Day 49—Sabbath Before Pentecost - 2018

How numbers have meaning for the plan of God

Fred R. Coulter—May 19, 2018

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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to the Sabbath before Pentecost, or Day 49, or the 7th Sabbath. We're going to approach this a little differently than we have in the past. What I'm going to do, I'm going to start out with how the count for Pentecost takes place! Always remember that counting is different from adding and subtracting.

Let's read the command to begin the count. The count is to occur, as we will see, beginning with the first day of the week during Unleavened Bread. That's important to understand. I'll explain that in just a bit.

Leviticus 23:9: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, "When you have come into the land… [this means that all during the 40-years of wandering they never kept Pentecost] …which I give to you, and shall reap the harvest of it…"'" (vs 9-10).

Let's understand that when they came into the land the harvest was ready to begin. There are some people who say that they didn't enter into the 'promised land' when they came into Gilgal, and that they couldn't use the grain that the Gentiles had planted. Let's analyze that just a little bit: When you take a grain:

• Whose hands are more clean?
• The hand of an Israelite that is dirty from working in the dirt

or

• The hand of a Gentile that's dirty from working in the dirt?

If you say it has to be an Israelite that does it,

• What happens to the grain when you plant it? It disintegrates and produces new life!

The hand that planted it, even if it were contaminated, that contamination is gone with the disintegration of the grain that's planted. The new one is new, a new plant—which God caused to grow—cannot be defiled from the hand that planted it.

When you look at this here: "…and you shall reap the harvest of it… [the harvest of the land already planted. God gave it to them so it was theirs] …then you shall bring the premier sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD to be accepted for you. On the next day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it" (vs 10-11).
Stop and think for just a minute. The next day after the Sabbath is the first day of the week called Sunday today. Here is yet another problem and it occurred this year, which is this: Friday, or the 6th day, was the Passover Day. We took the Passover on Thursday night, because the day begins after sunset.

The next day that begins at sunset is the 7th day or the Sabbath. It is also, as we had this year, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. When you go forward, the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread falls on a Friday, with another double Sabbath, the weekly Sabbath. So, you have Sabbath on Friday, Sabbath on the 7th day—the 6th day and 7th day.

Some say the wave sheaf is to be offered after the Sabbath, after Unleavened Bread. But that is not correct! The only Sabbath that there was during Unleavened Bread was also the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The next day after that is the first day of the week during Unleavened Bread.

It's a mistake to say the Sabbath during Unleavened Bread, and say that if the first Holy Day is on the Sabbath, it's not a regular Sabbath. That's untrue. It's a regular Sabbath and a Holy Day.

Most of the time it's true that we do have a Sabbath intervening from the first day of Unleavened Bread to the 7th day of Unleavened Bread. So when it's a double Sabbath, the day after the double Sabbath is the day to begin the count. You count the day that it is waved on!

Some people start their count the day after the Wave Sheaf Day. What is the mistake in symbolism that they completely miss? If Christ is our perfect sacrifice, and He's the First of the firstfruits, and He has no sin, it has to be waved during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, not outside of it, as you would have with the way some people figure it.

You see how complicated people make it. God made it so if we just follow His instructions and commands, and do so the way that it should be, we don't have to put up with all of these carnal, satanic arguments and that's all they are.

Verse 11: "And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD to be accepted for you. On the next day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And you shall offer that day when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering to the LORD" (vs 11-12). Does that not picture Christ? Yes, it does!

Verse 13: "And its grain offering shall be two tenth parts of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the LORD for a sweet savor. And the drink offering of it shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin. 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. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings And you shall count to you beginning with the next day after the Sabbath—has to be the first day of the week—beginning with the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete" (vs 13-15).

That means a complete week, ending in a Sabbath, no partial weeks. You cannot have a partial week, because they are deficient. You have to have a perfect week of seven days.

Then it says, v 16: "Even unto the day after the seventh Sabbath you shall number fifty days…. [that's tomorrow] …And you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD. You shall bring out of your homes two wave loaves of two tenth parts. They shall be of fine flour. They shall be baked with leaven, they are the firstfruits to the LORD" (vs 16-17).

Let's understand something here very important. Leaven is a type of sin only during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Leaven otherwise is not a type of sin, outside the days of Unleavened Bread. One of the explanations has been, because you make these two loaves, these are the firstfruits to the LORD.

Verse 18: "And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs…"—and so forth.

One of the explanations of the leaven is that God accepts us even though we still have sin. If we are resurrected, we don't have sin. Why the two loaves? One loaf represents those who are going to be in the Kingdom of God at the first resurrection—the patriarchs and kings up to the time of Christ—and the prophets, and so forth. The other loaf is the New Covenant. This is a good action of leaven. We've gone over this before, but we have to make sure that we know. Every time something happens, someone comes up with a clever argument, like the arguments concerning the calendar.

