Kingdom of God

Do You Believe the True Gospel?

4uwzvo — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 18:55:48 +0000

Do You Believe the True Gospel? 4uwzvo Mon, 02/28/2022 - 18:55

Do You Believe the True Gospel?

Roderick C. Meredith (1930-2017)

Booklet Media

#Apostles

#Bible

#Christianity

#God

#Jesus Christ

#Kingdom of God

#Law of God

#Prophecy

What did Jesus really preach? Do you know? Do not be too sure! Just what did Jesus mean by “the Kingdom of God”? Here is the exciting Good News: there is a new world coming!

CHAPTER 1

A MESSAGE ABOUT THE MESSENGER?

Your eternity depends on your willingness to understand and believe the true Gospel! Yet the Apostle Paul warned the Christians of his day that “if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!” (2 Corinthians 11:4).

Frankly, millions of sincere men and women have put up with a false gospel. They have been deceived all right—far too easily deceived. Why? Because too many have failed to obey God’s command to “Prove all things” (1 Thessalonians 5:21, King James Version). Jesus Christ said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Have you believed the same Gospel Jesus preached? You need to be sure! There are many, many “gospels” being preached in the world today!

Have you ever heard something like this?

Just give your heart to the Lord. Jesus was born in the manger as the Christ, the Son of God, to save as many souls in this age as would accept Him into their hearts. When He grew up, He went around performing miracles and forgiving people. He kept God’s harsh law for all of us before finally being nailed to the cross along with that old law. He rose from the dead on the third day and appeared to many witnesses. Then He returned to heaven and began to set up His Kingdom in the hearts of men. He’ll forgive your sins and come into your heart—just as you are—if you’ll only accept Him. Jesus saves! Just believe on Him, and you’ll be saved—born again. And, when you die, you’ll go to be with Him in heaven—forever!

But is that really the Gospel Jesus taught? If you have accepted, without question, the almost unanimous voice of mainstream Christianity in this regard, you probably think that it is. Yet consider something Mark Twain wrote:

In religion and politics people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing (Autobiography of Mark Twain).

Do you really know what constitutes the genuine Gospel that Jesus and His Apostles preached? Or have you made a careless assumption, following the crowd as Mark Twain noted, taking your beliefs from second-hand suppositions?

Probably you were taught the mainstream understanding of “the Gospel” while growing up. Or maybe you learned it from the barrage of religious publications and broadcasts that exist in our modern world. In any case, you have, more than likely, not seen the need to question your beliefs. After all, most professing Christian authorities are in agreement here. Surely, they must be right. Or are they?

In His famous Olivet Prophecy, Jesus Christ warned, “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matthew 24:4–5, KJV). Many assume that Christ was talking about individuals who would claim to actually be Christ themselves. However, there have not been “many” such people over the centuries who have been taken seriously, much less who have deceived the “many.” Another interpretation some have offered is that Jesus was referring to false “Savior” figures like Hitler and Mussolini. But this is really taking liberties with the text. Remember, Christ said that “many shall come in My name….”

Here is a clearer rendering of what Jesus meant: “Take care that no one leads you astray. Indeed, many will appear, making use of My name, saying that I am Christ, yet deceiving many.”

What an astounding warning! Christ was foretelling that many false preachers would talk about Him and that they would proclaim that He is the Christ, the expected Messiah. Yet even after acknowledging Jesus’ Messiahship, the deceivers are prophesied to seduce the unwary from a correct understanding of Jesus’ genuine Gospel! How about you? Might they have deceived you, too? Do not make careless assumptions! Find out—prove—what is true. Then you will really know and nobody will be able to fool you!

FALSE ASSUMPTIONS AND FALSE HOPES

Jesus said this about certain false religious teachers of His day: “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:8–9). Jesus is plainly saying that one can worship Him to no purpose, uselessly—if the doctrines on which that worship is based have their source in men’s erroneous ideas about how to interpret Scripture, rather than on the plain, intended teaching of the word of God!

What, then, is the actual Gospel that Jesus preached? Did He simply tell people to believe in Him—or was it far more than that? This is a vital question, for if you believe a lie rather than the truth, you will eventually find yourself holding a bag of false hopes and unfulfilled expectations!

In Luke 13, Christ explained the plight of those holding false hopes:

When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, "Lord, Lord, open for us," and He will answer and say to you, "I do not know you, where you are from," then you will begin to say, "We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets." But He will say, "I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity." There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out (vv. 25–28).

Does it really make a difference to God whether or not we adhere strictly to the exact same Gospel that Christ and His Apostles preached? On the authority of Jesus Christ, I say it makes a great deal of difference!

After Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, He appeared to His Apostles and commissioned them to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:15–16).

Christ later inspired the Apostle Paul to pronounce a double curse on anyone who would dare preach a different gospel.

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8–9).

The Apostle Paul took great pains to warn the Corinthian Christians about false ministers who would come preaching “another Jesus” and proclaiming a “different gospel” (2 Corinthians 11:4). This is why I say—as a minister of Jesus Christ—that it is critically important for you and your salvation to recognize the true Jesus Christ of the Bible and to prove for yourself what is the genuine Gospel that He preached! And Jesus Himself made that clear!

It can easily be shown from the Bible that the Gospel does not revolve solely around the personality of Jesus, the Son of God. Of course, Jesus is our Messiah who shed His blood so that our sins might be forgiven. We need to deeply appreciate and proclaim this truth. But that in itself does not constitute the complete Gospel.

Certainly, we need the understanding of Christ’s sacrifice. The Bible says, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Consequently, the name of Jesus Christ is absolutely vital. Yet it is absolutely false to say of Jesus, as many now do, “He is the Gospel. He is the Kingdom of God.” There is much more to the true Gospel message preached by Jesus Christ.

GOSPEL “OF” CHRIST OR “ABOUT” CHRIST?

At the end of the Old Testament, God inspired the following prophecy: “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight” (Malachi 3:1). According to Mark 1:2–4, the first messenger mentioned here refers to John the Baptist, who prepared the way before Christ’s First Coming. Christ is referred to next as “the Lord… even the Messenger of the covenant….” So Jesus Christ was sent as a “Messenger.” A messenger bears a message from someone else—and so Jesus did, as He made plain by stating that “the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me” (John 14:24).

God the Father sent Christ to announce a message from Him. What kind of message was it? The word “gospel” originates from the Old English word godspell, meaning “good news” or “announcement of glad tidings.” The New Testament translators used “gospel” for the Greek noun euaggelion. The English word “evangelism”—preaching the Gospel—is derived from it. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John have come to be known as “the four gospels” because they relate four separate accounts of Christ delivering His announcement of Good News!

What was this Good News all about? Let Scripture answer! Open your Bible and turn to Mark 1:14–15. Read what God inspired Mark to write: “Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.’” This is the Gospel. There is only one—and it is about the Kingdom of God.

Some will attempt to deny the prominence of the Kingdom of God in the Gospel by pointing out that Mark 1:1 mentions the “gospel of Jesus Christ.” It is also referred to as the “gospel of God” because it was a message from God. But the New Testament overwhelmingly calls it “the gospel of the kingdom of God.” That is what the Gospel is about! Look at what one scholarly work attests:

There is clear agreement among the synoptic Gospels [Matthew, Mark, and Luke] that the kingdom of God was the principal theme within Jesus’ message…. In aggregate, they present some fifty sayings and parables of Jesus concerning the kingdom…. It is, then, a matter of consensus within the canon that the kingdom constituted a primary focus of Jesus’ theology (The Oxford Companion to the Bible, 1993, p. 408, emphasis added).

Do not blindly believe this booklet—or any commentary or Bible study aid. Believe your Bible—believe God! People have gone off track spiritually by relying solely on men. Scripture commands you to “Test all things” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Check up on this and examine it for yourself. Suspend your prior opinions and just read what God says. It will soon be clear in your mind that the Gospel of Christ is His message from the Father about the Kingdom of God. Jesus affirmed this after teaching in the city of Capernaum by saying, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent” (Luke 4:43). Matthew 9:35 testifies that this is exactly what He did: “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom….”

According to Jesus, what should life’s primary focus be? “… seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). In what has come to be known as the “Lord’s Prayer,” Jesus said, “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come” (vv. 9–10). The Gospel that Christ brought is indeed the Good News of this coming kingdom. That is the message Jesus preached. He sent His disciples out preaching that very same message. And they did preach it—for the rest of their lives!

It was not until false teachers began to subvert the early Church that Christ’s Gospel began to be perverted. Paul, writing more than 20 years after Christ’s death, was aware of one such distortion: “… there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:7). Among a growing number of heresies, perhaps none was gaining as much momentum as the new gospel about the events of Christ’s life and of simply believing in His person to be saved. Gradually, then, the true Gospel of Christ was supplanted by a false gospel about Christ.

In the mouth of Christ and of those whom, while He was on earth, He sent forth to proclaim it… it was the good tidings of the kingdom of God… which He had come to establish…. After Christ’s death and resurrection it became the good tidings (not so much brought by, and proclaimed by, as) about Christ (James Hastings, A Dictionary of the Bible, 1899, vol. 2, p. 233, emphasis added).

WHAT ABOUT THE NAME OF JESUS?

Christ sent out His disciples “to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick…. So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere” (Luke 9:2, 6). When the Apostles returned, Christ took them to a deserted place. “But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing” (v. 11).

According to Jesus’ example and instructions, preaching the Gospel is preaching about the Kingdom of God!

Then, in verse 18 of the same chapter, when He was alone with His disciples, Christ asked, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” They answered, “John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again” (v. 19).

Matthew 16 contains a more complete passage paralleling this account: “He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven’” (vv. 15–17).

Clearly, Christ had not even told His own disciples this yet. But Jesus had already sent them out preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Notice verse 20: “Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ.” The reason He commanded this is that he did not want to be crucified prematurely. But what is absolutely certain from this verse is that the Gospel of the Kingdom of God cannot be a simple proclamation stating that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, for we have just seen in Luke 9:11 that they had already been preaching the Gospel—but obviously had not told the people that Jesus was the Christ!

Some might say, “Yes, but perhaps the Gospel preached by Christ and His Apostles was about the fact that the Messiah had to die for our sins and be resurrected, minus the actual identity of that Messiah.” To answer that, look at what happened after Peter recognized that Jesus was the Messiah, as recorded in Mark 8:

Then He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” (vv. 30–33).

It was only after Peter’s recognition of Jesus as the Christ that Jesus began to teach His disciples about His coming crucifixion and resurrection. But Peter did not receive this teaching very well at this point, so it ought to be plain as day that a proclamation of Christ crucified was not a part of the Gospel that Christ had previously sent Peter out preaching!

To further illustrate this, look at the same event as recorded in Luke 9:18–22. In verse 22, Christ instructed the Apostles that He would die and be resurrected. But, evidently much later, they still did not get it!

But while everyone marveled at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples, “Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.” But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying (vv. 43–45).

The Gospel that Jesus had sent the Apostles to preach was not centered on believing on Christ’s person or receiving forgiveness of sins through His sacrifice. Just talking about Christ is not the Gospel! Yes, Jesus Christ is the most important Person ever to have walked the earth. He was, indeed, God in the flesh, the Son of God, who came as the Christ to give His life to atone for the sins of mankind. And He has been resurrected to be the Savior of the world. All of this is true. And—although it is extremely necessary—none of this is the sole focus of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

It was only after Jesus was resurrected that He added this element to the message the Apostles were to preach:

And He [the risen Jesus] opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:45–48).

The name of Jesus Christ—that is, His true name—comprises who He is, what He has done for us, and everything He has taught, commanded and stood for. This essential information was added—to be taught alongside the Gospel of the Kingdom of God—after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Is this an assumption? Not at all! Look at the preserved biblical account of the preaching of the early evangelists and Apostles, years after Christ’s death.

Notice what Philip preached in Samaria. “But when they believed Philip as he preached [first] the things concerning the kingdom of God and [second] the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized” (Acts 8:12).

The true Church is to preach both elements: first the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, and, second, the true name of Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER 2

WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD?

We have seen that the true Gospel preached by Christ and His Apostles was about the Kingdom of God. Exactly what is that kingdom? There have been many ideas. The Jews of Christ’s day thought that a Messiah figure would lead their physical nation to militarily subdue other governments until they reigned supreme over all men. Later, the concept emerged that the Church made up the Kingdom. Others have believed that the Kingdom of God is an ethereal realm set up in the hearts of men. Others see it called “the kingdom of heaven” in Matthew’s gospel account and conclude that it must refer to eternal bliss in heaven. Some also maintain that the Kingdom is the person of Jesus Himself.

The “Kingdom of God/Heaven” is a subject of major importance in the Bible for two primary reasons: its frequency in the first three canonical (synoptic) gospels of the NT, and the conviction that it stands at the very center of the message of the historical Jesus. Its meaning, which is derived from a world of oriental monarchs and monarchies that is very different from modern Western democracies, has been interpreted in various ways. Historically it has been associated with the future state of the resurrected, immortal blessed; the Church; monastic contemplation; mystical ecstasy; pious religious experience; the progressively redeemed society inspired by love; the future transformation of this world; apocalyptic hope for the next world; and an open-ended symbol possible of many interpretations (“Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven,” Dictionary, 1992, emphasis added).

