, they do keep. “…Shall the potter be regarded as the potter’s clay; for shall the work say of him who made it, ‘He did not make me?’ Or shall the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘He had no understanding?’ ”

So, what happens with that? They don’t understand.

Now, let’s come back here to II Thessalonians 2 and let’s see something else that happens, because what needs to be—if you’re dealing with the, with, with the Bible you need to understand something very important: The Bible is the Truth of God. Jesus said, “Your word is the truth.” In Psalm 119 it says, “All Your commandments are true. Your law is true. All your precepts are true from the beginning.” And so, we need to understand, unless you are willing to be honest with yourself and honest with the Word of God and apply yourself to it, as we’ll see the way God wants it to be done, you will never understand. You’ll be just like the one to whom the book was given and you will say, “It is sealed.”

Now, let’s come to 2 Thessalonians 2:9, because this is talking about the coming one-world ruler, the beast of Revelation 13, and he’s going to proclaim himself to be God on earth. And there’s going to be a false prophet who’s going to endorse him as a manifestation of God in the flesh. Verse 9: “Even the one whose coming is according to the inner working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders…” So, if you don’t know the truth, you’ll never know what’s happening. “…And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in those who are perishing because…” now, note this very carefully “…they did not receive the love of the truth, so that they might be saved….” You must love the truth. God is true, God cannot lie, and most preachers and minister, theologian scholars immediately accuse God of lying. “…And for this cause, God will send upon them a powerful deception that will cause them to believe the lie, So that all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but who took pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thess. 2:9-12). Now then, he commends the brethren for doing what is right.

Now, let’s come back to the Old Testament again, Isaiah 28, because here’s the way we put the Word of God together; and here’s the way that it is understood. Now, while you’re turning to Isaiah 28:9, let me quote another Scripture in the New Testament: [2 Tim. 2:15]. You must [be] “rightly dividing the Word of the Truth.” Let’s understand something else that is, that is readily apparent. The Bible that you have has exactly the same alphabet to print the Word of God for you, so you can read it and understand that all of the evil books of witchcraft and pornography and all of those things have to explain Satan’s side of it. So that’s why you have to rightly divide the Word of Truth.

Now, here’s the one to whom God gives understand, as Jesus said, “It’s given to you to understand.” Verse 9: “Whom shall He teach knowledge? And whom shall He make to understand doctrine? Those who are weaned from the milk…” So, that’s why I say, it’s not for someone brand new, because those who are brand new need the ‘milk’ of the Word. And Paul says we need the ‘meat’. What is in this book is going to be ‘meat’, and what is in the introduction here, The Beginning and the Ending, is strong ‘meat’ and is going to require that you apply yourself to it to understand it. “…and drawn from the breasts” (Isa. 28:9). And then, this ties in with 2 Timothy 2:15.

“For precept must be upon precept, [so you have] precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little” (Isa. 28:10). And that’s how you understand the Bible. You compare the Truth with the Truth.

Now, one thing that is going to be amazing with this new book. There is going to be only one bibliography. Where as if you compare the bibliography with the New Testament, it has six pages of bibliography, because of all the commentary that goes with it. And the one book that’s going to be the bibliography is the Holy Bible In Its Original Order.

Now, that same process by which we understand the Word of God, [let’s look at it] in reverse. Because everything that God has there are two sides to the coin. By this same process, those who don’t understand, if they don’t take this procedure, they’re never going to understand. And that’s why Isaiah 29 covers that particular thing.

Now, let’s come back here to Matthew 13 again. Let’s make sure we finish that up. Now, back to Matthew 13. Let’s come down here to verse 16 and we’ll see again what Christ is laying out for us and how important what we’re able to understand at the end of the age is. And what we’re going to understand, brethren: it isn’t because we’re anything, and it isn’t because we deserve it; it is that God reveals in the time He’s ready to reveal. And there’s also a prophecy, a proverb, that says it’s God’s “delight” to hide something in the kings honor to discover it. And so, everything that God wants us to know about Him is in the Bible. And the words that are here are spiritually understood. And everything you need to know about God is contained, in between 1,000-1,500 pages, depending on the size of type and pages of the Bible that you have. Now, you compare that with the Library of Congress, and I’ve been there once and I was overwhelmed when I saw it, that they try and get every book that is published in the world to be there and cataloged. And yet, they don’t have the knowledge of God. What a fantastic thing that God does it in one book. So, this is why you have to have “precept upon precept, line upon line” and put it together. And here’s what happens, verse 16, Matthew 13: “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous men have desired to see what you see, and have not seen; and to hear what you hear, and have not heard” (vs 13-14).

Now, we’re going to cover quite a few things which have not been heard. Now, every one of the things that I’m going to cover in the introduction here, I have covered in a different way in the body of the book and the transcripts for this book. But, this puts it all together so we can get a good overview of everything that we are doing.

Now, let’s come to John 13 [I mean John 16]. And let’s see the promise here that Jesus gave, so that in the end-time we would know. John 16 and let’s pick it up in verse 12. John 16:12. “I have yet many things to tell you, but you are not able to bear them now….” See, even the apostles, they didn’t understand until later when Christ revealed it to them and He said: “… However, when that one has come, even the Spirit of the truth…” and the Spirit of God is the power of God, the Spirit of Truth from the God Who is true, Who cannot lie, Who will not lie and His Word is the truth. “…the Spirit of the truth, it will lead you into all truth…” and that’s what we can claim. Not because we’re anything, but because there is a time when God wants it revealed—and woe to those who understand it who don’t preach it, and then claim it as some great thing because of who they are. It won’t work! “…because it shall not speak from itself, but whatever it shall hear, it shall speak. And it shall disclose to you the things to come” (John 16:12- 13).

And so, that’s what we are going to see. Now, back to the Old Testament, let’s come to Psalm 119 and let’s see an astounding verse— 119:18. And here’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to claim this promise. And I want you to understand how tremendous this is. “Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law” (Psa. 119:18). Now, if you read in the margin, it says: Hebrew for “open,” it says, reveal. God has to reveal these things. And it’s quite a thing!

Now, what is contained in the law? Where are the Sabbath and Holy Days listed? In the law! And all that we understand from it comes from the rest of God’s Word as related to the Holy Days; As related to the Sabbath. Because these are days that God has made Holy where He puts His presence. And these are days, through His Word, that are vehicles that He uses to give us understanding. Now, let’s see how this is brought out by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1: “In Whom…” That is Christ, and He is the One Who does the revealing. He is the One Who inspired the apostles. “…we have redemption through His blood…” And everything focuses in on Jesus Christ, “…even the remission of sins, according to the riches of His grace, which He has made to abound toward us in all wisdom and intelligence…” (Eph. 1:7-8)”

Listen, God wants us to be wise, to be intelligent, to educate ourselves with His Word, and the Bible is not just something written for uneducated— as the elite establishment scholars and theologians would say for those “lower” people to understand, see. No! “We great intellects understand.” No, they’re blinded. They are blinded. The Bible, the Word of God, coupled with the Holy Spirit is a life-time, extended education program by God to prepare you for eternal life. Very important to understand, because He wants us to have all wisdom— not some, not part, but all wisdom; and intelligence to be able to think; to be able to make wise choices; to be able to make righteous judgment, as we covered recently.

“Having made known to us the mystery…” and it is revealed through His Sabbath and Holy Days. The “mystery” is the secret of God, which the world cannot know. “…of His own will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself; that in the divine plan for the fulfilling of the times…” which is revealed in the Sabbath and Holy Days, “…He might bring all things together in Christ, both the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth; Yes, in Him, in Whom we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestinated according to His purpose…” and that’s why this book. It shows plain the plan, the purpose, the intent, the love of God, the law of God, the truth of God, the prophecies of God, the meaning of the Holy Days, what God is doing and how it’s laid out there. “…Who is working out all things according to the counsel of His own will” (vs 9-11).

Now, let’s come down to verse 15, after Paul talks about receiving the “earnest of their salvation” and so forth. I covered that in one of the transcripts in the book.

“For this cause, I also, after hearing of the faith in the Lord Jesus that is among you, and the love toward all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers…” Now, here’s what he prayed. Now this prayer is written here so that we know what God wants us to learn. Now notice how tremendous this is: “…That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him…” See, that’s why we’re to grow in grace and knowledge; grow in understanding; grow in the Word of God. “…And may the eyes of your mind be enlightened…” That is the spiritual understanding that comes from God because of the interaction of God’s Holy Spirit in your mind. “…in order that you may comprehend…” He wants us to know “… what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the inner working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above every principality and authority and power and lordship, and every name that is named—not only in this age, but also in the age to come; for He has subordinated all things under His feet, and has given Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body—the fullness of Him Who fills all things in all” (vs 15-23).

Now, let’s understand something: no man is the head of the Church. Christ is! All teachers, ministers, pastors, evangelists, apostles are on the sidelines to teach the brethren—because Jesus is the great Teacher. And John 6:45 says we’ll all be “taught of the Father” and that’s by the power of the Holy Spirit. And Jesus is the great Teacher. So, when Jesus said, “It is sufficient for the disciple [that is the learner] that he become as his teacher” (Matt. 10:25). And so, all of this, this book and everything that we do is to help bring you and lift you through the power of God’s Holy Spirit to understand the Word of God. And never in the history of the whole world have we had the opportunity to do it, especially here in the western world where we have peace; where we have understanding; where we have the Word of God; where we freedom of the assembly; we have freedom of thought—and all of these things. And God expects us to be zealously in there doing, and learning, and growing and overcoming for greatest goal possible: to be spirit beings in the Kingdom of God.

Now let’s see another principle. Let’s come to I Corinthians 2:4: so that we understand. Now, realize this: this church at Corinth was the most carnal of all the churches, filled with sin, filled with carnal competition. Even Paul said, “I wanted to bring you strong meat but you weren’t able to take it and I had to give you milk and you were hardly able to endure that.” And Paul reminded in the book of Hebrews, Chapter 5, that now’s the time to have “strong meat” rather than “milk.”

And so, [that is] what this book is designed to do and especially the introduction. So I say again, if you find it hard to follow, go through the whole book and come back to it periodically as you’re going through it.

Now notice I Corinthians 2:4: “And my message and my preaching was not in persuasive words of human wisdom; rather, it was in demonstration of the Spirit and of power; so that your faith might not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Now we speak wisdom among the spiritually mature.” Now, the King James says “perfect,” but remember, we’re to become “perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect (Matt. 5:48), but this means “spiritually mature.” You have to have a level of understanding. “…however, it is not the wisdom of this world…” That’s why in the bibliography you won’t find a lot of books listed—only the Bible. “… nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing. Rather, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery…” A mystery to the world, a mystery to those who don’t know, “…even the hidden wisdom that God foreordained before the ages unto our glory” (1 Cor. 2:4-7).

- Now, think about what God has given us.

- Think about what God has opened our minds to.

- Think about how tremendous that is, that we are being given knowledge and understanding which was before the ages ever began. Before the world was created!

So, this is amazing, amazing understanding. Now, verse 8: “Which not one of the rulers of this world has known [secular or religious] (for if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory); but according as it is written…” Now, compare this to what we read in Matthew 13: “…The eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (vs 8-9). And what is the love of God? “This is the love of God that we keep His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome.” Jesus said, “If you love Me you will keep My commandments.” He said, “The one who loves Me will be keeping My words, and the Words which I give are not Mine but the Father’s Who sent them.” And that’s all tied up in this verse here. Verse 10: “...But God has revealed them to us…” That is, the apostles, now written in the Word of God: “…by His Spirit…” which we saw there in John 16:13— will reveal all truth to us “…for the Spirit searches all things—even the deep things of God” (v 10).

And what we’re going to cover today are some of the deeper things of God, deeper understanding that has actually been there all the time and we preached on them but haven’t put it together in this particular manner.

Verse 11: “For who among men understands the things of man except by the spirit of man which is in him? In the same way also, the things of God no one understands except by the Spirit of God. [Now notice] Now we have not received the spirit of the world…” What is the spirit of the world? Sunday keeping, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, all of the occult holidays. “…but the Spirit that is of God, so that we might know the things graciously given to us by God…” So any understanding we have is through the grace of God. And He wants us to have it but He’s not going to give it to those who are not going to use it. That’s why Jesus said, “Don’t cast your pearls before swine,” because they’ll trample on it. Now notice: “… Which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Holy Spirit in order to communicate spiritual things by spiritual means” (vs 11-13).

Now, hold your place here and turn to John 6—we’ll come right back here—John 6. Now John 6:63. Now combine this together with everything that we have done, because what we are doing here in this sermon, in this study of the Bible, is we’re doing exactly what we started out as, “precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little there a little.” Now notice verse 63: “It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63). That’s why Paul says, we compare spiritual things with spiritual things to understand the Word of God.

Now let’s come back to I Corinthians 2:14. And as we come back here to 1 Corinthians 2:14 and 15, what we need to realize is this, verse 14— and this confirms exactly what we’ve been covering, said in a little bit different way. Those who have knowledge, it will be given, those who don’t, their eyes will be closed and they’re carnal minded. Verse 14: “But the natural man [the one who does not have the Spirit of God] does not receive the things of the Spirit of God…” Because you have to have the Spirit of God in you to receive them and to receive the words that Jesus taught and inspired the apostles because they are spirit and they are life; “…for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14).

Now, with all of that said, we are ready to take the two pages of the chart; [see pages 68 and 69] and for the sake of this sermon I have numbered them #1 and #2. The chart #1 is a calendar chart showing the first month of the calculated Hebrew calendar and then an abbreviated count to Pentecost, just to save space, and then the seventh month. Now the reason being is that all the Holy Days of God are confined to the first month and Pentecost and the seventh month. Now, we’re going to see certain parallels as we go through. Now I want you to look at the first month. You’ll see across the top I have the days numbered with the Sabbath being the seventh day. I want you to come to the first day of the month—I have the days of the month written in the middle of the square, printed in the middle of the square. And I have a little square around them. The reason I do is this: Because, now, I’m going to assume you know where these Scriptures are in the book of Exodus and so forth.

First day of the first month God said—in Exodus 12—to Moses: “This is the beginning of months.” So the first day of the first month is the “beginning of months.” Now, come down to the first day of the seventh month—which, by the way is the Feast of Trumpets—and it is the beginning of the calendar year for the calculated Hebrew calendar. So, it has to do also with the year, but in this case, for calculating the whole year.

All right, notice again, the Feast of Trumpets, the first day of the seventh month, that’s when Jesus was born. Now, you can read in the Harmony about that and how we came to understand that. And, the first day of the seventh month pictures when Jesus returns to literally put His feet on the earth and the saints with Him to take over the governments of this world. So this becomes a very important thing. Now, let’s come back and look at some other things here. Let’s come back to the first month. And let’s come to the second Sabbath, which then is the tenth day of the first month. And this is where Moses was told by God, “In the tenth day of this [first] month they [the children of Israel] shall take to them [select] each man... a lamb [from the flock—a kid or a goat.]” Very important!

As we will see, and you can look in the Harmony, in Chapter 12 of the Gospel of John, when the voice came from heaven that was when God the Father selected Jesus Christ on the tenth day of the first month to be the Lamb sacrificed to take away the sin of the world. So you have both. You’ve got Old Testament and New Testament.

Now remember, as we started out, God revealed to us, or opened to us, “marvelous things out of Your law.” This is all part of it.

Now, I want you to notice something else. We have there, notice, down in the lower left-hand corner of the tenth day of the first month where “Lamb Christ” is “selected” I have a number 1 circled. Now, follow the circled count, which is the Sabbath. One, two, three, four, five. And day five is the Passover day from when Jesus was selected.

Now then, what is the number of grace? Five—and it’s by the grace of God that we receive the blood of Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins to be under grace. Isn’t that interesting.

All right, let’s count six, seven, eight. Now, we’re going to find that the number eight is associated with the resurrection. Jesus was resurrected on the eighth day after He was selected. And He was resurrected at the end of the Sabbath and did not ascend until the next morning. So when He was resurrected, He stood up before God, and as I’ve covered in some of the sermons, He thanked God for raising Him from the dead and all of the different things that we have covered there. So remember day number eight—very important to understand.

Now, in these verses, not verses, but in these days I also have beginning on the eighth day of the first month, which you will find detailed in the Harmony of the Gospels, is six days before the Passover. So, in the upper left-hand corner—not circled or boxed—I have beginning on the eighth day of the first month: one, two, three, four, five, six and after that, at sunset, that’s when they kept the Passover, that’s why there’s that little slash line on day thirteen, showing that when the 13th day ended and the 14th day began, that’s when they kept the Passover.

Now, isn’t it interesting, all these things come together. Now, let’s understand something else. We’ll see some [other] things concerning day number eight. Write these down for day number eight. It has to do with circumcision.

Now, let’s see a parallel in the seventh month, in selecting of a sacrificial lamb again, a kid of the goats—on the seventh month, on the tenth day. You can put in your notes there: Leviticus 16.

Now notice, on page two, I have “7—10”: two goats selected, that’s on the Day of Atonement, the tenth day. So, you have the tenth day of the first month, the lamb was selected, a type of Christ; and we have the Passover on the fourteenth. Now here, what we’re dealing with in the first month is this: Number one, we’re dealing with the salvation of Israel being taking out of Egypt; and then when Christ comes, we’re dealing with the salvation of the individuals that God calls. Because God is not calling the world, at this time. He’s not saving the world, at this time. He’s only calling and saving those that He calls.

So, when Christ was selected, this is the Lamb to cover the sins of each one individually. God hasn’t provided it for the world yet. But when we come to the seventh month, the tenth day—the Day of Atonement—then God provides it. And in order to save the world there has to be something else that takes place. That’s why on the tenth day of the seventh month there were two goats selected: one for the Lord, one for Azazel because in order to get rid of sin to save the masses of the people, you must get rid of Satan! Because as long as he’s around there’s going to be sin.

That’s why those that are called now for the first resurrection, given the Holy Spirit, they have to fight against Satan, they have to overcome Satan, they have to overcome the temptations of the flesh, and that’s why the first resurrection is a “better” resurrection. However, before the millennium begins when the great harvest is going to take place, Satan is removed. Now, let’s look again on number eight. I said, we would look to number eight, because Christ was raised on the eighth day. Let’s look at some other things. What we’ll do is, I’ll just quote the Scriptures and we will talk about it:

Eighth day: Circumcision—that’s when the young boy is accepted into the community of God. Circumcision, eighth day: that was a covenant that God made with Abraham. So put down: Genesis 17:12; Genesis 21:4; Leviticus 12:3. Now, also put down there, Luke 2:21, because Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day.

Now, before we get any further, let’s look at some other things concerning the “eighth day.” This has to do with uncleanness for seven days and then on the eighth day. And what we’re going to see, the eighth day represents when we stand before God.

When Jesus was resurrected, did He stand before God? Yes!

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When Jesus was circumcised, was that before God? Yes!—accepted of God.

Okay, now, when you’re unclean—and we’re all unclean in our sins, correct? And the ultimate uncleanness is what? Corruption of the flesh in the grave, is it not? And the resurrection we’re going see in a little bit, will also be on an “eighth day,” and we’ll stand before God and be clean and pure and spiritual. Okay, cleansing: Leviticus 14:8- 10, on the eighth day, after they have bathed at the end of the seventh, then they come on eighth day and bring their offering before God. Leviticus 14:23: same thing. Leviticus 15:13-15 and Leviticus 15:28-30. Let me read those again: Leviticus 14:8-10; Leviticus 14:23; Leviticus 15:13-15 and Leviticus 15:28-30.

Now, also, also, we need to look at Pentecost. The resurrection of Jesus was on the eighth day, correct? after He was selected. Now, let’s come here and let’s count Pentecost, let’s count Pentecost. Wave Sheaf Offering Day: the eighteenth day of the first month. Now, we’ll come back and look at some of these other numbers here again—okay. The first week ends on the 24th, and I number the weeks with a triangle with a number in it. So, you’ll see on the twenty-fourth day of the first month there’s a number one in a triangle.

On the first day of the second month there’s a two with a triangle. Well, rather than just put in all the weeks, what I did: I put to the right of it a number six in a triangle. And that brings us to the seventh week. Let’s count the days of the seventh week beginning with day 43: 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49—7x7+1=50.

But, if you will notice, I also numbered them with a number in a circle, because the last week is seven days, right?: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7—on the seventh Sabbath. And on the morrow after the seventh Sabbath has to be the first day of the week, can never be Monday. And once you understand something very, very important concerning the Wave Sheaf Offering Day at the beginning up here on the day after the Sabbath. The Hebrew is absolutely clear, beyond any doubt, when it says, “on the next day after the Sabbath” the Hebrew for Sabbath is ha shab-bat—and that means “the Sabbath.” All Holy Days being Sabbaths are “a” Sabbath, never “the” Sabbath. So, that should end anything concerning a Monday Pentecost. Because you cannot have a Monday Pentecost and have the day of Pentecost on the fiftieth day after the seventh Sabbath— it’s an impossibility because Monday is the day after the first day which is the second day.

So, it doesn’t say on the second day after the seventh Sabbath. It says “on the day after the seventh Sabbath.”

Now, notice as you count the last week, Pentecost becomes the eighth day, doesn’t it? Yes! And eight is associated with what? The resurrection, a new beginning. And the Day of Pentecost is also another thing, it’s the first day of the eighth week, which is symbolic: the first day of the rest of eternity for those who are in the first resurrection. Now, go to the different sermons that we have in there concerning the resurrection.

Now, let’s look at some other things here. Let’s come to Matthew 27. This is very interesting— Matthew 27. And I think this is going to be really something. Matthew 27:50: “And after crying out again with a loud voice, Jesus yielded up His spirit [verse 51]. Then suddenly the veil of the temple was ripped in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks were split, so that the tombs were opened.” Now follow this carefully. “And many bodies of the saints who had died, were resurrected.” Now, these must have been those who recently died. “…After His resurrection…” when was He resurrected? At the end of the Sabbath, correct? When would they appear? On the Wave Sheaf Offering Day. So there were a lot of the things going on, on the Wave Sheaf Offering Day. “…they came out of the tombs. Then they entered into the holy city, and appeared to many” (vs 50-53).

Now, let’s look, let’s look at the count here. All right, you have in another little circle, above the circle that we covered. Let’s come to the fifteenth day of the first month—okay—because Jesus was put in the tomb right as the fourteenth ended and the fifteenth began. So, look at that number one in the little circle. We have one, two, three (on the Sabbath), that should read a three, and the Wave Sheaf Offering Day when they appeared to everyone was day four—half of a spiritual resurrection of eight, correct?

Now, question: How long was Lazarus dead before he was raised back to a physical life? Four days! Because Martha said, “Lord, he’s been dead four days.” So four is a resurrection number back to physical life. When God determines to bring someone back to life, in this case, it’s counted as four. So, that’s why Jesus did it. And He also brought them back to life in a physical life because you must qualify for salvation while you’re in the flesh. And these were those who were called but died, never had an opportunity for salvation because the Holy Spirit was not yet given, so they came back to life and appeared to many on the Wave Sheaf Offering Day.

Can you imagine what all the Jewish leaders were going through trying to put out all these fires. Now, the reason that these saints who were resurrected had to be contemporary and were called because of the preaching of Jesus, but died before the giving of the Holy Spirit, [the] reason it had to be them, because someone who was alive could come in and say, “I’m so-and-so and I was resurrected”— and you don’t know whether that’s so or not. But, if you know that you buried Aunt Martha or your buried Uncle Charlie or you buried your mother or father and they come back and appear to you—you know that’s who they are and that’s a tremendous witness.

People who died were called, were being called and died during the, the ministry of Jesus Christ. It would have to be those.

Now, let’s come to the seventh month again. Let’s come to the Feast of Tabernacles, the third Sabbath, the fifteenth day of the seventh month. Oh, as you’re coming down you go Trumpets. The first of the month, [then] you have the next Sabbath which is the eighth, and that’s when Jesus was circumcised. He was circumcised on the Sabbath day. All right, now you come to the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and notice, I again have numbers in the lower left-hand corner.

How many days is the Feast of Tabernacles?

Seven days

All right, remember how I have preached and we have learned that those who qualify for salvation during the millennium will not have to die and be buried and resurrected. There will be no resurrection of people during the millennium. They will, when they qualify for eternal life they will be in the same category as the saints who are alive when Jesus returns, who are changed in a moment, in an instant, in a “twinkling of an eye” and they will go from flesh to spirit and enter into the spiritual kingdom of God as they qualify through the sacrifice of Christ, through the grace of God, through loving God and living and proving that through God’s help and Spirit that they are worthy of eternal life. Those who do not qualify do what? They die and are buried and wait for the resurrection of the wicked.

Now notice, there is the eighth day. And isn’t it interesting, the last day—the eighth day— that’s the day of what? That’s the day of the second resurrection. See, Revelation 20 says, “(But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were completed.)” Eight, again, is associated with a resurrection. And in this case, back to physical life, so it’s two times four, which means a second opportunity of physical life, for a first opportunity for salvation.

Now the resurrection, to have an opportunity for salvation, is the first phase of the second resurrection. (The second phase of the second resurrection is the resurrection of all of those who committed the unpardonable sin down through time.) They will all be raised together, given a physical life—those who are called to salvation and have a chance for eternal life.

[However] the second phase of the second resurrection will take place at the end of the hundred- year period. All the wicked will be raised to their second life. All of those during the Great White Throne Judgment who live a hundred years and do not accept salvation will remain alive to stand along side all the incorrigible wicked who are raised and they will all together be cast into the lake of fire. Very interesting how all of that comes together.

Now, let’s look at this here. Let’s come back to page two. The resurrection:

1. Jesus Christ was resurrected on the eighth day after His selection on the tenth. Ten to seventeen—now notice why it’s important to count, because if you merely subtract you only have seven days. That’s why you have to count inclusively. So that’s why you have to look at the calendar to do it. So, the resurrection of Jesus occurred on the 8th day after He was selected.

2. Now come to Pentecost. All the saints in the first resurrection, which is the eighth day after the seventh Sabbath, which is the first day of the eighth week. So notice in the three seasons that, that we are to come before God, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day, there is a resurrection associated with each three. Christ, the saints and then:

3. The Last Great Day, when those who are raised, receive and opportunity for eternal life and the wicked are raised to die the second death. In order to die twice, you have to live twice.

Now, let’s look at the symmetry of what God has done here. This is really something! We have the Passover plus the Days of Unleavened Bread is 1+7=8, correct? Yes.

We have Tabernacles, [it] is just the inverse: 7+1=8.

Now, let’s look at the Holy Days: Though there are eight feasts, because the Passover is a feast, there are only seven Holy Days. Two during Unleavened Bread, one for Pentecost, one for Trumpets, one for Atonement, one for Tabernacles and one for the Last Great Day.

See how all of those fit together. This is really quite, quite something, when you look at how God has set this. And look at the parallels between the first month and the seventh month. The first day of the first month is the beginning of months. The first day of the seventh month is the beginning of the year—calculated Hebrew calendar. It is the day that Jesus was born. It is the day that Jesus will return.

The first day of the tenth month Christ was selected as the Lamb of God for the sins of the world. In the seventh month on the tenth day of the seventh month, you have the selection of Christ again for the world and the removal of Satan the devil. So you have a parallel. Tenth day of the first month, tenth day of the seventh month.

Isn’t that interesting how that comes along. Notice, you have the fifteenth day of the first month begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread, correct? Yes. You have the fifteenth day of the seventh month begins the Feast of Tabernacles, correct? Yes.

Then of course, you have the Passover to start Unleavened Bread and then you’ve got the Last Great Day to end the Feast of Tabernacles. So, here we have a very interesting overview, which gives us more understanding concerning what God is doing, how God is doing it, the way that He is doing it, and what it means for us and how you can understand the Holy Days in this special book, God’s Plan for Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days.

And as you view these, you’re going to see why God uses the calculated Hebrew calendar. Let me just mention here: There’s evidence in the beginning that it was, the year was 12 months long, 30 days in a month, 360 days in a year. That’s why, have you ever wondered why in a circle they have 360 degrees? But the circle that the earth now circles the sun is not 360, and that’s because of the sins of man. And that’s because of the astronomical events that took place on the earth and also the promise that God gave to Hezekiah to move the sun back ten degrees on the sundial. Now, He didn’t stop the earth and bam! everything is all destroyed because you stopped the earth and you move it back. No!

It was calculated that the way that you get the extra 5-1/2, 5-1/4 days per years is that in order to go back ten degrees, you move the earth slightly out of its orbit by 1.4 percent. So that’s why we have 365-1/4 days today. That’s why the calendar must be calculated. And all of those who have their own visual calendar are not in sequence or in synchronization with the calculated Hebrew calendar and they’re either always early or they’re always late because they don’t believe God; and they don’t believe that the calculated Hebrew calendar is what God gave. They believe the propaganda and teachings of men.

So, with this overview, it shows you the comparison between the first month and the seventh month. And it shows in each one of the Feasts there is a resurrection involved. So, that’s something!

All right, well I hope you’re able to understand it. If not, take the chart, go back over it again and see what you can do. But this helps us understand God’s plan for mankind. And notice: Not one book or one thing that was read from any other book than the Bible. And it all begins with the law, “reveal to me wondrous things out of Your law.”

I hope that this book will illuminate you with the Word of God.

Scriptural References

1. ) Matthew 13:10-15

2. ) Isaiah 29:9-16

3. ) Psalm 29:9-16

4. ) II Thessalonians 2:9-10

5. ) Isaiah 28:9-10

6. ) Matthew 13:16

7. ) John 16:12-13

8. ) Psalm 110:18

9. ) Ephesians 1:7-11, 15-23

10. ) I Corinthians 2:4-13

11. ) John 6:63

12. ) I Corinthians 2:14

13. ) Matthew 27:50-53

Referenced Scriptures not quoted:

- Revelation 17:2

- Psalm 119

- Revelation 13

- II Thess. 2:4 (Actually II Timothy 2:15)

- Isaiah 29

- John 6:45

- Hebrews 5

- Matthew 5:48

- Exodus 12

- John 12

- Leviticus 16

- Genesis 17:12, 21:4

- Leviticus 12:3

- Luke 2:21

- Leviticus 14:8-10. 23

- Leviticus 15:13-15, 28-30

- Revelation 20

Referenced Material:

- Occult Holidays or God’s Holy Days, Which?

- Three Festival Seasons Chart

- Harmony of the Gospels

Chapter Seven

Should We Keep the Holy Days?

Should we keep the Holy Days of the Bible? Most religions that profess themselves to be Christian claim that, “No, we don’t have to keep them.” And many of them such as the Seventh Day Adventists, and others as well, claim that because there were sacrifices on these days; therefore, they were ritualistic and sacrificial days only and have no meaning other than what they meant in the Old Testament. Now is that true, and what does the Bible show, and what does the Bible teach?

Now how can people take the Bible and interpret that it’s perfectly all right to keep Halloween and Christmas and New Years and Ground Hog’s Day and Lent and Good Friday and Easter, and all of the Pagan holidays and say that in the Bible we can do that when it is never even listed in the Bible? How is that possible? Well, here is what happens. Let’s come to 2-Corinthians 2:17: “For we are not like the many…” so what we are dealing with is a very, very old problem. “…who for their own profit are corrupting the Word of God…” and the Word of God is corrupted by: poor translations, wrong texts, and also by corrupt interpretations, and by claiming things that are not substantiated by the Bible. So what needs to be done is this: People need to go through the Bible and they really need to put it all together as we know in Isaiah 28:13: “…precept upon precept; line upon line; here a little, there a little…” and also as Paul told Timothy that you have to rightly divide the Word of Truth.

Now let’s finish this verse: “…but we speak with sincerity, as from God, and before God, and in Christ.” Now we’re going to look at some other Scriptures and so let’s go to 2 Corinthians 4, and let’s begin in verse 1.

Here, 2 Corinthians 4:1. “Therefore, having this ministry, according as we have received mercy, we are not fainthearted. For we have personally renounced the hidden things of dishonest gain...” Now that’s a very important thing to do, because the human “...heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). So you have to renounce that. “...Not walking in cunning craftiness...” Now, “walking in craftiness” means walking with a hidden agenda that other people don’t know, that you will craftily spring upon them at a later date. “...Nor handling the Word of God deceitfully...” That is, by taking the Word of God and applying it to things which are not true, or to things which are not true and saying they are true. “...But by manifestation of the truth, we are commending ourselves to every man’s conscience before God. But if our gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those who are perishing; in whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Cor. 4:1-4).

So any part of the Gospel that you have hidden from you, or blinded from you, then you need to understand that it falls into several categories here. Number one, you have misinterpreted the Word of God; number two, you have blinded your eyes to it; number three, it may be a tradition; or number four, Satan has blinded your mind to that part of it. Because Satan is trying to get all those who truly have the Spirit of God and are Christians to give up on something somewhere along the line, because he knows that a little leaven leavens the whole lump.

Now let’s also understand something here. Let’s come to Matthew 7, and this is profound. Some of these Scriptures are very basic, because this is a very basic topic; as a matter of fact, so basic that I have not given a sermon on proving keeping the holy days in years and years and years and years, because I’m basically dealing with all of those who keep the holy days. But now when we come into contact with people who do not keep the holy days, nor understand the holy days, then we do need to go back and we need to reconfirm the truth as to why we do it, and so forth. But I’m going to approach this a little bit differently.

Here, Matthew 7. Let’s understand this. Now we have applied this to false prophets, haven’t we? Because Matthew 7 talks about false prophets. And there can be a prophet who is a half false prophet by preaching half truth. So you need to understand that too. Verse 21, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but the one who is doing the will of My Father, Who is in heaven.”

That is the key. Are you doing the will of the Father? And was it the Father’s will that Christ created the Sabbath? Was it the Father’s will that Christ gave the holy days to the children of Israel? Was it the Father’s will in these things? Now, was it the Father’s will that what Christ did and what He observed part of what God wanted? Yes, absolutely. So if you are not doing the will of the Father which is in heaven, though you use the name of the Lord, though you may belong to a church, though you may have a group which really is a group that you really like, “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesied through Your name?...’ ” Now that means, “preached in Your name.” And I have heard some stinging sermons against the holy days. And there are tremendous errors in their way of thinking. We’ll cover that a little later. “...And did we not cast out demons through Your name? And did we not perform many works of power through Your name?” (Matt. 7:21- 22).

So you see, you can have part of the fruits there. You can have some of the things that look like they come from God. You can have some of the truth of God. But unless you have the whole truth of God and you are willing to live by all the truth of God, and if when you come to understand the truth of God which you have previously not understood, you are willing to keep it. If you’re not doing those things then you’re going to end up in this category, verse 23: “And then I will confess to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who work lawlessness.” Now that means being against law. So since the holy days are part of the law of God, you need to make yourself very sure that you are not against the law of God as respecting the holy days. Because you see, the only thing you have different than, other than the Sabbath, you have nothing different than a Protestant. So you might as well put yourself in the same category of the Protestants if the only thing you do is keep the Sabbath. Now if that offends some people, well then, you might take your offense to God and find out from His Word what you need to do.

Now we have to keep the will of God. Now this is the attitude that we need—Psalm 143. Let’s go back there. The will of God is contained in His Word. And the will of God is here for us that we’re to keep. And we’re going to see that it is the will of God that we keep the feasts of God. And as a matter fact, we’re going to see later that the apostle Paul, with no doubt, no question whatsoever, absolutely commands the keeping of the feast. Psalm 143:10, “Teach me to do Your will...” So God is the one Who is going to have to teach you from His Word and with His Spirit. “...for You are my God; mat Your good Spirit lead me on level ground of uprightness.” That is, to be righteous before God.

Now here is a New Testament expression of that very same Psalm. Let’s come to Romans 12. And this is important for us to realize. Because the will of God is what we are all going to be held accountable for, right? Didn’t Jesus say that? Didn’t Jesus say to those who were not doing the will of the Father in heaven above that they were going to be cast into outer darkness? Yes He did. And believe me, after the experience in the lake of fire it will be outer darkness. There will be nothing left.

Romans 12:1, “I exhort you therefore, brethren...” So Paul here is sincerely asking the brethren, “...by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and well pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service. Do not conform yourselves to this world, but be transformed by the reviewing of your mind in order that you may prove what is well pleasing and good, and the perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:1-2). And so that’s what we have to do. That’s why the holy day issue becomes very important. So as we go through this, ask yourself, “Am I keeping all the will of God?”

Now let’s notice here, very important. It says prove, renewing of your mind. So you are to use your mind. Rightly divide the Word of God, as Paul told Timothy. Rightly divide it, see, not handle it improperly. “...That you may prove...” Now how do you prove something? You prove something by the facts.

• God is fact.

• His law is fact.

• His Word is fact, as well as truth.

Now what’s important here is this. You don’t go on what you feel. You don’t go on what you personally believe. Because a lot of personal beliefs, then, become idols before God. They are idols in your mind. So you have to prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. How? As defined by His Word. That’s how you do it. You don’t prove it by an emotion or a feeling. See, God’s Word is here. You have the whole thing, it’s impartial. The problems come when people interpret things. And the problems come when they interpret them incorrectly.

So let’s go here and look at some of these things and see how these are handled and what is done. Now let’s go to Luke 16, and let’s see one of the Scriptures which has been misinterpreted almost universally by the Catholics, by the Protestants, and by some in the churches of God; in particularly the Sabbath-keeping, non-holy daykeeping churches of God, which also includes the Seventh-Day Adventists. Let’s pick it up here in verse 13. This becomes very important for us to understand. “No servant is able to serve two masters; [that’s true] for either he will hate the one, and he will love the other; or he will hold to the one and will despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Meaning, that there’s only one way to serve God, and that’s through His Word, and through His truth, and with His Spirit.