I've been communicating with a man by e-mail who says we shouldn't use the Calculated Hebrew Calendar. I said, 'Show me in the Bible the calendar.' He showed me the place where it is the first day of the first month, and the tenth day, and so forth, all the way through. I said:

• Where is the calendar?
• How do we know what a week is?
• How do we know what's the first day, the seventh day, the intervening days?
• How many days are in a month? 29? or 30?
• You can't find that in the Bible!

The Calculated Hebrew Calendar was entrusted to the priests. They kept the calendar correctly. The Calculated Hebrew Calendar is what we use because every other calendar causes nothing but confusion and are man-made.

They say that the Calculated Hebrew Calendar is man-made. No! It is preserved by the Jews, the Levites and priests within the Jewish community! If you don't want to use the Calculated Hebrew Calendar then throw away the Old Testament entirely, because it was preserved by the same people: the priests and Levites. So, don't listen to any of those nonsensical arguments.

I want you to listen carefully to this; Matthew 13:33: "Another parable He spoke to them: 'The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to leaven…'" If leaven is always sin, is the Kingdom of God sin? No! Leaven is only a type of sin during Unleavened Bread! All the offerings that are to be offered on all the other different days were to have unleavened bread, with the exception of the thank offering based on the peace offering. You could have leaven in that. All the others had to be unleavened.

Jesus said, "…'The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until all was leavened'" (v 33). That means she made it into dough and it leavened!

What does leaven do? Leaven puts out carbon dioxide, which is produced from the yeast, baking soda or baking powder. That raises the bread and puts air in it. Once you put it into the oven and bake it, it's permanent. You can't take that leavened bread baked and smash it down into unleavened bread. It's impossible. So, here is a good use of leaven. This also tells us that the wave sheaf for tomorrow—those two wave loaves—represent the resurrected saints of the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, and the New Covenant, the New Testament.

• Are we going to be changed at the resurrection? Yes!
• Permanently changed? Yes!
• Will we be without sin? Yes!

That's what it means! That's why they were waved!

All the sacrifices picture different things as well. You have seven lambs, which probably pictured the seven churches of Rev. 7. One bull pictures Christ. Two rams: haven't figured out what that pictures, but it's probably the Old Testament and New Testament. One goat for a sin offering and that pictures Christ. Two lambs for a peace offering. Then if you put in the two wave loaves, you have a total of 15 offerings, which then is numerically 3 times 5, or 15, for perfect grace.

What we're going to do in preparation for tomorrow, we're going to look at some numbers referring to the Commentary, Chapter Two in the Faithful Version Bible: God's Divine Design of he Holy Bible and Its Numeric Connection. We're going to look at them and I'm going to read certain parts of it, so you can follow along when I read. Here's a count that we have:

• 7 days in a week
• 7 weeks
• 7 times 7 = 49

That's this Sabbath today, plus 1, which is 50; 50 is a Jubilee. Also the day after the Sabbath is the 1st day of the 8th week; 8 is the number of a new beginning. That's why we have all of these numbers here listed in the Commentaries, to help you understand how God works.

Commentary, Chapter Two in the Faithful Version Bible: God's Divine Design of he Holy Bible and Its Numeric Connection; pgs 10-12: The Significance of Biblical Numbers:

Number 1: Signifies unity and oneness.
Number 2: Signifies union, division and verification by witnesses….

I and My Father are One. We are to be One in Them!

The witness of God in the Old and New Testaments [Covenants]

Number 3: …pictures completeness…. There were 3 righteous patriarchs before the flood—Abel, Enoch and Noah. There were 3 righteous patriarchs after the flood—Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Peter, James and John, the 3 key apostles who witnessed Jesus' transfiguration. Jesus prayed three times in the Garden of Gethsemane before His arrest. Jesus was crucified at the 3rd hour and died at the 9th hour; 3 x 3 = 9. There were 3 hours of darkness from the 6th hour to the 9th hour…. There are 27 books in the New Testament, which is 3 x 3 x 3…

Number 4: The number of creation, which marks God's creative works. It is the signature of the world. The material creation was finished on the 4th day—with the sun, moon and stars ordained for 4 thins: signs, seasons, days an years. The 4th commandment—"Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy"—was given to man at creation. The 4 accounts of Jesus' life and ministry: Matthew, Son of David and King; Mark, The Suffering Servant; Luke, The Perfect Man; and John, The Only Begotten Son of God

All very profound! All used!

Number 5: The number of God's grace or goodness toward man; mentioned 318 times in the Bible. The 5 offerings God commanded to be offered on the altar. The Ten Commandments have 2 sets of 5 commandments—5 toward God and 5 toward neighbor. The Psalms are divided into 5 books. The 5 books of the Law, also known as the Pentateuch. The 4 Gospels plus Acts equals 5 books or the New Testament Pentateuch—revealing Jesus' teachings…

Let's take this one step further. You add up all the chapters in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and you have 87. You have:

• 8 and 7
• 8 is 4
• 7 is perfect
• 8 is a new beginning
• 8 plus 7 equals 15
• 15 equals 5 x 3
• 5 is the number of grace
• 3 is the number of completion.

