Pentecost Resurrection #3

More on Events Leading up to Pentecost Resurrection

Fred R. Coulter—May 24, 2008

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This is a continuing message on answers to the complaints of those who do not believe that Pentecost pictures the first resurrection. So, I'll pick up where I left off last time with this note: There is not one single Scripture in the Bible that shows the Feast of Trumpets to be a harvest feast. And if you view that as the day the resurrection takes place, because trumpets are blown, pray-tell since they are blown all day long, how do you know when the last trumpet is sounding. And if the last trumpet is sounded—since they're blown all day long—are you going to miss the whole day and the last trump is blown just right as the sun sets—ending that day. So you've lost all your symbology with it.

Now before we get into different Scriptures, what I want to do is cover things that you know. Now, if you don't know we have books you can read. And as Solomon wrote, "of the making of books there is no end."

Now let's start with the proposition which we know to be true—and we will give you some examples to prove it—that the plan of God is outlined by the Passover and Holy Days. Every Sabbath is a day of teaching, a day of rest and communication with God, so that through His Word and through His Spirit we can be trained for eternal life. But the overall plan of God is based on the framework of the Passover and the Holy Days.

Now let's just review: Genesis 15 is the beginning of the Passover—14th day of the first month. As well as the Night to be Much Observed, the beginning of the 15th day of the first month. And as a matter of fact, on that very same day—to show that God uses those days to fulfill His will—we have the Passover with Israel when? On the 14th. And the Night to be Much Observed, when they began leaving Egypt, on the 15th—to the very same day that God promised that He would do it. So this shows that God does uses His Holy Days to carry out His prophesied will. Because it was prophesied back in Genesis 15 that the physical seed would end up in captivity and after 400 years—now the difference between the 400 and 430 is that the confirmation given to Isaac 30 years later brings it down to 400—was fulfilled on that very same day.

Now we also know that 40 years later when the children of Israel went into the promised land they were officially in the land, and took the Passover on the 14th; they had the first Holy Day on the 15th and the manna stopped coming on the 16th. So that shows God officially recognized the inheritance of the land on the 15th day of the first month, which is the same day—40 years earlier—that they left Egypt. So we have the Passover with Abraham; we have the Passover with Israel.

Now, how did God fulfill the Passover? Did He do it on some other day? Or did He use the day that He created and set aside for that? Let's come to Romans 5—let's see what Paul wrote, because he understood and kept the Holy Days, and understood what they were for. Let's pick it up in Romans 5:6: "For even when we were without strength, at the appointed time Christ died for the ungodly."

Now, let's come back to Leviticus 23 and let's see what God says about the Passover and Holy Days. They are called "appointed times." So when it says there, "at the appointed time," I think the King James says "set time"—which is appointed. Leviticus 23:4 we find that God says here: "These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons." Now we'll see a little later, too, that Jesus was also born at the "appointed time." And we'll see what day that that fits into.

• So we have the Passover with Abraham, the Passover with the children of Israel, 14th day of the first month in both cases.
• Beginning the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the 15th day of the first month, and the beginning of the Exodus. Those parallel; those were fulfilled in the time that God set.
• Then we have the Passover when Jesus was crucified. He died at the "appointed time" that God had set.

So this proves that God uses the Passover and Holy Days to fulfill His will. We also saw how that on what is called the Day of Pentecost, the children of Israel received the law (Ex. 20). Also, on the Day of Pentecost the Church began at the temple with the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Now, I cover that on the coming Day of Pentecost. Did God use the Day of Pentecost to fulfill His will to send His Holy Spirit? Yes! He didn't send it the day before. He didn't send it the day after. He sent it during the fulfilling of the Feast of Pentecost. So we have the two fulfillings of that.

• Children of Israel at Mt. Sinai
• And now the starting of the Church who are what? What are they called in the New Testament? Spiritual Israel—the Israel of God.
• And they were gathered to receive from God in both cases:
• At Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments
• At the temple to receive the Holy Spirit—which then gives you the power to keep them in the way that God desires you to keep them.
• And we will also see that the third fulfillment of Pentecost has to be the first resurrection.

So we've got three fulfillments of the Passover—and I think I did a sermon on the three Passovers before Passover, didn't I? Yes. The three fulfillments of Pentecost—we'll come back to that.

Now, let's look at Trumpets. Let's come to 2-Chronicles, which is in a different place in the new Bible than you expect it. 2-Chronicles 5—here is a fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets. And we know from the context that this has to be the Feast of Trumpets because shortly after that they kept the Feast of Tabernacles. (that's page 925 in the new Bible. Now, let's pick it up here in 2-Chronicles 5:11—after they put the Ark of the Covenant into the Holy of Holies, and we will see what happened on this Feast of Trumpets.

"And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place (for all the priests present were sanctified, and did not wait by course), And the Levitical singers—all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being clothed in white linen, and having cymbals and with harps and lyres—stood at the east end of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests sounding with silver trumpets… [Now when the Feast of Trumpets occurred they blew all those 120 silver trumpets and later, as we will see, they also blew the rams horn. So you talk about a noise on the Feast of Trumpets! But here was this special occasion dedicating the temple.] (And let's see what happened): …It came to pass, as the trumpeters and the singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the silver trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying, 'For He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever,' that the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD, So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God!" (vs 11-14). What does that show? That shows: God came and put His presence in the temple on that day—the Feast of Trumpets.

