Sabbath and Count to Pentecost

Refuting the false doctrine to observe the new moon

and then count seven days to the Sabbath!

Fred R. Coulter—January 27, 2024

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I'm going to bring Sabbath and Count to Pentecost, and the problems with it. But first, let's look at a little news.

I've got a news report concerning Kari Lake. Remember her? She's running for Senate in Arizona and she caught one of the Republican officials attempting to bribe her to not run. She said she's not going to be bought!  So, he had to resign.

What do we see with it? We can learn the lesson from this. Politics is not going to solve our problems. Our problems are spiritual! Unless we come to God, that is people in the world and those in the Church, it'll continue to get a whole lot more difficult.

We know that there has to be Europe rising back to power, and it's in the works right now. Many reports you can read about it.

Here's a report that more Americans are preparing for the collapse of society. That's probably what's going to happen. Everyone is hoping that if Trump gets in, he'll straighten it out. Well, he may be able to straighten out a few things. But what is he going to do with the 20-million immigrants that have come in?

A great majority of those are single young men that could be easily brought into an army. Does anyone remember what Barack Obama said? 'I wish I had a million-man army.' What do you suppose is there?

So America is hanging in the balance right now.

• What are we going to do?
• Where are we going to go?
• Are we going to quit sinning directly to Satan the devil?

Obviously, a lot of them are not going to come back to God the way they need to come back to God for salvation and conversion. God doesn't judge them on that basis. He judges them on whether they will do good, that is, keep some of the commandments of God and keep law and order, so there can be some change and things may get better for a while.

But remember, Satan is out of the closet. They have not solved the problem of abortion. It has expanded to 50 battles instead of one. Satan has now brought his church out into the open, his people out into the open, and they are the ones who have the power of this world at the present time.

The only way that will be turned back is if people would begin to become law abiding. But who knows when that will happen if it could?

Remember, I'm going to talk about Sabbath and Count Pentecost.

I have in my hand a long report and paper to try and show that the seventh-day Sabbath is not the Sabbath. That we have to look for a new moon, and when we see it, we count seven days, then that's the Sabbath.

Now, to a lot of people, this sounds very interesting, and some people actually believe it. But:

• What is the result of that?
• What happens?
• Why is it so difficult concerning time?

Well, time is equated to many different things combined. So, let's see if we can make this simple to begin with. If you have a calendar, open it up to February 2024.

• How many days to February have this year? 29; last year it was 28, and next year it'll be 28.
• Why do we have every four years 29 days in February? A lot of people don't know!

Some people know, which is this:

• How do you account for a quarter day?
• Do you just throw it away?
• Do you just ignore it?

You must account for it! God accounts for every second of time!

• What do you do with that quarter day? You hold it in reserve!

So next year we'll have one-quarter of the day that's held in reserve. The year after that, another quarter of a day and we have a half day.

• Have you ever heard of having a half day?
• That at noon it changes from one day to the next? No, that doesn't happen!

Then the third year comes and you have another quarter and that's put in reserve. Then the fourth year comes and you have another quarter.

• What do you do? You have a whole day! So, that is added and becomes February 29th.
• What does that do to March 1? It postpones it one day!

If they didn't have February 29th, that day would become March 1.

• What happens when you don't account for the odd number in the days?

Well, there used to be the calendar before the Julian calendar, which was 360 days. They found out that time was creeping backwards. So, when Julian was emperor, they made the Julian calendar 365 days.

That stayed in vogue until the 1580s, I think it's 83. They had to solve the problem because Passover and Easter, as the Catholics call it, was moving back toward winter. But those had to be in the spring, so in that year, to solve the problem—because they did down through all the years from Julian—they didn't account for that quarter of a day; they were 10 days behind.

So, in that year, they declared that they we're going to add 10 days to the Gregorian calendar, because the Gregorian calendar was named after the pope at the time that they changed it.

They did it this way: In the month of October, they had days one through five, and the next day was October 15th. So, they had adjusted the calendar so that it was more in sync with the spring equinox.

