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The Everlasting Gospel
Appendix A
(from page 8)
The yearly holy days
(The seven ritual sabbaths.)
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(Begin quote)Leviticus 23:
1
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, Concerning the [ceremonial] feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My feasts.3
Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest,the LORD then goes on the describe the temporary yearly sabbaths, or ceremonial days,
which were to be observed like the weekly one.]
4
These are the feasts [public gatherings] of the LORD, even holy convocations [rest days], which you shall proclaim in their seasons.5
In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's Passover [lasting one day, a working day].***************
(End quote)As explained before, this Feast marks the beginning of the re-born Christian.
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(Begin quote) [The Feast of Unleavened Bread, lasting seven days.]Leviticus 23:
6
And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD: seven days you must eat unleavened bread. 7 In the first day you shall have a holy convocation [a holy day]: you shall do no servile [ordinary] work therein. 8 But you shall offer an [extra] offering made by fire***************
(End quote)The day AFTER the Passover Feast was the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the first of the ceremonial sabbaths or rest days, which explains why sometimes the Passover is described as an eight day feast. However, they were actually two different ceremonials explaining two very different experiences in the Christian system. Passover showed the exchange of lives, while Unleavened Bread shows what God expects of the new-born. Leaven, or yeast, is used to represent both sin and righteousness in the Bible because of its effect – it expands to fit its host. The searching out and removing leaven (yeast) at the beginning of the feast indicates that it was being used as a picture of the fact that God wants us to search our lives for actions that are damaging to our new-born nature. That "week" is the time we should spend asking Him to reveal to us the defects and bad habits that we have brought over into the new life. We should have a "complete" time (7 days) with Him and His "rest", ending up with another high day. Back to page.
In between, a special ceremony celebrated the resurrection of Christ. He died on the Passover day (that particular year it was celebrated on a Friday, but it could have been any day of the week, for it depended on there being a full moon when the harvest was ready at Jerusalem). He rose from the grave on Sunday the second day of Unleavened Bread and the third from Passover, having spent the intervening day, the weekly Sabbath, resting. In the ritual, that third day required a special offering of a "wave" sheaf of barley.
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(Begin quote)9
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you be come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your [barley] harvest to the priest [you can then begin the first harvest of the year]: 11 and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the [first ceremonial] sabbath the priest shall wave it.***************
(End quote)[A "wave" offering is lifted above the priest’s head so that the people around him may easily see it, and then waved from side to side to attract their attention.]
This was one of the texts that showed Christ that He would rise again on the third day. "For He taught His disciples, and said to them, ‘The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him; and after that He is killed, He shall rise the third day.’ But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask Him". Mark 9:31-32.
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(Begin quote)Leviticus 23:
12
And you shall offer that day when you wave the sheaf a he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering to the LORD [besides the normal burnt offering of the day]. 13 And the meat [flour] offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire to the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin.14
And you shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn [stored food], nor green ears [the new year’s crop], until the selfsame day that you have brought an offering to your God [a fast from the pass over lamb on Thursday evening until about Sunday midday]: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. See note 9, page 29.***************
(End quote)During the period from Unleavened Bread in March/April
through to Pentecost, about two months later (May/June), the other harvests of
the year would be coming to fruition. These exemplify the successes the Spirit
of God would have through us in reaching other people with the good news of the
gospel and freedom from the slavery of sin. But the Day of Pentecost marks a
time when the Spirit of God will be able to increase our usefulness and the
harvest by a special gift. In the case of the believers after the crucifixion it
was the ability to speak other languages fluently as they were needed.
In the endtime events it will be "a loud cry" warning that the second coming is
very close.
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(Begin quote)[The Day of Pentecost Feast, a one day period.]