Now, what is the second fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets? Well, you'll have to read it in the commentary in the Bible or in the New Testament, either one. The second fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets was the coming of Christ when He was born. Now, what's the third fulfillment? Because we're going to see a pattern: 1, 2, 3; 1, 2, 3; 1, 2, 3—in every one of these. That's when Christ was born in the flesh.

Now, let's see the third fulfillment of this. Let's come to the book of Zechariah 14 (you'll find that on page 700). You can use your bookmarker for the beginning page, but for the time being I'll give you the page that I'm turning to. So if you look and see the beginning page, at least you'll have a start toward it.

Zechariah 14:1—here is the third prophesied fulfillment, which has not yet taken place: "Behold, the day of the LORD comes… [and we know Trumpets pictures the ultimate day of the Lord.] …and your spoil shall be divided in your midst, 'For I will gather all nations to battle against Jerusalem; and the city shall be taken, and the houses plundered, and the women raped. And half of the city shall go into exile, and the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.' And the LORD shall go out and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day… [Now that's the day that He literally, in returning to the earth, stands on the Mt. of Olives. So that would be the third fulfillment of it—has yet to happen.] …upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall split in two, from the east and to the west, and make a very great valley. And half of the mountain shall move toward the north, and half of it toward the south" (vs 1-4).

Now let's come down here to v 5—continuing now: "'And you shall flee to the valley of My mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.' And the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with You." Now how are they going to come with Him if He comes from heaven and there hasn't been any preparation for it? Well, that's answered in a Pentecost resurrection, as we will see.

Now, let's take the next Holy Day, which is Day of Atonement. The first fulfillment of the Day of Atonement is given with Israel in Leviticus 16 & 23—where there is a goat for Christ and a goat for Azazel. And this helps answer the question: Though Jesus died on the Passover day, when will the forgiveness of Christ be given to the rest of the world? It won't be given to Israel or the rest of the world until Christ returns. So that's the second fulfillment.

Okay, we're going to see a third fulfillment here in a little bit. Let's come to the next Holy Day and Feast—the Feast of Tabernacles.

• The first fulfillment was when the children of Israel conquered the land.
• The second fulfillment was the peace that Solomon had when the kingdom—all 12 tribes—were together.
• The third fulfillment is going to be when Christ sets up the Kingdom of God on earth.

Now, let's see how this applies and how this is understood from Revelation 20, because it's very interesting that some of these Holy Days cannot be fully understood until the book of Revelation is understood. So we're going to look at Atonement, the binding of Satan.

Revelation 20:1: "Then I saw an angel descending from heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand. And he took hold of the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. Then he cast him into the abyss, and locked him up, and sealed the abyss over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were fulfilled; and after that it is ordained that he be loosed for a short time. And I saw thrones; and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given to them… [So we have atonement there with the binding of Satan. Then we have the setting up of the Kingdom of God.] …and I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and those who did not worship the beast, or his image, and did not receive the mark in their foreheads or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years" (vs 1-4).

So what follows Atonement? The Feast of Tabernacles. And we have known throughout all the time we've been in the Church that the Feast of Tabernacles pictures the Millennium and the reign of the saints and Christ on the earth. So we have the third fulfillment there.

Let's look at another fulfillment that applies to Jesus Himself. Because you can take these same things, which then are types and anti-types, and are parallels. Now let's not confuse them with symbolism. Symbolism is entirely different. Symbolism is wine for the blood of Christ; bread for the body of Christ. Parallelism are fulfillings of Scripture that parallel each other and you have a fulfilling and then another fulfilling and you have another fulfilling—so you have three parallels with it.

Let's look at one concerning Jesus Christ. Let's come to the Gospel of John 1:1 (which is pg 1054): "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." That tells you who Jesus was before He came in the flesh. Now, let's come down here to v 14: "And the Word [who was God] became flesh, and tabernacled among us…" So we have Jesus temporarily living with His creation and His ministry was three and a half years long. So there is a fulfillment of that.

• We've got the kingdom of Israel under Solomon.
• We have the ministry of Christ.
• We have the Kingdom of God on earth (Rev. 20).

Now we can see a pattern. And with a pattern, that's the same as a framework. And the reason I'm going through to show this is because those who have never looked into it concerning Pentecost picturing the first resurrection have not understood the three fulfillments of how God uses the Holy Days.

Now, let's take the Last Great Day. We have the fulfillment of it through Solomon where they had a great feast on the Last Great Day, everything was secured—#1. We also have where Jesus prophesied on the Last Great Day (John 7) which portrayed—this is not the second fulfillment but where He was preaching. John 7:37: "Now in the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and called out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. The one who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.' But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, which those who believed in Him would soon receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified" (vs 37-39). So here's a prophecy of it.