“Now the Pharisees who were also covetous, heard all these things; and they ridiculed Him. And He said to them, ‘You are those who justify themselves before men...” And that’s exactly what happens with all of these false doctrines. They justify themselves before men. “...but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination before God.’ ” Now that can apply to all the religions of men. They’re very highly esteemed, aren’t they? Yes. Now here’s the verse that He’s leading up to here. And this is something that almost everyone universally does not understand. (v. 6) “The Law and the Prophets were until John...” “Therefore, from the time of John the Baptist the laws of God have been done away.” That is the conclusion. Let’s read the whole thing and see what it says. “The Law and the Prophets were until John; from that time the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone zealously strives to enter it.” Showing that to enter the kingdom of God is a difficult situation.

With the kingdom of God being preached, does that do away with the laws and commandments of God, including the holy days? What does it mean, “The Law and the Prophets were until John”? Now there’s also another misconception that people are under, which is this: that Jesus was under the Old Covenant. Not true. Jesus was under a special covenant between Him and God the Father, so He could establish the New Covenant. The New Covenant is the kingdom of God. The Law and the Prophets were the authority for preaching up to that time. Now then, Christ comes and the kingdom of God is preached. But notice, He wants to make it very clear concerning the laws of God. He wants you to understand that the laws and commandments of God have not been done away because there’s a different emphasis in preaching. Verse 17, “But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail” (Luke 16:13-17).

Now let’s look at another scripture. Let’s come to Matthew 5:17. Now especially for those who are Sabbath-keepers, you believe in the commandments of God. You believe in the Ten Commandments, and you’ve probably read this scripture. Well you have to apply it correctly to all the rest of the Scriptures as well. So let’s read it here: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets...” Now that means don’t let it enter into your mind. Don’t even think this thought. Now, “destroy” means abolish, or do away. “...I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.” Now here’s where the other miscommunication and twisting of the Scripture comes, which is this: if Christ fulfills it, then we don’t have to do it. Which is where people get into the false doctrine of saying, “Well, Christ fulfilled the Sabbath for me; therefore, I don’t have to keep it.” Or, “Christ fulfilled the holy days; therefore, I don’t have to keep them.” Or, “Christ fulfilled ‘You shall do no murder’; therefore, I can murder.” Or, “Christ fulfilled ‘Do not commit adultery’; therefore, it’s all right to commit adultery.” No, because then you have abolished the law. Let’s find out what Jesus fulfilled, and let’s find out what is yet to be fulfilled, or is still being fulfilled.

Now notice again verse 18. “For truly I say to you, until the heaven and the earth shall pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no way pass from the Law until everything has been fulfilled” (Matt. 5:17-18). That means everything be fulfilled. And then of course, when that is fulfilled, then if you read Revelation 21 and 22, then you have a new beginning with other things which are going to be fulfilling to a greater degree than the ones we’ve had in the past.

Now let’s come to the book of Hebrews and see, first of all, what did Jesus fulfill? Because I know that the doctrine of not keeping the holy days, for those who keep the Sabbath, is that the holy days were part of the ritual. Well, we will see Jesus did away with the ritual. But did He do away with the days? Now let’s come here to Hebrews 9, and let’s see what it is that Christ did. Verse 11, “But Christ Himself has become High Priest of the coming good things, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made by human hands (that is, not of this present physical creation)...” And Paul was referring to the physical building of the temple in Jerusalem at the time. “…Not by the blood of goats and calves, but by the means of His own blood, He entered once for all into the holiest, having by Himself secured everlasting redemption for us” (Heb. 9:11-12).

Now let’s come all the way down here to verse 28. “…So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear the second time without sin unto salvation to those who are eagerly awaiting Him.”

Now then, Paul goes on to explain what Christ did with His sacrifice to fulfill. And when He fulfilled it, we will see that He added to it a greater sacrifice, that is, being His sacrifice. So we’re going to find that He fulfilled the animal sacrifice and the temple ritual for a special purpose.

Hebrews 10:1, “For the law, having only a shadow of the good things that are coming, and not the image of those things, with the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, is never able to make perfect those who come to worship.”

It is the goal of God to have everything perfected. These animal sacrifices could not do it. “Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered? For once those who worship had been purified, they would no longer be conscious of sin. On the contrary, in offering these sacrifices year by year, there is a remembrance of sins. Because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Because it’s a lesser being than a human being. How can a goat atone for human sin? How can a bull atone for human sin? No, those things were just to cover them at the temple so they could continue functioning under the Old Covenant.

“For this reason, when He comes into the world, He says, ‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, buy You have prepared a body for Me....” Now that’s referring to Christ. “…You did not delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. Then said I, ‘Lo, I come (as it is written of Me in the scroll of the book) to do Your will, O God.’ ” God’s will and the proper worship of God, the proper forgiveness of sin before God, is what he’s talking about here. It ties right in with what we talked about—the will of God.

“In the saying above, He said, ‘Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin (which are offered according to the law) You did not desire nor delight in’....” But is that the whole law? Let me ask you this question: do the animal sacrifices constitute the whole law of God, or are they part of the law of God as we find in the Old Testament? No. The animal sacrifices were a small part of the law of God. And we’re going to see that when we get into it.

Verse 9, “…Then He said, ‘Lo, I come to do Your will, O God.’ He takes away the first covenant in order that He may establish the second covenant...” The first covenant with the second covenant, but understand this: the covenant does not do away with law; the covenant is your relationship with God. And in every covenant there are always laws. “By Whose will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Now every high priest stands ministering day by day, offering the same sacrifices repeatedly, which are never able to remove sins; but He, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.…” What are we talking about here? We’re not talking about doing away with law; we’re talking about doing away with sin. The way to do away with sin and the way to worship God is what has been changed.

Now stop and think of this: what is sin? New Testament doctrine: Sin is the transgression of the law. So the New Covenant is how to do away with sin and your relationship with God. So Jesus’ one sacrifice fulfilled all the animal sacrifices and all the temple ritual, and replaced it with His sacrifice and with the temple in heaven above. So it was done away with only in respect to that it was obsolete and not effective, and never could do away with sin. And now we have a new way of worshiping God under the New Covenant. So far having nothing to do with the Sabbath, having nothing to do with the holy days. Let’s continue on.

Verse 14, “For by one offering He has obtained eternal perfection for those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after He had previously said, ‘This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days,’ says the Lord: ‘I will give My laws into their hearts, and I will inscribe them in their minds...”

Now that is the exact opposite of doing away with anything. That is the exact opposite of fulfilling them for you as a person. “…And their sins and iniquities I will not remember ever again.” Whereas the animal sacrifices were what? There was a remembrance of sin every year, correct? Yes. “Now where remission of these is, it is no longer necessary to offer sacrifices for sin”, of animals and other rituals, because the one offering for sin was Christ.

“Therefore, brethren, having confidence to enter into the true holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He consecrated for us through the veil, (that is, His flesh), and having a great High Priest over the house of God, let us approach God with a true heart, with full conviction of faith, our hearts having been purified from a wicked conscience, and our bodies having been washed with pure water. Let us hold fast without wavering to the hope that we profess, for He Who promised is faithful…” (Heb. 10:1-12, 14-23).

So what we have here is a whole new way of worship: a new temple in heaven above, a new High Priest, Who is Christ, Who is at the temple in heaven above: at the right hand of the throne of God; which is superior to the earthly temple, superior to the earthly priesthood, superior to the earthly sacrifices of the goats, and the bulls, and the turtledoves, and so forth.

So that is what has been changed. And it has been changed with the fulfillment of those things by Christ. Now Jesus said “until everything be fulfilled.” So far the only thing that has been fulfilled is the replacing of the temporary animal sacrifices and the temporary temple tabernacle on earth with the permanent eternal one in heaven. So whenever anything has been done away [or fulfilled] it is replaced with something of a higher standard. And you can understand that when you read Matthew 5, 6, and 7, where Jesus said, “You have heard it said of old time, but I say to you...” So whenever He brought the fulfillment of the law He gave it a higher standard. He didn’t do away with anything. Christ came to do away with sin.

Now let’s ask another question. Let’s come back to Genesis 2. And I know those of you who believe in the weekly Sabbath turn here all the time to prove that Sabbath was a day which was created. So what I want to do is ask the question: which came first—the day, by creation, or the ritual of animal sacrifice? The day came first. No doubt. The sleight of hand, the deceitful handling of the Scriptures is when you claim that the ritual sacrifices and the ritual temple things done at the temple, when those were done away with they also did away with the Sabbath and did away with the holy days. That’s where the sleight of hand comes in. So therefore, we have to ask the question, which came first? Now we’re not talking about evolution, the chicken or the egg. We’re talking about which came first—the creation of the day, or the sacrifices? The answer obviously is the creation of the day.

Now let’s pick it up here in Genesis 2:1. “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And by the beginning of the seventh day [that means, just as the sixth day ended and the seventh day was beginning] God finished His work which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it because on it He rested from all His work which God created and made” (Gen. 2:1-3). So we know that God made the seventh day, He sanctified the seventh day. We all understand that. But is that all that God made?

Let’s come over here to verse 14 of Chapter 1. The truth is, God created all days, right? But He especially made the seventh day of every week [the] Sabbath, correct? Now let’s understand something else that He did here, Genesis 1:14. “And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide between the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for appointed seasons, and for days and years...” Now how do we govern the weekly Sabbath? From sunset to sunset, correct? Yes. But God also created seasons, didn’t He? Yes, He did.

Let’s come along here, let’s ask a couple of other things. Let’s come to Genesis 15. Now you’ll have to write for the tapes concerning the covenants of God with Abraham, and we will send them to you. Because long before the Old Covenant was ever given, Genesis 15, the covenant was given to Abraham. Now we do not have the time to go through the technical explanation of it, so I will just tell you.

Let’s pick it up here in verse 4. “And behold, the Word of the LORD came to him saying, ‘This man shall not be your heir [that is, Eliezer of Damascus]; but he that shall come forth out of your own loins shall be your heir.’ And He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward the heavens and number the stars—if you be able to count them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your seed be.’ And he believed in the LORD. And He counted it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:4-6). This was given on the fourteenth day of the first month at night, the same day in which the Passover [occurs], if you believe in the Sabbath and Passover. So we have the day first, then the significance of the day. Then the next day in which He made the covenant to take the children of Israel out of Egypt was the fifteenth, which became the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Now let’s see that by going to Exodus 12. Let’s ask the question: which came first—the day or the sacrifice? We will see the day came first. The sacrifice came as later instruction. Now here’s the instruction that they were to do concerning the lamb, Exodus 12:5. “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it from the sheep or from the goats. And you shall keep it up until the beginning of the fourteenth day of the same month...” So the day came first, correct? He designated the day first. “...And the whole assembly of congregation of Israel shall kill it between the two evenings.” Now, I’m not going to go through any technical explanation on it, except to say that this is [right] after sunset, between sunset and dark.

So God named the day, the fourteenth, verse 11, last sentence, “...it is the LORD’S Passover.” Now I assume that most of you keep the Passover. But you see, if you keep the Passover and you don’t keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, then you are cutting something off. You are not following through on the commands of God. You are throwing the commands of observation—which God has commanded to be holy days—you are throwing that into the same categories as the animal sacrifices. And they were never in the same category.

Now He says in verse 13, “And the blood shall be a sign to you upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be a memorial to you. And you shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it a feast as a law forever.”

So the day was chosen first, the sacrifice was put on the day, and God says you are to keep the day forever. Later when Christ came, when was He sacrificed? He was sacrificed on the fourteenth day [the Passover Day]. And now that becomes the sacrifice which replaces the lamb which the Israelites killed. Christ is the Lamb of God, and it’s on the fourteenth day. That’s why the Passover day is to be kept.

Now notice here verse 15, speaking of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This becomes very important, because again, we’re going to see that the day was there before the offering. “You shall eat unleavened bread seven days; even the first day you shall have put away leaven out of your houses; for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. And in the first day there shall be a holy convocation...” Now that is the same weight and force of command as in Genesis 2 of blessing the Sabbath day—holy convocation. “...And in the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation to you. No manner of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you. And you shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for in this very same day I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall keep this day in your generations as a law forever” (Ex. 12:5-6, 11, 13-17). So the day came first.

Now let’s come to Exodus 20. Here is where the giving of the Ten Commandments was in Exodus 20. But in the chapter preceding it we have a special event which took place—the preparing for the giving of the Ten Commandments. Now you can write in for the tape concerning the Ten Commandments, [they] were given on the day of Pentecost. So the day came first. Now the trick is this: If you believe in the Ten Commandments, which you do, then why do you not celebrate or keep or observe, rather, the feast of Pentecost on which the Ten Commandments were given, before any animal sacrifices were offered? You need to understand that. That’s the question you need to ask.

Now let’s come to Leviticus 23. And Leviticus 23 is the chapter in the whole Bible where all the holy days are listed. Now again, we have established:

1. the Sabbath day was before any sacrifice;

2. the Passover day was established before any sacrifice.

3. the first and last day of Unleavened Bread were established before any sacrifice;

4. the Day of Pentecost was established before any sacrifice, and those are holy convocations.

Now let’s read it here. Leviticus 23:1, “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, “Concerning the appointed feasts of the LORD…” ’ ” Now I want to make this very clear: they are not, never have been, never will be the feasts of the Jews, though other people have called them the “feasts of the Jews,” and though for particular reasons which John knew, he labeled the “feast of the Jews” concerning the Feast of Tabernacles, but it’s the feast of the Lord. “...Which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My appointed feasts.” All of them. Then He starts off with what? “Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings.”

Now the other holy convocations are “Sabbaths to the LORD in all your dwellings” too, just as well. Now we’ll see that here in just a minute. Verse 4, “These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons.” God created the time, as we saw in Genesis 1:14 for seasons. If you believe that you are to proclaim the seventh day as a feast of God every seven days, and that you are obligated by God to keep the Sabbath and to keep it holy, then what gives you the right to go against God and proclaim that His feasts, “holy convocations which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons,” [and] you disobey that command and do not proclaim them?

Now what is your reason for not proclaiming them? Well, we will look at some of them. And your reasons are going to fall apart, because it has not been a proper, rightful dividing of the Word of God.

“In the fourteenth day of the first month, between the two evenings, is the LORD’S Passover.” Notice, in every case He gives the day first and then the offering for that day, every one of these. “And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. You must eat unleavened bread seven days. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any servile work therein. But you shall offer a fire offering to the LORD seven days...” The sacrifices at the temple, then, were added to the days. The days came first. Likewise with Pentecost, and how to count it. If you don’t know how to count Pentecost you can write in for it. We have three booklets which explain in depth the whole thing of counting Pentecost.

But verse 21, which says, “And you shall proclaim on the same day that it may be a holy convocation to you...” Then we come down here to verse 24, “…Speak to the children of Israel saying, ‘In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of ram’s horns, a holy convocation. You shall do no servile work therein but you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.” Again, the day is proclaimed first and then the sacrificial offering.

Verse 27, “Also, on the tenth day of this seventh month, is the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation to you. And you shall afflict your souls and offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. And you shall do no work in that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, in order to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.”

Now let’s come down to verse 32. “It shall be to you a Sabbath of rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. In the ninth day of the month at sunset, from sunset to sunset, you shall keep [or observe] your Sabbath.” Now we’ve got you. Because this is the verse that all Sabbath-keepers turn to, to show that you must keep the Sabbath from sunset to sunset, but this is defining the Day of Atonement. So if this defines the Day of Atonement, and you keep the Sabbath but not the Day of Atonement, why do you take your definition from the Day of Atonement and apply it to the Sabbath, if it is not equally applicable to the Sabbath and the Day of Atonement and all the other holy days?

Then we come down here to verse 34. “… The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the LORD. On the first day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no servile work therein.” Same way with the eighth day, verse 36. A holy convocation; you have day one, day eight, then the sacrifices and so forth.

Now notice verse 37, because it’s very important. “These are the feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim...” (Lev. 23:1-8, 21, 24-25, 27- 28, 32, 34-37).

Now as you can see, I’m doing these by survey. Because in order to understand this, you must get an overview by a survey to understand. Verse 37, “These are the feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations...” So if you take this statement, which is true, and it is, and you go back and you apply it in verse 1, “...the appointed feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My appointed feasts,” and it starts out with the Sabbath: “Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work. It is the Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings.” Now then, you’re stuck, aren’t you? Why do you not proclaim those other days according to God’s calendar the way that they should be? Are you missing something by not doing it? Are you incorrectly dividing the Word of God because you are misapplying Scripture?

Let’s go to Numbers 28, and let’s go to the heart and core of the whole thing here. We’ll see it. Now you’re also going to be stuck with another problem if you say that, “Because they had ritual sacrifices on these days, and the sacrifices have been done away with because Christ’s sacrifice superseded all the animal sacrifices…” OK, we’re all together so far, right? Then what are you going to do with Numbers 28, especially the first part? Verse 1, “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Command the children of Israel, and say to them, “My offering and My bread for My sacrifices made by fire, [because there was the tabernacle, and later the temple], a sweet savor to Me, you shall be diligent to observe to offer to Me in their due season.” And you shall say to them, “This is the offering made by fire which you shall offer to the LORD; two lambs of the first year without spot day by day, a continual burnt offering.” This is the daily burnt offering. Now, because animal sacrifices were done away, have days been done away with? No. One in the morning, one in the evening.

Now let’s come down here to verse 9. “And on the Sabbath day two lambs of the first year without spot, and two tenths parts of flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, and its drink offering; this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, beside the continual burnt offering, and its drink offering” (Num. 28:1-3, 9-10).

Now then, if you take your reasoning, which so many do to get rid of the holy days, by saying that, “The ritual sacrifices were offered on the holy days and the sacrifices were done away with; therefore we don’t have to keep the holy days,” now what are you going to do about the Sabbath? Because if you take the reasoning of one, you must also take the reasoning of the other, correct?

Were there sacrifices on the Sabbath day? Yes. Were those sacrifices done away with and fulfilled in Christ? Yes. Then if you take the assumption that because those were true, therefore we conclude that we don’t have to keep the Sabbath because the sacrifices were done away. Now you see, you’re stuck in your own logic. Because if you keep the Sabbath, because God commanded it, and you don’t keep the holy days because the sacrifices were done away with, then your logic traps you into your own corner, where then you must not keep the Sabbath by the same logic.

Now I’ve gone over—this with Church of God Seventh Day people, until I’m blue in the face. But you see, when you are dead and when your mind is set, and when you are not willing to let the truth of God enter into it, then you can come to that conclusion. But how else are you going to conclude it? If you take the reasoning that the holy days do not need to be kept because there were ritual sacrifices on those [days], and those ritual sacrifices are all done away with in Christ, so was Sabbath ritual sacrifice done away in Christ.

So therefore, you’re stuck in your own logic because you’re not honest in handling the Word of God, and you misapply the Word of God so that you may keep the Sabbath and do away with the holy days. Now you’ve got to understand that. That’s where you begin. Maybe other people couldn’t convince you, but maybe the Word of God can convince you.

Now then, let’s come to Ezekiel 20. Now you can go through and apply this to all the holy days here in the rest of Numbers 28 and 29. Because every one of the days had sacrifices. So you can’t use that logic. That logic is a misnomer. That logic is not correct. Now if you run on to Galatians 3 [and 4] and misapply that, then you’re also going to get yourself in trouble. Now if you need some understanding concerning the book of Galatians, we have at least seven or eight tapes on that which go through it and explain it. I’ll see if I can cover maybe one or two of those verses a little later on.

Now then, as we’re here in Ezekiel 20, I call your attention to reference back to Exodus 31, where the Sabbaths are God said you were to keep. Now notice when we are reading here, God does not make any differentiation between which Sabbath is which. All of the holy days—please understand— are annual Sabbaths.

So when we read this—let’s begin here in Ezekiel 20:10. God says, “And I caused them to go out from the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. And I gave them My statutes and showed them My ordinances, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. And also I gave them My Sabbaths...” Plural. That is not “the Sabbath,” but “My Sabbaths,” plural. Because you see, the fourth commandment in the Ten Commandments says, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” But He gave them more than the weekly Sabbath. He gave them His annual Sabbaths, “...to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD Who sanctifies them.”

Now, question: If you don’t keep the holy days, is there something that you don’t know about the Lord? Is there something in your understanding that is missing because you’re not sanctified by those days?

Verse 13, “But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness...” Question: Are you rebelling against God if you reject His holy days? “...They did not walk in My statutes, and they despised My ordinances, which if a man does, he shall even live in them. And they greatly polluted My Sabbaths [plural] ...”

Verse 16, “…Because they despised My judgments and walked not in My statutes; and they polluted My Sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.” Because when you take God’s time and make it yours, or you declare God’s holy time not holy, it becomes an idol in your mind. So then, He told them not to do it.

Verse 19, He said, “I am the LORD your God. Walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances, and do them, and keep My Sabbaths holy; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God. But the children rebelled...” (Ezek. 20:10-13, 16, 19- 21).

Now I want to ask a question here. If you think that the weekly Sabbath is good and right and fine, tell me why the annual Sabbaths are not also good and right and fine. And if you don’t keep them, then you are saying that God’s Word is not worthy of your observance. I mean, you need to keep things on a clear, factual basis. Don’t get your feelings involved in on it, because you’re going to get yourself in deep trouble.

Now I’m not going to handle a technical scripture at this point. Let’s come to the New Testament. Let’s come to Matthew 22, and let’s see what we are to do in the New Testament. And then we will see, did they in the New Testament, under the New Covenant, keep these days?

Let’s come to Matthew 22:37. Because you see, you’re also stuck with another problem. If you say you love God, and you try and love God this way, then you have to ask yourself a question: why do I reject the holy days of God? “And Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment; and the second one is like it:, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets ” (Matt. 22:37-40).

And whereby Jesus said, “One jot or one tittle shall in no way pass from the Law until everything has been fulfilled.” The only thing that we have seen in the Scriptures which has been fulfilled has been the animal sacrifices and the temple ritual, which have been replaced and superseded by a higher sacrifice of Jesus Christ in a greater temple in heaven above. All of the rest is still hanging on the love of God, correct? Do you love God? Do you love God in truth? Or do you want to love God your way and tell God what to do?

Let’s come to John 4. Let’s ask some other questions. How does God want us to worship Him today? Verse 23, “But the hour is coming, [that is, when you wouldn’t worship any longer in Jerusalem, the temple would be gone, and so forth] and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth...”

Now we know the commandments of God are truth; we know the laws of God are truth; we know that all of God’s ways are true, and His commandments are true; so therefore, if you’re going to worship God in spirit and in truth, you’re going to be keeping His commandments from the heart spiritually, loving God. “...For the Father is indeed seeking those who worship Him in spirit and in truth; for the Father is indeed seeking those who worship Him in this manner. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24).

Now the word “must” there in the Greek has the force of “obligatory.” You are obligated before God to worship Him in spirit and in truth. And since all the words of God are true, and since the holy days are part of the true Word of God, you must worship Him on those days, as well as the weekly Sabbath.

Now let’s come to Psalm 119. And I know here recently I brought this up concerning other topics, but it is true. Let’s do a little attitude check for everybody here now, whether you agree with what I have said or not up to this point, or maybe some of the things you agree with, and some of the things you don’t agree with. But you have to ask yourself the question: do I agree with God? Not whether you agree with me, or agree with another man. Because if I don’t teach you the Word of God, and if I don’t preach the Word of God, then it really doesn’t matter what I say, even though I may misuse the Word of God and sound religious. Now here, Psalm 119:127. And this is profound. And this is the whole attitude we’ve got to come to concerning the will of God, concerning the commandments of God, concerning all the things of God. “Therefore I love Your commandments above gold—yea, above fine gold.”

Now hold your place here because we’re going to come back, and I want you to go to 2 Thessalonians for just a minute. Because with the deception that is coming upon the whole world there is going to be a reason why it’s coming. And you may be part of that deception, or caught up in that deception if you do what they do in the world.

Now Satan is going to come. 2 Thessalonians 2:9, “ ...whose coming [this is the great beast power that is coming] is according to the inner working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in those who are perishing because they did not receive the love of the truth...”

Now we just read where David wrote, “I love Your commandments.” But if you don’t love the truth, which then is all the word of God, what are you subject to? You’re subject to death, because you can’t be saved. And another thing takes place.

“And for this cause, God will send upon them a powerful deception that will cause them to believe the lie, so that all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but who took pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thess. 2:9-12). So if you don’t believe the truth of God’s word, are you having pleasure and unrighteousness by rejecting them?

Because if those are Sabbaths (which they are), and if they are commandments (which they are), and if they’re to be kept (which they should), and if you are transgressing that, then you are sinning, and you are unrighteous, correct? And if you don’t keep them then you have pleasure in unrighteousness. Is that not true? Are you not then going to blind yourself to other things further down the road? And always remember, when God gives a witness out of His Word, once is sufficient. Please understand that.

Now let’s come back here to Psalm 119:127. “Therefore I love Your commandments above gold—yea, above fine gold.” And how many people do you know work on the Sabbath so they can make money because they reject the Sabbath commandment? Well, apply the same thing to the holy days.

Verse 128, here’s where we need to come. “Therefore I esteem all Your precepts concerning all things to be right...” Do you believe that of the will of God? Do you believe that every precept of God is right, every command of God is right, every law of God is good and right? Notice, “...and I hate every false way.” Are you willing to hate the sin that you have been committing in not keeping the holy days? Or are you going to come up with other arguments to justify your own idol? That’s what it gets down to. Because those are self-justifications for your own way. There’ll be no doubt about it. Do you consider all the precepts of God concerning all things to be right? If you do then you will hate every false way.

Now let’s come to the New Testament, and we’re going to spend the rest of the time in the New Testament, showing that, yes, the holy days were kept by those in the New Testament; and in fact, by a very command of God.

Let’s come to Mark 2, please. And this is one, for those of you who are Sabbath-keepers to turn to, to show that we need to keep the Sabbath in the New Testament. Well let’s read it here, because this becomes very profound. Verse 27, “And He said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man…’ ”

No question about it. God really expects all mankind to keep the Sabbath. “...and not man for the Sabbath; therefore, the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28).

- Question: since the holy days are Sabbath, is he also Lord of those?

- Is He Lord of the Passover?

- Is He Lord of the

first day of Unleavened Bread,

the last day of Unleavened Bread,

Pentecost,

Trumpets,

Atonement,

Tabernacles, and

the Last Great Day?

- The answer is yes.

Now those other days and commands were made for the people of God. The Sabbath was made for mankind in general. So if you only keep the Sabbath, you’re only doing what God requires of all people everywhere. The holy days have special meaning for the people of God. Now maybe you’ve never thought of it that way. Well, you need to think of it that way.

Let’s come to Luke 2, and let’s see what Jesus did. And let’s understand that Jesus was not under the Old Covenant; He was under a special covenant with God the Father, which was even greater than the New Covenant, when you really come to understand it. Because with the covenant that God the Father and Jesus Christ had, Jesus could not sin once.

Now I’m going to give a sermon on that here. I’m working on it: what was the covenant between God the Father and Jesus Christ? It was a greater covenant that we are under. Obviously, it had to be. Because He was God before He became a human being.

But let’s notice what He did here. Luke 2:40, “And the little Child grew and became strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast.” And then you know what He was doing.

Did Jesus keep the feast? Yes. Did He keep it only because His parents kept it? No. Why did His parents keep it? Because it was a law of God. But why did Jesus keep it? Because it was the law of His Father. And what was He doing there at the feast?

Verse 46, “Now it came to pass that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both hearing them and questioning them. And all those who were listening to Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.”

Because as I point out in the series, the prophecies of Jesus, Jesus was taught every morning of God the Father. So there He was on the holy days, and afterwards, doing the Father’s business. “But when they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, ‘Son, why have you dealt with us in this manner? Look, Your father and I have been very distressed while searching for You.’ And He said to them, ‘Why is it that you were looking for Me? Don’t you realize that I must be about My Father’s business?’ ” (Luke 2:40-42,46-49), showing that Joseph was not His father. That’s what He was clearly saying here. Was it the Father’s business to send Christ? Yes. When did Christ die? On the Passover day. Was that the Father’s business? Yes, it was.

Now let’s see how He carried out the Father’s business in His ministry. Let’s come to John 2. We’re going to survey some things here in the book of John for just a minute. Keep in mind this: that Jesus Christ set us an example, in Whose footsteps we should follow.

Now if Jesus did no sin…now you see, some people come to the point of saying that if you keep the Sabbath and holy days you are sinning. Well, we know that if you keep the Sabbath you are not sinning. But are you sinning if you don’t keep the holy days? You are. Here, if it was sin to keep them, then Jesus sinned, correct? Now let’s read it. Verse 13, “Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.” Now the reason why John says “the Passover of the Jews” is because he is showing that Jesus was correcting them for their wrong worship of Passover, and Tabernacles, and other days. The days of the holy days are God’s days.

So what did He do? He went into the temple, “And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money exchangers sitting there; and after making a scourge of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with both the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money exchangers, and overturned the tables. And to those who were selling the doves, He said, ‘Take these things out of here! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise.’ ” So He got rid of them, the sin there, didn’t He?

Plus, He was also showing another thing, which He later on said to the Pharisee who wanted to know, which was the great commandment? He answered correctly, and Jesus said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Then He said, “Now go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” So that’s what He was teaching here. He desired mercy and not sacrifice.

Now notice verse 23, “Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed on His name, as they observed the miracles that He was doing” (John 2:13-16, 23). So He was healing, and He was teaching on the feast day of Unleavened Bread, right there at the temple.

Now let’s come over here to John 5:1. Now, it doesn’t tell us what feast this is. But according to the chronology as we go through the book of John, we find that it is Passover, fall festival season, Passover, fall festival season, and Passover. So by chronology, this had to be one of the feast days, either Trumpets or the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, or the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, one of the three. It was not Atonement, because they were carrying burdens and so forth. “After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.” Was He there keeping it? Yes. Did He correct them for their wrong use of the day? Yes, He did. He told the man whom He healed to pick up his bed and walk, and he walked. And so then He gave the spiritual lesson here that God is working spiritually.

Let’s come over here to John 6:4. “Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.” And then Jesus explained about the bread and the wine, that it symbolized His body and His blood; and made it absolutely mandatory that you keep the Passover, otherwise you don’t have any life in you. Let’s read that right here in John 6:53. “Therefore, Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves.’ ” So unless you keep the Passover properly you don’t have life in you. And I just might mention here too, those who use grape juice are not keeping it properly, because it is not wine. You need to understand that.

Let’s go on. John 7:1, “After these things, Jesus was sojourning in Galilee, for He did not desire to travel in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was near.” His brethren—I’ll just summarize it— said, “Why don’t You go up and show Yourself?” And He said, “No, you go up. My time is not yet.” Verse 8, so they went up to the feast. Now verse 10, “But after His brothers had gone up, then Jesus also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.” So here, in spite of the public pressure that was put against Him and all those seeking to kill Him, He still went and kept the feast, didn’t He? He observed the Feast of Tabernacles, didn’t He? Yes, He did.

Now notice. Here’s something very important concerning the will of God and understanding. Now verse 14, “But then, about the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and was teaching. And the Jews were amazed, saying ‘How does this Man know letters, having never been schooled?’ Jesus answered them and said, ‘My doctrine is not Mine, but His Who sent Me. If anyone desires to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it is from God, or whether I speak from My own self.’ ” And Jesus was there during the Feast of Tabernacles. And there is great meaning to the Feast of Tabernacles. If you would like some tapes on those, we have almost hundreds of tapes on the Feast of Tabernacles—well over a hundred anyway—covering the feast going way back. So if you want to know about the meaning of it, you can write in for it.

Let’s come over here to verse 37. “Now in the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and called out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. The one who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’ ” (John 7:1-2, 10, 14- 17, 37-39).

So Jesus taught on the Last Great Day, didn’t He? So we find him teaching during the Feast of Unleavened Bread; we find Him teaching during the Feast of Tabernacles; we find Him teaching at the Passover time, taught His disciples during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and so forth. Jesus did all of those things.

Now let’s come to the book of Acts, and we’ll do a little survey with the book of Acts. Please understand, we’re into New Covenant teachings. And if the holy days were to be done away, if they were no longer to be kept, then you would hear Jesus say this statement: “You have heard it said of old time, ‘You shall remember to keep the Sabbath day holy, and the holy days.’ But I say unto you, you shall keep Sunday holy, and Christmas, and Easter, and New Year’s.” He didn’t say any of that, did He? No, He did not.

Now here, Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2:1, by the command of Christ, right? He said, “And behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you; but remain in the city of Jerusalem until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). So His command was to be there and keep the day of Pentecost. If Jesus commanded His apostles to keep it, and gave the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, which was the same day that the Ten Commandments were given, should you not keep the day of Pentecost?

Verse 1, “And when the day of Pentecost, the fiftieth day, was being fulfilled, they were all with one accord in the same place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like the rushing of a powerful wind, and filled the whole house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:1-2). Then you know the rest of the story, in preaching on the day of Pentecost. And that’s when God started the church. So He formalized the church in the wilderness on the day of Pentecost by giving the Ten Commandments. He started the New Covenant Church on the day of Pentecost right there at the temple of God.

Let’s continue on here. Let’s come to Acts 12:1. “Now about that time, Herod the king stretched forth his hands to persecute some of those of the church; and he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. And when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to take Peter also. (Now those were the days of unleavened bread.)”

Now the reason that is mentioned is because they were keeping the days of Unleavened Bread. “And after arresting him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four sets of four soldiers to guard him with the intent of bringing him out to the people after the Passover season” (Acts 12:1- 4).

Let’s come to Chapter 16. Now I know all of the arguments that people will give. Acts 16:13; let’s understand this. This is a time when Paul went into Macedonia and preached to them. “Then on the day of the weeks we went outside the city by a river, where it was customary for prayer to be made...” Now the Sabbath here in the Greek actually reads “...and on the day of the weeks...”— which is Pentecost.

Hold your place here, and go back to Luke 4. And we will see that on that very day in one of the synagogues in Galilee Jesus Christ stood up for to read, and began His ministry in Nazareth on that day. Luke 4:16, “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and according to His custom, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read.” And that is on “the day of the weeks,” if you look at the Greek. So Jesus taught on Pentecost, Paul taught on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was given on Pentecost, the day of the weeks.

Now let’s come back here to the book of Acts, Chapter 18:18. “And after Paul had remained there many days, he took leave of the brethren and sailed away to Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. Now Paul had shorn his head in Cenchrea because he had made a vow. And he came to Ephesus, and left them there; but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. And when they asked him to remain with them for a longer time, he did not consent, but took leave of them saying, ‘I must by all means keep the feast that is coming at Jerusalem…’ ” (Acts 18:18-21).

Now the only feast, chronologically speaking, that it could be here is the Feast of Tabernacles. So he went to Jerusalem to keep it. So Paul said, “I must by all means keep the Feast....” Now you can’t say that he was keeping it under the obligation of circumcision, because he preached against circumcision.

Now let’s come to Chapter 20:5: “These went on ahead and waited for us in Troas. But we sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread...” Now why mention going after the days of Unleavened Bread? Well, it’s very simple: they kept the days of Unleavened Bread and wouldn’t leave until the Feast of Unleavened Bread was over. In other words, they observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and then left after that. “...And in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.” So they got there on a Sunday, stayed there seven days. “Now on the first day of the weeks, when the disciples had assembled to break bread...” (Acts 20:5-7).

And that was then after sundown after the Sabbath ended, getting on into the first day of the week and so forth. So they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That’s the important thing to understand.

Now let’s come here to Chapter 24 and verse 14. “But I confess to you that according to the way which they [the Jews] call heresy, so I serve the God of my fathers, believing all things that are written in the Law and the Prophets...” And Paul himself was the one who wrote to show that the only thing that had been fulfilled and superseded by the sacrifice of Christ was the animal sacrifice and the temple ritual. And we read that earlier. He believed everything else.

Let’s come here to Chapter 27 and verse 9. “And after much time had passed, and the voyage was now dangerous because the annual fast day had already passed...” Now you may have in your reference there going back to Leviticus 23:27, referring to the Day of Atonement. So here Paul, even when he was sailing, and it was dangerous, he was still keeping the Day of Atonement on that ship. And the fast had ended. So Paul kept it.

Now let’s come over here to 1 Corinthians 16:7. “For at this time I will not stop to see you, but I hope at some future time to stay with you, if the Lord permits. But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost.” So how were they measuring time? By Christmas? No. By Easter? No. By New Year’s? No. By Sunday? No, but by Sabbath and the holy days, all the way through. Here’s Pentecost.

Now let’s come to 1 Corinthians 5, since we are here. And here is the command. And you need to understand this, as here is a principle: you can’t have one commandment without the other. You must have all of them. And did not the apostle James say that if you keep the whole law yet offended one point, you’re guilty of all the law? Correct?

