The Feasts, The Harvest and                          The Resurrection

By Charles R. Sabo

Copyright © 2014 Charles R. Sabo

All rights reserved.

ISBN:

978-0-692-22398-7

Introduction

The writing of this book was a work in progress from the Lord for several years.  As I committed my life to the Lord in 2007, I became one that was very determined to learn as much information as God was willing to share with me.  I found myself with an obsession to know as much truth as I could find.  I researched every day for 4-6 hours a day and even sometimes to exhaustion using the scriptures as well as the internet.  I was shown truth about the occult that was so in trenched into our society.  God showed me the prophecies that were coming to pass such as Psalm 2:2“The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, 3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” The meetings between the global elite in the G20 conferences confirmed that Psalm 2 was coming to pass.  Knowing how evil the globalists were and how their agenda was bringing the antichrist kingdom very near, I knew that the rapture of the church was even nearer.

God brought great fear in me at first to convict me of my sinful living. I knew I wanted to be in God’s kingdom and became obsessed with doing His will in everything that I could possibly learn.  I started to read the Bible in fall of 2007 every day. I would research online about the scriptures and view youtube.com videos constantly absorbing information. God was teaching me discernment as I saw truth and non-truth each day.  I became very investigative and analytical.  I learned about the occult, the cult religions and the apostate churches.  I saw how evil the government of the United States had become as well as how evil the rest of the governments in the world.  I knew that Satan was the ruler of this earth.  I found myself in amazement on how “absolute evil” is in plain view and the world sees it as normal.

I found out about the differences in Bible translations.  I learned that the King James Version of the Bible is the true uncorrupted English translation that God had planned for the world to have in the last days before His second coming.  I learned the history of the Revised Standard Versions of the English Bible translations and found they had been corrupted by the evil mystics out of Egypt of the first century who brought forth the Alexandrian text and then even later by Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901) John Anthony Hort (1828-1892) whom also were mystics.  These corrupted texts are now being used by nearly every English translation of the Bible in the modern world except the 1611 King James Version.  Satan was subtly attacking God’s word and the church was and is still today totally oblivious to it.

I remained loyal to God’s Holy word and to His 1611 King James translation.  I read the Holy Bible cover to cover six times in six years now (now on my seventh). In 2008, I started a youtube.com channel and started preaching the gospel online and producing videos proclaiming God’s truth. As I was proclaiming God’s truth online, I found myself in heated discussions and arguments daily with others over the truth. I was doing research daily into His word above what my daily reading was accomplishing. I was learning and being sharpened by God in His word.

I found myself being taught very complex doctrine in God’s word.  It seems that it is the meat of the scriptures.  Many Christians that I know or see online are just oblivious to what I am being shown.  I show these things to them and they are amazed but carry on in their lives as if it doesn’t matter that they were revealed a truth that they did not know.  If I was shown something new, I would be thankful and then, like a Burien, would investigate it.  In a previous church to which I had attended for four years, the pastor did not recognize me as someone who was being given great knowledge.

After much frustration about not being respected for my learnedness, I prayed to the Lord as to what I was to do.  I asked Him why has He been sharing these truths and not giving me the capacity to share these things.  What was I supposed to do with this knowledge that He had given me.  He did answer my prayer, almost immediately.  He put into my heart to seek the respect the way the rest of the world receives it.  Surely, nobody schooled by the Holy Spirit qualifies in this world as being knowledgeable.  One has to be schooled by the world and acquire a college degree.  The higher the degree the better. Then you have qualifications to teach God’s truth. To me it seems so ridiculous, but so true.  I had no desire to go back to school and even scorned it when somebody would suggest that I should.  While praying, God surprised me and said that I should go and get the college degrees.

So I started back to college in January of 2013. I had already achieved an A.A.S. in Business Management Technology from 1982.  After transferring my classes from that degree, I found that I needed to go through spring of 2015 to achieve by B.S. in Religion from Liberty University Online. While taking these college courses, I had found my knowledge of the scriptures to be extremely advanced.  I accomplished the Dean’s List every semester.  I saw heretical teaching by some of the instructors as most secular colleges teach on the heresies of Augustine from the fourth century.  Augustine was favored by the Papacy of Roman Catholics and declared a saint.  Heresies such as the “sons of Seth” being the sons of God in Genesis 6 was brought to being favored doctrine even today.  The heresy of dispensationalism where sign miracles have ceased since the days of the apostles is also brought in by Augustine. He also brought in the heresy that the demons in the New Testament were angels.  I became concerned about what the world really needed to know.  I found that the doctrine that I am to put forth in this book, is truly the meat of the Holy Bible. There are some that know and understand this and many that just don’t see it.  I strongly feel that it is my loyalty to the true uncorrupted translation of the King James Version of the Bible that has allowed me to pick up a deeper meaning of the scriptures that God had planned on us knowing.

God has revealed the truth of the scriptures to me and He has called upon me to write this book.  The teachings of this book are very important for us to understand but not crucial to our salvation.  I hope that you will be blessed by this teaching of The Feasts, The Harvests and the Resurrection.

CONTENTS

Ch

pg

Acknowledgments

13

1

In The Beginning

15

2

Atonement For Sin

26

3

The Feasts of The Lord

41

4

The Feast, The Harvest and The Resurrection

46

5

The 2nd Resurrection

112

6

Marriage of the Lamb (Bonus)

117

Final

Which resurrection will you choose?

129

Dedications

All scripture verses taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

Cover photo provided by Harvest Wallpaper

Photo on page 83 provided by www.raptureready.com

Photo on page 65 provided by www.bibleistrue.com

Other Photos used have been provided by those that desire to be anonymous.

References

Johnson, K. (Ed.). (2008). Ancient Book of Jasher. United States: Biblefacts.org.

Blue Letter Bible. (n.d.). Retrieved April 2014, from http://www.blueletterbible.org/

Chapter1

In The Beginning

In the Holy Scriptures, we need to first look at the Book of Genesis to find what happened to mankind to bring the purposes of the feasts, the harvests and the resurrection.  After God had finished His creation on the sixth day, He saw that it was “very good” which would mean perfect. Genesis 1: 31 “And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

Now, when one looks at chapter three in Genesis, one can find that the fall of mankind changed everything.  The world was then and even until now in a fallen state and mankind walked in a sinful, fleshly body. God had given His judgment for their sin to Satan and mankind. The verse that I will focus on is Genesis 3: 15 “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”  God announces to Satan that he will be at enmity between him and the “seed” of the women. This verse becomes the first prophecy of the Bible. It is very deep in meaning and gives mankind the first glimpse of hope after the fall in the Garden of Eden.  To look closer at this verse, one can look at the Hebrew word for “enmity” is 'eybah.  This can be translated as “hatred”. So Satan and his “seed” along with the woman and her “seed” shall have hatred towards each other.

Now historically, in the Old Testament, men were known for their seed in the bringing of offspring. What did God mean by the “seed” of the woman? As one continues through the Old Testament, one will find hundreds of prophecies of a coming “messiah” or savior. God gave mankind a clue to Genesis 3:15 in Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” One can see that the “seed” of the woman was actually a prophecy of a virgin birth?  There is no seed coming from a man. Immanuel is translated “God with us”.  What an amazing and encouraging proclamation to mankind!  God himself would be born from a virgin and walk the earth. One can use the “woman and her seed” being Eve and her offspring which is all of mankind and one can also look at this as being the virgin mother of Jesus Christ and the prophecy of the messiah to come.

The messiah was also prophesied to accomplish something very important.  Satan, or the “serpent”, was to have his head crushed by the messiah…”it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”  So the messiah was to come and win a major victory over Satan. In case you were born yesterday, I will reveal what this victory was to be.  The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was a victory over sin and death for mankind.  I will discuss more about the importance of this later.

With this victory, Satan has been condemned already by God.

Ezekiel 28: 14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

Satan will continue to be the “prince of this world” until Jesus Christ comes back to take back this world from him in His second coming.  From the Garden of Eden, Satan then had an endeavor to prevent the birth of the messiah in order to bring God’s promise to be broken.  One can only speculate that his condemnation would become void as well.   As Satan knows He has lost, he desires to bring as many down with him as he possibly can.  He has actually deceived many to believe that he can still win!