We also have a fulfilling of the prophecy back here in Revelation 20—so let's come back here—and helps answer the question with the Last Great Day: What is God going to do about all those people that he deliberately blinded so they would not be saved in their first lifetime? What is He going to do with them? I mean, if we look at the world today and all who are killed, can you say the scores of thousands that died in the Myanmar cyclone and all of those who died in the earthquake in China, all of those who are dying in Darfur, all of those who die in wars—they never had a chance, God never called them, God never opened their minds. And in many cases the Word of God never even came to them, especially in the Muslim lands. So they lived and died:

• What is God going to do with them?
• Are those lives wasted and empty?
• What about little children who die?
• What about abortion?
• What about all of those things?
• Is God going to waste that human life?

And of course, a lot of people, because they don't understand that, they give up on God. Well the reason is, they don't know the Holy Days, and they don't see the pattern of the Holy Days. The Catholics and even some other religions teach that if you don't go through the rituals for babies and they die, then they go to limbus infantium—in other words, they're hanging in limbo until you pay the priest enough money to give enough masses to get them out of there. Well, how does he know they're in there. And how does he know when they're out. Now, what if he gives a mass when he's totally drunk and it's not counted? What if you don't pay him enough money, does part of the baby come out or part of it left in there? No, all of those are stupid questions and stupid answers because they reject the Bible. And the Catholics say they could have preached the gospel—meaning their gospel—without the Bible. Yes, they could because it's totally pagan. The Bible for them is only window dressing to make it look like they're Christian, and they keep it locked in what they call a little tabernacle, which is just a little box with a door on it, on the altar that they have in the Catholic Church.

And so, they bring the Bible out with great pomp and ceremony and they open it up with great ceremony and kiss it, and then stand up and reject it. And everyone thinks, 'Oh boy, these are Holy men of God.' No, they're not! They're performing the work of Satan the devil, they're not of God. And if you don't believe that, just look at the fruits of the Roman Catholic Church. Now, I say that because we still have free speech and this is not hate speech. If you give facts, facts are not hate speech.

Now, Revelation 20:5—here's one verse which helps answer the question: "(But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were completed.)…." Humm, very interesting isn't it? So here's the final fulfillment of it.

Then we also have that answered by Ezek. 37, and the message, the account, of the dry bones in the valley; as well as Matt. 12 where Jesus says they're going to be resurrected.

• So there we have a beginning of it with Israel.
• And we have with Christ tabernacling among us.
• And then we have the third fulfillment: the resurrection of all of those who never had an opportunity for salvation.

A lot of people, when they see all these disasters come around, they say: 'Well, why didn't God stop it?' Well, it's not time to stop those things. Well, why did God let all the children die? Well, He let them die because they're products of the civilization that they are in, and time and chance happens to all—and they just happened to be there. So God, in His love and mercy is going to take care of it. You think God is going to stop every volcano? Stop every hurricane? Stop every cyclone? Stop every earthquake?—when He said those things would happen? No! He's not going to do it. So now is not the time for that to be. We also see a final fulfillment of getting rid of Satan, but that's at the end of the Millennium.

Now, on day 49, you're going to hear a sermon that I have already made. It will be on audio and video entitled From Mt. Sinai to Mt. Sion—and you will see three fulfillments. And as I have already covered, through Matt. 13, the harvest of Christians at the end of the age is a harvest feast. I've covered that.

So if Trumpets is not a harvest feast and Pentecost is a harvest feast, which one do you think—based upon the Bible principles that we have already covered—pictures the first resurrection? It has to be Pentecost!

• So you have the first fulfillment at Mt. Sinai.
• You have the second fulfillment at the temple and  receiving of the Holy Spirit.
• You have the third fulfillment, which will be the resurrection.

Now, I'll get to some of those details a little later on. Let's also understand that the Bible, in general, and the book of Revelation, in particularly, is based upon the Passover and the Holy Days. Let's look at that. Let's do a survey of the book of Revelation and see how it is laid out according to the Passover and Holy Days.

Now, we finished up last time in Revelation, the first chapter, so let's go back there. Let's pick it up in Revelation 1:17: "And when I saw Him…" That is Christ in His full power—glorious power, shinning like the sun. I read a paper recently of man who said, 'Well, Jesus is the light of the world, therefore the full moon pictures Jesus as the light of the world.' Well, I wrote him and told him: 'Well, how did you miss Rev. 1 where He shines as the sun in full strength. Isn't that much more powerful and glorious than the other'? And besides the moon is the reflection of the sun, correct? Yes! And he was all bent on symbolism, symbolism. Well, you have to look at the things that are stated in the Bible and go by that. And you can't make symbolism a primary thing. First of all, you have the Scriptures and you have parallelism and then you have symbolism that is worked in after you have the structure of everything else.

Continuing now, v 17: "…but He laid His right hand upon me, saying to me, 'Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last… [And this shows the whole Bible and the book of Revelation are tied together beginning from Genesis to this. And there are many sermons I could give showing parallels from Genesis onward. But I don't have time for that.] …Even the one Who is living… [Which is what? Resurrection. When did that happen? During Unleavened Bread.] …for I was dead… [He died for the sins of the world, correct? So we have Passover/Wave Sheaf Offering Day right here, don't we? Yes, indeed!] …and behold, I am alive into the ages of eternity. Amen. And I have the keys of the grave and of death" (vs 17-18). Not the Pope. He may have a couple of keys, but I have yet to see him do anything really substantive with it. As a matter of fact, they had to box him up in a coffin when he died.