So if you keep the Sabbath but don’t keep the holy days, then you are guilty of transgressing the holy days, and stand before God as a sinner. Especially when we have here in 1 Corinthians 5 an absolute, dogmatic command by the apostle Paul to keep the feast, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Now let’s pick it up here in verse 7. “Therefore, purge out the old leaven...” Because during the Days of Unleavened Bread, leaven is a type of sin. “...So that you may become a new lump, even as you are unleavened.” Having put it out of their houses, and they are unleavened in Christ. “For Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. For this reason, let us keep the feast...” Which feast? Unleavened Bread, “...not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:7-8).

So he is virtually saying here in this command to keep the feast, “If you don’t keep the feast, you’re not keeping the truth.” There is a great command.

Now then, we need to understand another principle, which is this: People say, “Well, if it’s not repeated in the New Testament, I don’t have to do it.” The reason a lot of these things are not repeated in the New Testament is because it would become redundant. And God didn’t want to have a book of fifty volumes. He wanted one book. So that’s why you have to believe the whole Word of God.

Let’s come to Hebrews 4. Now if you want a more in-depth study on Hebrews 4, you can write in for it, we have it. I just want to focus in on one verse, verse 9, and to summarize the part up to it, because God’s plan is not yet complete. “There remains, therefore, Sabbath-keeping for the people of God.” Now that becomes very important, because Sabbath-keeping, then, means more than just keeping the Sabbath. Sabbath-keeping includes all of the holy days, and the people of God include the Gentiles (1 Peter 1), not just the Hebrews.

So for people to say, “I am not convinced that we ought to keep the holy days,” then what you need to do is get in and really study your Bible more, and ask yourself the question, “Do I really believe in the Word of God, and the will of God, am I willing to understand it the way God says? Or am I going to keep this in the way of personal opinion and become like all other religious people?” and end up rejecting the Word of God.

Scriptural References:

1. ) II Corinthians 4:1-4

2. ) Jeremiah 17:9

3. ) Matthew 7:21-23

4. ) Psalm 143:10

5. ) Romans 12:1-2

6. ) Luke 16:13-17

7. ) Matthew 5:17-18

8. ) Hebrews 9:11-12, 28

9. ) Hebrews 10:1-12, 14-23

10. )Genesis 2:1-3

11. )Genesis 1:14

12. )Genesis 15:4-6

13. )Exodus 12:5-6, 11, 13-17

14. )Exodus 20

15. )Leviticus 23:1-8, 21, 24-25, 27-28, 32, 34-37

16. )Numbers 28:1-3, 9-10

17. )Ezekiel 20:10-13, 16, 19-21

18. )Matthew 22:37-40

19. )John 4:23-24

20. )Psalm 119:127-128

21. )II Thessalonians 2:9-12

22. )Mark 2:27-28

23. ) Luke 2:40-42, 46-49

24. ) John 2:13-16, 23

25. ) John 5:1

26. ) John 6:4, 53

27. ) John 7:1-2, 10, 14-17, 37-39

28. ) Acts 2:1-2

29. ) Acts 12:1-4

30. ) Acts 16:13

31. ) Luke 4:16

32. ) Acts 18:18-21

33. ) Acts 20:5-7

34. ) Acts 24:14

35. ) Acts 27:9

36. ) I Corinthians 5:7-8

37. ) Hebrews 4:9

Section III

Passover

Chapter Eight

Origin and Meaning of Passover

What is the origin and the meaning of the Passover—especially the Christian Passover? Now let’s understand something about the Bible, and this is always basic and fundamental, but it is also in-depth and runs through the entire Bible on understanding. The Bible is not a book that anyone can just pick up and begin to understand like reading a novel. Now certain things that are in there which are basic; different people can understand at different times, and begin to apply them. However, to understand what we are going to cover today, we need to look at how God has designed the Bible and how it is to be understood. That’s why in studying the Bible it’s got to be accompanied with prayer, it’s got to be accompanied with obedience, because all of those things are required. And it’s got to be accompanied with an attitude of love to God and an attitude of being willing to obey what God reveals to you as you study the Word of God.

Now in I Corinthians 2, let’s turn there, this tells us how we begin to understand the Bible, and this also shows us that you need spiritual help from the Spirit of God, either the Spirit of God is with you and will help lead you to understand, or if you are already baptized, the Spirit of God is in you and will lead you to understand. Nevertheless, either way the things of the Bible, as we will see, are spiritually discerned.

Let’s pick it up here in verse 9: “But according as it is written, ‘The eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ ” Now if you love God, what did Jesus say? “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” It is not for just anybody in the world, it’s not just for anybody who wants to pick up the Bible and start reading it. Oh, they can, but there are prophecies which say, even the wise men and even the priests can’t understand it. Or the wise men say, “I don’t know what this says, what it means.” See, you have to love God. Verse 10: “But God has revealed them…” Now that’s important. God must reveal it, and through the Spirit of God, He must open our minds to understand the Word of God. “…God has revealed them to us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things—even the deep things of God.” So God expects us to go from the beginning, from the basics and on into the deep things of God, and part of what we’re going to cover today is the deep understanding of the Passover of God although it is in the simplicity of Christ.

Verse 11: “For who among men understands the things of man except by the spirit of man which is in him? In the same way also, the things of God no one understands except by the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9-11). Now that’s important.

Therefore, when you are studying you should always ask God to help you understand. You should always ask God for His Spirit to lead you, so that you will do things according to the way that God wants them done. You will understand according to the way that God wants you to understand it, and this also tells you another reason why the world, though they call themselves Christian, cannot understand because they are not loving God the way God says, and are not keeping the commandments of God the way God says to keep them, and so therefore, when that happens they are blinded. Christ shows very clearly that if you do not believe God when you hear the Word of God, and if you’re not willing to live by His Word, you automatically blind yourself and put yourself on Satan’s side who is the one who blinds those from understanding the gospel.

So the way that God gives understanding to the Bible is [like] a two-edged sword. One edge for those who refuse to believe and understand—they won’t. They read the words and they can’t understand it. The other edge for those who want to know the Word of God, those who want to love God, then He opens their understanding to it. Now there is no other book in the world that does this, because no other book in the world is based upon the spiritual words of God, because the words Jesus spoke, they are spirit and they are life.

Now what we are going to do is we are going to look at the beginning, or the origin of the Passover. And the origin of the Passover does not begin with Exodus 12. It begins in Genesis 15. It does not begin with Israel, but it begins with Abraham, and there are more parallels. So let’s go to Genesis 15. There are more parallels with the events that happen here in Genesis 15 that relate to the Passover and relate to the preaching of the gospel, as we will see, than has been understood. Now, we’ve gone through this quite a few times haven’t we, since we first understood it—what, about five years ago, six years ago, somewhere around there? Well today we are going to learn even more. We are going to draw even more precepts out of it, we’re going to have more understanding out of it, a little more here and a little more there, because it’s all right there.

Now there is a reason for it, and there is a reason why the Passover for the Christian Passover is not patterned after the Passover that God gave to Israel. Now that Passover, though it had types of Christ with the lamb without blemish, and the blood which would protect them from death and so forth—the timing of the Passover in Exodus 12 is different than the timing of the Passover for the New Covenant that Jesus taught the apostles on His last Passover. And what He taught His apostles on the last Passover conforms more to the flow of events here in Genesis 15 than it does to the Passover in Exodus 12, or the later slaying of the lambs at the temple by the Jews in their traditional Passover offerings that they had on the day portion of the fourteenth.

Now let’s pick it up here in Genesis 15:4: “And behold, the Word of the LORD came to him saying, ‘This man shall not be your heir…” That is Eliezer of Damascus would not be his heir, because here he was, what, about 85 or so, no children and God promised him a child. So here He is going to make the promise sure. “…but he that shall come forth out of your own loins shall be your heir.” So you have to be a fleshly human being first, right? And who was the one that was born to Abraham and Sarah? It was Isaac, and Isaac was the child of promise. Now we have here a physical birth, don’t we? All right, keep that in mind. Verse 5: “And He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward the heavens and number the stars—if you are able to count them…” Now the universe is quite a thing. And the heavens God designed to be glorious and awesome to lead mankind to realize that God is Creator, and to seek His purpose in creating it, because God did not do it in vain. He did it with purpose in mind.

Now hold your place here in Genesis 15, and let’s come to Psalm 8, and let’s see what the heavens are designed to do. Now there is a book out that is called The Privileged Earth—there is another one called The Rare Earth, and what the astronomers now have discovered is that in order for there to be physical life, in order for there to be complex life like we have on the planet, there have to be multitudinous factors that have to be there. You can’t be too close to the sun or too far from the sun. The earth has to be the right size, the moon has to be the right size. The sun has to be the right size, and it must sit in the solar system [which] must be of the right composition. And you need Jupiter and Uranus to give protection from all of the asteroids that would come crashing in if they weren’t there. You need to have everything in perfect balance, so it’s the perfect earth, in the perfect solar system, in the perfect galaxy because the galaxy is set in such a way that from the earth you can examine the heavens like no other place in the entirety of the universe.

There is no other place because there is too much gas, there are too many clouds, gaseous clouds—like if you were on Venus, you would never see the sun, and so the earth is in the perfect place because God created and put it there, and He did it for a reason—for His plan that He has for all mankind, and that’s all wrapped up in Jesus Christ, and that’s all wrapped up in the Passover and the holy days and so forth.

Verse 1: “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens!” Because if you can get out and see the stars and see the heavens and you know mathematically, you see this is why there are no atheist astronomers. Now you’ve got a lot of atheist philosophers like Carl Sagan who doesn’t have a brain in his head because his mind has been closed with foolishness for rejecting God. But those who are like Carl Sagan say we are a lowclass planet in a low-class galaxy, that we are nothing in the universe, and just the opposite is true. But only from the earth can you measure the sun, the moon, the stars, can you see the galaxies, and now what do we have out there? We’ve got the Hubble Telescope, and it looks deep into space, and the farther they go into space what do you see? More galaxies, more stars. Now there is a purpose for that; we’ll see in just a minute.

Now verse 3: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have ordained.” And Isaiah 40 says that He strung out the heavens like a curtain and calls all the stars by names and has numbered them and He upholds them through Christ with the Word of His power.

Then David said, verse 4: “What is man that You are mindful of him?” Believe it or not the creation of mankind and what God is doing here on the earth is the focal point of His plan. “ …and the son of man, that You care for him? For You have made him a little lower than…” Elohim, not just the angels but Elohim, a little lower than God. God made us in His image for a great purpose, a great plan and that’s all wrapped up in the Passover. So the first place to begin to understand God is to realize when you look out and see the heavens, that God made all of this. He keeps it in motion. He made the earth and put everything here to sustain our life. He gives us breath, He gives us food, He gives us water, He gives us air. All of that comes from God to all human beings whether they are sinners or saints. Notice, “… and have crowned him with glory and honor. You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet” (Psalm 8:1-6). And that’s what God has done.

Now when men look out into the heavens and they reject [God and His creation], we’re going to see again the same principle we covered there in 1 Corinthians 2. We are going to see exactly the same principle. Let’s go to Romans 1 now, and let’s see what happens when you reject this witness and testimony of God’s creation. These evolutionists and scientists, they look out there and say, “Oh this just happened by accident. There was a big bang.” Well, when they have a big bang with a terrorist’s bomb, what do they know? They know that some human set it off, right? Well, how about the big bang that made the universe? How did it get there without someone doing it? You know, it is amazing! But you see, there is a thinking process where you cause your mind to close, and that begins with rejecting the beauty and glory and power of God as evidenced in the universe.

Now let’s pick it up here in Romans 1:18: “Indeed, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…” Now any part of the truth they hold it back, they change it and what one day do they desire to get rid of more than any other day—the Passover, and under the inspiration of Satan the devil. Satan knows that if he can get people not to keep the Passover, or to keep the Passover wrongly, then he’s got them on the hook, whether it’s a big hook or a little hook, he’s got them on the hook because sooner or later, they’ll turn their backs on God, because the Passover day is the covenant day between God the Father, Jesus Christ and those that He has called, as we will see. And when you begin to sluff-off on that and do it in different ways, that’s why there is so much confusion concerning the Passover— the 14th, the 15th, at sunset, at dark, at three in the afternoon. Is the bread leavened or unleavened? Do you have a lamb, do you not have a lamb? Should it just be the Lord’s Supper and the Eucharist? Everything to move away from what the Bible says, and every step you take away from what the Bible says, you close your mind.

Now notice verse 19: “Because that which may be known of God is manifest among them, for God has manifest it to them;”

Verse 20: “For the invisible things of Him are perceived from the creation of the world, being understood by the things that were made—both His eternal power and Godhead—so that they are without excuse;” See, as we are going to see, the Passover is where to start and everything else flows from that, because Christ was crucified on that day, and according to the timing, as we will see, of Genesis 15.

Now notice what happens, verse 21, “Because—when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but they became vain in their own reasonings, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Now, that’s what happens when you reject the glory of God. (Romans 1:18-21.)

Now let’s come back to Genesis 15, because there is another lesson for us here. Now after He told him, “Look at the stars and count them if you are able to…” and I’m sure it was a gorgeous night out there, and of course, with the Passover night it is nearly a full moon so you’ve got the full moon out there and you’ve got all the stars, you’ve got all this beauty and splendor that is out there, and God took Abraham out there to show him. And here is His promise, continuing in verse 5: “… And He said to him, ‘So shall your seed be.”

Now there are two seeds, one is the physical seed, Isaac, and the other is the spiritual seed, those who will be born into the Kingdom of God. Now what do we have here? We have exactly what Jesus taught later. Remember when Nicodemus came to Him? And Jesus said that you cannot see the Kingdom of God unless you have been born again, and He said that which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the spirit is spirit, and this is exactly what we have here, because at the resurrection, we find in Daniel 12:3, that the righteous shall shine forth as the stars in the firmament of the heavens (Paraphrased).

And in Matthew 13:43 that at the resurrection, those who enter into the Kingdom of God shall “shine forth as the sun.” Now that shows the glory that they will have. So what do you have? You have your first birth, the physical life, and you have the second birth, projected to the resurrection, don’t you—from flesh to spirit. So here, right in here you have embedded the core of what it means to be born again. Amazing! That’s another precept that we can get out of here. So that’s why the heavens declare the glory of God. Now let’s also understand something that we will see a little bit later, that Isaac was also that type.

Now let’s understand something—in this special documentary that was put on by the National Geographic, “In the Womb”, they are able, as I mentioned, to take 3-D actual photos of the baby in the womb, much like this ad that’s on television now with the baby in the womb advertising the Quiznos nacho hot sandwiches. They now know that in the womb, that the baby is nearly fully developed at 6 weeks, and that’s when a woman first knows that she is pregnant. And it clearly shows that what is in her is another body and she is entrusted to bring forth that life by God—He created her and designed her to do so, and that the body that is in there is not hers, but another life. Now they also showed this: That the baby grows and develops. They even showed when the heart first starts beating—quite amazing, and they show how it grows.

Now the baby practices everything in the womb that it needs before it’s born so when it’s born it will be able to function—moves its arms, moves its legs, it turns around, it pushes, it kicks, opens its mouth, it smiles, it frowns, it sleeps, it even drinks the amniotic fluid, about a pint of it a day. It is fed by the mother through the umbilical cord. It knows the food that the mother eats because it comes to the baby. It knows the mother’s voice. Babies react to music, and they have found that good symphony music relaxes the baby and guess what—rock music sends them out of their minds as it were. So even the living principles that we can see of people who have already been born and are in the world, apply to the baby in the womb. So when the baby is born, now it has to do something it has never done—it must breathe. And it will also show when it is in the womb, it’s got plugs in its nostrils, and when they’re born they clean out those plugs and it can breathe. Now when it is born it has practiced nursing, it knows its mother, it knows the sound of the voice, and everything like that, and the mothers are built just right so that the babies can suckle. That’s the way God designed it.

Now in a parallel this way—after we’re born, we grow up, we’re called of God, everything that we are doing as Christians by loving God, and keeping His commandments, living by every word of God, and having the Word of God written in our hearts and our minds; we are practicing what we need for eternal life. So when we are born again into the Kingdom of God, we will be ready to start functioning, but it’s going to be just like when the baby is born into the world and must begin breathing, which it’s never done before. When we are born into the Kingdom of God, we are going to start functioning as spirit beings, which we have never done before. And we have all of that buried here, right in these verses.

Now notice, continuing in Genesis 15:5: “…and He said to him, ‘So shall your seed be.’ ” Well, you can’t count the stars. He didn’t say, “Just a minute Lord, let me get my calculator.” It was beyond the ability of Abraham to do. Many things are beyond our ability to do, so we [do] what? We trust God and we believe God. Now that’s what Abraham did, he believed in the Lord and that’s New Testament doctrine, is it not? Yes. And it was counted or imputed to him for righteousness. Now this means he was put in right standing with God because he believed God.

Now then, we know that he said, “Go ahead and you get the heifer, you get the goat, you get the ram and the turtledove and the pigeon…” (paraphrased). And he made this special sacrifice where they were cut down the middle, except for the turtledove and pigeon, and it was a real bloody sacrifice. And there was a little path between the backs of the animals that was made so God later could walk down through there, because God was going to pledge His death in order to accomplish the physical seed to come, and in order to accomplish the spiritual seed which would result from that. God had to take a maledictory oath and He had to pledge His death for the sins of mankind, and that’s what He did here, and that’s what the Passover is all about, and we know and we understand when we put it together, and you can read it in The Christian Passover book, that this occurred on the 14th day of the first month. It started at night just like our Passover does and it went on into the day portion with the sacrifices that were here, and this relates to the timing of the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. The Passover of Exodus 12, though it has types relating to Christ, is not of the [same] timing which relates to the crucifixion of Christ. Neither are the other sacrifices [commanded by God] at the temple related in timing to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ—this and this alone, is.

Now notice what happened, Genesis 15:12: “And it came to pass, as the sun was going down…” Now God has to perform this miracle in order to show Abraham that the future coming Messiah was doing to die. When did Jesus die? It says here in the gospels, at the ninth hour which is about three o’clock and that’s when the sun starts going down. “…As the sun was going down, that a deep sleep fell upon Abram. And behold, a horror of great darkness fell upon him!” How are you going to give someone an experience of death and yet remain alive? Well, this is how you do it, and this is what God did. Then God made the promise and said that the physical seed would go into captivity and we later find out that that’s into Egypt, and so He promised that He would bring them out four hundred years later in the fourth generation (verse 13). Now notice verse 17. Now we go into the next day because all days in the Bible are calculated from sunset to sunset. Verse 17: “…it came to pass—when the sun went down…” Now we are into the 15th day aren’t we? Where was Christ on the 15th day of the first month after He was crucified on the 14th day? He was where? He was in the tomb in total darkness in total blackness. Now if you have ever gone to the Carlsbad Caverns, you get down there and they turn the lights out and they say, “Put your hand in front of your face and see if you can see it.” You can’t see a thing. So this is what this horror of great darkness was picturing and now with the darkness of night, then we see something else. We see God’s power and pledge to fulfill what He said to Abraham. Continuing in verse 17: “…behold, a smoking furnace…” Now you might liken that to a blowtorch. “…and a burning lamp passed between those pieces” Now that’s the only way that Abraham in this horror of great darkness could comprehend that God walked down between the parts of those animals. And as He walked down between the parts of those animals, the smoking furnace just burned up those sacrifices and there was probably nothing left there but ashes. And then He made the covenant with Abraham. Verse 18: “In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram…” (Genesis 15:12-13, 17-18).

Now likewise with us, the covenant that Christ made with us was sealed with His death, and it was guaranteed when He was put into the tomb. Now I can’t help but think of the difference between the death of John Paul II and the funeral and the accolades and all of the leaders of the world praising him there. They had five Kings, six Queens, they had seventy Presidents and Prime Ministers, and they had top officials from all governments of the world, and they had over one hundred and forty representatives of other religions of the world there. A perfect time for the spirits of Satan to massage all their self-righteousness so much so in fulfilling the will of God because Revelation 17 says what? He puts it in their minds to fulfill His will. Even the President of Israel shook hands with the President of Syria and Iran at the funeral for the Pope! Now they want him [the Pope] to be saint right now. He is a great man in this world.

Now what about Christ, I couldn’t help but compare it to Christ—rejected, despised, the religious leaders hated Him. The governments of Rome did Him in and crucified Him. The people hated Him. They spit upon Him. The soldiers beat Him up and they crucified Him and He died an ignominious death that the only ones who were there to be of any help were Joseph of Arimathea and some of the women who brought spices and that was it. And where was He buried? He was buried in a grave. He was counted with robbers. And the grave was a sepulcher—no pomp, no ceremony, no circumstances, not dressed up in Santa Claus’ suit, none of that, you know. What a difference, what a contrast. (The comment was made: That’s why God hates religion. Yes. That’s why God does hate religion).

So God promised it. Here was the [future] promise of His death—which occurred then on the Passover day in 30 A.D. Now let’s come to Genesis 22 and let’s see something else that is related to the Passover and has Passover significance though I cannot prove it dogmatically that this occurred on the Passover day. However, here is the lesson, you know what it was. God said take your only son— that’s how He refers to Isaac as your only son— even though Ishmael was his son, he is not counted as the son of promise because it was by the conniving of Sarah that [it] occurred and so the world is paying the penalty for it ever since. And what is the greatest problem we have in the world? The fights and quarrels between the children of promise and the children of Hagar. Amazing!

So God told them go unto the mountains of Moriah and offer Isaac as a sacrifice. So he went three days’ journey, and he took the wood, he took the fire, and then he loaded the wood on Isaac when they got there and he took the fire in his hand, it was probably in a pot, and he carried the coals and I’m sure they always added a little wood to it, so they could keep the fire going. So let’s pick it up here in verse 7: “And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, ‘My father.’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ And he said, ‘Behold the fire and the wood.’ (He says, ‘Now I see the fire, you got it in your hand, and the wood is on my back’) ‘But where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’ ”

OK, let’s look at this for just a minute. Carrying the wood was what—like carrying a cross, and in this case Isaac was a type of Christ and Abraham was a type of God the Father and the fire was a type of fiery trial that the crucifixion would be for Jesus. Now notice the faith. And many times God doesn’t do anything for us until the last second. Notice, verse 8: “And Abraham said, ‘My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering.’ So they both went on together. And they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. And he bound his son Isaac and laid him on the wood upon the altar. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son’ ” (verses 9-10).

Now why would he do that? Because he counted God powerful enough to raise Isaac from the dead in case he did go through [with] it. We find that in Hebrews 11. Now notice that a miraculous thing [happened] “And the angel of the LORD called to him from the heavens and said, ‘Abraham! Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ And he said, ‘Do not lay your hand upon the lad, nor do anything to him...’ ” (verse 11-12).

Now let’s add up the time. Abraham was called at 75. Isaac was born when he was 100. So that is 25 years. So if the lad, that would have to be between 12 and 20, were say, 18 years—so you’ve got 25 years and 18 years, which is 43 years. Now how long have you been in the Church? Whatever, but notice what he said, “…for now I know that you fear God…” And all those trials and the things that he went through were to show whether he really loved God or not—whether he was really willing to do the things that God said or not, and to believe that God would fulfill His promise.

Now remember He said that his seed would be as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the seashore. Now if he is going to offer his son Isaac who was the only heir to carry that out. And if God didn’t resurrect him from the dead after the sacrifice, if it would have come through, then God would have given him the greatest lie that has ever been. See we believe God because He is true and His Word is true and His Word is right, and He will do what He said, and that is what Abraham did. But notice [God’s message], “…for now I know that you fear God…”

How long does it take for us to know God and love God? It takes a lifetime. Just like the baby in the womb has to be prepared for birth, we have to be prepared for the second birth of being born again at the resurrection, and that’s what Abraham was doing. “...Seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” See, he was willing to love God and keep His commandments more than his own family. Verse 13: “And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked. And, behold, behind him a ram was entangled in a thicket by its horns.” Now rams normally don’t get caught in thickets with their horns so as I have said, I believe God created this ram just for this particular thing—for a substitutionary sacrifice. And Christ is that substitutionary sacrifice for us. He died for our sins. So here is a type of Christ then the sacrifice was offered instead of his son.

Now notice what happened then, verse 15: “And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven the second time,” And here is the message from God, you can’t have anything greater or stronger or of a greater promise than this that God gave.

Now because of what Abraham did, God did something special. God did something He did not need to do because every word of God is true and God cannot lie and He doesn’t need to swear as a man. But He said here, verse 16: “And said, “ ‘By Myself have I sworn,’ says the LORD” Now this makes it absolutely unilateral, unequivocal, all the promises that He gave to Abraham will come true. The promises of the Messiah to come would come true, and the timing of it would come true, and it was to be exactly as God said and open the door for spiritual salvation, as we’ll see here in just a minute. Continuing verse 16: “ ‘…because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son;’ ” Now let’s understand some- thing—this is something above and beyond the commandments of God. This is something that God told him to do, and we’re going to see the key important thing here in just a minute. Verse 17: “… That in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens,” Now in this case the spiritual is brought out first. “…And as the sand which is upon the seashore;” The physical seed. “…And your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” Now I gave a sermon on that, “The Simplicity in Christ—Obey My Voice.”

Now also this shows in Hebrews 6, let’s turn there, that God has given by these two immutable things that we just read of, in blessing I will bless. Now Hebrews 6:13. And we will see how this event that we just covered in Genesis 22 projects forward to Christ, projects forward to salvation, as we have already understood. Verse 13: “For God, after promising Abraham, swore by Himself, since He could swear by none greater, Saying, ‘Surely in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply you.’ Now after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For indeed, men swear by the greater, and confirmation by an oath puts an end to all disputes between them. In this way God, desiring more abundantly…” Now who did He do this for? “…To show the heirs of the promise the unchangeable nature of His own purpose…” See, this shows the purpose of God. That’s why in Genesis 15 this was done on the Passover day and then we will look at the last Passover of Jesus and we will see the importance of that day as a covenant day and the renewing of the covenant. Verse 18: “So that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to lay hold on the hope that has been set before us;” This was done so that we could have hope in God. So that we know that God is going to do what He has said. And this is the whole simplicity in Christ! Verse 19: “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both secure and steadfast…” The world’s going to come and go, the people are going to come and go, but God is always there, the hope of God is always there, the truth of God is always there, the love of God is always there, and then “…both secure and steadfast, and which enters into the sanctuary within the veil…”

And what does this do? Just exactly as the voice came from heaven to speak directly to Abraham so likewise through Christ, we are able to enter into the Holy of Holies because of what Christ has done. That’s why when Christ died, the veil in the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom, to show that the way to the Holy of Holies was now open through prayer to God to Father in heaven above. Now notice, verse 20: “Where Jesus has entered for us as a forerunner, having become a High Priest forever according to the order of Melchisedec” (Hebrews 6:13-20).

Now let’s go back and look at one other thing concerning Abraham and then we will come to the New Testament and look at that last Passover with Jesus. Let’s come to Genesis 26:4. Now He is talking to Isaac and passing the promise on to him because, you see, Jesus said of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to the Pharisees, “...when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves are cast out” (Luke 13:28). So we know that they are going to be in glory in the Kingdom of God. So notice what He says here, verse 4: “And I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven…” There it is, the spiritual seed. Then He talks about the physical seed. “...and will give to your seed all these lands. And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; (verse 5) Because…” Now this doesn’t tell us whether Abraham kept the holy days or not, but this gives us an indication that he probably did. “…Because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”

Now later when God gave all these things to Israel, the holy days were called statutes. So if Abraham kept the statutes of God, and God created the sun and the moon and the stars and the earth, and gave the timing of the Passover and everything, it stands to reason that there was some kind of commemoration that Abraham had before God on this covenant day. Do we have that with the Passover today? Yes, indeed. Now, this is why in the New Testament we are called, “...if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal. 3:29) And the promise was what? Spiritual seed, and of course, we’ve all been born flesh, and now we are learning how to practice, just like the babe in the womb, to learn the things we need to learn and prepare for the resurrection—tremendous!

Now let’s come to the New Testament, and let’s begin in John 13. Now as we’re turning there to John 13 (I am going to read from the Harmony [p. 243] because I have the parallel columns here which is important for us to understand). Now I am going to go through this and I am also going to answer some questions which relate to recycling of an error concerning the Passover that the foot washing was after supper because that’s what the King James says, but that’s a mistranslation, because the word means: and during supper and the Greek verb that is used there has to do with the beginning of supper, not after supper. And so I’ve got a letter that I did January 19, 1975 to answer that very question. Because one man, his name is Darryl Henson, put out a paper and said the Passover and “night to be remembered” are on the fourteenth— meaning that the feast is over on the twentieth. So look what happens when people don’t do the things that God wants them to do, the way He wants them to do.

But all the way through leading up to this John 13 the disciples came and said “ ‘Where do You desire us to prepare to keep the Passover?’ and He said, ‘You go into this house and you tell the master of the house that I am coming and I want to keep the Passover with my disciples at your house. You follow the man who has a pitcher of water and in that house we’ll have the Passover’ ” (paraphrased). So when they got in there, He came at evening, sat down with the twelve, now then here, John 13, this is important for us to understand because the timing of this is very similar when you take the keeping of the Passover at night and it’s the promise of eternal life, and it’s the renewal of the New Covenant that’s what it is, we will see. That’s the same night that God gave the promises of the covenant to Abraham, isn’t it. And then the sacrifices took place on the day portion and that pictured the agony and torturous crucifixion that Jesus Christ would go through to die for the sins of the world.

So it goes from Abraham to Christ and to the Church. That’s why it is very important for us to understand we are not to mix in the Passover of Israel with the Passover of Christ because that relates back to Abraham and not to the Passover of Exodus 12. That served a little different function, though it was the Passover, a little different function than what is served by the Passover for us today. And here again we see the same pattern, you have the physical, you have the spiritual. Well, the Passover to Israel was physical, and now Christ comes and He reveals the spiritual Passover that we are to take, and the covenant of eternal life.

Now let’s begin here in John 13:2, page 274 of the Harmony: “And during supper…” That’s what it means from the Greek, and I’ll re-do this letter of January 19, 1975, which is more than 30 years ago, and you will see that I have always preached the same thing. “And during supper (the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that he should betray Him).”

Why does Satan like to come—to get as close to Christ as he could? What did the apostles have to put up with—false apostles, false brethren, false practices? And that is why we have to stand for the truth. And today, for us to stand up and tell the truth, and you look at all the accolades and all the glory that was displayed with the funeral of the Pope and to stand up and say the Pope is a liar, all the doctrines are lies, everything that they are doing is a lie and that’s all of Satan the devil—[people will say of us] you’re an idiot, you’re insane, you are rotten, you are [committing] a hate crime. Well, that’s because no one is willing to prove the truth. And if you say the truth, and people don’t want the truth, and hate the truth, they’re going to get mad. That’s why they killed Christ, wasn’t it? Yes.

Now verse 3: “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God…” Where did Jesus come from? John constantly said He came from heaven. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Who was Christ? God manifested in the flesh. And yet, some people can go into the Bible and say, “Oh no, He was just born by the Virgin Mary. He didn’t come from heaven”.

So Jesus, verse 4: “Rose from supper and laid aside His garments; and after taking a towel, He secured it around Himself.” Verse 5: “Next, He poured water into a washing basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel which He had secured.”

And that was the job of the lowest servant of the household to do, and that was always done at the beginning of supper, just like when Jesus went in to eat with Simon the Pharisee, and He came in and here was the woman when He sat down (or actually reclined, because they reclined on couches to eat. They didn’t sit at tables like we do.) So she came and what did she do? She wiped His feet with her hair and with her tears and was repenting. And so then after Jesus asked Simon the question who is He going to forgive the most, the one that owes a lot or a little. He said, “I suppose to the one who owes a lot.” And He said, “You see this woman? I came in and you didn’t give me any water to wash my feet, and she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.” So that shows that foot washing should be at the beginning [of supper], not at the ending.

Verse 6: “Then He came to Simon Peter; and he (that is Simon Peter) said to Him, ‘Lord, are You going to wash my feet?’ ” Verse 7: “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘What I am doing you do not understand now, but you shall know after these things.’ ” Because He was going to explain it to them. Then, verse 8: “Peter said to Him, ‘You shall not wash my feet, not ever.’ Jesus answered him, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.’ ”

Now let me ask you a question. Why does Satan want people to not do footwashing? Because Satan doesn’t want you to have part with Jesus. Right? What is the first thing that they stop doing when they modify the Passover or what they call the Lord’s Supper which is a perversion of the Passover—what do they stop first? Footwashing. “Oh well, we don’t do that today. That’s too humiliating to do.” And see it is so simple. Jesus said to do it, and we will see He tells us to do it. Now anyone who says you don’t have to do footwashing is saying, “I know more than God. I am better than Jesus Christ.” They may not think those words, but that’s precisely what their actions and their attitude says. So if you don’t do footwashing, you have no part with Him.

Verse 9: “Simon Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.’ Just like the way that humans do, what do they do, they want to improve on what God says. Oh, if [washing] the feet is good, how about the hands and head? You know, and if this had not occurred and been recorded, what would people be doing today—hands, head and feet wouldn’t they? Now notice verse 10: “Jesus said to him, ‘The one who has been washed does not need to wash anything other than the feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all’ ” (John 13:2-10).

Now there are two contradictions, not [really] contradictions but apparent contradictions if you don’t understand it. “He who has been washed…” Now what does it mean to be washed? We’ll see it does not mean to be bathed—that you take a bath before you come [to keep the Passover]. Obviously, the disciples did not have a chance to take a bath before they got there did they? No! What were they doing, they were walking into Jerusalem weren’t they, and they were asking Jesus, “Where do you want to keep the Passover?” They were all dirty with dusty feet and sweaty from walking, and they didn’t have underarm deodorant and things like this. I mean let’s get down to the real nitty-gritty of life, because that’s what it was. So it’s not talking about being bathed in a bath.

Let’s go to Act 22, and let’s see what “washed” means. Now this is Paul giving an account of his calling where he was on the road to Damascus. You talk about the reach of the high priest to get people that they wanted to get! He actually had arrest warrants to go in the synagogues and get anyone who believed in Christ and haul them out and take them to prison and, yes, even have them killed. So God knocked him down, that’s how He called him. Then He told Ananias, “I want you to go take care of Saul for Me.” And he said, “Oh Lord, look he has come with orders to take people away.” He said, “He is a chosen servant to Me” (paraphrased). So Ananias, verse 13: “Came to me; and he stood and said to me, ‘Brother Saul, look up.’ And I looked up at him at that time. And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has personally chosen you to know His will, and to see the Just One, and to hear the voice of His mouth;’ ” so he was personally taught by Jesus Christ. Verse 15: “ ‘For you shall be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now why do you delay? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins…’ ” (Acts 22:1-12 paraphrased, and 13- 16). So the word “washed” there in John 13 is louo in the Greek and it’s louo here.

Now let’s come to Hebrews 10 and let’s see where we have the same thing. If you are baptized, you don’t need to be baptized again, you just need to have your feet washed on the Passover night. Now let’s come here to Hebrews 10:22: “Let us approach God with a true heart…” Because we have a great High Priest over the House of God. “…with full conviction of faith, our hearts having been purified from a wicked conscience…” That’s by the blood of Christ, “…and our bodies having been washed with pure water.” That’s baptism. “Let us hold fast without wavering to the hope that we profess, for He Who promised is faithful” (verse 23). So that’s what it means there in John 13 to be washed and then that is accomplished through the operation of baptism and then you only wash the feet and therefore, as I wrote in the Passover book and in the book The Day Jesus the Christ Died, that foot washing does commemorate and renew your baptism. It also shows that you are going to walk in God’s way.

Now let’s come back here to John 13 again. So that’s what it means to be washed. You don’t have to wash anything other than the feet, verse 10: “…But is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all.” And the reason He said that was because Judas was there for the foot washing and Judas went out after the foot washing.

Now the truth is, as you will see in the letter I did in 1975, is that only John mentions the exact time when Judas left, and there is no mix-up in the account in Luke 22. (John 13:11) “For He knew … who was betraying Him; this was the reason He said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’ ” Verse 12: “Therefore, when He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and had sat down again, He said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me the Teacher and the Lord, and you speak rightly, because I am. Therefore, if I, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet…’ ” And we could just add in there, the same as the lowest servant of the household. “ ‘…you also are duty-bound to wash one another’s feet.’ ” And that’s the real meaning of the Greek, “duty-bound.”

So that’s why Satan wants to get rid of that first. And then according to what the meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread [it] is what—a little leaven, leavens the whole lump, and [so] then one error after another follows each other right down the line to where even today some people say the Passover is not important.

Now notice verse 15: “ ‘For I have given you an example, to show that you also should do exactly as I have done to you.’ ” Now, if we love God and if we keep His commandments, His love is being perfected in us (this is 1 John 2:5) and we walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Now if He gave this example for us to do, what should we do. What Jesus said! What was the reason that the promise was given to Isaac and because of what Abraham did ‘because he obeyed My voice.’ Well, this is the voice of Christ speaking and if He says you are duty-bound to do it, you’re what? You’re duty-bound to do it! “ ‘For I have given you an example, to show that you also should do exactly as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I tell you, a servant is not greater than his lord: nor a messenger greater than he who sent him’ ” (verse 16). So those who say you don’t need to do foot washing are saying what? “We are greater than the Lord. We know more than God.” He says, verse 17: “ ‘If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them’ ” (John 13:11-17). Does that mean we should do that? Of course, of course!

