App
An overview of the Scriptures and why God had it written
Fred R. Coulter—August 27, 2016
- Video | 
- PDF | Audio | [Up]
Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services!
I found the seeds from a sequoia tree. It's not as big as a seed for wheat. Then they sent me as a bonus wild flowers and they're even smaller seeds here. Isn't that amazing? These seeds can sit for centuries. I'm showing these to you for a reason. Let's come to Mark 4 and let's see.
Does God know what He's doing? Absolutely! Men come along and they think that they can add to what God has given. As soon as anyone does that, the blinders come on.
Mark 4:26: "Then He said, 'The Kingdom of God is likened to this: It is as if a man should cast seed upon the earth, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, but he does not know how'" (vs 26-27).
Nobody knows how what is stored in these seeds that when you put them in the ground, you put some water on it, and it starts to grow. How does it do that? Today they still don't know. They know it does.
Everything we do right here in this room has behind it electricity. Electrical lights, electricity to run the camera, electricity to record what we're saying here, electricity to pump the water up so we can get it in here and everything like that. What is electricity? Nobody knows! The only thing they know is how to use it a little bit, not much, but a little bit.
He doesn't know how it grows, v 28: "For the earth brings forth fruit of itself, first a blade, then a head, then full grain in the head."
How about a sequoia tree? First a little seed, then a little sapling, then a bigger tree, and a bigger tree, and a bigger tree. Out of this it's not much more than 3/8 of an inch long, max, comes a tree nearly 400-feet high. Now they've discovered that with the big redwood trees, it actually produces more wood and more lumber as it gets bigger. The whole thing is constantly growing. How does it do that? They don't know!
I saw a television program where this scientist worked with redwoods. I don't know how they do it, I don't know how they shoot the rope up and stick it into the side of the tree up 100-feet or so, and then they climb up with it. He would check the trees every year and he was amazed at how much that the trees grew. The bigger they got, the more wood they made. So here we have it.
Verse 29: "And when the grain is mature, immediately he puts in the sickle, for the harvest has come." In this is a summary of how God is carrying out the Kingdom of God, how He is preparing for it.
Verse 30: "And He said, 'To what then shall we liken the Kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we compare it? It is like a tiny mustard seed, which, when it has been sown upon the earth, is less than all the seeds that are upon the earth; but after it has been sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all the herbs, and produces great branches, so that the birds of heaven are able to roost under the shadow of it" (vs 30-32).
All of these are parables about the Kingdom of God. The only way we know what these seeds are related to is because there's a label. If we didn't have a label, we wouldn't have a clue as to what they were. So likewise, we're going to see with the Word of God that it starts out like a seed, a little blip. Then it finishes with the Kingdom of God.
I want to read you something here. I think you'll find this very instructive; Revelation 22:6: "And he said to me, 'These words are faithful and true…'" That means it will happen, but it's like the seeds. Could John know what it was? No! Can we know what it is just by reading it? No! But they're faithful and true and will take place the way that God wants.
"…and the Lord God of the Holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things that must shortly come to pass" (v 6). How long is 'that? A thousand years with God is with a day and a day is a thousand years! So shortly to God does not mean shortly to us. We measure in days, and every day in hours. It doesn't dawn on you until you get about our age, that the time goes by fast and the next thing you know you're 70 or 80.
I remember when I was in the third grade. I had mumps, measles and chicken pox all that year. So, I missed a lot of school. I was in the third grade two years. I thought I would never get out of third grade. On the school bus going to school, look out there and see all these kids, bigger than me, and they're all going along, and so forth. When you're in the third grade, the sixth graders look like they're important. Then you get into the sixth grade and the eighth graders look important. Then you get to high school and the seniors look important. Then you go to college and then the same thing occurs.
- What is life all about?
- How does God explain it?
- What on earth is He doing?
He knows what He's doing because the words are faithful and true.
Verse 7: "Behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book." This is the summary of the whole Bible.
What I want to show you in this sermon is that we're going to relate it to the Holy Days, and understand that they are just like a seed, and that the day came first. That's important. Some people say, 'This is because of the sacrifices.'
Sidebar: If it's because of the sacrifices at the temple, when did they sacrifice? Every day! A day doesn't exist or not exist because of a sacrifice. So the next time you talk to a SDA about the Holy Days, 'Well, these are only ceremonial Holy Days.'
Verse 8: "Now I, John, was the one who saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who was showing me these things. But he said to me, 'See that you do not do this!…." (vs 8-9).
Lucifer never said that. He said, 'All the rest of you angels come over here and worship me. We'll get together and we will take over God's throne.'