Scripture scholar George E. Ladd described how one particular theologian “reduced the Kingdom of God to the subjective realm and understood it in terms of the human spirit and its relationship to God. The Kingdom of God is an inward power which enters into the human soul and lays hold of it. It consists of a few basic religious truths of universal application.” A more recent interpretation, Ladd mentions, “conceives of the Kingdom as the absolute, the ‘wholly other’ which has entered into time and space in the person of Jesus of Nazareth” (The Gospel of the Kingdom).

He continues, “At the other extreme are those who, like Albert Schweitzer, define Jesus’ message of the Kingdom as an apocalyptic realm to be inaugurated by a supernatural act of God when history will be broken off and a new heavenly order of existence begun. The Kingdom of God in no sense of the word is a present or spiritual reality; it is altogether future and supernatural.”

Ladd also points out the view or interpretation that “relates the Kingdom of God in one way or another to the Church.”

Since the days of Augustine, the Kingdom has been identified with the Church. As the Church grows, the Kingdom grows and is extended in the world. Many Protestant theologians have taught a modified form of this interpretation, holding that the Kingdom of God may be identified with the true Church which is embodied in the visible professing Church. As the Church takes the Gospel into all the world, it extends the Kingdom of God. An optimistic version holds that it is the mission of the Church to win the entire world to Christ and thus transform the world into the Kingdom of God.

Are any of these interpretations right? What, in the midst of all this confusion, is the truth? What is the Kingdom of God?

WHAT IS A KINGDOM?

To understand the Kingdom of God, we should begin by asking what any kingdom is. A kingdom is primarily defined as a “community or major territorial unit having a monarchical form of government headed by a king or queen” (Merriam-Webster.com).

This is also the biblical definition of a kingdom. Four things are necessary to constitute a real kingdom: 1) a king or ruling agent; 2) land or territory; 3) subjects or citizens within that territorial jurisdiction; 4) laws and a form of government. If we leave out any of these elements, we do not have a real kingdom. And if we believe in some ethereal sort of “kingdom,” we do not believe in the true Gospel!

The truth on the subject of the Kingdom is revealed in God’s word. What men think may be interesting and appealing to the intellect, but the truth is in the Holy Scripture. “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17).

The Bible reveals that Jesus’ message concerned government and governance. He was born to be humanity’s King! The prophet Isaiah wrote this of Him:

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this (Isaiah 9:6–7).

Shortly before Christ’s human conception, the archangel Gabriel told Mary, who would be His mother, “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32–33).

During Jesus’ trial, Pontius Pilate asked Him if He was a king. “Jesus answered, ‘You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice’” (John 18:37). Too many in this deceived world think of Christ as either “the little Lord Jesus, away in a manger” or as a frail weakling nailed to a cross. They do not contemplate His role as a coming, omnipotent Ruler and King.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM

What is the nature of the government that is to rest on Christ’s shoulders? Is it merely human devotion to “sweet Jesus”? Emphatically, no! God’s message and plan for mankind is consistent. The prophet Daniel was inspired nearly 600 years before Christ’s birth to write about the coming Kingdom of God.

During the Jews’ captivity in the ancient Neo-Babylonian or Chaldean Empire, Daniel served his masters in the palace of the emperor Nebuchadnezzar. This world ruler had a vivid dream, which so troubled him that he was losing sleep over it (Daniel 2:1). He just had to know its meaning! So Nebuchadnezzar ordered his court magicians, astrologers, and sorcerers to reveal to him the dream’s meaning. But this shrewd despot would not even tell his “trusted” advisors what He had dreamt! They were first required to tell him his dream—so that he could know their interpretations were trustworthy (vv. 2–9). They, of course, were unable to do so (vv. 10–11).

God, however, had given Daniel “understanding in all visions and dreams” (Daniel 1:17). When he was brought before Nebuchadnezzar (2:25), he explained, “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days” (vv. 27–28).

So God’s purpose here was to reveal to this pagan ruler that there is a real God who rules the vast universe, as well as to reveal what would happen “in the latter days.” If you want to understand the exciting, advance news of future events—the culmination of which may occur in your lifetime—open your Bible, turn to this amazing chapter in Daniel, and read it for yourself!

You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king (vv. 31–36).

Did this dream mean something? Yes, because God had inspired it! It was prophetic. However, some people think that Bible prophecy is just melodic poetry—serving no guiding, foretelling purpose. Others believe prophecy does indeed have meaning, but that we cannot possibly decipher what that meaning is—at least until after its fulfillment and often not even then. There are still others who subscribe to the idea that prophetic meaning is subject to personal interpretation.

These views reject or distort a major aspect of Christ’s message. And since more than one fourth of the Bible is prophecy, such opinions about prophecy would make a major portion of God’s word basically useless to us.

Yet God tells us that “all Scripture… is profitable” (2 Timothy 3:16) and Revelation 19:10 teaches us that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” The Apostle Peter wrote that “we have the prophetic word confirmed… knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:19–21).

We must never try to interpret the Bible by reading our ideas into it! And we must not believe the personal interpretation of other human beings. We must deeply study the Bible—comparing scripture with scripture. We must let the Bible interpret itself.

A SUCCESSION OF WORLD-RULING KINGDOMS

Daniel gave God’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, saying first, “You, O king, are a king of kings” (Daniel 2:37). Nebuchadnezzar subjugated other kingdoms under his own. He was the first to rule over a really world-dominating kingdom or empire. But it was not through his own might, “For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory” (v. 37). God was revealing His own supremacy in world events. “… you,” God told Nebuchadnezzar, “are this head of gold. But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth” (vv. 38–39).

Did you catch that? God is speaking here of literal kingdoms—a succession of world-ruling governments. This is clearly not talking about syrupy, sentimental concepts. God is making the truth plain! Nebuchadnezzar’s Chaldean Empire was represented by the head of gold. Following that would come another empire, to be succeeded by still another. If you check the history books, you will see that the Persian Empire came next, followed by Alexander the Great’s Greco-Macedonian Empire.

Yet another, represented by the two legs of iron, would immediately follow that one, “And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others” (v. 40). The Roman Empire did just that. We can see that it was divided into two “legs,” West and East, with capitals in Rome and Constantinople respectively.

If we compare this account with Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 and 17, we can understand that the Roman Empire system would have ten revivals or resurrections in later centuries. The last seven of these revivals would be controlled by a false religious authority. The last of the ten revivals equates to the feet and toes of this great image in Daniel 2. Its ten toes of “iron mixed with ceramic clay” (v. 43)—a strong but brittle mixture (v. 42)—symbolize ten contemporaneous political leaders who will give power to a charismatic, powerful ruler (Revelation 17:12–13). Together, these “kings” will make up the final resurrection of the fourth world-ruling empire. That final European superstate may rise before your very eyes! Remember that Daniel had told Nebuchadnezzar that this vision was to reveal events “in the latter days.”

Now we come to Daniel 2:44, the meaning of the stone “cut out of the mountain without hands” that smashes the image representing the succession of human world-ruling empires and then grows to fill the whole earth. This is the revelation we have been seeking! Here, in the plain words of God Almighty, is the explanation of what the kingdom of God really is: “And in the days of these kings [the last revival of the Roman Empire] the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”

No more will there be any human “king of kings” like Nebuchadnezzar! Jesus Christ will then reign over the whole earth as King of kings and Lord of lords (cf. Revelation 19:11–16). Revelation 11:15 affirms Daniel’s prophecy. At the time of Christ’s Second Coming, loud voices in heaven will proclaim, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” Thus will tomorrow’s world finally be inaugurated!

Daniel’s prophecy, when studied with the book of Revelation, should make it abundantly clear that the future Kingdom of God will be a literal government, just as were the previously mentioned world-ruling empires. As Daniel concluded, “The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure” (Daniel 2:45). This is gloriously wonderful Good News!

OTHER PROPHECIES OF TOMORROW’S WORLD

Other Old Testament prophets also clearly show that Christ’s Kingdom will be a future divine government having global, administrative authority over this earth. Has God’s Kingdom already been established? The answer is obvious from a few straightforward prophecies from Scripture about the coming Kingdom:

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:2–4; cf. Micah 4:1–3).

Micah adds this additional information: “But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken” (v. 4). Would anyone today argue that this prophecy has already been fulfilled?

A statue depicting a man beating his sword into a plowshare stands outside the United Nations’ headquarters in New York City—but a quick look at the television or newspapers will show you that the United Nations has not fulfilled this wonderful prophecy of nations not learning war anymore!

Another famous prophecy of Isaiah should help give us a reality check on the arguments of those who maintain that the Kingdom is already present:

But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people; for the Gentiles shall seek Him, and His resting place shall be glorious (Isaiah 11:4–10).

The picture of world peace—even in the realm of nature—portrayed by this prophecy has inspired many to sacrifice and labor for God’s Work. Jesus did not fulfill this prophecy of the Kingdom at His First Coming. After all, do bears graze or lions eat straw? Its fulfillment is yet future, awaiting Christ’s Second Coming. There is no confusion here.

Another prophecy about the coming Kingdom of God is found in the book of Zechariah:

It shall come to pass in that day that there will be no light; the lights will diminish. It shall be one day which is known to the Lord—neither day nor night. But at evening time it shall happen that it will be light. And in that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea; in both summer and winter it shall occur. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be; “The Lord is one,” and His name one…. And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles (14:6–9, 16).

Regrettably, many do not have faith that God Almighty means what He says and says what He means! God clearly states in these prophecies that He is going to completely transform civilization. God has repeatedly foretold His end-time rule over the nations of this earth: “He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with His truth” (Psalm 96:13). Again, for emphasis, God repeated this prophecy: “For He is coming to judge the earth. With righteousness He shall judge the world, and the peoples with equity” (Psalm 98:9).

Why do we not hear that kind of Gospel in today’s world? You probably know why. This message is extremely unpopular with most of the religious, political, and social leaders in today’s power structures. They do not want to lose their power! This was one of the reasons the chief priests and the Pharisees sought to kill Jesus (John 11:47–53). Nevertheless, there will be a real new world order established under Jesus Christ’s leadership, totally changing this world’s political and religious institutions. Will you believe what God says, or will you swallow the philosophical concoctions brewed up by disobedient, sinful men who have been deceived by Satan the Devil, the “god” of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4)?

DID CHRIST SAY THE KINGDOM IS “AT HAND”?

When Jesus began His ministry in the late 20s AD, He “began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 4:17). What did Jesus mean? Certainly, He was not implying that it was then the Millennium, when swords would be beaten into plowshares! In fact, about 40 years after Jesus made this statement, terrible massacres befell His kindred people when the Romans slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Jews during their brutal suppression of the Jewish revolt in the late 60s and early 70s AD (cf. Luke 23:28–31)! And this bloody, oppressive rule by avaricious human kingdoms would continue for centuries. How could the Kingdom of God have then been “at hand”?

Yet when Jesus was accused by His jealous adversaries of casting out demons by the power of Satan, Jesus responded that “if I cast out demons… surely the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matthew 12:27–28). How could the Kingdom of God have then come upon them?

Answer: by the presence of the King—the Son of God—who was proclaiming the Gospel of that Kingdom! The Messiah Himself stood before them!

The Bible sometimes uses the terms “king” and “kingdom” interchangeably (cf. Daniel 7:7–18, 23). By the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ exercised, while on earth, many of the functions typical of His position as the King of the Kingdom.

A striking characteristic of the Kingdom of God is miraculous, divine intervention. Jesus healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, raised the dead, and commanded the physical environment to behave as He wished! Like refreshing morning dew, the reality of the Kingdom of God settled—during Christ’s sojourn on earth—upon a physical world grappling to comprehend the spiritual reality of God Almighty.

When Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God coming upon them, He spoke of His actions and their impact. He was neither transporting His hearers into the Kingdom nor implying that His Kingdom has already been established. Jesus was simply proclaiming that the King of God’s future Kingdom had arrived! This fact alone was to have profound repercussions. The Kingdom was “at hand” because, at Jesus Christ’s First Coming, His presence and actions would have an immediate impact on some people’s lives in advance of the Kingdom’s literal establishment on earth.

DID THE KINGDOM APPEAR IMMEDIATELY IN APOSTOLIC TIMES?

Because His disciples “thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately” (Luke 19:11), Jesus gave them the famous parable of the pounds or minas:

A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, "Do business till I come." But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, "We will not have this man to reign over us." And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading (vv. 12–15).

Christ was the nobleman in this parable. He went to a “far country”—the heaven of God’s throne—to receive the Kingdom of God. Then He would return with it. This has not yet happened; Christ is still in heaven. His Second Coming is yet future. At His Second Coming He will return with the Kingdom. In the rest of the parable, Christ showed how those who zealously and diligently used their talents and abilities—represented by the minas—to serve God would be given rulership over cities! To the one whose mina had increased ten minas, Jesus said, “‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’ And the second came, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned five minas.’ Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five cities’” (vv. 17–19). Wow! Those who overcome in their Christian lives will be given authority and rulership in the Kingdom of God. How exciting to have an opportunity to serve others and teach them God’s ways!

This amazing Good News is related in numerous other scriptures. It is certainly not talking about “rolling around heaven all day.” The book of Matthew does not call God’s Kingdom the “kingdom in heaven.” It is the “kingdom of heaven”—it comes down from heaven. The Apostle Peter assures us that our inheritance (the Kingdom) is currently “reserved in heaven” for us (1 Peter 1:4)—to be brought to earth by Jesus Christ at His return, not before! Those in whom Christ resides by His Spirit are ambassadors for that Kingdom, which now waits in heaven (2 Corinthians 5:20). As Paul wrote, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). But we will not go to live there (cf. John 3:13; Acts 2:29, 34). The Kingdom will come down to us at Christ’s return.

