Overview of the Holy Days II

Fred R. Coulter—September 8, 2012

- Overview of Holy Days #2 - September 8, 2012

Track 1: or Download

Jim and I were talking the other day and we were talking about the book, God's Plan for Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days. When we got that printed three years ago, we had 7,000 manufactured. We have 30 some sermons that are the transcripts and we send out the CDs to go with it.

We are below 2,000 now and on the pack of the CDs that go with it, we're down to about 70. We have been doing a little shorter summary of each of the Holy Days that we're going to put as a preface in the next edition. Jim was saying we have so much in there, sometimes the people can't see the forest for the trees.

We're going to have a few overview things that we're going to add to it. It'll make it even a little thicker, but that's okay. It's intended to be one of those things that people can use, that they can study, that they can understand. It's important to have the information because there are so many things against it in the world; against the Holy Days, against the Sabbath, and so forth.

I told him, 'Wait till they get to the soil and investigate the microbes,' because God's Word is so fantastic and so put together in such a way that it is just a phenomenal thing. One of the things that is blinding to people is the way that the Bible is put together in most Bibles. This is the only Bible—The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version—in a single volume that has all the books of the Bible in the correct canonical order. We're going to continue our overview of the Holy Days leading up to the fall festivals.

Luke 24:44: "And He said to them, 'These are the words that I spoke to you when I was yet with you, that all the things which were written concerning Me... [notice the order]: ...the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets and in the Psalms...'" The Psalms is the first book of the Writings, so that means all of the Writings. That's the order of the Old Testament.

When Jerome did his Latin Vulgate and when they did the Septuagint they changed the order of the books. They put Daniel in the Prophets. Daniel, though it is prophetic, is not included in the Prophets. Let's look at the Writings and let's analyze that for just a minute.

The Writings—3rd division of the Bible

• Psalms
• Proverbs
• Job
• Song of Solomon
• Ruth—that has to do with the Gentiles being brought in.
• Lamentations—which is actually prophetic, but it is there because it is tremendous. If you need encouragement, don't read Lamentations.
• Ecclesiastes
• Esther—has to do with the Persian Empire, preservation of the Jews.
• Daniel—like Esther, was written outside of the land of Israel. That's why, even though Daniel is prophetic, is not included in the Prophets. It's also historical.
• Ezra
• Nehemiah
• Chronicles—which the two books are actually one in the original canonization.

What does the book of Matthew start out with, also the book of Chronicles? The book of Chronicles starts out with that very boring reading: So-and-so begat so-and-so; so-and-so begat so-and-so. All of those names you can't pronounce and you don't know who they are. But that is necessary for the legal documentation of the coming of the Messiah. After Chronicles you come to the New Testament.

The Gospels & Acts—4th division of the Bible

What does the first book of the New Testament start with? Matthew! Who was Matthew? Matthew was a Levite and a tax collector! It's interesting, most people don't even get this or make the connection, because as we saw last time—let's read something:

Matthew 1:1: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham…. [It starts out with Abraham. What happened in Gen. 15 on that Passover, because that was the Passover Day? The promise of the Messiah given to Abraham!] …Abraham begat Isaac..." (vs 1-2)—all the way down.

Verse 6: "And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of the one who had been wife of Uriah." We're going to see that there was a penalty for that sin, the sin in particularly of Solomon. When you examine what Solomon did—having all the wives and concubines and making all the things for the other gods and worshiping other gods—the inheritance of Mary did not come down through Solomon. That's why there are two genealogies.

All of those who say 'the Apostle Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles and the Gentiles had a different gospel'—because people do not have the right order of the Bible—don't understand that the New Testament also goes back to Abraham and goes back to Gen. 15 where he had the promise of the physical son and then the stars of heaven who are the spiritual sons.

Galatians 3:26: "Because you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ" (vs 26-27). That actually means to be clothed. Then you can do a lot of studies there—the clothes of the priests, the clothes of the righteousness of the saints, etc.