Now the next part: eating the unleavened bread. Let’s come here to Luke 22:19: “ And He took bread; and after giving thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body, which is given for you. This do in the remembrance of Me.’ ” Now then, He did that also with the wine. Let’s continue on over here in Mark 14:23 and we’ll get the wine and I’ll make a very important point concerning transubstantiation—that there is no such thing as transubstantiation. It doesn’t take place. Verse 23: “And He took the cup; and after giving thanks, He gave it to them; and they all drank of it. Verse 24: “And He said to them, ‘This is My blood, the blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many’ ” (Mark 14:23-24). Not only the many, but each individually.

Now let’s understand something. When Christ did this on that night, it is not recorded that when He broke the bread, all of a sudden some of His flesh came off of His arms and leaped into the bread so His flesh would be in the bread, nor did His blood come out of His wrists and into the wine so His actual blood would be in the wine. It is symbolic. Just like your baptism is a symbolic death. Furthermore, you cannot eat the blood and flesh of Jesus Christ because after His resurrection, He had no more flesh and blood to give. And everything that is done with the Eucharist in saying that that is so, is an absolute lie, and perpetuates people in bondage, in fear, in superstition and cuts them off from Christ. When the priest stands there and holds the bread up high and everyone worships the bread, whose god is it? Who are they worshipping? You need to know where that came from. You go in [to the website] and draw down from The Two Babylons on the “unbloody sacrifice”. Now that originally came from Egypt as an unbloody sacrifice, and that means no animal sacrifice. But in order to make it a bloody sacrifice, they’ve had to say it’s a mystery where that even though it’s apparently bread and even though it’s apparently wine, it [is claimed that it] is really the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ and He is crucified again every time we say the mass. Now that is an absolute lie! That has nothing to do with the Passover. The “I.H.S.” on the little wafer—now if you break the [ordinary unleavened] bread, how do you have it perfectly round? And why is it in the form of a sun disk, and why does it have “I.H.S.” which is Isis, Horus and Semiramis [Seb-Nimrod]. (Comment was made: it is perforated with a cross and so they can break it into four pieces.)

Now, let’s come over here to 1 Corinthians 11:25, “In like manner, He also took the cup after He had supped, saying, ‘This is the cup of the New Covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it...’ ” He did this with the bread, He broke the bread and said, ‘Take, eat, this is My body, which is being broken for you. This do in the remembrance of Me’ (verse 24). And likewise here ‘…this do as often as you drink it…’ Now this doesn’t mean as often as you would like to drink it because there is a special Greek particle that is equivalent to the English “a” which in the Greek is “alpha,” and the English “n” which in the Greek is “nu” and it [the word] is pronounced “na.” Now “an” is a special particle that is not translated into English, but it shows that this statement “as often as” means that there are conditions and limits to how often that you do it. And what is the condition and limit? One, the Passover is a yearly event so it is restricted to once a year. “ ‘…As often as you do it…’ ” is not as often as you would like, but “until”… the other condition is: “until the Lord come.” Now He hasn’t come yet, so as often as we do it, year by year, “until the Lord come, we show His death.” Now we’ll see that here. Verse 26: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you solemnly proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.” When did He die—every day? No, one day, Passover day. Right? Yes. You cannot commemorate His death any other day than on the day that He died, which was what? The Passover day. “…You solemnly proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes. For this reason, if anyone shall eat this bread or shall drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, he shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord...” (1 Corinthians 11:24-29). And if you don’t do it the way Jesus said, you’re taking it unworthily.

Now where does that put the majority of Christendom? And yet they think they are so righteous, you see. That’s why you need to prove what is the Word of God, understand what is the Word of God. Don’t believe what any minister or priest or scholar or expert tells you, you read it in the Bible and prove it and you make sure that you get a good translation of the Bible so that you will have the understanding that you need. See, in the world they want to commemorate His birth and His resurrection, and forget about His death and [therefore] you have no forgiveness of sin unless you remember His death.

Now let’s come to John 6 and let’s see the whole meaning of this and we’ll go into in a little more detail than I did last time. But you see, when we renew the New Covenant, and also John gave the words of the covenant in four chapters [we read]: John 14, 15, 16, and 17. And of course, we’ve gone through that with the Passover preparation.

Now let’s come here to John 6:32. Let’s understand the meaning of it. We have to have the foot washing, we have to have the bread, we have to have the wine, and that’s the sequence in the way that we do it. Then we read the words of the New Covenant, John 14, 15, 16, and 17 and in those four chapters you’ll find faith, hope, and love. You will find the whole Christian experience. You will find the promise of the Spirit given. You will find the promise of the love of Christ given. You will find the promise of the love of God the Father given, and you will find the promise that Christ would be with us even to the end of the age, and even through the preaching of those that succeeded the apostles down to the time that we have today, that these very words would be spoken and practiced and believed.

Now here, John 6:32: “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven;’ ” They were looking for the manna. “ ‘…but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He Who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world’ ” (verse 33).

Now you see when I read those things, I cannot understand how some people believe that Jesus was not in heaven before He came to the earth! You know last time I talked about, you know, what if you had a Volkswagen Jetta and you put Rolls Royce nametags on it? Do you have a Rolls Royce, or do you have a Volkswagen Jetta? Well, you have a Volkswagen Jetta. Only the name has been changed. It is still the same thing—the Volkswagen.

So, He came down from heaven “ ‘…the bread of God is He Who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ Therefore, they said to Him, ‘Lord, give this bread to us always.’ ” Verse 35: “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; the one who comes to Me shall never hunger; and the one who believes in Me shall never thirst at any time.’ ” And this is talking spiritually, not physically—spiritually. You don’t have to go across the earth looking at other religions. This is what you have with God’s Spirit, you’ll never hunger and you’ll never thirst and put in your margin there, Matthew 5 (verse 6) about if you hunger and thirst after righteousness, you shall be filled.

Now let’s come to Psalm 34, because this is, as we will see, confirmed as a figure of speech. Now let’s understand this—spiritually with Christ in you, that’s what it results in, but you have to taste the Word of God, don’t you? You have to live by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. Not by bread alone, and that’s what this symbolizes as we’ll see. Now let’s pick it up here in Psalm 34:8. Now here is something very similar to what Jesus said. “O taste and see that the LORD is good…” Now you’re not biting into the flesh of Christ, and you’re not drinking His blood. You are, as it were, taking in the Word of God as spiritual food. “…Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.” So that shows the result of it, you see.

Now let’s come over here to verse 15: “The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.” You can claim that promise. Whatever trouble you have, God promises to deliver you out of all, one way or the other. Now you may have to pray repeatedly, but God sooner or later will do it just like He did even at the last minute with Abraham raising the knife to offer Isaac for the sacrifice.

Now notice verse 18: “The LORD is near to the broken-hearted and saves those who are of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” (Psalm 34:8, 15-19). Now whatever your trials and difficulties, if you’re having them, you just take this Psalm, when you’re praying, get on your knees open it up there, read it out loud to God, claim this promise and say, “God you have promised and I’m trusting in Your Word. God You cannot lie, God I trust in You and believe You and believe Your Word.” And that’s all tied here to Christ as the bread of life. %%%

Now let’s come back here to John 6. Let’s come over here to verse 47: “ ‘Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me has eternal life.’ ” What was it said about Abraham? He believed in the LORD, right? Yes. It shows that Abraham is going to have eternal life. Verse 48: “ ‘I am the bread of life.’ ” Everything that Jesus was and is and stands for and gives us, through the power of the Holy Spirit, spiritual life, and at the return of Christ and at the resurrection, eternal life in the Kingdom of God forever. That’s what the whole story of it is back there with Abraham. That’s where it began, and it is brought to a partial completion with Christ through the Passover, and through His crucifixion and resurrection and continues on down as we will see with the church harvest leading up to Pentecost and the first resurrection. So this is really a tremendous thing when you put it all together, you see.

Verse 49: “ ‘Your fathers ate manna in the desert, but they died.’ ” Isn’t it true? You can eat the best food in the world—manna is the best food wouldn’t you say? Even today you can eat the best food in the world, you can take care of yourself the best you can, you can exercise the best you can, you can drink your own fresh juice forever like Jack LaLanne who is 95 and still going strong and exercising every day at 5:00 a.m. in the morning, but guess what? We are all going to die, as in Adam. So we are all looking to eternal life after death.

Verse 50: “ ‘This is the bread which comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die.’ ” Now that means, not die forever. “ ‘I am the living bread, which came down from heaven;’ ” How many times in this chapter did He say He came down from heaven—amazing. “ ‘…if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is even My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.’ ” This is the whole plan and purpose of God, and it goes back and the first Passover was with Abraham.

Verse 52: “ ‘Because of this…’ ” Now you always have to have an argument. This is Fox News fair and balanced before it was ever on television. “ ‘Because of this, the Jews were arguing with one another, saying, ‘How is He able to give us His flesh to eat?’ ” Well, just cut a little off His forearm and pass it around or throw a fingertip in the chili at Wendy’s and sue them. “Therefore, Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves’ ” (verse 53). That is symbolized by the bread, not His literal flesh, and by the wine, not His literal blood.

Verse 54: “ ‘The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day;’ ” And what is the last day for us? It is not the feast of the Last Great Day. There is a feast for us which is the last day of the 50 count to Pentecost. Isn’t the 50th day the last day? Isn’t that [Pentecost] when we are going to be resurrected? Yes. That’s what it means. “ ‘For My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood is dwelling in Me, and I in him.’ ” Wow! This was hard to take! Even these who were complaining about this were His disciples. So then He set the record straight. What does it mean? Verse 57: “ ‘As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; so also the one who eats Me shall live by Me’ ” (John 6:47-57). That’s what it means. You live by Jesus Christ. You live by every word of God. That’s what it means, and that goes right back to why Abraham received the blessing, because “ ‘…Abraham obeyed My voice.’ ”

Now let’s come to Galatians 3 (we mentioned this). Verse 26, and here is the whole meaning of the Passover and why it goes back to Abraham. “Because you are all sons of God…” Destined, what—to be as the stars in heaven, yes? The spiritual seed—yes? “…through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ.” And your baptism is a conjoining to the death of Jesus. That’s why we remember the death of Jesus through the Passover. We don’t forget His resurrection, but His death, the death of God manifested in the flesh is the most important thing. So we’re baptized into Christ, put on Christ, have the mind of Christ, the knowledge of Christ, the Word of Christ, the way that Christ lived and walked.

Verse 28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female…” And that is just spiritually speaking, because I am still a man and those of you who are women are still women, and those of you who are men are still men—so in the flesh they’re still a man and woman and so forth. “…for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” That is for the opportunity for salvation. Verse 29: “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed…” which He promised back there as the stars of heaven. “…And heirs according to the promise” that you will receive eternal life. And that’s the origin and meaning of the Passover.

Scriptures Referenced:

1. ) 1 Corinthians 2:9-11

2. ) Isaiah 28:9-13

3. ) Genesis 15:4-5

4. ) Psalm 8:1-6

5. ) Romans 1:18-21

6. ) Genesis 15:5-10

7. ) Daniel 12:3

8. ) Matthew 13:43

9. ) Genesis 15:12-13, 17-18

10. ) Hebrews 6:13-20

11. ) Genesis 26:4

12. ) John 13:2-10 (Page 274 in the Harmony of the Gospels in Modern English—The Life of Jesus Christ)

13. ) Acts 22:1-12 (paraphrased) 13-14

14. ) Hebrews 10:22-23

15. ) John 13:11-17

16. ) Luke 22:19 (Page 276 in the Harmony)

17. ) Mark 14:23-24 (Page 277 in the Harmony)

18. ) 1 Corinthians 11:24-29

19. ) John 6:32, 34-35

20. ) Psalm 34:8, 15, 18-19

21. ) John 6:47-57

22. ) Galatians 3:26-29

Chapter Nine

The Passover—Abraham, Isaac, Israel & Christ #1

The title of this sermon is The Passover— Abraham, Isaac, Israel, and Christ. Most people believe that the Passover began with the children of Israel in Egypt. However, we’re going to see that that is not true. It began long, long before then. And most people today believe that the Passover is only for the Jews. However, the Jews have it on the wrong day, and I’ve covered that very thoroughly in the book The Christian Passover. So let’s approach this from an entirely different point of view. That’s why I said, The Passover—Abraham, Isaac, Israel, and Christ.

Let’s first of all go to Galatians 3. Now I’m going to read to you from my translation. Here, Galatians 3:29, and I found in translating that God inspired the Greek in such a way that if you’re going to be honest in translating it, almost all the versions will be similar. And the reason being is because you can’t translate it any differently.

Now, Galatians 3:29, “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Now we’ll take a look at that in detail here, in a little bit.

Let’s go to the book of Hebrews, and again I’m going to read from the Faithful Version. Let’s come to the sixth chapter. And I think if you go through and look at the writings of the New Testament you will be very surprised how much of the New Testament is keyed to Abraham, and then Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but more in particularly to Abraham.

Now let’s begin here in Hebrews 6:13. “For God, after promising Abraham, swore by Himself, since He could swear by none greater, saying, ‘Surely in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply you.’ Now after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For indeed, men swear by the greater, and confirmation by an oath puts an end to all disputes between them. In this way God, desiring more abundantly to show the heirs of the promise the unchangeable nature of His own purpose, confirmed it by an oath; …” (Heb. 6:13-17). Now I want you to understand “the unchangeable nature of His own [purpose]”, because that does tie in with God’s plan, and God’s plan ties in with the Passover and the holy days, as well as the weekly Sabbath. So that’s important to understand.

“So that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to lay hold on the hope that has been set before us; which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both secure and steadfast, and which enters into the sanctuary within the veil; where Jesus has entered for us as a forerunner, having become a High Priest forever according to the order of Melchisedec” (vs. 18-20).

Now also this tells us a very important thing. That we always have to have the hope that God gave to Abraham, the hope of eternal life. We need to have that as secure and steadfast for the anchor of our soul. That way we’re not going to be tossed to and fro by everything that comes along. And as we have been finding in the series in the book of Hebrews, as we’re coming to now, that the thing that is important is that we have a High Priest Who is in heaven at the right hand of God, and this is the greatest most supreme thing that God could do for us while we are in the flesh.

Now let’s come to Hebrews 13:8. And here is something that’s very important that we need to understand and remember. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday [that is, when He was the God of the Old Testament], and today [that is, under the New Covenant], and forever [that is in carrying out God’s plan into the ages of eternity].” So these things we really need to have as a preface before getting into the Passover concerning Abraham, Isaac, Israel, and Christ.

Now let’s come back to Galatians 3, and let’s see something that is important, something that is profound. Now let’s pick it up here in Galatians 3:6. “It is exactly as it is written: “Abraham believed God…” Now that is a profound statement. He believed God. And that’s what we have to do in the New Covenant as well, see. He didn’t believe in just what God had told him. Well, he did, but he believed God. And this is what it needs to be for all of us, that we believe God. When God says something, we believe it because God said it. So therefore we believe God. Now notice, “…and it was reckoned to him for righteousness.” This is telling us then, when you believe God, wholly and completely, you are righteous before Him. Righteousness is imputed to you. Now we’ll see how this comes when we get back to the book of Genesis in just a minute. “Because of this, you should understand that those who are of faith are the true sons of Abraham” (Gal. 3:6-7). That is, the spiritual sons. There were the physical sons through Isaac and Jacob, and Israel.

“Now in the Scriptures, God, seeing in advance that He would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham…” Now when have you heard that the gospel was preached to Abraham? There it is. And the gospel begins with what He said to Abraham, “…saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’ It is for this reason [because Abraham believed] that those who are of faith are being blessed with the believing Abraham” (vs. 8-9).

So let’s go back to the book of Genesis and see this. And we will see that the Passover did not begin with Israel, but rather it began with Abraham. And we’ll see that it’s the same day that God gave the Passover to Israel. And we will see the reason we keep the Passover today is because of Abraham. That’s what it says. “If you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.” And so likewise, when we partake of the Passover, because we’re coming up to it very shortly here, we need to understand that the words that Jesus gave, the words of the New Covenant, we need to believe.

Now let’s come back to Genesis 12. Let’s begin here in verse 1. “And the LORD said to Abram, ‘Get out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father’s house into a land that I will show you…” Now just hold your place here, and let’s go to Luke 14, because I want to make something very clear. That what Abraham did fulfilled this requirement that Jesus gave in the gospel of Luke, beginning in verse 26. Let’s read verse 25 and then we’ll read verse 26. “And great multitudes were going with Him; and He turned and said to them…” Now this is also important to understand. Multitudes of people like to use the name of Christ, like to claim that they are Christian, like to think of themselves as Christian, but they are the glad-handers just like the people who were here because they came because they were looking for the physical things. They remembered the feeding of the 4000, the feeding of the 5000, and so forth. So Jesus turned and He made a very important point here. He said, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers and sisters, and, in addition, his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” So it is not like the Protestants say, “All you have to do is give your heart to the Lord.” No, you have to do the same thing as Abraham did. This is a requirement of Abraham, now detailed a little more closely for us. And where it says, “cannot be My disciple”, it means the impossibility of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. So we can tie that together. If you do not believe God, if you do not believe Christ, if you do not keep His commandments you are not of Christ. You may claim to be, you may think you are. You may even have some important people whom you look to in this world as your spiritual leaders, but unless you do what Jesus said here, you’re not His disciple.

Luke 14:27, “And whoever does not carry his cross, and come after Me…” meaning that you have to go through whatever trials and difficulties you go through and you bear your cross. “…cannot be My disciple;” So remember what Jesus said, the broad way, the easy way. Many are going that way with the name of Christ, but it’s going to end in destruction. So then He gives a little more and He says, “For which one of you, desiring to build a tower…” You can read the rest of it there. You calculate whether you have enough to finish it or not. And if you don’t, people are going to mock you and say, “You began but didn’t finish.” Or a king, going against another, he figures out whether he can come against 20,000 with his 10,000, and if he can win or not. And if not then he goes ahead and makes peace.

Now verse 33 says, “In the same way also, each one of you who does not forsake all that he possesses cannot be My disciple.” Now what is the hardest thing to give up? Many people have walked away from lands. Many people have walked away from countries. Many people have left families, but what is the hardest thing to give up? Self. You are to give up self to become a new creature in Christ.

Now let’s come back to Genesis 12. Let’s see how the gospel began. And what we read in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and all the New Testament is a detailed fulfilling and carrying out of this promise, which was given to Abraham by God directly in Genesis 12:2. “And I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those that bless you and curse the one who curses you. And in you shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Now that is a broad, broad promise, isn’t it? So therefore literally, the rest of the Bible from this point on shows how God fulfilled those promises and was carrying them out. And how that the carrying out of these promises are going to go clear on down through into the millennium, down into the Last Great Day, down into New Jerusalem coming on this earth, and on into all eternity. So that’s quite a thing. “Then Abram departed, even as the LORD had spoken to him…” (Gen. 12:2-4).

Now let’s come to Genesis 15. Let’s see where then, God then gives a little more understanding of what He promised him. Now he believed Him. [But] He didn’t give him any details. He said, “Just go, I’ll bless you.” So he left. Now please understand this: that’s the same with us. Many times God has us do things that we don’t understand right away. Later, He reveals it to us. Here’s the later part that He revealed a little bit more to Abram, or Abraham. Now we’re going to look and see that there are two things here. We’re also going to see that this took place over a period of two days, and that these two days are the Passover, the 14th of the first month, and the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the 15th of the first month. Now, we’ll prove that after we get into it.

Let’s look at this now. So He gave the promise, beginning in verse 4. He said, “…out of your own loins shall be your heir.” So there is a physical seed. First there is the physical, then there is the spiritual. That’s what Paul said. The first man, Adam, was of the flesh. The second Adam, Christ, was from heaven. There is a natural body, which is sown in the resurrection, and raised a spiritual body. So here we have the same thing. God is giving the promise of a physical heir—a son.

Now then we have a second promise given. Verse 5, “And He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward the heavens and number the stars—if you are able to count them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your seed be.’ ” Now that’s quite an awesome thing. And remember, at that time there was no smog around to obscure the vision of the stars. Now, you see the stars when? At night. What God is doing here, He is bringing the words of the covenant to Abraham. These are the words of the covenant that God gave to Abraham. Now, He expands upon that because there are two parts here: the physical seed and the spiritual seed.

Now, hold your place and let’s come to Matthew 13, and we will see the promise of spiritual seed is likened unto the stars. So He is giving two promises to Abraham here. One a physical seed from his own loins. One of spiritual seed, which would come through Christ, as we now know, Galatians 3:29, that if you be Christ’s then are you Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

Now let’s come to Matthew 13:43. “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The one who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Now again let’s come to 1 John 3, and let’s see something very important here…how we will be when we are glorified spirit beings. 1 John 3:1, “Behold! What glorious love the Father has given us, that we should be called the children of God! For this reason, the world does not know us because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be; but we know that when He is manifested, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him exactly as He is” (1 John 3:1-2).

Now let’s come to Revelation 1 so we can show that when God took Abraham out there and showed him the stars, he was literally showing him the glory of his coming spiritual seed through Christ. Now, Revelation 1:13, “And in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of man, clothed in a garment reaching to the feet, and girded about the chest with a golden breastplate. And His head and hair were like white wool, white as snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire; and His feet were like fine brass, as if they glowed in a furnace; and His voice was like the sound of many waters. And in His right hand He had seven stars, and a sharp two-edged sword went out of His mouth, and His countenance [now notice] was as the sun shining in its full power” (Rev. 1:13-16). Now, what is a star? A star is a sun. We know that, don’t we? Yes. So when God told Abraham they’d be like the stars, so shall your seed be, this is talking about the spiritual seed.

Now let’s come to Philippians 3:20. “But for us, the commonwealth of God exists in the heavens, from where also we are waiting for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; Who will transform our vile bodies…” In the Greek you can use a plural subject in a singular antecedent, but here in English it should be plural. “…Who will transform our vile bodies, that they may be conformed to His glorious body [and we just saw that in Revelation 1], according to the inner working of His own power, whereby He is able to subdue all things to Himself” (Phil. 3:20-21). So when God told Abraham that his seed was going to be as the stars of heaven for multitude, He’s not only showing the number, He’s also showing the kind of glory that they will be.

Now let’s come back to Genesis 15, and let’s read that again. Now some people may ask the question: “so shall your seed be” does that not just refer to physical seed? Well, what is God’s plan overall for human beings? [It is] to become the sons of God.

Now let’s come back here to 1 John 3 then and I’ll answer the question. Because when we receive the begettal of the Holy Spirit, we receive the seed of eternal life. And in the Greek the seed is called sperma. Now unfortunately in 1 John 3:9 we have one of the worst translated verses in all the King James Version of the Bible, which reads, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; …” That’s an entirely incorrect translation. And [it is] incorrectly interpreted by the Protestants who say that if you are born again you cannot sin. That is, if you have a conversion experience you cannot sin. Now that is not true.

Come over here to Chapter 5 and let’s show the contradiction right within the translation of the King James. Verse 16, “If anyone see his brother sinning a sin that is not unto death…” Does this not say that a person who is converted is capable of sin? Does it not? Is not a brother converted? Yes. And if he sins a sin not unto death, that means it’s a sin he can repent of. “…He shall ask [that is, you pray for him], and He [God] will give him life for those who do not sin unto death. There is a sin unto death; concerning that sin, I do not say that he should make any supplication to God” (1 John 5:16). This shows two things. Converted people can sin. Converted people, according to Protestants, are born again. But that is not a correct interpretation. No one is born again until the resurrection. However, with the proper translation of 1 John 3:9, which I’ll read the one that I have, which bears out in the Greek and should read this way: “Everyone who has been begotten by God does not practice sin because His seed [that is from God the Father, which is the begettal, so I put in italics] of begettal is dwelling within him, and he is not able to practice sin because he has been begotten by God.” So when it talks about seed back here in Genesis 15, now we see that there’s physical seed, and we also see that there are spiritual seed. That’s why I started out that if you are Christ’s then are you Abraham’s seed (spiritual) and heirs according to the promise.

Ok, now let’s come back to Genesis 15 because we’re going to find how important this is. And I remember when we first understood this, what, about four years ago, three years ago, somewhere around there. It was really, really quite an eye-opener. So we’ll go through it and we will clarify it for you. Ok, now let’s come back here again to Genesis 15:5. “So shall your seed be.” Now in both instance, physical and spiritual. Verse 6, “And he believed in the LORD. And He accounted it to him for righteousness.” Now, let’s understand something here. There was no work for Abraham to do because it’s impossible to count the stars, correct? He could not have children at this point, so there was no work for him to do. He believed God. It counted to him for righteousness.

Now then, God gives him an instruction here. “And He said to him, ‘I am the LORD that brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.’ And he said, ‘Lord GOD, by what shall I know that I shall inherit it?’ ” So God then, did a very profound thing. And this has to do with the very crucifixion of Christ and His death, and being put in the grave. “And He said to him, ‘Take Me a heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon’ ” (Gen. 15:7-9). Now this means that they’re all mature.

“And he took all these to himself, and divided them in the middle [meaning he cut them down the middle], and laid each piece opposite the other…” Meaning the spine was close to each other and there was a path down between these animals cut and laid out. Everything was there, the blood, the guts, everything. “…But he did not divide the birds.” He probably put one bird on one side and one bird on the other side. Now what was the purpose of this? We’ll see what the purpose of this is. This is a special maledictory sacrifice and oath, that when one takes an oath such as this they cannot break it. Now verse 11, “And when the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away” (vs. 10-11).

“And it came to pass, as the sun was going down…” That’s very interesting, isn’t it? First of all, back here in verse 5 we have a night, don’t we? Then in the day portion of the day, which was the 14th of the first month as we will see, he did the sacrificing of the animals. Now notice there was no altar, there was no sprinkling of the blood, there was no burning of it by Abraham. Just laid out there. So much so that the fowl, which then would be the vultures and buzzards, were circling up overhead. And they came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. “...As the sun was going down, that a deep sleep fell upon Abram…” Now you can read in the Passover book how this is very likened to the time when Jesus died. He died at the third hour, and the sun was going down at the third hour, is it not? Yes. Then two things happened here. “…A deep sleep fell upon Abram…” Now, a deep sleep. What is a person who dies in Christ? They are sleeping. So here’s a deep sleep. This is a type of death. A type of the death of Christ, perhaps precisely at the same time that Jesus died, when He was crucified on the 14th day, the Passover, when He was crucified. “…And, behold, a horror of great darkness fell upon him! And He said to Abram, ‘You must surely know that your seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, (and shall serve them and they shall afflict them) four hundred years. And also I will judge that nation whom they shall serve. And afterward they shall come out with great substance. And you shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (vs. 12-16).

Now then, notice verse 17. “And it came to pass—when the sun went down…” Now we are into the second day, aren’t we? When do the days begin and end according to scripture? At sunset. So we have the sun going down, don’t we. Now remember, we started out at night in verse 4 and 5. Then we had the day portion with the sacrifice, and we’ll explain the sacrifice here in just a minute. Now, we come, the sun went down and it was dark. Then God did something very profound to give to Abraham the guarantee of the promises beginning in verse 4, carried on down through verses 13, 14, and 15. Then He did something very profound. “…—behold, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between those pieces.” Now what happened when God went through those parts? It doesn’t tell us directly, but I would say from the context of it is here, when God walked between the parts of the sacrifice, those animals were consumed and there was nothing left but ashes.

Now verse 18. “In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘I have given this land to your seed, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, and the Kenizzites…”, and so forth, all of the different tribes of Canaan. Now where else do we find a two day sequence? And how do we know this is the 14th and 15th? We can’t prove it from right here, because it doesn’t say 14th day of the first month, here. And it doesn’t say the 15th day of the first month, here. However, if we go to Exodus 12 we do have the days numbered, and we do have it told us exactly when it took place.

Now let’s come here to Exodus 12. Now again, I refer you to The Christian Passover book. You can go through in detail because we have great detailed explanation of everything that is here because there is great confusion over the Passover. And of course it’s only logical that Satan would confuse everything concerning the Passover, because if you keep the Christian Passover today the way that Christ wants you to, at the time that He says, and the manner that He says, then you belong to Christ. So Satan’s objective is to confuse it, to cause problems with it, to change the day if possible. And because the Jews today keep the Passover on the 15th, which I fully explain in the book The Christian Passover, they do not recognize Christ at all. Because in order to truly recognize Christ you must understand the truth of the Passover, because Christ, as we will see later, died on the Passover day, the very time that the sacrifice took place that Abraham gave and fell into the deep sleep.

Now let’s read the instructions here for the children of Israel, concerning the Passover. Now we’re not going to go in great detail, but what I want to point out is this: let’s begin in verse 3. “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them each man a lamb for a father’s house, a lamb for a house. And if the household is too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take according to the number of the souls, each one, according to the eating of his mouth, you shall count concerning the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish [because that’s a type of Christ], a male of the first year. You shall take it from the sheep or from the goats. And you shall keep it up until the beginning of the fourteenth day of the same month...” Which then is the first month because he said in verse 2, “This month shall be to you the beginning of months.” So it’s the first month. “…And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it between the two evening” (vs. 3-6). Which means between the two evenings, between sunset and dark, which is amply proved in the book, The Christian Passover.

Now then, they were to eat it in that night, after taking the blood and the so forth and roasting it, and so forth. Because He says, verse 12, “For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt...” Then He said, “And the blood shall be a sign to you upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you…” (vs. 12-13). Now let’s understand something here very important. All of Israel was blessed because of the Passover, but the Passover spared whom? The firstborn, correct. Now there is a great parallel with that for today with God’s church who are the church of the firstborn, as we will see a little later, and also the rest of the world. So how important is the church of God to the world? [It is] Far more important than we have ever calculated. As important as the firstborn of Israel in relationship to the rest of Israel, so the church of the firstborn, which we are today, is as important to God as the rest of the world. So then, they were to keep that as a memorial.

Then we have this. Let’s understand something very important here, which I cover. Here is the Passover. Let’s come over here verse 21. “Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, ‘Draw out and take a lamb for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip in the blood that is in the bowl, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood in the bowl. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the sunrise.” And that literally means sunrise. So they could not leave that night. We explain all of that in The Christian Passover book. “For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians. And when He sees the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. And you shall observe this thing as a law to you and to your children forever. And it shall be when you have come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as He has promised that you shall keep this service. And it will be, when your children shall say to you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’ Then you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’S Passover, Who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our houses.’ And the people bowed their heads and worshiped. And the children of Israel went away and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron; so did they” (vs. 21-28). Then at midnight He smote all the firstborn.

Now let’s come here to Numbers 33:3 because we do want to get a little chronology here. Let’s begin in verse 1 and not 3. “These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the command of the LORD. And these are their journeys according to their starting places. And they set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month…” (Num. 33:1-3). When does the 15th begin? Right after sunset of the 14th, correct? Yes. They went out by night, as we will see. They couldn’t have gone out on the night of the 14th because they had to stay in their houses. And if they kept the Passover on the 15th then they could not have left until morning. And if they left in the morning they could not leave at night. Now that’s as simple as can be. If you’re going to go to work at six in the morning, you don’t show up at six at night. It’s that simple, see. So they left on the morrow, or that is, the day after the Passover.

Now let’s come and see this. Let’s see what they did when they left their homes. Now where were the homes of the children of Israel? We’ll see a little later they lived in the area of Goshen. So it was in the northwest part of the delta, the very choicest part of Egypt, and they had their little villages scattered there. And so for them to leave Rameses means they had to assemble at Rameses and then leave there. So they assembled at Rameses on the day portion of the 14th. And here’s what they did. Let’s go back to Exodus 12:33. “And the Egyptians were urging the people, that they might send them out of the land quickly, for they said, ‘We are all dead men.’ ”

“And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses. And they asked for articles of silver, and articles of gold, and clothing from the Egyptians. And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and they granted their request, and they stripped the Egyptians” (Ex. 12:33-36).

Key verse beginning in verse 37 down to verse 42. Let’s read it. “And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, the men being about six hundred thousand on foot, apart from little ones.” So this is where we get the figure of 1.8 million. If we have one woman and one child per man, then you get 1.8 million people. “And also a mixed multitude went up with them, and flocks and herds, very much livestock. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not stay, neither had they prepared any food for themselves for the journey” (vs. 37-39).

Verse 40, according to the commandment of God. Remember that we read back there in Numbers 33. “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, it was even on that very same day, all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed to the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of the LORD to be observed by all the children of Israel in their generations” (vs. 40-42). This is not the Passover because the Passover they stayed in their homes. They came out by night. Now how does this tie in with Genesis 15? It ties in this way, verse 41. “And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, it was even on that very same day…” Very same day in reference to what? In reference to Genesis 15.

Let’s go back there. Let’s pick it up in verse 17. “And it came to pass—when the sun went down [which we know begins a new day, correct?], and it was dark—behold, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between those pieces. In the same day [being nighttime] the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘I have given this land to your seed…” Also, “this same day”, what also has part of the covenant? Come back here to verse 13. “And He said to Abram, ‘You must surely know that your seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs [that’s all they were in Egypt], (and shall serve them and they shall afflict them) four hundred years [it was actually 430]. And also I will judge that nation whom they shall serve…” And God said He did judge them on the Passover night, correct? Yes. “…And afterward they shall come out with great substance.” Did they do that? Yes. “And you shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Gen. 15:13- 16). So when the sun went down, beginning the 15th, that same day God made the covenant that He would bring them out and that they would inherit the land. So that’s what the “self same day” is referring to. And God did it by walking through this special sacrifice which is called a maledictory oath. Meaning that once you make this oath you cannot change. And of course then, the smoking furnace burned up all the sacrifice completely.

So then, since verse 18, “the same day” equals to the same day in Exodus 12:41, “self same day”, that is the 15th day of the first month. So therefore when we come back to Genesis 15, the promises that God gave to Abraham was then on the night of the 14th, which is the same night in which we take the Passover, in which we have the promises of eternal life given to us by Jesus Christ in the words of the New Covenant, correct? Yes.

Now before we go on let’s come to understand a little bit more about this maledictory oath. Let’s see it here in the book of Jeremiah 34. This tells us what kind of oath this is. There is no greater, no stronger oath. And of course, in doing this not only did He make the covenant with Abraham to bring the children of Israel out, but He also foretold of His coming crucifixion. So let’s see this oath, and we will see what happens when people don’t keep it. This is the most solemn oath that you can have.

Verse 8, “The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them,” Now here’s the liberty. They made a covenant. We’ll see how they made the covenant. “That each man should let his male slave, and each man his female slave—if a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman—go free; that none should enslave a Jew, his brother among them. And all the rulers obeyed, and all the people who had entered into the covenant allowed them to go free, each man his male slave, and each man his female slave, so that not any should be enslaved among them any more; and they obeyed and let them go” (Jer. 34:8-10).

Now notice what happened here. “But afterward they turned and took back the male slaves and the female slaves whom they had set free and enslaved them again as male slaves and female slaves.” (vs. 11). Almost like Pharaoh, right, when Moses said, “Let my people go.” They couldn’t get along without the servants. So the Jews, when they let them go they said, “Oh, look what we did. We’ve got to do the work ourselves.” Too bad.

Verse 12. They went back on their word. They went back on a covenant, see. And I want you to also remember that in relationship to the coming Passover, which is a renewing of the New Covenant. “So the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, “I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying, ‘At the end of seven years each man should let go free his brother, a Hebrew, who has been sold to him. And when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you.’ But your fathers did not hearken to Me, nor inclined their ears. And you had turned today, and had done right in My sight to call for liberty, each man to his neighbor. And you had made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name. But you turned back and defiled My name, and each of you has taken back his male slave and his female slave whom you had set free to do as they pleased. But you forced them again to become your male and your female slaves.” Thus says the LORD. “You have not hearkened to Me to proclaiming liberty each man to his brother, and each man to his neighbor! Behold, I proclaim freedom for you,” says the LORD, “to the sword, to the plague, and to the famine. And I will cause you to be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth” ’ ” (vs. 12-17). Now how serious is a covenant? Mighty serious. How serious is it when you break it? And remember, they did this in the house of God. And also remember, that when we do things, we have access to God the Father in heaven above. So this is not just in a physical house upon the earth where we have a covenant, you see.

Verse 18, “And I will give the men who have sinned against My covenant, who have not done the words of the covenant which they made before Me when they divided the calf in two…” Just like Abraham did. He cut it in two. “…And passed between its parts;” Because when anyone made that kind of covenant and passed between the parts of the animals that were sacrificed for that covenant, what they are declaring by their action is this: if I break this covenant I will be like these animals that have been sacrificed—cut down the middle.

Now continuing, verse 19. The rulers of Judah, and the rulers of Jerusalem, the officials, and the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf; I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies shall be for food to the birds of heaven and to the beasts of the earth.” (vs. 18-20). id not the fowls of heaven come down to try and get the sacrifices that Abraham made? Yes. So now He’s going to say, “I’m going to do this to you.”

“And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, and his rulers, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, who has withdrawn from you. Behold, I will command,’ says the LORD, ‘and cause them to return to this city. And they shall fight against it and capture it, and burn it with fire. And I will make the cities of Judah a desert without a soul to live in it.” (vs. 21- 22).

Apparently, God fought their battle for them, drove back the king of Babylon. So they said, “Thank you God for doing that. We repent. We’ll let our slaves go free.” And then they changed their minds. So He said, “Now I’m going to cause the king of Babylon to return, and now he’s going to go into the whole city.” So this tells you the seriousness of the kind of oath that there is when you make a covenant and pass between the parts. That’s the oath that God made with Abraham to guarantee that he would have 1) physical seed, 2) spiritual seed, 3) that He would take them out of the land of the stranger in the same day that He made the covenant with Abraham. That very same night. So you see, the Passover, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread really began with Abraham and not with Israel.

