Kind After
Its Kind !
"And God said, Let Us make man in Our Image, after Our likeness:" Gen 1:26
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Do you believe that? God is reproducing Himself. If He is creating man "In His Image" than He is reproducing Himself !
We are reminded by the Apostles Peters in his second letter, "To grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and for ever" (1 Peter 3:18).
This title "Kind after its Kind." is drawn from two verses- Geneses 1: 12, 26 "And the earth brought forth vegetation, and herb yielding Seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good" (Gen 1:12).
"After his kind," is expressed 10 times in the first chapter of Genesis and altogether 30 times in the five books of Moses. God has harmony in His creative thinking, that is why He said in verse 26, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness." Man was to bear God's image, in outward resemblance and inward resemblance of character. It is a fact of nature that living things do reproduce offsprings that resemble their parents. God's image in Gen 1:26 was most evident in terms of His spiritual nature.
The Apostle Paul enlightens us to the S.P.S., "Specific Purpose Statement" of this article: "Put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him" (Col 3:10). This is "Kind after its Kind!"
When buying (time for God's) truth, as we are reminded to do- in Proverbs 23:23,we are accepting His wisdom, knowledge, and understanding -- and admitting error. Buying truth is spending time in prayer and study of God's word. Time is valuable--we are not to waste it!! The closer a man comes to his Saviour and the more he studies the word of God the more his eyes are opened to the real nature of things. 2 + 2 does equal 4 and God's challenging mysteries become solved.
Developing a clearer S.P.S. of "Kind after its Kind"-- we need to look at Exodus 23. "Three times you shalt keep a feast unto Me in the year. You shalt keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread: (thou shalt eat Unleavened Bread seven days, as I commanded you, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it you came out from Egypt: and none shall appear before Me empty:). And the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labours, which you have sown in the field: and the Feast of Ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when you have gathered in your labours out of the field. Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God. You shalt not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of My sacrifice remain until the morning. The first of the firstfruits of your land you shalt bring into the house of the Lord your God" (Lev. 23:14-19).
This years Feast of Unleavened Bread was a special feast for me and my wife. It was our 45th year of keeping God's Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread. 45 years of bringing our attention to Israel leaving Egypt, which pictured leaving sin and wondering in the wilderness for 40 years.
40 is a significant number in the Bible, it is seen in a variety of ways. 40 days and forty nights describes the period for which rain fell during Noah's flood. 40 days was the length of time the twelve spies explored the promise land. Moses life was divided into three 40 year segments. 40 days and 40 nights Jesus Christ spent fasting in the wilderness after which He was tempted by Satan. 40 days was the period of time from Jesus Christ resurrection until His ascension into heaven. The number 40 reveals a lot of history.
One other 40 year period of time to acknowledge, is the Radio Church of God, later called the Worldwide Church of God, under the Pastor General, Herbert W. Armstrong, who changed keeping Pentecost on Monday to keeping it on a Sunday after 40 years. In 1974, when changing the observance of Pentecost from Monday to Sunday, Passover of that year fell on a weekly Sabbath, just as Passover this year has for the Church of God, In Truth, making the first day of Unleavened Bread, the wave sheaf offering.
Six year ago, a study was shared with you speculating about the 144,000 found in Revelation 7, and the remnant church of Revelation 12:17, "Who keep the commandments and testimony of Jesus Christ," but is yet to come under the protection of Jesus Christ sacrificed redeeming blood! I hope that speculation stimulated you into a study of identifying who the remnant church is and where the 144,000 servants in Revelation 7 - fits into prophecy!
The remnant church of Revelation 12:17, that Satan "went to make war with," is identified with the two witnesses and the two churches in Revelation 11: and the 144,000 that are called servants -- in Revelation 7, that go through the wrath of Satan's tribulation, not God's wrath.
When following God's seven step plan, the Days of Unleavened Bread picture removing sin out of our lives and putting in the new man, the fruits of the Holy Spirit and character of Jesus Christ. We need to come out of 40 years in wilderness thinking!!
Christ could not restrain Himself from telling Satan in the book of Luke, that "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God" (Luke 4:4). He was quoting from a statement said earlier in Deuteronomy 8, "And you shalt remember all the way which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, and to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments, or no. And He humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you knew not, neither did your fathers know; that He might make you know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live" (Deu. 8:2-3).
We need to have a better understanding of what the days of Unleavened Bread picture and what they offer as a reward for removing sin from our life-and coming under Christ's redeeming blood. Keep in mind the title of this article, "Kind after its Kind!"