Verse 28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus…. [for salvation] …And if you are Christ's... [that's interesting, because it puts there a condition] ...then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (vs 28-29). That's why we need the Old Testament. That why we need to study what is called the Old Testament, because that connects the whole Bible together. Wherever Abraham is mentioned, that connects the Old and the New; that connects the covenant with Abraham. This genealogy comes all the way down:

Matthew 1:16: "And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary..." We know that Jesus was not fathered by Joseph. So, the line down to Joseph ends right there.

These become important so when we begin examining the Holy Days in the Bible, we will see that everything that God has done is on the framework of the Holy Days—the Sabbath and Holy Days—and particularly the Passover and then Trumpets; then the other Holy Days, so we'll put those together as we go.

Luke 3:23: "And Jesus Himself began to beabout thirty years old..." Why did they say about? They were fairly sure, but why? If look at any calendar of the Holy Days, they're not on the same day every year according to the Roman calendar. There are seven leap years in a 19-year time cycle where there's an extra month put in, so that things won't get behind in the lunar/solar calendar. So, it's about.

Let me read you the dates of Feast of Trumpets beginning in 2009. According to the Calculated Hebrew Calendar Trumpets is always the 1st day of the 7th month, but even that—though it falls in the Calculated Hebrew Calendar—is not exactly the same solar day every year.

• 2009: September 17
• 2010: September 9, ten day difference
• 2011: September 29
• 2012: September 17
• 2013: September 5

Since this was written by Luke under Paul's supervision, it is "…about 30 years old…" That's why it's the approximation, because it's not exactly the same solar day. It's the same day according to the Calculated Hebrew Calendar, but even then Trumpets does not fall on the same day of the week.

Verse 23: "...as was supposed, the son of Joseph..."

Matthew 1:16, this is the correct genealogy for Joseph: "And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, Who is called the Christ."

Compare that with Luke 3:23 again. "And Jesus Himself began to be about thirty years old, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son-in-law of Eli." Joseph was not fathered by Eli, so, if you have a King James where it says: 'Joseph the son of Eli,' that's not correct. Joseph could not have had two fathers. But Mary had to have a father—didn't she? Joseph was Eli's son-in-law[transcriber's correction].

These genealogists tell us quite a few things as we go along—don't they? Yes! What else needed to be established with the Messiah? Let's find out. We won't read all the begats, begats, but come down to v 31. This is the physical lineage of Judah down through David. Only this time we're going all the way back.

Luke 3:31: "The son of Meleas, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David." Nathan was the genealogy through whom Jesus' physical inheritance came from—from David, not Solomon.

Verse 38: "The son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God." So, the Messiah had to be traced legally from Abraham and Adam. Isn't it interesting how that Paul wrote of the first Adam was of the flesh; the second Adam was a living Spirit.

Now then, we're going to concentrate a little bit on our overview of the New Testament. We have the order of the Bible: The first three divisions:

• the Law
• the Prophets
• the Psalms.

Then we have the fourth division:

• Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, plus Acts.

We'll talk about Acts here in just a minute.

Let's talk about some numbers. I don't want you to get confused in this, but this is an overview. We covered some of this last time, so some of this is a review.

• On the 4th day of the week of re-creation God set the sun and moon for the establishment of time for the weekly cycle and also the appointed dates.

Before the foundation of the world Jesus was selected as the Lamb of God, so that one particular day, and that was the appointed time as Paul said 'at the appointed time Christ died' (Rom. 5:6).

The Passover, looking at the chart was the day in which Jesus died was the 4th day of the week. We're going to see #4 connected with Jesus' ministry in several different ways. I'm going to refer you to the book, The Appointed Times of Jesus the Messiah. So, we have #4:

• Jesus died on the 4th day of the week
• everything teaching about Jesus is the 4th division of the Bible

Let's add some other numbers in there. From the time He was baptized—which you will find in the book The Appointed Times of Jesus the Messiah—till He began His ministry was four days. Then He was tempted forty days—four times ten.

Let's back up to when He was born. You can also find this in one of the appendices (App. E: When Was Jesus Christ Born?). How many Holy Days do we have all together? We have seven Holy Days, two for Unleavened Bread and Pentecost. What's the 4th Holy Day? Trumpets! Again #4 pops up concerning Christ, because that's the most likely day that He was born. He was born on the Sabbath Day—keep that in mind—the 4th Holy Day.