The Gospels and Acts picture the complete grace through Christ! So, you see how all of these numbers tie together. It is absolutely an amazing thing. Grace upon grace equals 25!

Number 6: The number of man and human weakness, the evils of Satan and the manifestation of sin…. "666" is the number and mark of the Beast of Revelation 13. It symbolizes the perfection of man's system [in sin]…

That also ties in with economics, etc. Let's look at #7, which is how we count up to Pentecost: 7 weeks plus 1 day.

Number 7: Used 735 times…

You figure that out, look at the numbers 7 and 3 and 5 are 15; that means 3 times grace. We need to also understand:

…the entire Word of God is founded on the number 7. "Sevenfold" is used 6 times and "seventh" is used 119 times, bringing the total references to 7 to 860….

That's 8 plus 6 is 14, which is 2 times 7!

It is used 54 times in Revelation alone. Seven is the number of completeness and perfection and is tied directly to God's creation of the heavens and earth. The word "created" is used 7 times describing God's creative work (Gen. 1:1 21, 27 three times 2:3, 2:4).. There are 7 days in a week. The Sabbath is the 7th day of the week. The 7th year is the land Sabbath. There are 7 feasts of God, beginning with Passover. There are 7 annual holy days. There are the 7 weeks of the spring harvest. The cycle of the 7 holy days is completed in 3 festival season by the 7th month of the sacred calendar: Passover and Unleavened Bread, 1st month; Pentecost, 3rd month; and Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles and Last Great Day, 7th month. In the book of Revelation there are 7 churches, 7 angels to the 7 churches, 7 seals, 7 trumpet plagues, 7 thunders and the 7 last plagues….

Look at the book of Revelation. It has 22 chapters, but you have 7 times 3, which is 21. In Rev. 21 it says, 'It is done' or 'It is finished.' Then you have new heaven and new earth. Rev. 22, which then is equivalent to an 8, we have a new beginning living with God in New Jerusalem and on the new earth.

The first resurrection takes place at the 7th trumpet, completing salvation for the Church. There are 7 divisions of the Bible: 1) the Law; 2) the Prophets; 3) the Writings, or Psalms; 4) the Gospels and Acts; 5) the General Epistles; 6) the Epistles of Paul; and 7) the book of Revelation. There are 49 books in the Bible…

The way that they are listed is differently than the way they are separately. For example, all the Minor Prophets are one book, as well as Joshua, Judges, 1st & 2nd Kings, , 1st & 2nd Samuel, , 1st & 2nd Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah. They're all in one book! The Bible has 49 actual books; 22 for the Old Testament and 27 for the New Testament. This gives us some understanding of the numbers. Remember, you have 7 weeks plus 1 day; 7 plus 1 is 8.

Number 8: Coming after 7, which signifies completeness, the number 8 symbolizes a new beginning, or a new order of things, a new creation, a new birth, and the resurrection to eternal life. A musical scale has 7 notes with the 8th note beginning a new scale an octave from the first note. Eight people were carried in the ark for a new beginning after the flood. Four is the number of the first creation, and 8 (4+4) pictures the new creation after the flood. David, the 8th son of Jesse, was the new king to replace Saul. The sum of the letters in Jesus' name is Greek is 888 (I-10, E-8, S-200, O-70, U-400, S-200=888)—the perfect Man, God manifested in the flesh. Christ was selected as the Passover Lamb on the 10th day of the first month, a weekly Sabbath (John 12:28-29). He was crucified on the 14th day (7+7, or double completeness), which was also the 4th day of the week. He was in the tomb exactly 3 days and 3 nights. He was resurrected toward the end of the next weekly Sabbath, the 17th (the number of victory). The 17th was also the 8th day when counted inclusively from the 10th day, the day of His selection….

Isn't that something? You take all of these things and you add them up. Selected on the 10th, then you have 11, 12, 13, 14, 4 days. Then He was 3 days in the tomb and ascended to the Father on the day after that, so you have 8 days. Very interesting all of those numbers.

…Thus, the confluence of these numbers shows Jesus' perfect sacrifice and His total victory over death….

You could add on some other things:

…Boys were to be circumcised on the 8th day. Eight symbolizes circumcision of the heart through Christ and the receiving of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 2:28-29; Col. 2:11-13). Those in Christ are becoming a new creation (8), with godly character being created by the power of God's Spirit III Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:10; 4:23-24). After the 7 weeks of the spring harvest, the next day—the 50th day—is Pentecost (7x7+1=50). This day is also the "8th day of the 7th week." As such, this 8th/50th day pictures the first resurrection, the day Christians are "born again" from flesh to spirit (I Cor. 15:20-23, 35-55; John 3:3-12; Rev. 14:14-16; 20:4-6)….

That's why Pentecost pictures the resurrection, not the Feast of Trumpets!

