Holy Days Timeline

Nolan Joseph—November 25, 2023

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Hello, everyone! I have a three-part question I would like to ask you about God's weekly and annual Holy Days that God gave.

• Most of all, when did He initially plan them?
• Secondly, when did He place them in time?
• Thirdly, when did they go into effect?

You can probably tell from the premise of my questions that there are different time elements involved here that could probably span hundreds, thousands, or maybe even millions of years.

So today, we're going to take a look at the weekly and annual Holy Days to see the different time phases involved, and also to see that there is some evidence that strongly suggests that they were kept from the very first generation of mankind.

John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and not even one thing that was created came into being without Him" (vs 1-3).

Let's think about what we just read in the book of John, that before the very first speck of dust in the universe ever came into being, God and Jesus Christ existed.

So, in Titus—and there are more that—it shows that God devised this plan for mankind even before the physical universe came into being.

I'm going to read through the Scripture, and because it is so important, I'm going to go back and break it down into somewhat modern English speaking so that it will be a little easier to assimilate.

Titus 1:1: "Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ…"

So, there it identifies the writer, talking about Paul, and now it's going to talk about Christians and their belief and what they hold for.

"…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…" (vs 1-2).

That is talking about Christians and their hope. The last section is going to talk about God and what He promised and when He promised it.

"…which God Who cannot lie promised before the ages of time" (v 2).

Now let me rephrase the Scripture in order that it is a little easier to understand from the perspective of language. Here is what it says, and you can go back and read it just to verify:

God promised and guaranteed Christians eternal life before the ages of time! That knowledge is the Truth from God. So, let's do a little bit of reasoning here.

If God promised eternal life to mankind before the very first speck of dust in the universe was created:

• Would He not have had to plan it before He promised it?
• How can you promise something if you don't know what it's about,  if you don't plan it?

Since it was planned before the ages of time, it was planned before anything was created. Time, as we know it, is relative to matter, and the universe is made up of matter.

For example, let's take a look at our solar system. On the planet Earth, it takes the Earth 24 hours to turn one time on its axis, and that makes a day. And it takes 365 days to travel around the sun.

Now, if you were on Mercury, your day would be 1,392 hours for Mercury to rotate one time on its axis, or 58 Earth days. But it only takes 88 days to travel around the sun.

If you were on Jupiter, your day would be 10 hours long to rotate one time on its axis, but it would take you 4,333 days, or 12 Earth years, to go around the sun.

Time is relative to matter. So if you don't have matter, you don't have time, at least for us human beings. That is why in Titus it says, "…before the ages of time," before the universe was created!

Let's take a look at the Sabbath. First of all, we answered already the first question: When did God plan the Sabbath? We know the answer to that, and that's true for all the Holy Days!

So, the second part of the question is, when did He put it into place and when did it go into effect? That's the question we're going to answer now.

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."

The Sabbath was a simple process to understand. It was planned before creation. It was put into time and went into effect at the same time—a simple two-step process—on day seven of creation. Very simple, very easy to understand.

What about the annual Holy Days? It's a bit more complicated to understand those! So, let's take a look:

One of the things that we have to understand about the Holy Days is they all stand together. So, where you see one, there the others are; you have to remember that throughout this message for it to make sense.
 
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.'"

So this is one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible. I was subject to the misunderstanding of this because initially when I read this and for many, many, many years afterwards, I thought it was talking about the four seasons. But it is not! It has nothing to do with the four seasons!

"…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." So when we expect time:

• a certain season
• a set feast
• an appointed season

The Hebrew word is 'moade':

• a set time
• a sacred season
• a set feast
• an appointed season

It means all those things! It's talking about the Holy Days, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the seasons of the year.

When were the Holy Days planned? They were planned before the ages of time, before creation! And they were the days set into place. When were they set into place?

Verse15: "'And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth.' And it was so." That was day four!

Verse 18: "And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were day four" (vs 18-19).

So, when were these Holy Days set in time? They were set in time on day four by God, but did they go into effect then? No, they did not go into effect at that time; they were just set in time by the rotation of the earth and the moon traveling around the sun. God placed them there at that time!

