GOD'S FINAL SECRET CHAPTER THREE by Stephen Benton -

 GOD'S FINAL SECRET  -  CHAPTER THREE
by Stephen Benton

THE FALL FEASTS

 THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS:

A SOUND OF MOURNING AND A CALL TO REPENTANCE

            There are portions of this work where redundancies appear.  Although their appearance violates rules of good writing they have been deliberately left in due to the vital subject matter we are dealing with.  Rather than burden the reader by having to go back to find a particular comment, it is repeated.  This work defies the mindset of the Church where "no man knoweth" is concerned when it comes to defining the time of the departure of the Church from this earth, an event known as the rapture.  The accusation against those who even imply that a date may be known are ostracized with the label ‘date setters.’  Solely for that reason I have taken you on an excursion of the set times, or, dates, of God, established in the writings of Moses as he was moved upon by the Spirit of God.  The beauty of viewing the feasts of Passover and Pentecost is that they have been fulfilled which allows the reader of this material the opportunity to more easily grasp the importance of the fact that Christ did not merely die one day but that he died according to the scriptures which clearly stated in Exodus chapter 12 that the sacrifice for sin had to be chosen on the "tenth day of the first month" and slain on "the fourteenth day."  To fulfill the Law, Jesus had to meet the requirements of Passover without the slightest variation.  And he did.  The Church could not have been born on any other day than Pentecost or the feast of Weeks.   

            Not only those two but the other two I have omitted were all fulfilled in the Spring of the year, the time when new birth takes place.  By contrast, the feasts we are about to view are Fall festivals which by nature symbolizes the close of the major events of nature.  If the last Spring festival on God’s calendar represented the birth of the Church, you can be sure the set times of the Fall festivals signify the harvest, maturity, completion or ending of things.  I am not a date setter, God is!  The same God who set the date for the birth of the Church long before the event has also determined the exact date for presenting that Church unto himself.  I have been assigned the task as a prophet of God of hearing the voice of God as he set the parameters for the day of the rapture and the simplest part of that task is the mere transfer of the first day of the seventh month and the tenth day of the seventh month from the Hebrew calendar to the Gregorian calendar.  The difficult part of this assignment has been persuading an unbelieving, hearing impaired Church to hear God’s voice and believe His word based not on a dream or vision but solely on the already written word of God!  The tragedy of the no man knoweth mindset is that the Church has adopted an attitude that God cannot and will not make such a thing known.  If the word of God is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the apostles appearing at the beginning of the Church age and the prophets appearing at the end of the Church age, why does the Church believe God has not called prophets in these last days to reveal the things written to the apostles? Why would the Church actually think that foundational truths would not involve items such as knowing exactly what the last trump is, when it sounds, the expression ‘in a moment’, the expression "in the twinkling of an eye", the "voice of the archangel," "the trump of God," the "strong delusion and the lie" will not be made known to the prophets? 

            The directive given by Jesus to those who were his disciples indeed was to continue in his word.  The reward for doing such is “and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make," not set, "you free."  Free from what?  Free from all deception and ignorance.  Continuing in the truth involves hearing the voice of Jesus via the Holy Ghost until the very end.  This Church has stopped hearing His voice quite awhile ago and has made up its mind on how things should or should not go and it will not be moved.  No man knoweth, can know, will not know and that’s that.  The proper word for such an attitude is unbelief.  I might remind the reader that the only reason Israel did not see the promised land was unbelief.  The issue at hand is not a mere difference of opinion, rather it consists of what saith the word of God and what thinkest thou.  If you will take time to review the closing chapters of John you will see that the message Jesus and the apostles preached about the kingdom of Heaven began with the expression "at hand" but ended with the revelation of a precise date.  Find the passage that reads “because they thought the kingdom of God should immediately appear.”  The word immediately as used there means: that very day!  What made them think that the kingdom would begin on the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the ass and on the colt, according to Zechariah’s prophecy?  Continuing in the word of Jesus led them from "at hand" to a precise date.  Continuing in the word of the Holy Ghost will take you out from the realm of "no man knoweth" to knowing exactly when.  Allow me to be redundant once more, the real issue is stubborn, stiff-necked, unbelief.  At the close of the letter to the Laodiceans in the book of Revelation which showed Jesus standing outside of the door of his Church, knocking, Jesus cried, “If any man hear my voice.”  