Now, we come to something very interesting in Revelation 2 & 3. Question: How many churches do we find in those two chapters? Seven! Now we're not going to go into a detailed discussion about the seven churches because I already have a sermon out on that entitled The Seven Church Harvest—and I go through it very in-depth.

Now we have parallelism. How many weeks are there from the wave sheaf offering? How many weeks are there? Seven weeks of the harvest—49 days—correct? Yes! So therefore, in fulfilling of prophecy, is it unreasonable to conclude—and I don't think so and I think it's quite valid—that since the Church is called 'the firstfruits' and the 'firstborn'—after Christ. Christ is the firstborn, afterward those that are His at His coming. So He starts the harvest, as the first of the firstfruits. When the resurrection for the Church takes place that ends the harvest of the firstfruits. Nobody else is going to be in the first resurrection. When the harvest is over it's over, isn't it? I mean, when you've cut the last wheat down and brought it in, is the harvest over? Yes! And then all about the things that were done on Pentecost, you'll just have to wait for the Feast of Pentecost to cover that.

So some ministers in other churches have recorded: "Well, he says the seven churches picture the seven weeks of harvest." Question: If the first resurrection is a harvest, and if the seven churches picture the prophetic history of the Church from the time of the apostles until the return of Christ, is that not a harvest? Divided down into seven portions? Yes, it is. So it is not unreasonable to conclude that the seven weeks in counting toward Pentecost must picture the seven churches.

Now, question: Have you yet arrived at Pentecost? No, because Pentecost is the 50th day. And so this is where it's been difficult for them to understand what I'm saying. So let's do a survey—Revelation two and three, the churches. Now, we'll come back and go through those a little later. These are the seven churches picturing the prophetic history of the Church from the time of John down to now; picturing the seven attitudes of the Church. Now if you don't have the DVD, Israel of the Alps, put out by the Seventh Day Adventist, we'll send you a copy of it. And I think you'll be absolutely amazed how it shows the Church.

Now, let's go on. What do we find right after chapters two and three? We find a vision of God's throne and Christ Who is going to fulfill the opening of the prophecies. Question: Does every Christian have direct connection to God the Father and Jesus Christ in heaven above, because of the Holy Spirit that they have in their relationship with God? Yes! Do our prayers go into the Holy of Holies where Jesus went as a forerunner? Yes. Is that not the new and living way? Yes. So here we have a picture of the scene in heaven, which answers the question that Jesus gave back in Matt. 24.

So, let's go back to Matthew 24. The harvest took seven weeks to complete, over a period of time. Now, we even have that in the United States. Our climate and everything is different there, but where do they start harvesting the wheat? Down in Texas and move north. All summer. It takes a little longer than the seven weeks here, because we're further north, and our climate is different today. I know they were talking, up north today about that we had a little bit of rain up there today, and they were commenting that the wheat was already white and ready to harvest. And they were wondering if we get too much rain, will that ruin it. I remember one time in Idaho, completely ruined the crop. They had so much rain that it just laid the wheat down and so much rain that it all sprouted.

So, all those who believe in ethanol—from whatever agricultural source—you're dead in the water when there's a drought or a flood, or too much rain. And that's a penalty you're going to pay for not digging the wells that God said you could go get the things out of the deep that He put there. God created the oil to be used. And the oil, as a matter of fact, regenerates itself in the wells. They don't want you to know that, so they can keep the price high. But they have found wells that they previously had sloughed-off on and came back and found that it produced, later, the same amount of oil per day that it did years before when they first drilled the well. So oil is always being made within the earth because of the heat and everything, and there are pockets of oil everywhere. Nevertheless, don't get me started on that…

Now, here's the beginning of the answer that was given. He says, Matthew 24:32: "Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branches have already become tender, and it puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near." It's like this year, we know that summer is near, but it's not quite here. And here we are now on the 24th of May and we're still having March weather. That's because of global warming: it's cold because of global warming.

This tells us that when you know summer is near, you can't predict exactly when it's going to come in full, in it's climatological effect. Likewise with the things at the end-time. We can see a lot of things come and go, but all these things have to be there.

Here's the key, v 33: "In like manner also, when you see all these things… [Not some of them, not part of them, not most of them—ALL of these things. And then you have to tie together the other prophecies of the Bible which fit into it, which then give us a full definition of 'what do you mean all things, Lord.' So there's a whole lot more that people need to look into, rather than just fall back on the teachings of a man who taught these things maybe 30-40 years ago. You have to apply yourself and understand it today.] …all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Truly I say to you, this generation…" (vs 33-34). That is the generation at the end. So if you don't have the message on The Two Generations, you can write in for it.

Now vs 35-36 is the key: "The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words shall never pass away…. [Now, you explain to me how you say that Jesus' words only apply to the Jews and not to the whole world, when He's talking about the whole world here—and His words will never pass away. And furthermore, He was the Lord God of the Old Testament, how do you say that it's done away? You see, the Christianity of this world has a great touch of insanity and carnality and the spirit of antichrist in saying that Jesus did away with the law. Or they say Paul had a greater revelation so 'we'll go by Paul's writings.' Well, if you do, you're going to be sadly disappointed, because all of his are built on the foundation of Jesus Christ's teachings.] (v 36): …But concerning that day, and the hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only."