…After the 7 days of the Feast of Tabernacles, there is an 8th day—the Last Great Day….

What's that for? A new fleshly beginning for all of those who died, never having had an opportunity to receive salvation! Look at how all of this comes together. Look, even every one of us, we're numbered. We have the number of God stamped on every cell of our body. It's called DNA or chromosomal code.

There were 8 writers of the New Testament, who wrote of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. The Scriptures were written by 40 different individuals; 40 is 5 (grace) times 8 (a new beginning). By the grace of God mankind has the opportunity for a new beginning—as expounded through the Word of God.

I'll let you read the rest of the numbers that we have there. Let's come and see something very important concerning Pentecost and the meaning of it.

Number 40 is a number of suffering. How many days was Jesus tempted by Satan the devil? 40 days and 40 nights! Let's also understand this is very, very important to realize. You find this in the book, The Appointed Times of Jesus the Messiah. When Jesus was baptized the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form as a dove. What happened right after He was baptized?

Sidebar on the difference in the genealogy in Luke 3 and Matt. 1: Matt. 1 is a genealogy down to the caretaker Joseph, the stepfather of Jesus. That came down through the line of the tribe of Judah, through the kingly line through Solomon.

Since Joseph was not Jesus' father, that genealogy ended right there. However, where did Jesus get His physical inheritance? From His mother Mary! This is why the two genealogies are different. Joseph was not the son of Eli. Joseph was the son-in-law of Eli. Eli was Mary's father.

Luke 3:31: "The son of Meleas, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David." The physical genealogy to Christ came through Nathan, not Solomon!

Let's come back here to Matt. 3, right at the end, and we'll go right into the 4th chapter. It's interesting that this is in the 4th chapter in both cases of the temptation of Jesus by Satan the devil (Matt. 4 and Luke 4). What is the significance of that? We'll see that has a great deal to do with the day that He began His ministry.

Matthew 3:13: "Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him."

Verse 16: "And after He was baptized, Jesus came up immediately out of the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he… [John the Baptist] …saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him. And lo, a voice from heaven said, 'This is My Son, the Beloved, in Whom I have great delight'" (vs 16-17).

Remember that #4 is the important number, as I have covered, with Jesus.

• The calendar was set at the 4th day
• He was crucified on the 4th day
• He was raised and ascended to God the Father on the 4th day
• He was tempted of Satan the devil for 40 days
• He was with the disciples afterwards for 40 days

Jesus' number is 3x8 or 6x4, either way you want to put it: the perfect Man of God!

When Jesus went into the wilderness, we find that this had to be on the 10th day of the 7th month in 26A.D. It was a Jubilee Year! We will see the importance of that when we come back to Luke 4. Here's another thing that's important. The Day of Atonement that year for the Jubilee, 10th day of 7th month, was when Jesus began His ministry. That's beginning with the temptation.

Right after baptism Jesus went into the wilderness. We don't know exactly which day He was baptized, but we do know that the Day of Atonement for 26A.D. was on the 4th day of the week, a Wednesday! His ministry of 3-1/2 years was 44 months, because there were two leap years within that 3-1/2-year period.

So, #4 and #8 are indelibly identified with Jesus Christ! We will see something very important concerning the day that Jesus made the announcement that He was the Christ.

(go to the next track)

Let's continue on with the beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ. I stated that it was on the Day of Atonement in 26A.D. Now this is why you have The Holy Bible in Its Original Order. In Appendix S: God's Annual Feasts and Holy Days we have all the commanded Holy Days and Feasts from 5B.C. when Jesus was born to 105A.D. You'll also find that 26A.D. Atonement was on Wednesday, September 11, 26A.D. was a Jubilee year.

• What did Christ bring in? A Jubilee message of forgiveness of sin!
• Where was Jesus on that Jubilee day in 26A.D.? In the wilderness being tempted by Satan the devil!

I want you to think on this for just a minute because this is very important: Jesus began His ministry on the 4th day of the week, being tempted by Satan the devil. He had to do that first. That day of Atonement was on the 4th day of the week, the middle of the week.

Could a public announcement be made in the middle of the desert when He was under temptation by Satan the devil? No! We'll see that the announcement was made in Luke 4. Let's first finish the other thought. He died on Wednesday, the 4th day of the week in 30A.D. Who was the instigator of His death? None other than Satan the devil!

All of these numbers are important. You can check that out. You can go backwards and forwards with the Calculated Hebrew Calendar, and know when all of these events took place; very important to know and very profound to understand. We see how God does everything because:

• He's a God of truth
• He's a God of love
• He's a God of power
• He's a God of grace

Everything that He does, He knows!

Remember how a Jubilee year is calculated. Seven years, land Sabbath, 7th year times 7 is 49. This is very similar to how the count for Pentecost is: 7 weeks plus one day, the 50th day; 7 years times 7 years is 49. Then in the 50th year, which is year-1 of the next 7 years, the Day of Atonement is a Jubilee year, when the trumpet is blown on that day for the release of slaves and termination of all debt. The land is released back to the tribe.