In the story of the man who made a great supper in Luke 14:16 speaks of a man inviting guests to a wedding feast.  The first group who were the invited guests began to makes excuses as to why they could not attend. They were all giving excuses "with one consent."  None of those invited came.  The master of the house became angry and had his servants go out into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor the maimed, the halt and the blind. When all the seats were still not filled, he had them go into the highways and hedges and bring in the homeless, compelling them to come in.

The first group in this parable is the Church, who have "all with one consent" made an excuse: "no man knoweth."  What did the Householder say of those who gave their excuse?

" For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper."

The Feast of Trumpets, 

  A Time To Repent

 

            The fact that this set time of the blowing of trumpets occurs in the seventh month speaks for itself.  The number seven and or numbers expressing multiples of seven is the most often used number in the scriptures.  The number first occurs in the first chapter of Genesis.  It’s reference is regarding the seventh day of the re-creation.  It’s purpose is also stated: a day of rest.  The first day of this seventh month will be reserved by God for entering into his rest.

 

            “And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, speak unto the children of Israel saying, in the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

            Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.”  Lev. 23: 23-25

            As we have partially noted, this first day of the seventh month of the sacred calendar is also the start of the civil year.  As such, it is the Jewish New Year’s day, Rosh Hashannah.  The month is Tishri on the Hebrew calendar.

             The end of one year and the beginning of another should be a time of remembrance; a time for taking spiritual inventory.  So it was in this first day of the seventh month.  God designated this day to be a Sabbath day, a day to cease from doing servile work.  The prominent exercise of the day was, “ a memorial blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.”

            The trumpets blown on this day were not the silver trumpets of gladness, but the winding trumpets of rams horns, the shofar.  This type of trumpet made a sad sound.  It was the sound of mourning because the Feast of Trumpets was the prelude to the great Day of Atonement when Israel’s past sins were atoned for.  The plaintive note of the rams’ horns was designed to call men to repentance.  Isaiah was given the same commission during his ministry which echoes the theme of the day of Trumpets.

            “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy  voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins.”  Isa. 58:1

             The blowing of the trumpets on that feast day was intended to call their sins into remembrance.  The sound would create the mood for searching their souls in preparation for the fast on the Day of Atonement.  Remission of sin belongs to the contrite, repentant heart.

            When John the Baptist preached in the wilderness, he did not pipe the glad news of the gospel but the mournful melody of repentance.  Those who came to his baptism with an unrepentant heart were refused the ceremony of water baptism.  To them he said,  “bring forth fruit meet for repentance.” There were those who went out into the wilderness merely to see the spectacle of a prophet because there had not been a prophet in Judea for over four hundred years.  After John was thrown into prison, Jesus blasted those who went merely to see John.

            “And when the  messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John: what went ye out into the wilderness to see?  A reed shaken with the wind?”

            “But what went ye out for to see?  A man clothed in soft raiment?  Behold they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in king’s courts.”

            “But what went ye out for to see?  A prophet?  Yea, I say unto you, and much more than  a prophet.” Lk. 7: 24-26

             Three times Jesus asked “what went ye out to see?”  He asked it of those same hypocrites in his audience who had previously attended the preaching of John.  Their motivation was to go out to see what was going on.  John’s message of “preparing the way of the Lord” had no effect on them because they thought they were okay.

            Their attitude and response to the gospel was like many in the Church today.  A vast majority of professing Christians attend church as a social outlet.  They go to see their friends, the choir, the program, and the preacher.  The Word preached to them is not mixed with faith and therefore it serves no purpose for them.  Many people choose a church based on the charisma and the popularity of the preacher rather than the content of the message.  Jesus took his indictments a step further:

            “Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation?  And to what are they like?  They are like  unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, we have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you and ye have not wept.  For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, he hath a devil.”   

Lk 7: 31-33

 

            John trumpeted to them with a rams’ horn calling for repentance but they did not weep.  He lived a life void of worldly celebration but it did not touch their hearts.  Rather than believe his preaching it was easier to say that he had a devil.

            With the Day of Atonement coming nine days after the Feast of Trumpets, nine being the number of judgment, the Feast of Trumpets was inaugurated to prepare them for the atonement of their sins.