Jesus taught His disciples that there will be a time of judgment when He will come to “sit on the throne of His glory” (Matthew 25:31). “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world’” (v. 34). This clearly speaks of a future time when the righteous will inherit the Kingdom when Christ comes in His glory. We are now heirs of the Kingdom that He will bring with Him, not yet inheritors.

The Kingdom of God is not the Church. Brethren in the Church must enter the Kingdom in the future: “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:10–11).

THE SAINTS’ RULERSHIP IN THE KINGDOM

At the end of His ministry, Jesus addressed His disciples, saying this:

The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called "benefactors." But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves. But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me (Luke 22:25–29).

The King James Version reads more clearly: “And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me” (v. 29). Jesus then provided His disciples with a view of their future rewards and responsibilities in that Kingdom to which He was appointing them: “… that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (v. 30). What is Jesus saying? He is pointing to a future time when they would judge the twelve tribes of Israel. Jesus was not referring to their immediate ministry.

If Jesus intended His disciples to understand that His Kingdom was on earth right at that moment, why did He give the following response to Pilate? “Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here’” (John 18:36).

Even after Jesus’ death and resurrection, He continued “speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). Jesus chose His words deliberately, knowing that His disciples were familiar with the prophecies of Isaiah, Daniel, and Zechariah. These prophets had clearly foretold a literal, divine government to be set up on this earth under the Messiah. The Apostles asked Jesus, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He responded, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority” (Acts 1:6–7). Jesus never contradicted their scriptural understanding that a genuine kingdom was to be set up on earth—ruling over the nations. He merely told them that it was not yet time.

In the seventh chapter of his prophecy, Daniel had foretold what would happen at the Kingdom’s inauguration:

I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man [Christ], coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days [God the Father], and they brought Him [Christ] near before Him [the Father]. Then to Him [Christ] was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed (Daniel 7:13–14).

Where will that kingdom be? Notice that it is a Kingdom “that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve.” As so many verses show, that kingdom will be here on earth!

In Daniel 7, the exiled Jewish prophet dreamed about four wild beasts that symbolized the same four world-ruling kingdoms outlined previously by Nebuchadnezzar’s dream recorded in chapter two. Notice this: “Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings which arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever” (vv. 17–18). Verse 22 reveals that “judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom” (KJV). The saints of God will possess the Kingdom at that time—as glorified, immortal, divine beings!

An awesome future awaits God’s saints! They will be empowered to help bring genuine peace and joy to this suffering, bloody world. No more temporary and often worthless “Band-Aid” solutions! The immortal saints will assist Christ in enacting effective solutions and reforms for all humanity. Yes, they will join with Christ in ruling this world, straightening out the problems where the problems are—right here on earth. As Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).

The Apostle John wrote in the book of Revelation that Christ will have “made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:10). The same book records Christ saying, “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations… as I also have received from My Father” (Revelation 2:26–27). “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne” (Revelation 3:21). The Father’s throne is in heaven, and Christ is now there at His right hand. However, the throne of Christ, from which the saints will rule with Him, will be the throne of David in Jerusalem (Luke 1:32).

We can be there after the prophesied last trumpet sounds and Christ returns as King of kings. “Behold, I tell you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51–52). As that final trumpet blast pierces the air and a world-rocking earthquake shakes the earth to its foundation (Revelation 11:13–15; 16:18), the faithful saints in Christ will no doubt experience a special thrill of joy as they rise to meet Christ in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18). Then they will descend with Him to the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:11–12; Zechariah 14:3–4) to begin the job of bringing peace to a rebellious world.

Under Jesus Christ’s authority, many of us may assist King David of Israel, a man after God’s own heart, who will be resurrected and given back his former job of leading the twelve tribes or the nations of Israel (Jeremiah 30:9; Ezekiel 37:24). We will get to know Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the other faithful saints and servants of God from all generations, for then we will truly be born of God—born of the resurrection into God’s Family Kingdom.

God’s saints—the overcomers—will be given the opportunity, under Christ’s leadership, to deal with the tyrants who will bring humanity to the brink of annihilation: “Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute on them the written judgment; this honor have all His saints. Praise the Lord!” (Psalm 149:5–9).

In the New Testament, the Apostle John was inspired to write, “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6). The Spirit-filled Apostles and early Church of God clearly understood and taught that the Kingdom of God would be set up at the end of this age as a literal government on this earth under Christ and the resurrected saints. This wonderful future time is often called the “Millennium”—meaning, simply, a 1,000-year period.

The noted historian Edward Gibbon chronicled the belief in the Millennium in his renowned History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Concerning the history of early Christianity, Gibbon wrote the following:

The ancient and popular doctrine of the Millennium was intimately connected with the second coming of Christ. As the works of the creation had been finished in six days, their duration in their present state, according to a tradition which was attributed to the prophet Elijah, was fixed to six thousand years [cf. Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8]. By the same analogy it was inferred, that this long period of labour and contention, which was now almost elapsed, would be succeeded by a joyful sabbath of a thousand years [cf. Hebrews 3–4; Revelation 20:6]; and that Christ, with the triumphant band of the saints and the elect who had escaped death, or who had been miraculously revived, would reign upon earth till the time appointed for the last and general resurrection (1862, p. 176).

Man has been given 6,000 years to learn the lesson that, without God, he is totally unable to govern himself. The prophet Jeremiah points out that “the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23).

George Washington, the first President of the United States, conveyed the same sentiment in a letter dated October 31, 1786: “Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government” (Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, 1993, p. 383). The terrible crises at the end of this age will finally bring humanity to the brink of total self-annihilation. Only then will people see the absolute futility of self-rule and be humbled enough to seek God’s absolute governance over their lives. Then God will intervene!

BORN INTO GOD’S KINGDOM

The Kingdom of God will rule the earth’s peoples. But these subject mortals will not be in the Kingdom—only ruled by it. Who then, will be in the Kingdom? Can you become part of it?

When Christ met with the Pharisee Nicodemus, who had come secretly at night, Jesus went right to the heart of the matter: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). He then explained, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (v. 6)—that is, composed of spirit. Unless we have been changed into immortal spirit beings, as 1 Corinthians 15 describes our future resurrection, we have not yet been “born again.” Verse 50 of the same chapter assures us that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” But do “flesh and blood” humans enter the Church? Yes! So the Church cannot be God’s Kingdom! To be in that Kingdom, we must first be born of God as literal children in God’s Family.

In all of God’s physical creation, humanity alone has a conscience and can come to know the difference between good and evil. This is through what the Bible calls “the human spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:11, New Revised Standard Version).

It energizes the human physical brain with intellect—creating our wonderful minds, which are so incredibly superior to that of any other physical creature. God’s Holy Spirit joins with this human spirit at conversion (Romans 8:16).

The mainstream “Christian world” confuses “born again” with “conversion.” There is not space enough in this publication to prove in detail what God’s word reveals about being “born again.” However, we must mention it briefly here since it directly bears on the understanding of what God’s Kingdom actually is.

Initial conversion is merely the beginning of spiritual life—just as conception is the beginning of physical life. But that is not “birth.” Birth occurs after a period of gestation within the mother’s womb. Spiritual “birth” occurs after a period of spiritual gestation in this physical life. It is an amazing process. At conversion—our spiritual conception—due to the presence of the Holy Spirit, we become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4), the very nature of God. As we grow and overcome spiritually, God puts more and more of His godly nature within us. Finally, we are ready to be fully “born” of God at the resurrection.

Jesus is to be the “firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29) or, as the New Revised Standard Version translates it, the “firstborn within a large family.” As our Savior, Elder Brother, and High Priest, He is “bringing many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10). At the resurrection, those who have truly accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will certainly share in God’s glory. They will become “sons of the resurrection” like Jesus (Luke 20:36), for Jesus Himself was born of the resurrection and is twice called the “firstborn from the dead” (Colossians 1:18; Revelation 1:5). Of course, we, as younger members of God’s Family, will always be in submission to the Father and Christ in total love and obedience, as we have demonstrated to God through obedience, service, and overcoming.

Authentic Christianity—biblical Christianity—teaches that the Kingdom of God will, at the end of this age, be set up as a literal government on this earth, in which today’s true Christians will serve under Jesus Christ, bringing genuine world peace at last. That, indeed, is tremendous Good News! The Kingdom of God is the ruling Family of God, which we can enter at the future resurrection from the dead. The true Gospel is astounding!

CHAPTER 3

THE ONLY NAME THAT CAN TAKE US THERE

To truly succeed, a person must first have a goal or objective. God has given Christians the most remarkable goal there is—eternal life in the Kingdom of God. The next step is to be educated about how to reach this goal. How can God’s human saints enter His Kingdom? What does the Bible tell us about the way to go? Jesus said this:

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:1–6).

The Apostle Peter later stated, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). The name of Jesus Christ is absolutely vital; the early Apostles and evangelists preached it, along with the message about the coming Kingdom. We must have the same focus, but we must be sure it is the true Christ we are talking about.

Many today worship a false Jesus who supposedly did away with the Father’s commandments. He is often portrayed as an effeminate weakling with long hair and a haunting, far-off look in his eyes. People just praise his name and feel nice sentiments about him.

Is that what it means to preach the name of Jesus? No! We read the following in The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible:

In biblical thought a name is not a mere label of identification; it is an expression of the essential nature of its bearer. A man’s name reveals his character…. This was a concept shared by the peoples of the ancient world. Hence to know the name of God is to know God as he has revealed himself (Ps. 9:10). The full disclosure of his nature and character is given in Jesus Christ, who has manifested his name (Jn. 17:6, 26)” (1991, vol. 3, pp. 500-501).

The name of Jesus includes not only who He was and everything He did, but also all that He taught and stood for. What did Jesus stand for? What is the way of life He came to reveal?

THE LAW OF THE KINGDOM

Remember that one of the requirements of any kingdom is a code of laws by which to govern. In the Kingdom of God, the supreme law of the land will be the Ten Commandments—the great spiritual law of Almighty God. Christ told the Pharisees, “The law and the prophets [the Old Testament] were until John [the Baptist]. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it” (Luke 16:16).

But this does not mean that the message of the Kingdom of God has displaced the “law and the prophets”—it has, rather, given full expression to it! At the beginning of Christ’s ministry, Matthew recorded that “Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people” (Matthew 4:23). Jesus, we know, preached “the gospel of the kingdom.”

As we are “pressing into” the Kingdom of God, what must we be pressing and striving to do? In the following three chapters, Matthew 5–7, Jesus expounded an entire way of life in what is called the “Sermon on the Mount.” Jesus’ exhortation to His followers to zealously obey the whole, godly intent of Scripture is shocking to many who have a mainstream Christian background. He said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17).

The word “fulfill” does not mean “do away with”—contrary to what you may have been falsely taught! Jesus magnified—enlarged—God’s law. He showed how we are to keep it in the spirit, or intent, as well as the letter, making the requirements of the law something you must obey in your thoughts (2 Corinthians 10:5) as well as by your actions. For instance, Jesus taught that not only must a true Christian refrain from murder, but also that he must not even harbor the attitude of hatred or violence (Matthew 5:21–22).

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (vv. 27–28). In Jesus’ teaching, the Ten Commandments were the foundation for the entire way of life He proclaimed. It was not just a sentimental belief in Christ’s person that counted, but a total surrender to Him and to the Father as Lord and Master. In Luke 6:46, Jesus asked, “But why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?” Jesus never said, “Please accept Me; won’t you give Me your heart?” Rather, Christ taught us to live a God-centered life and said, “My Father is greater than I” (John 14:28).

If everyone lived by God’s perfect law code, there would be absolutely no problems. We would have a perfect society. As it now stands, all of man’s problems are the result of broken laws. The Bible clearly defines sin as “the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4, KJV).

Sadly, after almost 6,000 years of deciding for himself which way to go, mankind is still blind to this reality. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25). Man has sought peace and harmony for ages, yet it has eluded his grasp. “The way of peace they have not known” (Isaiah 59:8). In all of man’s legislating, he has not yet designed a governmental system that works apart from God’s law.

The law of God is a major aspect of the Gospel, because it is truly Good News—giving an understanding of the way of life that leads to perfect and lasting happiness, abundance, peace, and joy. The people of ancient Israel had that way of life explained to them through God’s law. However, it did them no lasting good because they did not have living faith to continue walking in God’s way: “For indeed the gospel was preached to us [first-century Christians] as well as to them [the Israelites of Moses’ day]; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it” (Hebrews 4:2). So they had the Good News delivered to them in part, but they did not have the understanding or the faith to receive it.

Today we know that the godly fulfillment of our human potential rests with Jesus Christ! He Himself pointed the way. When He introduced the subject of the Kingdom of God, He told listeners, “Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). We must repent and believe—have faith. Paul preached the same message: “I have gone preaching the kingdom of God” (Acts 20:25). In doing so, he was also “testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 21).

We must go to God seeking forgiveness. To be accepted by Him, our first action must be to repent of breaking His spiritual law—summarized by the Ten Commandments. To “repent” means to be really sorry—so sorry that we turn around, go the other way, and start obeying God’s law, forever altering our way of life. We must also have “faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ”—the King of the Kingdom of God. This involves belief and acceptance of Jesus as our personal Savior, as our High Priest in heaven right now, and as our coming King.