"…For I am a fellow servant of yours, and of your brethren the prophets…" (v 9). What does this tell us? All the prophets! What does it say? We'll see here in a little bit concerning the Law.
"'…and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.' And he said to me, 'Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book because the time is near.' Let the one who is unrighteous be unrighteous still; and let the one who is filthy be filthy still; and let the one who is righteous be righteous still; and let the one who is holy be Holy still. 'And behold, I am coming quickly; and My reward is with Me, to render to each one according as his work shall be'" (vs 9-12).
What the Protestants miss, there are physical deeds and spiritual deeds. There is sometimes a combination of them. If you keep the Sabbath, it's combined physical: don't work or do your own pleasure. And spiritual because you study and worship God.
Verse 13: "I am Alpha and Omega… [we're going to focus in on this in Rev. 1] …the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last." This is all-inclusive, not missing anything.
'Cursed are those who keep His commandments' is how the Protestants read it and they don't have a clue it's talking about the traditional laws of Judaism and not the words of God.
Verse 14: "Blessed are those who keep His commandments…" Where do you find the commandments? In the Book of the Law! What do we have right here that we have read? We have all seven parts of the Bible:
- Law
- Prophets
- Psalms
- Writings
- Gospels, because of Jesus Christ
- General Epistles and Epistles of Paul
- Book of Revelation
All seven sections of the Bible are included in this. He says, "I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last."
Verse 14: "Blessed are those who keep His commandments, that they may have the right to eat of the Tree of Life, and may enter by the gates into the city." Very important!
But excluded, and he lists all of those. What I want to do is come to v 18: "For I jointly testify… [John writes] …to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, that if anyone adds to these things, God shall add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, and from the Holy City, and from the things that are written in this book" (vs 18-19).
We just read the ending, now let's come to the beginning. We need to understand what God is going to do is going to be so awesome. You listen to the CD that you got on the reading of the book of Revelation, with what we just read now in mind.
All of those things are going to happen. We understand more of it today, because we live in this age. I don't think John understood very much of it when he wrote it. When it came to the churches, at first about half the churches didn't receive it, because they didn't think it was written by John, because it was so different from anything that he had written.
Revelation 1:1: "The revelation of Jesus Christ…" How do you know what you know concerning God's way? Because you're smarter than anybody else? More education than anybody else? No!
I'm reading a book called Apostate: The Men Who Destroyed the Christian West; the great men down through the centuries who supposedly destroyed western civilization and Christianity, which means orthodox Christianity. The world holds them up as 'what great minds they have.'
Let me give you a quote from one man, a French philosopher, who was thought to be just something else. This is Descartes, 'I think, therefore I am.' You look at that statement and it's completely backwards, yet, everyone thinks that this is so great. No, you are because God created you; therefore, you think!
There are a lot of people who say for Christianity, you think about it and it will come to you. Who's going to send it to you? Who is the author of the Christianity of this world? Not God! They use His name, they use the name of Jesus Christ, but where has it led?
What we know is because God has revealed it to us by His Spirit (1-Cor. 2). When people read the Bible, and don't obey, it's like looking at seeds with no label. They see the seeds, but it has no meaning. Especially when it goes contrary to what they think, feel or believe. Today people are being trained to be stupid by reacting only emotionally and to actions that thrill. Everything is judged by how you feel. 'I think,' not doing what the Bible says.
As I mentioned before, I'll mention again, you'll hear me say this a lot: Just because you know how to tweet and receive tweets on your phone, does not make you intelligent. God gave you a mind:
- to apply it
- to use it
- to think
- to study
especially in our world. That's why it's written!
Think about this. I'll bring this up a little bit more when we get toward Trumpets. Everything that God has said that will happen, will happen. Just because it doesn't happen in our lifetime, or happen in the way we suppose it may occur, it will take place, because God has created everything that there is.
This is important when you tie it in with the ending. To His servant John, v 2: "Who gave witness to the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, and all the things he saw. Blessed is the one who reads, and those who hear the words of this prophecy and who keep the things that are written therein; for the time is at hand. John to the seven churches…" (vs 2-4).
If you want an interesting study, do a word search on write, and written' This is what it is, written therein. That's why God didn't rely on oral tradition. Don't you think God is smart enough not to rely on oral tradition because of men and what they do? Of course! He had it written down.
"…that are in Asia: Grace and peace be to you from Him Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come; and from the seven spirits that are before His throne; and from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn from the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him Who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to God and His Father; to Him be the glory and the sovereignty into the ages of eternity. Amen" (vs 4-6).
Tells you the whole plan of God, from forgiveness of sin—you have to go to other places to read about that—to being kings and priests to rule with Christ. So, you see how much is packed into every one of these verses.