After Satan finished the temptation with Jesus, then Jesus Himself returned in power; Luke 4:14: "Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee; and word about Him went out into the entire country around. And He taught in their synagogues, and was glorified by all. 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" (vs 14-16).

This is a very important expression in the Greek. There's a footnote on the bottom of the page that says that this day in the Greek is "…on the day of the Sabbaths…" or "…weeks." So, this was the Day of Atonement, not just an ordinary Sabbath.

How do you count to Pentecost? 7 days, 7 days, 7 days, 7 days, 7 days, 7 days, 7 days; 7 times 7, 49 plus 1 is 50. Pentecost can be reckoned as a mini-Jubilee. Since it also pictures the first resurrection, Pentecost is the release from physical life to become spirit, a new beginning, #8!

So let's see what Jesus' message was on this day, v 17: "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… [He's announcing Himself] …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'" (vs 17-19). This is taken right from Isa. 61! The Jews knew that this was a prophecy of the Messiah.

Isaiah 61:1: "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me because the LORD has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound." Isn't that what Satan does? He binds you to him!

Verse 2: "To preach the acceptable year of the LORD… [He stopped right there, now the next part of the sentence]:…and the day of vengeance of our God…" That part He left out! It's going to come on a Day of Pentecost. The vengeance will begin on the last Pentecost when Jesus returns. We'll see that tomorrow.

Verse 3: "'To appoint to those who mourn in Zion, giving to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the mantle of praise for the spirit of heaviness; so that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He might be glorified.'" Then it goes on into the Millennium.

That's why we have in The Holy Bible in Its Original Order the commentaries and the appendices. I don't know how many people out there have not read the commentaries or the appendices, but let me suggest that you do so. Those are all very important for your learning, knowledge, understanding, growing in grace and knowledge, and understanding how God works, how things have happened in history.

After Jesus was resurrected, He came back, opened the minds of the apostles to all the prophecies concerning Himself, and the Law and the Prophets and the Writing/Psalms. He taught them 40 days and 40 nights. He began 40 days with Satan and He ended 40 days with His apostles.

Acts 1:1: "The first account I indeed have written, O Theophilus… [means lover of God] …concerning all things that Jesus began both to do and to teach… [we read that back in Luke] … until the day in which He was taken up, after giving command by the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen; to whom also, by many infallible proofs, He presented Himself alive after He had suffered, being seen by them for forty days, and speaking the things concerning the Kingdom of God" (vs 2-3)

• the grace of God
• love of God
• Truth of God
• salvation of God

Also with this, with His coming He preached the Gospel first to the Jews, and to the giving of the Holy Spirit, He gave it first to the Jews: to the Jew first, then the Gentiles! That's exactly how it's followed through all the New Testament. Everything comes together with:

• the Sabbath
• the Holy Days
• the Feasts of God
• the Word of God

All the numbers and things that are important are there. We can learn from every bit of it.

Verse 4: "And while they were assembled with Him, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to 'await the promise of the Father, which,' He said, 'you have heard of Me.'" He's talking about the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit is the power of God. There's no such thing as a trinity; that's a doctrine of men.

Verse 5: "'For John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit after not many days.'…. [it was ten days] …So then, when they were assembled together they asked Him, saying, 'Lord, will You restore the kingdom to Israel at this time?'" (vs 5-6).

They expected Him to do it right away, but He didn't. He didn't tell them it would be about 2,000 years further.

Verse 7: "And He said to them, 'It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has placed in His own authority; but you yourselves shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the ends of the earth'" (vs 7-8). That is a prophecy extending clear down to today.

• we have the writings of the apostles
• we have the Law, the Prophets and Psalms
• we have the books of the New Testament
• Who were they written by? The chosen ones of God!
• Who wrote the New Testament? The apostles of God!

This goes all the way down to our day. That's being accomplished right now through all the means being able to preach the Word of God to the world in a way that was not thought of by any, even as few as 30-40 years back.

Now with all the modern technology we have, God is using that to get the word out to the whole world, to the ends of the earth! There will not be one man on earth who will ever come up to Jesus, and say, 'I never heard.' God is going to ensure that that won't happen, because there will also be the two witnesses.

Verse 9: "And after saying these things, as they were looking at Him, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. Now, while they were gazing intently up into heaven as He was going up, two men in white apparel suddenly stood by them, Who also said, 'You men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, Who was taken up from you into heaven, shall come in exactly the same manner as you have seen Him go into heaven.' Then they returned to Jerusalem …" (vs 9-12). They cast lots for the replacement for Judas.

There were 120 of them gathered in the upper room and that was a room in the temple area. Notice Acts 2 because this becomes important. You go back in history and you find that the Ten Commandments were given from Mount Sinai on the Day of Pentecost.