In the book of Genesis, one can see that there seems to be a spiritual chess match of moves and counter moves by God and Satan; this progresses on through the Old Testament.  If one looks at Genesis 4: 26 “And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.” This is a mistranslation from the original Hebrew. The Targum of Onkelos has this verse saying “desisted from praying in the name of the Lord”  The Targum of Onkelos in Israel is the most highly respected manuscript of the original Hebrew text.  If one were to see that Enos was really the first apostate in history, he probably had been influenced by Satan.  That is mere speculation, but from the rest of scripture, one can probably conclude that to being so.  If one wanted a second opinion on Genesis 4:26, one can look in the Book of Jasher.  This is an accurate history book of the times before the flood and even after. The word of God refers to the Book of Jasher and its truths in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18.  The book of Jasher quotes in chapter 2 “And Seth lived one hundred and five years, and he begat a son; and Seth called the name of his son Enosh, saying, because in that time the sons of men began to multiply, and to afflict their souls and hearts by transgressing and rebelling against God.”(1) Satan, knowing that he needs to somehow stop this birth of the messiah, brings apostasy to mankind.  He sent a remnant of fallen angels to entice the daughters of men.  The seduction of these women to these godlike angels was an ingenious way to corrupt the DNA of mankind so that the messiah could not be born.  A hybrid “seed” of the women would not bring the perfect redemption for mankind.  In Genesis 6, one can see that Satan almost succeeded.

Genesis 6: 4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

1. The Ancient Book of Jasher, p. 12

We all know the story in the Bible about Noah and the flood.  As one can read in Genesis, Noah and his family will repopulate the earth, and see how evil continues to show up while God always counters that evil with amazing countermoves to outsmart His adversary.  After God confuses the languages and scatters the populations (Genesis 11), one can see similar occult religions scatter with those that were scattered.  The mystery religion from the Tower of Babel scatters everywhere the people had scattered. Every ancient culture shows their history in sun god and moon goddess worship. From Greco-Roman Isis/Osiris and Horus to Baal/Ishtar and Tammuz of Babylon, the same basic idol worship of the gods existed to the farthest locations on the planet.

Meanwhile, as Abraham was to be blessed by God with the land of Israel, God gave him insight on what His plan was for Abraham’s generations to come.  This was a prophecy of the captivity of Israel in Egypt and then the exile back to the land. God informed Abraham that the Amorites were being given four hundred years to repent of their wickedness, then God would send the children of Israel back to the Promised Land.

Genesis 15: 13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age .16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

God would use Joshua, the Judges and later King David to rid the land of the pagan idolatry and the hybrids that had returned.  Satan knew that Israel was the promised nation that the “seed” of the woman would come out of.  With Satan’s dominion of angels and demons, he obviously could hear the conversation happening between Abraham and God.  Satan knew that after four hundred years Israel would be returning to that land God had promised full of milk and honey. Having heard God tell Abraham this, Satan then could plan for their return four hundred years later.

Numbers 13: 32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

Satan set a huge trap for God’s chosen nation. When the people of Israel returned back to this land, there was a culture of hybrids and occult religions already there.  God knew that if He didn’t command a total annihilation of these hybrid cultures, this already mixed hybrid race would be prone to interbreed with His chosen nation that was to bring in the messiah. God showed no mercy to those nations with the interbred DNA of the angels.  They were not human nor were they redeemable.  They were unlike the people of Nineveh in the Book of Jonah, whom God did allow them mercy and repentance.

Satan continued to seduce Israel to idolatry all the way into captivity to Assyria and then Babylon. It seemed sometimes almost hopeless to the faithful of God. Lamentations 1: 3 “Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.”  God knew that His ultimate plan for the redemption of mankind depended on the preservation of a nation set apart from the others whom were corrupt both spiritually and genetically.  God had a plan for salvation of the human race and Satan was no match for Him.

Back when Moses brought Israel out of Egypt, God prepared them for their re-entry back into the Promised Land. He cleansed them from an evil, hard hearted heathen that caused division and rebellion amongst them.  He gave them the Ten Commandments as well as his expectations and laws to abide in. The Ten Commandments were given to point out ones sins that they were committing and to show them that they needed forgiveness for the evil that they had committed against God.  They were commanded to perform sacrificial blood atonements for their sins.  The severity of sin was made very bloody and disturbing.  Little did they know that this was to prepare them for their redeemer that was to come to them in the near future.

Chapter2

Atonement for Sin

Since the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden, sin has separated man from God.  God is a Holy God and He cannot dwell with sin.  We saw how God killed an animal to cloth Adam and Eve to hide their nakedness in Genesis 3:21 “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”  This can be seen as the first blood atonement for sin.  From as early as Cain and Abel did we see sacrificial atonement which is a sacrificial burnt offering unto the Lord.  This was usually unblemished lambs or goats but would eventually be bullocks, oxen and even doves.  You can read in Genesis 4: 3 “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.  4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering:” The text does not say that it was for atonement for sin, but it can be understood that it may have been in worship and trust in God. One can see these burnt sacrifices continue as one moves forward to Abraham whom also sacrificed to God. Abraham is first seen building an alter unto the Lord in Genesis 12: 7 “And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.”  From what can be learned from Abraham and his relationship with God, he was righteous in God’s eyes because of his belief in God.

Genesis 15: 1”After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. 2 And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? 3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 4 And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6 And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”

Here we see how God never changes.  God in both the Old Testament as well as the New Testament declares a man righteous upon that man’s belief in Him or trust in Him.  You will see an additional sacrificial offering in Genesis 22.  The offering in Genesis 22 was to be an offering of Abraham’s promised son Isaac.  This event marked a sign of the sacrificial atonement for mankind that God was to do in the future.  For God the Father was to sacrifice His only begotten son as a sin atonement for all of mankind.  I thank God for choosing Abraham for this test.  For if Abraham had failed, would have God gone forward with His plan?  Knowing God is true to His word, we can rest assured that he would have kept His promise to us from Genesis 3:15.

Genesis 22:  9 “And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.”

A very interesting sacrificial offering happened in Exodus 18.  Here we have Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, offering a burnt sacrifice to God showing his praise and belief in Him. Jethro, the priest of Median, had heard everything that God had done exiling Israel out of Egypt and he became a believer right there.  This burnt sacrifice done by Jethro was done before God had given the law to Moses as well as the atonement requirements.  Jethro was a gentile and he believed.

Genesis 18:  10 “And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them. 12 And Jethro, Moses' father in law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father in law before God.”

Up to this point, it seems that only the true believer in God sacrifices to God in worship and belief. God didn’t expect burnt offerings for any selfish reason as if He had to be worshipped.  He had a deeper purpose for these burnt offerings or “blood sacrifices”.   The ground work in the beginning laid the habitual sacrificial blood atonement for the future.  Israel was brought out of Egypt led by Moses through the total dependency on the power of God to get them out.  Israel had grown to, many believe, over a million people and had lived four generations in a pagan culture worshipping the gods of Egypt.  God showed them signs that only a real God could perform.

1. Water into blood: Exodus 7:14–25

2. Frogs: Ex. 7:25–8:11

3. Lice: Ex. 8:16–19

4. Flies: Ex. 8:20–32

5. Deceased livestock: Ex. 9:1–7

6. Boils: Ex. 9:8–12

7. Hail Storm of fire: Ex. 9:13–35

8. Locusts: Ex. 10:1–20

9. Darkness: Ex. 10:21–29

10. Death of firstborn: Ex. 11:1–12:36

Now the tenth of the plagues that actually caused the Pharaoh to give in and let Moses free the Jews was the “death of the first born”.  This plague was significant and meaningful.  God did not want them to forget this one even if they forgot all of the others.  God commanded Moses to have the Jews to kill a lamb and brush its blood on the outside door posts and lintel.

Exodus 12: 21 “Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the Passover. 22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. 24 And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever.”

Notice how God proclaims this “kill the Passover” in verse 21.  They call it the Passover even before the event happened.  This obviously is later called the Feast of Passover which is the first of the seven annual Feasts of the Lord. Death passes over their house if their door posts and lintels are covered by the “blood of the lamb”.  How symbolic can God be?  God has now made two symbolic sacrificial (Isaac and Passover) atonements to Israel reflecting His future redemption for mankind.

Up until the time of Moses, sin was not well known as being written laws to abide in.  Mankind had a conscience that told them what was right and wrong.  As one reads the Old Testament and books like the Book of Jasher, one can see mankind was very wicked and let themselves be driven by their fleshly desires and even demonic influences of Satan.  Satan, his fallen angels and the demons that roamed the earth, brought in many religions to confuse mankind and give them false security in the worship of false gods.  God needed to preserve a people whom would believe in Him and trust in His promises.  God needed the nation of Israel to be set apart, separate from the other nations whom were very wicked and worshiped false gods under demonic influences.  This would be the only way that He could bring in the messiah and have His plan for redemption accepted.  No pagan nation would ever accept a messiah if they had no sense of what sin was and that it is an offense to the one true living God.  With the constant attacks by the adversary to stop the messiah from being born, God was able to bring Israel through and to realize that they needed a messiah.  God brought Israel out of Egypt and brought them to Mt. Sinai to teach them His laws and commandments.

Once Moses and Israel were led by God to Mt. Sinai, God then commanded Moses to come to Him into the mountain.  God made a covenant with Israel to be His Holy nation as an example to the world.