Verse 7: "Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him…" You want to know how that works, read the book, The Appointed Times of Jesus the Messiah. Every eye will see Him.
Someone is going to say, like this, every once in a while I get a question like this: How do you keep the Sabbath in the North Pole? So, I answer them back: When I get a letter from someone there, I'll answer it.
"…and those who pierced Him…" (v 7)—double application. When will the Roman soldiers who put the spear in His side and nailed His hands and feet to the cross see Him? Ask a Protestant that. They don't know. The second resurrection!
"…and all the tribes of the earth… [shall welcome Him with open arms. No!] …shall wail because of Him. Even so. Amen…. [same thing we read in Rev. 22]: …'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending,' says the Lord, 'Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come—the Almighty'" (vs 7-8).
Verse 11: "Saying, 'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, and what you see, write in a book, and send it to the churches that are in Asia: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.'"
Introduction to all seven churches is write, so we better pay heed to the seven churches; we're not going there at this time.
Since we're talking about the First and the Last, we have read in the last book, Revelation, now let's go to the first book, Genesis.
Who created day and night? God did! Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God…" In the Hebrew it's full pause. There is no indication of length of time at all. It could be for eons and eons. Where is the second place we find about this?
John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
Yet, some people still today don't believe that Jesus was God before He became a human being. Where else do we find it?
1-John 1:1: "That which was from the beginning…'
Genesis 1:1: "…created the heavens and the earth." Full stop! Before you create the earth, you have to create the heavens. So, there can be a lot of time. We don't know what the timing is.
Then you have to go through the rebellion of the angels between vs 1 and 2 and how the earth got the way it was. Here's the point I want to make at this point, right here:
Verse 2: "And the earth was… [became] …without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."
Sidebar: The Spirit of God is the power of God, by which He does things. I defy anyone anywhere to point out in the Bible that the Holy Spirit is a person. Doesn't say it anywhere at anytime.
Guess what? If you believe in a trinity, you're not going to understand the Bible; it's that simple. If you believe that Sunday is the day of worship, instead of the Sabbath, which God made, you're not going to understand the Word of God. Maybe to a certain point, but the prophecies show, and the sowing of the seed shows, that which they have will be taken from them.
Here's the point I want to make, right here, v 3: "And God said, 'Let there be light.' And there was light. And God saw the light that it was good; and God divided between the light and the darkness. And God called the light day, and He called the darkness night. And the evening and the morning were day one" (vs 3-5).
- Who created the days? God
- Which came first, the day or the sacrifice? The days
That's important because we come over here to v 14; this is day four. This is important to understand and really have down pat.
Verse 14: "And God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide between the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for appointed seasons…'"—same word for feasts. When were the Feasts of God appointed? On day four! All the rest comes after that.
"…and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God had made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night; and God had made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were day four" (vs 14-19).
God made the day first. One, two, three, four, five, six, and then seven followed automatically. God didn't have to do anything for day seven to create it. But what did He do to it?
Genesis 2:1: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And by the beginning of the seventh day God finished His work, which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day… [that's what it means in the Hebrew] …from all His work, which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because on it He rested from all His work, which God had created and made" (vs 1-3).
That's how God made the Sabbath. How did He do it? He put His presence in it! Spiritually that carries down to our day, always. Just like the law of gravity. All the laws of God are just like the law of gravity; they are automatic. Doesn't matter which law you look at. Doesn't matter when God defines it. Here's the Sabbath. So, the day came first.
Between Gen. 1 and Gen. 6 we have the barest of summary, but we know this from Gen. 6. I want you to finish this sentence: Where there is no law, there is no sin. Where there is law and transgression, there is sin. Did you know that some scholars say that there was no law from Adam and Eve until Moses, some 3500 years? Not true!
Genesis 6:5: "And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth…" If there's no law, how can you have wickedness?
Sidebar: What did Jesus say? 'As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man.' Let's spread this out even further. Why do we have so many Bibles in the world? We've got more than ever before. You consider all the electronic Bibles and everything we have. The reason is that God has sent it as a witness against every human being in the world! They will know. Every eye will see Him come. What does it say in one of the prophecies? Every knee shall bow! So here we are.
- How do you like the news?
- How do you like the world?
- How would you like to live in Chicago, in the neighborhood where 3400 have been killed by their own kind?
- How would you like to live in Syria?
Remember seeing on the news a little five-year old boy, wiping the blood off his forehead, dirty, hair messed up, all disheveled, there in the middle of the war in Syria. They found out later he died.
That's why, brethren, there's the second resurrection! Need to understand that. What man can solve the problems in the Middle East? No one! Is there any power on earth that's going to permanently make the Muslims and other savage people kind and respectful? No, not in this world!