You come to Jesus' ministry and He announced His ministry on the Day of Pentecost, though it actually began on Atonement. But there was no way He could announce that He was the Messiah in the middle of the wilderness, so He waited until the mini-Jubilee, which is Pentecost. Fifty years on the regular Jubilee; 50 days on the mini-Jubilee to Pentecost.

We come to another fantastic thing concerning the Day of Pentecost, which I'm going to cover today, because tomorrow we're going to cover how it's going to be fulfilled when Jesus returns.

Acts 2:1: "And when the Day of Pentecost, the fiftieth day, was being fulfilled…" That is the correct translation, special Greek called an articular, meaning it has an article the, infinity. Was being fulfilled, showing active present passive tense; not the day before, not the day after.

"…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…" (vs 1-2). These are some of the same elements that were at Mount Sinai.

"…and filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and sat upon each one of them" (vs 2-3). Showing a demonstrable receiving of the Holy Spirit of God.

For those who say you have to have the baptism of fire, they are crazy. Baptism of fire is being thrown into the Lake of Fire. They were baptized with the Holy Spirit in a demonstrable way so that they would know that the promise of Jesus and receiving the power of God was fulfilled!

Verse 4: "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit; and they began to speak with other languages…" Why? Because in the temple area, there were thousands and thousands of Jews, many of them coming up there especially because they heard about Jesus!

You know that after He was crucified, word went out far and wide that He died and 'can't find His body.' There were pilgrimages from the Diaspora, the dispersion or exile of the Jews, coming to Jerusalem because they wanted to know what happened.

• What happened?
• How was this?
• How did this take place?

Maybe some of them had been there previously and heard Jesus teach and they came back wondering what was going to happen. Here's what happened:

Verse 5: "Now, there were many Jews who were sojourning in Jerusalem… [temporarily staying there] …devout men from every nation under heaven. And when word of this went out, the multitude came together and were confounded, because each one heard them speaking in his own language" (vs 5-6).

This was a double miracle: those who were listening heard in their own language, and the apostles speaking were speaking in their own language, but it came out in every language of every person so they could hear the things of God. That was a tremendous miracle. And being at the temple, and being right there with all that power and speaking and preaching, they knew that this came from God. Had it been done some other place, Galilee or some other country, they would never have believed it. So, to the Jew first.

• Didn't God do that in a great and powerful way?
• Did He not keep His promise? Yes!
• Do you think there is any promise that God won't keep or can't keep? No, indeed!

Verse 7: "And they were all amazed, and marveled, saying to one another, 'Behold, are not all these who are speaking Galileans?'"

That's like saying, 'They're all from this miniscule little place over here that really doesn't amount to anything. How can they be doing this?'

Just like today. People say, 'How do you know the Truth?' It's in the Bible. 'That was written by men.' Yes, but it was written by men who were inspired of God. 'How do I understand it?' That's another story. You have to repent and be baptized, receive the Holy Spirit. So, here they were hearing each one speak in their own language in which they were born.

Verse 9: "Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and those who inhabit Mesopotamia, and Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, both Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya which are near Cyrene, and the Romans who are sojourning here, both Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians; we hear them speaking in our own languages the great things of God" (vs 9-11).

Stop and think about that for a minute. Who confounded all the languages? God did, because they were going to do all of their own devices and nothing would be held back from them, which they imagined to do. Now to teach the Word of God, God began with a miracle by causing the languages to all come back to what God intended it to be on this one day so they would all hear in their own language.

They couldn't say, 'We went up to Jerusalem and we heard these strange looking men up there. They spoke pretty well, but we couldn't understand a word they were saying because they were speaking in some language, that I don't know anything about. What were they saying? Does anybody know?' God wanted them all to know.

Did not Jesus say, 'You shall be My witnesses beginning in Jerusalem—where the temple is in Jerusalem and Judea, the land around it; in Samaria further north and in Galilee, and unto the ends of the earth! Didn't Jesus prophesy in Matt. 24 that this Gospel of the Kingdom of God shall be preached in all the world to all nations and then the end shall come? Yes, indeed. You see how powerful and great and good God is.

Then some said, 'Well, they're drunk.' Peter got up and said, 'No, that's not true, not drunk.' It was only the 3rd hour of the morning, the time of the morning sacrifice. Peter standing up with the 11, lifted up his voice and spoke out to them:

Verse 14: "'Then Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and spoke out to them: 'Men, Jews, and all those of you who inhabit Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and pay attention to my words. For these are not drunken as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel: "'And it shall come to pass in the last days,' says God, 'that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; and even upon My servants and upon My handmaids will I pour out My Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy; and I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapors of smoke'"'" (vs 14-19).

That didn't happen right then, but that's going to happen when Christ returns.

Verse 20: "The sun shall be turned into darkness… [that happened when Jesus was on the cross] …and the moon into blood… [that probably happened that very night] …before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the Lord." Doesn't this fill in with the prophecies in the book of Revelation? Yes, indeed it does!