We see the same thing today with the Muslim calendar. They have a lunar calendar, and they have the feast of Ramadan. They pay no attention to the year of the sun, it's all moon.

Through time, Ramadan circulates back through every month of the year because they only have 360 days in a year. So that means in two years, they're five days difference. In four years, it's 20 days difference.

Now, we'll come to the calendar that God has and how He works it, and how God takes care of every day! Every day and every hour and every part of a day must be accounted for:

• you do not dismiss any of it
• you do not get rid of any of it
• you must count it

We will talk about a heresy that is out there, and I have a long paper on it, and a lot of people believe it. This absolutely destroys the seventh-day Sabbath and destroys the Holy Days, especially Pentecost.

To this day, even in the Churches of God there are those who do not understand Pentecost and how it must be counted, and on which day Pentecost should be.

Let me announce first of all before we do that, I have done four one and a half hour videos on the calendar. I'll have Ron put those up online so you can view them. I did them a number of years ago because problems with the Sabbath always come.

People want to tell God what to do, and say, 'I have a better idea than God,' or take part of what God says and leave off another part that God says that needs to be put together.

Let's talk about the Muslim year again. It is strictly lunar, and they go by the new moon of their first month. Now, whenever that is, because that rotates in time, because their year is always short. So, the way they do it today is—because they're not all confined to the Middle East—observation of the new moon presents problems when you have it for the whole earth, and the Muslims understand it.

They have three locations on earth that they connect telephone-wise for those observers of the new moon. Now, the new moon is not seen the same on the same day all around the earth. So they have three different locations on earth for looking for the new moon.

Now, the new moon is the little sliver of light just before sunset, after the moon has set and there's no moon showing for one day or two days. Now coupled with that, you have this problem: From the setting of the old moon to the rising of the new moon can be anywhere from 13 hours to 18 hours. So, that creates a problem. Also where you're located on the earth, you might be able to see it in one location, but not in another location.

So, the Muslims do it this way: they have the three observers. They connect by phone, and if one of them sees the new moon, they don't declare that day as the beginning of the month. If two see it, they declare that day. When only one sees it, they postpone it one day.

Observing the moon then has its problems. Even in the same geographical area on earth, they actually ran this test: They had a group of observers down at a low elevation, and they were to watch for the new moon. They had another group of observers up over 4,000 feet, and they were to watch for the new moon.

The geographical distance was virtually nil. So, what happened was the group at 4,000 feet saw the new moon in 14 hours and some odd minutes after the setting of the old moon. Those at the lower elevation didn't see it. That's why observing of the new moon can never be an accurate determination on when to begin the month or to begin the year.

Now, for those in Israel, when they were in the land, they had observers for the new moon. Then they would report to the Calendar Sanhedrin that they saw the new moon.

Very few people understand that even though they observed the new moon, the Calendar Court used calculation rather than just observance. If the observants did not agree with the calculations, they did not declare that day the first day of the month or the first day of the year, whichever one that they were working on. So, you can never depend on observing, and that's why God has the Calculated Hebrew Calendar!

Let's come to Gen. 1 and let's see what this tells us, because we're going to look at the next problem of observing the new moon and then declaring when the Sabbath would be.

However, understand that observing the new moon was never any instruction from God that that's where you start counting for the Sabbath. In Gen. 1 we do not find anything concerning the sun and the moon and the stars until day four! Keep that in mind, because that's important.

Genesis 1:14: "And God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide between the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for appointed seasons…'"

Whose appointed seasons? God's!'Appointed Feasts' could be just as well.

"…'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" (vs 14-18).

• Why didn't God do this on day one?
• Why did He wait to day four?

When you read what He created day five and day six, especially day five, all of those creatures. This is true of nearly all creatures that God has made, birds and fish and crawling things and other animals: they need to have the sun, they need to have the moon, because they are guided by the sun and the moon for their movements, for their breeding, and all of this!