At the beginning of the New Testament Church, on the Day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter was inspired to announce the way to salvation for humanity, saying, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:38–39). So Peter says that we must repent and be baptized for the remission—forgiveness—of our sins!

In John 3:16, Jesus said that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Upon our sincere faith in Jesus Christ and His death in our stead, the death penalty for having transgressed God’s law is removed from us. When truly converted, the Christian is “justified by His blood” (Romans 5:9). Being justified means to be declared guiltless—to receive unconditional pardon from the terrible penalty of everlasting death. This, too, is Good News!

RECEIVING THE WORLD’S MOST PRECIOUS GIFT

We should be deeply thankful to God that, through the death of His Son, we can be forgiven of sin. But does our justification now free us to go back and continue violating God’s spiritual law? Nothing could be further from the truth! The plain truth that many seem unwilling to understand is that a genuine Christian has—at conversion—really repented of breaking God’s law. He is, at that point, effectively making a “covenant with his Creator” to stop sinning—to stop breaking God’s Law, the Ten Commandments!

At baptism, having faith in the promised gift of the Holy Spirit, a new Christian is covenanting with God to stop sinning and to surrender his mind, his will, and his life to God so that the living Christ may now empower him to live an obedient life—obedient to the law and will of God. As Paul explained, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20, KJV).

It is through Jesus Christ literally living His life within us that we are able to keep the Ten Commandments as a way of life. Do we keep the commandments perfectly? No, nor do we do anything else perfectly! But we do surrender to Christ to let Him keep God’s law in us through the power of the Holy Spirit—and, to the extent we yield to Christ, we are able to more fully obey God’s law. Then we are told to continually “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). As we grow spiritually in our Christian lives, we should be keeping God’s law with increasing zeal and faith.

How can you really obey God’s spiritual law as you seek to imitate and follow your Savior? Jesus Christ has promised to give you the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the very nature and love of God. By giving us His Spirit, God is “begetting” us and putting His empowering nature with us. Through His divine nature, we are able to grow spiritually. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of “power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

The Apostle Paul wrote that “hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit [that] was given to us” (Romans 5:5). How does the love of God function? In what way does it lead us? “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). So the Spirit-imparted love of God directly leads us to obey the Ten Commandments as a way of life. This also is Good News. It is a vital part of the Gospel.

By giving us His Spirit—His divine nature—God helps us to overcome sin and to grow spiritually. God Himself “qualifies” us for eternal life through this spiritual deliverance from sin and the sway of Satan the Devil. Through the Holy Spirit, He begets us into His Family. But we do not yet “have it made.” We must still earnestly “press toward the goal” before being finally born into God’s Kingdom at the resurrection of the dead (Philippians 3:13–14).

What wonderful Good News it is to be delivered from sin through Christ! “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, [which]… is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:13–14). Yes, it is also Good News to truly know our Father and our Savior and to receive God’s empowering Holy Spirit, which enables us to live the life God wants us to live. What Good News to all humanity that we can experience the real joy of salvation—the love, the peace of mind, and the deep sense of purpose that we had never before experienced.

The Kingdom of God would not be such a wonderful message if there were no way that we could be a part of it! But, thankfully, God, in His great love and mercy, has provided a way—the way—through the death and resurrected life of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. What awesome and marvelous Good News that really is!

WHAT JESUS CHRIST HAS DONE, IS DOING, AND WILL DO

The Gospel embraces God’s entire plan of salvation. It is a message centered on who and what God is and the purpose He is working out through humanity.

The fulfillment of this purpose for each of us, individually, rests on our willingness to trust in Jesus Christ. The Gospel reveals the perfect way of life He taught—that of living God’s law as outlined throughout the Old and New Testaments, both written through His inspiration.

The Gospel points to Jesus’ role as the sacrificial Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of those who accept Him as their personal Savior. The Gospel also directs us to Christ’s current role as our heavenly High Priest who continually intervenes with the Father on our behalf. It is through the Holy Spirit that Jesus lives His very life in us as we yield to Him. That is what empowers us to obey God’s spiritual law, the Ten Commandments!

Finally, the Gospel’s main focus is on Christ’s future return in power and glory as the Almighty King of kings, to rule this world and the entire universe under the authority of God the Father. And ruling with Jesus Christ for all eternity will be His resurrected, immortal saints. What a magnificent and stupendous plan is revealed in the Gospel of the Kingdom of God!

Salvation through eternal life in the Kingdom of God is our goal. And the true Jesus Christ is the only way to get there: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Romans 1:16). Christ taught us the Way. Through acceptance of Him and obedience to Him as Lord and Master—which means we must keep His holy law, the Ten Commandments—we can enter into God’s Kingdom. What Good News that God has provided such a way!

HE WHO HAS THE SON HAS LIFE

The Apostle John stated that his gospel account was “written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31). And, in his first canonized epistle, he wrote, “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:12–13).

Christ tells us all to “believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15, KJV)—that is, believe His message. The message of God’s word is consistent. How, then, can one verse say, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31), while another verse says, “But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17)? John was also clear about the need for keeping God’s Ten Commandments. In 1 John 3:10, he wrote, “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness [law-keeping—cf. Psalm 119:172] is not of God….” John continues, “Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit [that] He has given us” (1 John 3:24).

What is the answer? Does salvation come by belief or by keeping God’s commandments—by “faith” or by “works”? Let the Apostle James answer: “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?…. Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead… You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!” (James 2:14, 17, 19). In the same way, even demons know that Jesus is the Messiah who came to deliver humanity. But that does not save them. We must use the knowledge God gives us. “But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?… Do you see that faith was working together with his [Abraham’s] works, and by works faith was made perfect?… You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only” (vv. 20, 22, 24).

So we see that salvation is not a matter of faith or works—but faith and works! A dynamic, living faith is always accompanied by active obedience to the law of God. How does belief in Jesus and His message fit into this? The answer is simple: If we truly believe what Jesus stands for and tells us, we will obey Him. This is accomplished by our accepting Him and all that He taught. After repentance and baptism, we receive God’s Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38), by which the love of God is “poured out in our hearts” (Romans 5:5). And, as John wrote, “this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments” (1 John 5:3).

As 1 John 3:24 has shown us, our commandment-keeping is evidence of Christ living in us through the Holy Spirit. If we truly accept Jesus Christ into our lives, He will live His obedient way of life in us to the degree that we put to death our old nature and yield to Him. Paul explained, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20, KJV).

Notice: “the faith of the Son of God….” Revelation 14:12 shows that God’s true Church has the “faith of Jesus.” Initially, we must demonstrate “faith toward God” (Hebrews 6:1). But that is not the faith that saves us. We must have His very faith—by which He performed His miracles—acting in us. This faith is a fruit of God’s Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22, KJV). As we exercise this faith through law-keeping, it will grow, along with our trust in and reliance on Jesus Christ. Acting in faith brings faith to life!

There is no contradiction here. Living faith is active obedience—which is spiritual love. How do we know if we have the Son? “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him” (1 John 2:3–5).

A CALLING TO GLORY!

Yes, Christ died to reconcile us to God. But that was not the end of it! And neither is what Christ does through us in this life. Jesus Christ is going “to present you holy, and blameless, and irreproachable in His sight—if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard” (Colossians 1:22–23). As Christian overcomers, we should always hold fast to the hope of the true Gospel, the tremendous understanding of our ultimate destiny.

When the last trumpet sounds, those who have overcome and daily learned to “press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God” (Philippians 3:14) will feel themselves ascending in the air to meet Christ. Can you imagine the surge of exhilaration and ecstasy the saints will then have, knowing that they are now members of God’s Family? At long last, they will have finally overcome all obstacles to achieve their ultimate destiny—a destiny for which all of us were created! To learn more about this vital topic, please request our free booklet Your Ultimate Destiny or read it at TomorrowsWorld.org.

As we hurtle skyward to join Christ in the air, we will realize that we are forevermore part of the divine level of existence—members of God’s Family. This dramatic climax to our human lives inspired the Apostle Paul to write, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:18–19).

WHEN WILL THE KINGDOM COME?

Christ told His disciples in Matthew 24:36, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” He was referring here to His Second Coming to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. However, even though we do not know the exact day or hour that God’s Kingdom will be set up, we do know that it is near. Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 give some “signs of the times” to watch. Jesus said this:

“Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” Then He spoke to them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Luke 21:28–33).

Terrible events are sharply increasing in the world today. In one way, even that is Good News, because it means that God’s Kingdom is drawing nearer. In Matthew 24:14, Jesus said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” You are now in touch with those who preach this Gospel, even as you read this booklet! Also, the fact that Christ said “this gospel” in the middle of Matthew 24 proves that the Gospel does indeed include the prophetic events preceding the arrival of His Kingdom. It is Good News because God will be administering the only kind of medicine that will work on stubborn, carnal humanity: a forcible takeover of the planet—a divine coup d’état!

Many world leaders, leading scientists, and other brilliant men believe that a one-world government is the only way to prevent humanity from destroying itself. Yet everyone knows that humanity will never do this in a cooperative and right way. Only God can do it correctly—and, make no mistake, God will do it. Then world peace and joy will finally be ours. What fantastic Good News that is!

So when you hear people preaching about the wonderful “Gospel,” you had better make sure they are not just talking about the first phase of the Christian life—our forgiveness from past sins through Jesus’ blood. The true Gospel goes far beyond that! It goes far beyond what most people understand or comprehend, for the ultimate Good News is absolutely transcendent in its implications. It challenges you toward a glorious life of active service in the Kingdom of God throughout Christ’s soon-coming reign on this earth, and further serving and ruling over the vast universe for eternity! This is the full Good News. This is the real Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Booklet Category

The Holy Days: God’s Master Plan

4uwzvo — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 16:50:24 +0000

The Holy Days: God’s Master Plan 4uwzvo Tue, 03/01/2022 - 16:50

The Holy Days: God’s Master Plan

Roderick C. Meredith (1930-2017)

Booklet Media

#Christian Living

#Christianity

#God

#Holy Days

#Jesus Christ

#origins of traditions

#Salvation

What are the most important days on the Christian calendar? Most would say Christmas and Easter. But the first followers of Jesus Christ observed NEITHER of these days. They followed Christ’s example and observed the SAME Holy Days that Jesus Christ Himself observed! The Holy Days are not obsolete “Jewish” observances, but in fact picture, in sequence, the destiny God has planned for ALL humanity. God Himself ordained these Holy Days for ALL of His people to observe.

Sadly, most of us just “grew up” in Protestant churches—or in Catholicism—and basically took for granted all that we were taught about God, Christ and religion. Very few people usually bother—even after reaching adulthood—to actually study and genuinely prove WHY they believe what they believe. It just seems easier to “follow the crowd” and go along with whatever we have been taught.

Have you been like this?

Have you carelessly ASSUMED that the Bible teaches us to observe Christmas and Easter? Have you assumed that Christ, our example, and the original inspired Apostolic Church observed Christmas and Easter?

If so, you could not have been more WRONG!

For nearly all honest theologians and historians freely acknowledge that Christmas and Easter were injected into “Christianity” many years after the death of the original Apostles! Under the article “Christmas,” the Encyclopedia Britannica states: “in the Christian Church, the festival of the nativity of Jesus Christ. The history of this feast coheres so closely with that of Epiphany (q.v.), that what follows must be read in connection with the article under that heading…. The great church adopted Christmas much later than Epiphany; and before the 5th century there was no general consensus of opinion as to when it should come in the calendar, whether on the 6th of January, or the 25th of March, or the 25th of December…. In 1644 the English puritans forbade any merriment or religious services by act of Parliament, on the ground that it was a heathen festival, and ordered it to be kept as a fast. Charles II revived the feast, but the Scots adhered to the Puritan view” (vol. 6, 11th ed., pp. 293–294).

The Catholic Encyclopedia tells us: “Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church. Irenaeus and Tertullian omit it from their lists of feasts; Origen, glancing perhaps at the discreditable imperial Natalitia, asserts (in Lev. Hom. viii in Migne, P.G., XII, 495) that in the Scriptures sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their birthday…. In England, Christmas was forbidden by Act of Parliament in 1644; the day was to be a fast and a market day; shops were compelled to be open; plum puddings and mince pies condemned as heathen. The conservatives resisted; at Canterbury blood was shed; but after the Restoration Dissenters continued to call Yuletide ‘Fooltide'” (vol. 3, pp. 724, 728).

REJECTING the Example of Christ and the Apostles

A vital key to remember in trying to understand what happened is to realize that the vast majority of “Christian” priests and scholars have NOT seriously tried to follow the example of Christ and the original Apostles! As the professing Christian Church grew in the Roman Empire, they tried to make their religion more “convenient” to the pagans around them in an attempt to win them over, and also, at times, in an attempt to avoid persecution. As Dr. Rufus M. Jones points out: “If by any chance Christ Himself had been taken by His later followers as the model and pattern of the new way, and a serious attempt had been made to set up His life and teaching as the standard and norm for the Church, Christianity would have been something vastly different from what it became. Then ‘heresy’ would have been, as it is not now, deviation from His way, His teaching, His spirit, His kingdom…. What we may properly call ‘Galilean Christianity’ had a short life, though there have been notable attempts to revive it and make it live again, and here and there spiritual prophets have insisted that anything else than this simple Galilean religion is ‘heresy’; but the main line of historic development has taken a different course and has marked the emphasis very differently” (The Church’s Debt to Heretics, pp. 15–16).