Verse 5: "And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
Multiply that by everything coming through the 'boob tube.' Every movie, every sport, every entertainment, every vile thing under the sun! Why is there so much evil? Because God is showing that the human heart is truly evil!
- without God
- without His laws
- without His Spirit
there is no way that human beings can do anything of lasting value! That's why they all die.
Verse 6: "And the LORD repented that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. And the LORD said, 'I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth…'" (vs 6-7).
That's all mankind that God created, showing that the birth process is creation by God. So every time that there is an abortion, you're killing a person, because everyone started out as a speck of dust.
If you think that that is a miracle to look at, I was watching something on NatGeo and they showed the actual birth of a buffalo. Amazing! POOF! There's a little calf. How did that start? Speck of dust! How about an elephant? a giraffe? a lion? a rat?
The other day I came into the bathroom where the sink is and here's this tiniest little bug going up the wall. I thought, where did that come from? What is the smallest, smallest piece of whatever? Only God only knows! We don't know. Why do we become so wrapped up in vanity and all the things that human beings do? Because we have left God out and all of those responsible to preach the Truth, except those whom God has called down through time, have turned their backs on God. An amazing thing! Most people who have ever lived and died are like seeds, waiting to be resurrected! How does God do that? Very carefully! That's an amazing thing. All these people who died in the Flood, can you imagine what it's going to be like, those who were the last gasp?
Which came first, the day or the sacrifice?
(go to the next track)
Lev. 23 is like a whole pack of seeds. Just like different things in the Bible, it reaches back and it reaches forward. There can be more than one fulfillment or more than one meaning.
Leviticus 23:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, "Concerning the appointed Feasts of the LORD…"'" (vs 1-2). Where did we first read that? Gen. 1:14; that reaches clear up to here.
"…which you shall proclaim to be Holy convocations, even these are My appointed Feasts…. [How does it start?] …Six days shall work be done… [How long did God work re-creating the surface of the earth? Six days!] …but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a Holy convocation. You shall not do any work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings" (vs 2-3).
That goes back to Gen. 2. Where else does it go back to? Every place it talks about the weekly Sabbath (Exo. 20, Deut 5, Isa. 56 and 58, Mark 2:27). All of those you go forward and go backward. That's why I started at the end of Revelation, came to the first of Revelation, and then came to Gen. 1, to show the consistency of the Bible.
We won't dwell much on the weekly Sabbath, v 4: "These are the appointed Feasts of the LORD…" They belong to Him! If you say, on your own authority, or authority of man, 'we don't have to keep them,' then you're going against God!
Has any man ever told God what to do? Has ever any man come up to the perfect God and said, 'God, I have something to improve upon You'? There was one man who tried it: Job. How did that turn out? Job repented!
Verse 4: "These are the appointed Feasts of the LORD, Holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons." There you have it. Do we still have day and night? Yes! Also, because of the sun, moon and stars God gave the Calculated Hebrew Calendar for calculating time. He gave it!
Verse 5: "In the fourteenth day of the first month, between the two evenings, is the LORD'S Passover."
We're just going to quickly list each one and then we're going to reach back and reach forward on every one of these. They are all just like the seeds. If you just read it, you just open a Bible and it fell to Lev. 23 and you read it, you're looking at seeds. How they grow is what you find in the rest of the Bible.
Verse 6: "And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD…"
Verse 7: "On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD …" Then the seventh day, v 8. Then you have all the commands leading up to Pentecost. You also have the Wave Sheaf Offering.
Passover reaches clear back to Adam and Eve. It reaches clear forward to the last man. The Wave Sheaf Offering is connected to the Passover and Unleavened Bread. The risen Christ, that reaches back to fulfill Gen. 3:15, and reaches forward for the sacrifice of all mankind. That's how the Bible is put together. It's expressed in Isa. 28, this way: 'Here a little, there a little, line upon line, line upon line, precept upon precept, precept upon precept.'
For those who obey God, they will understand it. The other side of the coin is for those who disobey God, they'll never understand it. Go to a Catholic priest, open it up here and say, 'What does this mean?' Go to a Protestant minister and ask him, 'What does this mean?' Oh, that's been done away. Really! Go to an atheist, 'God doesn't exist.'
Like these apostates, there's one man I forget who it was, he says, 'The Bible has a thousand lies.' Never read it!
Sidebar: I'll tell you a little secret. You know what follows along with all these philosophers? When you reject God and say that you're wise, God abandons you to your own lusts (Rom. 1)! That's what it is with every single one of those men. It goes back to the Greek philosophy of homosexuality and pedophilia. What's taking down this nation today? On whose philosophy has this been based?