God created first the food for them, then He created the definition of time for them, then He created them so that they would be able to function.

• they know this is true even of the great fish, even of whales
• they know this is true of migrating birds.

So, He did it on day four!

Now then, let's add in the latest problem, which is not a latest one, but a latest version of it, where they say this, as I mentioned: the way you determine the Sabbath is not by the seven days of the week! You determine it from the new moon.

When you see the new moon, now you see the problem that you have with it, because it's not the same everywhere on the earth.

When you see the new moon, then you count seven days, and that is the Sabbath. They don't tell you what to do when it comes in at 29 days and you see the new moon, and yet, there are 30 days in a month. That's that dark day!  You don't count it. That could be as much as two days that are not counted. So, what happens is this?

One month the Sabbath would be on the seventh day; you'd get that correct. The next month, there's a whole dark day that you don't count. Then the Sabbath becomes Sunday. The next month, there are two dark days from old moon to new moon; you don't count those two days. So, in two months, you move the Sabbath from the seventh day to Tuesday or Wednesday.

That is the error of it, and yet, people believe it. Now, right here in Gen. 1, that disproves that theory. Why? Because we have seven consecutive days!

Since He set the sun, moon and stars on the fourth day, and they count that as day one; they are off by three or four days depending on when they see the new moon.

But the first chapter of Genesis and the second chapter shows consecutive days. Nowhere, nowhere in the Bible are we commanded to observe the new moon and then count seven days to the Sabbath. Nowhere!

It doesn't matter what kind of evidence they try and put forth that is not so! We find it here, day five He made all of these animals.

Day six He created man and woman. So let's read it here:

Verse 26: "And God said, 'Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree upon which is the fruit of a tree bearing seed—to you they shall be for food. And to every animal of the earth and to every fowl of heaven and to all the living creatures that crawl upon the earth'" (vs 29-30). God was very generous!

Did He hold back anything? He didn't hold back anything that was good! But:

• look at what men are able to do
• look at the things that we have
  • the devices
  • the inventions
  • even this message going out on live streaming

That is all invented by men with their dominion over the things that God has made and created! God also says in Deut. 32 that we 'suck oil out of the rock.' He expects us to use:

• our minds
• our abilities

What He has created He has given us jurisdiction over it all! But we must have the right relationship with God.

Verse 29: "And God said, 'Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree upon which is the fruit of a tree bearing seed—to you they shall be for food. And to every animal of the earth and to every fowl of heaven and to all the living creatures that crawl upon the earth, every green plant is given for food.' And it was so" (vs 29-30).

Isn't that true to today? Even down to today, yes!

Verse 31: "And God saw everything that He had made, and indeed, it was exceedingly good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

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 from all His work, which He had made" (vs 1-2).

When does a day begin? At sunset! That's what we're told in:

Leviticus 23:32: "It shall be to you a Sabbath of rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. In the ninth day of the month at sunset, from sunset to sunset, you shall keep your Sabbath."

That means every other day as well, not to observe as a Sabbath, but the way God calculates time.

Genesis 2:3: "And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because on it He rested… ['katapausin'; tie in Heb. 4] …from all His work, which God had created and made.

Did God bless and sanctify any other day of the week as a weekly day of religious observance? No!

All down through history, in spite of the calendars of men, the calendar of God has stood, and every seventh day is the weekly Sabbath. And there is no space.

Now if you take the lunar Sabbath calendar, you would start with day four as day one. Then you would be three days off.

So, the seventh day is the day that God made from the beginning! How do we know that it is accurate and that we have the right calendar today?

We've got this booklet: Which is the True Calendar of God? This one you need to have, you need to read, you need to understand.

So, let's just do a little review of it. It's about the time of Noah's Flood. Let's look at it this way:

• IF the Calculated Hebrew Calendar is correct
• IF that is the one that God has given us from the beginning
• THEN we ought to be able to take the calculations and go backward in time and everything remain true

We have that online, the year of the Flood was 2,369B.C. Let's look at it here.