And mainstream Protestant author, Jesse Lyman Hurlbut—writing about the period between 313ad and 476ad—acknowledges: “The forms and ceremonies of paganism gradually crept into the worship. Some of the old heathen feasts became church festivals with change of name and worship. About 405ad images of saints and martyrs began to appear in the churches, at first as memorials, then in succession revered, adored, and worshipped” ( The Story of the Christian Church, p. 79).

So, although the early “Christian” leaders were accommodative to the pagans around them, God warned our spiritual forefathers against following the customs of the surrounding heathen nations saying: “Do NOT inquire after their gods, saying ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall NOT worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates have they done to their gods” (Deuteronomy 12:30–31).

Jesus Christ warned the religious leaders of His day, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition” (Mark 7:9). Notice carefully Jesus’ comment about rejecting the commandment of God by keeping human tradition. This is very definitely the case when we consider which days God made holy. For virtually no one keeps the days introduced by the pagans and also observes the biblical Holy Days that God commands and which Christ and the Apostolic Church observed.

In effect, you have to CHOOSE.

You have to choose between observing the “mass of Christ”— which pictures Christ as a helpless little child, and is surrounded by pagan concepts of the Yule log, the Christmas tree, Santa Claus and Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer—OR, on the other hand, observing the biblical Holy Days that picture, step-by-step, the awesome PLAN that God is working out here on earth. You have to choose between following Christ and the original Apostles, or following the Catholic “fathers” of the Dark Ages who increasingly injected layer after layer of rank paganism into professing Christianity.

Which Will YOU Choose?

As I explain in the booklet, Which Day is the Christian Sabbath?, if you were on the proverbial desert island with only a sacred calendar and a Bible, you would have to observe the biblical Sabbath and biblical Holy Days because these are the ONLY days the Bible commands or even directly talks about. For instance, the word “Christmas” is not even in the Bible. And there is not even the slightest hint in the Bible that we should observe the day of Christ’s birth, even IF we knew when it was—which we do not! And the word “Easter” is purposely not mentioned in any reputable modern translation of the Bible. It is incorrectly mentioned one time in the King James Version in Acts 12:4. But all scholars concede that the word “Pascha” from which it is translated is correctly rendered “Passover” and has no relation to Easter whatsoever. And, virtually all scholars recognize that the word “Easter” is simply a derivation of the name of the ancient goddess Ishtar or “Isis”—goddess of sex and fertility of the ancient Middle East. That, of course, is where “Easter eggs” come from—the pagan worship of sex and fertility.

Interestingly, even though we were not taught about God’s Holy Days in Sunday School, God’s commanded days are mentioned quite often in the Bible! For these days were clearly commanded in the Old Testament and their observance by Christ and the Apostles in the New Testament certainly ratifies them for the Christian Church.

Luke tells us: “And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover” (2:40–41). Then the account describes how “when they had finished the days… Jesus lingered behind” (v. 43). All scholars recognize that “the days” spoken of here were the Days of Unleavened Bread, which come immediately after the Passover. So even though Jesus was “strong in the spirit” and able to discuss spiritual principles at the highest level with the doctors of the Jewish law, He joined His parents in keeping the Days of Unleavened Bread.

During His ministry, we find Jesus going up to observe the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. He told His physical brothers, “You go up to this feast” (John 7:8). Clearly, they were instructed by the Son of God to go up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles! Then, Jesus Himself went up secretly, at first, so as not to arouse persecution (v. 10). Then “about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught” (v. 14).

At the end of Jesus’ human life, Luke tells us: “Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. And He sent Peter and John, saying, ‘Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat…. ‘ Then He said to them, ‘With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer'” (Luke 22:7–8, 15). So as an adult—setting us an example—Jesus observed the Passover.

Then we find that the inspired Apostolic Church began on another of God’s Holy Days, the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out: “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place” (Acts 2:1). What if the disciples had rejected God’s Holy Days and were not even there on the day when the Holy Spirit was given?

Some may assume that this was the only Day of Pentecost the early Church observed. Not so. For in Acts 20:16 we read, “For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hurrying to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the Day of Pentecost.” And Paul observed yet another Pentecost in Ephesus: “But I will tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Corinthians 16:8–9).

Also, the Apostle Paul clearly commanded the Gentile Church at Corinth to observe the Days of Unleavened Bread. Speaking of these days, Paul wrote: “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore 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” (1 Corinthians 5:7–8). Paul was obviously speaking of “keeping the Feast” of Unleavened Bread.

ALL Nations to Observe God’s Holy Days

A powerful END-time prophecy makes it exceedingly clear that ALL nations will soon learn to observe the Feast of Tabernacles! Notice what God inspired the Prophet Zechariah to write about the years just ahead of us: “Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south…. And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to KEEP THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to KEEP the Feast of Tabernacles” (Zechariah 14:1–4; 16–19).

Since EVERY human being on earth will soon learn to observe these biblical Holy Days, why not learn to obey God and start keeping them NOW? Why not become a spiritual “pioneer” and help blaze the trail for the BILLIONS of others who will come to this understanding soon after Christ’s return?

“But,” you may say, “we have been taught that these are Jewish Holy Days! Are Christians to keep the Jewish Holy Days?”

Well, I have just explained that ALL nations, Jew and Gentile, will soon learn to keep the biblical Holy Days—NOT because they are “Jewish”—but because God commands all of His people to observe them. And all of His people did keep them in the New Testament Church and, as we have seen, Christ kept them—setting us an example. The original Apostles kept them also.

True Christians are the “Israel of God”

A vital key to understanding is to truly grasp Jesus’ instruction to the Samaritan woman. He told this non-Jewish woman, “You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22).

Although they often rejected His teaching or overlaid it with all kinds of human traditions, the Jewish people did preserve the knowledge of the Creator God and the only written Bible available to the original New Testament Christians—which we today call the Old Testament. Clearly, the Jews were given the “oracles of God” (Romans 3:1–2), which certainly included God’s Holy Days and the understanding of how to construct the sacred calendar upon which those days are based. So the Jews did “know” whom they worshipped. And through Christ and a correct understanding of the Old Testament, salvation was “of the Jews.” For in spite of human weakness and man-made tradition, the Jews have preserved God’s spiritual LAW, the Ten Commandments, the true Sabbath and the annual Holy Days that the Creator has commanded. And the Jewish race produced Jesus Christ—the prophesied Messiah.

As the Apostle Paul was inspired to write, “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God” (Romans 2:28–29). So ALL true Christians are spiritual “Jews”! And we are bound to keep the spiritual laws and Holy Days that God gave Israel and which were reaffirmed by the example of Christ and the inspired New Testament Church.

Again, the Apostle was inspired to write: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God” (Galatians 6:15–16).

Clearly, the “Israel of God” are the true people of God—those who are spiritually circumcised and have Christ living His obedient life in them through the Holy Spirit. So, yes, we must get rid of our prejudices and quit calling “Jewish” those things GOD gave for ALL His people of all races and all nations!

True Christians are to keep holy the days God made holy. And we are to follow the example of Jesus and the original Apostles in so doing. Then, as we shall see, the understanding and observance of God’s Holy Days will open our minds to the great plan and PURPOSE that God is working out here below. Indeed, God does have a great plan in mind for all humanity. God reveals this to us through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians: “Having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the PURPOSE of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:9–11).

A Preview of the PLAN

Most professing Christians observe what they call the “Lord’s Supper,” “mass,” “Eucharist” or some such observance involving the partaking of bread and wine that symbolize Christ’s sacrifice. Few even begin to understand why they are doing this and—as I just pointed out—there are several different types of observances involved when you consider the different branches of Christendom.

But, as we shall see, these occasions are memorial observances of only the FIRST step in God’s Plan. For most professing Christians, all the other stages of God’s Plan are NOT observed in any way—and are therefore not understood in any way! Yet God has a “seven-step” plan—as are so many things God does revealed in patterns of seven. For in the beginning, God created the seven-day week (Genesis 1). The seventh day was revealed to be His Holy Sabbath (2:1–3). Later He gave exactly SEVEN annual Holy Days to reveal His overall plan and purpose in dealing with humanity (Leviticus 23). In the New Testament, we find the SEVEN Churches of Revelation described (Revelation 2–3). We read of the SEVEN seals, the SEVEN trumpets, the SEVEN last plagues, etc. For seven is the number of completion or perfection.

Therefore, when we understand, it should seem ridiculous to observe just ONE of God’s annual Festivals picturing His Plan and OMIT all the others! As a “preview” of what is to come, let us very briefly examine all seven of God’s annual, spiritual Festivals so we can better understand His Plan and PURPOSE in these Festivals as we go along.

First comes the solemn observance of Christ’s suffering and death on our behalf. The Bible calls this the “Passover.” It pictures our acceptance of Christ’s broken body and shed blood, which He offered as our Savior. But remember, this is only the first step in God’s Plan for us! Next, we need to GROW in grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18) and begin to put our old sinful ways and habits completely out of our lives. This “overcoming” process is pictured by the Days of Unleavened Bread.

Third, all of us together in the spirit-begotten Church—the “little flock” (Luke 12:32)—are only the “firstfruits” of the great spiritual harvest that will occur after Christ’s Second Coming. So God’s third annual Festival, the Feast of Pentecost or Feast of “Firstfruits” pictures the fact that only a very small spiritual harvest is being reaped by God at this time. God is NOT TRYING to “save” the whole world now. Otherwise He would be doing so—and the BILLIONS of unbelievers of past ages and even in our present day in China, India and other nations would quickly come to full understanding of the true God and genuine acceptance of His Son as their Lord and Savior!

END-Time Events Pictured in the SEVENTH Month

Fourth, the cataclysmic events at the END of this present age and Christ’s return to earth are pictured by the Feast of Trumpets (Leviticus 23:24). Trumpets were literally used in ancient Israel as alarms of war. In our day, at the climax of a series of wars and worldwide upheavals, Jesus Christ will return and the dead will be raised “at the LAST TRUMPET” (1 Corinthians 15:51–52).

Then, immediately after Christ’s return, Satan is supernaturally bound and put into the bottomless pit “so that he should DECEIVE the nations NO MORE” (Revelation 20:3). Finally, with Satan bound, man can become “at one” with God. This is clearly pictured by the fifth spiritual Festival—the Day of Atonement.

After Christ’s return, God pours out His Spirit and begins to enlighten all humanity with the true understanding of His great PLAN. At that time, God says, “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9). This is pictured by our joyous observance of the sixth Festival in God’s Plan—the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles or “Feast of Ingathering” (Exodus 34:22).

God’s Holy Day calendar is based upon the harvest seasons of Israel. As indicated, this pictures for us the spiritual harvest God plans to reap. First, the small spring harvest pictured by the “Feast of Firstfruits.” Finally, at the END of this age, the massive autumn harvest is pictured by the “Feast of Ingathering.”

Now, we come to the seventh and final spiritual Festival God gave His people. “But what part of His plan could still be left to picture?” you might ask. As shown earlier, even at the end of Christ’s 1,000-year reign there will be the untold BILLIONS of people of past ages who NEVER UNDERSTOOD virtually anything about the true God, about Jesus Christ or about God’s purpose for their lives. What will happen to these “unsaved” billions of human beings since “there is NO PARTIALITY with God”? (Romans 2:11). The solemn seventh Festival of God pictures the time when God will—for the FIRST time—open their minds to understand His Word and His will and give them a genuine opportunity to have their names written in the “Book of Life” (Revelation 20:11–12).

With the observance of this seventh Festival that we call the “Last Great Day” (John 7:37), we finish the portrayal of the entire PLAN of our Creator. From our first acceptance of Christ as Savior to the picturing of His Second Coming all the way until the Last Great Day picturing the time when ALL human beings will finally have a real opportunity for salvation—these God-given, God-inspired Festivals picture the REAL plan of God. The pagan religious festivals that Satan has foisted off on a deceived humanity are indeed a cheap substitute. For, in reality, they picture a false god, a false Christ and lead to the acceptance of a false gospel, which directly contradicts the true message that Christ and the Apostles preached!

These seven Festivals—two lasting seven days and five lasting one day—make 19 annual Feast days each year. Seven of these 19 days are special rest days or “Sabbaths.” These seven annual Sabbaths—also known as God’s annual Holy Days—are the First and Last days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the First Day of the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day.

As we will see in this booklet, God’s Holy Days are far more than just days on which we cease from our normal work; they are far more than mere civil holidays. Other Jewish holidays, such as Hanukkah and Purim, played an important part in the civil life of the Jewish nation and are important to many Jews today. Yet those civil holidays are not Feasts of the Lord, as listed in Leviticus 23. They may be joyous national celebrations, like the Thanksgiving Day festivities held in the United States and Canada—but just as one would not expect a British citizen to observe Canada’s Thanksgiving, one would not expect a non-Jew to find relevance in a holiday established by the Jewish nation-state. And God did NOT command that these civil holidays be kept, as He commanded the observance of the Feasts listed in Leviticus 23.

Now, let us retrace and fully understand the meaning and purpose of each of the SEVEN RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS that God gave for all mankind to keep. Remember, understanding and observing these Festivals helps us keep in mind the great MASTER PLAN of our Creator whereby He intends to enlighten and ultimately to save the vast majority of humankind.

Step 1:
The Passover

Perhaps millions or even billions of years ago, God decided to bring forth creatures who would become His real sons and daughters. Beings who would come right out from Him, having His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), His very CHARACTER placed within them through the Holy Spirit.