Because of the way that the Calculated Hebrew Calendar is, His ministry was guess how many months? Forty-four! He ended His ministry and then what happened after He was crucified? Let's look at that chart again, page 1280, Appendix J, Jesus' Three Days and Three Nights of Entombment and His Resurrection, (The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version). We have the Passover Day He died. Then we have the three days and three nights that He was in the tomb—1, 2, 3! He was resurrected right toward the end of the Sabbath, came back to life. There are several ways you can count here, but there are three days after His death.

The next day is day #4. What did He do on that day after He was resurrected? He was already resurrected during the Sabbath, but what was the most important thing He did on this day that was the 4th day? He ascended to the Father to begin His spiritual ministry at the right hand of God—correct? Yes!

After that #4, what else do we have that #4 is involved with? How long did He appear to His disciples after His resurrection? Forty days—four times ten—correct? Yes, indeed! So, #4 follows through with a lot of things having to do with the ministry of Christ.

Jesus' birth on the Feast of Trumpets in 5B.C. had to be on a Sabbath. What I'm doing is bringing in the connections from the Old Testament to the New Testament. These are what you would call the things that are necessary to combine the Bible into one whole book.

Matthew 1:25 concerns Joseph after he took Mary to be his wife: "But he did not have sexual relations with her until after she had given birth to her son, the firstborn; and he called His name Jesus." If Jesus was born on the Sabbath, that was His physical birth, also being the Feast of Trumpets.

Go back and look at when He was raised from the dead, what day of the week was that? Look at the chart, page 1281. He was raised from the dead on the weekly Sabbath—correct? What is Jesus called? The fact He was raised from the dead. When He was born He was called the Firstborn—correct? I hope this will make some connections for you, turn some lights on. Jesus is called the Firstborn from the dead (Rev. 1).

• What does this tell us?
  • He had His first physical birth, the firstborn!
  • He was raised from the dead and is called 'the Firstborn from among the dead!'
• What does this tell us?
  • Jesus was born again from the dead!

There is concrete Biblical proof—put in there, Firstborn from among the dead (Rev. 1:5; Col. 1). Isn't that interesting? Yes, indeed! This also tells us very simply what it means to be born again. You're not born again until you're changed from flesh to spirit!

We have seen here some very important things that in the first book and in the last book of the New Testament it connects it—connects it to Abraham, connects it to Adam. That's important, because He couldn't come from any other genealogical source because of what God promised Abraham.

After Adam and Eve sinned He gave the first prophecy concerning the Messiah; it had to also connect with Adam. So, you see how all of the Bible comes together just in a magnificent way.

Here we have four Gospels—don't we? This tells us about what? The ministry of Christ while He was on the earth—right? Again, four is connected with it. God follows along, as we have covered, there must be two or three witnesses. Jesus said to the disciples, you are My witnesses! God made sure that the things from the Old Testament were connected to the New. We can add in the fact that in the New Testament there are 230 plus quotes directly from what we call the Old Testament. God also requires two or three witnesses, so this is why we have Matthew, Mark, and Luke that are very similar. They talk about many of the same events, but each one gives a few more details that the other one didn't have.

A lot of those who are critics of the Bible say, 'It doesn't say it exactly in Matthew like it does in Luke or in Mark.' Have you ever had to give an account of something and repeat the account over and over again? I have! There are times especially because of the question or the purpose of the answer I had to give an account of the same thing, but with fewer words or more words, but I wasn't taking away from and I wasn't adding to. I was just giving more of a summary in one instance and more details in another. We have these: Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

Now we come to the book of John. The book of John is very interesting. Someone could say, 'Oh, oh, John is so different, how can we possibly accept John because there's only one writer?' What are you going to do with the principle of two or three witnesses? Of course, let's answer first: Who was the one who did the canonization of the New Testament? That's why it's important to read the commentaries in front of the Bible and also the appendices in the back of the Bible. It was the Apostle John who canonized the New Testament! Let's also understand something about John. John was also of the priestly line just as Ezra was for the Old Testament.