Now when He was given the revelation to give to John, He knew these things—probably right after He ascended into heaven. But to show that, the timing, God is carrying it out, and also this means this: In God dealing with people on the earth, does He always give allowance for repentance? Yes! So can God move the date forward if He desires? Of course! Or move it backward, however you want it—it depends how you view forward or backwards or just say put it off yet into the future a little more. Yes, we have examples of that back in the book of 2-Chronicles 35 and the life of Josiah. God held off the captivity because of his repentance. So we'll see how this ties in with Revelation four and five in just a minute.

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So everyone wants to know when will these things take place? And we currently have running around, a man who says he and his wife are the two witnesses. And yet, the first basic thing of the time of the end is the king of the north and the king of the south—they're not here yet. And he says the seventh seal has been opened. Whoa! We've missed the resurrection. So let's come back to Revelation four and five, especially five, and what this tells the Church. This is a message to the Church, because John was given this message. This is for those who are wise, have understanding. Don't get carried away with someone saying He's here, He's there, He's the other place and the Day of the Lord is at hand. I know I'm a special prophet from God. And what you need to do is look them square in the eye and say, 'Ummm, where is the king of the north, and where is the king of the south? And where did you get your authority for saying what you are saying?'

Because notice, only Christ is the only one Who has the authority and the power to open the seven seals and launch the events at the end-time. So, I've already covered some of that, so you can hear that on another message that I gave, but let's review a bit of it there. And it was said that the symbolism of Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah, the warfare that Christ will bring. And a Lamb as it had been slain symbolizing the forgiveness of sin through His sacrifice and the seven horns and the head showing that He is the Head of the Church. Now, I'll talk about that next time, about the Head of the Church, because some people are confused, how can that be when there's trouble—not River City but—in the Church. So He was the one Who was chosen to open the seals.

Now let's come to Revelation 6:1: "And I looked when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures say…" [So Jesus Christ alone will make these events transpire—no one else. And we don't know exactly when this first seal is opened—whether it has already been opened or has yet to be opened. There are several things to understand about it. But what I would like to do is take the time to go through and look at the, as I did last time, the three and a half years.

Here is the beginning of the last three and a half years, which starts—I think it's clear—with the second seal, when the war starts. That's why I say the book of Revelation is quite detailed and you must know the rest of the Bible in order to understand all these things. Otherwise, when you hear this you're head will be swimming, and how does he know and how can this be and so forth. Well, we'll come back to that and look at it a bit.

So we have chapter six and then we have chapter seven with the 144,000. Now this follows in sequence. I want you to understand how this follows in sequence. Revelation 1, and then the history of the seven churches. We get down to the last Church, the Laodiceans—that's obviously the end of the age. Then we have that none of the things are going to take place until God let's Christ do it and He opens the seals.

Then we have following, chapter six. Then here is a time of mercy, which God gives right in the middle of all of the terrible things taking place, by the sealing of the 144,000 and the great innumerable multitude out of all nations and languages and so forth. So that follows in sequence—that's in its chronological place.

Chapter eight follows in its chronological place and follows chapter seven in the events that take place. Likewise with chapter nine and chapter ten. And all of these events must fit in within three and one-half years, as we have already covered. That's the time that God has limited that these events take place. So we find chapter ten brings us down to the time of just before the seventh trump. Let's pick it up here in Revelation 10:7: "But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound the trumpet… [Now question: How many trumpets are identified—Rev. 8, 9, 10 & 11? Seven. Would you agree that the seventh trump is the last trump? Have to because it doesn't show any more. When the seventh trump, when it's about to sound]: …the mystery of God shall also be completed, according to the gospel that He declared to His servants the prophets." Then there's still some more preaching to go on there, the last part of chapter 10.

Now we come to Revelation 11—now, chapter eleven is just a little bit different, because in order to bring us up to the time of the end of the two witnesses' ministry, you have to go back to the beginning of the three and a half-year period. And we will see that there are chapters in the book of Revelation that are also called inset chapters, which then brings us the meaning going back and then bringing it up to the point where we are today. How many have seen How the West was Won? How the West was Won was done just like this: They take a certain family or group and carry it forward from the time that they start leaving the east and moving west, and it carries through a generation or two. And it brings them out, some cases to the Midwest,  some cases to the West Coast. Then it goes back and shows another family and how they came along and it also shows some sequences where they met in St. Louis as the jumping off point to go further west. So this is much like that movie, if we could compare the movie to this.

In order to understand what happens next, you have to go back in time to the beginning of the three and one-half year period. So let's read it, Revelation 11:1 "Then the angel gave me a measuring rod like a staff, saying, "Arise and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and those who worship in it. But leave out the court that is within the temple area, and do not measure it because it has been given up to the Gentiles; and they shall trample upon the holy city for forty-two months…. [That 3-1/2 years.] …And I will give power to My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days…" (vs 1-3). Which is declared in days instead of months because the beginning point—if you go through the series on Revelation—comes before the 42 months. Because it has to do with the two witnesses who then are resurrected.