Then we go forward, we have Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles and the Last Great Day, all there, all seeds. Gen. 15 reaches back to here. We won't go through the chapter, but Passover and first day of Unleavened Bread.
- How do we know that?
- When you come to Exo. 12, what do we have there? We have the first Passover with the children of Israel when they were dwelling in the land of Egypt!
- What do we have Gen. 15? Passover, fourteenth day of the first month! That's when God told them about it.
- Where does that reach back to? Gen. 3:15, Gen. 15!
Then He told them about the Feast of Unleavened Bread. He said, 'This is the Lord's Passover.' Just like He said in Lev. 23.
This makes the point, Exodus 12:40: "Now, the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years, and it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, it was even on that very same day… [first day of Unleavened Bread] …all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt" (vs 40-41).
That goes back to Gen. 15 and proves that that two-day sequence in Gen. 15 is Passover and the first day of Unleavened Bread. It happened at the appointed time, season. Who controls all that? Who controls time? God does! That's why we need to know and understand this.
Then He brought them to Mount Sinai (Ex. 20). When was this given? We won't go through the technicalities of it, but this happened on Pentecost, giving of the Law.
Sidebar: There are lot of Sunday-keepers who believe in Pentecost, but they don't believe in the Law. Yet, it was the day God gave the Law—His Law! Imagine that.
Here He had all the people at the base of Mount Sinai and He came down on top of it. It scared the children of Israel to death. It would be like standing at the foot of a volcano and the smoke is going up and the fire is going up and the wind is whistling, and everything there. Then God says, 'I AM the Lord, your God.' It was so powerful that people went to Moses, 'Moses, you speak with us.'
What did God do with the Ten Commandments? Remember what I said to look up the word write in your concordance. On what did God write them? Tablets of stone! He didn't put them on paper; that came later. When God wants something given to mankind, He knows because He created them, that He puts it in writing.
You see this ad with Liberty Mutual. They must be making a lot of money, getting a lot of applications for car insurance. Same thing with the pillow guy. God knows that it must be in writing! In this ad, this girl comes up and she says, 'I had my car, Brad, and I loved it. It was brand new. I got in a wreck. It would only pay ¾ of it. They told me to look on page 5 of your policy.' Blah, blah, blah. See, the insurance company knows what's going to happen so they put it in writing. Because that's a legal proof of what was said and agreed to and you put your name on it and sign it.
Now, with the children of Israel, what happened? God wrote the Ten Commandments. Moses was up on the mountain. He came down and told the children of Israel. Then you have Exo. 21-24.
Exodus 24:1: "And He said to Moses, 'Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship afar off'"—witnesses!
You buy something of importance, what do you get? A receipt! You buy land, there's a deed. It's witnessed and it's signed. A deed is not worth anything unless it is witnessed and signed and stamped. God knows that! They didn't see the fullness of God in His glory, because there was a Sea of Glass between them and God.
Verse 2: "'And Moses alone shall come near the LORD, but they shall not come near. Neither shall the people go up with him.' And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, 'All the words which the LORD has said, we will do''" (vs 2-3).
This is why the Jews are so absolutely wrong, because Moses never gave one oral tradition to anyone to carry down in time. God had it written down.
Verse 4: "And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar… [this gets serious] …at the base of the mountain…" They had the sacrifices.
If there is blood shed and blood sealed, it's valid, v 6: "And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the Book of the Covenant, and read in the ears of the people.… [they heard every word (Exo. 21, 22, 23)] …And they said, 'All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient.' And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, 'Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you concerning all these words'" (vs 6-8).
That relates back to the Passover. So, you see how all of these things spread out through the Bible. This was done a few days after Pentecost.
Since we're here talking about Pentecost, when did the Church start? On the Day of Pentecost! Does God use His Holy Days? Yes! Is there purpose and meaning to them? Yes!
- every Sabbath
- every Passover
- every Unleavened Bread
- every Pentecost
- every Trumpets
- every Atonement
- every Feast of Tabernacles
- every Last Great Day
There's purpose to all of it that reaches back and reaches forward. That's why Jesus said, 'I'm the First and the Last, the Beginning and the Ending.' We happen to live in a time where we're living in the ending.
Let's come to the book of Judges. Let's see what happens. There are parallels with this. Also with the laws of God, you have two degrees of fulfillment.
- in the letter of the Law
‑‑conduct for people unconverted, because you have to be called in order to be converted. You have to answer the call before you receive the Holy Spirit of God. You have to repent of your sins, which is covered by the Passover. Christ is our Passover, the sacrifice for us.