John 20:30: "Now then, Jesus did many other miracles in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these have been written, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, you may have life through His name" (vs 30-31).

If that had an 'Amen' there you would know that would be the end of the Gospel of John. But we have chapter 21. Every indication is that this was written after Peter died because there is some very embarrassing information here concerning Peter. Peter still didn't quite get the point of what Jesus said, 'Feed My sheep.' He did get it as we find later on in 1-Peter 5.

This is Peter looking at John: John 21:21: "Seeing him, Peter said to Jesus, 'Lord, what shall happen to this one?" Peter was told when you get old, you're going to be led around where you don't want to go. 'Oh, what's going to happen to this one?'

Verse 22: "Jesus said to him, 'If I desire that he remain alive until I come, what is it to you? You follow Me.' Then this saying went out among the brethren, that that disciple would not die... [That is until the return of Christ. Actually he would live and be changed.] (notice what John wrote): ...However, Jesus did not say to him that he would not die; but, 'If I desire that he remain alive until I come, what is it to you?'" (vs 22-23).

Who received the vision of the book of Revelation? John did! He saw in vision the return of Christ while he was still alive. Many times in reading some of these things we leave out verses where we're anxious to go on to someplace else.

Verse 24: "This is the disciple... [Who is this disciple? John!] ...who testifies concerning these things and who wrote these things... [the first part of the next sentence is in the first person singular, 'This is the disciple'] ...and we know..." It changes to we. Who are the we? We have John and it's noted in the historical notes about canonizing the New Testament that there was Philip, Andrew, and probably Mark. What do we have that fulfills two or three witnesses? This phrase verifying that all of the Gospel of John that his testimony is true! This seals the four Gospels.

Verse 25: "But there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I do not suppose that even the world itself could contain the books that would be written. Amen."

We have that one insertion there which is an editorial insertion verifying with witnesses that what John wrote was true.

Track 2: or Download

What time in history did the churches start forgetting the Holy Days? The letter to the Ephesians says, 'You lost your first love.' What is the first love? Loving God! If you love God, you're going to obey Him—right?

There's another book out there written by Samuele Bacchiocchi. The first things the infiltrators did, because you read the warnings of Paul, of John, of Revelation, false apostles, right there to the first Church at Ephesus. The first thing they attacked was the Passover. That's why Samuele Bacchiocchi writes an awful lot about the Quartodeciman controversy. There wouldn't have been any controversy if the Church wasn't keeping the 14th Passover. That goes back into the time right after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.

Then you have the bringing in of Sunday from there. It started early and gained momentum. It came from the pagans who wanted to use the name of Jesus and create their own religion. Out of that came the Roman Catholic Church and Sunday. However, if you want to do some interesting research online—I'll see if I can spell it correctly—Chrysostom writes, there are many of sermons that are really very powerful to read. Most of those writings come toward the end of the 3rd centuryA.D.—390s—and on into the beginning of the 4th century-A.D. where he rails against church members going to synagogues to keep the Passover and Holy Days.

The Christians were still meeting in homes, so instead of saying homes, he said synagogues. He called them Jews and railed at them and told them they need to come back. It didn't end with Constantine in 325. This thing raged for a long time and the SDAs (Seventh Day Adventists) have a television presentation where they are able to trace a good deal of Sabbath-keeping down even in the Greek Orthodox Church into the 1100s.

See Israel of the Alps (produced by the Seventh Day Adventists), we have that video of the SDAs where in the Alps. That's where the Church fled when Rome brought in those edicts. They were there 1260 years. There was a lot going on during that time. But they had to put up with the Catholics--what a thing!

What they did to the Christians in the 1600s was really something. But From Sabbath to Sunday by Samuele Bacchiocchi is the important book. The first thing that they did was attack the Passover, and from there everything else followed. Why is that? Because if you don't keep the Passover you do not remain in covenant with God! If you don't remain in covenant with God, you what? You lose knowledge. You may be 'religious' and then you may accept Sunday, so there you go. You read those seven letters and those are letter from Christ to the churches. When I read those and study those, I take them very personally. These are from Christ Himself.