Let's come to Gen. 7—Noah made the ark, sent the animals. They all came, clean and unclean and everything, and they entered into the ark. Of course, you couldn't possibly put enough food in there to feed all of those animals. So, what happened undoubtedly the majority of everything went into a hibernation state.

Genesis 7:9: "Two by two they went unto Noah into the ark, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood came upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on this day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up…" (vs 9-11).

Now they know there's more water under the earth than there is on the face of the earth with the oceans.

"…and the windows of the heavens were opened. And the rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. On this same day, Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, entered into the ark. They went in, and every animal after its kind, and all the livestock after their kind, and every crawling thing that crawls upon the earth after its kind, and every fowl after its kind, every bird of every sort. And they went to Noah into the ark, two by two of all flesh in which is the breath of life. And they that entered went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in" (vs 11-16).

Verse 17: "And the flood was upon the earth forty days, and the waters increased and bore up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth."

Now, it says the seventeenth day of the second month (v 11). They actually entered the ark on the tenth day (v 10). So, they were in the ark a full seven days before the Flood started.

In this booklet is the true calendar of God that I laid out by the Calculated Hebrew Calendar day-by-day, every day of the Flood. I took each month from the 2nd month on the 10th day until they got out of the ark in the 27th day of the 2nd month of the next year.

You will see that as you go down in time. Nowhere is there any allowance of figuring the Sabbath from the starting of when the new moon appears and counting seven days. Nowhere!

This also enters into the counting of Pentecost. Counting of Pentecost becomes very important and it figures in the New Testament very importantly.

So, let's come to Lev. 23 and we will look at counting Pentecost because this becomes very important. If you don't count it correctly, you are going to miss it.

Now, suffice to say that for 40 years the Worldwide Church of God kept Pentecost on a Monday, second day of the week, because in reading the King James it says, 'And from the day after the Sabbath.' Herbert Armstrong interpreted that to mean beginning with the next day. So, that moved it up to a Monday.

It took an awful lot of pressure from many ministers to get him to finally believe that counting Pentecost the correct way was necessary. I was there in Pasadena when that occurred. However he never understood Pentecost.

Why? Because when it was brought out the Truth of Pentecost, did he repent and say, 'Brethren, I'm sorry that we were doing it wrong for 40 years'? No! I heard him from his own mouth say, 'Nevertheless, even though it was the wrong day, God bound it.'

Does God bind something because a man says so? No! You take that same philosophy for Sunday. If the pope declares it, God is bound. Not so!

So, we need to count Pentecost the right way and then we'll look at some New Testament Scriptures, which helps us to understand it, as well.

In Lev. 23, actually the command for Pentecost is the longest command of all of the Holy Days.

Let's look at it this way. We'll just have a little quick brief overview:

You have Passover and seven Holy Days; that's a total of eight.

• Passover
• First day of Unleavened Bread
• Last day of Unleavened Bread
• Pentecost

What is Pentecost? Pentecost is the harvest of the firstfruits and pictures the resurrection! And that's the 4th Feast. Then in the fall you have:

• Trumpets
• Atonement
• Tabernacles
• The Last Great Day

That's four, which is a total of eight!

• the first 4th one is the first resurrection
• that last 4th one—The Last Great Day—the second resurrection

That's just a little looking forward to what's going to happen, but let's focus in on Pentecost.

We also have a large chart that we send out on how to count Pentecost day-by-day, Sabbath-by-Sabbath. If you follow the instructions correctly, you come to the right day.

Now then, let's read it concerning Pentecost; Leviticus 23:9: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, "When you have come into the land, which I give to you…"'" (vs 9-10).

They did not observe this until, first thing he's talking about here is the Wave Sheaf Offering. They didn't have that until they got into the land.

"…When you have come into the land, which I give to you and shall reap the harvest of it…" (v 10).

Now, there's an error by one of the Churches of God, the Church of the Great God.