This year the first Day of Unleavened Bread was on "wave sheaf" Sunday. We need to look at what took place on this day. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, when you be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then you shall bring a sheaf of the First-fruits of your harvest unto the priest: 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" (Lev 23:9-11). Before commenting on these verses, I want to quote from a book and a couple articles. One was written in a Worldwide Good News magazine by a long time ordained Evangelist. He condenses the teaching of what the Worldwide Church has always taught, and most have believed in general. The other one was downloaded off the Internet from a minister in Australia.
Quoting the Evangelist first: "God has not required more of some and less of others to gain immortality, but He has called some to a higher office in a better resurrection. Have you ever thought that one resurrection might be better than another? The first resurrection of which this refers, is to immortality and Rulership in the Kingdom of God. The second resurrection is to mortal life. To a life of trial and testing. And yet, there is in it a possibility to attain immortality. The third resurrection is one to utter destruction. It is for those who have sinned willfully, who have committed the unpardonable sin, to those who have had their opportunity and have rejected it."
The Australian minister article: "The firstfruits harvest of both barley, the first firstfruits, and the wheat which came later, symbolise all the elect of God, the Firstfruits of the age of the church, both Old and New Testament saints, prior to Christ's second coming. The wheat harvest is the consummation of the firstfruits, of this early harvest of souls. The firstfruits harvest was fully gathered at Pentecost, where the ceremony at which the two loaves representing the Firstfruits (Lev 23:16-17) were also waved before God was both parallel to, and the fulfillment of the wave sheaf offering. The Pentecost holy day pictures not only the age of the church, but also its glorification at the resurrection. Grain is use to picture the resurrection of the dead. The Feast of Tabernacles or Ingathering pictures the greater harvest period to be fulfilled during the millennial age and beyond."
Sharing one more quote from Mr. Armstrong, in the year he changed the day of Pentecost. This quote is from the 1974 edition of "Pagan Holidays or God's Holy Days-Which?" He wrote on page 31, "Passover symbolized Christ's sacrifice for the remission of our sin, and the Days of Unleavened Bread the putting away of sin. Pentecost pictures the first part of the spiritual harvest -- the called out of the church. The festival of Ingatherings or Tabernacles pictures the fall harvest -- the great harvest of souls in the millennium."
Reading these three quotes we get a clear understanding they were speaking of three harvests which pictures three resurrections. Harvest is Strong's # 7105, meaning: 1). To reap; 2). To process; 3). To gather in the crop. These three feasts, picturing resurrections, were tied to the harvest times in the land of Israel. Also the Israelites had very early been introduced to the concept of giving offerings at harvest times. Offerings were representative of the years harvest to God as a token of thanksgiving for all He had given them.
Barley was harvested first in the early spring from about - March to April! At the time of Passover and days of Unleavened Bread. It was from this first fruit barley harvest that Christ the "wave sheaf" was taken to be the First of the First fruits from the barley harvest!!
50 days later the wheat was harvested in late
spring - early summer from May through - June or early July, in the season of Pentecost. It was at this harvest we find two leaven wheat loaves called first-fruits to the Lord being offered. This was the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, not the unleavened firstfruits of the barley harvest!
The third harvest comes from the summer fruit, that is a general harvest of grapes, olives, dates, figs, and vegetables, these are gathered in late August to early- September, right before the time of the Feast of Tabernacles that some scriptures call Feast of Ingathering. These feast were to remind God's people of His redemptive work on their behalf. Take for instance, Unleavened bread pictures the kind of lives God's called out ones should live! Sinless and humble, full of gratitude according to the blessings God has given them, free from malice and wickedness, just as Paul said in 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." It has been taught over the years, that barley was the grain of the poor! And wheat was the grain of the rich. This also is a symbol of the two last eras attitudes of Revelation 3. The Philadelphia attitude is one of, "... for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My word, and hast not denied My name" (Rev 3:8). And the Laodicean attitude "...is rich and in need of nothing!" (Rev. 3:17). As the Passover bread was free from the smallest particle of leaven-- so the character of the truly chosen of God should be, completely free from the leaven of compromise with evil. Real salvation begins when all compromise with the leaven of sin is at an end.
These three major harvests were at the time, as said earlier, when God required Israel to give an offering. God knew this would be the time they, [Israel] would be reaping the reward of their labor. We are all familiarized with these three major harvest times that high lights the giving of offerings. "Three times in a year shall all your males appear before the Lord your God in the place which He shall choose; in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks, [Pentecost] and in The Feast of Tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty" (Deut 16:16). These three individual harvest times are clearly laid out for us. These three harvest times picture paying a tribute to God for your harvest blessings and they also picture the three separate times God has chosen to resurrect His called and chosen ones- to eternal life. Never to suffer the second death!