Let's talk a little bit about the Gospel of John and the #4. There are 4 Gospels and John is the 4th one—correct? In the 4th one it tells us more about who Jesus was before He was born and tells us more about the Father than any other book in the Bible. It's interesting that it is in the 4th Gospel.

What I want to do is take a little survey here and see the framework on which John laid out the chronology of his Gospel.

• John 2 we find the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread
• John 4 we don't have a direct quote, but we have a reference to the harvest
  • What day is the day of the harvest? Wave Sheaf Offering!
  • What ends the harvest? Pentecost!

John 4:34: "Jesus said to them, 'My meat is to do the will of Him Who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do not say that there are yet four months, and then the harvest comes. I say to you, look around. Lift up your eyes and see the fields, for they are already white to harvest'" (vs 34-35). The only time that could be would be toward the end of the seven-weeks of the firstfruit-harvest leading up to Pentecost. Then He's talking about what? Laboring spiritually!

John 5:1: "After these things there was a Feast of the Jews..." John always says the Feast of the Jews to give a point of reference that the only ones who were keeping them during the ministry of Jesus were those who were in Judea and Galilee. We know that these are the Feasts of God. This particular one it doesn't tell us which one it was, so we have to make an educated guess on it.

Since we've already passed the time of Pentecost (John 4), in John 5:1: "...and Jesus went up to Jerusalem." There was a man there, had an infirmity 38 years. This Feast of the Jews was also a Sabbath Day. This could not have been the Day of Atonement. The best guess we can come to is it was probably the Feast of Trumpets. So, we have Passover, fall festival season. After that fall festival season:

John 6:4: "Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near." So, we have again in the spring; we have Passover. This gives us the framework on which John laid out his Gospel, the chronology.

John 7:2: "Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was near." Again, we have the fall. The most important thing about John is:

• He gives us more details about who and what Jesus was before He was born in the flesh and gives us more understanding of the Father than any of the other books.
• It's laid out on the framework of the Holy Days: Passover in the spring, fall, then we have Passover again and Tabernacles in the fall.

To show how important the Feast of Tabernacles was, it covers all of John seven. Jesus did keep the Feast of Tabernacles there. He did command His mother and brothers to go up to the Feast and keep it.

Now we have the Last Great Day, v 37: "Now in the last day, the great day of the Feast, Jesus stood and called out, saying, 'If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink.'"—showing universal salvation. Today we are the called the select, the chosen. The U.S. Marine Corps advertisements were not the first ones: The few, the chosen, and so forth. The few and the chosen are those who are of Christ.

Then it continues on the day portion of the Last Great Day. He comes back into the temple and they try and catch Him with this woman who was caught in adultery. We have covered that. Then we have John 9-10, so those things occur leading up to the next Passover season which we find the chronology again here John 12:1: "Now, six days before the Passover..."

In A Harmony of the Gospels I've got a chart showing that six days and how everything fits in if you put it in the framework of the Holy Days. So this is exactly what we have with the Gospel of John. Currently what we're doing on Church at Home, we're doing an extended series on the Passover and how important that is because that's the main important day that is the connection between man and God and God and man through Christ.

I gave the first one on the Eucharist. It struck me with the Eucharist—you can read the prayer that's supposed to be given for the Eucharist online. I had Ron Carey send it to me and I used it for the segment we did on the Eucharist. I noticed something very, very important with it compared to the Passover.

Passover is entirely different. Passover is what Christ has done for us:

• His death
• His resurrection
• giving of the Holy Spirit
• the covenant and the words of the covenant in John 14-17.

What struck me was this: The Catholics come and they are bringing a sacrifice to God in the form of the bread and wine. But that is to symbolize the body of Christ and His blood, so it's what Christ has done for us! You can't go and say to God: 'We're bringing this bread. We're bringing this wine and by the way, Christ, You must put Your flesh in the bread and Your blood in the wine.'

I pointed out how that's an impossible thing to do because as a Spirit being He no longer has flesh and blood. How can you command God to give something He doesn't have? But this is their offering and they say, 'Accept our offering.' No, Jesus said of the bread, 'You take and you eat it.' Same way with the cup of wine. 'You drink it. This is My flesh. This is My blood.'