Verse 21: "And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Just imagine, there were probably 40,000-50,000 there. All the apostles were doing the speaking. Peter was doing the main speaking right here with this.

Verse 22: "Men, Israelites, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarean, a Man sent forth to you by God, as demonstrated by works of power and wonders and signs, which God performed by Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know."

Later when Peter came to Cornelius, he said, 'This is well known. This wasn't done in a corner.' So, he's telling the Jews, 'As you know…'

Verse 23: "Him, having been delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you have seized by lawless hands and have crucified and killed. But God has raised Him up, having loosed the throes of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it; for David speaks concerning Him, 'I foresaw the Lord before Me continually; for He is at My right hand, so that I may not be moved. Therefore, My heart rejoiced and My tongue was glad; moreover, My flesh also shall rest in hope; for You will not leave My soul in the grave, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You did make Me to know the ways of life; You will fill Me with joy with Your countenance." (vs 23-28).

After quoting the Scripture, Peter says, v 29: "Men and brethren, let me speak to you freely concerning the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet…" (vs 29-30). He was prophesying the coming of Christ, he tells them.

Verse 33: "Therefore, having been exalted by the right hand of God, and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, He has poured out this that you are now seeing and hearing. For David has not ascended into the heavens…" (vs 33-34).

Very interesting, isn't it? No one has ascended into heaven except He Who came down from heaven! So, all of you Protestants out there thinking you're going to heaven as soon as you die, it isn't going to happen! You've been deceived and lied to and you believe lies. When are you going to start believing the Truth?

Verse 34: "For David has not ascended into the heavens, but he himself said, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand… [Psa. 110] … until I have made Your enemies a footstool for Your feet."' Therefore, let all the house of Israel know…" (v 34-36). Very powerful message!

We need to understand this within the Church today. Too many have turned it into a social club rather than a learning place, rather than a spiritual place where the Spirit of God is and works in our lives.

Verse 36: "'Therefore, let all the house of Israel know with full assurance that God has made this same Jesus, Whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.' Now, after hearing this, they were cut to the heart…" (vs 36-37). Yes, there were some who believed, some who repented.

• What will people do today?
• How many will really repent today?
• How many will really take to heart all that God has said and done and done in their lives and provided for them?
• How many go running after false doctrine, running after false preachers or prophets or fairy tales and lies?

Those who are supposed to be in the Church of God, with the Spirit of God. What a shame! What a shame!

"…and they said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?' Then Peter said to them, 'Repent and be baptized…'" (vs 37-38). That's the whole starting of the New Covenant.

Words like this come out and they're easy to understand at first, but the meaning grows and grows as you grow in grace and knowledge in the Spirit of God and understand the Word of God.

• Do you realize that?
• What is your life?
• Where are you going?
• What are you doing?
• How is your standing before God?
• Are you going to repent, like these men repented here were baptized?

Verse 38: "Then Peter said to them, 'Repent and be baptized each one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you yourselves shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children…'" (vs 38-39).

That's why you're here at the temple. You have the Holy Writings of God: the Law, the Prophets and the Writings/Psalms. All of these things were prophesied in there. These are the promises given. Think about all the promises given to us. Think about all the things that God has given to us:

• His Word
• His Truth
• His love
• His grace
• knowledge and understanding of His Word
• knowing of His plan and where we're going and where we're coming from

Verse 40: "And with many other words he earnestly testified and exhorted, saying, 'Be saved from this perverse generation.' Then those who joyfully received his message were baptized; and about three thousand souls were added that day" (vs 40-41). Quite a thing!

All the rest of the New Testament is the developing of the Word of God, adding all the things that God did.

Rev. 2 & 3 is another set of seven. Of course, you go through Rev. 1 and it's Passover and the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Rev. 2 & 3 are the seven Churches of God down through time. We can probably say that not only was it just the seven churches on the mail route there, but these are types of God's Church all through time, down through history, from that time, even to this time!

• Can you find those who lose their first love at any time in the Church? Yes!
• Can you find those who give way to Satan the devil and hierarchical authority over the brethren anyplace down through time? Yes!
• Can you find down through history where the false doctrine by the woman Jezebel, which today is the Catholic Church? Yes!
• Can you find down through history that they get tired and worn out and do just a very little? Yes!
• Can you find it down through history that there are those who are faithful with the Word of God, like the Philadelphia Church? Yes!
• Can you find there are Laodiceans where they are lax and really don't do the things that they need to do? Yes!

We've gone through all of these seven churches again. Let's tie this in to a type of Pentecost: 7 churches, 7 times 7 is 49; same way with the resurrection and Pentecost. The seven churches as pictured by Matt. 13 with all of the harvest going on and everything, pictures the harvest of the 7 churches.

• What happens at the harvest? Resurrection!
• What is the celebration of the harvest? The 50th day!

Let's look at Rev. 4: remember what we have learned about numbers 4, 44, 8 and 888 applying to Christ. So, we have the 7 weeks of the harvest. Then we have a resurrection, a symbolic resurrection to the throne of God.