Now let’s look at the extension of this covenant, the physical seed, which would be Israel. And they would come through Isaac. Let’s come to Genesis 17. And oh, the Arabs would that it would have been Ishmael. But it wasn’t. So here then is a continuation of the covenant, now giving in detail the requirements for the physical seed. Let’s begin in verse 1. Abraham had to wait a long time, didn’t he? Now this was a year before Isaac was born. And Isaac was then the promise of the physical seed. “And when Abram was ninety-nine years old…” Well now let’s see. He left at 75, didn’t he. Here we are 25 years, inclusive counting, alright? “…And [He] said to him, ‘I am the Almighty God [El Shaddai]! Walk before Me and be perfect.’ ” Now just put in your margin there, Matthew 5:48, because we are told to be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. So you see here again, it’s the same requirement. It is the gospel as preached to Abraham, right? Yes. Matthew 5:48.

Now verse 2 of Genesis 17. “And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face. And God talked with him, saying, ‘As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. Neither shall your name any more be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.” And that was before Isaac was even born. Because you see, when God says something it is as good as done. That’s what’s important. So when God says you will be in the kingdom of God, it is as good as done. The only condition is, you have to endure to the end and be faithful. You’ll make it.

Now verse 6, “And I will make you exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you in their generations…” Now this is, then, the physical seed. “ ‘…For an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your seed after you. And I will give the land to you in which you are a sojourner, and to your seed after you, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. And I will be their God.’ And God said to Abraham, ‘And you shall keep My covenant, you and your seed after you in their generations. This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your seed after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised.’ ” (vs. 6-10). So here’s the covenant of circumcision. Now remember that he was blessed of God, had righteousness imputed to him, his sins forgiven him for 25 years while he was in uncircumcision so that he could be the father of the uncircumcision who receive the promise of eternal life, as well as the father of the circumcision.

Continuing verse 11, “And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin. And it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. And a son of eight days shall be circumcised among you, every male child in your generations; he that is born in the house, or bought with silver of any foreigner who is not of your seed. He that is born in your house, and he that is bought with your silver, must be circumcised. And My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.” (vs. 11- 13). And that was until it was continuous to that time. And I think for all the descendants of Israel should be, to this day. Not for salvation but for the keeping of the covenant here because we live today in the land that God gave to the descendants of Israel. Not for salvation, but for this part of the covenant because whoever are the descendants of Israel should.

Now, verse 14. “And the uncircumcised male child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people— for he has broken My covenant.” Now you see, God has not required this of the Gentile and their own nations. We know that in the New Covenant circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the circumcision of the heart, and faith in Christ. But this is for the physical seed.

Now, verse 15. “And God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah. And I will bless her, and give you a son also of her. Yes, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations— kings of people shall be from her.’ And Abraham fell upon his face and laughed, and said in his heart, ‘Shall a child be born to him that is a hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear?’ And Abraham said to God, ‘Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!’ ” The easy way out. “And God said, ‘Sarah your wife shall bear you a son indeed. And you shall call his name Isaac. And I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time in the next year” (vs. 15- 21). It’s important for us to understand that God does things at the set time. So then they had the circumcision party.

Now, Isaac was born, sure enough at the set time that God had said, and then we have something profound. Here, let’s come to Genesis 21:1. “And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said. And the LORD did to Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age…” You see, God does the impossible things. That way it can never be said that it’s of a man. Now you show me any 100 year old today who has a pregnant 90 year old wife, and then we will know that this was not a miraculous thing. “…At the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born to him, (whom Sarah bore to him) Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him” (Gen. 21:1-5). So that means he was pretty close to the end of his 100th year, because remember when God told him back here in Chapter 17:17, he said, “Shall a child be born to him that is a hundred years old?” So apparently he was just 100 at that point. No more than three months into his 100th year, and Isaac was born before the 100th year was out. That’s how we have the chronology.

Now then, let’s talk about the Passover and Isaac, because this time it talks about Isaac and Abraham. Now this we find some tremendous types coming down to the prophecy, not only the prophecy but the actual crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Here we find that in type Abraham is a type of God the Father, who has only one son. And this son is to be sacrificed. Now we do not have anything dogmatic that we could say that this took place on the Passover day. It’s possible, but we don’t know for sure. So we can’t say that. Now here is a test that Abraham went through. Now remember what we read at the beginning in Luke 14:26. Here again he is going to be tested on this. Not only do we do that when it’s called “counting the cost” where in Luke 14:26 to the end of verse 33, but we always count the cost continually as we go through our Christian life. We’re confronted with many things where we must count the cost. Will we obey God or not? Will we believe God or not? Will we trust God or not? And that’s on an ongoing basis. It’s not just, you know, you do it once and it’s over with, see. No, not at all. So here he is. We don’t know how old. As we see a little later, Isaac is called a lad. So, we could say that he was probably less than 20. They even have an indication that he was say, not much more than 12. So between 12 and 20 was the age of Isaac when this event took place. Which means that from the time that God called Abraham we have 37 to 45 years when this event took place. So you see, God also tested Abraham all those years, didn’t He?

Now I’ve got another tape that I did, you know the Abraham and his human nature, and the things that he did. Now Abraham had a little deceitful streak in him, which Isaac inherited, and also Jacob inherited. And also Jacob’s mother, she had a little deceitful streak in her. So God uses some of those human weakness in His plan. But here we have between 37 and 45 years when this event took place in Genesis 22. Now let’s begin in verse 1. “And it came to pass after these things that God tested [him]…” Now this means test Abraham. God does not tempt anyone with evil. Let’s understand that. God puts before us choices, whether we will obey Him or not. When we are tempted with evil and drawn away of our own lusts, and then the lust conceives and brings forth sin, God did not make us sin when we do that. That’s a wrong human nature. And of course that’s why we have the Feast of Unleavened Bread continuously year by year, as long as we are in the church of God, so that we understand that our human nature is always here and we always have to be working on getting rid of it, just like we get rid of leaven out of our lives.

Now Genesis 22:1, “And it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ And He said, ‘Take now your son, your only son…’ ” Now was Ishmael Abraham’s son? Yes, he was. But not of Sarah. Not counted as the seed for the promise, so therefore He said, “Your son, your only son.” So this is very much a type of God the Father in relationship to Christ. In this case then, Isaac being a type of Christ, Abraham being a type of the Father. “…And go into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell you” (Gen. 22:1-2). Now, there were mountains in Moriah. Now the Jews claim by tradition that this was the area where the temple was built. But also one of the mountains of Moriah then would be the mount that later became to be called the Mount of Olives. So could this be, and of course you need to understand the Mount of Olives is higher than the temple mount. So could this be the mount where Christ was crucified? If the parallel follows then that could be true so I just leave that as a question.

“And Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. And he split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, ‘You stay here with the donkey, and I and the boy will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.’ And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son [that’s almost like a type of carrying the cross that Christ did, remember?]. And he took the fire pot in his hand…” Now that means he took a kettle of hot coals for a fire, because obviously you are not going to carry it in your hand. Because if you carry fire in your hand you’re going to burn it. “…And a knife. And they both went together.” I imagine it was kind of a silent climb up that mountain. “And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, ‘My father.’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ And he said, ‘Behold the fire and the wood [I see the fire and I see the wood]. But where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’ ” (vs. 3-7).

Now we notice two things here. There are two acts of faith. 1) Abraham, he believed. 2) And Isaac, he also believed and did not complain. He could have said, “This is ridiculous. We’re going up here and you’re going to offer an offering, and I find out at the last minute it’s me!” But he didn’t do it.

Now verse 8. “And Abraham said, ‘My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering:…’ ” Now sometimes God waits until the very last minute for deliverance, doesn’t He? Yes, He does. “…So they both went on together. And they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there…” Now let’s understand something about sin offerings and burnt offerings. On the Mount of Olives, now let’s picture this in your mind. You’re looking at the temple area, and you are looking north. To the right is east. To the east of the temple is the Kiddron Valley going down 600 feet. Actually 450. They built a bridge across the Kiddron Valley to go into the East gate of the temple. This bridge went to the Mount of Olives. On the Mount of Olives right near the crest of the Mount of Olives was what was called the Miphkad Altar. Now this was a special altar outside the temple area. This is where they took all the sin offerings, and they took all the skins of the sin offerings and they burnt them in the Miphkad Altar. So this was like a huge pit. And these things were constantly and continually burnt. And at the bottom of the pit there was a conduit which went down into the Kiddron Valley, at which periodically they would push the ashes out.

Now, question: could it be that where he built this altar was later where the Miphkad Altar was built? Even though this was a burnt offering, Christ was a sin offering, wasn’t He? Christ was not burned, was He? No, because He had to be buried and raised so the parallel breaks down when you get out of the physical parallel and you start getting into the real sacrifice of Christ. So he “… built an altar there and laid the wood in order. And he bound his son Isaac and laid him on the wood upon the altar” (vs. 9). Now this means that this probably tells us that he was more like 12 years old so that Abraham could pick him up and place him on the altar. If he’s a full grown man, probably he couldn’t do that.

Now verse 10, “And Abraham stretched out his hand [he put down his hand] and took the knife to slay his son.” Now why did he do that? His only son and the one to whom, he was told, you would have physical seed. Why was he willing to do this? Well, 1) because God commanded him to. But also what was in his mind? Was he doubting God? Was he angry at God? Here, let’s come to Hebrews 11. Was he doubting God? Was he angry at God? What was it?

Now I’m going to read from my translation, Hebrews 11. Let’s begin in verse 8, because this gives a real good summary of the life of Abraham. “By faith Abraham, [after] being called of God to go out into the place which he would later receive for an inheritance, obeyed and went, not knowing where he was going. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, like a foreigner, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the joint heirs of the same promise; for he was waiting for the city with the foundations of which God is the Architect and Builder. By faith also Sarah herself received power to conceive seed, and gave birth when she was well beyond the childbearing age because she esteemed Him faithful Who had personally promised her a son. Because of this faith, there came into being from one man—and moreover, one who was reproductively dead— descendants as numerous as the stars in the heavens, and as countless as the sand on the sea shore” (Heb. 11:8-12).

Now verse 13, let’s just read right on. “All these died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them from afar, and having been persuaded of them, and having embraced them, and having confessed that they were strangers and sojourners on the earth. For those who say such things make it manifest that they seek their own country, as promised by God. And if, on the one hand, they had let their minds dwell fondly on the place where they came from, they might have had opportunity to return. But now, on the other hand, they are aspiring to a more excellent country— that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God because He has prepared a city for them. By faith Abraham, when he was being tried, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son of whom it was said, “In Isaac shall your Seed be called”; because he reckoned that God was able to raise him even from among the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative way” (vs. 13-19). That’s why he was willing to do it. Because he knew that if it came down to the point where he did offer his son as that offering, that God would raise him from the dead.

Ok, now let’s come back and we’ll have just enough time to finish Genesis 22. So he took the knife, verse 10, to slay his son. And then he heard a voice from heaven. I imagine before he took out the knife that he looked around everywhere and didn’t see a lamb. So then verse 11. “And the angel of the LORD called to him from the heavens and said, ‘Abraham! Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ ” And I imagine he said, “HERE I AM.” “And He said, ‘Do not lay your hand upon the lad, nor do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God…’ ” So how long was he tried before God really, really knew through and through that Abraham feared God? 37 to 45 years. Say, 37 years. Now is it any wonder that we still go through trials though we’ve been in the church for how long. See, same thing. And how many people have been in the church for so long and say, 10, 15, 20, 30 years, and then to leave? So that’s why we’ve had the trials come upon us that have come upon us, for the same reason.

“ ‘…For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from Me.’ And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked. And, behold, behind him a ram was entangled in a thicket by its horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.” Now how did the ram get there? Well, either God drove it up there while his back was turned, or God supernaturally created a ram right there, which would be fitting, to supernaturally create one, because that would be a type of Christ who was a supernatural creation, correct? Yes. “And Abraham called the name of that place [Jehova-jireh] The LORD Will Provide; so that it is said until this day, ‘In the mount of the LORD it will be provided” (vs. 11-14). Now I wonder if that’s also a prophecy of the sacrifice of Christ on the Mount of Olives? Just a question.

“And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, ‘By Myself have I sworn…” Now here is where everything becomes completely irrevocable. It cannot be turned back. Nothing can stop from what God has promised. All the promises of God will come as He said. “…Because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son; that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens [spiritual seed], and as the sand which is upon the seashore [physical seed]. And your seed [the physical seed] shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice” (vs. 15-18). Now that’s the only way we’re going to have the blessing of God, is if we obey the voice of God. And as we covered in our series concerning Hebrews, if you don’t listen to Christ there is no eternal life.

So we’ll continue on next time with Passover: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Israel, and Christ #2.

Scriptural References

1. ) Galatians 3:29

2. ) Hebrews 6:13-20, 8

3. ) Galatians 3:6-9

4. ) Genesis 12:1

5. ) Luke 14:25-33

6. ) Genesis 12:2-4

7. ) Genesis 15:4-5

8. ) Matthew 13:43

9. ) I John 3:1-2

10. ) Revelation 1:13-16

11. ) Philippians 3:20-21

12. ) Genesis 15:5

13. ) I John 3:9, 5:16

14. ) Genesis 15:5-18

15. ) Exodus 12:3-6, 12-13, 21-28

16. ) Numbers 33:1-3

17. ) Exodus 12:33-42

18. ) Genesis 15:17, 13-16, 18

19. ) Jeremiah 34:8-22

20. ) Genesis 17:1-21

21. ) Genesis 21:1-5

22. ) Luke 14:26-33

23. ) Genesis 22:1-10

24. ) Hebrews 11:8-19

25. ) Genesis 22:10-18

Chapter Ten

The Passover—Abraham, Isaac, Israel & Christ #2

Now this is number two in the Passover: Abraham Isaac, Israel, and Christ. Now let’s pick up where we left off last time. Let’s come to Genesis 22. And I want to cover just a couple more things here concerning this type of the Passover. And as I said, there is no direct indication that you can make this happen on the Passover day. I tried hard to do so, but you can’t. And so we can just take the teaching and see how it applies, not only to the Passover day, but also to the whole operation of the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ for us, just as God provided the ram instead of Isaac for the sacrifice, God has provided Christ instead of our death. And so that’s important to really understand and realize.

Now let’s just cover a couple things here. Let’s go back to verse 15. And we can understand that when God swears something—and He doesn’t need to swear—in other words, when men give an oath, that’s to end a dispute between parties. But God doesn’t need to swear, because He doesn’t lie. So when He swears, He’s giving a double emphasis that this is absolutely going to happen, with no doubt, no shadow of turning. And because He has done this, we can have absolute confidence and assurity that what God has said He will do, He will do. And now we live in the end time, when we have the benefit of seeing that, yes, He did do it. God did do it.

Now verse 15, “And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, “ ‘By Myself have I sworn,’ says the LORD, ‘because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son; that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice’ ” (vs.15-18). And this becomes a very profound and important thing. Because too much of Christianity today is based upon lawless grace. Meaning, that you don’t have to obey. Oh, they claim, yes, they read the Scriptures, which say, “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29). But they don’t read the thing that he obeyed.

Now, as we have seen, “the stars of the heavens” applies to the spiritual seed, which then is the Church, which will then at the resurrection the saints will shine as the stars of heaven—Matthew 13:49. And “the sand which is upon the seashore,” which then is the physical seed of Israel. And then He adds another promise here: “And your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.” And we’ll see how that comes about a little bit more.

So let’s come down to where then the blessing is passed on to Isaac, Genesis 26:1: “And there was a famine in the land, (beside the former famine that had been in the days of Abraham). And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, to Gerar. And the LORD appeared to him, and said, “Do not go down into Egypt. Live in the land which I shall tell you of. Stay in this land, and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your seed, I will give all these lands; and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. And I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and will give to your seed all these lands. And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because Abraham…” (vs. 1-4).

Now you see, the thing we need to understand is this: the covenant did not depend upon Isaac, it did not depend upon Jacob. It depended upon Abraham. And this has been a consternation to many, many people. Especially when they look at the nations of the ten tribes of Israel, in their modern setting, and the other nations of the world do, and they wonder, “How come we have it, and in many cases we are so bad?” Because they’re looking at from the point of view, “Well, since you’re so bad, you don’t deserve it.” See, well, God said He was going to give it because of Abraham. Now then, He also said later on that if their descendants sin, He would correct them. But He would not rescind the promise that He gave to Abraham.

And here is this famous verse we’ve gone over, and over, and over again, one which Protestants, I am sure, do not like to hear. Verse 5, “Because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” Now that’s also important because, as we saw, the Passover began with Abraham and not with Israel.

Now let’s come to Galatians 4, and let’s see the Church in relationship to Isaac. [The comment was made that certain people will say, “Well, God had other commandments that He gave him.”] That’s absolutely not true, because Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The commandments that He gave Israel are the same commandments that Abraham obeyed. For anyone to say anything other than that, they are just Biblical illiterates. You cannot prove it from the context. The only commandments that are God’s commandments, and He won’t change them.

- Is He going to change the first one?

- No.

- Is He going to change the second one?

- No.

- Is He going to change the third one?

- No. Is He going to change the fourth one?

- No.

- None of them He’s going to change.

So he kept the commandments of God, and His statutes. Now statutes, the holy days are statutes. And He began the Passover with Abraham. So those arguments, when you really understand the Bible, do not have legs at all. They don’t even have shoes. OK? They just don’t stand.

Now let’s come here to Galatians 4:28. Oh, by the way, in relationship to that, there are indications the way that the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments are written out, that they are written in sections of five: 5, 5, 5, which is half of ten. So you take five and five, that equals ten. So you find “ten” all the way through the statutes and judgments there, by the way, too. A little deeper study into that. I don’t have it now, but I just recall it off the top of my head. Again, verifying that these things were also things that God gave for Abraham to follow.

And we need to also understand this: Abraham had a big household. He had hundreds of people there with him. And so that means, how do you run and govern it? OK? Well, you do it by God’s way. How do settle disputes among people? Well, you do it God’s way. Which days do you rest and keep? God’s days. So when we understand that the Sabbath was binding from creation, just like everything else God created is perpetually going on down to this day. So the Sabbath is perpetually going on down to this day. So once you know the Scriptures, and once you know the Bible, there is no question that Abraham did those things. And any of the other things that people come up with are just arguments to avoid obeying God. They don’t like the word “obey.” They like the word “liberty”, which is another word for lawlessness.

Galatians 4:28, “Now we, brethren, like Isaac, are the children of promise. But as it was then, so also it is now: he who was born according to the flesh [that is, Ishmael] persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit. Nevertheless, what does the scripture say? ‘Cast out the maidservant and her son; for in no way shall the son of the maidservant inherit the promise with the son of the free woman.’ So then, brethren, we are not children of the maidservant, but of the free woman” (v. 28- 31). And we are children of promise. So here again, I’m trying to tie the things of Abraham back into the New Testament. And of course we have Abraham in Chapter 3, we have Isaac in Chapter 4.

Now let’s come down to the time that the blessing is passed on to Jacob. And of course, God said before they were born about Esau and Jacob, they were two kinds of people. Esau would serve, who was the oldest, [that] he would serve the younger. And the younger would prevail. Now sometimes God does things and allows things to happen by the use of human nature. And so, we find that Jacob connived to get the blessing, or the birthright, from Esau. He didn’t have to do it, because God would have given it another way. But also it was a test on Esau. Esau was willing to sell it and give it up. Then it came time for the blessing, and Mama got involved in it too. And she said, “You go in and you pretend you’re Esau and get the blessing.” He said, “Well how can I do that? He’s a hairy man.” She said, “Well, we’ll put a goatskin on your neck.” Now you talk about a hairy man. It must of been a real hairy man if you feel the back of the neck and it’s all like the goat’s hair.

So she made the stew, she put the skins on his hands and on the back of his neck because he was a smooth man. So he went in. Genesis 27:18, “And he came to his father and said, ‘My father!’ And he said, ‘Here I am; who are you, my son?’ And Jacob said to his father, ‘I am Esau your firstborn…” A big fat lie. Now the reason God does things like this is so that Esau would think that he just took it. But he didn’t.

“ ‘…I have done as you asked me. Arise, I pray you, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me.’ And Isaac said to his son, ‘How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?’ ” You know, going out and shooting venison and, you know, it takes a little while to chase it down and get it with a bow and arrow. “…And he said, ‘Because the LORD your God brought it to me’ ” (vs. 19-20). I mean, this is something.

“And Isaac said to Jacob, ‘Come near, I pray you, so that I may feel you, my son, whether you are truly my son Esau or not.” So he had his doubts. “And Jacob went near to Isaac his father. And he felt him, and said, ‘The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.’ And he did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands. And he blessed him. And he said, ‘Are you truly my son Esau?’ And he said, ‘I am’ ” (vs. 21-24). Boy, he checked him out a couple of times here, didn’t he?

“And he said, ‘Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s venison, so that my soul may bless you.’ And he brought it near to him, and he ate. And he brought him wine, and he drank. And his father Isaac said to him, ‘Come near now and kiss me, my son.’ And he came near and kissed him. And he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him, and said, ‘See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed. And may God give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. Let people serve you, and let nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brethren, and let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone that curses you, and blessed be he that blesses you” (vs. 25-29).

Now will see how this expanded out to the twelve tribes of Israel. “And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was scarcely gone from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.” I mean, with the movies we have now days, you can just picture this. You know—phhft— just got out the door. “And he also had made a dish of savory meat and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, ‘Let my father arise and eat of his son’s venison so that your soul may bless me.’ And his father Isaac said to him, ‘Who are you?’ And he said, ‘I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.’ Then Isaac trembled greatly, and said, ‘Who then was the one who has hunted deer and brought it to me—and I have eaten it all before you came, and have blessed him? Yea, he shall be blessed’ ” (vs. 30- 33). Because the blessing can only be given once. It’s not like the Olympics this year, where they finally catch the French judge in cheating on the judging, and so now they give two gold medals. There’s only one blessing.

“And when Esau had heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said to his father, ‘Bless me, even me also, O my father!’ And he said, ‘Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing.’ And Esau said, ‘Is he not rightly called Jacob? [which means “supplanter”]. For he has supplanted me these two times—he took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.’ And he said, ‘Have you not reserved a blessing for me?’ And Isaac answered and said to Esau, ‘Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brethren I have given him for servants. And with grain and wine I have sustained him. And what shall I do now to you, my son?’ And Esau said to his father, ‘Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father.’ And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept” (vs. 34-38).

“And Isaac his father answered and said to him, ‘Behold, your dwelling shall be far from the fatness of the earth, and far from the dew of heaven from above. And you shall live by your sword and shall serve your brother. But it shall come to pass that when you shall have the dominion, you shall break his yoke from off your neck” (vs. 39-40). That has not yet happened. Esau and Ishmael are still subject to the descendants of Jacob. Witness the latest war that we have going on right now.

“And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, ‘The days of mourning for my father are at hand—then I will kill my brother Jacob” (vs. 41). Hearkens back to Cain and Abel, doesn’t it?

So Jacob, he gets out of there. Rebecca says, “Look, get out of here, go hide, run away. Go to Laban, my brother. Go up there.” So he left, and he went. And right before he left, here’s the charge, Chapter 28:1, “Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and commanded him. And he said to him, ‘You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.’ ” Now remember that Esau did that. “Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father. And take a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. And may God Almighty bless you, and make your fruitful, and multiply you, so that you may be a multitude of people. And may He give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed with you, so that you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham” (Gen. 28:1- 4). And so Isaac sent him away to Padan Aram.

And then Jacob had a dream. He saw this ladder ascending up. Verse 12, “And he dreamed. And behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven! And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, ‘I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your seed. And your seed shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall be spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and the south. And in you and in all your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

And, behold, I am with you, and will keep you in every place where you go, and will bring you again into this land, for I will not leave you until I have done that which I have spoken of to you” (vs. 12- 15). And He did. Now there was still some chicanery. Now, Jacob got his punishment back, didn’t he, for being deceitful and lying. What happened? Well, he came to Laban and he saw Rachel, and said, “This is it. First love. Gotta have her.” Made a deal and said to Laban, “I’ll work seven years for her.” He says, “That’s fine. You can have her.” So, came the wedding night, and I guess there were all wearing burqas then, you know. So came the wedding night, and lo and behold, when he woke up in the morning, guess who it was? It was Leah. Not Rachel. So he wanted Rachel so bad, he said, “OK. I’ll work another seven years for you.” And Laban said, “That’s fine.” So he had worked 14 years. So he had a little deceit brought back upon him for his deceit. And he had to work 14 years instead of seven.

So anyway, all the children of Israel were born. You know the rest of the story. They all got jealous at Joseph. Now Joseph had quite a bit of vanity. And he came out with his coat that his father made him, and he said, “Look guys, I had a dream. And I was standing there, and I was the main sheaf. And all the other sheaves bowed down to me. That’s you guys.” So they got mad. Then he came out and had another dream. And so they got together and said, “Look, we gotta stop this. Let’s kill him.” And Judah said, “No, let’s sell him. So here’s what we’ll do—we’ll take and kill a goat, and take the coat, and spread it with the goat’s blood. We’ll sell Joseph for his snotty-nosed way of doing things. We’ll sell him off to the Arabs when they come by.”

So they came by, sold him off, and they took him down to Egypt, and you know the story that happened there. He ended up in prison, and he was able to tell the answer to the dreams that different ones had, and he was raised to be the second in charge of Egypt because he was able to tell Pharaoh the dream of the seven fat cattle and the seven skinny cattle, that a famine was coming.

So, Joseph was down in Egypt seventeen years before the famine came. Then the famine came, and God sent the sons down to get food. And he knew who they were, but they didn’t know who he was. So sure enough, the prophecy came true. In order to get the corn, they had to bow down and worship him, because he was second in charge. And then remember, in order to get Benjamin, because he remembered Benjamin was his blood brother, through Rachel, he put some things in the sacks of corn. Then he told the soldiers, the Egyptian soldiers, “Now they’ve stolen things and hidden them in the corn. You go out and arrest them and bring them back here. “So they did. And he said, “Now look, you bring your youngest brother down here. Otherwise, I’m going to lock you all up in the dungeon.” So they said, “Okay we’ll bring him down.” So they brought him down. And then finally he revealed himself to them that he was Joseph. And they went back and got Jacob, brought him down. Jacob came in and Pharaoh gave him all the land of Goshen.

Now we come down to the final blessings that we have that were given to the sons of Jacob, or Israel. Let’s come to Genesis 48. And here’s a blessing that is with us to this day, and it cannot fit the circumstances of the Jews today. What occurred here in Genesis 48 and 49 is as momentous for the physical seed as the promise given to Abraham for the spiritual seed. Now, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew that they had blessings to pass on to their descendants.

Now [for] Israel, whose name was changed from Jacob to Israel, it came time for the blessing to be given. And so we find that Joseph brought his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Now I might mention here that Joseph married the daughter of the High Priest of On. And a lot of people think that Joseph married a black woman. That’s not the case. Egypt at that time was much like what the United States is today. It was a diverse society. So to say that you married an American today, doesn’t tell you anything, does it? But in order for the blessing to be to those of the descendants of Joseph and the descendants of Jacob, he could not have intermarried with a race that was contrary to the— how should we say, the genetic inheritance which he had. So he obviously married someone the same [ethnic stock] as he was.

Now Joseph brought both of his sons to him. Genesis 48:13 “And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh in his left toward Israel’s right hand. And he brought them near to him.” Now you would think this is just kind of a little detail, but it’s very important. “And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger…” (Gen. 48:13-14). Now, again, we have the same thing happened, right? The blessing goes to the younger first, then the older. Whereas through normal inheritance law, what do we have? The firstborn is the one who receives the inheritance.

Now I’m going through this, even though it doesn’t directly relate to the Passover, because we need to understand, and I want to make the record absolutely clear that the Jews today do not represent all the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. The Jews represent one tribe, plus a substantial number of Levites. That’s all of the true Jews. Now you can read the book of Josephus, and you can see where, that in the history, especially during the days of John Hyrcanus the high priest, during the days of the Maccabees, and also during the days of Herod the Great, that they forced Esauites to become circumcised Jews and follow the Jewish religion. Now they are Jews in the sense that they are proselytes. What we’re talking about here are the genetic physical descendants of Jacob and his twelve sons. And we hope to have a publication here in the not too far distant future which shows how these sons came to be in their modern inheritance today. And it’s very important concerning Ephraim and Manasseh. And I’ll just say here for the record that Ephraim, undoubtedly, is what we call Great Britain today; and Manasseh is undoubtedly what we call the United States of America today. Now, that is before the recent years when the strangers are coming in to rise up high above us. Now we’re seeing that fulfillment of prophecy because of disobedience.

But here is the prophecy of the physical seed coming down now to Ephraim and Manasseh. And when he did this, “…crossing his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn.” Verse 15, “And he blessed Joseph and said, ‘May God, before Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God Who fed me all my life to this day, the Angel Who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads. And let my name be perpetuated in them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac…” (vs. 14-16).

Now it’s important to understand that he did not give that blessing to the rest of his sons. He gave different blessings to them. Though they are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the special blessing of nations and power goes primarily to Ephraim and Manasseh with this: “ ‘…And let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth’. And Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, and it displeased him. And he held up his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. And Joseph said to his father, ‘Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand upon his head” (vs. 16-18). Because the primary blessing came from his right hand.

“And his father refused and said, ‘I know it, my son, I know it. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great, but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.” So it’s no—how shall we say—incidental thing that the British Empire became to be known as the Commonwealth of nations. And it was to share the common wealth. In other words, the money. The gold. The silver. The possessions. The military. That’s why it was called the Commonwealth. Now verse 20, “And he blessed them that day, saying, ‘In you shall Israel bless, saying, “God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh.” ’ And he put Ephraim before Manasseh” (vs. 19-20). And so that’s how it came about.

Now right before he died, Chapter 49, he gathered all the rest of his sons. “…Gather yourself together that I may tell you what shall happen to you in the last days.” Now the last days are now. So this gives us an identification of the nations to-day. “Gather yourselves together and hear, sons of Jacob, and hearken to Israel your father. Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power. Unstable as water…” Now, many people believe that the descendants of Reuben are the French. Very possible. “You shall not excel because you went up to your father’s bed; then you defiled it. He went up to my couch” (Gen. 49:2-4).

“Simeon and Levi are brothers; tools of violence are their weapons.” Now that’s why the Simeonites, maybe, are more involved in Mafia within Israel, and the Levites, “instruments of cruelty,” that’s why they were selected for the priesthood and the slaughtering of animals. They could handle it without all the weeping and wailing and the animal rights boo-hooing, you see.

“O my soul, do not come into their council. Let not my honor be united with their assembly, for in their anger they killed a man, and in their self-will they hamstrung oxen. Let their anger be cursed, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel” (vs. 5-7). And that’s the way it is in the last days. They’re scattered throughout all Israel.

Verse 8, “Judah, may your brothers praise you. May your hand be on the neck of your enemies. May your father’s sons bow before you. Judah is a lion’s whelp. My son, you have gone up from the prey. He stooped, he crouched like a lion; and like a lioness, who shall rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come…” And that is Christ, and He came. And the disciples, then, became the lawgivers through the apostles. “…And to Him shall be the obedience of the people. Binding His foal to the vine, and His donkey’s colt to the choice vine, He washed his garments in wine, and His clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are more sparkling than wine, and His teeth are whiter than milk” (vs. 8-12). I think that describes maybe some of the things that going on in Israel today where the Jews are, doesn’t it? All the bloody warring that’s going on? Perhaps.

“Zebulon shall live at the seashore…” Now many people think that this has to do with Holland. Could very likely be. “…And he shall be a haven for ships, and his border beside Sidon. Issachar is a strong donkey crouching down between the sheepfolds…” Many people think of Issachar being Finland today. It’s between the West and between the East, and they carry a great burden from Russia. “And he saw that rest was good and the land was pleasant. And he bowed his shoulder to bear a burden, and became tribute-servant” (vs. 13-15). And of course, the Finlanders were under tribute to the Soviet Union for a long time.

“Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.” Now we have two aspects of Dan. We have Dan-mark, and we also have the Irish, which came from Dan. “Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that bites the horse’s heels, so that its rider shall fall backward. I have waited for Your salvation, O LORD. Gad, raiders shall attack him, but he shall overcome at the last.” Now a lot of people think that Gad is Switzerland. That is right there, that little small country. “Out of Asher his bread shall be rich, and he shall yield royal dainties.” A lot of people think that this is the Netherlands. “Naphtali is a deer let loose. He gives goodly words” (vs. 16-21). And a lot of people think that this is Sweden. Could very well be.

Now notice Joseph. Notice this blessing. This cannot apply to the Jews. “Joseph is a fruitful bough…” (v. 22). And remember, that since before World War II, and even through the Holocaust and everything, there has never been very many more than 13 to 15 million Jews worldwide. “Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. The archers have fiercely attacked him and have shot at him, and hated him…” And we’ve seen this happen time and time again, haven’t we? “But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob—from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel—” (vs. 22-24).

And that’s where you have the great stone that is under the coronation chair which they coronate the kings and queens of England. And by the way, they coronate them as kings and queens over “Your people Israel.” When you read the whole ceremony, it’s not over Britain, it’s not over England; it’s over “Your people Israel.” And she is coronated in the Jerusalem Room of the Westminster Abbey.

Now verse 25, “By the God of your father, Who shall help you. And may the Almighty bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of your father are greater than the blessings of my ancestors, to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him, the ruler, the leader who was separated from his brothers” (vs. 25-26). So that’s really quite a blessing. You cannot say that this fits the Jews as we know them today. And remember, this is a prophecy for the last days.

Now Benjamin, “Benjamin is a wolf that tears in pieces” A lot of people think that Benjamin today is Norway, from whence we get the Vikings, who ravined as a wolf. “In the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoils” (vs. 27).

Now before we get into the Passover of Israel, let’s come to Deuteronomy 33. And again, let’s see some blessings which were passed on at that time. I’m just going to cover the blessing to Joseph so we can distinguish Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, from the Jews. Now verse 13, “And of Joseph he said, ‘Blessed of the LORD be his land, with the precious things of the heavens, for the dew, and for the deep that couches beneath, and for the precious things of the fruits of the sun, and with the precious things of the yield of the months. And with the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills…” (vs. 13-15). And where has most of the gold and silver and precious jewels come from? They’ve come from the descendants of Joseph. And in particularly, and primarily, South Africa, because South Africa was part of the Commonwealth of Britain, and part of the British Empire too.

“And for the precious things of the earth and fullness of it, and for the good will of Him Who dwelt in the bush. Let the blessing come on the head of Joseph, and on the top of the head of him who was separated from his brothers. His glory is like the firstborn of his bull, and his horns are like the horns of the wild ox…” And isn’t it interesting that both of those things are on the seal which the British have? “…With them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: …” Wasn’t it said of the British Empire, the sun never set on the British Empire? “…And they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh” (vs. 16-17).

So there is the blessing given to the physical seed. Now let’s come to the book of Exodus and let’s look at the events leading up to the Passover with the children of Israel while they were in Egypt. But I wanted to go through and just carry those prophecies forward, showing the blessings that would come to the children of Israel, being all of the twelve tribes and of whom the ten that were carried off into captivity first were given the blessing, then the fulfillment in the last days.

Now let’s come to the book of Exodus, Chapter 3. Now, we know the story. After Joseph died, then arose another Pharaoh that didn’t know Joseph. And he enslaved the children of Israel. And he was bent on destroying all the male children of the children of Israel by having them drowned in the river. And you know the story of Moses. He was put in the basket, his mother watched it as it went on down. The daughter of Pharaoh found the basket and she took him as her son, “...And she called his name Moses. And she said, ‘Because I took him out of the water.’ ” He was raised in the court of Pharaoh. He was next in line to be Pharaoh, and then God worked it out to reveal that he was really not of the bloodline—he was not the son of Neferteri the daughter of Pharaoh, but he was the son of Levi, who was a Hebrew.

So then, in trying to rescue one of the Hebrews, because of the harsh bondage, he killed an Egyptian. And then he fled into the wilderness, straight across the Sinai desert, and he came to Midian. And then he married one of the daughters of Jethro. And then we come to the time when Moses was out there watching the sheep, and the time of the burning bush. So let’s pick it up here in Exodus 3:3.

Let’s go ahead, for the sake of time, and we’ll summarize the burning bush thing. He went up and the thing that’s important is this… let’s come down here, after Moses came up to the burning bush. Exodus 3:5, “And He said, ‘Do not come hear here. Put off your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.’ ” Now this shows that wherever God is, it’s holy. Now we can draw also a lesson from this concerning the Sabbath. Wherever God put His presence, that is holy time. That’s why the Sabbath is holy. Now also we can project that out into what? The Passover, and all the holy days as well. That’s why they are called holy days, because God put His presence in it. So wherever God is, that is holy. “And He said, ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’ ” (Ex. 3:5-6). And that’s the point I want to make here, is that God is following through on His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And remember, we started out Genesis 15, that He said that his descendants would be slaves in a land not their own and they would come out with great substance. Then He also tells them what His name is.