            This feast day will have its fulfillment in Israel during the time of the Tribulation and will begin with the sealing of 144,000 Jews (Rev. 7:3-4.)  We glanced at this group earlier but here we shall take a closer look.  After they are sealed for their protection, they will then go out and preach the “gospel of the kingdom” throughout the world.  In Matthew 24: 14 Jesus gives us the purpose of their ministry:

            “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”

            The majority of the Church today believes and teaches that the commission given in the above verse will and must be performed by the Church.  However, the Church was entrusted to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ which is distinctive from the Gospel of the Kingdom.  Remember, both John and Jesus preached, “repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  The Jews rejected the message of the Kingdom and as a result it was put on hold.  It will be offered again during the Tribulation.  After the Kingdom was rejected, God established the Church, offering salvation to the Gentiles.  He never commissioned the Church to preach the message of the Messiah’s kingdom on earth.

            One of the signs of the coming kingdom would be the return of Elijah.  The apostles called that fact to Jesus’ attention after his transfiguration on the mountain.

             “And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?

            And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.

            But I say unto you, that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed.  Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.

            Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.”

 Mt. 17: 10-13

            Elias or Elijah will come during the second half of the Tribulation after the 144,000 trumpet the memorial or the remembrance of God.  The 144,000 will bring to Israel’s mind its lost glory and how it has abandoned its God.  In that day Israel will fast according to the prescription written by Isaiah.  They will mourn for their sins and transgressions against their Messiah. Joel prophesied what the response of Israel should and would be to the preaching of the 144,000:

            “Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is witholden from the house of your God."

            "Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord.

            Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly...

            Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: Wherefore they should say among the people, where is their God?” 
Joel 1:13-15, 17

            When Jesus gave the sermon on the mount, referred to by many as the “constitution of the Kingdom, “ he said, “blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.”  That scripture will be fulfilled during the Feast of Trumpets thus allowing the Great Day of Atonement to have its true fulfillment in Israel.  When the 144,000 “trumpet” the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, then the Jews will respond to their preaching.

            Later in this chapter we shall clearly see that when this day of mourning takes place in Israel’s future, it will happen on the exact day that God designated in the Old Testament: the first day of the seventh month of Israel’s sacred calendar.  Israel has experienced a great return of its people to their land but they will begin their return to God in 2017.  You can be sure that there will be a Temple in Jerusalem for them to return to at that time. 

THE DAY OF ATONEMENT:

ETERNAL REMISSION OF SIN

            Having properly met the requirements of the Feast of Trumpets, which is a Godly sorrow for sins, Israel will have prepared itself for the great Day of Atonement known as Yom Kippur.  This is the day most often referred to in the epistle to the Hebrews when the high priest entered once a year into the most holy place and presented the blood of the sacrifices that would cleanse the people from their sins during the past year.

            The feast of Trumpets and the day of Atonement are connected in the same sense as the feast of Firstfruits and Pentecost.  Notice the following verse:

            “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Also...” 

             That one word, “Also,” ties together the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement.  It is very significant because later we shall see how the same word will connect the trumpet sounding that announced the Jubile year with the trumpet sounding on the day of the Feast of Trumpets.

            Nine days after mourning for their sins, on the tenth day of the seventh  month, God called for a holy convocation.  On this day of Atonement the nation was obligated to fast.  It was the only fast day of the year that was commanded by God.   However, when the nation observed the fast it was not in the manner God prescribed.  Their fast did not focus on the condition of their souls and their relationship with God.  Their fast did not interrupt their pleasure and neither did it stop them from working.  They fasted for strife and debate and did not allow their hearts to be broken by the Spirit of God.  As a result, their fast was condemned by God for its hypocrisy.

            “Is it a fast that I have chosen?  A day for a man to afflict his soul?  Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?  Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?”  Isa. 58:5

            Their fast was meaningless because their hearts were unprepared.  We are given God’s attitude toward fasting in the New Testament when John’s disciples asked Jesus why his disciples did not fast.

            “Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, why do we and the pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?”   Mt. 9:14

            Although God had ordained only one fast day for Israel, by the time Jesus arrived, the Pharisees, the leading religious sect of the Jews, had legislated over 100 fast days per year.  They fasted to be seen of men.  Jesus warned against such fasting.  He told his disciples not to “appear unto men” to fast.  Those who fast to be seen do not receive the benefits of fasting.  In his answer to John’s disciples, Jesus associated fasting with mourning:

            “Can the children of the bride chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them?”

            Because Israel eventually failed to keep the spirit of the Feast of Trumpets, their fast on the lost its significance also.  The Day of Atonement became nothing more than a yearly ritual for them.  But the day is coming in their future, during the Tribulation, when the full significance of the Day of Atonement will be fulfilled in their lives.  The 144,000 will convict them of their transgressions and then they will fast with a true heart.  When that day comes, nine days after the feast of Trumpets, God will hear their prayers, respect their fast and forgive them of their sins.