Exodus 19: 3 And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; 4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. 5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

On this day in the 3rd month on the 3rd day, God brought Moses to Him to give to Israel His laws.  God gave His Ten Commandments to Moses in the mountain to bring down to the people of Israel.  He actually was bringing them to the world.  The law that was given to the world brings our inequities to our realization.  Romans 7: 9 “For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.”  The law was not given to save us from God’s wrath, it was to help us to realize that we needed a savior.

Exodus 19: 18 “And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. 19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. 20 And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.”

Moses went up on Mt Sinai and He brought the Ten Commandments down.  This day changed the world and how mankind could view how bad he really was.  Mankind now had a standard, a measuring rod to compare to.  The law showed mankind how desperately wicked his heart is.  It also showed that it is impossible to uphold this law in order to be right with such a Holy and righteous God.

Exodus 20: 3 “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

6 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

12 Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

13 Thou shalt not kill.

14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

15 Thou shalt not steal.

16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.”

In bringing the law, He also gave them requirements on how to perform the sacrifices for their atonement.  This atonement was done in repetition and was in no way a permanent atonement.  As soon as someone was atoned for, he would sin within the hour in most cases and be guilty once again.  God would see into their hearts to know if they really did believe and trust in Him.  Just as Abraham was counted righteous for his belief in God, so would the children of Israel through their obedience and trust in God.

If you read Leviticus 1-7, God revealed His requirements on what formalities were to be taken as the priests performed the sacrifices.  There were different types of offerings which required different formalities to be performed.  These offerings were burnt offerings, meat offerings, peace offerings, sin (through ignorance) offerings and trespass offerings.  Each offering had a different ritual to be performed exactly as the Lord had required. God made a big deal out of this training on the offering to be made unto Him.  He made an appearance unto the people after Aaron and His sons performed the first offerings.

Leviticus 9: 1“And it came to pass on the eighth day, that Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel; 2 And he said unto Aaron, Take thee a young calf for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, without blemish, and offer them before the Lord. 3 And unto the children of Israel thou shalt speak, saying, Take ye a kid of the goats for a sin offering; and a calf and a lamb, both of the first year, without blemish, for a burnt offering; 4 Also a bullock and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the Lord; and a meat offering mingled with oil: for today the Lord will appear unto you. 5 And they brought that which Moses commanded before the tabernacle of the congregation: and all the congregation drew near and stood before the Lord. 6 And Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord commanded that ye should do: and the glory of the Lord shall appear unto you.”

The excitement of the sacrifice unto the Lord was in the air as they anticipated the appearance of the glory of God.  In obedience to what God had commanded, they performed the offerings as God specified, and God kept His promise.   How amazing it would be to have the glory of the Lord appear to us.  I would shout and fall on my face just like the people of Israel did!

Leviticus 9: 22 “And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them, and came down from offering of the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and peace offerings. 23 And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people. 24 And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.”

Chapter3

The Feasts of the Lord

Leviticus 23: 2 “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.”

Leviticus 23: 4“These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.”

Let us first look at these two very important verses in Leviticus 23 and review the original Hebrew text for these words that are underlined.  The word “feasts” in the original Hebrew is the word mow`ed.  This is Strong’s Lexicon H4150.  The definition of the word mow`ed is an appointed place, appointed time, meeting.  God had given Israel divine appointments.  The word “convocations” in the Hebrew text is the word miqra'.  This is Strong’s Lexicon H4744.  The definition of the word miqra' is convocation, sacred assembly.  Now let us look at the word “seasons”.  Interestingly, the word “seasons” in the original Hebrew is the word mow`ed.  This is Strong’s Lexicon H4150 also.  While we are going over the word “seasons”, let’s look at Genesis 1: 14 “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:”. “Seasons” in Genesis 1:14 can be referenced to the Hebrew for the word mow`ed also.

God has used the planets, stars and moon for signs of coming and fulfilled prophecies all through the Bible.  The Feast of Trumpets cannot happen without the first siting of the new moon in the first day of the month of Tishri. This is the biblical “new year”.  The Star of Bethlehem was a sign of the birth of Christ.  The first and last feast day takes place on the fourteenth day of the month which also brings a full moon.  With full moons, there is a chance for a “blood moon” occasionally.  A “blood moon” is a lunar eclipse which is caused by the alignment with the sun, earth and moon.  The earth blocks the sun’s light to the moon giving it a red glow.  Take a look at a few of many examples of events or signs of the heavens:

Joshua 10: 13 “And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.”

Isaiah 38: 8 “Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.”

Joshua 2: 31” The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.”

From looking at the definitions of these words from the original Hebrew text, we can see that God has set divine appointments for Israel to remember.  God knows that there needs to be a celebration so to keep Israel’s focus on those days.  He made them holy convocations or meetings.  He had burnt offerings assigned to each of these feast days.  He has established seven feasts with Israel to celebrate each year.  There are four spring feasts and three fall feasts.  The four spring Feasts are The Feast of Passover, The Feast of Unleavened Bread, The Feast of First Fruits and the Feast of Pentecost (Feast of Weeks) or Feast of Shavuot.  The three fall feasts are the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah), The Feast of Atonement (Yom Kippur) and the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot).   God needed Israel to remember these days.  Through scripture, He reminded them of the coming messiah. He gave them a prophecy that the messiah would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14).  He gave them a prophecy that he would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).  So many to list, I will give the few and then move on to my point.

Chapter 4

The Feasts, The Harvest and The Resurrection

God provided Israel with the exact day that the messiah would ride into Jerusalem.  The Pharisees and the elders of Israel already had figured out that the day was coming and they knew enough to be able to realize that exact day.  There are many theories on what decree to rebuild the temple and restore Jerusalem was intended by Daniel. I will not go into the complexity of these theories.  Jesus made his statement in Luke 19 as He rode into the city that implies that they should have known that day that He was going to visit them.

Luke 19: 41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes. 43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”

Daniel 9: 25 “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.”

So with the prophecy given to Israel of the day that the messiah would arrive, the Jews looked forward to that day.  The reason I bring up this day is because there was also a command from God in preparing for the Feast of Passover even since the time of Moses. God had Israel looking forward to the messiah and in the same time celebrating His feast days.  The Jews just didn’t get it!  The feast days were linked to the messiah!

Exodus 12: 3 “Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: 4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: 6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.”

Notice how Israel brought a lamb without blemish into their house and they treated it as a pet for four days until the fourteenth day of the month.  The fourteenth day of that month is the Feast of Passover.  The Passover lamb lived with them for four days. The children got pretty attached to this lamb and even possibly the adults might be likely to have developed an attachment to this cute, fuzzy, little lamb as well.  It must have been pretty devastating to have to slit this little lamb’s throat four days later just for their sins that they had committed over the last year.

This lamb, living in the home from the tenth day of the month (Nissan) to the fourteenth day, is a reflection of the glorious entry into Jerusalem by Jesus Christ on Palm Sunday.  Jesus would have dwelt among the people as the messiah four days before the Feast of Passover.

Luke 19: 41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes. 43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”

Jesus, as He wept, realized that Jerusalem had to be destroyed because the majority of Jerusalem did not acknowledge Him as Messiah on the exact day that was prophesized in Daniel 9:25.  He rode in on Nissan 10 as the Passover Lamb of God.

In reference to what Jesus had proclaimed riding in, he said,” that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another”.  He later spoke something similar known as “the Olivet Discourse” in Mark 13:2 and also Matthew 24: 2 “And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.”

There is an important reason that the city of Jerusalem and the temple was to be destroyed.  God could not let the Jews to continue to worship Him using the temple and the sacrifice of animals for sin atonement.  As you read in Matthew 27:51-52, the temple was heavily damaged and the veil was torn from top to bottom.  It was done as a “sign” to the priests.  This meant that one no longer needed to be separated from God.  With the sacrifice of the Lamb of God complete, all one needed to do is believe and trust in Jesus Christ and one had free access to God anytime.  The temple worship had to be discontinued. The Pharisees tried to continue the animal sacrifices for another 40 years, but was stopped abruptly by the invasion of the Romans in A.D. 70.  To this day, the Jews have not had a temple nor sacrifices for atonement for sin.  God will let them build another temple very soon for the events to take place in the seven year tribulation to come known as the 70th Week of Daniel or Jacob’s trouble.

Matthew 27: 50 “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;”

Please note in Matthew 24, Jesus was talking to His disciples warning the Jews about the coming tribulation that they would go through as He spoke of the “Abomination of Desolations” that the Jews would witness during the seven year tribulation.  This was intentional to have a different warning for the Jews than for the Christians.  Speaking to the Christians in Luke 21, Jesus gave a more detailed revelation of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.