- the other level is spiritual
The Spirit of God within us, as we have covered, from the Father and from Christ, and we are to have the laws and commandments written in our heart and in our mind.
Here it was on tables of stone. Here in the mind, converted and then the resurrection, it's permanent. Isn't that far better? Remember that only God can change His Law! No one else can. We can interpret, but we can't change. When God changes the Law, He doesn't eliminate, He fulfills. Isn't that what Jesus said? Did not come to do away, but to fulfill! That is, raise it to a spiritual level.
Back to the children of Israel. Remember this is binding on their children, because God said how many times in the book of Deut. tell them to their 'children and your children's children, so it may be well with you. I set before you life and death, blessing and cursing.' They had it all. That's all part of it. All starting as a seed!
Judges 2:7: "And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD that He did for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being a hundred and ten years old. And they buried him on the border of his inheritance… [v 10]: And also all that generation were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor even the works which He had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim" (vs 7-11).
What happens? Automatic because of the covenant, because they agreed to it, and they bound all of their children and all of their descendants to it, the blessings and cursings of Deut. 28 and Lev. 26. They failed to teach the children.
What do we have today? We have a society that takes our children away from us all day long! What happens, even in the best of families? Even in the best of intentions? Even with knowledge of good and evil? The worst happens, because of human nature!
Then you go through all the history of it. God keeps His covenant. If the children of Israel didn't keep the covenant, He would punish them. If they repented, then He restored them. That's the whole story of everything, coming all the way down to the coming of Christ.
There was a time with Solomon, which I cover during the Feast of Tabernacles, so we won't get there.
Sidebar on Solomon: Why did he go bad after God appeared to him twice? He was selected by God to build the temple. Why did he go bad? You have to come to the Feast to find out!
We have all the things here in the prophets. That's covered in the book of Revelation. Some things have been fulfilled. Some are to be fulfilled. Some have many fulfillments.
Let's see another summary of this, Ezekiel 20:1: "And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that some of the elders of Israel came to ask of the LORD, and sat before me."
They wanted to know what was going on because here they are in this exile camp and they wanted to know why. He told them (Ezek. 14) that 'if you come to me and you have idols in your mind, I don't even want to hear you.'
Verse 2: "And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying, 'Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, 'Have you come to inquire of Me? As I live,' says the Lord GOD, "I will not be inquired of by you."' Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers'" (vs 2-4). That's why we need true history, so we know how things have come about.
Verse 5: "And say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: 'In the day that I chose Israel, and lifted up My hand to the seed of the house of Jacob, and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt; when I lifted up My hand to them, saying, 'I am the LORD your God.' In the day that I lifted up My hand to them, to bring them out from the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands; … [He gave them the best] …then I said to them, 'Let each man throw away the abominations of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the LORD your God'" (vs 5-7).
You would think that people being told by God, 'I'll be your God and bless you,' that they would say, 'Yes, Lord, anything You say.'
Verse 8: "But they rebelled against Me and would not hearken to Me. They did not each man throw away the abominations of their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. And I said, 'I will pour out My fury against them to fulfill My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.' But I worked for My name's sake…" (vs 8-9). Didn't do it, caused them to come out.
Verse 11: "And I gave them My statutes and showed them My ordinances, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. And also I gave them My Sabbaths…" (vs 11-12).
Remember that every appointed feast of God is a Sabbath, except for the Passover. Passover is a Holy convocation, but not a Sabbath. Why? Because of all the nasty work that had to be done on the Passover Day when Jesus was crucified! That was nothing but work, labor and slaughter.
"…to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD Who sanctifies them. But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes…" (vs 12-13). He made them wander for 40 years.
Verse 18: "But I said to their children in the wilderness, 'Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols. I am the LORD your God. Walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances, and do them, and keep My Sabbaths Holy… [plural] …and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God'" (vs 18-20). But they rebelled! What is the sign between us and God?
- His Sabbath
- His Holy Days
- His Holy Spirit
We're going to cover a lot of space in this, because we just want an overview. When they came back to God, what did they do? They repented! 2-Chron. 30 is about Hezekiah and what they did. I'll let you study that out.
What happened? The king began to set things right! The temple was so overrun with all the pagan stuff they brought in there that they had to clean it out. They went past the Passover time; they couldn't keep the Passover in the first month so they kept the Passover in the second month. God blessed them; God forgave them. They were so excited that they decided to keep another seven days and God blessed them with that. Then blessed them thoroughly.
After that you have the great grandson of Hezekiah, Manasseh. You can read that in 2-Chr. 33. What did he do? Rebelled! The exact opposite! Yes, he did repent.