Now, verse 13, “And Moses said to God…” after God said, “I will surely be with you.” “And Moses said to God, ‘Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and shall say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they shall say to me, “What is His name?” What shall I say to them?’ And God said to Moses, ‘I AM THAT I AM’…” Now, we find—I have a tape on that about Jesus being the “I AM.” So not only does this identify the God of the Old Testament, but also it identifies that the God of the Old Testament is the Lord Jesus who is the God of the New Testament as well as God the Father.

“And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you.” And God said to Moses again, “You shall say this to the children of Israel, “The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My title from generation to generation.” ’ ” (vs. 14-15). So God told him “ ‘Go and gather the elders of Israel.’ Your brother Aaron is going to meet you, and you go deliver the people.” Now let’s come to Chapter five. So they did that. Moses and Aaron—Chapter 4:29, let’s just get this summary here.

The “I AM” verse is John 8:58. Plus there are other ones in there, which in this translation, I bring it out. He said, “If you do not believe that I AM you shall perish in your sins.” So if you don’t have the tape you can write for it. Write for the “I AM” tape.

Exodus 4:29, “And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. And Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed. And when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that He had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed and worshiped” (Ex. 4:29-31). And went on their way.

So then, here comes the first confrontation between Moses and Aaron and Pharaoh. Now this is kind of like…how shall I put it? Beverly Hillbillies? Maybe not quite that bad, but almost. Coming in to Pharaoh. So here they come. Chapter 5:1, “And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel, “Let My people go that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.” Now can you imagine that? Here are two upstart people walking in to the Pharaoh of Egypt and saying, “Let the people go that we can keep a feast.” Well now, he was supreme ruler. And God raised him up, as He said in the book of Romans, that He raised him up to show His power to all the earth. And the very fact that it is in the scriptures and is everywhere around the world, this story is told over, and over, and over, and over again as a witness that God is greater than Egypt. And even to this day, testifies that He is greater than Egypt.

So what was Pharaoh’s response? “Why, I am so happy that you two showed up. I’ve been waiting for you. I had a dream from God.” No. Pharaoh said, “…Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, neither will I let Israel go” (vs. 2). And can you imagine the effrontery which he felt with these, you know, two upstarts coming in there and telling him to let them go?

“And they said, ‘The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go, we pray you, three days’ journey into the desert and sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest He fall upon us with plague or with the sword.’ And the king of Egypt said to them, ‘Moses and Aaron, why do you keep the people from their work? Get to your burdens.’ ” He’s not going hear it. “And Pharaoh said, ‘Behold, the people of the land now are many, and you make them rest from their burdens’ ” (vs. 3-5). Now, “rest” means to sabbatize. So here we have the Sabbath in the land of Egypt long before they get to Mount Sinai. Of course they didn’t understand it.

And so what did Pharaoh do? “And Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers the same day, saying, ‘You shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. And you shall lay upon them the same number of bricks which they have made before. You shall not reduce it, for they are idle; therefore they cry, saying, “Let us go sacrifice to our God.” Let more work be laid upon the men, and let them labor in it. And do not let them regard vain words’ ” (vs. 6-9). So they went out and did that, and the people of Israel, they were expecting to be let go just, you know, just like that at the snap of a finger; and things didn’t work out the way that they wanted, and it came down just the opposite of what they expected. Lesson: just because it doesn’t work out the first time, doesn’t mean that God doesn’t mean what He says. He has other things in mind. So then, what happened? They came and they told Moses, they said, “Look, this is getting worse! We’re not being let go.” And so, Moses and Aaron went back to Pharaoh. Verse 20, here’s what the people told Moses and Aaron, “And they met Moses and Aaron standing in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh. And they said to them, ‘The LORD look upon you and judge because you have made us offensive in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hands to kill us.’ And Moses returned to the LORD…” And see, even Moses didn’t believe at this point. “…And said, ‘LORD, why have You treated this people ill? Why then have you sent me?’ ” He was even questioning, “Well what am I doing here Lord? I went and said ‘Let them go,’ and he didn’t let them go. Now what you want me to do?” “For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people. Neither have You delivered Your people at all” (vs. 20-23).

So God gave him the answer. He said, “Wait, Moses. I’ve got a plan.” “ ‘…For with a strong hand he shall let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.’ And God spoke to Moses, and said to him, ‘I am the LORD. And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty [which is “El Shaddai”]. But I was not known to them by My name JEHOVAH’ ” (Ex. 6:1-3). So that’s the covenant name of God for the Old Covenant: Jehovah. He says, “I’m going to release them.”

Now let’s come to Chapter 7. Let’s see when God gets down to business what happens here. And we find this account, now we’re going to find the signs, and then the plagues. Notice what God said beginning in verse 1, “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘See, I have made you a god to Pharaoh. And Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you. And Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh that he send the children of Israel out of his land. And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not hearken to you, and I will lay My hand upon Egypt, and bring My armies, My people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD when I stretch forth My hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.’ And Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them; so did they” (Ex. 7:1-6).

Now, Moses was 80 years old, and Aaron was 83. So you talk about an old church. So here’s the first sign. They go in, and the Lord said, verse 9, “When Pharaoh shall speak to you, saying, ‘Give a miracle for yourselves [by Me],’ you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod, and throw it in front of Pharaoh. It shall become a snake.’ ” Now this is important, because they were serpent worshipers there. “And Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh. And they did so as the LORD had commanded. And Aaron threw down his rod in front of Pharaoh and in front of his servants, and it became a snake. Then Pharaoh also called the wise man and the sorcerers. And they, the priests of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts...” So you see, there are false miracles and there are things that Satan can do to make it look like it’s the hand of God. “For each man threw down his rod, and they became snakes…” So here is a snake fight, right out in the middle of it. “…But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. And He hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he did not hearken to them, as the LORD had said” (vs. 9-13).

So then we have the next sign. The second sign is blood being made from water. Now remember that the Egyptians worshipped the Nile. It was like a god. And that’s why they had crocodile gods and frog gods, and so forth. So as he went out there, and stretched forth his rod, verse 20, “And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded. And he lifted up the rod and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh [right in front of him] and in the sight of his servants. And all waters in the river were turned to blood. And the fish in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river. And there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. And the priests of Egypt did so with their secret arts. And Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not hearken to them, as the LORD had said” (vs. 20-22). So then after the seven days were fulfilled, then they were able to drink the water.

Now Chapter 8. They come in again. And I think that in the movie, “The Ten Commandments”, they did a really good job in showing this. I think they really portrayed it. That was one of the good movies that they made. Of course, it was made years ago. I know Cecil B. DeMille produced it. I think it was in the ‘50s, some time, it was done. And it’s a classic. And every year about Passover time they always play the full version of “The Ten Commandments.” So if it comes on, watch it again.

Ok, here’s the third sign. Frogs. Now if you’ve ever seen Egyptian frogs, you will know that these are just not the little pesky little things, but these are huge—about the size of the big head. Now, I just want you to picture this: the land filled with frogs. Here’s what’s going to happen. God said, Chapter 8:1, “And the LORD spoke to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh, and say to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Let My people go so that they may serve Me. And if you refuse to let them go, behold, I am going to strike all your country with frogs. And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly which shall go up and come into your house, and into your bedroom, and upon your bed, and into the house of your servants, and upon your people, and into your ovens, and into your kneading troughs. And the frogs shall come upon you, and upon all your people, and upon all thy servants” ’ ” (Ex. 8:1-4). So they stretched out the rod, and guess what? All these frogs started coming out of the river. Now imagine all the sound that goes with it. All of the croaking and the urping and so forth. So the magicians did the same thing, and they brought up frogs. So three times the magicians were able to counterfeit the miracle of God.

Now this got to Pharaoh. This did get to him for a little bit. Verse 8, “And Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, ‘Pray to the LORD that He may take away the frogs from me and from my people. And I will let the people go, so that they may sacrifice to the LORD.’ And Moses said to Pharaoh, I give to you the honor—when shall I pray for you, and for your servants, and for your people, to destroy the frogs from you and your houses so that they may remain in the river only?’ And he said, ‘Tomorrow.’ And he said, “It shall be according to your word so that you may know that there is none like the LORD our God” (vs. 8-10). So they departed. So his heart was hardened.

Now here comes the next one. God has a way of doing things that really gets your attention. Verse 16, “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Stretch out your rod, and strike the dust of the land, so that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.” ’ ” Now have you ever had lice? “And they did so, for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and struck the dust of the earth and it became lice in man and in beast. All the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.” And Rite Aid ran out of itching powder.

“And the priests did so with their secret arts to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there were lice upon man and upon beast. And the priests said to Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger of God.’ And Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not hearken to them; as the LORD had said” (vs. 16- 19). Now I wonder how they got rid of the lice? Who knows? It doesn’t say that they removed them, does it? It doesn’t say how long they endured. But I tell you what, they must of had a licekilling program there, you know, crushing them, killing them, combing them out of the hair, cleaning out all of the beds, cleaning off all the clothes, sweeping out the house, putting them up in buckets and burning them. You know, you’d almost have to just picture how this went on. It doesn’t tell us how long then went on.

But after that, we have the fifth sign, which is flies. Now have you ever been bothered by a fly? Imagine swarms of them. Have you ever seen pictures of people in Africa and their cows with all of these big huge flies? Well just keep that in mind when we read this here. “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Lo, he comes forth to the water. …” See, every day it was the obligation of Pharaoh to go to the river, because he was representative of god, in their pagan religion, and he would be there at sunrise. So He says, go forth to the water, “… And say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Let My people go, so that they may serve Me” (vs. 20). And Pharaoh probably thought, “We just got rid of the lice! You’re here again.”

Verse 21, “And if thou will not let My people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you, and on your servants, and on your people, and into your houses. And the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they are. And in that day I will cut off the land of Goshen, in which My people live, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, so that you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth. And I will put a dividing line between My people and your people. This sign shall be tomorrow.” So the Lord did so. Now it says, verse 24, “…And teeming swarms of flies came into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt…” (vs. 21-24). And Rite Aid ran out of fly spray. No way to get rid of them. The children of Israel suffered the first four so they would understand that God is behind it, and to let them know they better listen to God and not do as Pharaoh.

Now it didn’t take long for Pharaoh to react this time. When you have just one fly that goes like this, you know, doing its little square flight pattern right in front of you. And you kind of sit there and wait for it to land on you, and you just wait. All you do is end up slapping your face real hard. Or there’s a fly that’s coming down on your food. Now imagine swarms of flies. Just crawling everywhere. Just all over your hair, all over your arm, all over the walls. You can’t even walk across the room without squishing the flies that are there. And they’re into the cupboards and they’re eating everything, and everything is dirty. And there would have to be fly dung everywhere. I mean, let’s look at this realistic as how it happens.

“And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, ‘Go sacrifice to your God in the land.” “Now I’m not going to let you go out. You do it in the land. I’ll go halfway.” So much with common ground. “And Moses said, ‘It is not right to do so, for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God. Lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes and will they not stone us?” (vs. 25-26). No. They were probably animal worshipers, you know, just like the Indians in India today. The Hindus, they worshiped cows. And if a miracle happens with a cow, they run and they gather the urine and they gather the dung so they can put it on themselves, and they can wipe themselves with the manure, and they can anoint themselves with the urine. Now if the children of Israel were out there sacrificing to cattle and to sheep, you know, they would really raise a big stink.

So Moses said, “We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as He shall command us. And Pharaoh said, ‘I will let you go so that you may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness. Only you shall not go very far away. Pray for me.’ And Moses said, ‘Behold, I go out from you, and I will pray to the LORD that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow. But do not let Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the LORD.’ And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and prayed to the LORD” (vs. 27-30). So Moses went out, the flies went away, there remained not one the next day.

Now if you were the average Egyptian, and all these flies came in one day and they bothered you for however many days they had the flies, and then all of a sudden one day—phfft—they’re gone. Now you’d begin to think that Moses and Aaron had contact with God, a greater power than, you know, the sorcerers and the magicians. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. He didn’t let them go. So again, “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Go in to Pharaoh and tell him, “Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews, ‘Let My people go so that they may serve Me, for if you refuse to let them go, and will hold them back, behold, the hand of the LORD is upon your livestock in the field, upon the horses, upon the donkeys, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep, a very grievous plague.” [KJV, murrain means boils and blains.] “And the LORD shall separate between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt. And there shall nothing die of all that belongs to the children’s of Israel” (Ex. 9:1-4). Now, you see, God was also demonstrating to the children of Israel. And the thing is, as we will see, they didn’t remember these things. By the time they got seven days out of Egypt to the Red Sea, they were complaining to God already. So you see, many times—and this is a lesson for us—we need to remember the things that God has done, and not be complaining to God for the things that He hasn’t yet done.

Now let’s continue on here, verse 5, “And the LORD appointed a set time, saying, ‘Tomorrow the LORD shall do this thing in the land.” So He did it. “…And all the livestock in the field of Egypt died. But of the livestock of the children of Israel, not one died.” So Pharaoh’s getting desperate here. “And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the livestock of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go” (vs. 5-7). All right, so He put murrain, which is boils and blains, upon the cattle. And they died.

Now then, we have the seventh sign. So now it’s going come on the people. Now let’s pick it up here in verse 8. “And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Take to yourselves handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh. And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and it shall be a boil breaking forth with sores upon man and upon beast [now that’s the remainder of the beasts], throughout all the land of Egypt.’ ” So they did it. They sprinkled it to heaven. And here came the boils breaking forth. “And the priests could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were upon the priests and upon all the Egyptians” (vs. 8-11). Now one boil really lays you low. How many have ever had a boil? One. The worst kind of boil is called, what? A Carbuncle? Isn’t that the worst kind? And that is painful. Now I don’t know if they were covered from head to toe with boils, like Job was. But what a sight that must of been.

And verse 12, “And the LORD hardened heart of Pharaoh, and he did not hearken to them, even as the LORD had spoken to Moses. And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, “Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews, ‘Let My people go, so that they may serve Me; for I am going to send at this time all My plagues upon your heart, and upon your servants, and upon your people, so that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth” (vs. 12-14). Now we get the plagues. The signs were bad enough.

So here we have the whole purpose of Pharaoh, verse 15, “For now I will stretch out My hand, that I may strike you and your people with plagues, and you shall be cut off from the earth. And for this very purpose I have raised you up, to show My power against you, and that My name may be declared throughout all the earth. Do you still exalt yourself against My people that you will not let them go? Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as has not been in Egypt since the foundation of it, even until now!” (vs. 15-18). So he said, “Whatever [is] left of the cattle, you get them out of there and get them under cover, because they’re going to die.” And that’s what happened.

Verse 22, “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Stretch forth your hand toward heaven, so that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt…” Now can you imagine the weather reports today, if there were snow in Cairo? I mean, just snow. “…Upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt. And Moses stretched forth his rod toward the heavens. And the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire came down to the ground…” That’s probably because of the lightning. “…And the LORD rained hail upon a land of Egypt. And there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen where the children of Israel were, there was no hail” (vs. 22-26).

Now this time Pharaoh kind of almost got the point. I mean, what does it take sometimes to get people’s attention? Verse 27, “And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, ‘I have sinned this time. The LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Pray to the LORD, for it is enough. Let there be no more mighty thunderings and hail. And I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer” (vs. 27-28). Now I tell you what, after you hear hail and see lightning, and hear the thunder, and have that stacking up, and of course, you’re used to this warm climate. Now can you imagine what all of this hail and ice is going to do? It’s going to drop the temperature; you don’t have any clothes for cold weather. There you are, hail all round. Man. But he still didn’t quite get it.

Now verse 34, “And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders had ceased, he sinned still more and hardened his heart, he and his servants.” And so then, God said, Chapter 10, “Now I’m going to bring another plague.” Now you see, by the time all this is done, there is virtually nothing left in Egypt. Chapter 10:1, “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Go in to Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart and heart of his servants so that I might show these My signs before him, and so that you may tell in the ears of your son, and of your son’s son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them…” (Ex. 10:1-2). So there’s a time when we are to read and go through these things to know that it was the hand of God that did it.

“And Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, ‘Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews, “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go so that they may serve Me; for if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow will I bring the locusts into your country. And they shall cover the face of the ground so that one cannot be able to see the earth. And they shall eat the rest of that which has escaped, which remains to you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which grows for you out of the field. And they shall fill your houses, and the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, which neither your fathers, nor your father’s fathers have seen, since the day they were upon the earth until this day.’ And he turned himself and went out from Pharaoh. And Pharaoh’s servants said to him, ‘How long shall this man be a snare unto us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?’ ” (vs. 3-7).

“And Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, and he said to them, ‘Go! Serve the LORD your God. Who are the ones that shall go?’ And Moses said, ‘We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters. We will go with our flocks and with our herds; for we must hold a feast to the LORD.’ And he said to them, ‘Let the LORD be with you, for if I ever let you go with your little ones, watch out, for you have some evil purpose in mind. Not so! Go now you men…” Just the men. “I'm only going to let the men go.” Verse 11, “…‘And serve the LORD, for it is you who did desire it.’ And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence” (vs. 8-11).

So then what happened? Moses went out, raised his rod, and the locusts came. Covered the land. And I don’t imagine they were itty-bitty things. I bet they were huge, giant devouring things. And they ate everything. Verse 15, “For they covered the face of the whole ground so that the land was darkened, and they ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. And there did not remain any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.” Now here’s worldly repentance again. “Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste. And he said, ‘I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you. Now therefore I beg you, forgive my sin only this once, and pray to the LORD your God that He may take away from me this death only” (vs. 15-16). So they went out and did it. When they were gone his heart was hardened.

So then here comes another plague. Now this is quite a plague. You kind of really have to imagine this. So verse 21, “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand toward the heavens, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, so that one may even feel the darkness.’ And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven. And there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.” They could feel it. It would be kind of like this: have you ever been in a room with all the doors shut, and you turn out the light, and you can’t see anything? Now, three days, “…They did not see one another, nor did any rise from his place, for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings” (vs. 21-23).

Boy, Pharaoh, he really had it this time. “And Pharaoh called for Moses, and said, ‘You go serve the LORD. Only let your flocks and your herds be left…” “All of our cattle are killed, we want yours.” “…’Let your little ones also go with you.’ And Moses said, ‘You must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God. Our livestock also shall go with us. There shall not be a hoof left behind, for we must take from them to serve the LORD our God. And we do not know with what we must serve the LORD until we come there.’ But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. And Pharaoh said to him…” Now this kind of sounds like the last stand of Hitler, right? Very similar to it. “And Pharaoh said to him, ‘Get away from me! Take heed to yourself! See my face no more…” “I’m so important, you better not come in my presence and see my face any more lest you die!” Verse 29, “And Moses said, ‘You have spoken well. I will never see your face again” (vs. 24- 29).

And so then, God said, “I have yet one more plague,” the fourth plague. And this one is going to be the most devastating of all. So we’ll finish verse 11 here, and the next time we’ll pick it up with the Passover in Chapter 12. Let’s finish Chapter 11 here. “And the LORD had said to Moses, ‘I will yet bring one plague on Pharaoh…” This is the fourth plague. So you had seven signs and four plagues. “…And upon Egypt. Afterwards, he will let you go from here. When he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out here altogether. Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man ask from his neighbor…” Now this wasn’t borrow, this was spoiling. “…and every woman from her neighbor, articles of silver and jewels of gold” (Ex. 11:1-2). I imagine they were so frightened and fearful, that when the children of Israel went up and said, “I want your gold and I want your silver,” they said, “Here!” Lest they die. Or, lest more plagues come upon them.

“And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. And the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt…” Because, remember, at the beginning in Chapter 7, He says, “I have made you a god to Pharaoh.” So he was very great. “…in the sight of Pharaoh servants, and in the sight of the people. And Moses said, ‘Thus says the LORD, “About midnight…” Now, we’ll see that’s the 14th day of the first month. “…I will go out into the midst of Egypt. And all firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sits upon his throne, even to the firstborn of the slavegirl that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.” That is, which ever ones are left alive. “And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it anymore. But against any of the children of Israel not even a dog shall move his tongue, against man or beast, so that you may know that the LORD puts a difference between the Egyptians and Israel” (vs. 3-7).

Now let’s understand something very important here concerning the Church. God has put a difference between His people and the world. A very big difference. You are the people of God. You represent God and all that He is to everyone else in the world that comes in contact with you, you see. That’s very important to understand. And God has called you to be in His kingdom. Therefore, that’s why He says we’re not to be part of the world. We’re in the world, but we’re not of the world. Now, just like there could be no compromise with the children of Israel with the Egyptians in their dealings with God. So He puts a difference.

“And all these, your servants, shall come down to me and bow down themselves down to me, saying, ‘You and all the people that follow you—get out!’ And after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in flaming anger.” Boy. What a witness to Pharaoh. He says, “You get out of here and don’t see my face anymore.” And Moses just really said, said all these words, and then left in great anger. “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh shall not hearken to you so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.’ And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh. And the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not let children of Israel go out of his land” (vs. 8-10). And the reason God did that was to show the children of Israel that He was God, He alone could deliver them, He alone would fight their battles and overcome them. And if they trusted in Him, they would be released from their slavery.

Now we come to Chapter 12 and the Passover. So we’ll continue next time with the Passover and the children of Israel.

Scriptural References:

1. ) Genesis 22:15-18

2. ) Galatians 3;29

3. ) Matthew 13:49

4. ) Genesis 26:1-5

5. ) Galatians 4:28-31

6. ) Genesis 27:18-41

7. ) Genesis 28:1-4, 12-15

8. ) Genesis 48:13-20

9. ) Genesis 49:2-27

10. ) Deuteronomy 33:13-17

11. ) Exodus 3:3-6, 13-15

12. ) Exodus 4:29-31

13. ) Exodus 5:1-5, 20-23

14. ) Exodus 6:1-3

15. ) Exodus 7:1-6, 9-13, 20-22

16. ) Exodus 8:1-4, 8-10, 16-30

17. ) Exodus 9:1-18, 22-28, 34

18. ) Exodus 10:1-11, 15-16, 21-29

19. ) Exodus 11:1-10

Chapter Eleven

The Passover—Abraham, Isaac, Israel & Christ #3

This is number three, The Passover— Abraham, Isaac, Israel and Christ. And so this time let’s come to Exodus 12 and pick up where we left off last time and cover concerning the Passover with Israel—their first Passover. Now many of the details, as you know, have been written in the book The Christian Passover, which covers all the technicalities that we have concerning between the evenings, “between the setting times, between sunset and dark” and “sunset and morning,” so I won’t go into those in great detail. I will just mention them as we come to them so we have a greater understanding of it and then we will go through Exodus 16 just to really show beyond any shadow of doubt how God uses the terms at even, or between the evenings, or the Hebrew ben ha arbaim, meaning from sunset to dark.

First of all, let’s come to Exodus 12 and let’s begin here in verse 3 with the instructions that Moses gave to Israel for the Passover in Egypt. Now verse 3: “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them each man a lamb for a father’s house, a lamb for a house: And if the household is too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take according to the number of the souls, each one, according to the eating of his mouth, your shall count concerning the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish…” (verses 3-5). Of course this lamb is a type of Christ—without blemish. Continuing in verse 5: “…a male of the first year. You shall take it from the sheep or from the goats.” So it could be either one, from the sheep or from the goats. Verse 6: “And you shall keep it up until the beginning of the fourteenth day of the same month…” and that means until the beginning of it which is at sunset, which is actually sunset of the thirteenth when the sun goes down after sunset of the thirteenth, then it is the fourteenth day. “…

And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it between the two evenings.” Now I am reading from the King James. Everett Fox translates it as between the setting times, and the Hebrew is ben ha arbaim which means between sunset and dark. So between the two evenings is another rendering of it, meaning that there is the first evening being sunset and then the second evening being dark.

And here is what they were to do and we will see the reason for it. We need to understand something very important here concerning the Passover as it was with Israel and then let’s look at the Passover when we come to the one with Christ and then for us, because it has great significance and it shows God’s mercy and kindness and goodness in many, many ways.

Now let’s continue in verse 7: “And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and upon the upper doorpost of the houses in which they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread.” Now let’s understanding something very simple. The entire Passover day is an unleavened bread day. That is a one-day feast, as we will see. The Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days is a feast that follows the Passover. Now there is nowhere that you can find in the scriptures at all, anywhere, that it was allowable to eat leavened bread on the day portion of the Passover. Nowhere can you find that the Israelites did that, because at sunrise, they left their houses and assembled at Rameses. And let’s understand something, there were no McDonalds’ on the way. So you see they didn’t eat any leavened bread on the day portion of the Passover. Now we can be for sure here in verse 8 that they were to eat it with unleavened bread, that is the Passover, that they didn’t have any leaven in their houses. It was to be destroyed.

Now let’s continue on in verse 8: “…They shall eat it with bitter herbs. Do not eat of it raw, nor boiled at all with water…” It says, “sodden” in the King James but that means boiled. “…But roast with fire, its head with its legs, and with its inward parts.” That means the heart and the liver and the kidneys were put back into the cavity from where they took out the innards. Verse 10: “And you shall not let any of it remain until the morning. And that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire.” Now this means this—they were to eat it that night, anything that was left they couldn’t leave it until morning, but they should burn it with fire. Now God had a specific reason and purpose for doing that.

- Number one, it was total destruction of the Passover lamb or the Passover kid.

- Number two, this means that the children of Israel could not take a tooth or a bone or a hoof as a good luck charm from the Passover lamb or kid.

God wanted it totally destroyed. Now you can read in the Passover book, we actually went through and found out how long it would take to burn all the skin, the intestines, and the bones and so forth in fire, and it took quite a while to burn it to ashes, and it also helped substantiate that they didn’t leave their houses until morning.

Now let’s continue on verse 11 here: “And this is the way you shall eat it: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in trepidation…” Now “…eat it in haste…” is an unfortunate translation, because that gives people who believe in the fifteenth, the impression that they were to eat it in haste and hurry up and leave as soon as they ate it. Well if they did that, they had no opportunity to burn what was left, and it takes quite a few hours to burn all of those bones especially the teeth. So what we are dealing with here is this—the Hebrew means you shall eat it in trepidation, because of all the events which would take place, not in haste, [but] in trepidation. And of course, if you are eating it in trepidation, the chances are you are going to eat it quite quickly too, but not in haste that you can hurry and leave. Now finishing verse 11: “…it is the LORD’S Passover.” And that’s what’s important to understand, brethren, it’s not the Jews’ Passover. What we do is the Christian Passover as Jesus modified the instructions in the New Testament. Never was this the Jews’ Passover. It is the LORD’S Passover, and here’s why. “For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night,” And we know that it was midnight. “…And will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.”

Now this becomes profound and important when we understand that God has judged all the pagan religions and gods of this world, in this Passover, and for us with the Passover of Christ. Does this not tell us that we should not go out and combine any of the things of the religions of this world—be it Judaism, be it mainstream Christianity, or whatever into any of the practices that we do because God has already judged them, hasn’t He— no doubt about it, and that’s why later He told the children of Israel that they were not to add anything or take away from what He gave them. They were not to go to the people of the land and say “Well how do you worship your gods, and this is a good idea and let’s do so unto our God.” God said, “You shall not do so unto the LORD your God.”

So there is a specific reason for judging the gods of Egypt, and that is to show that they are not gods, that they are impotent, that they have no power. They are the imaginations of men and demons and are inspired by Satan the devil, and have nothing to do with the true God, nothing to do with making life right, but only having to do to keep people in the captivity, in the bondage of sin to Satan the devil and his ways. Now we need to understand that and apply that to also the Christian Passover, and the New Testament, and the New Covenant and what we are to do.

Now let’s continue on in verse 13: “And the blood shall be a sign to you upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you.” Now this is a type of the blood of Christ. His blood causes God to pass over our sins, so we have the remission of sins that are passed. And He says, “…I will pass over you. And the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:3-13).

Now let’s understand something here concerning the blood and the firstborn—the firstborn of all the children of Israel, man and beast, were spared, because of the blood that they put on the doorposts and the lintels. So the firstborn became a tremendous blessing to all the children of God. Whereas the firstborn of Egypt, man and beast, became a tremendous curse because God executed His judgment not only against the gods but against the firstborn, and this literally destroyed Egypt. And by the time the children of Israel left Egypt beginning the next night, Egypt was left in destruction— there was hardly anything left. The pride and power of Egypt had been absolutely broken with the death of the firstborn of man and beast.

Now let’s understand something for us. Hold your place here in Exodus 12 and let’s come to Hebrews 12. There is something that we need to realize, and we need to understand in all humility, in all understanding of God’s Word, with thanksgiving, but not to get us all lifted up, not to make us feel as though we are superior to other people, because we are not. But just as the sparing of the firstborn for the children of Israel in Egypt was a blessing, and of course then that blessing extended to all the rest of the children of Israel who were not the firstborn; but also we have a parallel here, because we are the firstfruits and we are the church of the firstborn. Now let’s come to Hebrews 12:22: “But you have come to Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem; and to an innumerable company of angels; to the joyous festival gathering; and to the church of the firstborn…” (Hebrews 12: 22-23).

So just like the firstborn being spared during the Passover that the children of Israel had in Egypt, so likewise, the firstborn who are right now begotten and those who have the Spirit of God and living today are a blessing to this entire world. Now the world doesn’t know that, but we need to take that with all humility and understanding and thankfulness because of God’s mercy and love. It shows His mercy, not any greatness that we could attribute to ourselves, but just in the same manner (let’s come back here to Exodus 12) in the same manner that God destroyed the firstborn in Egypt and executed His judgment against all the gods of Egypt, so likewise in our lives in the things that we do, all the ways of the world, that’s why Paul said, “The world is crucified unto me.” And so brethren, when we come to the Passover we need to understand that that needs to be our attitude, in gratefulness and thanksgiving for what God has done. This ought to give us a lot of inspiration and encouragement and strength and power in the Spirit of God to do His will.

Now let’s continue on back here in Exodus 12:14: “And this day shall be a memorial to you. And you shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it a feast as a law forever.” And that’s what we are to do, and it is a memorial. The Passover is a memorial, and that’s why when we come to the New Testament, Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

Now then, we come to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because the Feast of Unleavened Bread follows immediately the next day. Now verse 15, let’s read it: “You shall eat unleavened bread seven days; even the first day you shall have put away leaven” as it should read. It’s past tense. Now Everett Fox in The Schocken Bible translates it: “You shall have already” or, “already on the first day…” that is as the first day comes “…you are to get rid of leaven from your houses” meaning that by time the first day comes, you shall have put away leaven from your houses. It has to be out and gone, and then of course, the Passover day being an unleavened bread day—the whole day—and that’s why I have in The Christian Passover book what Josephus wrote. He says that “we observe the feast for eight days of unleavened bread.”

Now that does not mean that we are having a feast of unleavened bread for eight days, it means this: We have two feasts

1. ) a memorial feast of the Passover which is unleavened bread,

2. ) 2) we have continuing seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread

and both of these feasts have different meanings, which we will see. That’s why they are both unleavened, but we will see the meaning of it in just a minute. Continuing verse 15: “And in the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you.” So whatever is necessary on a holy day, whatever work is necessary to provide the meal because it’s a feast day, you go right ahead and do it. Verse 17: “And you shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread” Now here is the reason for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. “… For in this very same day I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall keep this day” That is the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. “…In your generations as a law forever” (Exodus 12:14-17).

Now the meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is that that’s when God brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, at least it was the beginning of it, and that’s why we have “the night much to be remembered.” We have already covered that in the part that we did with Abraham.

Now continuing verse 18: “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at sunset,” Now at even here, comes from the Hebrew baerev which means at sunset and sunset of the fourteenth begins the fifteenth. “…You shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at sunset.” Sunset then which ends the twenty-first day and begins the twenty-second day. So you have the seven complete days. Verse 19: “Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses, for whoever eats that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger or born in the land. You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.” Now that is clear as can be. So therefore, for seven days we will do as God has said and we will eat unleavened bread.

Now during the Feast of Unleavened Bread as we know from the New Testament, leaven is a type of sin, a type of human nature—that which sours and puffs up. Now then, let’s continue on a few more verses here. Verse 21: “Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them...” Now he is giving them the detailed instructions. “ ‘Draw out and take you a lamb for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip in the blood that is in the bowl, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood in the bowl. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until sunrise.’ ” Now morning [KJV] here in the Hebrew means: sunrise. Now Everett Fox translates it: “Now you are not to go out, any man from the entrance to his house, until daybreak.” That’s why the blood was put on the lintels and the side posts—to show that they were not to go out of the entrance of their house, the door of his house until daybreak. Verse 23: “ ‘For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians. And when He sees the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. And you shall observe this thing as a law to you and to your children forever.

“And it shall be when you have come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as He has promised that you shall keep this service.’ ” And that’s in the fourteenth day of the first month. “ ‘And it will be, when your children shall say to you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’ ” Now this means they were doing the domestic killing of the lambs otherwise the son wouldn’t be able to know what was going on. You can read all about the domestic and the temple Passover in The Christian Passover book. Now here is what they were to answer, “ ‘Then you shall say, “It is the sacrifice of the LORD’S Passover…’ ” Now this also verifies that it was a domestically killed lamb or kid “ ‘… Who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our houses.’ And the people bowed their heads and worshiped. And the children of Israel went away and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did” (Exodus 12:18-28).

Now you know the rest of the story. At sunrise, and by that time all the remainder that was left over would be burned the skin, the guts, the bones, and so forth of the Passover lamb or kid. There was to be nothing left of it. And at sunrise which was the signal for them to be able to go out of the door of their houses so that no one would leave early and no one would leave late. I mean you can look out and you can see when sunrise takes place. Then they were to gather at Rameses in verse 37 we find the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses. Now they had to come from their houses and their houses were in the land of Goshen. They assembled during the day portion of the fourteenth, spoiling the Egyptians along the way, and they left that night and you can go back and go over the tape that we did concerning the Passover with Abraham that God made with him— showing that this night, “night to be remembered” that He brought them out of the land.

Now let’s just cover a little bit in Exodus 16 where God again, gave the Sabbath to the children of Israel. Now Exodus 16 we find that the children of Israel were there on the fifteenth day of the second month which was a weekly Sabbath, and the fifteenth day of the second month then, they had Sabbath services, and God gave them a special message. Here is what God told them. I am going to read to you from Everett Fox’s Schocken Bible [Volume 1] here. And what we are going to do is see how he translates this so we can understand. Now let’s pick it up here beginning in verse 4: “And the LORD said to Moses: ‘Here, I will make rain down upon you bread from the heavens, the people shall go out and glean, each day’s amount in its day, in order that I may test them,’ ” That is prove them, “ ‘…whether they will walk in my instructions or not. But it shall be on the sixth day: when they prepare what they have brought in, it shall be a double-portion compared to what they glean day after day. Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel: ‘At sunset’ ” Now since this is the Sabbath day message, what does sunset do? Sunset ends the Sabbath day, correct? Yes. “ ‘At sunset you shall know that it is the LORD that brought you out of the land of Egypt, at daybreak,’ ” which is morning. “ ‘…You will see the Glory of the LORD when he harkens to your grumblings against the LORD—what are we, that you grumble against us? And Moses said: ‘Since the LORD gives you flesh to eat at sunset,’ ” ba erev, He didn’t give it between noon and sunset, now why did God not send the Quail until sunset? Well, God is Lawgiver, and God does not break His own laws—very simple. How could He teach the people to keep the Sabbath if He Himself broke it?

Now let’s continue on here. “ ‘Since God gives you flesh to eat at sunset and at daybreak bread to satisfy (yourselves); since the LORD listens to your grumblings which you grumble against him—what are we: not against us are your grumblings, but against the LORD.’ ” And that certainly is true in many, many cases. You know people accuse God because things don’t go the way they want. Well, God is going to make it go the way He wants. So what you need to do is yield your life and yourself to Him and understand that all things do work together for good for those who love God.

Now let’s come down here to verse 11: “The LORD spoke unto Moses saying: ‘I have heard the grumblings of the children of Israel—speak and say to them: Between the setting-times…’ ” That is ben ha arbaim, between sunset and dark. “ ‘…You shall eat flesh, and at daybreak you shall be satisfied with bread, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’ Now at sunset a horde-of-quail came up and covered the camp.” Well now let’s understand something. Sunset ends the day, correct? No doubt about it. So God did not send the quail until after sunset. Now verse 12 says, “Speak unto them saying, ‘Between the setting-times you shall eat flesh…’ ” (Everett Fox’s Schocken Bible Volume 1, Exodus 16:4-8 and 11-12).

Well now something is very important that we need to understand—you cannot eat the flesh until it arrives, and it didn’t arrive until sunset. So therefore, here is scriptural proof that ben ha arbaim or between the setting-times, or between the two evenings is after sunset, ba erev, and there is absolutely no doubt about it, no wiggle room concerning it—no tradition can change it because these are the words of God which He spoke to Moses.

Now then, let’s come to the New Testament, and if you want to just put the tape on pause and grab your Harmony, go ahead and do that because I am going to be reading mostly from the Harmony here in covering concerning the Passover— Jesus Christ and the Passover and how it relates to us. So you can go ahead and maybe put the recorder on pause and go ahead and get your Harmony.

Now there is just one thing I need to summarize concerning the Passover of the children of Israel in Egypt—The Passover pictures and commemorates, as we saw there in Exodus 12, the passing over of the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt to spare the firstborn. That was the meaning of the Passover for the Old Testament. The meaning of the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread beginning with the “night to be remembered”, is that God took them out of the land of Egypt. So we have two distinct things.