Luke 21: 20 “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. 21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter therein to. 22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”

In Luke 21, Jesus was speaking to the Christians and warning them to flee when they see the city compassed with armies.  Many Christians remembered what Jesus had said and did flee Jerusalem.  Flavius Josephus was the famous Jewish historian whom wrote of the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.  He was very thorough in his observation of the events of that time.  He makes no notes of any Christians having been killed in Jerusalem in his coverage of that event.  This revelation by Jesus about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple confirmed the prophecy in Daniel 9:26.

Daniel 9: 26 “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.”

If one checks back in history, one will find that Titus and the Roman army invaded and destroyed the temple in A.D. 70.   The prophecies in Daniel 9:26, Luke 19, Luke 21, and Matthew 24 all came true.

The first of the seven Feasts of the Lord is the Feast of Passover.  I have explained the details of how this day came about in the 2nd chapter of this book.  The Lord had given Israel instructions on how to eat the Passover Feast just before that first Passover evening in Egypt had come.

Exodus 12: 6 “And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. 7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. 8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the pertinence thereof. 10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. 11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord's Passover.”

The fourteenth day of their first biblical month was the day spent by the Jews in remembrance of that day God sent the spirit of death to kill the first born of Egypt to bring to the nation Israel their freedom from bondage that they had endured 430 years.  The significance of this Feast of Passover is only matched by the Feast of First Fruits in importance.  Sadly the Jews, even today, still don’t realize the Feast of Passover as a day of sacrifice that their messiah had made for them.  However, a Christian looks at this Feast of Passover as a magnificent act of love that God the Father sacrificed His only begotten Son for all of mankind.  God brought redemption to us just as He promised back in Genesis 3:15.

Leviticus 23: 5 “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's Passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.”

Since the Passover meal was accompanied with unleavened bread on their table, the Feast of Passover was adopted into being called the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was meant to be started on the fifteenth day of the month or day after the Feast of Passover.  The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a seven day Feast.  Through Jewish tradition, it was combined into an eight day Feast of Unleavened Bread where they ate the Feast of Passover on the first day which was the fourteenth day of the month.

Matthew 26:17 “Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?”

I would like to link the events of the New Testament with these first two feast days.  The timing is important so that one can see that the scriptures give an accurate account.  For many centuries, most of the church has been deceived by false doctrines on the crucifixion day of Christ.  These doctrines that say that the crucifixion happened on Friday and then Christ rose again on Sunday actually call Jesus a liar.  Jesus is quoted in saying in Matthew 12:40 “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” A Friday death doesn’t give Jesus three days and three nights to be in the heart of the earth and be resurrected on Sunday morning.

If you look in Mark 11:1-10, it speaks about Jesus and His triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  This was the tenth day of the month of Nisan.  Then if you keep reading in Mark 11, you will find a verse that tells you it turns to the morrow or next day. Mark 11: 12 “And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:” This would be the eleventh day of the month of Nisan which would be a Monday.  Then you move to verses 19-20, you will see another day pass.  This makes it the twelfth day of the month of Nisan or Tuesday. Mark 11: 19 “And when even was come, he went out of the city. 20 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.” If you keep reading through, you will find verse one of Mark 14. It says after two days was the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread. Notice how they call the Passover the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Mark 14: 1After two days was the feast of the Passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death.  This brings The Feast of Passover to the fourteenth day of Nisan which was a Thursday. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is the fifteenth day of the month of Nisan and was a Friday.

Luke 22: 13 “And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the Passover. 14 And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. 15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer:”

Before I go into the timing of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, I want to go over the traditional timekeeping of Israel. The Jewish "day" starts at sunset, rather than at midnight.  If you read the story of creation in Genesis chapter 1, you will notice that it says, "And there was evening, and there was morning, one day." From this, Israel infers that a day begins with evening; that is at sunset.  Sunset is at 6pm, so therefore the day begins at 6pm.  When most sources discuss the molad, it is understood that Israel uses 6pm of the preceding evening as the "zero hour."  Then one can count the 12th hour to be 6am. Just as we do, we continue and call the hours from the 12th hour again such as the 1st hour and so do the Jews as 1st hour, 2nd hour and so on. The 6th hour was in the daylight after 6am which was our 12pm and 9th hour was our 3pm.  Then 6pm becomes the “zero hour” just as 12 midnight is for us.

So when Jesus and the disciples ate the Passover meal or as we now call it “The Lord’s Supper”, it was evening after 6pm on Thursday, Nisan 14.  This would be equal to Wednesday night for the rest of us.  Midnight for us is the “zero hour” when in Israel, 6pm is the “zero hour”.  Wednesday turned into Thursday at 6pm that night of the Passover meal. If you then follow the timing of that evening into the time after 12am came the time in the garden of Gethsemane which was still Thursday, then the capture of Jesus on to the trials in the early morning which was still Thursday. The scourging and then the cross being carried to Golgotha was Thursday early morning.  He was hung on the cross at 9am Thursday the fourteenth day of Nissan which was still the Feast of Passover.  Mark 15: 25 “And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.”   At 6am was the “12th hour” like our noon.  The 3rd hour is 3 hours after 6am which was 9am that they first hung Jesus on the cross.  This is still Thursday, Nisan fourteen.

Matthew 27: 45 “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

As one reads Matthew 27:45-46, one can see that there was complete darkness over all the land from noon until 3pm which is still Thursday, Nisan fourteen. The sixth hour passed 6am is 12 noon and then the ninth hour past 6am is 3pm. We do know that He died on the Feast of Passover which was between 3pm and 5:59pm.  How do we know this?  God is perfect and through His plan and will, He died on the Feast of Passover. Jesus Christ was the Passover Lamb of God who died for complete atonement for all of our sins.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread was to begin at 6pm, which would be that Friday, the fifteenth day of the Month of Nisan.  This was a seven day feast where they could not have any leaven in their food for these seven days.  The significance of this day is that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life and was buried on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  His sinless body was buried at the evening after His death.

Matthew 26: 26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

Matthew 27: 57 “When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: 59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.”

If one looks in the Old Testament, one will find leaven was not allowed during the first three Feasts days.  The Feast of First Fruits was that third feast day that was inside of the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  In the New Testament we find many instances where leaven represents sin.

1 Corinthians 5:8 “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

Jesus used the word leaven when He described the hypocrisy of the Pharisees In Luke 12.

Luke 12: 1“In the meantime, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”

The Feast of First Fruits-Leviticus 23: 10 “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: 11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.”

The Feast of First Fruits is where we start to see The Harvest and The Resurrection start to blend in with the Feasts of the Lord.  Up to this point, Jesus Christ died on the cross as the Passover Lamb of God on The Feast of Passover.  He was then buried or put in a tomb on the first day of The Feast of Unleavened Bread. The next feast day on the calendar was The Feast of First Fruits.  If one notices in Leviticus 23:11, it was to be accomplished on the “morrow” of the Sabbath. This was the first fruits of the barley harvest which was the first crop to become ripe that year.  So the agricultural significance of the first fruits was the first reaping of the barley harvest in the spring time month of Abib; this is just as the barley became abib which means “ripe”.  The month of Abib, an agricultural reckoning for the first month of the religious year was also named the month of Nisan. The Feast of First Fruits came on the day following the Sabbath (the weekly or seventh day Sabbath) that came after the Feast of Passover. It was the first day of the week and a workday. This was a workday to commence the barley harvest.

There are many Christian scholars that like to accept the lie that Jesus was crucified on Friday and rose again on the third day being Sunday.  He was risen on Sunday the third day and night after the crucifixion which was on Thursday.

Luke 18: 31 “Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, ‘Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. 32 For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: 33 And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again’.”

My very belief and point is that Jesus himself said (Matthew 12:40) He would be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.  The length of time cannot be two days and three nights nor two days and two nights nor three nights and two days.  That would contradict a direct quote from Jesus.

Thursday 3pm-5:59 pm He died = 1st day

Friday 6pm-5:59am = 1st night

Friday 6am-5:59 pm = 2nd day

Saturday 6pm-5:59am = 2nd night

Saturday 6am-5:59pm = 3rd day

Sunday 6pm-5:59am =3rd night -He was risen!

Matthew 28:28 “In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.”

The Jews would obey the commandment of God and on the first workday following the first regular Sabbath after The Feast of Passover, they would waive the first fruits of their barley harvest.  The Feast of First Fruits was a divine appointment set by God to Israel to prepare them for the future redemption that they would look forward to. Little did they know that it symbolized the First Fruits of the Resurrection of Life.  Jesus Christ arose that first day after the Sabbath fulfilling the third Feast of the Lord in the exact order on the exact day. The time between Jesus’s death on the cross and His resurrection was three days and nights that passed.

Where was Jesus Christ during those three days and nights?   Matthew 12:40 “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”  With the verse in Matthew 12, one can understand that Jesus Christ spent three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  What was He doing in the heart of the earth? One can look into scriptures for the answers.  In Ephesians 4:8-10, one can read the Apostle Paul’s explanation of what Jesus was doing in the heart of the earth for 3 days.