They must not be merely created beings like the angels. They must have free moral agency—the capacity to “choose” between good and evil. And they must prove by a lifetime of overcoming that they would always choose God’s way, yield to Him, serve Him and NEVER turn aside as did Satan and one-third of the original angels (Revelation 12:4; cf. 1:20).

Therefore, God decided that He would create the human race in His own image—having His form and shape and certain God-like capabilities, such as genuine mind power, creative imagination, freedom of choice, etc. God would allow humanity to SIN—under the influence of the fallen archangel Lucifer who has now become Satan the Devil. He would allow humans to go their own way for the first 6,000 years of human history. They would write the lessons of life through human experience and suffering yet, for the most part, not really LEARN those lessons until such time as God chose to supernaturally “call” each individual to genuine understanding and repentance (John 6:44).

Since SIN in any form is rebellion against God, it is a truly horrible thing. And since God has decreed that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), God decided long ago that only the DEATH of His own Son, Jesus Christ, could truly atone for the awfulness of sin. “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love…. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:4, 7).

God told ancient Israel that the “life of the flesh is in the BLOOD” (Leviticus 17:11). So God planned that His own Son’s blood would be shed. Christ would be the ultimate Passover Lamb—reconciling all true Christians to God the Father. “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7). And again, “Much more then, having now been justified by His BLOOD, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9).

Weeks before they came to Mount Sinai and before the Old Covenant was even proposed, God told the people of Israel to set aside an unblemished male lamb (Exodus 12:3–6). This lamb was to be the “Passover lamb” and was to be slain on the eve of the 14th day of Abib—the first month of the year in God’s sacred calendar.

God had determined to destroy ALL the firstborn in Egypt because of Pharoah’s refusal to let His people go. But God told the Israelites that if they would obey Him and kill and eat the Passover lamb—putting some of its blood on their doorposts and lintels of their homes—then “when I see the blood, I will PASS OVER you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So this day shall be to you a MEMORIAL; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an EVERLASTING ordinance” (vv. 13–14).

So, more than 1,400 years ahead of time, God guided an entire nation of some three million people to preenact the awesome SACRIFICE that His own Son, Jesus Christ, would later make on behalf of all humanity. For the slaying of the Passover lamb directly portrays the sacrifice of Christ—the first step in God’s Plan to make human beings His full sons and daughters.

The Passover pictures the fact that we are “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had PASSED OVER the sins that were previously committed” (Romans 3:24–25).

Every true Christian is commanded by God to KEEP the Passover! It is to be observed once a year as God commanded—on the very night in which Jesus was delivered to be crucified. The Apostle Paul explains: “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the SAME NIGHT in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:23–26).

Notice that first comes the partaking of the bread. This pictures Christ’s body, which is “broken” for us (v. 24). God’s Word clearly shows that Jesus suffered a horrible beating or “scourging” just before He was crucified. The historians tell us that this Roman scourging was done with a leather whip in which were fastened sharp pieces of metal designed to cut and tear the flesh. Because of the violence of this scourging and resultant loss of blood, many condemned prisoners died of the scourging itself even before they could be crucified.

WHY did Jesus have to go through this awful beating?

About 700 years before it occurred, God inspired the prophet Isaiah to describe what would happen and why: “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4–5).

By Jesus’ stripes we are HEALED! And it is more technically correct to translate the phrase, “He has borne our griefs” as, “He has borne our SICKNESSES.” In the New Testament, Matthew describes Jesus healing many people who were sick, and then cites this as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy: “And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses'” (Matthew 8:16–17).

So when we eat the broken bread at Passover, we are reaffirming our acceptance of Christ’s broken body for our physical HEALING. Let us appreciate these vital symbols of our Savior’s sacrifice with deep humility, awe and FAITH in the Great God who made our physical healing and our spiritual forgiveness possible!

Next, at the Passover service, we should partake of red wine to symbolize the shed blood of Jesus Christ in full payment for our sins. It is important to understand that Christ is our CREATOR. Therefore, His life is worth more than all of ours put together. The Gospel of John tells us this about Jesus Christ: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made…. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:1–3, 10–11). So the Personality who had been with the Father from eternity “emptied” Himself (cf. Philippians 2:7, NRSV) of His divine glory and power and became our Savior. But in the beginning, it was Christ Himself who created mankind and all that is—acting, of course, for the Father. Ephesians 3 tells us that God “created ALL THINGS through Jesus Christ” (v. 9).

No wonder the Bible speaks of the “precious” blood of Jesus Christ! For His is the blood of the Great Being who acted for the Father in creating the vast heavens, the earth and all that is.

When we partake of the red wine symbolizing this awesome act of total humility on the part of our Creator, it should fill us with a deep sense of appreciation and WORSHIP toward our God and our Savior. If we have truly repented of our sins and accepted Christ as our Savior, we should have total FAITH that we have not been “redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18–19).

Step 2:
The Feast of Unleavened Bread

Through the Passover sacrifice of Christ we are justified, forgiven of our past sins and “made right” in relation to God. “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9). But even though we are now forgiven our past sins, how will we become “overcomers” and put sin completely out of our lives?

The Festival of Unleavened Bread provides the answer. And it pictures the next step in God’s Plan. Right after commanding the Passover, God told Moses: “Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you. So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance” (Exodus 12:15–17).

Notice! As the Festival of Unleavened Bread was the time when God delivered Israel from Egypt—a symbol or “type” of SIN—so the symbolism of this Festival pictures true Christians coming out of spiritual Egypt—SIN! Leaven itself, of course, is also a symbol of sin. For when Jesus wanted to warn the disciples about the treacherous, sinful teachings of the Pharisees, He said to them, “Take heed and beware of the LEAVEN of the Pharisees and the Sadducees” (Matthew 16:6). Literal leaven causes bread to rise, to “puff up,” just as the attitude of sin—or self will—causes us to puff up and “do our own thing.” And leaven tends to spread itself through dough just as unchecked SIN tends to spread through the Church! Therefore the Apostle Paul told the Corinthians: “Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:6–7).

Many nominal Christians believe that we are “saved” when our sins are forgiven. And, indeed, we are at that time saved from the death penalty incurred by our past sins. But we can still fall away and lose out on salvation (Hebrews 6:4–8; 10:26–31; 1 Corinthians 9:27). Salvation is a process. We are now “being saved” (1 Corinthians 1:18) and ultimately “shall be saved”—if we endure to the end (Matthew 24:13). Paul explains, “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His LIFE” (Romans 5:10). If we observe just the Passover, we leave God’s plan incomplete. We leave Jesus hanging dead on the cross—end of story! Yet remember—our Savior rose again! And it is through His resurrected life that we shall be saved.

Jesus told His followers, “If you want to enter into [eternal] life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17). He also told us to “repent” (Mark 1:15)—that is, turn completely away from sin and go the other way, the way of righteousness. In other words, God requires that we make a covenant with Him to put sin out of our lives—to stop breaking His spiritual law and start keeping it. And then He expects us to follow through.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). Many will say this verse proves that we need not do anything more than receive God’s free gift—that we do not need to keep God’s law. But how shortsighted a point of view this is, when you consider the very next verse, in which Paul explained that we are “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (v. 10). Indeed, our whole way of life must change from disobeying God to obeying Him. Of course, He knows that we will not succeed perfectly in this while still in the flesh (Romans 7:18, 24; 1 John 1:8–10). But He still requires that we grow in His character through a process of striving against and overcoming sin (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:24–27; Revelation 2:11; 3:21; 21:7). Our past sinful life must be “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20). We are baptized as a symbol of our old nature being figuratively buried with Christ, then raised from the “watery grave” of baptism as a symbolic “resurrection” to new life in Christ. That being so, we should from then on live according to His way. The Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures this process of living His way, putting sin out of our lives.

So Paul commanded the Gentile Church at Corinth: “Therefore let us KEEP THE FEAST [the Feast of Unleavened Bread!], not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:8).

Obviously, this is a New Testament command to KEEP the Feast of Unleavened Bread! And this command was given to a primarily Gentile Church—so there was not any “Judaism” here! In verse 7, Paul links the unleavened bread Festival with the Passover that immediately precedes it. For again, Passover deals with forgiveness of past sins whereas the Festival of Unleavened Bread deals with the “follow through”—the determination, with God’s help, to GROW in grace and in knowledge “to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).

So how are Christians to keep this Feast? As it approaches each year, true followers of New Testament Christianity are to remove leavening (and bread products that are already leavened) from their homes and property. Then for seven days they are to eat no leaven. (Incidentally, there is nothing wrong with literal leaven itself. It is simply a symbol for sin during this Feast.) And as they go through this Festival, if they happen across some leaven in their homes that they had previously overlooked, they are to put that out as well (Exodus 13:7).

While they search about their property doing this “spring cleaning,” they should remember that, just as crumbs of leavened bread may fall into various nooks and crannies around their homes, so sin may be lurking in the hidden corners of their lives. Indeed, they may be quite surprised at some of the places they find leavening! Christians should be asking God to thoroughly clean them up and scrub them out spiritually—even showing them parts of their minds that they did not know were harboring sin.

For seven days—the number of perfection—true followers of New Testament Christianity are to put leaven out of their homes and off their property. They are to focus on getting completely RID of sin. They are to remind themselves through the observance of these God-commanded actions that they have a continuing responsibility before God to overcome themselves, the world and Satan the Devil. This is the true meaning of the Days of Unleavened Bread!

Step 3:
Pentecost

As we have seen, each of God’s commanded Holy Days builds on the previous one in picturing for us the great Master Plan that God has in mind for humanity. Passover pictures our acceptance of Christ’s broken body and shed blood—our forgiveness and reconciliation with God. Unleavened Bread pictures the need to come out of sin and to grow in grace and in knowledge.

In describing how New Testament Christians can go above and beyond the carnal Israelites of old, the inspired writer of Hebrews tells us: “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it” (Hebrews 4:1–2). Through receiving the promised Holy Spirit, New Testament Christians can have genuine FAITH in God—far more fully understand His purpose—and be given a measure of God’s own character to help them overcome sin and grow in grace and in knowledge.

Speaking of the magnificent promises of God, Peter writes that “through these you may be partakers of the DIVINE NATURE” (2 Peter 1:4). Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God places within us His very own nature—His divine character—as we walk with Him and grow spiritually. This is what enables us to genuinely overcome sin—in contrast to the ancient Israelites, who never received the promise of the Holy Spirit.

Coming soon after the Days of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Pentecost or Feast of “Firstfruits” (Exodus 34:22) reminds us that God is now calling only a small “firstfruits” spiritual harvest, but that He will bless this small harvest by EMPOWERING us with His Spirit so that we can overcome and grow spiritually even though living in “this present evil age” (Galatians 1:4).

In commanding the Feast of Firstfruits to ancient Israel, God told the Israelites to bring a sheaf of the “firstfruits” of the spring grain harvest to the priest (Leviticus 23:10). He was to wave this sheaf—in a solemn ceremony—to be accepted by God and thus obtain God’s blessing on this spring harvest and spiritually depict the resurrected Christ being accepted by the Father as the “first of the firstfruits”—the first human to be actually born of God by a resurrection. The “waving ceremony” took place on the Sunday immediately following the weekly Sabbath during the days of Unleavened Bread (v. 11). If you compare Matthew 28:9 with John 20:17, you will see that Christ presented Himself to the Father after His resurrection the previous evening (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23; Romans 8:29; Colossians 1:15, 18).

The Israelites were to count 50 days beginning with this Sunday: “And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. You shall bring from your habitations two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord” (Leviticus 23:15–17). Pentecost literally means “50th.” By counting exactly 50 days from a designated Sunday, they would always end up a Sunday seven weeks later—but not, obviously, on any particular day of the month. If Pentecost had been commanded to be kept on a particular day of the month, the Bible would have clearly said so—and there would be no need to “count”!

Then, on the day of Pentecost or “Firstfruits,” they were to offer two “wave loaves.” It was stated that these wave loaves “are the FIRSTFRUITS to the Lord” (v. 17). These “firstfruit” loaves evidently pictured both the Old Testament and New Testament people of God—since even the Old Testament prophets had the Holy Spirit of God (cf. 1 Peter 1:10–11).

Again, one of the lessons of the “firstfruits” is that God is only calling out a small number of people—the “firstfruits”—in this age. As we have stated, the early spring harvest in Israel was a small harvest compared to the major harvest that came in the autumn.

So it is today spiritually. Jesus Christ said: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are FEW who find it” (Matthew 7:13–14). And John reports Christ’s powerful warning: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day…. And He said, ‘Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father'” (John 6:44, 65).

Strange as it may seem to millions of “mainstream” Christians who have been taught that God is trying to “save” the world now, the true God of the Bible is trying to do no such thing! If He were, then the vast BILLIONS of human beings who have lived for millennia in India, China, Africa and elsewhere would have been “called” to Christianity. But the vast majority of them lived and died never hearing the name of Christ!

The Feast of Pentecost or “Firstfruits” reminds us, year by year that those few called out of this world today are only the “firstfruits” and that a FAR LARGER harvest of souls will occur later—as we shall see. And as we read of the “outpouring” of the Holy Spirit on the first New Testament Day of Pentecost, we can be inspired that though small in number—we “called out ones” today have the POWER of the Holy Spirit to do the Work of God, as well as overcome ourselves with help never before given to human beings.

For the inspired Peter proclaimed: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:38–39). Then we read Paul’s inspired words in Romans 5: “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (v. 5).