Then we come to Chron. 34 and 35 concerning Josiah. So, we have a cycle: good king/ bad son; good king/bad son; bad king/good son. That's what we have here. When there is repentance, God will acknowledge it. Josiah humbled himself and called all Israel together. Here's a good example: If those religious leaders in America are really, really serious about God, here's what they need to do.
2-Chronicles 34:29: "And the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah, and the people of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people from the great to the small. And he read in their ears all the words of the Book of the Covenant that was found in the house of the LORD" (vs 29-30).
That's what needs to be done. Couldn't do it here in America. You couldn't do it in Britain. Guess who is the head of the Church of England? Queen Elizabeth! She could do it. The Brits might do better than the Americans, but they're so into their own self-righteousness, that it's impossible. The Americans are in so much into their self-indulgence that it's incredible.
But here's what the king did, v 31: "And the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the LORD to walk after the LORD and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant, which are written in this book."
2-Chron. 35—Josiah kept the Passover. They killed the Passover on the 14th day of the 1st month. Come back to God; Sabbath, Passover, Holy Days, all of that. In order for anything to change any lasting situation in American or Britain, or any place in the world, they would have to do the same thing as King Josiah did here. Not going to call them to conversion, but they would all have to keep in the letter of the Law. That's what would have to happen.
Let's come to the New Testament and see how important that these things are here. Remember, God gave the appointed times. These are the feasts of the Lord. He uses these to carry out His plan. These things are done on the days that God wants them done.
Jesus was about thirty years old when this happened. What is the age of the high priest to go into office? Thirty years! Jesus is going to be High Priest? Yes, highest of the high priests. So, Jesus was baptized. We don't know exactly which day He was baptized on, but we do know—and you can get this chronology from The Appointed Times of Jesus the Messiah—that when He began this fast of 40-days, He began His ministry, and this happened to be on a Wednesday Atonement.
That means Jesus was probably baptized on Monday morning. Took the rest of the day, because it says He immediately went into the wilderness. By Tuesday He was where He needed to be for the temptation. Not only was this a Day of Atonement, but it was also a Jubilee year. Because this was the starting of helping to set the stage so that people through Christ could overcome Satan the devil. But He first had to do it.
Luke 4:3: "Then the devil said to Him, 'If You are the Son of God, command that this stone become bread.' But Jesus answered him, saying…" (vs 3-4). You remember the tradition? Oh, yeah, the one that was spoken in the ear secretly to all the elders. No! What did He say?
"…'It is written…'" (v 4). He's talking to Himself as man in flesh, but all of mankind because He's Creator of all mankind. Could any other human life be an atonement and sacrifice for all human sin? No! Couldn't be just another human being. Remember the sermon I gave, How Did God Do That? What a tremendous thing that God did so that He could come in the flesh. Man is a free moral agent. Man, because he thinks he is.
Jesus said, v 4: "…'It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God."'" That's why it's written down.
Same way with the Holy Days that we will have beginning October 3 with the Feast of Trumpets. Then Atonement, Tabernacles and the Last Great Day. All have meaning and purpose reaching clear back to the Garden of Eden. Clear forward to the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God. That's an amazing thing.
- What does it say? The tabernacle of God is with men (Rev. 21)!
- How did it start out with Adam and Eve? They were together in the Garden of Eden!
- How does it end up? God's plan ends up fantastic!
But because He's given independent free moral agency (IFMA), we have to choose what we are going to do. That choice comes up every day, sometimes every hour, sometimes every minute. If you're a real fast thinker, sometimes every second.
So then, you have everything concerning Christ. Mark 7—here's what Jesus said concerning the Sabbath.
Sidebar: What actually happens when you keep the traditions of men? I think this is important because what's going to happen right about a week after the Last Great Day? Halloween! What is Halloween? That's a tradition of men! What is Christmas, Easter, New Years and all of that? They are traditions of men! What do you do to God? Is God even going to acknowledge anything they do on those days? Yet, they think He does.
What did Jesus say to the Jews? And where are the Jews? Having rejected Christ, the temple is gone, twice, scattered into every nation of the world, just like God said!
Notice they had warning, Mark 7:9: "Then He said to them, 'Full well do you reject the commandment of God, so that you may observe your own tradition.'" They may have the Sabbath, they may have the Holy Days in the letter, but:
- if you reject Christ, you don't have God
- if you reject the Father, you don't have God
- if you have your own traditions, you reject God
Mark 2:27: "And He said to them, 'The Sabbath… [where did we start in Gen. 1 and 2?] …was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.'"