And if the resurrection takes place on Pentecost, and that ends their 1260 days, then on the chart that we have, we count backwards 1,260 days from Pentecost, then come to where they began their ministry. So if you don't put these things together properly…and the thing that got me started on the chart was: Since Pentecost is a harvest feast and undoubtedly pictures the first resurrection—and we'll get into that a little bit more—and the two witnesses are resurrected after they've been dead in the streets of Jerusalem for three and a half days, and they're actually raised just before the seventh trump sounds. So we have a fulfillment that the last shall be first. How about that? God true to His word. So I said when I said the 42 months and the 1,260 days, I said to myself: Why? And this must have been what, 20 years ago now? Yes, somewhere around there—maybe 18.

Why does God say 42 months in one place and 1,260 days in another place? Does this not tell us that they don't both begin at the same time? And I think one of the mistakes that we have made in understanding prophecy is to put them together and make them the same. Now let' me prove a point. Let's read it here.

Verse 6: "…and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they will… [now v 7]: …And when they have completed their testimony, the beast who ascends out of the abyss will make war against them, and will overcome them, and will kill them. And their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. Then those of the peoples and tribes and languages and nations shall see their bodies three and a half days, for they will not allow their bodies to be put into tombs. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, and will make merry, and will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets had tormented those who dwell on the earth. Then after the three and a half days, the spirit of life from God entered into them and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. And they heard a great voice from heaven, say, 'Come up here!'…. [Is that not a resurrection? They came back alive from the dead—'come up here.'] …And they ascended into heaven in a cloud…" (vs 6-12). How's Jesus coming back? In a cloud. You suppose it's going to be in a different location than where Jesus is going to be? Of course not!

All right, I'm going to make a point here in just a minute. "…and their enemies saw them rise. And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; and seven thousand men were killed in the earthquake. And the rest were filled with fear, and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming immediately…. [So right after they are raised in a cloud, the seventh trump is blown! Now let's see what happens here.] …Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet… [Since there are only seven angels with seven trumpets, this has to be the last one. When he blows his trumpet, this is the last trumpet, is it not? And you tie that together with 1-Thess. 4; you tie it together, as we already have with 1-Cor. 15.] (notice): …and there were great voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ, and He shall reign into the ages of eternity.' And the twenty-four elders, who sit before God on their thrones, fell on their faces and worshiped God, Saying, 'We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come; for You have taken to Yourself Your great power, and have reigned'" (vs 12-17). That's the beginning of the reign of Christ. Is He on the earth yet? NO!

We'll see where He comes on the earth. He begins to reign before He comes on the earth. Verse 18: "For the nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time for the dead to be judged, and to give reward to Your servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to all those who fear Your name, the small and the great; and to destroy those who destroy the earth" (v 18). That's the first resurrection, is it not? Have to be, no question, have to be.

Now, we have Revelation 12, which tells us how did we get from the beginning of time to that time? And we've already covered that with the three and one-half years. Then we come to Revelation 13, which shows about the Beast which continues for 42 months after the deadly wound is healed. And that's exactly the same 42 months as we have here in Rev. 11:2. Then we have the prophecy of the False Prophet. Now I want you to look at the Scriptures in Revelation, and I want you to understand and look at it. How many times does it say 'the False Prophet'? Because I want to prove a point. How many times does God have to say the False Prophet for there to be one? Once!

Last part of Revelation 13 talks about the prophet that looks like Christ. First part is the Beast who is going to rule the whole world. That's why I've said it's not ten nations in Europe; it's going to be ten regions in the world. So there's a lot to go on.

Now we come to Revelation 14, and I've already put the tapes out, so you have—not the tapes but the messages on The 144,000 and More on the 144,000. Now, we also have beginning in v 6, because the question is: When do the three angels give their messages? I think we can answer the question by looking at the third angel first, and go back from there.

Revelation 14:9: And a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, 'If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives the mark in his forehead or in his hand, He shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed undiluted in the cup of His wrath; and he shall be tormented in fire and brimstone in the sight of the holy angels, and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends into the ages of eternity; and those who worship the beast and his image, and all who receive the mark of his name, have no rest day and night'" (vs 9-11).

Question: Since Revelation 13 says when the mark of the Beast is going to be given and enforced, the third angel's message must be at the beginning, just before they give the mark of the Beast. Otherwise, if it were given at the end the three and a half years, it would be worthless, wouldn't it? It's says, "if you receive it." That means you haven't yet received it, but if you do. So this has to be before the three and a half years. Likewise, the second angel's message and likewise the first angel's message. So this would have to be as soon as the Church is taken to a place of safety—those who go (Rev. 12)—or times, times, half a time (3-1/2 years). Then the angels do what? Give their three messages, supernaturally, to the world. God is going to leave no doubt. No one is going to be without hearing that message.

Now let's confirm it by this: v 12: "Here is the patience of the saints; here are the ones who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." If it were at the end of three and a half years, the resurrection would have already taken place, and it would be worthless to say: "Here's the patience of the saints; here are the ones who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus." That ties in with Rev. 12:17—so go back there and read that: "Then the dragon was furious with the woman and went to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Beginning of the three and a half years, right? Yes! So likewise over here in Rev. 14, this has got to be the beginning of the three and a half years.

Now notice how this ties in with Revelation 12 again: v 13: "And I heard a voice from heaven say to me, "Write: 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from this time forward….'"