Leviticus 23:
15
And you shall count to you from the morrow after the [first ceremonial] sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven [weekly] Sabbaths shall be complete: 16 even to the morrow after the seventh Sabbath [Sunday] shall you number fifty days [to the Day of Pentecost]; and you shall offer a new meat [flour] offering to the LORD. [This ceremony ALWAYS occurred on Sunday, the working first day of the week.]17
You shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals [waved to get attention]: they shall be of fine flour [well worked]; they shall be baked with leaven [to represent the convert’s unknown sins]; they are the firstfruits to the LORD [of the main harvest]. 18 And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering to the LORD [a heavy dedication], with their meat [flour] offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour to the LORD. [But the wave loaves were the important offering.]19
Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings [besides the usual ones]. 20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. 21 And you shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be a holy convocation to you: you shall do no servile [common] work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. [All this represents a special ingathering of converts.][Right at this point, God reiterates the principle of sharing
which will be greatly needed in those days.]
22
And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not make clean riddance of the corners of your field when you reap, neither shall you gather any gleaning of your harvest: you shall leave them to the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.***************
(End quote)As the "harvests" came in after Pentecost, there was a danger of missing a very important message. To guard against this, the LORD instituted a sabbath rest day which began with the blowing of trumpets in a certain tone. It was important to make a loud noise for the LORD, warning of a special event coming in a few days. Then He caused these trumpets to be blown every day for the next nine days to draw attention to the fact that BEFORE the second advent there would be a judgment.
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(Begin quote)[The Feast of Trumpets, one day.]
Leviticus 23:
23
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24 Speak to the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month [after about four months of harvests], in the first day of the month, shall you have a sabbath, a memorial of Blowing of Trumpets,***************
(End quote)There was no excuse for any one to be asleep! But it is written, "While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept". Matthew 25:5. So it appears that the Day of Judgment will take some by surprise, even though they know about it.
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(Begin quote)[The Day of Atonement.]
Leviticus 23:
26
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a Day of Atonement [judgment]. It shall be a holy convocation to you [a sabbath rest day]; and you shall afflict your souls [search your lives], and offer an offering made by fire to the LORD [a special case of dedication]. 28 And you shall do no work in that same day: for it is a Day of Atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God. 29 For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.[It was (and will be) a time to review our lives
and decide whether we are ready to meet our GOD.]
30
And whatsoever soul it be that does any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. 31 You shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 32 It shall be to you a sabbath of rest, and you shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even ["even" is before the sun sets for the commencement of the tenth day], from even to even, shall you celebrate your sabbath.***************
(End quote)Five days after the great judgment day came the final gathering of the ceremonial year. All the harvests were in and it was time to rest. It pictures the time after the second coming which is to be spent in heaven, and then in the new world.
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(Begin quote)[An eight day Feast.]
Leviticus 23:
33
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 34 Speak to the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles [living in leafy tents] for seven days to the LORD. 35 On the first day shall be a holy convocation: you shall do no servile work therein. 36 Seven days you shall offer a [burnt] offering made by fire to the LORD: on the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and you shall do no servile work therein.***************
(End quote)This is the only feast that spans eight days. That number in the Bible signifies a new beginning, just as the eighth note in the octave is the first one repeated in a higher scale. The people of God were asked to cut down branches and make temporary tents out of them to show that when Christ returns and takes His people to heaven, it will only be a temporary stay, for heaven is not our home, this earth made new is.
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle
[house] of God is with men, and He will dwell with them [on earth], and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God … And He that sat upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new". And He said to me, "Write: for these words are true and faithful". Revelation 21:1-5.***************
(Begin quote)Leviticus 23:
37
These are the feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat [flour] offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: 38 beside the [weekly] Sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which you give to the LORD.39
Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land [the last of the harvests for the year], you shall keep a feast to the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a [ceremonial] sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a [ceremonial] sabbath. 40 And you shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook [and make them into dwelling places]; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days [living in them].41
And you shall keep it a feast to the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: 43 that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. 44 And Moses declared to the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.***************
(End quote)oooOooo
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