            When Jesus made atonement for the sins of the world at Calvary the Jews stood around the cross taunting Jesus because his atonement meant nothing to them.  They even objected to the sign hung over the cross proclaiming him as their king.  They did not see Jesus as the sacrifice for their sins because they thought they had no sin.  But the time is coming during the Tribulation when their hearts will be changed.  Zechariah prophesied about that day:

            “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

            And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

            In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.”     Zec. 12: 9-10 & 13

           Notice that the fountain will not be created but opened to the house of David.  It was created at Calvary but closed to the Jews because they did not believe.  That passage marks the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement.  In the days of the Tribulation, the house of Israel and the house of Judah will again become one house and God will reunite them in one day.  On that day their sin and uncleanness shall be removed forever!

       

GOD'S FINAL SECRET CHAPTER TWO by Stephen Benton

GOD'S FINAL SECRET  by Stephen Benton

CHAPTER TWO

THE BIRTH OF THE CHURCH

THE FEAST OF WEEKS: PENTECOST

(THE BEGINNING OF THE LAST DAYS)

“And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete;

Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.

Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of the fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord.” 

                                                                                                Lev. 23:15-17

            Again, when God ordained this feast in Israel, he was looking ahead to the day of its fulfillment.  The Church was brought into existence on the first occurrence of that feast day after the resurrection.  The Greek name for this day is called Pentecost which means, fifty.  This feast occurred fifty days after the waving of the sheaf of firstfruits.  It should be clear by now that God is working from a detailed blueprint that has been and will continue to be followed.

            Too often I hear comments suggesting that God waits until circumstances and conditions on earth are set before implementing his plans.  That idea is incorrect.  The expression “in the fullness of time” has to do with God’s calendar and not earthly conditions.

            Some of God’s plans have their fulfillment exclusively in the Church, and some are reserved solely for Israel.  As noted, the fulfillment of the Feast of Weeks focuses on the Church.  Although the original membership of the Church consisted entirely of Jews, the Church was a new and separate entity altogether, distinct from the nation of Israel.  Prophecy students come to erroneous conclusions when they attempt to combine the promises made to the Church with those made to Israel.  The same error causes some to be confused with the rapture and the second coming of Christ.  The former is an air event while the latter is a ground event. The scriptures are detailed in giving us the New Testament time this feast day was fulfilled.

“To whom he also shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”   Acts1:3

            God instructed Moses to number seven Sabbaths from the day of the waving of firstfruits plus an additional day; the total being fifty days.  Jesus ascended into heaven on the fortieth day.  The apostles and disciples were commanded to wait in Jerusalem until they received the promise of the Father which was the Holy Ghost.

     “...but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

            For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.”  Acts 2:4&5

            The wait in Jerusalem lasted ten days:

         “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place,

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”    Acts 2: 1-4

            The Church was born.  The Feast of Weeks was fulfilled “when the day of Pentecost was fully come.”  There are no variables in the fulfillment of the feast days.  I realize I am bordering on redundancy in repeating that fact but it is essential that it be understood because so many are under the impression that the day of the Rapture is a variable day, even a random day, one no man knoweth or can know..  We shall see that its date also, is as fixed as all of the other feast day fulfillments.

             When Jesus commanded the apostles to wait in Jerusalem, they asked him if he would restore the kingdom to Israel when the “promise of the Father” came.  The answer Jesus gave a this time has been taken by many to mean that we cannot know the time of the Rapture.

          “...it is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.”  Acts 2:7

            It is incongruous for God to put lights in the heavens for signs; to give written prophecies stating specific times; to establish the calendar of feast days and then tell his followers that they cannot know the times or the seasons of his return!

             Jesus answered their question about the time of the restoration of the kingdom of Israel and that is all!  Had they listened carefully to the answer to a previous question they asked, they would not have asked the question now before us.  Before his death Jesus told them that the Temple was going to be destroyed.

            “There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

            Because that had not yet happened, it should have been clear to the apostles that Israel’s restoration as a kingdom would not be for quite a while.   If Jesus, at that time, had told them that Israel would not be restored as a nation for almost 2000 years, it would have devastated them.  When he referred to the “times and seasons,” plural, Jesus was

telling them that there are some times and seasons of which they would not be told.  We already looked at one of those events: the passing away of the heavens and the earth.