They say that they could not use any of the grain from their entrance into the land, because it was planted by Gentiles and was unclean. That's not so! It may have been planted by Gentiles, but it wasn't unclean. What happens to the grain when it goes into the ground and sprouts? The whole kernel that went into the ground is completely consumed to add growth to the stem to create new wheat.

It didn't say that you shall reap the harvest of it after you have planted it, because they came in the spring of the year and the crop was already there. Did they own it? Yes, God gave it to them! So, there's another error.

"…shall reap the harvest of it, then you shall bring the premier sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest" (v 10).

Now you go to Jos. 5, you find that the Passover was on a Sabbath and the Wave Sheaf Offering Day was on the first Holy Day of Unleavened Bread. They ate of the old grain from which they had captive from conquering the land and the new grain that they just inherited beginning on that Wave Sheaf Offering Day in Jos. 5.

The premiere sheaf, 'bring it to the priest'; this is called the Wave Sheaf Offering Day.

Verse 11: "And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD to be accepted for you. On the next day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it."

The only problem that comes up is that there are occasions when the Passover is on a weekly Sabbath. When you come to the New Testament, and we'll cover it a little bit later, the Passover Day is also counted as a day of unleavenedness. After the weekly Sabbath!

Now, this is a prophecy of Christ and His resurrection and being accepted. We'll explain that a little later. Then it says you shall bring the offering. You'll have the grain offering (v 13).

Then He says you don't eat bread or anything until this happens.

Verse 15—here's the key, listen carefully: "And you shall count to you beginning with the next day after the Sabbath…"

What is the next day after the seventh-day Sabbath? That's the first day! Now, it becomes important because it tells us how to count. No missing days. If you had a lunar Sabbath, you would have one or two missing days. So, this also disproves the lunar Sabbath theory as nonsense!

The day after the Sabbath, "…beginning with the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete" (v 15).

That's seven in a row! What is seven times seven? Forty-nine!

Verse 16: "Even unto the day after the seventh Sabbath you shall number fifty days…."

In the Greek New Testament, fifty is 'pente'—five; 'kostos'—ten. That means five tens, you shall number 50 days. So, there are Sabbaths.

When you come to Deut. 16 and we will see something also that's important.

Deuteronomy 16: "You shall count seven weeks to yourselves…."

So, we find this, that Sabbath can also mean a complete week, because they were to count 49 days plus 1 day.

"…Begin to count the seven weeks from the time you first began to put the sickle to the grain. And you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God according to the sufficiency of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give according as the LORD your God has blessed you" (vs 9-10).

So, when we come to the New Testament, that's important. because when it talks concerning weeks and the first day of the weeks, we know what it's talking about. Then it gives all the other instruction, and then what they were to do were to make loaves with leaven. We'll explain that when we get to it.

That means those loaves were waived by all the people, at the temple, to God. All of those loaves picture the first resurrection of the saints! We'll explain that as we get down toward Pentecost.

We know this, Jesus kept the Passover on the 4th day of the week. Keep the numbers in mind: #4—that's a middle point of 7, 3 in front and three on the other side.

He kept the Passover there. Then He was put into the tomb right at sunset. But He died at about 3 p.m., and from 3 p.m. to sunset, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea came and wrapped His body in the linen. Not a shroud like the Catholics have, was never a shroud! That's another big fraud!

Please remember this, anything that comes out of the Catholic Church, unless it is absolutely true according to Scripture, is a tradition of men and lies.

You will not find any other translation other than the Faithful Version, which has these places in Matthew, Mark, and Luke correct.

What did it say in Leviticus 23? You shall count seven Sabbaths, and the day after the first Sabbath, you're to have the Wave Sheaf Offering.

Mark 16:1: "Now, when the Sabbath had passed…"—that's the weekly Sabbath!

Remember, Jesus was put into the tomb right at sunset, so you have Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night—that's three nights!