The Holy Days are a set of days that were created to save mankind from sin. So, I ask you, had man sinned at this time? No! But these days were placed in the heavens on standby.

But as we look at this final section of when the days went into effect, the Holy Days that were created, they were planned before creation. They were set in place on day four. There they were, but they had not yet gone into effect.

So, as we look at this final section of when they went into effect, I would like to look at it in the setting of the Passover and the days of the Unleavened Bread.

But remember, wherever you see one Holy Day, you see them all, because they all stand together. Please remember that. Let's see the setting of when the Holy Days went into effect.

Genesis 2:9: "And out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food…. [please take note of this]: …The Tree of Life also was in the middle of the garden…"

The Tree of Life is referring to the tree of eternal life! There in the garden—before Adam and Eve sinned—in the very beginning, Adam—on behalf of mankind—was given an alternative path to eternal life than what we have now. That would have been through The Tree of Life.

Also, in the middle of the garden was The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. So, there were two paths in existence before man sinned in the very beginning. The Tree of Life was the Tree of Eternal Life.

One was The Tree of Life in the garden, but before they could partake of The Tree of Life, Adam & Eve had to obey God by not eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

So, they had that one path, and the other path was the Holy Days that were now in existence, but not yet put into effect.

Verse 16: And the LORD 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 that you eat of it in dying you shall surely die'" (vs  16-17).

Genesis 3:6: "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasing to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves" (vs 6-7).

Now, it was at the very moment that Adam and Eve sinned that the Holy Days went into effect and became real, because sin had now entered the world and mankind needed to be saved from sin.

Right there and then God had this conversation with Satan, with Adam and with Eve. No time had passed right there and then when God met with them and He began to speak to Satan.

Bear in mind that Adam and Eve, particularly Eve, was overhearing this conversation and this was the first prophecy of the Savior Jesus Christ.

Verse 15: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He will bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel."

So, right there and then with this prophecy of Christ saying that Christ will destroy Satan or his position; Satan will only temporarily destroy Christ, but it won't be forever. He will come back to life as we all know.

But Eve knew and understood that God was going to send a Savior. There was probably a lot more that was discussed than what was recorded here, because it's doubtful that God would leave Adam and Eve in the dark about this whole plan.

But before we go into the next section of where God is talking to Satan—and Eve and Adam are listening to the conversation—so they know what's going on.

Because we are trying to bring this into the setting of the Passover and Holy Days, before we go on to the next section, I have a few questions:

• What day in the set of Holy Days represents Christ the Savior? That's the Passover!
• What animal represents the Passover? The lamb!
• What Holy Days are inseparably tied to the Passover? The days of Unleavened Bread!
• What do the Days of Unleavened Bread represent? The putting out or the overcoming of sin!

So please bear these things in mind because what we are going to be looking for now is evidence that the first family kept the Passover and days of Unleavened Bread. Remember that all the Holy Days stand together so if they are keeping the Passover and days of Unleavened Bread, there are the rest of the Holy Days. Remember also, as we go into this, that Adam and Eve were standing right there when God is explaining to Satan that He [God] would send a Savior to save Adam and Eve.

Now everybody knows Adam and Eve's two children Cain and Abel. Let's pick up the story in:

Genesis 4:1: "Then Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, 'I have gotten a man from the LORD.'"

Why would that be there? It's because she knew and she understood that God was going to send a Savior and she thought that this child was the Savior!

Unfortunately, she was wrong about that. But that was her expression of expecting a Savior. Now remember in the Garden of Eden she was right there listening to the conversation as God was talking to Satan.

Verse 2: "And she bore again, his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.."

Abel was a shepherd and Cain was a gardener or a farmer. But Cain was a tiller of the ground.

Verse 3: "It came to pass that Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground.."

Cain brought vegetables or whatever it is that he brought. And this is another misunderstanding that people in the world and also people in the Church have: that the reason that God rejected Cain's offering was because Cain did not do his best, give up his best fruit.

Well, that is not true and there is no evidence in the Bible to support that. That was just made up because there is no understanding of why God rejected his offering. But we will see here in a minute why God rejected the offering.

Verse 4: "And Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat of it…."