            When it suits God’s purpose, he will again restore Israel but at that moment in time, he chose to restrict the knowledge of that time and season to himself.  You can be sure that as that time approaches, surely the Lord will not act unless he reveals his plan to the prophets.  In 1948 when Israel was restored as a nation again, the year became very significant in marking off the times of last days’ events.

            The date of formation of the Church was one of those times and seasons that the Father did not reveal to any of the prophets.  Peter’s epistle lets us know that the prophets searched diligently as to what would effect the work of great grace and when it would occur but that their search was unfruitful.  The revelation of their search was given to the apostles, not to the prophets.  The Church was a new work entirely.  Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy recorded the crucifixion of Christ, occurring at the end of the 69^th week, and then moved right along into the final seven years. What Daniel’s prophecy did not include was the insertion of the Church between the 69^th and 70^th weeks.  Prophecy students and scholars refer to that period of time between the 69^th and 70^th weeks as a gap in time; a gap filled in with the Church Age.  Had the prophecy of Daniel gone uninterrupted, the 70^th week, consisting of the tribulation, the great, would have ended   before 39 AD.  God knew that he would interrupt the prophecy of Daniel with the creation of the Church but he was silent on the issue.  The actual period of time for the saving of the Gentiles was another time and season that the Father kept secret.

            I referred earlier to the “gap” theory.  It is an interruption in the flow of Daniel's prophecy.  Jesus highlighted that gap when he read the scripture in the synagogue of his home town.  Luke 4:16-20 records the passage that Jesus read from the writings of Isaiah.  Comparing Luke’s text with Isaiah’s we see that Jesus stopped reading in the middle of the sentence, “to preach the acceptable year of the Lord...” Isaiah’s writing continued with “...and the day of the vengeance of our God.”  Jesus would not fulfill that portion of Isaiah until his second coming, therefore the gap in time.  That gap is filled with the birth of the Church and the “grafting in” of the Gentiles.

            The description of the event on the day of Pentecost sounds like the noise of a very good time.  That’s exactly the way it is described in Deuteronomy:

            “Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn.

And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of a free will offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God, according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee:

And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to place his name there.

And thou shalt remember that thou was a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.”   Deut. 16: 9-12

            This is a time of celebration and rejoicing.  The grain harvest is complete.  The grace of God allowed them to bring him “a tribute of a freewill offering” from their own hand.  The offering would be in accordance with God’s blessings to them.

            It was an event open to all and as such it fully typified what the Church of Jesus should be.  The Feast of Weeks allowed the family, the servants, the stranger, the cast-down and the cast-away to join in the celebration.  If there is a place where there should be no room for prejudice, bigotry, or racism, it should be in the Church.

            When the Pentecostal revival erupted in Los Angeles in 1906, it burst upon the city without respect for color, race, creed, education or reputation.  Of course it wasn’t long, just about three years, before Satan caused divisions along color lines.  That division continues until this day and is one of the main reasons for the multitude of Pentecostal organizations in the world today.

            Satan divided that movement initially using racism and then created further divisions by instigating doctrinal disputes that have nothing to do with basic salvation.  The Pentecostals, like those of every God-ordained revival that had preceded theirs, began to organize the Church by adding their own by-laws, minute books, regulations, and traditions.  History repeated itself in the Church for the seventh time and the revival died.  The organized Church today is teaching that a great revival is about to break out in the Church again before the Rapture---that’s true.  It will be a revival unprecedented in the history of the Church albeit a very short one timewise.  The last great revival occurred in 1906 which was also the beginning of the last and final Church period, the Laodicean Age.   I will comment more on that later in the book.`

            On the day of the fulfillment of the Feast of Weeks the Holy Ghost came down from heaven and entered into the hearts of those present.  We have now been born from above and are the children of the free.  Egypt, the true type of the world, is no longer our home.  We should celebrate that fact every time we gather together.

            S.H. Kellogg spoke of this day as “...the spiritual ingathering of the firstfruits of the world’s harvest, fifty days after the presentation of our Lord in resurrection, as the wave-sheaf of the firstfruits.”

            The Feast of Weeks marked the presentation of a “new meat (meal) offering unto the Lord.” (Lev. 23:16) As Christ presented himself to God as a wave offering of the sheaf of firstfruits, Pentecost presents to God the firstfruits of Christ’s resurrection from the dead.