In Ephesians 4: 8 “Wherefore he saith, ‘When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)”

Paul explains that Jesus descended down to the center of the earth before he ascended to heaven.  He “led captivity captive”?   Jesus Christ, having died on the cross, fulfilled Genesis 3:15.  He crushed the head of Satan even though Satan bruised Christ’s heel by sending Him to the cross.  The sting of death was no longer to those who would believe. From the Garden of Eden to the last breath Jesus took on the cross, there was a place called hell where all souls went after they died a physical death on this fallen world. Hell was a two compartment waiting place.  One side is bottomless, dark, hot, painful and hopeless.  The other side was a pleasant place called “Abraham’s bosom” where the saints from the Old Testament went and stayed waiting for the messiah to come and fulfill what God had promised.  Jesus had spoken about this in the story about Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16.  It was a true story because He used names of real people. In all of the parables that Jesus ever told, he never used real names of actual people.  Abraham was a real person and so therefore so was Lazarus.

Luke 16:  22 “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.”

The Old Testament saints were still prisoners to the sins that they had committed in their life on earth. They needed a redeemer to pay the price for the sins they had committed.  Only God could have lived the sinless life and then have the “value” of whom He is to be the only acceptable sacrifice for the sins of all mankind that would believe.  If a normal man had lived a sinless life and died on the cross, would that satisfy God’s price for the sins of all mankind?  If an angel had done this, would the value of an angel be enough?  I think not.  It was the value of whom Jesus is as the only begotten Son of God the Father in Heaven that makes His value worthy of paying for the sins for all mankind.  This is why the “virgin birth” is so important to the gospel.  If Mary wasn’t a virgin, then how would we be sure that Jesus was the Son of God?  God the Son was sufficient for the sins of mankind.  And Jesus said “It is finished” and that was when the price was paid in full.

1 Corinthians 15: 20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 tells us that Jesus Christ is the firstfruits of them that slept.  If you ask who was sleeping, then one would have to say that all those that died before He died that were waiting for their messiah to come.   These were those that lived their life for God and trusted Him that He was going to send the messiah.  You can see in verse 23, God has an order. He resurrects us in an order.  It means there is more than one phase of resurrection.  There is a verse in John 5:29 that states that there are only two resurrections.  The resurrection of life and the resurrection of damnation. The resurrection of life has three phases similar to the harvest.  I will explain this a little later.

Isaiah 26:19 “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.”

Jesus descended down to the center of the earth and gathered the Old Testament Saints and took them captive and led them, already in captivity, captive to victory as they were resurrected and ascended to heaven with God the Son!  Praise the Lord!  Notice in Matthew 27:52-53 how the Old Testament Saints had resurrected after Jesus and walked into the city of Jerusalem.  That would be amazing to see King David, Isaiah and Jeremiah with the many other famous prophets walking through Jerusalem greeting people.

Matthew 27: 52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

It probably wasn’t long after the saints were resurrected that Jesus then led them to heaven.  One can read in John 20 that Jesus was about to ascend up after speaking with Mary.  The Feast of First Fruits was fulfilled and once again on the exact day by Jesus Christ as He resurrected from the dead.  His victory over death guarantees all Christians a resurrection someday as well.

John 20: 14 “And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. 17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.”

The fourth Feast of the Lord is the Feast of Pentecost or also called the Feast of Weeks.  The barley harvest was the first harvest celebration of the year.  Then counting out fifty days from firstfruits (waive offering) as day number one and going out seven full weeks or seven full Sabbaths as stipulated in Leviticus 23:15-16, then came day forty nine to the next day the 50th day.  This was the 1st day of the week (Sunday) which came the Feast of Pentecost. This summer feast day was celebrated as the first day of the wheat harvest.

Leviticus 23: 15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete: 16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.

Look at how God had brought these feast days to being significant days in their annual harvest schedule.  Jesus has fulfilled the first three annual feast days on their exact day.  What does the messiah have to do with harvesting of your crops?  Here is where you should start to make sense of the link between Jesus Christ and the Feasts, the Harvest and how they correlate with the resurrection of life.

God has an outlook on the advancement of His Heavenly Kingdom.  Harvesting crops are how God looks at the redemption of His people.  His people will spend eternity with Him. There are so many scriptural verses referring to a harvest.  The Feast of Pentecost is an important Feast Day of the Lord.  Traditionally Israel started their wheat harvest season on Pentecost and it lasted four months until the main ingathering of their fall harvest.  Look at how Jesus is quoted looking at the Samaritans in John chapter four and remarking as if He was looking at harvest time.

John 4:35 “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”

The Feast of Pentecost was fulfilled and is still being fulfilled by Jesus Christ.  The church age that we currently live in started in the house where the church was waiting in obedience to what Jesus had told them to do. God, in His wisdom, knew that His church could not endure the darkness of this world with Satan and his dominion ready to attack at every opportunity.  God sent the Holy Spirit down to dwell inside His people to guide them and give them great power over the enemy.

Acts 1: 8” But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.  9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. ”

Luke 24: 49 “And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.”

Jesus Christ fulfilled the fourth feast day called the Feast of Pentecost on the exact day in the exact order.  The correlation with the four harvest months of summer for the main crop ties this feast day to the main harvest and resurrection of God’s people.  The church age started that day on Pentecost and we still live in those four summer months of the harvest.  Soon there will be an ingathering of the main harvest of God’s people.  That will be the rapture of the church.  God will gather His church to pull her out of this world so that He can fulfill His promises to Israel.  Each day, as we preach the gospel or good news of salvation to the lost and they believe, we are adding to God’s Kingdom.  God’s Kingdom is growing everyday!

Acts 2: 1 “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

John 16: 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.

Jesus told us about the Holy Spirit to bring to us what we should expect from Him.  There are some apostasies in the world that use the concept of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to bring in occult rituals and demonic possession to represent Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit when in fact it is a satanic deception to deceive the many.  To avoid deception by one of these apostasies, read God’s word (preferably the King James Version for English translations) and compare what is happening with this church when it tries to display what that spirit is doing.  If God’s word doesn’t show this as an example in the revealing in the New Testament, then it isn’t of God.

As the church awaits Jesus Christ, she looks forward to the ingathering with Him.  In scripture, the church is known as the “bride” of Christ.  Jesus is the bridegroom and has been preparing a place for His bride in His Father’s house in Heaven.

John 14: 1” Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 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. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

When can the church expect Jesus to return?  He has told His bride to keep watch for Him.  He gave all Christians conditions of the world that signal us that His time to return draws near. God has also given His people a feast day or divine appointment to keep watch for.  Every year, Israel celebrates the Feast of Trumpets and looks forward to God to send their messiah.  In case you haven’t picked this up yet, the fall feast days have yet to be fulfilled.  Since God has fulfilled the first four feast days in their exact order and on the exact days, one should conclude that God will continue to fulfill the remaining three fall feast days in their exact order on their exact day.

Leviticus 23:24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

The next feast day to be fulfilled is the Feast of Trumpets also called Yom Teruah which means “day of the awakening blast”.  Other names for this day are Rosh Hashanah, Yom Hazicharon is a rabbinic name which means “day of remembrance”, Yom Hadin is a rabbinic name which means “the day of judgment” and there is Zicharon Teruah which means “shout for joy”. It is believed that Zicharon Teruah was the first day of creation and the angels shout for joy this day in celebration.  The Feast of Trumpets is unique in that it will not start until the first siting of the new moon for the year.  When it is New Year’s Eve in Israel and the watchmen keep watch for the siting of the new moon.  When they see the new moon, they blow the shofarim.  This day is known as the first day of the seventh month also called Tishri 1. Historically, the Jews celebrated this forty eight hours between Tishri 1 and 2. This day typically falls between early September and late September, depending on the year.

Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of “the days of Awe” or yamim nora’im which, historically in Judaism, the righteous are written in the Book of Life” and the unrighteous are written in the Book of Death.  Most people would not be written in either and they spent the next ten days in repentance of their sins which led to the Feast of Atonement also none as Yom Kippur.  Yom Kippur is the climax of the ten “days of awe” to which everybody’s fate would be sealed in either the Book of Life or the Book of Death.

In Judaism, there are three trumpets (shofarim) that have a name. They are the first trump, the last trump, and the great trump.  Each one of these trumpets indicates a specific day in the Jewish year. The first trump is blown on the Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost) (Exodus 19:19). It proclaimed that God had betrothed Himself to Israel. The last trump is synonymous with Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets). The great trumpet is blown on Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. Messianic Jews believe this will herald the return of the Jesus the Christ back to earth.

