GOD'S HOLY DAYS (2)

The first three festivals represent the personal responses to the workings of those whom God has called and chosen. But the Feast of Trumpets heralds the start of God's intervention in the affairs of mankind on a global basis.  The Feast of Trumpets typifies the Second Coming of Christ Who will return to earth to establish the kingdom of God. Revelation reveals the sequence of events leading to His return in a series of seven trumpet blasts. The sounding of the last trumpet blast by the seventh angel culminates the establishment of the kingdom of God (Rev 11:15).

The establishment of God's kingdom on earth is the consummation of the blessed hope prophesied by the prophets of the Old Testament (Isaiah 9: 6-7; Daniel 2:44, 7:18,22, 27) and reinforced by His disciples in the New Testament (Acts 1:6). This Feast speaks of the Messiah (Jesus Christ) coming to rule as a King with authority and power. Christ on His first advent had clearly differentiated between His first and second coming (John 18:36-37). The Lord had emphasised the importance of spreading the gospel - the good news of the coming kingdom of God - instead of focusing on when it will happen (Acts 1:6-8).

The Feast of Trumpets also signals a resurrection of the dead. "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first  (1 Thess 4:16) -  and this is followed immediately by the people of God who are alive at that time (verse 17). Scriptures call this 'the first resurrection' - Rev 20:5, which is also known as  'a better resurrection' - Heb11:35. When Christ returns to establish His millennial kingdom on earth, there will be perfect government, peace, prosperity and an abundant way of life like never before.

While the Passover symbolises the shedding of Christ's blood for the atoning for our past sins, The Day of Atonement typifies the reconciliation of God and all of humanity. The difference between the two is that the Passover is applicable to those whom God has called, The Day of Atonement  carries universal application to all of mankind. Moreover, it signals the removal of the main instigator of sin - Satan himself will be incarcerated for a thousand years during the milliennial rule of Christ (Rev 20: 2-3).

The Day of Atonement is looking forward to the time when mankind will no longer be under the deception and influence of Satan and his demons. The sending away of the 'scapegoat' into the wilderness  (Leviticus 16: 21-22) is a typology of the removal of the sins of the people and placing it upon the evil spirits to whom it belongs. Since spirit beings cannot be annihilated, Satan and the demons will probably be cast into the outer corner of the universe where there is blackness of darkness forever and devoid of anything good (Jude 12-13) - an existence far worse than death!

The next Holy Day in God's Master Plan for mankind is the Feast of Tabernacles. The Apostle Peter spoke of the times of refreshing and the times of restoration of all things (Acts 3:19-21) on the day of Pentecost. But what exactly do these mean?  The times of refreshing refers to the banishment of Satan depicted by the Day of Atonement and the times of restoration of all things refers to the return of Christ's reign on earth when He comes symbolises by the Feast of Tabernacles. Together with the sons of God being born again as immortal spirit beings into the Divine Family, they will begin the restoration of planet earth and all the value systems of this world (Satan inspired) being replaced with God's laws and righteousness. That is the good news for the future of the new Jerusalem and new earth will be as paradise.

The prophet Isaiah prophesied not just of Christ's birth and His earthly ministry (Isaiah 9: 6-7), but also His return in power and glory (Isaiah 66:15-16). The Feast of Tabernacles is also a reflection of the rest symbolises by the weekly Sabbath (Hebrews 4:1-11). It celebrates the great harvest to come for all of humanity when they will all know Christ and the ways of God the Father. One of the restoration processes is to reverse the effect of sins, when the blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame will leap and the deaf will hear (Isaiah 35:5-6) without the need of medicine and surgery. Even the nature of the animal kingdom will be changed as they live in harmony with each other (Isaiah 11:6-7).

The purpose of the millennial rule of Christ is to bring the multitudes into the kingdom of God with the help of kings and priests who are called during the church age (Rev 5:10). They will be given power over the nations (Rev 2:26). Since it is God's desire that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4), the Lord Christ explains how this will come to pass. In John 7: 37-38, Christ mentioned on the Last Great Day (the eighth day - Lev 23:39) that all who thirst will receive the power of the Holy Spirit, a symbolism that the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh (Joel 2:28) - but this has not fully taken place in the church age. Billions  of people who have died without their spiritual needs being met will be resurrected (John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15) to have the opportunity to learn God's truth and be refreshed after Christ's return.