And you come back here to Revelation 12:17, and it says: "Then the dragon was furious with the woman and went to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Those are the ones who are being killed, so it says, 'Blessed are those who die in the Lord' from that time forward.

Revelation 14:13: "'…Yes, says the Spirit, so that they may rest from their labors; and their works follow them.'"

Now, what do we have next? We have, and we will see—we'll go back and fill in some other things—we have a harvest to take place, which is the resurrection. Now, let's understand: Revelation 14, 15 & 16 follow in sequence. Chapters 17 & 18 is the judgment upon the Beast and Babylon. Chapter 19, the last part, has to do with the return of Christ and the saints to the earth. So the resurrection must take place before the Feast of Trumpets. Not on the Feast of Trumpets, but before. That's why the only proper Holy Day that pictures the first resurrection has got to be Pentecost; because that is a harvest feast.

So let's read it here, Revelation 14:14: "And I looked, and behold, a white cloud…" Jesus is coming in the clouds, right? There again, where are the clouds? In the atmosphere. I fly above that when I fly to different places, provided with the price of gas and diesel fuel, we may have enough money to afford to go. The way it's going now, it's soon going to be a $150 a barrel, and $6 a gallon. And if that doesn't put the squeeze on us and kill us as a nation, take it to 9 and 10; and if that doesn't do it, take it to 12 or 14 before all of this "stupidoes" back running this country get it through their head that they are the ones who have messed up this country and have caused the problem. All right , that's said, that's an inset.

"…I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and one like the Son of man sitting on the cloud, having a golden crown on His head; and in His hand was a sharp sickle…. [What do you do with a sickle? You cut and you harvest. For all of those of you who live in the city and have never seen a cow and don't know where hay comes from, or don't know where wheat comes from…It's like the little girl was asked, 'Where does milk come from?' She says, 'It comes from the carton.' How did it get in the carton? It's a harvest! What is He going to harvest? Let's read it. I've already covered this,  Matt. 13, but I'm going to repeat it here so that everyone understands: Pentecost is a harvest feast and it must find its fulfillment in a harvest. Otherwise, why have the feast?

Verse 15: "And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him Who was sitting on the cloud, 'Thrust in your sickle and reap, because the time has come for You to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.'" We saw that, Matt. 13, at the end of the age the angels are going to harvest in the resurrection and carry them in the air to the meeting with the Lord. Where are they going to meet in the air? Someone said, 'Well, if you're a spirit being you don't need a sea of glass to stand on.' Well then, why does God have His throne on the Sea of Glass? I've already covered that, haven't I? Why back there in Exo. 24 did it show a sea of glass where God walked on that and the 70 elders of the children of Israel could see the visage of God but not see Him directly, as Moses did? To prove this was God up there. Why does God, if He doesn't need a sea of glass, why then when He travels in the Universe does He use a cherubim? Well, there needs to be a sea of glass because we all need something to stand on for the events that are going to take place from the time of the resurrection until we come back to the earth.

So let's go on. He says: "'Thrust in your sickle and reap, because the time has come for You to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.' And He Who was sitting on the cloud thrust forth His sickle upon the earth, and the earth was reaped" (vs 15-16). Now there's going to be some parallelism here—we're going to see it. This is the harvest of the righteous. And if the harvest of the righteous is on Pentecost, that's when it has to take place. When is the harvest of the wicked? After Pentecost. And when does that begin? When the seven last plagues are starting to be poured out. So that's right after the resurrection. How long does the harvest of the wicked take place? We know the harvest of the righteous takes place in one day—that a resurrection. But the harvest of the wicked takes place over a period of time. And that is after the resurrection on Pentecost and carries on down to the Day of Trumpets. So let's see that.

Verse 17: "Then another angel, who also had a sharp sickle, came out of the temple that is in heaven. And out from the altar came another angel, who had authority over fire; and he called with a loud cry to the one who had the sharp sickle, saying, 'Thrust in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the earth… [Now here we have a grain harvest in the first instance, and we have a grape harvest in the next instance—which is, you might say, where we get the term: 'the grapes of wrath.'] …because her grapes are fully ripe.' And the angel thrust his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast its fruit into the great winepress of the wrath of God…. [Now that is not the first resurrection. That is the destruction of the wicked as we will see in Rev. 16—and we'll get at least that far today.] …And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood spewed out from the winepress as high as the horses' bridles, to the distance of a thousand six hundred furlongs" (vs 17-20) Fifteen hundred miles, whatever it is. That's a lot of blood.

Now it follows right along. How is this going to take place? So it tells us. Where is the harvest of the righteous going to meet Christ? How is the harvest of the wicked going to take place? Revelation 15:1: "Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and awesome: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is filled up." Notice the parallelism. Now here's the verse they don't like. You can't take it out. How many verses does it take to prove that the righteous who are resurrected are going to stand on a sea of glass. And since it says the wrath is going to take place near Jerusalem where do you suppose the Sea of Glass is—over the North Pole? He's going to come back to the Mt. of Olives, so is it a stretch of the imagination, or just an opinion, to say that it's probably right over Jerusalem. Now how big is the Sea of Glass? It doesn't tell us, but you know it has to have enough room to hold all the saints from Abel to the last two witnesses. Are they all going to be resurrected at once? Of course they are, otherwise it wouldn't be the first resurrection. Right? You can't have the first resurrection and then the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh, and it's all the first resurrection.