Now be sure and read in The Christian Passover book about how and why and when the Jews went began taking the Passover on the fifteenth, and I think you will be surprised. What they are calling the Passover is really the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and you need to ask the question, and I think we need to really begin to understand this: When have the Jews ever had anything really right? And Jesus, soundly, roundly, absolutely condemned the traditions of the Jews in Mark 7.

Now we also need to understand that in the New Testament Jesus Christ changed the symbols, but He didn’t change the day. He kept the literal fourteenth Passover, it was not a pre-Passover meal nor some sort of bread and wine ceremony taken from Jewish tradition. He kept the Passover.

So let’s begin the New Testament here. Now if you have the Harmony of the Gospels it will be on page 241 and let’s begin with the account in Mark 14:1. Now this helps establish very clearly and shows that in the New Testament they understood, New Testament time during Jesus’ days, they understood that the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were two different feasts. Now let’s begin in verse 1 of Mark 14: “Now after two days was the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread, and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might stealthily lay hold of Him and kill Him. But they said, ‘Not during the feast, lest there be a riot among the people.’ ” And then we come to where Jesus was anointed with the alabaster flask of ointment and you have all the account there concerning what happened. Now let’s come to page [243 and] 274 and let’s continue on with Mark 14 and verse [13]. Now remember that Jesus said that with desire, He desired to eat this Passover with them before He suffered. And He told the disciples and gave them the instructions He said, “...You shall meet a man carrying a pitcher of water; follow him. And whatever house he shall enter, say to the master of the house that the Teacher says, ‘Where is the guest chamber, where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?’ ” (Mark 14:13-14). Jesus ate the Passover. Now He had to finish the Old Testament Passover, so in the Passover that Jesus had, the last one that He had was this: they did have the lamb, but then after eating the meal He instituted the New Covenant symbols of the bread and wine. But before that took place, as we will see, there was a footwashing, and the footwashing has great and tremendous meaning. Now I’ve got a whole chapter devoted to that in The Christian Passover book.

Now let’s come in the Harmony to page 274. Let’s begin right at the top of the page we’ll take Matthew 26:20: “And after evening had come, He sat down with the twelve.” Now Mark 14:17 reads: “Now after evening had come, He came with the twelve.” Now remember that ben ha arbaim means between the two evenings. The first evening is sunset and that’s when they were killing the lambs and that’s when the disciples said to Jesus “Where do You desire that we prepare your You to eat the Passover?” Now the second evening is this: at the beginning of dark. So what we are dealing with here in Matthew 26:20 and Mark 14:17 is this very clearly: He came at the beginning of darkness, not at sunset, and the apostle Paul talks about in the night that Jesus was betrayed, so the Passover is to be taken not right after sunset, but it’s to be taken when it is getting dark. That’s when it should begin.

Now let’s come down to the section here concerning footwashing, which is the first part of the New Testament Passover. Now since we will cover this in the Passover ceremony service, I’m not going to go through the whole account of it, but we’ll just cover the meaning here. Let’s come down here to John 13:12: “Therefore, when He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and had sat down again, He said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me the Teacher and the Lord, and you speak rightly, because I am. Therefore, if I, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also are duty-bound…’ ” And the Greek there means under obligation “ ‘…to wash one another’s feet;’ ” Now why are you under obligation to wash one another’s feet? Because Christ said so.

Now let me tell you the first leaven that leavens getting rid of the Passover is this (based on the meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread “a little leaven leavens the whole lump”): the first thing they do is get rid of footwashing. And when they get rid of footwashing—if you are talked into getting rid of footwashing, then you have taken a step away from Christ and you are walking away from your part with Him, because Jesus said that if He didn’t wash the feet of the disciples, they would have no part with Him. So likewise, if you do not wash one another’s feet, you have no part with Christ. You need to think on that. That’s profound, you need to understand it. See God does not give us complicated things to do. He doesn’t give us a fancy religious ritual to do.

Now the Roman Catholic Pope has a perverteds ceremony of footwashing which he does on the eve before Easter, and he has twelve seminar students sitting on chairs which are elevated and they are all dressed in their robes and white and finery, and there are prayers and incense and the mass and the whole thing and then the pope comes down and he has a special server pouring pot where he pours water over the feet of the seminar students and so then he thinks he is fulfilling what Christ has said. That is perverted nonsense. Now let’s understand something important here that is true—the only time that you can wash one another’s feet is when you partake of the Passover, and that is in the night of the fourteenth day of the first month, being the month Nisan according to the calculated Hebrew Calendar.

Now here is also another reason why we are duty-bound to wash one another’s feet, verse 15: “ ‘For I have given you an example, to show that you also should do exactly as I have done to you. Truly, truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his lord, nor a messenger greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them’ ” (John 13:15-17).

Now let’s stop and think about this for just a little bit. If you know [the commandments of Christ] and don’t do them, you are not blessed. And if you are not blessed, are you then cursed? Well you need to think about that. Now let’s also understand something else here, that if anyone rejects footwashing on the Passover night, they are setting themselves above Christ because He said, “The servant is not greater than his lord.” If you think that you are Christ’s, then you are His servant, correct? And if you say we don’t have to do footwashing, you are setting yourself above Christ, are you not? So you need to think about those things. Brethren, what we do is for eternal life. These things are profound—they are important. They are absolutely necessary and required according to the commandments of Christ.

Now then the rest of that section, we have the account of Judas Iscariot taking the sop and then going on out and betraying Jesus.

Now let’s come to page 276 in the Harmony, and let’s pick it up here beginning in verse 19 of Luke 22: “And He took the bread; and after giving thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body, which is given for you. This do in the remembrance of Me.’ ” Now you see the Passover was a remembrance of the children of Israel’s firstborn being spared in the land of Egypt. The Passover is a memorial of the death of Jesus Christ for us. Whose death then, gives us the forgiveness of sin or passing over of our sins and we who are the firstborn church. So we have the parallel there.

Now let’s pick it up here in the section 1 Corinthians 11:23 (page 276) “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed…” So it shows that they took it at night. He took bread. Verse 24: “…And after giving thanks, He broke it, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body, which is being broken for you. This do in the remembrance of Me.’ ” Now we are to remember everything about Christ, and Christ’s entrance into our life begins with His death. And since God came in the flesh and died, that is the greatest thing that God could do and that’s why we show forth and remember his death every Passover until He comes.

Now let’s come to the section there 1 Corinthians 11:25 on Page 277: “In like manner, He also took the cup after He had supped, saying, ‘This is the cup of the New Covenant’ ” The new covenant the word is the same: diatheke which means covenant, not testament.) “This is the cup of the New Covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in the remembrance of Me’ ” Now often means: year by year until He comes, because you can’t take the Passover on any other day than the Passover day and you take it the Passover night. So this cannot be misconstrued, as the world’s religions do, that they take it whenever they want on Sunday, as many times as they want, and they call it “Communion”, “the Eucharist”, “the Lord’s Supper”, and Paul made it very clear that when you come together, this is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. Yet people insist on calling it “the Lord’s Supper”, and it just shows that they don’t know how to understand the scriptures the way that they ought to, because if Paul says it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, it means you don’t call it “the Lord’s Supper”, and you don’t eat the Lord’s Supper. The truth is the Lord ate His supper and that was on His last Passover night before instituting the symbols of the bread and wine.

Now let’s continue on here 1 Corinthians 11:26: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you solemnly proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.” And if it is a memorial, which it is, and if you are announcing and portraying the Lord’s death until He comes, this means that the time that you eat it is on the Passover and as often as you do that, year by year on the Passover until He comes, you are announcing and portraying the Lord’s death.

Now then we have something that we need to do and should all do by the time Passover comes which is this: verse 27: “For this reason, if anyone shall eat this bread or shall drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, he shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.” Meaning that your sins remain on your head. Now as I covered concerning forgiveness of one another, remember that if you don’t forgive from the heart each one your brother’s sins, then God is going to lay back upon you your sins, and therefore you are keeping the Passover in an unworthy manner, and you are guilty of the body and blood of Christ. Now verse 28: “But let a man examine himself...” (1 Corinthians 11:26-28). Now that’s what we need to do— before the Passover, examine ourselves, confess our sins to God and as I said in the message on forgiveness, you go get squared around with your brother or sister before Passover and then, “…and let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup accordingly because the one who eats and drinks unworthily is eating and drinking judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord.” Which is the forgiveness of sin to put you in right standing before God. And you are under obligation then, to forgive your brothers and sisters their sins that your sins may be forgiven.

Now then, we have an argument taking place [at Jesus’ last Passover]. We’ll just summarize this section. I’ll just say this: If they had the argument as to who was to be the greatest, don’t you think they had an understanding about what they were to do? Don’t you think they had an understanding about what was to come? You know after all, Christ ordained the twelve apostles didn’t He? Yes. Now in this particular case, at this time Judas had already left to betray Christ. Then He gave the example that whoever is the greatest is to be your servant. We are not to be like the lords of the Gentiles and the religious leaders of the Gentiles who exalt themselves and rule over people. No brethren, anyone who is a true minister and servant of God is going to teach you to love God, to love each other, and that your relationship is directly between you and God the Father through Jesus Christ, and that you have direct access to God the Father in heaven above by just getting on your knees and saying, “Our Father.” Now you see that’s why it’s so important. That’s why it is so profound. So let’s examine ourselves and make sure that we put everything under the blood of Christ and take the Passover in a worth manner, not being the worthiness which we consider worthy, but the worthiness of Christ imputed to us because of God’s mercy and love and kindness and forgiveness— and that’s what it needs to be.

Now since most of the rest of it here has to do with the Passover that we will take and we will cover these scriptures for the Passover ceremony, let’s come ahead to the time when Jesus is betrayed by Judas. Let’s come to the section now, let’s begin on page 286 and let’s continue here in the account of the gospel of John. Now John 18:1: “After saying these things, Jesus went out with His disciples to a place beyond the winter stream of Kidron, where there was a garden into which He and His disciples entered. And Judas who was betraying Him, also knew of the place because Jesus had often gathered there with His disciples. Then Judas, after receiving a band and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with torches and lamps and weapons. Jesus, therefore, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forward and said to them, ‘Whom are you seeking?’ They answered Him, ‘Jesus the Nazarean.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I AM.’ And Judas, who was betraying Him, was also standing with them. But when He said to them, ‘I AM,’ they went backward and fell to the ground.” And I have often wondered—I wonder what those men who came out to arrest Christ and take Him back, I wonder what they felt when they were knocked to the ground backwards by the sound of the words “I AM”? Now you understand that that is the name of God “I AM THAT I AM” and Christ was showing His power as God in the flesh at this particular point. So I guess it didn’t bother them, because they got up and so I suppose while they were lying on the ground He asked and said to them, verse 7: “ ‘Whom are you seeking?’ And they said, ‘Jesus the Nazarean.’ Jesus answered, ‘ I told you that I AM. Therefore, if you are seeking Me, allow these to go their way’; so that the saying might be fulfilled which He had said, ‘Of those whom You have given Me, not one of them have I lost’ ” (John 18:1-9).

Then we have a very interesting thing. John 18:10, page 287: “Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And the servant’s name was Malchus.” Now it is very interesting that his name was put in here by John isn’t it? And it’s also very interesting that John at this point, names Peter as the one who had the sword whereas Mark, who was the scribe for Peter when he wrote of the account—now let’s look at the column over here Mark 14:47. He didn’t name Peter. No, he said that “…a certain one of those standing near drew out a sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.” And I just imagine, you know, I’ve often wondered because Jesus then reached out and touched his ear and it was healed—I’ve often wondered what Malchus thought all that night. There he was standing there watching the things going on with Jesus and what the chief priests and scribes were doing, and what He was going through and I imagine he would just reach up and touch his ear just to make sure it was still there, because you know if you have your ear cut off, that’s quite a thing. And so to have it instantly healed by Jesus touching it, I just wonder what he thought all that night, and what he thought after he heard that Jesus was resurrected from the dead, because surely, he heard it because he was one of the servants of the high priest.

So they took Him, bound Him, led Him away. All the disciples forsook Him and fled away. Now let’s come here to Mark 14:51, page 288, “Now a certain young man was following Him, having a linen cloth wrapped around his naked body; and the young men seized him, but he escaped, leaving the linen cloth behind, and ran from them naked” (verse 52). Now this is Mark writing about himself, because he was probably at this time just a teenager. Later he was to serve the apostle Paul and Barnabas and Peter.

Now let’s continue on in John 18, page 288, John 18:13: “And they led Him away to Annas first; for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. Now it was Caiaphas who had given counsel to the Jews that it was profitable for one man to perish for the people.” Now then remember, that Jesus told Peter that he would deny Him three times, which he did. We’ll see this account here. Now let’s continue on in the account of John 18:15: “But Simon Peter and the other disciple followed Jesus.” Now the other disciple was John—Simon Peter and John. “And that disciple was known to the high priest,” in other words, he was acquainted with him, “…and entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest. But Peter stood outside at the door. Then the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in.” Verse 18: “Now the servants and the officers had made a fire, for it was cold; and they were standing there warming themselves, and Peter was also standing and warming himself.” And I just wonder what Peter was thinking because, you know, Malchus might spot him. What was he going to do, because Malchus was one of the servants of the high priest.

Let’s continue on here on page 289 in the account in John 18:19: “Then the high priest questioned Jesus concerning His disciples and concerning His teachings. Jesus answered him, ‘I spoke openly to the world; I always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, where the Jews always assemble, and I spoke nothing in secret. Why do you question Me? Ask those who have heard what I spoke to them; behold, them know what I said.’ ”

Now John 18:22 which I have here at approximately 2:00 a.m. in the morning. “But after He said these things, one of the officers who was standing by struck Jesus on the face, saying, ‘Do You answer the high priest in that way?’ Jesus answered him, ‘If I have spoken evil, testify of the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me?’ Then Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest” (John 18:13-24). So they brought Him there.

Now let’s come over to continue the account in the gospel of John. Now you can follow along with the other accounts and you can read those. Just take the time to go ahead and do so. Now let’s come here to the account in Luke 22 on page 291 and verse 56: “And a certain maid saw him…” (that is Peter) “… sitting by the light; and after looking at him intently, she said, ‘Now this one was with Him.’ But he denied Him, saying,” (that is denied Christ) “saying, ‘Woman, I do not know Him.’ And after a little while, another saw him and said, ‘You also are one of them.’ But Peter said, ‘Man, I am not.’ ” Verse 59: “Now after about an hour had passed, a certain other man strongly affirmed, saying, ‘In truth, this one also was with Him, for he is indeed a Galilean.’ And Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.’ And immediately, while he was yet speaking, the cock crowed. Then the Lord turned and looked at Peter;” Just looking right across however far it was away. “…and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows, you shall deny Me three times.’ ” And he did.

Now let’s come to page 292, John 18:28: “Now then, they led Jesus from Caiaphas…” who was the high priest or the chief priest “…to the judgment hall…” Now what is the judgment hall? Well, that’s the place where Pilate was, and the judgment hall was in Fort Antonia. Now Fort Antonia was Roman property and that becomes important for us to understand and to understand the next statement. “…But they did not go in…” That is, all of the scribes and Pharisees who brought Jesus there, and the priests and so forth. “…They did not go into the judgment hall, so that they would not be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover.” Now this shows two things—number one: The Jews ate the Passover on the night of the fifteenth and they had a temple Passover. Now this is not all of the Jews, because perhaps the greatest number of Jews were keeping the domestic Passover, and they had already eaten it. But here we’re talking about those who kept the temple Passover. Now why would they consider themselves being defiled going into the judgment hall which is in Fort Antonia being Roman property? Well it would be the same as going to another country. And Numbers 9 says that if you are in another country that you take the Passover in the second month. So they would be defiled, number one, by going into the presence of Gentiles which defiling could not be done away within a twenty-four hour period, and there was not time for a twenty-four hour period to take place, a whole day, and to bathe at evening, and so both of those have a factor as to why they didn’t go in, that they might eat their Passover on the night of the fifteenth. So they sent Jesus into Pilate, they did not go into the judgment hall.

Now let’s continue here on page 294, John 18:29: “Therefore, Pilate came out to them and said, ‘ What accusation do you bring against this man?’ Verse 30: “They answered and said to him, ‘If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.’ ” Now you see there is absolutely no proof in that statement whatsoever, but it’s a claim, “If He were not, we wouldn’t have done it. We are so good and have righteous judgment and can discern good from evil. Now Pilate, you know us, that we are good people. Now do you think that we would have delivered Him up if He were not an evil-doer?”

So then Pilate, let’s read the account now in Luke 23:5, “But they were insistent, saying, ‘He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all of Judea, beginning from Galilee even to here.’ And when he heard Galilee named, Pilate asked whether the man were a Galilean; and after determining that He was from Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, since he also was in Jerusalem in those days. And when Herod saw Jesus, he rejoiced greatly; for he had long been desiring to see Him because he had heard many things about Him, and he was hoping to see a miracle done by Him.” Now this is Herod Antipas who was the one who killed John the Baptist. So he wanted to know. Now verse 9: “And he questioned Him with many words; but He answered him nothing.” Why should He answer the one who killed John the Baptist? Verse 10: “All the while, the chief priests and the scribes stood vehemently accusing Him. Then Herod and his soldiers treated Him with contempt; and after mocking Him, he put a splendid robe on Him and sent Him back to Pilate. And on the same day, Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, because before there was enmity between them” (Luke 23:5-12). Isn’t it interesting—allies in evil. And I wonder how many allies there are in evil who hate each other’s guts, but they are allies and become friends for a mutual evil cause. All you have to do is read the daily paper, you’ll find out who they are.

Now let’s continue on in the account in John 18:31, page 295, “Then Pilate said to them, ‘You take Him and judge Him according to your own law.’ But the Jews said to him, ‘It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death’; so that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which He had spoken to signify by what death He was about to die.” Verse 33: “Then Pilate, returned to the judgment hall and called Jesus, and said to Him, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Do you ask this of yourself, or did others say it to you concerning Me?’ ” Verse 35: “Pilate answered Him, ‘Am I a Jew? The chief priests and your own nation have delivered You up to me. What have You done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, so that I might not be delivered up to the Jews. However, My kingdom is not of this world.’ ”

Now let’s just stop here and understand something. This is why we are not to get involved in straightening out this world through the political process, and we are not to fight the authorities of this world because we belong to the kingdom of God and the kingdom of God is not yet here on the earth, and Christ is not yet here. It is not time for us to fight. When Christ returns, then will we fight, and we will be guaranteed that we will win! Do you think for one moment, that all of the political infighting that is done by those that are against abortion that they are going to turn back abortion? Do you think that all of the political infighting and things that are done to try and restore America to “the Constitution once delivered” is going to bring that back? And you need to stop and think and also realize and understand this: Even if those in America could get back to “the Constitution once delivered,” and if there were enough time, please understand this—In two hundred years, we would again be exactly where we are today.

Now you see, who is the god of this world—Satan the devil. So if you are out there getting involved in these things, please understand very profoundly and importantly—though the United States may have the best constitution of any government on earth, it is still a kingdom of this world— and being a kingdom of this world, Satan the devil has infiltrated and taken [it] and has made it what it is today. So it is a kingdom of Satan the devil, not of God. The only reason we have the peace that we have is because the prophecies have yet to be fulfilled, and the preaching of the gospel must yet still be done, and so we have this time of peace and security and prosperity—not because of any goodness upon our part, but to give us the time to accomplish and do what God wants us to do. We need to fight the fight of faith, and we need to grow and overcome. We need not to get involved in fighting the fights of this world because the Kingdom of God is not of this world, and we are not of this world!

Now let’s come back to the account here in John 18:37: “Pilate therefore answered Him, ‘Then You are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘As you say, I am a king. For this purpose I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, that I may bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’ Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?’ And after saying this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, ‘I do not find any fault in Him.’

Now let’s continue the account here in John 18:39, page 295: “And it is a custom with you that I release one to you at the Passover. Do you then desire that I release the King of the Jews to you?’ ” Verse 40: “But they all shouted again, saying, ‘Not this one, but Barabbas.’ Now Barabbas was a robber’ ” (John 18:31-40). And the other account also shows he was a murderer.

Now let’s come to page 297 the account here in John 19:1: “Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged Him.” That’s with a “Cat-o’-ninetails” and it is by His stripes of scourging that we are healed.

Let’s come to Isaiah 53 and let’s see the prophecy of what Jesus was going to go through that was given here by Isaiah in Isaiah 53. Let’s pick it up here in verse 3: “He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were (our eyes or) our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has borne our infirmities, and carried our sorrows: yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” That’s what they said when they taunted Him. Verse 5: “But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities;” And all the bruisings that He took with that “Cat-o’-nine-tails” and by His stripes we are healed. Now we need to understand that. “…The chastisement of our peace was upon him;” In other words, in order for us to have peace with God and not receive the chastisement of God upon us, that chastisement came upon Christ. “… And with His stripes we ourselves are healed” (Isaiah 53:3-5).

Verse 6: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned each one to his own way…” And boy that’s sure true of what it is with the church of God today. Everyone has a doctrine—doctrine, doctrine, who has a doctrine—opinion, opinion, who has an opinion—church, church, who has a church—web site, web site, who has a web site? I mean you know everyone has gone his own way. That’s why unless you follow the way of the Lord, unless you follow the scriptures, then you are going your own way. You need to stop and ask the question: What are you really going to have if you insist on your own way? Have you ever thought of that?

Now what if your own way is contrary to the scriptures or your own doctrine, or your own pet theories or your own whatever? What are you going to receive? Even Jesus said that, “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord have we not prophesied in your name? Have we not cast out demons, and have we not done many wonderful works?’ ” And Jesus will profess to them, “I never knew you. Depart from Me you who work lawlessness.” So you see, if you have your own way, you have the wages of sin, which is death.

So you see Jesus was beaten and scourged and crucified to cover the sins of us going our own way, but that we may repent and go God’s way. And after all brethren, is that not what the Passover is all about? Is not the renewing of the New Covenant all about living the way of Christ and Christ in us in the New Covenant? Is not the footwashing also giving us a part with Christ, also renewing our baptism, also showing that we are to walk in the way of the Lord and not our own? Now you need to think about it and understand it. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned each one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

Verse 7: “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted; yet He opened not His mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before its shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and with His generation who did consider...” Well that’s the preaching of the gospel. That’s what declares it. “…that He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of My people He was stricken. And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death; although He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet the LORD willed to crush Him and He has put Him to grief: You shall make His life an offering for sin.” So that our sins could be forgiven. And God sent Christ in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh and condemned human nature in the flesh and the crucifixion of Christ shows the crucifixion of human nature. And now you know why Christ said that, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father, and mother, … and brothers and sisters, (lands), and, in addition, his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not carry his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26-27).

Because what God has done is so great and so fantastic and so marvelous that He would come and die for the sins of His creation. And the purpose then is that after the resurrection that there would be the children of God and that’s what the next portion of this verse 10 in Isaiah 53 is about. “…He shall see His seed,” That’s us brethren—the seed of God the Father. “…He shall prolong His days,” That is through the power of the resurrection and live forever. “… And the purpose of the LORD might prosper in His hand. He shall see the travail of His soul. He shall be fully satisfied.” That is God the Father will see the travail of the soul of Christ as it were and be satisfied, that is the sacrifice which brings satisfaction for the forgiveness of sins. “ …By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many; and He shall bear their iniquities.” Verse 12: “Therefore I will divide to Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He has poured out His soul to death:” And he did and we will see that. “… And He was counted among the transgressors; and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” So quite a thing—I want you to understand about Isaiah 53 and the crucifixion of Christ and what it has to do with the Passover, what it has to do with our eternal life, and that’s why brethren, that’s why the Passover and renewal of the New Covenant is so profound and important.

Now let’s come back to John 19, page 297 in the Harmony, and let’s continue on. Verse 2: “And after platting a crown of thorns, the soldiers put it on His head; and they threw a purple cloak over Him, and kept on saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ And they struck Him with the palms of their hands.” And it records in another place that they spit at Him. “Then Pilate went out again and said to them, ‘Behold, I bring Him out to you, so that you may know that I do not find any fault in Him.’ Then Jesus went out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak; and he said to them, ‘Behold the man!’ ”

Now let’s continue on page 298 here in John 19:6: “But when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried aloud, saying, ‘Crucify Him, crucify Him! Pilate said to them, ‘You take Him and crucify Him, because I do not find any fault in Him.’ The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law, and according to our law it is mandatory that He die, because He made Himself the Son of God.’ ” Verse 8: “Therefore, when Pilate heard this saying, he was even more afraid. And he went into the judgment hall again, and said to Jesus, ‘Where have You come from?’ But Jesus did not give him an answer. Then Pilate said to Him, “Why don’t You speak to me? Don’t You know that I have authority to crucify You, and authority to release You?’ Jesus answered, ‘You would not have any authority against Me if it were not given to you from above. For this reason, the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.’ ” Verse 12: “Because of this saying, Pilate sought to release Him; but the Jews cried out, saying, ‘If you release this Man, you are not a friend of Caesar. Everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.’ ” Political blackmail—same old tricks that are always used in politics today, right? Yes. Verse 13: “Therefore, after hearing this saying, Pilate had Jesus led out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called the Pavement; but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. (Now it was the preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth hour.)” That’s about six o’clock in the morning because John is writing here of Roman time. “…And he said to the Jews, ‘Behold your King!’ But they cried aloud, ‘Away, away with Him! Crucify Him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ ” Now you need to understand how demonic that saying was. That’s the same as saying we have no king but Satan the devil. And Jesus said of those Jews that their father was the devil. (John 19:6-15).

Now let’s continue on in the account in John. You can read the other accounts there in the Harmony in Matthew, Mark and Luke, page 300, verse 16: “Therefore, he then delivered Him up to them so that He might be crucified. And they took Jesus and led Him away. And He went out bearing His own cross to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.”

Now let’s come here to John 19:23, page 301, “Now the soldiers, after they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, a part for each soldier, and the coat also. But the coat was seamless, woven in one piece from the top all the way throughout. For this reason, they said to one another, ‘Let us not tear it, but let us cast lots for it to determine whose it shall be’; that the scripture might be fulfilled which says, ‘They divided My garments among them, and they cast lots for My vesture’ ” (John 19:23-24.) Now let’s understand something here. Can God make carnal people do things to fulfill His will and His scripture and His Word and they not even know it? Those soldiers didn’t know that. They didn’t know that God was causing them to do that, but God did, didn’t He?

Now John 19 and verse 19, page 301, “And Pilate also wrote a title and put it on the cross; and it was written, ‘Jesus the Nazarean, the King of the Jews.’ As a result, many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city;” It was on the Mount of Olives just across from the temple. “…and it was written in Hebrew, in Greek and in Latin. Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, ‘Do not write, “The King of the Jews”; but that He said, “I am King of the Jews.” ’ Pilate answered, ‘What I have written, I have written.’ ” Quite a thing, quite a statement, I mean this is something brethren, you need to realize that Jesus went through all of this for us.

Now then He was mocked. Let’s take the account here on page 302 in Luke 23:35: “Now the people stood by observing, and the rulers among them were also deriding Him, saying, ‘He saved others; let Him save Himself, if this is the Christ, the chosen of God.’ And the soldiers also mocked Him, coming near and offering Him vinegar, and saying, ‘If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.’ ” Then of course, the one of the two that were crucified with Him, Jesus told him that, you know, “ ‘I tell you today, you shall be with Me in paradise’ ” (Luke 23:35-43).

Now let’s come over here to the last of Jesus’ life on the cross. “And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried.’ ” Let’s take the account here in Matthew 27:46, page 304. “…Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ That is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’ ” Now that is so profound, brethren, to understand that Christ had to bear all of our sins alone, and that’s why the darkness covered the earth as it were, from the sixth hour until the ninth hour, because God the Father had to leave Christ alone for that period of time and Christ, because He had such a close relationship with God the Father throughout His entire life felt as though that He were forsaken, and that fulfilled the scripture that we find in Psalm 22—“My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” Verse 47: “And some of those who were standing there heard and said, ‘This one is calling for Elijah’ And immediately one of them ran and, taking a sponge, filled it with vinegar and put it on a stick, and gave it to Him to drink. But the rest said, ‘Let Him alone! Let us see if Elijah comes to save Him.’ Then another took a spear and thrust it into His side, and out came water and blood. And after crying out again with a loud voice, Jesus yielded up His spirit.” And it says there in the account in Luke that “after crying out with a loud voice, Jesus said, ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ And when He had said these things, He expired” (Luke 23:46). Or that is died.

Now then something really took place, this was something. Now back here to the account with Matthew 27:51 “Then suddenly the veil of the temple was ripped in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks were split, so that the tombs were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had died, were resurrected after His resurrection, and they came out of the tombs. Then they entered into the holy city, and appeared to many.” Now continuing on in Matthew, verse 54: “Then the centurion and those with him who had been keeping guard over Jesus, after seeing the earthquake” because you can see an

earthquake “…and the things that took place, were filled with fear, and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’ ” What a testimony! The Jews rejected Him, the scribes, the Pharisees, the chief priests and the religious leaders rejected Him, but here is a Gentile, Italian centurion guard who said, “Truly, this one is the Son of God!’ ”

And so brethren as we go to take the Passover, let’s remember what Jesus did for us. Let’s remember all the things that Jesus went through, that we can come before God and have our sins forgiven, that we can be partakers of the New Covenant through His body and through His blood, and so that we may have eternal life. So let’s keep the Passover with this in mind and rededicate ourselves in the New Covenant to love God with all our heart and mind and soul and being and to serve Him in those things that please Him.

Scriptures Referenced:

1. ) Exodus 12:3-13

2. ) Hebrews 12:22-23

3. ) Exodus 12:14-28, 37

4. ) Exodus 16:4-8, 11-13 (SB)

5. ) (Harmony page 241) Mark 14:1-2

6. ) (Harmony page 274) Matthew 26:20, Mark 14:17, John 18:13:12-17

7. ) (Harmony page 276) Luke 22:19, 1 Cor. 11:23

8. ) (Harmony page 277) I Corinthians 11:25-28

9. ) (Harmony page 286) John 18:1-12

10. ) (Harmony page 288) Mark 14:51-52, John 18:13-16

11. ) (Harmony page 289) John 18:18-24

12. ) (Harmony page 291) Luke 22:56-61

13. ) (Harmony page 292) John 18:28

14. ) (Harmony page 294) John 18:29-30, Luke 23:5-12

15. ) (Harmony page 295) John 18:31-40

16. ) (Harmony page 297) John 19:1-2

17. ) Isaiah 53:3-12

18. ) (Harmony page 297) John 19:2-5

19. ) (Harmony page 298) John 19:6-15

20. ) (Harmony page 300) John 19:16-17

21. ) (Harmony page 301) John 19:23-24, 19

22. ) (Harmony page 302) John 19:20-22, Luke 23:35

23. ) (Harmony page 303) Luke 23:36-43

24. ) (Harmony page 304) Matthew 27:46-50

25. ) (Harmony page 305) Matthew 27:51-54

Chapter Twelve

The Passover Exodus and Trusting God

Now the apostle Paul told Timothy that he was to preach in season and out of season, be urgent in it, and so this is the season of the Passover and Unleavened Bread. So let’s take a look and see some parallels of what God has done in our lives in rescuing us from the world, just how He had to intervene in the lives of the children of Israel when they were in Egypt to bring them out of slavery and out of captivity. And we will also answer a few questions as we go along as to the timing of the Passover that they had and so forth. Let’s come to Exodus 10 please.

Now God performed great miracles, all the plagues and everything that God has the power to do and use, and isn’t it interesting that God uses His creation to show His power. You know that is why God has created certain things so magnificently, that we can understand that only by the power of God and by His hand could things come into existence.

Exodus 10, and let’s look at the last plague before the plague of the firstborn, and there are some good spiritual lessons for us here. Verse 21: “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand toward the heavens, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, so that one may even feel the darkness.’ ” So this is a tremendous darkness that came upon them. It’s like a dark, thick fog you could feel. Now I don’t know how many have been in a mine or like in Carlsbad Caverns or whatever; I haven’t been there, but I hear tell that when you get down below, you have all the lights show the way down there, and then they turn them off and they tell you put your hand in front of your face, see if you can see your hand. You can’t see anything. And when I read this and the darkness that was there which could be felt, it reminds me that it had to be some kind of really powerful darkness that God brought upon them.

Now also, think of this: What is the epitome of spiritual darkness—Egypt, and what is the warning that God has always given? Don’t go back to Egypt. And what is Jerusalem called in the end times? In Revelation 11, it is called Sodom and Egypt. So you see what we are seeing today is that the world is going back to Egypt in many, many ways. You see, Egypt was a land of many religions, and it was a land of ecumenism—your god is ok as long as you say my god is ok, and I accept you if you accept me. And this is exactly where the world is headed.

Now they had kind of a scare with the Pope Benedict XVI, because they thought for sure that he was going to turn the clock back. Well as it turned out, he is not going to turn it back. He is going to continue with the same things that they are doing, ecumenism with separated brethren, and dialogue with other religions, and he did not take (is what we read and it’s here in the San Jose Mercury) he did not take the oath against modernism. Now that means that he is going to proceed with modernizing whatever they need to do to make Catholicism appear acceptable to people in the world. And that’s all going back to Egypt. And so God wanted everyone to know that the darkness of Egypt is a spiritual lesson for us. So verse 22: “And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven. And there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.” Now remember, some time previous God separated out the land of Goshen where the children of Israel were living, so none of the plagues would come upon them. So this didn’t come upon them. They had light, but the Egyptians had darkness, and there is also a lesson in that. And here is how dark it was, verse 23: “They did not see one another, nor did any rise from his place, for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.” Now there is also a lesson for us in this. Even though we live in a world of darkness, God gives us spiritual light—only in this case, not just in the land of Goshen, but wherever we are. And God also is showing, and Christ said, “I am the light.” So Christ is the one Who gives us the way and shows us how to do it.

So here is what happened, just like it is in the world. How many times have good intentions come along and then people go back on them. Well, this was the story of Pharaoh. God gave him an opportunity, and then he hardened his heart, so then God hardened his heart even further. So it was kind of like a wrestling match between God, Moses, and Pharaoh. So then, verse 24: “… Pharaoh called for Moses, and said, ‘You go serve the LORD. Only let your flocks and your herds be left’ ” Because ours were all killed. “ ‘…Let your little ones also go with you.’ And Moses said, ‘You must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings so that we may sacrifice to our God. Our livestock also shall go with us. There shall not be a hoof left behind, for we must take from them to serve the LORD our God. And we do not know with what we must serve the LORD’ ” (or that is, how we are going to serve Him) “ ‘until we come there.’ But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. And Pharaoh said to him, ‘Get away from me! Take heed to yourself! See my face no more,’ ” That’s an important one as we will see a little later. You can mark that. “ ‘…For in the day you see my face you shall die.’ And Moses said, ‘You have spoken well. I will never see your face again’ ” (Exodus 10:21-29).

So then God gave him some instructions here. Now let’s look at this because this becomes quite a thing here. Exodus 11:1: “And the LORD had said to Moses, ‘I will yet bring one plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward, he will let you go from here. When he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out from here altogether.’ ” Verse 2: “ ‘Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man ask from his neighbor…’ ” Now that should be spoil, not borrow. They weren’t going to pay it back. They took it when they left Egypt. Continuing verse 2: “ ‘…And every woman from her neighbor, articles of silver and jewels of gold.’ ”

So we see here that with this they had approximately two weeks before they left in being able to get some of the riches. So they left with wages, as God says a little later on, for all their slavery that they had for all the years that they were there. Verse 3: “And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. And the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants, and in the sight of the people.” Verse 4: “And Moses said, ‘Thus says the LORD…’ ” Now here is the last thing that he is saying to Pharaoh. “ ‘…About midnight…’ ” God says, “ ‘…I will go out into the midst of Egypt. And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sits upon his throne, even to the firstborn of the slavegirl that is behind the mill; also the firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more. But against any of the children of Israel not even a dog shall move his tongue, against man or beast,’ ” Now this shows God’s protection and God’s blessing, and this is why when we have troubles and difficulties and trials, we need to trust God and trust His promises that He gives to us because He says that He will. And the reason He did was this: “ ‘…so that you may know that the LORD puts a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.’ ”

Now today we can take that between the church and the world. There is a difference. Then he tells Pharaoh “ ‘And all these, your servants…’ ” that were standing there with him when he gave the message to him “ ‘…shall come down to me…’ ” and we will see that happen “ ‘ …and bow down

themselves to me, saying, “You and all the people that follow you—get out!” And after that I will go out.’ And he went out from Pharaoh in flaming anger.” And that means in the Hebrew white hot. He was really angry. Verse 9: “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh shall not hearken to you so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.’ And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh. And the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land” (Exodus 11:1-10).

Now then, God told them what they were to do. He told them how to prepare for the Passover, the tenth day of the first month, select a lamb. There is a parallel that happened in the time of that with Christ. Then on the tenth day, and when you have the Passover in the middle of the week, the tenth day of the month falls on a weekly Sabbath. And so they were to select a lamb on the tenth day of the first month, and they were to keep it up and they were to have it according to the number of persons in the household which if a household was too small, then they would share the lamb or the kid goat that they had with their neighbor. And He gave specific instructions for it here in verse 5, Exodus 12: “ ‘Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male…’ ” Now here we have a type of Christ that is true as I mentioned, even though the timing of the New Covenant Passover comes out of the timing of Genesis 15, we still have all the types showing that the true Messiah is going to come, and this is part of it. “ ‘…without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it from the sheep or from the goats.’ ” So you see, not all goats are bad. There are good goats. And the good goats are independent. So I guess we are good goats, even though we are counted as sheep.