What does that mean? That means no man has any jurisdiction over the Sabbath of God—period! God made it Holy. Nowhere, nowhere, nowheredoes it say that God made the first day Holy, or that God made any of the festivals of Satan the devil and this world Holy.
Verse 28: "Therefore, the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath"—which tells you Jesus didn't give up authority over the Sabbath. If He would have done away with the Law and changed the law, how much different would He have been from the children of Israel who didn't keep the commandments of God? None! Wouldn't that be true? Yes!
How much different are the people today who reject the Sabbath and Holy Days of God? Exactly as their rebellious forefathers! That's why God has sent the Bible, to be so widely distributed in the world, translated into so many languages in the world. There may be some problems here and there with some Bibles, but the overall what I'm talking about right now is available in almost every Bible as a witness.
I wonder how many people have Bibles in their homes and never read them. When you go to church the first they do, they tell you on Sunday, that the Sabbath has been done away. Jesus said that He is Lord of the Sabbath. Does He still live? He says, 'I was dead, but I'm alive and I have the keys of death and the grave.' How much power is that? Think of that! There we have it. The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath!
Acts 2:1: "And when the Day of Pentecost, the fiftieth day, was being fulfilled, they were all with one accord in the same place."
Started the Church on Pentecost. Just like He gave the Ten Commandments for the children of Israel on Pentecost, He gave the Holy Spirit on Pentecost so that they would have the Law capable of being written in their hearts and minds. Not on tables of stone, not in the Ark of the Covenant, back in the Holy of Holies. But now, direct access to God the Father and Jesus Christ.
Someone always says, 'Because it's not here, but it's over there—in the Bible—one place and not another place, therefore, since I believe the place where it's not written, I don't have to do and believe the place where it is written.' What are you going to do with this?
When we were doing the book Occult Holidays or God's Holy Days, Which? the one who was doing the editing for me was the sister of Jeannie Franklin. She was a died-in-the-wool Protestant. When she was starting to write this—and I wrote in there that this is proof that we are to keep the Passover and Unleavened Bread—she quit.
1-Corinthians 5:6: "Your glorying is not good. Don't you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore, purge out the old leaven, so that you may become a new lump… [that's the process of conversion] …even as you are unleavened…" (vs 6-7). Doesn't do any good to unleaven your home if you don't try and unleaven your mind, your heart and your soul.
"…For Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us" (v 7). That goes clear back to Gen. 3:15. It goes clear forward to the last person who accepts the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin. That's a broad scope of history.
Verse 8: "For this reason, let us keep the Feast…." Not do away with the Feast. Paul, who supposedly did away with the Law says:
"…let us keep the Feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and Truth" (v 8).
This is amazing when you put it all together. I'm going to leave you with this. When you get home, if you have a computer where you can get afaithfulversion.org search how many times the words write and written is in the Bible. That will show you. That's important. God had it written!
In the book of Revelation it's going to blow your mind. God told John to write, write, write.
There are many other things we could cover, but that's the overall scope of it:
- there's the unity between the Old Testament and the New Testament
- there's the purpose of God
- there's the physical
- there's the spiritual
- there are the physical blessings
- there are the spiritual blessings
Scriptural References:
- Mark 4:26-32
- Revelation 22:6-14, 18-19
- Revelation 1:1-8, 11
- Genesis 1:1
- John 1:1
- 1-John 1:1
- Genesis 1:1-5, 14-19
- Genesis 2:1-3
- Genesis 6:5-7
- Leviticus 23:1-7
- Exodus 12:40-41
- Exodus 24:1-4, 6-8
- Judges 2:7-11
- Ezekiel 20:1-9, 11-13, 18-20
- 2-Chronicles 34:29-31
- Luke 4:3-4
- Mark 7:9
- Mark 2:27-28
- Acts 2:1
- 1-Corinthians 5:6-8
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- 1-Corinthians 2
- Exodus 20
- Deuteronomy 5
- Isaiah 56, 58
- Mark 2:27
- Genesis 3:15
- Isaiah 28
- Romans 1
- Genesis 15
- Exodus 21-24
- Deuteronomy 28
- Leviticus 26
- Ezekiel 14
- 2-Chronicles 30-35
- Revelation 21
Also referenced:
CD: Reading of the book of Revelation
Books:
- Apostate by Kevin Swanson
- Appointed Times of Jesus the Messiah by Fred R. Coulter
- Occult Holidays or God's Holy Days, Which? by Fred R. Coulter
Sermon: How Did God Do That?
FRC:lp
Transcribed: 9-8-16
Formatted: bo—9/9/16
Copyright 2016—All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner. This includes electronic and mechanical photocopying or recording, as well as the use of information storage and retrieval systems.