Then what is so important here in the Gospel of John is that you have these chapters: 14-17. Those are the words of the covenant between Christ and you. Of course, it tells about the Father, connects us to the Father through Christ.

We just recently had a summary of all the parables of Jesus in the Gospels and there are 70 altogether. I'm going to read you the last parable. John 16:20: "Truly, truly I tell you, you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be grieved, but your grief shall be turned into joy.... [here's the parable]: ...A woman when she is giving birth has grief because her time of travail has come; but after she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world" (vs 20-21).

Then He says you will see Me again and, of course, that was after Jesus was born again from the dead and they would have joy. There's one other illusion with this giving birth. After the 40 days that Jesus was with them, how long was it until Pentecost? Ten days! What does Pentecost picture? It pictures the beginning of the Church and the ending of the Church at the resurrection! The Church is likened to the woman in Rev. 12.

Isaiah 66:6: "A sound of noise from the city, a sound from the temple, the sound of the LORD repaying His enemies. 'Before she travailed, she gave birth; before her pain came, she delivered a man child'" (vs 6-7). That's a prophecy of Christ.

Then what happens? Te reason that Jesus was born again also tells us that we are to be born again—right? The Church is likened to a woman and in fact, in the Greek we're likened to Jerusalem above and Jerusalem is always referred to as the woman. So is the Church.

Notice how this goes from Christ right into the resurrection of the saints. Verse 8: "'Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things like these? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or will a nation be born at once?.… [We are called a royal nation—are we not? Yes, indeed! Will all the saints be resurrected on the one day? Yes!] ...For as soon as Zion travailed, she also gave birth to her children. Will I bring to the birth, and not cause to be born?' says the LORD. 'Shall I cause them to be born, and shut the womb?' says your God. 'Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all who love her; rejoice for joy with her, all who mourn for her. That you may suck and be satisfied with her breasts of consolations; that you may milk out and be delighted with the fullness of her glory'" (vs 8-11).

Then it goes into the beginning of the Millennium from there. Very interesting that Jesus' last parable had to do with birth—His and then you go back to Isa. 66 and ours. That's contained there in the Gospel of John.

Acts—middle division

Let's finish off the fourth division of the Bible—the book of Acts. We're not going to spend very much time here at all. We'll just refer to it. The book of Acts is combined with the Gospels as one division, the middle division of the Bible. How many books are in the first division of the Bible, the Law? Five: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. With the four Gospels and Acts how many books do you have? Five! That is also the number of grace, but it also then establishes the same principle.

You have the book of the Law that begins for the children of Israel. For the Church you have the four Gospels and Acts. In Acts we have how the Gospel was spread and this compares with the book of Numbers of the journeys of the children of Israel. So, that's the middle division of the Bible, locks together the Old Testament, Christ and all the prophecies.

The General Epistles—5th division of the Bible

This is where Jerome gets everything all absolutely upside down because he wanted to put Rome in the first position. That's why in all Bibles you find the incorrect canonization and sequence of books by having Romans follow Acts. You have to have the General Epistles first.

We have commentary concerning the General Epistles and shows that there are four main themes:

• James is faith
• Peter is hope
• John is love
• Jude is a warning

Why would these be before the Epistles of Paul? Paul wrote 14 epistles. Here we have the General Epistles:

• James
• Two by Peter
• Three by John
• Jude

That gives us a total of seven; again seven comes into play. Why do the General Epistles come first? They were direct witnesses to the Lord! So, they would come before Paul.

Also when you read the General Epistles there is absolutely no doubt that Christians are to keep the commandments of God. When you begin with the book of Romans you begin with a very complicated book, as our study pointed out. People have a lot of problems in understanding the book of Romans because it is out of order and in critical verses it is misinterpreted and incorrectly translated.

Epistles of Paul—6th division of the Bible

It's very interesting, there is no other religious book in the world that uses epistles as the method of conveying teachings and doctrines. This is important because epistles are letters—they do contain some edicts in them, but not like the Old Testament where it is 'thus says the Lord.' These are messages written in letter form by the apostles to the children of God. These are personal letters from our Father.