The sound of God’s trumpet will blow on that glorious day.  We have been given some encouraging passages in scripture about the rapture of the church.  If one looks at the passage in Exodus 23:16, you can see that the Jewish years ends and the “ingathering” happens.  The Feast of Trumpets proclaims the end of the Jewish year and the beginning of the New Year.  In this verse in Exodus, God speaks through Moses giving instruction on the finish of the harvest season.  The final ingathering will conclude on Sukkot or Feast of Tabernacles.

Exodus 23:16 “And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labors, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field.”

There are those that refuse to realize that God will blow His trumpet and gather His church.  God has only blown His trumpet once in the history of creation. He blew His trumpet on Pentecost at Mt Sinai when He and the nation Israel consummated a marriage between them.  This was when Moses was given the Ten Commandments. God blew His trumpet and it was a loud, long blast.  It was recognized as being God’s voice.  This is interesting because the rapture passages have these same recognizable traits. Please notice how the Feast of Pentecost is linked to this first time God blew His trumpet.  It is called “the first trump” and is blown every year on the Feast of Pentecost.

Exodus 19:16”And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.”

Exodus 19: 19 “And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.”

In the verse in 1 Corinthians 15:52, one can notice that the rapture, or “harpazo” in the Greek, is sounded off with “the last trump”.  If you remember in the previous pages, the shofarim for the Feast of Trumpets is called “the last trump”.

Corinthians 15:51“Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”

In the passage in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, One can see that the rapture is initiated by “the trump of God”.  There are those that do not understand scripture and mistranslate these two passages as being blown during the Tribulation period by the angel that blows the seventh trumpet judgment.  It is God’s trumpet in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 that we see here and not an angel’s trumpet as one reads in Revelation 11:15! The seventh trumpet blown by angel in Revelation11:15 is blown in judgment while “the last trump” is blown in blessing and celebration to the Bride of Christ.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Verse 18 of 1 Thessalonians 4 tells us to comfort one another with these words.  If the church has to endure through any part of the Seven Years Tribulation Period or 70th week of Daniel, how can one comfort someone with this?  I am comforted knowing that I do not have to be here for that terrible time on earth.

Another rapture verse is in Revelation chapter four.  Here, one can read that John the Apostle being called to heaven by a voice that sounds of a trumpet. This seems to fit right in with these other passages.

Revelation 4: 1” After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.”

Now that the main harvest and the resurrection is being covered, there seems to be a doctrine that the scripture brings forth.  The resurrection is spoken of in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.  If one was to look at Leviticus chapter 23, one will see that God has put all seven feast days in that chapter.  He has also mingled in the three phases of the harvest with the feast days. God commands Israel how to harvest their crops and when. If one takes a closer look, it can be concluded that God has put the harvest in three phases. The first fruits of the harvest followed by the main harvest while leaving the four corners of the field alone.  This is for the poor to glean.  This is a wonderful sign of God’s mercy!

Leviticus 23:22 “And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the Lord your God.”

One should look at the first fruits of the harvest as representative of the First Fruits of the Resurrection which has already been witnessed in Christ’s first advent with us. One should then think of the main harvest of the crops representative to the Rapture of the Church.  The gleaning of the four corners of the fields is representative of the Tribulation Saints that are killed between the rapture and the 2nd coming of Christ. Taking a look at the gleaning of the four corners, the Tribulation Saints seem fit in just like the strangers and the poor were in Israel’s past; they too are poor and deserve pity having to go through that time of suffering.

The Resurrection of life has three phases.  The First Fruits of the Resurrection, the Rapture of the Church and the Resurrection of the Tribulation Saints. There is a second resurrection that one would not want to be a part of.  That would be the resurrection of damnation. Jesus tells us in John 5:28 that we will be raptured at the sound of God’s voice (trumpet). Then Jesus reveals to us in John 5:29 that there are two resurrections.  The resurrection of life and the resurrection of damnation.

John 5:28 “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,

29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”

The time is coming soon where the church will be gathered on the Feast of Trumpets and taken off this planet.  Paul the Apostle (Romans 11) as well as Jesus (Luke 21) quoted that day as “the time of the gentiles comes in”.  It is the ingathering of the church or main harvest. One will notice that the gentiles are mentioned in the ingathering but not Israel.  How can God not include His people of Israel?

Romans 11:25 “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.”

Luke 21: 24 “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”

Israel will have to endure the seven year 70th week of Daniel or Tribulation Period because they have rejected their messiah.  Short of the small percentage of Jews that have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, the entire nation of Israel will be left behind and not be a part of the main harvest or rapture of the church.  God will keep His promises to Israel and will be the redeemer to those who will believe and endure through the seven years.

Romans 11: 7 “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.

8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompense unto them:

10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.

11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.

12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?”…..

…23 “And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.”

Israel does have many warnings of the “Day of the Lord”.  The “Day of the Lord” is the seven years of Jacob’s trouble or 70th week of Daniel. There will be a recognizable event that starts this seven year Tribulation Period.  It is a covenant or treaty initiated by a world leader to which he has Israel and her enemies sign a seven year covenant. This world leader can then be identified, by initiating this covenant spoken of in Daniel 9:27, as the “antichrist” spoken of in the scriptures.  The “week” indicated is the 70th week of the seventy week prophecy from that same chapter.  These weeks are 7 year weeks or 1 week of years.  Sixty nine of the weeks of years have already taken place.  Those sixty nine weeks of years brought the messiah into Jerusalem as you read earlier in this chapter. The final week is the consummation between God and Israel.

Daniel 9: 27 “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

Joel 2:1 “Blow ye 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 cometh, for it is nigh at hand;”

In Israel’s history, they have been blessed by God and then also punished by God for their unfaithfulness to Him.  Satan has been very active in pulling the Jews into desolation.  In the captivity of the northern kingdom by the Assyrians (721 BC) and then the southern kingdom of Judah by the Babylonians (538 BC), Israel was brutalized.  A remnant was taken to Babylon to endure, then seventy years later be allowed to go back and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.  After the Jews murdered their messiah, they were punished again with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, this time by Titus and the Romans (AD 70).  After rejecting the messiah, the Jews have been persecuted and brutalized many times. God will remember in the 70th week of Daniel all that He has promised them and will bless those that will believe that Jesus Christ is their Messiah and God.

He brought them back to the land of Israel and on May 14, 1948, they became a nation again. This fulfilled Ezekiel 36-37 as well as Isaiah 66:8.

Isaiah 66: 8 “Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.

After the Feast of Trumpets has happened, fulfilling the “main harvest” or gathering up of the church, the world will mourn for nine days until the seven year peace covenant is established.  This brings the world to the next feast to be fulfilled; it is The Feast of Atonement or Yom Kippur. Knowing that the Feast of Atonement will be the atonement day for Israel, it can be seen that it will most likely be both the start of the seven year 70th week of Daniel and the end of that seven years which is highlighted with the 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth.  The 2nd coming Of Christ will be a Day of Atonement and Judgment.  This will be an end to the physical life of all non-believers.

Leviticus 23:27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. 28 And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God. 29 For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.

Since the Feast of Trumpets is on Tishri 1 and the rapture of the church happens on that day, one can know that the earth will be in much misery and despair after losing children and other loved ones at the twinkling of an eye.   It is reasonable to think that the world will be seeking leadership and help to bring order to the mayhem that will be occurring.  The antichrist will find himself easily lifted up to power within nine days.  Once this antichrist has secured a signed covenant or peace treaty between Israel and her enemies, he will be celebrated and exalted.  It is believed that the Feast of Atonement (Yom Kippur) which is celebrated on Tishri 10 will be that day that the seven year covenant between Israel and her enemies gets signed.  This will start the Seven Year Tribulation Period known as the 70th week of Daniel.  That would mean the second coming of Christ would be exactly seven years from that date which would be Tishri 10 as well as the Feast of Atonement (Yom Kippur).  Please keep in mind, the scriptures measure these years as 360 day years which is what the Jewish calendar uses. It will be seven 360 day years later and exactly Tishri 10 that the second coming of Jesus Christ will fall upon.

There will be heavy persecution of anyone that has accepted Jesus Christ as savior during this seven years.  Many will be killed for their faith in Christ.  The “mark of the beast” will be implemented and so anyone that is in Christ will refuse to take the “mark”.  That person would find it hard to find food and shelter and would be sought out to be killed.

Revelation 13: 15 “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”

The Tribulation Saints will be under extreme persecution even while they endure the hardships and catastrophes happening on the earth as God pours out His judgment.  The harvest, for those in God’s Kingdom, will be in its final stages during this seven years.  This is the third stage of the “harvest” of God’s people which can be considered the third stage of the resurrection of life at the second coming of Christ. In Leviticus 23 verse 9, one can see how the harvest of the main crop happens as the four corners are left for the poor.  Amazing how God has set up His harvest in the same sequence.  His final call to salvation is during the last seven years before Christ’s second coming.