The first two resurrected are the two witnesses. They go to the throne of God. We'll see that tomorrow. Rev. 4 is quite a thing; this is a type of the resurrection!

Revelation 4:1: "After these things I looked, and behold, a door opened in heaven; and the first voice that I heard was as if a trumpet were speaking with me…"

• What's blown on Pentecost? The trumpet!
• What's blown at the resurrection? The trumpet!

So this is a type of the resurrection, but in vision!

"…saying, 'Come up here, and I will show you the things that must take place after these things'" (v 1). Amazing!

Come up and John sees the throne of God and he sees God sitting on it. He sees the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures. He sees the Sea of Glass on which the throne is sitting.

Verse 6: "And before the throne was a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne and over the throne were four living creatures, full of eyes before and behind; and the first living creature was like a lion, and the second living creature was like a bull, and the third living creature had the face of a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. And each of the four living creatures had six wings respectively; and around and within they were full of eyes; and day and night they cease not saying, 'Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was, and Who is, and Who is to come.'" (vs 6-8).

Think of that! This is foretaste of the resurrection. What's it going to be like for us to be resurrected from the dead and we come up and we see all the saints on the Sea of Glass and Jesus Christ and God the Father. All of this going on! Tremendous!

• #4, they see God.
• #5, they see Christ slain.

Let's read it here, because this is important. Who is the Head of all the Churches of God? Jesus Christ! So then there was no one worthy to open the book. The seal was seven seals out of which come seven plagues, out of which comes seven trumpet plagues, out of which come the last seven plagues: 3 and 7.

Revelation 5:5: "Then one of the elders said to me, 'Do not weep. Behold, the Lion Who is of the tribe of Judah… [Christ] …the Root of David… [through Nathan] …has overcome to open the book, and to loose its seven seals.' Then I saw, and behold, before the throne and the four living creatures, and before the elders, was standing a Lamb ashaving been slain… [crucifixion of Christ] …having seven horns and seven eyes… [seven horns showing He's the Head of the seven churches] …which are the seven Spirits of God that are sent into all the earth" (vs 5-6). Quite a thing! Fantastic, indeed! This was a vision 'par excellent'!

Verse 7: "And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him Who sits on the throne. And when He took the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having harps and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (vs 7-8).

Your prayers come up before God and they are handled and answered. God is right there, right before His throne. They sing a new song. This is the song that we are going to sing, because it's the prayer of the saints. It's the saints who are doing the singing, not the 24 elders.

Verse 9: "And they sang a new song, saying, 'Worthy are You to take the book, and to open its seals because You were slain, and did redeem us to God by Your own blood, out of every tribe and language and people and nation.'"

Is that the song of the Lamb that we're going to sing when we're on the Sea of Glass? Could very well be! Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day, brethren. The Day of Pentecost and all the things that are going to go on there.

Verse 10: "And did make us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth."

This earth is going to be one terrible, horrendous mess when we come back to the earth to begin to rule and reign. We're going to have to really have some understanding and wisdom from God, the power of God's Spirit to help clean up this mess. We'll see all the things that are going to take place to the earth as we go through toward Pentecost tomorrow.

Verse 11: "And I saw and I heard the voices of many angels around the throne, and the voices of the living creatures and the elders, and thousands of thousands… [imagine what this is like] … saying with a loud voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory and blessing'" (vs 11-12).

That's one of the songs sung in The Messiah, written by Handel. Very powerful and moving. Think of that. All of those in heaven worshiping and praising God the Father and Jesus Christ.

Notice this is such a fantastic event, v 13: "And every creature that is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and those that are on the sea, and all the things in them, I heard saying, 'To Him Who sits on the throne… [God the Father Himself] … and to the Lamb, be blessing, and honor, and glory, and sovereignty into the ages of eternity.'" The rest of the book of Revelation tells us how it's going to be accomplished!

Verse 14: "And the four living creatures said, 'Amen.' And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him Who lives into the ages of eternity." Amen."

See you tomorrow, the 50th day, the Jubilee, the wondrous spiritual day of the resurrection of all the saints of God!

Scriptural references:

• Leviticus 23:9-18
• Matthew 13:33
• Luke 3:31
• Matthew 3:13, 16-17
• Luke 4:14-19
• Isaiah 61:1-3
• Acts 1:1-12
• Acts 2:1-11, 14-30, 33-41
• Revelation 4:1, 6-8
• Revelation 5:5-14

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Revelation 7; 21-22
• Matthew 1; 4; 24
• Psalm 110
• Revelation 1; 2; 3

Also referenced:

From The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version:

• Commentary, Chapter Two: God's Divine Design of the Holy Bible And Its Numeric Connection
• Appendix S: God's Annual Feasts and Holy Days

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

FRC:lp          Transcribed: 4-26-18
Formatted: bo—4-29-18

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