 
            Israel was commanded to abstain from any servile work on that day.  This is significant because those of us who are presented to God in connection with Pentecost are set free from the works of the law.  On the day of Pentecost 3,000 souls were added to the

Church.  This is in marked contrast to the day when the law was given from Mt. Sinai and 3,000 souls were destroyed (Ex.32:28.)  Here is an example that shows God’s use of numbers is not coincidental.  They are used to show the vast difference between Law and Grace.  The law could only condemn and kill.  Under grace, works do not make a person acceptable to God; he or she is admitted by faith in the blood of Jesus.  Grace is a gift of God and its first manifestation in the New Testament Church brought new life. 

             “And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the Lord...”     Lev. 23:18

            For the first time, this celebration of the Feast of Weeks after the resurrection of Jesus Christ did not include the sacrifices listed above because Jesus himself had already fulfilled the purpose of each of those offerings.  Rather than presenting the blood of animals, we are now instructed to present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice. (Ro. 12:1)

            “Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.”  Lev. 23: 19

            Again, Jesus met all of those requirements.  The result of his offering of himself on the cross is remission of sin and peace with God.  It is no wonder that Paul opened and closed his epistles with the expression, “grace and peace be unto you.”  God can extend full grace to the Church because Christ fulfilled the purpose of the offering of goats and lambs.  We can live in a relationship of peace with God because Christ himself was sacrificed for our peace.  It must never be forgotten that the Church stands on the merits of a blood sacrifice presented as a burnt offering to God.

            Jesus not only fulfilled the requirements of the animal sacrifices, he also fulfilled the wave loaves that were baked of fine flour.  He represents the best of that which is harvested from the earth.  His righteous refinement was actually enhanced after his resurrection.  Andrew Bonar states: “Even as Jesus, when raised from the tomb, was henceforth no more under the curse of sin, but was blessed in body, for his body was no longer numbered among transgressors; and blessed in all his inheritance, for all power was given to him in heaven and in earth.”

            There is one important aspect of this Feast of Weeks that has a special fulfillment in the Church.  In connection with the loaves of fine flour we are told, “they shall be baken with leaven.” Throughout Leviticus leaven was prohibited in offerings made to God by fire but here we find a notable exception.  Though Jesus fulfilled all of the offerings and ingredients associated with this feast day, the final fulfillment of that day centered upon born-again believers.   We are not free from sin while we are in these bodies of flesh upon the earth.  Sin still dwells in our members.  Because of that fact, God graciously allowed leaven to be included in the offering on the day of Pentecost.  The leaven still has its same significance, evil and corruption.  But when Jesus comes to receive us to himself, he will then purge out every trace of leaven as he clothes us with our heavenly bodies.

            A note about keeping the Sabbath or worshipping on Saturday is in order here.  Christ is our Sabbath.  The Church was not born on a Saturday but on Sunday.  Although Sunday is the first day of the week, with regards to the birth of the Church the day should not be looked upon as the first day, but the eighth day, the number representing new beginnings.  The Church was a brand new, distinct creation of God.  It was separated from Judaism in all aspects of time and place and for that reason God ordained a new day for its worshippers.  The handwriting of ordinances was blotted out, being nailed to the cross of Christ. Paul’s words regarding the keeping of days let us know that he that keeps a day keeps it as unto the Lord and he who doesn’t keep a day does so as unto the Lord.  Rather than strive about the keeping of days, let’s just celebrate on the day inaugurated for Pentecost.   

SUMMARY OF THE (Spring)FEASTS

            The two feasts that we have examined, Passover and Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, the Greek name meaning fifty, occurred in the spring of the sacred year, the time when new life comes into existence.  Passover was celebrated in the first month on the fourteenth day.  On the fifteenth day of the same month was the Feast of Unleavened Bread, lasting until the 21^st day of the month.  In the same month, the Feast of Firstfruits and its associated Wave Offering was on the day following the Sabbath after Passover.  The Feast of Weeks, actually the completion of the Feast of Firstfruits, was fifty days after the Waving of the Sheaf of Firstfruits.

            All of these feast days were fulfilled at the end of the era of Law.  Pentecost was the final feast day of the Spring festivals and was fulfilled when the day of Pentecost was fully come.  Because God ordained a special day on his calendar of events, wouldn’t it seem likely that he has also ordained a special day which will have its fulfillment with the ending of that same Church, the day when we will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air?

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