Leviticus 23:9 “And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.  10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God.”

During the Seven Year Tribulation Period, those Christians that lose their life and do not take the “mark of the beast”, will be kept under an alter by God until the last person is saved.  There will be millions of souls under this alter so it would be a pretty big place.  In Revelation 6:10, notice how they pray and ask the Lord to avenge their deaths as they were killed by the wicked people of the earth.

Revelation 6:9 “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”

Looking to the middle of the seven years, one can view a prophecy of the “abomination of desolations” spoken of in Daniel 9:27 which was later confirmed by Jesus to still be yet in the future as Jesus spoke in Matthew 24.  One can see the timing of this event in Daniel 9:27 because the word “midst” means “middle”.   So to be precise, the middle of seven years is at the three and one half year point.  God is precise so to measure this one uses 360 day years.  3 x 360 + ½ of 360 =1,260 days.  So the abomination of desolations will happen on either the 1260th or 1261st day after the signing of the covenant that started this seven year period.

Daniel 9: 27 “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

Jesus Christ gives the Jews a warning in Matthew 24.  They obviously don’t pay attention to it now as unbelievers, but some day it will hit them and they will be reminded where this warning can be found.  They will open to Matthew 24 and read it and then they will take Jesus’s advice and “flee unto the mountains”.

Matthew 24: 15 “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand :)

16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:”

The Jews will flee as Jesus had warned them.  Not all Jews will flee, but just a remnant.  God will protect this remnant, as they flee, and keep them safe in the place that they flee to.  The Bible is not clear where they flee to; many believe that they will flee to Petra.  Petra was the capital of Moab and a place where the Moabites stayed during many attacks by nations whom wanted to enslave them back in the times of King David through until the times of Alexander the Great. Due to its narrow entry, it became very hard for an army to successfully attack. Alexander the Great was able to infiltrate Petra and attack from the inside and then was able to successfully defeat Petra 312 B.C.  The ruins of Petra is currently a tourist attraction and not inhabited.  Because this place is thought of as the most likely place that the Jews will flee, it may very well come true in that day.  They will remember it and its history and flee to there.  The verse in Revelation 12:14 gives indication that God will protect the “woman” whom is Israel for a time(1 year), and times (2 years) and half a time (1/2 year) which equals three and a half years. This will be the last three and a half years of the 70th week of Daniel.  Right after the “Abomination of Desolations”, the remnant of Israel will flee to the mountains/wilderness.  Petra matches both descriptions of being “Into the wilderness” as well as “into the mountains.”

Revelation 12: 14 “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.”

Seven years of wrath will be poured out on the world with constant pleads to repent.  The world is left to the wicked and they are faithful to their god, named Satan, and worship the antichrist whom is Satan in the flesh.  Somehow, Satan will be able to indwell inside the antichrist and be a dark imitation of Christ.  Satan wants to be like the Most High God, so he imitates God in his attempt to be like Him by walking the earth in the flesh as Christ did.  The armies of the antichrist have gathered in a place known as the valley of Jehoshaphat which is the place called Armageddon.  These followers of antichrist will have been deceived into believing that they can win this battle against the Lord God whom created all things.  As the Great Trump sounds on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), everyone on the earth will see the Lord on His white stallion followed by His Bride dressed in white.  The 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ the Lord God Almighty will have arrived!

Revelation 19:11 “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. 12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself.

13 And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings, And Lord of Lords.”

Armageddon will not really turn into a big battle.  The presence of the Lord will be awesome!   Those that have come to fight Him will be angry and then, when they see Him, they will be caught like a “deer in headlights”.   He will only have to speak a word and the antichrist and false prophet will fall dead.  He will speak another word and the false prophet and antichrist will be cast into the lake of fire.  Jesus will speak another word and the armies that have come to fight will fall dead and the vultures and other flesh eating birds will gather down for their God given meal. At this time, Satan will be chained in the bottomless pit or also known as hell for the one thousand years and then be loosed again for a short while.

Revelation 20: “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,”

As I mentioned earlier, not all of the Jews will make it through to the 2nd coming of the Lord.  Two thirds of the Jews will be “”cut off and die” as they have chosen to not believe in Jesus Christ as their savior.  There are even many of the modern day Jews that are considered atheist or agnostic and do not believe in the God of their father Abraham.  Just as Satan has done through the ages, he has deceived them and pulled them away from the one true living God.

Zechariah 13:8 “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.

9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.”

Jesus Christ will go to a place called Bozrah before He comes down to the earth at the 2nd coming.  He will fulfill prophecy of a great wrath that He will put over the heathen that seem to have been coming to destroy that remnant of Jews hiding and waiting.  Bozrah of Edom, is now Buseirah, some 20 miles south of the Dead Sea and half way between it and Petra.

Isaiah 34:1”Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. 2 For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. 3 Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcasses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. 4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree. 5 For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. 6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.”

It seems that the Lord will bring forth a mighty slaughter. With Bozrah being about 20 miles from Petra, it can be considered that the Lord is to protect Israel from the armies of the antichrist whom would be on their way to destroy them in Petra.  This will be the blood bath of all blood baths; the blood will be literally up to the bridals of the horses.  If one looks at Isaiah 34 verse 4, one can envision a nuclear war which may be how God destroys the wicked in their own devices that they made to do Satan’s dirty work.

Revelation 14: 14 “And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. 16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. 17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. 18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. 19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.”

In Isaiah 63, one can see the Jews recognizing Jesus Christ on His way to Petra coming from Bozrah as He is red in His apparel.  If one recalls Revelation 19:13 “And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood:”, the verse shows that Jesus had already been to Bozrah and tread them in His anger before He came from Heaven with His church to head to Armageddon at His second coming.

The year of His redeemed has come!  The remnant of Jews finally see their Messiah and accept Him as their God and savior.

Isaiah 63:1 Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.

2 Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?  3 I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.

4 For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.

In Zechariah 12, we receive a prophecy of the remnant of Jews as they see that the Messiah is Jesus and they weep and mourn for Him. They will realize how they had rejected Him for so long in their lives, but also they will mourn in behalf of Israel who rejected Him for nearly two millenniums.  The Jewish remnant will realize that they had put Him through that agony and put Him on that cross.  They will mourn as we all mourn as we all realize that we put Him there.  We all had put Jesus on that cross; it was all of our sins that He died for.

Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.”

When the Lord has come, He will separate the survivors of the seven years into two categories which are righteous and unrighteous or in other words “lambs and goats”.  It seems that they are not judged by their faith or trust in Him, but they are judged by their works.  If you read Matthew 25:31-46, one will see those that did not show mercy nor help their fellow man will be cast into hell and those that have shown mercy to their fellow man will be given eternal life.  If one thinks of those that did show mercy for their fellow man, they most likely will be in Christ and believe in him.  Those that would do wickedly and not show mercy towards their fellow man would most likely be non-believers in the Lord.  The wicked are cast into hell for a thousand years until the White Throne Judgment where they will be judged eternally for their works.

While the “lambs and goats” judgment is happening, there is another event that will occur.  This will be the third phase of the Resurrection of Life.  The Tribulation Saints that had been killed during the seven years in the name of the Lord, will be resurrected and will live and reign with Christ for the one thousand years. The Resurrection of the Tribulation Saints is the final ingathering which should happen on the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles is commanded by God to finalize the harvest season which is traditionally called the “feast of ingathering”.

Exodus 23:16 “And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labors, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field.”

It has been said that the Tribulation Saints are not given glorified bodies until after the millennial kingdom, but I don’t see any evidence of this.  It makes more sense as being consistent to the resurrection, since they are to be resurrected, they must have their glorified bodies just as the Old Testament Saints received upon the Feast of First Fruits as well as the church receives during the rapture.

Revelation 20:4 “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.”

Revelation 20:4-5 has been argued about and misinterpreted by many Bible scholars, believers and non-believers as well.  We can plainly see that those that were killed during the seven year tribulation were given judgment and they were resurrected and lived and reigned with Christ for the entire millennial kingdom.  Verse 5 has been put in reverse order.  “But the rest of the dead (not resurrected) lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” Those that were not resurrected will be left in hell for that thousand years.  They will be resurrected after the millennial kingdom for the White Throne Judgment. I think that seems pretty clear.  The next sentence gets many confused or making assumptions.  “This is the first Resurrection.”  If you recall what was said in John 5: 29 “And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” you will see that there are two resurrections.  There is the resurrection of life and the resurrection of damnation.  The first resurrection is the resurrection of life and it has three phases; the Firstfruits, the Rapture, the Tribulation Saints.  Upon completion of the first resurrection, after the third and final phase, John remarks to us “This is the first resurrection”. The remnant of Israel has been saved by the Lord and will be His children as He rules and reigns over them for one thousand years.  These Jews will live and multiply on the earth as mortals.