Every epistle starts out 'From God the Father and Jesus Christ.' All the way through, all the epistles of Paul. He wrote 14 books of epistles and he was the one who was behind Luke writing the book of Acts. When you break down all of the writings of Paul to the churches, how many churches did he write to? Seven! He has four pastorals:

• 2 to Timothy
• Titus
• Philemon

He has one general epistle, which is the book of Hebrews. I want you to read the commentary about it because there are some very important things concerning Hebrews to show why Paul had to be the one who wrote it. We will see that there are some things here that only come from Paul.

Many have wondered why didn't Paul put his name there. I think the answer is very simple. Stop and think how they received Paul when he came to Jerusalem. They wanted to kill him because he went to the Gentiles. How do you think the book of Hebrews would have been received, 'I, the Apostle Paul, am writing to everyone in Jerusalem and all the Jews scattered abroad and for all the Churches of God everywhere.' They'd put the torch to it.

After reading and studying this and going through it for translating I surmised that this was a compilation of different sermons put together for this book, and it was dictated by Paul, written by Luke. This is the most well organized, most finely developed book of the New Testament. It explains the transition between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

We have some clues that Paul wrote this. What did Paul say that he wished for all the Jews, all the Hebrews? Salvation! He even said he wished himself to be accursed that they might be saved.

Hebrews 13:22: "Now I admonish you, brethren, to patiently listen to this message of exhortation, for I have written to you in only a few words. I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released... [Who did Timothy travel with? Paul! Timothy released from where? From prison!] ...with whom if he comes soon enough, I will see you. Greet all your leaders, and all the saints. Those from Italy send greetings to you" (vs 22-24). Where was Paul in prison? In Italy! But when he wrote this, this was just right before—in trying to figure the chronology when Hebrews was written you have to account for the martyrdom of James. There is no mention of it. So, it had to be written before James died.

He couldn't put his name on it and send it to Jerusalem where James was still considered the chief apostle. That would appear to be very presumptuous on his part, but he didn't know that James was to soon be martyred. I think he was martyred about a year after this was written. So this is why Paul was the one who wrote it. Then notice the book that follows after that is the first book to Timothy.

Revelation—7th division of the Bible

Let's come to the book of Revelation and we'll spend a little time here. We will look at the structure of the book of Revelation. Let's understand this: If you know the meaning of the Holy Days, you can understand the book of Revelation much more than you could otherwise.

Also when you understand what John wrote about Jesus being the Messiah and you also know that we need the Old Testament, as well, you also know that as John wrote, Jesus said time and again, 'I have come from above.'

Here in Revelation 1:5: "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… [It's what Christ does for us.] …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 5-6).

He shows He's coming again, coming with the clouds. Every eye will see Him and people have wanted to know how that's going to happen. It's going to happen because it's going to be a tremendous event. The book of Revelation could not be understood without having a great deal of knowledge of the Bible

Number seven appears in the book of Revelation more than any other number. Paul to wrote to seven churches. How many churches are there in Rev. 2 & 3? Seven churches! See the pattern. That's why the pattern of the Holy Days becomes very important.

When did Christ die? On the Passover Day! We have in the Rev. 1 the Passover—don't we? Then we have His resurrection from the dead. We have that He's back in heaven and coming again. Notice how all of this ties together.

Verse 8: "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." This ties the whole Bible together—beginning with Genesis. There are many, many things in here, which go clear back to Genesis. Many things here in the book of Revelation that go back to the temple.

Then He repeats it again, v 11: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last.'" Then John is told to write:

Verse 18, Christ says: "...for I was dead, and behold, I am alive into the ages of eternity…." So we have Passover, Jesus' resurrection. Being washed in His blood, forgiving our sins—that's the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

• Rev. 2 & 3 are the seven churches

Since this is an overview, we're not going through them. How many weeks are there to the harvest of firstfruits? Seven weeks!. The way we've understood Revelation:

• seven letters directly to the churches that were
• gives a prophecy of the churches down through history
• then gives us a repeat of it at the end as God looks at the churches
• there are seven churches by their fruits as God sees them in the world

Then the predominant one today is Laodicean—'rich and increased with goods.' The only thing I'll say about Laodiceans is this:

• Never at a time in history have we had the whole Word of God plus all of the circumstances in the world where we can understand more why Christ has to return.
• Never have we been so close to the point we can really destroy all flesh, not just with atomic bombs, but with so many different things.
• Never have we lived in a time before our time where there is going to be coming a world government as depicted by Rev. 13 & 17.