I remember my first experience with goats that was up in Boise and I went out to visit this family and they lived up in the back hills behind Boise and to drive up there was really a trick because it was one of these roads that went up, but down the middle of it was an eroded part where when it rained, it left a trench. And so you had to be careful how you were going up. So I got up there, and they had this big tree, and I thought since it was a pretty warm day, I would park under the tree. So here I’m in the house and sitting there and talking and visiting. It was right after I had just got up to Boise and I wanted to meet everybody in the church. So all of a sudden the man got up, ran outside, and I jumped up to see what was going on and here was a goat on top of my car eating the leaves off the tree. And he knew as soon as he heard it, he knew exactly what it was because that’s why he didn’t park his cars under there. So I went out there and he said, “Well, you better move your car.” So you see goats know how to get it when the going is tough, and they figure out what they need to do regardless of the circumstances. So here is a case of good goats. So if we’re goats, let’s hope we’re good goats.

Verse 6: “ ‘And you shall keep it up until the beginning of the fourteenth day of the same month.’ ” Now since the day begins at sundown, when does the fourteenth begin? At sundown. And if you have read the Passover book, you will know that soon as the sun goes down below the horizon, it starts the time period called between the two evenings— ben ha arbayim which is between the two evenings, or as the Schocken Bible has: between the setting times. So they were to “ ‘… keep it until the beginning of the fourteenth… And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it between the two evenings ’ ” (Exodus 12:1-6.)

And this is where so many people just go off the deep end, because they say that it’s in the evening. Well why can’t it be the evening beginning of the fifteenth? Well, because then you would have kept it beyond the “until,” that’s why. So this was quite a spectacular thing. Now I don’t know, but I have often envisioned this: Whatever their little huts were where they were living in their quarters out there and some of the slave quarters that they now have unearthed around the Sphinx and the great pyramids I can just envision their community and they had someone right up on top of one of these houses posted at different locations wherever the Israelites were, and I imagine that he was watching the sun go down, so that as soon as the sun went down, bam, and the fourteenth began— he gave the signal and all of the lambs were killed at the same time. So this was a spectacular event. Now when you understand that there may have been as many as 1.8 million Israelites at that time, this was no small, little task. It was a big task, and it was a huge event, and it was something that God was using to show the people His power, His forgiveness, and His mercy, as well as, since they were going to leave the land of Egypt, they needed to look to Him.

So He gave them the instructions what they should do verse 7: “ ‘They shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and upon the upper doorpost of the houses…’ ” which is called the lintel, “ ‘…in which they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night…’ ” which means then if you kill it, when does it have to be? If it’s on the fourteenth, then it’s when the fourteenth begins. “ ‘…eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread.’ ” That’s why it’s an unleavened bread day, and if you read the account, you can find nothing in there where they had any leavened bread at all. “ ‘They shall eat it with bitter herbs. Do not eat of it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with fire, its head with its legs, and with its inward parts.’ ” Which means that they had the heart and the liver and I don’t know if the kidney was still there or not, but at least the heart and the liver. Obviously you can’t roast it with all of the innards in it because if you tried to, the innards would explode and you wouldn’t have anything to eat. %%%

Now Exodus 12:10: “ ‘And you shall not let any of it remain until the morning. And that which remains until the morning you shall burn with fire.’ ” So anything that was left, they weren’t allowed to go beyond the morning, but anything that was left, they were to burn. Verse 11: “ ‘And this is the way you shall eat it: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it…” not in haste, but “…in trepidation.’ ” You see a lot of people read that in haste in the King James and misunderstand what it means. They think it means “Well, they were eating it right then, eat it in a hurry and they left at midnight.” Well, we are going to see that the instruction was, they were not to leave their houses until morning, or at sunrise. This means in trepidation. “ ‘…It is the LORD’S Passover.’ ” And that’s where we get the name of it. The Passover— because God passed over the houses where the blood was on the doorposts and the lintel, and spared the firstborn of all the children of Israel.

Verse 12: “ ‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night…’ ” on which day—the fourteenth. “ ‘…And will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast.’ ” Now what is this telling us? And what is this important for, not only for the Israelites then, but for us today? That God gives us protection against all the satanic powers in the world, and God has the victory over them. And the satanic powers are those powers that are behind the idols and gods of Egypt.

Now I remember reading an account of a man who went to India to get enlightened, and he said he didn’t think too much about idols until his third trip over there. Then he said when he was meditating on the idol, all of a sudden the power came upon him. So it was the power behind the idol or all the demonic powers that are behind all the other gods. Continuing verse 12: “ ‘…And I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt.’ ”

Now this is why God will never compromise and give permission to any man, any where, at any time, to go ahead and combine the true worship of God whether it was the worship of God in the Old Testament at that time; or the worship of God in the New Testament today, to combine the religions of this world with God’s way. And that’s why the whole thing of the ecumenical movement that is in the world is going to lead everybody back to Egypt, spiritually speaking.

Now notice verse 13: “ ‘And the blood shall be a sign to you upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be a memorial to you. And you shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it a feast as a law forever.’ ” Now we’re going to come back to the other verses here in just a minute (Exodus 12:7-14).

Now let’s come over here to verse 21: “Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them,” Now here is Moses giving God’s instructions to the elders who went on back and gave the instructions to all the households, so this had to take place well before the tenth day of the first month. So everyone would know, and everyone would be ready and they would select that lamb on the tenth day of the first month. So it all had to be coordinated. So here is the coordination that went on with it. “ ‘…Draw out and take a lamb for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip in the blood that is in the bowl, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood in the bowl. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until’ ” —midnight: Now you see when you misread it, it makes you understand that’s not what he said, but some people claim that, right? Yes. “ ‘…shall not go out at the door of his house until the sunrise…’ ” And the Hebrew there is boqer which means sunrise. Now here is the reason. Verse 23: “ ‘For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians. And when He sees the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.’ ”

So God Himself, personally oversaw this. The destroyers may have been angels. It talks about an angel in another place, but God was the one Who personally did this because it was a confrontation between God and Pharaoh and the gods of Satan that were there in Egypt. So this was God’s personal business. And he says, “ ‘…You shall observe this thing as a law to you and to your children forever.’ ”

Now here is the difference between the Passover day and the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Now we’ll see what the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread means, though they are one day following the other, they have different meanings because they are different days and you can’t combine the two together.

Verse 25: “ ‘And it shall be when you have come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as He has promised that you shall keep this service. And it will be, when your children shall say to you, “What does this service mean to you?” ’ ” Now they would obviously ask the question because this was to be a domestic sacrifice at their houses and they were to reenact it, and they were to take some of the blood and put it on the lintel and the side posts where their houses were when they got into the land. “Then you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’S Passover, Who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our houses.’ And the people bowed their head and worshiped. And the children of Israel went away and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did.”

Now if they did what was commanded, what did they do? They selected the lamb on the tenth, they killed it at the beginning of the fourteenth, they put the blood on the side posts and on the lintel, they roasted it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, they burned the remains by morning, they didn’t leave their houses until morning. Now think of this. At midnight what happened? God smote all the firstborn of the land of Egypt didn’t He? Now that didn’t take place all at once, I’m sure it took place as God oversaw the destroyer going in there and it was kind of like a wave that was coming along, and the screams and the cries because the firstborn were dying. Now I don’t know how many of the children of Israel could hear the sound of it, but I tell you what, if you heard any sound of these people crying and screaming because of the death of the firstborn, do you think you would go out of your house before sunrise, when you were told to stay in your house until sunrise? I don’t think so. Who would guarantee that you wouldn’t be killed? God didn’t give any guarantee unless you stayed in the house, which is a very interesting thing too, isn’t it? If we stay right with God, He guarantees that He will be with us, right? Same thing today. So that’s what happened (Exodus 12:21-28).

Now let’s come back here for the Feast of Unleavened Bread which follows it, verse 15. Passover day is one day. The first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is another day. Now we’ll see the meaning of the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread which begins on the fifteenth. “ ‘You shall eat unleavened bread seven days; even the first day you shall have…” as it should read “…put away leaven out of your houses; for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.’ ” In other words, you lose contact with God. “ ‘And in the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you. And you shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for in this very same day have I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall keep this day in your generations as a law forever.’ ”

So we have two feasts back to back, don’t we? The Passover commemorating passing over— the Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures beginning to leave Egypt. Now when they left their houses, after they left them in the morning which is on the day portion of the fourteenth, where did they go? They went to Rameses. Now we figured that for some of them it was as much as 15 or 20 miles away. So it would take them all day to get there. Other ones who lived in the southern part of Goshen would be able to get to Rameses sooner, but that is where they assembled to leave. So the meaning of the Passover is passing over and the meaning of the first day of Unleavened Bread which begins at sunset and is the beginning of the fifteenth, and that’s when they began to leave Egypt. Obviously, they didn’t get out of Egyptian territory for some time after that, but if you are on your way with God’s protection, it is as good as done.

Now then, he reiterates it here concerning the Feast of Unleavened Bread, verse 18. Now let’s come over here to verse 29. Now we’re going to see these two back to back. Verse 29: “And it came to pass at midnight…” is God on time? Does He keep His word? Yes, He does. “… the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the captive that was in the prison, also all the firstborn of livestock.” Such as were still alive. Verse 30: “And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.”

Now here is a fulfilling of a prophecy two weeks before. Verse 31: “And during the night he sent word to Moses…” Now let’s understand that means he sent a message. Some say that Moses got up and went to Pharaoh. That’s not what Moses told Pharaoh. Let’s come back here to Chapter 11 and let’s see it. Exodus 11:8: “ ‘And all these, your servants, shall come down to me and bow themselves down to me, saying, ‘You and all the people that follow you—get out!’ ” That’s what he told them would happen. He wasn’t going to go back and see Pharaoh again because he said “I will never see your face again.” So here they came down, he sent a message to Moses and Aaron by night. Now we know this is after midnight, how long after midnight this took place, we don’t know. And he said, “Rise up! Get away from my people, both you and the children of Israel! And go serve the LORD, as you have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone. And bless me also’ ” (Exodus 12:29-31). After all this devastation, I need a little blessing. (Laughter)

Now what was the signal for the children of Israel to leave their houses? Now just figure this: However large the community was where the children of Israel were in the land of Goshen, would they have known when the messengers came down to Moses? Would they have even known it, except those right close by? Of course not. So they would not be able to determine how soon after midnight they could leave if like some of them said, they left their houses at midnight. Well, God said don’t go out ‘til morning. Now what’s the signal for everybody that everyone can understand? When you look out and you see the sun coming up—Sunrise. Everybody left their houses at sunrise and began to go and assemble down at Rameses.

Now let’s continue on here, verse 33: “And the Egyptians were urging the people, that they might send them out of the land quickly, for they said, ‘We are all dead men.’ ” That is, if we don’t get them out of here, God’s going to kill all of us. Verse 34: “And the people took their bread before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses.” Now notice, all the way through they obeyed didn’t they? Yes. “…And they asked for…” or that is spoiled “…articles of silver, and articles of gold, and clothes from the Egyptians.” That was just thrust upon them. The Egyptians probably figured this: God put it in their minds, “If we give them these things, we’ll save our lives. Give them whatever they want.” So they were loaded down. Can you imagine leaving Egypt with 200 years of wages? (The Spanish translation is: “they asked and they were given.” That is probably more correct.)

Verse 36: “And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and they granted their request, and they stripped the Egyptians. And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses…” So they all had to get to Rameses. Now in the Passover book I cover all of this and I’ve got a map showing where Rameses is, showing where the land of Goshen is, and when you’re on foot, you’re walking; it’s going to take some time. So they all gathered there. Now notice and they “… journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, the men being about six hundred thousand on foot, apart from the little ones.” And that means men and women there probably together besides the children. Verse 38: “And also a mixed multitude went up with them, and flocks and herds, very much livestock. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not stay, neither had they prepared any food for themselves for the journey.” So they didn’t take all their goodies.

Now let’s look at this. If we are blessed, whoever those of us who are going to go to a place of safety if we live long enough to see that, God is not going to have us pack up our Petra box, so we can tell the angel, when the angel comes to take us to a place of safety, “Opp! Wait a minute. I gotta get my Petra box!” (Laughter) No, God will provide everything, whatever is necessary.

Now notice verses 40 and 41 are the key that unlocks the timing of Genesis 15. “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, it was even on that same day…” Now that’s comparing something four hundred and thirty years earlier is it? Otherwise why mention the four hundred and thirty years, because that’s referring to what happened in Genesis 15 and why mention the selfsame day in reference to something that occurred four hundred and thirty years before? The reason is because it’s the same day of the year and of the month that occurred with the promises given to Abraham in Genesis 15. “…it was even on that very same day, all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.” Now then, let’s read verse 42, because some say that in observing the “Night Much to be Observed”, we are adding something to the Word of God. Well, did we sneak into your house and put it in your Bible last night? (Laughter) No, of course not. “It is a night to be much observed to the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt…” when did they come out? We’ll see. The night after the Passover which then was in the fifteenth day of the first month, and the Passover was the fourteenth. “…This is that night of the LORD to be observed by all the children of Israel in their generations.” Because as it says, He brought them out of the land of Egypt. In other words, they started their trip out. We find that back in Chapter 12 and verse 17, we read that. Now we see where it is fulfilled that it happened that way (Exodus 12:32-42).

Now let’s come down here to Chapter 13, and let’s see what this day commemorates and what Moses told them to remember. And I think the movie The Ten Commandments with the Exodus, I think they did a very good job on the timing and showing it, and I thought it was interesting that the Jews who gave the timing in the production of it, had it right. None of them went out of the houses until morning, they assembled at Rameses, and they left Rameses just as the fourteenth was ending and the fifteenth was beginning and as you will read in the Passover book, it took quite a while for all of them to get out of Rameses, because when the children of Israel left, they couldn’t all start marching at the same time and get out at the same time. That’s why they came out by night. Now I’m sure that this is what Moses said as they were ready to leave and I think that the movie, The Ten Commandments has it right. He stood up there and they actually read the words from the Bible, verse 3: “And Moses said to the people, ‘Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for the LORD brought you out from this place by the strength of His hand. There shall be no leavened bread eaten. On the day you are going out, in the month Abib.” So when you follow it through correctly, there are two days. And that follows along with what was given there in Genesis 15 (Exodus 13:3-4).

Now let’s come to Numbers 33, because this gives another bit of information for us. Let’s begin right here in verse 1: “These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who went forth out of the land of Egypt, with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the command of the LORD. And these are their journeys according to their starting places. And they set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the next day after the Passover day, the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians,” Verse 4: “While the Egyptians were still burying all their firstborn” They were probably burying them as quickly as they could on the day portion of the Passover day when the Israelites were coming down to Rameses. So they buried all their firstborn “…whom the LORD had stricken among them. The LORD also executed judgments upon their gods. And the children of Israel set out from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth.” And then it tells the rest of the beginning of their journeys and the crossing of the Red Sea (Numbers 33:1-5).

One question—let’s come to Leviticus 23 and let’s ask a question here because this becomes important. Now the question is this: where did God ever say to combine the fourteenth and the fifteenth into a one-day observance? Nowhere, that’s correct, nowhere. Just like, where did God ever say that He abrogated the Sabbath, the seventh day and instituted the first day? Nowhere. Now here in Leviticus 23 and then we’ll look at Numbers 28 for just a minute and we’ll see the difference here. Verse 4: “ ‘These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons.’ ” God doesn’t give us an option. “ ‘In the fourteenth day of the first month between the two evenings,’ ” ben ha arbayim, the beginning of the day, “ ‘…is the LORD’s Passover.’ ” However, later you can combine them together. That’s the missing verse. Don’t they wish it was there? (Laughter) No it isn’t there. Verse 6: “…And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. You must eat unleavened bread seven days.’ ” Then the first day, the seventh day and so forth. OK, it doesn’t say that (Leviticus 23:4-6).

Now let’s go to Numbers 28 and here is a key, a profound key. And sometimes you get something so simple or it is so simple that you overlook what it is really telling you. Now he starts out the first part of Numbers 28, you have the morning and the evening sacrifice, and it gives everything that needed to be there. Then verse 9 he has the Sabbath day, which is a special sacrifice in addition to the daily sacrifice. Then we have verse 11, in the beginning of your months you have sacrifice there, and it lists all the things that would be there and that’s in addition to the daily sacrifice.

Now come down here to verse 16. Now what He is doing, He is giving the temple sacrifice for all the days, beginning with the daily sacrifice, the evening and the morning sacrifice, the monthly sacrifice, the Sabbath sacrifice. Now verse 16 of Numbers 28: “ ‘And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the LORD.’ ” Now what does this verse tells us—by its conspicuous absence. God never required a temple sacrifice on the Passover day other than the morning and the evening sacrifice, or if it was on the Sabbath, the Sabbath sacrifice in addition. There is no Godauthorized temple sacrifice of Passover lambs on the Passover day at the temple. So this simple little verse wipes out all of the traditions of the Jews— one fell swoop (Numbers 28:16-18).

Now notice verse 17: “ ‘And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast. Seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten.’ ” The first day holy convocation, you shall sacrifice and then on every day. Verse 24 it says, “ ‘In this way you shall offer daily, seven days, the bread of the sacrifice made by fire for a sweet savor to the LORD. It shall be offered beside the continual burnt offering and its drink offering. And on the seventh day you shall have an holy convocation. You shall do no servile work’ ” verse 18. So there you have it. One simple verse tells you God never required the Passover lamb to be sacrificed at the tabernacle or the temple, which then is a later addition that the Jews added. Now that should help answer all the things concerning some of the “recycled heresies”—that’s what they are.

Now there was an article in the latest journal which said that God makes no difference between the fourteenth and fifteenth. I don’t know what Bible she is reading.

Now let’s look at some more things. Let’s come to Psalm 105 and let’s see here a little summary of what we have just gone through and what we need to be doing. Now, when they left Rameses, they had to follow God and they had to trust God. And God put them through circumstances to test them. Now let’s pick it up here in verse 36: “He also struck all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength. He also brought them out with silver and gold; and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.” It’s amazing. God prepared all of Israel though they didn’t know it beforehand that there wasn’t one feeble person and all those who were old had the strength and energy to walk and to go on the exodus—an amazing feat isn’t it? Does God prepare ahead of time, even though we don’t know that God is doing it—of course. “Egypt was glad when they departed….” I guess! “…For the fear of them had fallen upon them. He spread a cloud for a covering…” Now you’re not going to go wandering out in the desert if the sun is going to be beating down on you. So not only did God prepare them so there would be no feeble ones among them when they left, but He also gave them a cloud covering. And on a real hot day, aren’t you glad when a cloud comes by if you’re out there working? Well, walking is work. Hiking out of Egypt and in the desert was work. So He put a cloud over them. “…And fire to give light by night.” That’s an amazing thing. God did this so that they would have trust in Him—that they would look to God. Verse 40: “The people asked, and He brought quail, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.” Even in the wilderness, God is able to provide. Nothing is impossible for God. “He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river. For He remembered His holy word unto Abraham His servant.” So their exodus goes back to His promise to Abraham. The Passover that we have today, goes back to Abraham. And just like the children of Israel were brought out of the land of Egypt on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, that pictures our coming out of the world too.

Verse 43: “And He brought forth His people with joy, and his chosen with singing, and gave them the lands of the nations; and they inherited the labor of the people….” So therefore, when they harvested, the sheaf of the firstfruits, because as you know from the tapes we’ve sent out, the letter that I sent out concerning when we have a Passover on the Sabbath day, that the day following the Passover is the day of the Wave Sheaf offering and explained all of that through Joshua the 5th chapter because God specifically said in Leviticus 23, “And you shall eat neither bread, nor parched grain, nor green ears until the same day, until you have brought an offering to your God. [you come into the land and when you harvest its harvest, cut the wave sheaf] (Lev. 23:14).” Then you can eat the grain. So Joshua 5 recorded that they did and what happened on the day after they did that? The manna ceased. No more bread from heaven. Now I imagine they were happy that they had other things to eat. Nevertheless, that’s all part of the covenant that God gave in the promise to Abraham.

Now notice why He did this, “…they inherited the labor of the people” verse 44, now verse 45. Why? Why has God called us out of the world? Remember in the final prayer that Jesus gave there in John 17:16. He said, “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” See He calls us out of the world. Why? “So that they might take heed to His statutes, and keep His laws. Praise the LORD.” That’s why. So we can love and worship God (Psalm 105:36-45).

Now let’s go just a few pages over to Psalm 108. Now here is what all of this is to do for us. This shows the kind of heart and mind and attitude that we need to have. Psalm 108:1: “O GOD, my heart is fixed…” God doesn’t want us changing with the vicissitudes of the world. And just like the children of Israel even though God did everything for them, led them out. What was the first thing that they did when Moses wasn’t around? Well, they went and made a golden calf and worshiped it, didn’t they. Their hearts weren’t fixed. Their hearts were still back in Egypt. So this is something that’s important for us. The only way that we come to have our hearts fixed with God is to love God and keep His commandments. And that’s why in keeping the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, it gives us a renewal to dedicate ourselves so that our hearts are fixed! Then we won’t be changeable. Now some people might accuse us of stubbornness or hardheadedness, or whatever, but if it is stubbornness for God and hardheadedness for God, that’s good! “…I will sing and I will give praise, even with my glory.” Now he talks about here, verse 4: “For Your mercy is great above the heavens...” And that’s what God is showing with the Passover and the sacrifice of Christ and that through His grace He gives us the opportunity to have direct access to God’s mercy. “For Your mercy is great above the heavens; and Your truth reaches unto the clouds.” And that’s what we are after, brethren. And that’s what God wants us to show and teach and do—the truth of God. Every-thing is based on the love of God and the truth of God. Verse 6: “So that Your beloved may be delivered:” And isn’t that what the Feast of Unleavened Bread is all about—being delivered from sin, being delivered from self, being delivered from Satan? Yes, indeed. “…Save with Your right hand, and answer me. God has spoken in His holiness: ‘I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and I will measure out the valley of Succoth” (Psalm 108:1, 4-7).

Now drop down here to Psalm 108, verse 11: “O God, have You not cast us off? And, O God, will You not go out with our armies?” See, this pictures God being with us—God being in us. Verse 12: “Give us help from trouble, for vain is the deliverance of man. Through God we shall do mighty things...” It’s by His power, His might, and His way. “…For it is He Who will tread down our enemies.” So remember this: whatever difficulty, whatever problem you have, as I mentioned last night during the Passover, God is there to help you. Now He may let you go a long time before He intervenes. You may have a trial and difficulty, but sooner or later if God is dealing with you, He is going to bring you to the conclusion that He wants you to come to, your trust in Him (Psalm 108: 11-13).

Now let’s come to Psalm 112 here. Verse 1: “Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD.” And the fear of the LORD is to lead to the love of the LORD. “…Who delights greatly in His commandments.” See because how many people are out there in the world—and what is the carnal mind—“not subject to the law of God neither, indeed, can be.” So they are all out there making their excuses why they won’t obey God— regardless of what they are. Now notice, here is promise. “His seed shall be mighty upon earth; the generation of the upright shall be blessed. Wealth and riches shall be in his house…” (Psalm 112:1- 3).

Now what I want you to think about is this—hold your place here and come to John 14. When you go through and read some of these things, let’s look at the spiritual fulfillment of it. Let’s look and see what Jesus said. Let’s think about the house that we are going to be in, because on the Passover night Jesus talks about the Fathers house doesn’t He? And what is that going to be like? And how much wealth is going to be there? I mean first of all, you start off that you’re going to live forever. Now how much is that worth? I mean you can’t measure that in terms of physical wealth or anything like that, can you? No. And notice this, John 14:1 “ ‘Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were otherwise, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.’ ” And God is preparing that place. God is making that place. Verse 3: “ ‘And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again…’ ” Now this is why it is so important for us to understand that every word of God is God-breathed— meaning that it came forth out of the mouth of God and that His inspiration to those who wrote it was a special inspiration above and beyond what we get. We’re to get inspiration from what God embedded in the words and the inspiration out of it, you see. But they were inspired to write it this way. And every word of God is true. So we can count on it. Christ is coming again!

Now let’s come down here to verse 6, because this tells us all about Passover, the days of unleavened bread and leading up to the first resurrection. Verse 6: “ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, except through Me’ ” (John 14:1-3, 6).

Now if we understand that and live God’s way and realize that back here in Psalm 112, let’s turn back there, that God says to those who keep His laws and commandments and fear Him, we can say, and love Him, verse 3: “Wealth and riches shall be in his house.” What is the wealth and riches that God is going to give us? You go back to Genesis 15. What did God tell Abraham? He took him out at night and said, “Look now toward the heavens and number the stars—if you are able to count them... So shall your seed be.” The wealth of the universe is going to be given to God’s family, and those who are the firstborn. What is it that the firstborn always is given in the inheritance—a double portion. So we being in the church of the firstborn are going to have a double portion forever! So it is greater than wealth and riches here in Psalm 112. Verse 4: “To the upright there arises light in the darkness…” Just like the pillar of fire at night that gave light to them. “…He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.” That’s how God treats us.

Now think about it this way. We know that in keeping the commandments of God, it says, there is great reward—that is true. But if we keep the commandments of God, first of all because we love Him and we know He loves us, now then, we are establishing the commandments of God through a personal relationship with God rather than just the statutes and codes that are written. So that becomes far much more meaningful does it not? Yes, indeed. So this is quite a thing.

Let’s drop down here to verse 7: “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD. His heart is established; he shall not be afraid until he sees his desire upon his enemies.” Now when are we going to see the desire of God and God’s vengeance upon the enemies? When we are all standing on the Sea of Glass and the seven last plagues are poured out on the earth and we can see it. I tell you, that’s something [when you] put all these things together (Psalm 112:7-8).

Now let’s come back here to Psalm 46. Now as we are going through these things, let’s also look and see how that every one of the things that we are covering as described in the Scriptures is doing what? It’s putting out the leaven of human nature isn’t it? And it is putting out the leaven of self.

Now notice here in Psalm 46. This is how it happens when you are trusting God, you see. Verse 1: “GOD is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Never forget that. Whatever the trouble is—God is there. “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.” That’s how God wants us to have trust and faith in Him, and that’s why the Feast of Unleavened Bread—to get rid of trust in self. Now notice how this goes into the Kingdom of God. Verse 4: “There is a river whose streams make the city of God rejoice, the holy dwelling place of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God shall help her at the approach of the morning. The nations raged, the kingdoms were shaken; He uttered His voice, the earth melted.” Boy, those are powerful words! God is going to intervene and do this. This is something! “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge….” Now just put in your margin there, Romans 8:31, “...If God is for us, who can be against us?” Verse 8: “Come behold the works of the LORD who makes desolations upon the earth.” And that’s why all of these things have happened.

Now I saw a very interesting picture. It was taken back when Napoleon Bonaparte took a small expeditionary force and went down into Egypt and conquered it (I think it was what—I forget the exact year it was—it was like 1796), and he stood there and looked at the Sphinx, and I have never seen a picture like this. You know how high the level of the ground was at the time he was there to look at the Sphinx? It was clear up to the neck of the Sphinx.

Now I believe God has done two things— He has inspired that men know more about the heavens than ever before, and more about the production of human life and how profound and precious that is. So for those who have eyes to see, and ears to hear, they will learn. He has also given us another witness. They are excavating all these places. What is the Sphinx now? Well, they got all the dirt down from it, they’ve got even the villages where the workers worked, they’ve got that all excavated out. Why? Not show how great Egypt was, but to show how absolutely sinful, and inadequate, and occult that Egypt was and why God judged it. %%%

But you know human beings don’t get the point. You can go to Las Vegas and here is the Luxor Motel in the shape of a Pyramid and those who go in there actually go through some modified religious rituals that those who went into the Egyptian religions would go through! So we have the same thing here. Don’t we? Yes. God has separated us from it. And here is what He is going to do. Verse 8: “Come, behold the works of the LORD Who makes desolations upon the earth, Who makes wars to cease to the end of the earth...” That’s the ultimate end isn’t it? “…He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariots in the fire.” You just read Revelation 16 and 19 and Revelation 8 and 9 in conjunction with that. Verse 10: “Be still, and know that I am God! I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah” That’s why having God protect us and watch over us and that’s what is pictured with the Feast of Unleavened Bread as well (Psalm 46:1-11).

Now let’s come to, since we’re here in the Book of Psalms, let’s come to Psalm 27, and this brings this all together. Notice how this ties in with the theme of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, leaving Egypt and all of that. Verse 1: “The LORD is my light…” That’s what God provided wasn’t it. “…And my salvation…” He brought them out of Egypt didn’t He. Same thing with us today—The Lord is our light, He has brought us out of Egypt, He is our salvation. “…Who shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” See so what God wants us to do is to take all of our sins and problems and the difficulties that we have, bring them to light before God and have them put in proper perspective that they are not as great as they appear to us when we ask God to fight our battles for us. That’s why God does not want us to be held down by any of the problems of sin. That’s why He has given the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That’s why Jesus said on the Passover night, “Now you are clean through the words which I have spoken.” So that’s really profound! Don’t be afraid of anything.

Now notice, verse 2: “When the wicked, my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.” That will happen. I look back and see many different things how God has intervened for many, many brethren in their lives, and I see it in my life, that God has just intervened and caused people to just turn away. And He has fought the battles for us. Now notice how much confidence we are to have. So if God is our refuge and we are trusting in God notice this, “Though an army should encamp against me, my heart shall not be afraid; though war should rise against me, in then I will be confident.” Verse 4: “One thing I have desired from the LORD, that I will seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life…” you see how that ties in with the other Psalm and John 14? That’s our desire. This is what we are to set our hearts and minds on, because this is what God is going to do to fulfill for us.

Now talk about the enemy, in the days of Hezekiah, what happened? The Asyrians came down and were mopping up everybody and even sent one of the ambassadors to go to the walls of Jerusalem and tell the people, “Don’t believe anything that Hezekiah is going to tell you that God is going to fight for you, because look what we have done to all these other countries—we have wiped them out with our god.” And so Hezekiah took it to God and said, “Yeah, LORD, what he says is true, that’s what they have done.” And God said, “I’ll fight for you.” And if we trust in God, He’ll fight for us, and He’ll bring it to pass, because this is our focus here—to be in the house of the Lord. Now continuing verse 4: “…To behold the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in His temple. For in time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion,” Those are the wings of an eagle there in Psalm 91. “…In the secret of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me upon a rock” (Psalm 27:1-5). That’s what He is going to do. That’s tremendous.

Now let’s come back here to the last verse, no, verse 11: “Teach me Your way O LORD, and lead me in a level path because of my enemies. Deliver me not over to the will of my enemies, for false witnesses have risen up against me, and he that breathes out violence.” Now that’s a prophecy of what happened to Christ. “I would have fainted unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” Verse 14: “Wait for the LORD…” That’s the key, wait on the Lord and “…be of good courage…” not discouraged “… and He shall make your heart strong; yea, wait, I say, wait on the LORD” (Psalm 27:11-14). And that’s what God wants us to do. That’s how great it is.

Let’s come to Psalm 62. Let’s see how we are to trust in God. That’s what this Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures. You know the children of Israel had to trust God for everything, didn’t they? Had to trust God to take them out of Egypt, go through the Red Sea, to give them food, to give them water, all in the wilderness, to keep the cloudcover in the daytime and the pillar of fire by night, and they had manna for 40 years. You would think that after 40 years it would be so ingrained in their brains which day was the Sabbath, right, that they would never forget it. But you see human beings are not like that. That’s why we have to be renewed. That’s why we have to be reinvigorated every year. That’s why God has the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, so we can take all of the things and all of the mistakes and everything that has been done this past year even though we repented of them along the way, and we can know that we are starting anew. That God has called us, that God has loved us, that He is going to fight for us, see? That’s what’s important.

Psalm 62:1 “Only for God does my soul wait in silence; from Him comes my salvation. He only is my Rock and my salvation; He is my fortress; I shall not be greatly moved. How long will you imagine mischief against a man? You shall be slain, all of you; you shall be like a bowing wall and as a tottering fence” because see, all of the things that are happening in the world are building to the crescendo. They are building the wall with untempered morter and when it falls it is going to be breathtaking! Verse 4: “They only consult to cast him down from his great height; they delight in lies; they bless with their mouth, but inwardly they curse.” That’s just the way it is in the world. Verse 5: “My soul, wait in silence for God alone; for from Him comes My hope. He only is my Rock and my salvation; He is my strong tower; I shall not be moved.” See now you can come to that conviction of mind through the Spirit of God, through the Word of God, through the conviction that comes of it, you see. Verse 7: “In God is my salvation and my glory, the Rock of my strength; my refuge is in God.” Now notice verse 8, here is the key and this is one of the lessons that we need to learn continuously in life, but also to have it during the Feast of Unleavened Bread: “Trust in Him at all times, you people…” trust in Him at all times. Now you can tell when you are not trusting in God at all times. That is when you try and do something and God is not behind it and it keeps failing—set it aside, take another course. Instead of seeking your way, seek God’s way. Instead of seeking what you want, seek what God’s wants to give you. That’s what to do. “Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us” (Psalm 62:1-8).

Now just go a little diagonal across the page, Psalm 60:11 “O give us help against our foe, for vain is the help of man. Verse 12: “Through God we shall do great things, for it is He Who shall tread down our enemies” (Psalm 60:11-12). Now you take this posture, claim these promises in your prayer and in your study, beseech God. Now you see, here is what’s important. Here is how to overcome any lack of faith that you may have toward that. God cannot lie, and God will not lie! So when you go before God, you claim the promises that He has given, and remind God that He does not lie, cannot lie, and He has promised. But now then, you have to trust in Him and wait on Him, and He will provide in the time, and that time will be the time that He determines.

Now notice Psalm 62:9: “Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie:” I love it when you look around and see all these important men and all these important institutions and whatever and you read here what the Bible says—they are not what they appear to be. That’s what God tells us. “…When weighed in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.” Verse 10: “Trust not in oppression, and do not take pride in stolen goods; if riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.” Keep your heart set upon God. Verse 11: “God has spoken once; twice I have heard this: that power belongs to God. Also, to You, O LORD, belongs mercy; for You give to every man according to his work” (Psalm 62:9-12). So that is really quite profound and something isn’t it?

Let’s end up by going to Matthew 7, since God is our rock and Christ is the rock and upon Him we are to build, notice what He says here. Matthew 7:24, now this doesn’t include just what Jesus said verbally while He was in the flesh on the earth, because He was the Lord God of the Old Testament. So whenever we read anything in the Old Testament, they are the words of God and fulfills what Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4).” Now here Matthew 7:24: “ ‘Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and practices them…’ ” that’s what doeth in the King James means—practices them.

Like He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life...” (John 14:6). “ ‘… I will compare him to a wise man, who built his house upon a rock.’ ” Of course, Christ is the Rock. Verse 25: “ ‘And the rain came down,’ ” Now [I] think of the weather channel and some of the movies that they show when I’m reading this. “…And the rain came down, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house…” So this means you are guaranteed trials, right? That’s how you are going to build spiritual character, because it teaches you to trust in God. “…but it did not fall, for it was founded upon the rock.” And that’s what we need to do to build our lives.

Now notice those who don’t do it. “ ‘And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not practice them shall be compared to a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand…” Now that’s always tempting isn’t it? I know down where we live we have a city called Sand City—right next to Monterey and Seaside. And all the contractors love to build there because sand is so easy to work with, because you can pour the foundation easy, it’s easy to move and it compacts and everything and it looks really, really, really good. Just like this wonderful subdivision that was up in Utah, and they had a beautiful mountain scene and the river ran right in front of them and it was just gorgeous and they lived there for many years and enjoyed it, until one year when what—the rains came, the flood came, and the wind blew and washed away all those houses. And they showed it on the weather channel, and I tell you there is nothing more heart-wrenching, and that gets you in the pit of the stomach more than to see someone’s house—the whole thing just go… Well now there is a good lesson for us isn’t there? Yes. We need to build upon the Rock. “…Beat upon that house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:24- 27). I mean how are you going to repair it? There is no repair; it’s gone! So this is why we need to trust in God.

So tonight we are going to enjoy the “Night Much to be Observed” and it’s not a concoction of a man, but it is what God says for us to do.

Scriptural References:

1. ) Exodus 10:21-29

2. ) Exodus 11:1-10

3. ) Exodus 12:1-14, 21-28

4. ) Exodus 12:15-18

5. ) Exodus 12:29-31

6. ) Exodus 11:8

7. ) Exodus 12:32-42

8. ) Exodus 13:3-4

9. ) Numbers 33:1-5

10. ) Leviticus 23:4-6

11. ) Numbers 28:8-9, 11, 16-18, 24-25

12. ) Psalm 105:36-45

13. ) Psalm 108:1, 4-7, 11-13

14. ) Psalm 112:1-3

15. ) John 14:1-3, 6

16. ) Psalm 112:4, 7-8

17. ) Psalm 46:1-11

18. ) Psalm 27:1-5, 11-14

19. ) Psalm 62:1-8

20. ) Psalm 60:11-12

21. ) Psalm 62:9-12

22. ) Matthew 4:4

23. ) Matthew 7:24-27