The seventh Feast of the Lord is the Feast of Tabernacles also known as “Sukkot”.  This feast day originated to remember the forty years in the wilderness that Israel roamed per a judgment from God because of their disbelief in Him.  The twelve spies were sent to spy on the Promised Land and so they crossed the Jordan.  Ten came back with a negative report remarking about the giants that they saw while Joshua and Caleb, having faith in God, said “Let's go now and take possession of the land”.   God didn’t appreciate the other ten’s lack of faith in Him after all that He had done for them bringing them back from Egypt.  The rest of Israel agreed with the ten as well.  In God’s anger, He sentenced them to wonder the wilderness for forty years until that generation had died.

The Jews, since the conclusion of those 40 years wandering in the wilderness, have kept this seven day Feast of Tabernacles in remembrance of those forty years.  The Jews build a Sukkah or hut and live in it for seven days from the 15th day of Tishri until the 22nd day of Tishri.  This traditionally falling five days after the Feast of Atonement would be a week of celebration recognizing their rejuvenated relationship with Yahweh. This is a great picture of the future Millennial Kingdom where the Feast of Tabernacles will be celebrated every year in remembrance of their relationship with Christ as their King whom arrived on the earth to save them from their enemies on the Feast of Atonement.

Leviticus23:34 “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, the fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord.” …41And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:

Israel, for the last 3,500 years, has celebrated this feast day with interruptions during times in captivity and disbursements. They have been waiting for their messiah to come and set up His Kingdom so that the whole world will have to honor and celebrate this Feast day every year. In Zechariah 14, it says that all of the nations shall go up from year to year to worship the Lord of Hosts and keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

Zechariah 14:16 “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.”

Chapter5

The Second Resurrection

The second resurrection is called the resurrection of Damnation. This day will follow the one thousand year millennial kingdom.  After a final rebellion by Satan, whom gathers all rebellious earth dwellers together against Jesus and His Kingdom, God will destroy the ungodly rebellious army with fire from above and casts Satan into the lake of fire for all of eternity.

Revelation 20: 7 “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.”

Then the dead whom are all waiting in hell will be resurrected and brought in front of the throne of God.  Jesus Christ will be the judge and He will judge them for their works.  Unfortunately, those that thought that they were good people and that God would never throw them in hell, are brought to their knees and they will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Revelation 20:11 “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”

Philippians 2: 9” Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

These people will be humbled because, in this resurrected body, they will not have sinful flesh any longer.  It will be a non-fallen body probably the same type of body Adam and Eve had before the fall.  They will see God in all His Glory and be humbled and aware that they really blew it.  They heard the gospel and scoffed at it; they heard that they needed to live for Christ and they thought it was non-sense.  They believed the lies from the adversary and believed those lies instead of the truth.  Many knew there was a God, but would rather deny His existence than to bow to Him.  Well, they end up bowing to Him right before He judges them and casts them into the lake of fire for eternity.

Revelation 20:13 “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Revelation 20: 14 “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.”

Bonus

Chapter6

The Marriage of the Lamb

During the seven years of Judgment to come to the earth, the church (bride) will be in heaven with Jesus.  There will be an awards assembly otherwise known as the “Bema Judgment Seat of Christ”.  We have all been invited to the Marriage of the Lamb.  The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is to follow.  It is believed that this Marriage Supper of the Lamb is going to be held on earth after Armageddon while others believe that it will be in heaven before the 2nd coming.  No matter when or where it is, one would think that if God were to throw us a party, it will be an awesome spread of food and heavenly drink.  The music will be out of this world and His Majesty will be absolutely divine (Jesus).

Revelation 19:7” Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, ‘These are the true sayings of God’”

The Marriage of the Lamb is disclosed to us in various scripture verses and passages.  John the Baptist acknowledged Christ as the bridegroom in John 3:29. This was spoken by John the Baptist when the disciples of John and the Jews came to John and questioned him about the followers of Jesus baptizing in the Jordan.  This was to bring a jealousy from John, but instead John responded with humbleness knowing He was just a friend of the bridegroom and know that the bridegroom was here.

John 3: 29 “He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.”

One can see in Matthew 25:1-12 that the bridegroom is assumed to be Jesus at his return for His bride (the church).  Its context should be looked at seriously and carefully.  The ten virgins should be looked at as the bride to be.  The church is that bride to be.  There are five virgins that keep their lamps filled with oil while the other five fall asleep and do not keep their lamps full of oil.  Who are the five that fall asleep?  What is the oil representing?

Revelation 3: 14 “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”

In Revelation 3:14-16, the church of Laodicea is warned that they are neither cold nor hot but “lukewarm”.  They represent a large portion of the church that has fallen asleep while waiting for the bridegroom to arrive.  They are not “hot” for the Lord nor are they “cold” like a non-believer.  The oil that the virgins are keeping in their lamps represents the Holy Spirit.  Throughout scripture, oil represents the Holy Spirit, especially in the Old Testament where anointing and healings were done with oil.  In Christ, one is indwelled with the Holy Spirit and prays to be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit as we encounter trials on this earth. The five virgins in Matthew 25 1-12 have fallen asleep and fail to be filled with the Holy Spirit and will be left behind and not be taken to heaven for the Marriage of the Lamb. They are lukewarm and will be rejected by Christ.

Matthew 25: Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins,        which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.7  Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. 9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

As the church awaits the Bridegroom to return, she must stay pure and clean to present herself spotless and unwrinkled like a fine garment.  Great expressions by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5: 27 “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”

The traditional Jewish marriage was done in a very interesting sequence of events.  If one were to compare the events that occur leading up to the wedding feast, you will see reflections of the way Jesus Christ has followed as the Jewish traditional wedding is done.  We can also look ahead to prophecies events to see the completion of the traditional Jewish wedding laid out by God to be fulfilled very soon.

- The groom goes to the bride's house and is betrothed to the bride (the faithful on the earth)

- He pays the purchase price (His blood)

- He returns to his father to prepare a place for the bride ("I go to prepare a place for you")

- Later the groom comes for the bride (rapture)

- He takes her to his father's house and gives her gifts where she is adorned and prepared for the wedding (Bema judgment seat of Christ where crowns are awarded)

- The wedding then takes place before the father and the witnesses (in the Father's house in Heaven)

- The groom appears with his bride (Christ’s second coming in glory with his saints)

- Then the wedding feast takes place (on earth with invited guests of the bride and groom)

Earlier, I explained the Marriage of the Lamb that happens before the second coming of Christ on the Feast of Atonement.  We know this from Revelation 19:7-9.  The Marriage of the Lamb has an open invitation, but some reject it.  Some hints are disclosed in a parable spoken by Jesus in Matthew 22.  Jesus tells this parable so the Pharisees and other Jews will hear Him.  It wasn’t very well received. Notice how Jesus speaks of a king (God) who invites the people (Israel) to the wedding.  They took the king lightly and killed the servants (the prophets) whom were sent to invite them to the wedding. The king sent his armies and destroyed (Assyrian and Babylonian captivity, Roman destruction of Jerusalem) that remnant of murderers. He declared them unworthy to attend the wedding and invited the many in the highway (gentiles) to the wedding.  The one that shows up at the wedding without a wedding garment (lukewarm Christian) was cast into the outer darkness (hell).

Matthew 22: 1”And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,

3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.

4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.

5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:

6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.

7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.

9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.

10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.

11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:

12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”

The second coming of the Lord will bring many events and festivities.  Jesus Christ, as the King of the World, will be celebrated and worshiped.  There will be a Marriage Supper of the Lamb to celebrate the wedding that occurred in Heaven during the seven year 70th Week of Daniel.  The Lord will be throwing the party and it should be magnificent. The Jews, as mortals, will be invited to the supper as guests.  Jesus made a statement while He was here that He will be returning from a wedding and shows how He will be seeking them that are open to Him.

Luke 12: 36 “And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.”

Which Resurrection will you choose?

Now that you have read this book and have been shown the destiny of mankind to experience either a glorious resurrection or a frightening resurrection, which one do you want to be a part of?  You have a choice, and if you have not made a decision to trust in Jesus Christ as your God and savior, now is the time.

Just pray and believe in your heart.  Ask God the Father for forgiveness for your sins that you have committed against Him.  Let Him know that you will trust in Him and live the rest of your life for Him.  Pray this in Jesus Christ’s name.

Read your Bible every day and get to know Him.  Pray to Him continually with your desires, needs and thankfulness.   Let God be your best friend and your Dad.

May God Bless you!

Charles Sabo

Table of Contents

Copyright

Introduction

Dedications

References

Chapter1 In The Beginning

Chapter2 Atonement for Sin

Chapter3 The Feasts of the Lord

Chapter 4 The Feasts, The Harvest and The Resurrection

Chapter5 The Second Resurrection

Bonus Chapter6 The Marriage of the Lamb