Studies find most churches teach combining the smaller early spring barley harvest, that Christ came to be the first sheaf of first fruits to be waved from, with the 50 day later leaven summer wheat harvest, calling this merger "the first fruits"resurrection. It is not found in God's word, that we are to mix the leavening found in the spiritual first-fruit wheat loaves, with the spiritual unleavened first-fruit barley harvest that Jesus Christ was taken from. God's creative actions are to be "Kind after its Kind" not allowing syncretism! [As a side note-Pentecost is never directly called Feast of Firstfruits in the Old Testament]. Jesus Christ, was the first sheaf of the first fruits taken from the early spring barley harvest. First of the first tells us there's yet more fruit to follow. The barley field resurrection had no leaven in it like the first-fruit wheat crop that is harvested or resurrected 50 days after the first-fruit barley resurrection.
Looking again at verses 9-11 of Leviticus 23. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, when you be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then you shall bring a sheaf [ first portion] Of the firstfruits [more then one ] of your harvest unto the Priest: and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted For you: [speaking of the rest of the barley field harvest] on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it." Did you notice the wave sheaf [Christ] was the first sheaf from the first fruits barley harvest to be accepted by God for us - at the beginning of the first-fruits barley harvest. Said another way these verses are saying that the wave sheaf [Christ] is just one sheaf of the first-fruits from that barley field that will be harvested [resurrected].
Notice also this is done during the Days of Unleavened Bread when we are to have removed sin, "Leavening" from our life and are putting Christ into our life - pictured by eating unleavened bread for seven days! This word first fruits in verse 10, is Strong's # 7225. It has many meanings: 1). Head; 2). Chief; 3). First born; 4),the first of its kind ; 5). Or beginnings. These last two express, there is more to follow. Reading Leviticus 23:10 from the Interlinear Bible is a much better translation of Hebrew. "Speak to the son of Israel, and you shall say to them, when you come in the land which I am giving to you, and have reaped its harvest and have brought in the sheaf of the beginning [Strong's # 7225] of your harvest to the priest: then he shall wave the sheaf before Jehovah for your acceptance on the morrow of the Sabbath shall wave it."
Jesus Christ was the beginning resurrected first fruit from the unleavened barley field, and was resurrected and accepted by the Father during the days of Unleavened Bread that pictures putting sin out of our lives and putting Jesus Christ in!
The Apostle Paul was inspired to tell us there is an order of resurrections. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the Firstfruit; [remember He was taken from the first-fruits barley harvest] afterward they that are Christ's at His coming" (1 Cor 15:22-23). "Yielding fruit after its kind."
James, the brother of our Lord said, "Of His [Christ] own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures [created]" (James 1:18).
The Apostle John gives the firstfruit barley resurrected encouragement in Revelation Chapter 14. These are they which were not defiled with women for they are virgins, [Churches having leaven, syncretism in them]. These are they which follow the Lamb where ever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb" (Rev 14:4). Who is this speaking of ? Verse one, answers that for us. "And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father's name written in their foreheads" (Rev 14:1). Why do they have the Fathers name in there forehead? Because Christ -- the first, the beginning of the first fruit and the first to rise from the dead tells us in Acts 26:23, "That Christ should suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light [knowledge] unto the people, and to the Gentiles."
Christ is dedicated to - and accepted by God the Father. He is the token of those who will follow Him out of His unleavened spiritual barley harvest. God's beginning first fruit that is harvested from the white grain - unleavened barley harvest will not be one among equals when resurrected, they will have a supreme place of honor having on the linen of righteousness like the bride of Jesus Christ will have on. "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the Marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, [figure for a righteous character] clean [ literally Splendid] and white: [barley is white - not brown like wheat grain] for the fine linen [character] is the righteousness of saints" (Rev 19:7-8).
The Apostle Paul speaks of these first born in Romans 8. "For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be Conformed to the image of His Son [unleavened], that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: And whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified" (Rom 8:29-30). This is speaking of being clothed with the righteousness of God.
One other point that needs clarification, is
Pentecost. "You shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord" (Lev 23:17). These brown leaven wave loaves of wheat called first-fruits unto the Lord is Strong's #1061-- not Strong's # 7225! Strong's #1061, is not identified as being first of the God kind, nor first born or called beginnings. #1061 identified by its definition: 1). The first of the crops and fruit that ripened, was gathered, and offered to God according to the ritual of Pentecost; 2). The bread made of the new grain offered at Pentecost; 3). The day of the first-fruits (Pentecost). It has no other meaning like we find in [# 7225] the first fruits of Leviticus 23: 9-11.
With this articles thought in mind-- we need to ask ourselves, are we seeing "Kind after the God Kind?"
Church of God, In Truth
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