Then you have Thursday day, Friday day, Sabbath day—that's three days—3 days and 3 nights! He would be raised the third day, and He was still in the tomb. But He had to stay in the tomb three days and three nights, because He gave that as the  only sign that He was the Messiah!

Now then, when Jesus was put into the tomb, the next day the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Pilate and said:

Look, you need to place a guard around it, and you need to seal the tomb, lest the disciples come and steal the body and say He's risen from the dead.

So, Pilate sealed the tomb!

What does it mean to seal the tomb? Well, the grave was carved out of stone, and it was a large room, and they had another round stone sitting to one side that had an angle. They had a stop that held back the round stone until after the body was put into the tomb, and then they took out the stopper and rolled the stone over the entrance of the tomb.

That's what Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus did. It was sundown right at that point. So, He was in there exactly three days and three nights!

Now sealing the tomb. Most people don't even think about that.

• How did they seal it?
• What did they seal it with?

Well, today we get sealant, we run down to the hardware store, and we get some caulk, and we get a caulking gun, and we put it in there, and we squeeze that out, and we seal something with it.

Well, most people don't remember this, but the Romans were the inventors of concrete, and their concrete is the best in the world. Many of the things that the Romans made centuries and centuries ago still stand, and the concrete is still there, not deteriorated.

So, when they sealed the tomb, Pilate probably had them take some of that first class concrete and had them mix it up and seal it. No one could move the stone, because after three days and three nights, it would be firmly set and no one could move it.

When they came in the morning, the women were wondering who was going to remove the stone for us. Well, God did!

He sent an earthquake and boom, broke the seal, and then an angel had to open it up so they could look inside and see there was nothing in there except what He was wrapped in, and the napkin He had on His face folded up and put in another place.

Now for all of you women who hate folding clothes, wouldn't you like it if clothes could fold themselves? You wouldn't have to fold them after in the laundry.

What does that folded cloth tell you? John saw it and believed it! That tells you Jesus had risen from the dead and the first thing He did was remove that cloth from his head, fold it up and put into another location.

That tells you that He came right out of the cloth, the linen wrappings that He was in and probably the body form of those linen wrappings was still there, but He walked over and put the linen cloth in another place.

What does that prove? That proves He rose from the dead and was alive!

Mark 16:1: "Now, when the Sabbath had passed… [that's the weekly Sabbath] … Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James; and Salome bought aromatic oils, so that they might come and anoint Him. And very early on the first day of the weeks…"  (vs 1-2).

Now you read at the bottom here what the Greek is:

*This literal translation of the Greek words  "mia ton sabbaton," or "ton sabbaton" shows that the day which followed the weekly Sabbath was the first day of the seven-week count to Pentecost, thus identifying this day as the Wave Sheaf Day (Lev. 23:10-11, 15-16). The ascension of Jesus Christ on that day fulfilled the offering of the wave sheaf for all time. This clearly shows that Jesus was in fact resurrected after being in the grave three days and three nights. He was not resurrected on the first day of the week, Sunday, but at the end of the seventh day Sabbath.

Now 'ton sabbaton' is translated 'the weeks,' the first day of the weeks.

• Where does that go back to? Lev. 23 and Deut. 16. The first day of the weeks is The Wave Sheaf Offering Day!
• What day did Jesus ascend to heaven and come back? The Wave Sheaf Offering Day!
• Why? Because He was the First of the firstfruits! The First from among the dead!

Verse 2: "And very early on the first day of the weeks… [there it is, 'ton sabbaton,' and that's 'mia ton sabbaton,' first day of the weeks, plural.

"…at the rising of the sun, they were coming to the tomb; and they were asking themselves, 'Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?' For it was a massive stone. But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away. And after entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right, clothed in a white robe; and they were very frightened. But he said to them, 'Do not be afraid. You are seeking Jesus the Nazarene, Who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here. Look, there is the place where they laid Him'" (vs 2-6). Wave Sheaf Offering Day.

• Are there any missing days in counting the 50?
• Do you go like 10 days and then two days you don't count? No!