So, we have Pentecost with the churches.

• Rev. 4 & 5—the throne of God and Christ coming to the throne of God—the ascension day, the ministry of Christ

• Rev. 6, a time of tribulation, opening of the seals ushering in the end time. We have a key thing right here in v 12, and the shaking of the heavens and the earth
• Rev. 7—the 144,000, salvation, Pentecost
• Rev. 8 we have the trumpet plagues

What feast comes after Pentecost? Trumpets!. There are seven trumpets. We find the Feast of Trumpets.

• Rev. 10—the seven thunders

No one knows what the seven thunders are because no one wrote them down. We can't know.

• Rev. 11—the two witnesses

This is where then God intervenes and redeems the Jews. They have their temple and then it ends in the resurrection. Revelation 11:15: "Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet..." If you have seven angels with seven trumpets, which trumpet is the last trump? The 7th one!

"…'The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ'" (v 15). And we receive our rewards.

• Rev. 12—God's plan/Satan's rebellion; saving of the remnant
• Rev. 13—coming of the world government
• Rev. 14—the resurrection
• Rev. 15—we are on the Sea of Glass; receive our rewards—that's Pentecost
• Rev. 16—the seven last plagues
• Rev. 17—a prophetic history of the world government coming
• Rev. 18—the judgment of Babylon the Great
• Rev. 19—the marriage supper of the Lamb; all of the things taking place on the Sea of Glass; then we come back to the earth
• Rev. 20—the binding of Satan—the Day of Atonement; the Millennium—the Feast of Tabernacles; the Great White Throne Judgment—the Last Great Day
• Rev. 21 & 22—the Last Great Day and on into eternity from there

So this is why an overview of the Holy Days and just look at the things in summary as how they happen and how they come in sequence. If we tie this together and realize the whole Bible is one unit in seven divisions.

Old Testament:

• The Law
• The Prophets
• The Psalms

New Testament:

• The Gospels and Acts
• The General Epistles
• Paul's Epistles
• The Book of Revelation

Seven divisions of the Bible.

This is why we spend so much time on the Holy Days, because everything that God does is keyed to the Holy Days! Through the Holy Days that's how He tells us what He's doing. As we keep these days, this is how we come to greater understanding as we go along!

I wanted to take the sermon last time and the sermon this time to go through and do an overview so we can have that as a perspective on which to understand why we keep the Holy Days.

Scriptural References:

• Luke 24:44
• Matthew 1:1-2, 6
• Galatians 3:26-29
• Matthew 1:16
• Luke 3:23
• Matthew 1:16
• Luke 3:23, 31, 38
• Matthew 1:25
• John 20:30-31
• John 21:21-25
• John 4:34-35
• John 5:1
• John 6:4
• John 7:2, 37
• John 12:1
• John 16:20-21
• Isaiah 66:6-11
• Hebrews 13:22-24
• Revelation 1:5-6, 8, 11, 18
• Revelation 11:15

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Genesis 15
• Romans 5:6
• Colossians 1
• 1-Peter 5
• John 2; 9-10
• John 14-17
• Rev. 12; 2-3; 13; 17; 4-5; 6:12; 7-8; 10; 12-22

Also referenced:
Books:

• God's Plan for Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days by Fred R. Coulter
• The Appointed Times of Jesus the Messiah by Fred R. Coulter
• From Sabbath to Sunday by Samuele Bacchiocchi
• A Harmony of the Gospels by Fred R. Coulter

Video: The Israel of the Alps (produced by the Seventh Day Adventist Church)

From The Holy Bible in Its Original Order:

• Appendix E: When Was Jesus Christ Born?
• Appendix J: Jesus' Three Days and Three Nights of Entombment and His Resurrection

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 9-19-12
Formatted: bo—9-23-12

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