And what kind of love is this poured out by the Holy Spirit? The Apostle John clearly stated, “For this is the love of God, that we KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). Through the Holy Spirit, we receive the spiritual love of God—the kind of love we must have to fulfill God’s great spiritual law, the Ten Commandments, and build the very character of God. Yearly, the Day of Pentecost reminds us of our unique calling and of the strength we are given through God’s Spirit to make our “calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10).

The Holy Days — God's Master Plan

* Passover		Feast of Unleavened Bread	Day of Pentecost	Feast of Trumpets
Old Testament meaning
A lamb was sacrificed and its blood placed around the doors of Israelite houses in Egypt, which God "passed over" when slaying the Egyptian firstborn. (Leviticus 23:5)		A seven-day festival during which leavening (such as yeast, which causes bread to rise when baking) is put out of dwellings and is not eaten. (Leviticus 23:6-14)	A day celebrating the gathering in of the first and smaller of the two annual harvests; observed 50 days from a fixed point in the previous Feast. (Leviticus 23:15-22)	Called Rosh Hashana by the Jews; a day of rejoicing marked by the blowing of trumpets. (Leviticus 23:23-25)
New Testament meaning
Pictures Jesus Christ's shedding His blood for the sins of mankind.		Pictures the Christian's duty to "put out sin" from a life yielded to Jesus Christ.	Pictures the Christian's receiving God's Holy Spirit.	Pictures a time of war and plagues, concluding with Jesus Christ's Second Coming.
2007	Apr 2	Apr 3 - 9	May 27	Sep 13
2008	Apr 19	Apr 20 - 26	Jun 8	Sep 30
2009	Apr 8	Apr 9 - 15	May 31	Sep 19
2010	Mar 29	Mar 30 - Apr 5	May 23	Sep 9
2011	Apr 18	Apr 19 - 25	June 12	Sep 29
2012	Apr 6	Apr 7 - 13	May 27	Sep 17
2013	Mar 25	Mar 26 - Apr 1	May 19	Sep 5
2014	Apr 14	Apr 15 -21	June 8	Sep 25
2015	Apr 3	Apr 4 - 10	May 24	Sep 14
2016	Apr 22	Apr 23 - 29	June 12	Oct 3
2017	Apr 10	Apr 11 - 17	June 4	Sept 21
2018	Mar 30	Mar 31 - Apr 6	May 20	Sept 10
2019	Apr 19	Apr 20 - 26	Jun 9	Sept 30
2020	Apr 8	Apr 9 - 15	May 31	Sept 19
2021	Mar 27	Mar 28 - Apr 3	May 16	Sept 7

(continuation)

Day of Atonement		Feast of Tabernacles	Last Great Day
Old Testament meaning
A day of fasting and repentance, known to the Jews as Yom Kippur (Leviticus 23:26-32)		A seven-day celebration of the great fall harvest, observed by living in temporary dwellings for the duration of the Feast. (Leviticus 23:33-43)	Adjacent to the Feast of Tabernacles, this eighth day is considered a separate Feast. (Leviticus 23:36, 39)
New Testament meaning
Pictures the binding of Satan at the beginning of the Millennium and the world becoming at one with God.		Pictures the Millennium, when the earth will be ruled by Jesus Christ and His saints.	Pictures the coming "Great White Throne Judgment" at which all of humanity not previously called will have the chance to hear the True Gospel and accept salvation.
2007	Sep 22	Sep 27 - Oct 3	Oct 4
2008	Oct 9	Oct 14 - 20	Oct 21
2009	Sep 28	Oct 3 - 9	Oct 10
2010	Sep 18	Sep 23 - 29	Sep 30
2011	Oct 8	Oct 13 - 19	Oct 20
2012	Sep 26	Oct 1 - 7	Oct 8
2013	Sep 14	Sep 19 - 25	Sep 26
2014	Oct 4	Oct 9 -15	Oct 16
2015	Sep 23	Sep 28 - Oct 4	Oct 5
2016	Oct 12	Oct 17 - 23	Oct 24
2017	Sept 30	Oct 5 - 11	Oct 12
2018	Sept 19	Sept 24 - 30	Oct 1
2019	Oct 9	Oct 14 - 20	Oct 21
2020	Sept 28	Oct 3 - 9	Oct 10
2021	Sept 16	Sept 21 - 27	Sept 28

* Observed the previous evening after sunset

Step 4:
The Feast of Trumpets

The first three of God’s commanded Festivals come in the spring. They all picture spiritual aspects of the Plan of God. The last four Festivals all fall in the seventh month—the month of finality or completion—and picture the completion of God’s plan on earth.

The Feast of Trumpets occurs on the very first day of the seventh month of God’s sacred calendar. It ushers in the final events of God’s Plan. It pictures the MASSIVE intervention of God in human affairs—climaxing in the Second Coming of Christ as King of kings. Notice God’s original command to ancient Israel: “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of TRUMPETS, a holy convocation'” (Leviticus 23:24).

In Israel, the blowing of trumpets was used as a signal for the people to assemble, to take some action—or as an alarm of WAR (Numbers 10:1–10). Therefore, being placed as it is just before the final events of this age, the Feast of Trumpets clearly signifies the soon-coming time of world upheaval, chaos and war that virtually all the prophecies of the Bible show will immediately precede Christ’s return.

It should be noted that trumpets were also used to herald the coronation of a new king, as in the case of Israel’s King Solomon (1 Kings 1:34, 39). And the peaceful rule of Solomon, following the wars of his father David, was a type of the coming rule of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Kings 4:25; 1 Chronicles 28:5).

This evil age of human self-rule will end with the human race standing on the very threshold of mass extinction. Indeed, the Bible has much to say about a terrible World War to come that will engulf the whole earth in the near future. To learn about this horrific time called the “Great Tribulation” (Matthew 24:21) and the circumstances that will bring it about, please write for our informative booklets, The Beast of Revelation and What’s Ahead for America and Britain? Both are available free of charge.

Thankfully—before it is all over—God’s intervention will prevent humanity from utterly destroying itself (v. 22). For then the day of man will be over—and the Day of the Lord will commence. Yet it will not begin with peace and joy for everyone. Rather, the Almighty will have to enforce peace upon rebellious humanity—by first breaking its stubborn will. Thus, our Creator will intervene to show HIS POWER and remind a wayward civilization that HE is the ultimate RULER of heaven and earth.

Notice Joel’s inspired prophecy: “Blow the TRUMPET in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord is coming, for it is at hand” (Joel 2:1). So the blowing of trumpets here sounds an “alarm” that the prophesied “Day of the Lord is at hand”!

Picturing the time when the Israelites are released from captivity at Christ’s Second Coming and are brought back to the land of Israel, the Prophet Isaiah proclaimed: “So it shall be in that day that the great TRUMPET will be blown; they will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem” (Isaiah 27:13).

Of course, the “trumpet plagues” are described in Revelation 8 and 9. Coming after the Great Tribulation, these awesome plagues will literally SHAKE this earth like nothing ever has before. At a time when the prophesied Beast and False Prophet (cf. Revelation 13:15–18) have just destroyed millions of lives with awesome technological weapons of war, then the great God intervenes to show HIS POWER and remind a rebellious civilization that He is the ultimate RULER of heaven and earth. “So the seven angels who had the SEVEN TRUMPETS prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up” (8:6–7).

Finally, the Living Jesus Christ supernaturally intervenes to SAVE a rebellious humanity and to bring genuine PEACE to the world. “Then the seventh angel sounded: and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!'” (11:15).

So Christ will return at the seventh trump! “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a TRUMPET, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:29–31).

What is the significance of Christ sending angels to gather His elect at this time? As the Apostle Paul wrote regarding Christ’s return at the last trumpet: “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). But notice what he further stated: “For since by man [Adam] came death, by Man [Christ] also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits [i.e. the first of the firstfruits], afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming [i.e. the rest of the firstfruits]” (vv. 21–23). And when will it all happen? Paul wrote: “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the LAST TRUMPET. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (vv. 51–52). Perhaps there is nothing more encouraging than this amazing fact.

Can we picture a great blinding LIGHT so radiant that humans cannot even look at it? That is how the risen Christ’s face will look as He returns in GLORY. Can we picture a massive TRUMPET BLAST literally SHAKING the earth and Christ returning as King of kings? Can we picture the true saints of God rising to meet Christ in the air and then descending with Him to the Mount of Olives to join Him in RULING this rebellious planet? (cf. Zechariah 14:1–4, 9; Revelation 2:26–27).

All of these things will occur at the seventh trumpet! For although the Feast of Trumpets pictures the horrifying upsets and WARS and PLAGUES at the end of this human civilization, it also pictures the glorious DIVINE INTERVENTION of the Creator God who will finally restore order and bring genuine PEACE and JOY to a chastened humanity that is finally ready to “listen” to God and follow His righteous ways.

Step 5:
The Day of Atonement

Following the enormous “shaking” of the nations and Christ’s return in mighty power, the next step in God’s Master Plan is for the peoples of the earth to become “at one” with God. Then they can willingly learn God’s ways and be blessed.

But today, the nations are rebelling against God and His ways because they have been DECEIVED. In His wisdom and infinite mercy, God has made all human beings free moral agents. He knew that mankind would desperately want to try to do things his own way before finally learning that GOD’S way is right. Therefore, God has allowed humanity to be deceived—to be mainly “cut off” from God through these past 6,000 years of human history.

In His revealed Word, God clearly tells us that Satan the Devil is the “god” of this present world, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them” (2 Corinthians 4:3–4). Again, Paul was inspired to write: “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1–2).

Satan the Devil, the “prince of this world,” as Jesus called him (John 14:30, KJV), is working overtime to deceive humanity. Being the “prince of the power of the air,” Satan “broadcasts”—just like radio and television. But he spiritually broadcasts wrong attitudes and ideas. He makes mankind feel that God is either “dead” or that He is not “real,” that He is an ethereal God, a “blind force” way off somewhere and, always, that mankind does NOT need to obey God’s law and literally follow His ways, the Ten Commandments and keep holy His weekly Sabbaths and annual Festivals like Christ and the original Apostles did do—setting us an example.

The beloved Apostle John wrote: “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who DECEIVES THE WHOLE WORLD; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:9).

The Apostle Peter was inspired to warn us: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a ROARING LION, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world” (1 Peter 5:8–9).

Therefore, at the beginning of Christ’s reign—IF there is to be genuine peace and a right spirit among men—Satan the Devil must be banished! Notice the commandment regarding the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 23:27–28: “Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God.” This day was to be a “statute” FOREVER to the people of God. As we have seen, even the Apostle to the Gentiles was obviously KEEPING the Day of Atonement in a Roman prison ship in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea—years after everything was supposed to have been nailed to the cross! (Acts 27:9).

A very clear indication of the real meaning of Atonement is given in Leviticus 16. Here we find an Old Testament ritual wherein two goats were to be presented before the High Priest. In Israel, “casting lots” was an appeal to GOD to decide a matter. So Aaron was to “cast lots” to find what each of these goats represented (Leviticus 16:8). One was to represent “the Lord”—the God of Israel who later emptied Himself and became our Savior (1 Corinthians 10:4). The other goat was to represent Azazel, which is a term—as many Hebrew references explain—for the “adversary,” Satan the Devil!

The goat representing the “Lord” was to DIE. God told Aaron to “offer it as a SIN offering” (Leviticus 16:9) just as Jesus Christ gave His life for our sins. But regarding the “adversary goat,” God commanded: “Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the INIQUITIES of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness” (vv. 21–22). Then the man who led this goat symbolizing Satan into the “wilderness” was to bathe his body and even his clothing (v. 26) for, symbolically, he had come into direct contact with the very embodiment of evil—Satan the Devil!

He had been used to separate Satan from the people of God. He had led the “adversary” goat to a wilderness—FAR AWAY—where he (Satan symbolically) could not hurt or deceive God’s people anymore!

When was this ceremony to be carried out? “This shall be a statute forever for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month” (v. 29). Though the ancient Israelites understood that this ceremony was to be part of the observance of the Day of Atonement, very few grasped the real spiritual meaning this should have for New Testament Christians. For how could they, since they were blinded even to the meaning of the first goat—the Messiah—when He came to this earth to die for their sins?

Yet the New Testament shows that this is exactly what happens when Christ returns. Jesus’ return as King of kings is described in Revelation 19:11–21. Then, in Revelation 20, we read that a mighty angel is appointed to remove Satan. “He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while” (vv. 2–3). Clearly Satan—the “Azazel” or adversary—is CUT OFF from humanity so he is unable to DECEIVE mankind during the one thousand year reign of Christ!

That is why humanity will quickly become “at one” with God’s ways—NO MORE SATANIC INFLUENCE. That is why, during the glorious reign of Christ, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9).

And Isaiah further explains how at the time the blindness of humanity is fully removed, “He will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; the rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken” (25:7–8). So with “Satan’s Broadcasting System” shut down and the BLINDNESS of humanity removed, man can indeed become “at one” with God. For Christ will have paid our part in our sins, but Satan the Devil will certainly be utterly banished to a symbolic “wilderness” or “bottomless pit” and be restrained and held in this kind of a prison for his part in our sins.

God is just! He will place on Satan’s own head the enormous GUILT he bears for stirring up mankind against God, for DECEIVING humanity into thinking God is “unfair” and that His laws and righteous ways are not good. Finally, again, humanity will learn to APPRECIATE God and His ways, to genuinely LOVE and WORSHIP the true God of the Bible. For at this point, the “atonement” for humanity’s sins will be complete.