It is one week ending in a Sabbath. Another week ending in a Sabbath, week two. Then week three, four, five, six, and seven. Then you have the 50th day. The day after the 7th Sabbath.

Show me on any calendar when the day after the Sabbath is on a Monday. Not there! Can't be!

It is the first day of the week. Now even the best lexicon, Art and Gingrich and Bauer, say that the phrase 'ton sabbaton' is Sunday. That's not the correct answer, but they are not entirely wrong.

What are they bound to? They're bound to the teachings and traditions of men!

This is what you have to be careful with, with some of these 'experts.' They just don't know.

But in the Faithful Version, we have it that way all the way through. Where it is, 'ton sabbaton,' the first day of the week or Pentecost.

Luke 4:16: "And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and according to His custom, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath Day…"

Now I left it at that, but put the footnote in if you read it at the bottom of the page. Now I don't know for all of you who are using your cell phones where that footnote is, but that footnote is, and I'll read it.

*The words "on the Sabbath day" are translated from the Greek words A literal translation would be, "Now on the day of the sabbaths"; or, "Now on the day of the weeks." The use of the Greek meaning "Sabbaths" or "weeks," indicates that this verse is referring to the day of Pentecost.

Which day is that? That's Pentecost! So, Jesus went into the synagogue on the day of Pentecost. And notice what He told them here.

Because this day is observed after counting a period of seven full weeks, it was known in New Testament times as "the day of the weeks." The day of Pentecost does not fall on the weekly Sabbath but is an annual Sabbath.

Verse 17: "And there was given Him the book of the prophet Isaiah; and when He had unrolled the scroll, He found the place where it was written, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me…'" (vs 17-18).

• How was He raised from the dead? By the Spirit of God!
• What was He doing? He was preaching the Gospel!
• What was he preaching to them on that Pentecost? That Pentecost, and four Pentecosts later, we have Acts 2 and receiving of the Holy Spirit!

Verse 18: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me for this reason, He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal those who are brokenhearted, to proclaim pardon to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth in deliverance those who have been crushed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord" (vs 18-19).

That's quite a thing, isn't it? Now, you tie that all together with everything that needs to be with Pentecost, and this will give you a greater understanding. We'll tackle a little bit later some of the other places where 'ton sabbaton' is used, and we will see how it is used, and the setting it is used, and so forth.

I hope this helps you understand this. There is no such thing as first watching for the new moon, and then counting seven days, and that day is the seventh, because that could mean that that day would fall on any day of the week, rotating over a period of time.

The Calculated Hebrew Calendar—and there is much more I could talk about with that—is accurate to this day, and going back 2,369 years previous, which is about 5,000 years ago, it is still accurate.

That verifies what we find in Gen. 1:14-16, about the sun, the moon, and the stars. God set them for the appointed seasons, not for the weekly Sabbath! He set the week for the weekly Sabbath, the seventh day, and nowhere does it say you are to look for a new moon, and then count seven days, and you come to the Sabbath.

But we're being assaulted by so many false doctrines out there, it's incredible.

This is why we need to really stay with the Word of God. The ideas of men, the teachings of men, have no standing with God. None of us can tell God what to do and that He must accept it.

God never accepted a Monday Pentecost, and God never bound it. To this day, some of the other Churches of God, the split offs from worldwide, do not understand that Pentecost pictures the first resurrection.

Scriptural References:

• Genesis 1:14-18, 26, 29-31
• Genesis 2:1-2
• Leviticus 23:32
• Genesis 2:3
• Genesis 7:9-17
• Leviticus 23:9-11, 15-16
• Deuteronomy 16:9-10
• Mark 16:1-6
• Luke 4:16-19

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Deuteronomy 32
• Hebrews 4
• Joshua 5
• Leviticus 23:13
• Acts 2

Also referenced: Booklet: Which is the True Calendar of God? by Fred R. Coulter

FRC:bo/po
Transcribed: 1/31/24

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