Verse 2: "And I saw a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who had gotten the victory over the beast…"

• Who is the Beast? Satan the devil.
• How far back does that go? To before the creation of man, correct?
• So this takes us all the way back to the days of Abel, right?
• Was Abel murdered by his brother, Cain? Yes!
• Was Enoch run out of town because they wanted to kill him? Yes!
• Was Noah mocked because he was building an Ark and they hadn't had rain—and he says it's going to rain? Yes!
• Did he escape? Yes!
• How about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? And we know that Jesus said they're going to be in the Kingdom of God, which means they have to be resurrected.

They're all going to be resurrected at once.

• Did Abraham have to overcome the Beast? Yes, he had to leave the city of Er, didn't he? Yes!

"…and over his image… [Have there always been idols to the Beast? Yes. All you have to do is just go look at any ancient civilization—it's filled with idols, still carried on down today.] …and over his mark… [Now that takes place at the end-time.] …and over the number of his name… [and that is coming] …standing on the sea of glass…" (v 2). Where are the saints when they are resurrected? Suspended in mid-air? So, for people to accuse me of giving my opinion with no proof in the Bible; that when they're resurrected they 'stand on the Sea of Glass' is flying in the face of Scripture—wouldn't you think? Yes! They've been busily working up things against a Pentecost resurrection so they can be sure and keep their corporate understanding of the Biblical flow of things as they want to understand them—and fail to grow in grace and knowledge and read the plain, simple Scriptures here.

So it says: "…[they're] standing on the sea of glass, having the lyres of God…. [Now that's the correct instrument that it is. Now I don't know about you, but if I'm in the first resurrection and an angel says here's your lyre, we want you to play it, I'm going to say, 'How do I play it?' I don't know, will there be instruction time? Who knows, we'll just go on.

Now notice: "And they were singing the song of Moses… [Which included then everyone in the Old Testament, because he wrote the first five books of the Bible, right? Yes!] …the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb… [Everyone in the New Testament] …saying, 'Great and awesome are Your works, Lord God Almighty; righteous and true are Your ways, King of the saints'" (v 3). So the first thing we do is worship God for having resurrected us, and praise Him for doing so. Don't you think you have in your heart and mind a desire to do that? Don't you think how great it's going to be when you're resurrected and you can see Christ? And you're standing on the Sea of Glass? You want to stand there and be mute and not say a thing? Don't you want to rejoice and shout for joy? Yes! That's the time for shout for joy, sing the songs, praise God. Yes!

"'Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You only are holy; and all the nations shall come and worship before You, for Your judgments have been revealed'…. [Shall come and worship. When will that be? Not till Rev. 20, right? Yes! Then something else occurred.]: …And after these things I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened…. [So John saw the real thing. If we're on the Sea of Glass, are we going to see that? What did he see?] …And the seven angels who had the seven last plagues came out of the temple; they were clothed in linen, pure and bright, and girded about the chest with golden breastplates. And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden vials, full of the wrath of God, Who lives into the ages of eternity" (vs 4-7). Now, we're going to see Rev. 16 tells us, before Christ and the saints return to the earth, the seven last plagues are going to be poured out, correct?

The most spectacular judgment that God is going to give on this satanic system in the world, do you think God is going to deprive the saints the vindication of seeing that whole system destroyed—the very system that fought them while they were trying to love God and keep His commandments. That's why God says, 'Vengeance is Mine.' He's going to give it. We're going to see it! And we're going to see it from the Sea of Glass. We're going to see the real thing take place.

Verse 8. "And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power; and no one was able to enter inside the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled." And then the seven plagues come. We're still in the air, are we not? Yes, indeed!

So, I'm going to finish here and leave you up in the air! Because if I get started on this, I'll run out of time on the tape, so I'll save so I'll have plenty of time, so if I need to go on further, I won't have to quit ahead of time. So, I'll quit right here at chapter 16. But you see the flow of the book of Revelation from chapter one all the way through. And it's based on the outline of the Holy Days.

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 6-10-08

Scriptural References:

• Romans 5:6
• Leviticus 23:4
• 2 Chronicles 5:11-11
• Zechariah 14:1-5
• Revelation 20:1-4
• John 1:1-2, 14
• John 7:37-39
• Revelation 20:5
• Revelation 1:17-18
• Matthew 24:32-36
• Revelation 6:1
• Revelation 10:7
• Revelation 11:1-3, 6-18
• Revelation 14:9-13
• Revelation 12:17
• Revelation 14:13-20
• Revelation 15:1-8

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Genesis 15
• Exodus 20
• Leviticus 16, 23
• Ezekiel 37
• Matthew 12
• 2 Chronicles 35
• 2 Thessalonians 4
• 1 Corinthians 15
• Exodus 24

Also referenced:

Sermons: From Mt. Sinai to Mt. Sion

                The Seven Church Harvest

               The Two Generations
                 The 144,000
                 More on the 144,000
DVD:     Israel of the Alps—by the Seventh Day Adventist Church