GOD'S HOLY DAYS (1)

God' s holy days are specific commandmants for all man to keep, whether Jews or Gentiles. These holy days are spelt out in Levitius 23 but man change it to holidays. As such millions are celebrating man-made holidays without knowing and understanding their origins in the mistaken belief that they are worshipping and honouring God. But nothing is further from the truth - they are actually worshipping and honouring God in vain - 'And in vain they worship Me,  teaching as doctrines the commandments of men' (Mark 7:7).

The prophet Daniel prophesied in 7:25 that a 'ten-horn' kingdom would change the times and law of God - a direct reference to a revivied Roman Empire now forming in Europe. The current Eurozone turmoil bear testimony to what is forming and going to happen as prophesied in Scriptures. The fourth commandment on Sabbath keeping was and still is on the seventh day (Saturday) and never on Sunday. Similarly, Christmas and Easter were never God's holy days to keep, but Christianized by churches, theologians and preachers in collaboration with businessmen of the world for merry-making and profits.

Such pagan holidays as Christmas (Saturnalia), Easter (festival of Ishtar), New Year and Halloween are variations of sun and idol worship and are condemned in the Old Testament as idolatry. They were practised by the Romans and the Greeks long before the first advent of Christ. Many have misunderstood the true meaning of Colossian 2:16-17 - what it actually meant is that only the true Church (body of Christ) can decide on what is the sabbath (which is Saturday) as determined in Exodus 20:8-11 and God's holy days as determined in Leviticus 23. Such important commandments should not be determined by men.

God's seven annual Holy Days are also called Feasts or Sabbaths. Each of the seven Holy Days is a typology of the Master Plan of God the Father for mankind, which many theologians wrongly assumed it is only for the Jews. Four times in Leviticus 23, God states that His Feasts are a statute forever (14, 21, 31, 41) to be celebrated as the promise of hope for all mankind. The first is the Passover (Lev 23:5; 1 Cor 5:7) which Paul instructed the church to keep the feast (1 Cor 5:8), although the mode is changed but the spirit of it should be intact. The Passover denotes God's plan for His chosen people (Israelites ) to be free from slavery in Egypt. The church is the modern equivalent as a people called out from the systems and values of the world. The Passover feast was observed by Christ, His apostles and the church of the New Testament (Matt 26:2, 17-19; Mark 14: 12-16; Luke 2: 41-42, 22:1, 7-20; John 2: 13, 23, 6:4, 13:1-30; 1 Cor 11: 23-29). Paul and the other apostles consistently taught that all Christians are to follow the example of Christ (1 John 2:6).

This is followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev 23: 6-8; Acts 20:6), the lesson of leaving sin behind in our life after the cleansing Blood of Christ. It is also known as the Days of Unleavened Bread (Acts 12:3). When the Israelites fled Egypt ( a type of  'former sinful life' ), they ate unleavened bread for seven days (Exodus 12:15). Jesus kept this Feast of Unleavened Bread as a child (Luke 2:41) and as an adult (Matt 26:17).  The celebration is a remembrance that God delivers us from our sin and eternal death. Our observance of the Feast is to remind ourselves of Christ's help in delivering us and helping us overcome sin through the indwelling Holy Spirit in our life.

God reminded His people how they harvested their crops is how He is going to harvest people for His kingdom. The next festival, The Feast of Pentecost ( Lev 23: 15-22; Acts 20:16 - also known as Feast of Harvest  in Exodus 23:16) represents the firstfruits (the church - James 1:18)) gathered at the spring harvest in ancient Israel. The gift of Pentecost is the Holy Spirit signified by the speaking in various languages, with the people of different language group hearing the speech of the disiples in each of their own native language as if different interpreters were present, but there were none except God's Holy Spirit. Because of human weaknesses and frailty, all believers would need the help of the Holy Spirit to live a life pleasing to God. Jesus Christ is the firstborn among many brethren (Rom 8: 29) and the church is the firstfruits (James 1:18) - which means that subsequent fruits will come after Christ's return (Acts 15:17).