Step 6:
The Feast of Tabernacles

After Satan is put away, the next stage of God’s Plan is the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ as King of kings. This involves Christ and the resurrected saints teaching ALL of humanity the ways of God. It involves the MASSIVE “fall harvest” of saints—the time when everyone then living will finally learn the ways of God and have full opportunity—without Satan’s deceptions—to serve and obey the Creator.

In Leviticus 23:34, God commanded this Festival to ancient Israel, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord.'” So the Feast of Tabernacles was to last seven days. It pictures the seventh millennial day or 1,000-year period of human history—coming just ahead of us. In Leviticus 23, it is called the Feast of Tabernacles or “booths”—to remind Israel that they were “sojourners” in the land. Spiritually it reminds Christians that we are—as our father Abraham—”strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13) looking forward to the Kingdom of God.

But in Exodus 23 we find an autumn Festival described as “the Feast of INGATHERING, which is at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field” (v. 16). So it also pictures and celebrates the great fall harvest in Israel—picturing for Christians the great spiritual harvest of souls to be reaped during the one thousand year reign of Christ!

As we have already seen, at that time the earth will become “full of the knowledge of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:9). And “they shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain.” There will be an outpouring of peace and JOY such as the world has never experienced: “No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it; it shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain JOY and GLADNESS, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (35:9–10).

The inspired Peter called this period the “times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of ALL His holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21). Indeed, literally scores of prophecies throughout the Old and New Testaments speak of the time of Christ’s return, of all the world coming to understand, and of genuine peace and safety permeating the earth because humanity will be learning God’s righteous LAWS and practicing His entire way of life:

“Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the LAW, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:2–4).

When the modern Israelites return from their end-time captivity: “They shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations…. Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; EVERLASTING JOY shall be theirs” (Isaiah 61:4, 7).

The millennial reign of Christ is definitely the time prophesied by Jeremiah: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put MY LAW in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jeremiah 31:31–33).

For God’s magnificent spiritual law, the Ten Commandments, has NEVER been done away! But they have been “magnified” by Jesus Christ and made even more binding, so that we are to keep, not only the letter but the spiritual intent of God’s law. So we do not merely refrain from murder, we refrain from enmity and hate and the attitude of murder (Matthew 5:21–22). We are taught not only to forsake adultery, but not even to “look on” a woman to lust after her! (vv. 27–28).

During the Millennium, God’s laws are to be written in the hearts and minds of His people all over the earth. For God’s laws expresses His very CHARACTER—the character He demands that we develop in order to be kings and priests forever in His Kingdom! This blessing will be afforded ALL MANKIND during the wonderful “Feast of Ingathering,” the 1,000-year reign of Christ here on this earth. Revelation 20 tells us: “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (v. 6).

So all true Christians should be preparing NOW to learn and PRACTICE God’s laws and His way of life so that they will be able to TEACH these things to others in Christ’s soon-coming world government. The inspired Apostle Paul admonishes true Christians: “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?” (1 Corinthians 6:2–3).

Will just the “true Christians” or the Israelites observe the Feast of Tabernacles? Notice Zechariah 14:1–4: “Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.” Then read verse 9, “And the Lord shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be—’The Lord is one,’ and His name one.” And read verses 16–19, “And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of ALL the nations that do not come up to KEEP THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.”

The above verses should make it very clear that ALL nations will learn to keep the Feast of Tabernacles in a very few years under the immediate direction of Jesus Christ. Even the Egyptians, who may at first have resentments against anything “Jewish,” will, learn to OBSERVE the Feast of Tabernacles—and ALL of God’s commanded Festivals.

Step 7:
The Last Great Day

Is this the ONLY day of salvation? The overwhelming majority of ministers, priests and “mainstream” Christians would resoundingly answer “YES.”

But these same people utterly fail to realize the depth, breadth and width of the massive DECEPTION Satan the Devil has perpetrated on a confused humanity. As we have seen, the Bible clearly says that Satan “deceives the WHOLE WORLD” (Revelation 12:9). Again, Satan is the “god” of this present age (2 Corinthians 4:3–4). People generally follow Satan’s ways—not God’s.

The Last Great Day pictures the amazing truth that God is NOT TRYING to save the world now! If the great GOD who made the universe were actually “trying” to save humanity, He would succeed. The BILLIONS of people in Asia, Africa and elsewhere would all become good Christians in short order! Yet the fact is that the OVERWHELMING majority of people throughout human history have NEVER subscribed to—or even been exposed to—any form of Christianity. And so it remains until this very day!

What is the REAL answer to this dilemma?

First of all, the Son of God stated plainly: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber…. Then Jesus said to them again, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep'” (John 10:1, 7). And He inspired the Apostle Peter to declare about Himself: “This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is NO OTHER NAME under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:11–12). So you either accept Christ—the TRUE Christ of the Bible—or you do not. And if you truly accept Christ as your Savior AND your Lord, you will surrender to Him and let Him rule your life. As Christ commanded, you will keep the Ten Commandments as a way of life (Matthew 19:17) You will let Christ live His Obedient life in you through the Holy Spirit (Galatians 2:20). And if you do not, you are NOT a Christian and you yourself may be BLINDED. It is just that simple.

The overwhelming majority of mankind has been BLINDED to the knowledge of the true God and the true Christ. And yet again, God’s inspired Word tells us, “For there is NO RESPECT of persons with God” (Romans 2:11, KJV). And the Apostle Peter stated, when God began to call a few Gentiles to repentance, “Of a truth I perceive that God is NO RESPECTER of persons” (Acts 10:34, KJV).

Is God contradicting Himself? Of course not! For God has NEVER said that He is trying save everyone “now”! God has said, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). It is God’s will that ALL “come to repentance”—but they certainly HAVE NOT done so in this age! Notice also how the Apostle Paul speaks of “God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3–4).

It is simply a matter of TIMING.

For in God’s time—as we shall see—all humans who have EVER lived will be given a real understanding of God’s Master Plan and Purpose, and the vast majority will ACCEPT God’s Truth once their eyes are fully opened. No, it is NOT a “second chance” as some would like to protest. It will be the first genuine opportunity for these people to come to understand the true God and the true Jesus Christ and Their great PURPOSE!

The Bible speaks time and again about a time of “judgment” for ALL humanity. And as used, the term “judgment” does NOT usually mean condemnation but, rather, a time of decision—a time of trial and testing (cf. 1 Peter 4:17). Notice Jesus Christ’s own statements to those cities of His own day who REJECTED Him and His teaching: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the DAY OF JUDGMENT than for you” (Matthew 11:21–22).

The pagan cities who NEVER HEARD of Christ will have a “more tolerable” opportunity in the coming day of judgment. Notice how even the city of Sodom was included in this category: “But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you” (v. 24).

If God judges these people by the same standard as others—which the Bible clearly indicates that He will—then the ancient pagans would have NO CHANCE for eternal life because they clearly did NOT accept Christ as their Savior or obey God’s ways. Again, the ONLY answer is that they will—in a coming judgment period—be given the opportunity to really understand God’s great PURPOSE, to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and then—at that time—to be “judged” by how they respond based on this genuine FIRST OPPORTUNITY for salvation.

But does the Bible indicate that such a time is coming?

Yes, it does! For in Revelation 20, after describing the Millennium and the short period after the Millennium, when Satan is released for a “little while” (v. 3), God goes on to describe a time of “judgment” for the dead people who died before the Millennium began and had never been converted. After describing a great “white throne,” notice what the Apostle John wrote under inspiration: “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works” (vv. 12–13).

When these dead people are seen “standing,” this involves a resurrection! And notice that verse 12 also says that the “books” were opened. The Greek word biblia, from which the word “Bible” is normally translated, is used here. So these people—for the first time—have their minds and hearts opened to the Bible. They also have opportunity to obtain salvation—to have their names written in the “Book of Life.” In this “Great White Throne Judgment Period,” they are truly being “called.” Satan is once again banished. Their minds are now opened to real understanding. In this judgment period, even the inhabitants of Sodom and hundreds of other pagan or deceived cities of the past, may have a better opportunity than some who lived at the time of Christ. For these ancient pagans never before understood virtually ANYTHING about the true God or His ways. They were NOT responsible for being “blinded”!

Countless millions of these men and women of past ages may zealously grasp on to the Truth when they fully understand. They may become better Christians—better servants of God—than many of us who sometimes take God’s precious Truth for granted and are not as zealous as we should be.

How clear!

God will resurrect the countless millions who lived and died long before Christ came and brought the full understanding of salvation. Additional BILLIONS who have lived and died since Jesus Christ, or who now live but are BLINDED to the knowledge of the true God and His purpose—all these will be brought to REAL understanding and repentance! They will be given God’s Holy Spirit—the very nature and character of GOD that will be imparted to them after real repentance and baptism—just as it is to us today. Then they, too, will have an opportunity for some years to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

They will have an opportunity for full salvation—eternal life in the very Kingdom and Family of GOD. It is only a matter that the TIME of their “calling” is later than many of ours—but it is SURE to come!

Then, finally, every single human being who has EVER drawn breath will have had a genuine opportunity for salvation! And so the SEVENTH of God’s Holy Days, the mysterious “eighth day” coming immediately after the Feast of Tabernacles—but as a separate Festival (Leviticus 23:36)—pictures this wonderful time soon after the Millennium when ALL humanity will finally be given an opportunity to understand the Truth.

This is obviously the time Jesus was referring to in John 7: “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water'” (vv. 37–38). For in the Great White Throne Judgment “anyone”—EVERYONE who has every lived—will finally have his or her eyes opened and be given the opportunity to respond to God and to receive His Holy Spirit.

With this seventh God-commanded Festival, the picture of God’s Plan is now COMPLETE. In realizing the marvelous wisdom and mercy of God in all of His Plan, we may truly say with the Apostle Paul in Romans 11:32–33: “For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!”

Conclusion:
FOLLOW God’s Plan!

If the Living God is opening your mind to His Truth, then you have the responsibility to act on it (James 1:22; 4:17). And to help you in doing so, please be informed that the Living Church of God—which sponsors this booklet and the Tomorrow’s World magazine and telecast—has ordained ministers and local congregations or video groups throughout the world. They meet together for worship regularly each Sabbath and on the annual Holy Days as well.

If you are interested in observing these days with us, please write or phone the Living Church of God office nearest you. All of our office addresses and phone numbers are listed at the end of this booklet. Be assured that no one will call on you unless you request it. If you desire, one of our representatives will set up an appointment at a time and place convenient for you. You will NOT be pressured to “join” anything. In fact, our minister or local representative may suggest that you do further reading, take your time and be sure that you truly want to live by every word of God.

Then, once you do start attending services with God’s people and truly observing His weekly and annual Sabbaths, you can expect to be amazed at how spiritually uplifted you will feel.

Attending services, hearing God’s Truth spoken each week and having the opportunity to fellowship with happy, forward-looking people of like faith will truly be a delight. In all of this, you will be a spiritual “pioneer.” You will have shown your Creator that you are willing to “step out in faith” to obey His inspired Word in spite of possible obstacles and opposition.

In so doing, you will be preparing for the first resurrection, the “better resurrection” (Hebrews 11:35). And if you stand firm in this way of life you will, in the end, hear these encouraging words from Jesus Christ: “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you RULER over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord” (Matthew 25:21).

We hope to hear from you soon.

Booklet Category

Kingdom of God

Do You Believe the True Gospel?

CHAPTER 1

A MESSAGE ABOUT THE MESSENGER?

FALSE ASSUMPTIONS AND FALSE HOPES

GOSPEL “OF” CHRIST OR “ABOUT” CHRIST?

WHAT ABOUT THE NAME OF JESUS?

CHAPTER 2

WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD?

WHAT IS A KINGDOM?

NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM

A SUCCESSION OF WORLD-RULING KINGDOMS

OTHER PROPHECIES OF TOMORROW’S WORLD

DID CHRIST SAY THE KINGDOM IS “AT HAND”?

DID THE KINGDOM APPEAR IMMEDIATELY IN APOSTOLIC TIMES?

THE SAINTS’ RULERSHIP IN THE KINGDOM

BORN INTO GOD’S KINGDOM

CHAPTER 3

THE ONLY NAME THAT CAN TAKE US THERE

THE LAW OF THE KINGDOM

RECEIVING THE WORLD’S MOST PRECIOUS GIFT

WHAT JESUS CHRIST HAS DONE, IS DOING, AND WILL DO

HE WHO HAS THE SON HAS LIFE

A CALLING TO GLORY!

WHEN WILL THE KINGDOM COME?

The Holy Days: God’s Master Plan

REJECTING the Example of Christ and the Apostles

Which Will YOU Choose?

ALL Nations to Observe God’s Holy Days

True Christians are the “Israel of God”

A Preview of the PLAN

END-Time Events Pictured in the SEVENTH Month

Step 1: The Passover

Step 2: The Feast of Unleavened Bread

Step 3: Pentecost

Step 4: The Feast of Trumpets

Step 5: The Day of Atonement

Step 6: The Feast of Tabernacles

Step 7: The Last Great Day

Conclusion: FOLLOW God’s Plan!

Step 1:
The Passover

Step 2:
The Feast of Unleavened Bread

Step 3:
Pentecost

Step 4:
The Feast of Trumpets

Step 5:
The Day of Atonement

Step 6:
The Feast of Tabernacles

Step 7:
The Last Great Day

Conclusion:
FOLLOW God’s Plan!