Abel brought an animal. What was the commandment that we know keeps the Passover? We view it in Rev. 13:8! Abel brought a lamb to offer for this offering. Yes, he was obeying God. Was it the fruit of the ground? No! The one who brought the fruit of the ground was disobeying God.

"…And the LORD had regard unto Abel and his offering… [indicative of a Passover celebration and his offering] …but He did not have regard unto Cain and his offering..." (vs 4-5).

Why? Because for the Passover service a lamb is what was commanded and God required it!

Now, take a look at this for a second here: Why is it that Cain and Abel came at exactly the same time to make this offering? It had to be that they understood that there was the Holy Days in place and that they were to come at a certain time to make this offering!

Why else would they come at exactly the same time? It's because that's what they were taught! Who else would teach it to them but their parents?

So, here is some evidence that this was a Passover ceremony. It was kept at a very specific time and the right offering was honored by God, which was a lamb or an animal.

"…And Cain was extremely angry and his countenance fell. And the LORD said to Cain, 'Why are you so angry? And why has your countenance fallen?'" (vs 5-6).

God rejected his offering. God had commanded that there was an animal to be brought to the sacrifice and Cain brought fruit, a later disregard for God's will.

Verse 7: "If you do well…"

This well is not just if you're trying. It actually means if you do what is right, showing the separation between what is right and wrong—as the animal was the right sacrifice, the vegetables were the wrong sacrifice—and you tell them, 'If you do what is right, shall you not be accepted? But if you do not do well, or if you don't do what is right, then...

Now think of the setting here. This offering and God is mentioned (inaudible). What does the Passover represent? Sin! So, look at all the evidence and all the similarities that we have here that this was a Passover ceremony. What is defined as sin in 1-John 3:4? Sin is the breaking of God's commandments!

Romans 4:15: "…where no law is, there is no transgression."

How could there be sin if there was no Law? There had to be a Law in place for him to break it, and for his brother to keep it. So, there's evidence that the Law was in place and in the setting here of the animal sacrifice. It points to the Passover ceremony.

Now let's go on a little further. As I asked before, what Holy Days are associated with the Passover? The days of Unleavened Bread. They are inseparable. That's why in the New Testament the Jews referred to it as the Passover and they were referring to the Passover and days of Unleavened Bread.

In other places it's referred to by the apostles as the days of Unleavened Bread, which automatically entered the Passover. So, God says here, "…sin lies at the door…." (v 7).

So, Cain was breaking the commandment of the Passover service. "…Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it!"  (v 7). You must overcome it!

• What do the days of Unleavened Bread represent? The putting of sin out of our lives and overcoming this!
• Where is ample evidence in that setting to prove that the law of the Passover service was in effect?
• When we look at this whole setting of what transpired, we see that God was instructing Cain:
  • about sin
  • about the Passover
  • about the days of Unleavened Bread
  • about putting sin out of his life

When did the Holy Days go into effect? The annual Holy Days when sin was committed in the Garden of Eden and they were kept from that very moment on because God would not allow Adam and Eve to continue their sin living before Him without a plan for them.

So this whole thing shows how much God put into thinking and planning these Holy Days and how much we mean to Him.

It should strike us how much we should appreciate it, value it and keep it because of how much God put into it and how much time and planning went into it.

I would like to close this message by turning to Psa. 40 to show just how much God has invested in us so that we do not take these days lightly.

Psalm 40:5: "O LORD my God, many things You have done, Your wonderful works… [Is this not a wonderful work?] …and Your thoughts which are toward us… [like in Titus 1] … there is none to compare unto You..."

• Who else could design these plans?
• Who else could make this plan?

It is so great, so deep, so meaningful!

"…if I could declare and speak of them, they would be more than can be told" (v 5).

Scriptural References:

• John 1:1-3
• Titus 1:1-2
• Genesis 2:2
• Genesis 1:14-15, 18-19
• Genesis 2:9, 16-17
• Genesis 3:6-7, 15
• Genesis 4:1-7
• Romans 4:15
• Psalm 30:5

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Revelation 8
• 1 John 3:4

NJ:bo/po
Transcribed: 11/29/23

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