The Old
Testament Church:
The nation of Israel was both Church and
State. As a Kingdom, it was for years ruled by Moses who was directed by the
God of the Old Testament [which we know as Jesus the Christ]. In the days of
Moses it was called the Church in the wilderness. The Apostle Paul said,
"This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet
shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; Him
shall you hear. This is He [Christ], that was in the church in the wilderness
with the angel which spake to him [Moses] in the mount Sina, and with our
fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: To whom our fathers
would not obey, but thrust Him from them, and in their hearts turned back again
into Egypt’ (Acts 7:37-39).
Later in the history Israel was ruled by
Judges with Christ directing the judges. "And also all that generation
were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after
them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which He had done for Israel.
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served
Baalim: And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out
of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that
were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to
anger" (Judg 2:10-12).
When Israel dis-obey God, evil came upon
them. Then they repented and followed God. But as soon as they prospered, they
dis-obeyed again. "And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and
Ashtaroth. And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and He delivered
them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and He sold them into the
hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand
before their enemies. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was
against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn unto
them: and they were greatly distressed. Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges,
which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they
would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods,
and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their
fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not
so" (Judg 2:13-17).
Just as Israel of old would not follow
and obey God, we see this whole world dis-obeying the laws, statutes and
judgments of God. These laws were given so that mankind could find the true peace
and happiness that God had ordained from the beginning. The sacrificial laws
and rituals were added because of transgressions! "The Holy Spirit thus
signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest,
while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: Which was a figure for the time
then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not
make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; Which
stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances,
imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ being come an High
Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not
made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of
goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of
goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the
purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God? (Heb 9:8-14).
Prior to the Law of Moses: When the
children of Israel were still in Egyptian captivity, long before God’s law was
given to Moses, prior to the time God made the Old Covenant with them, we find
God’s annual holy days being observed. God instituted the Passover at the first
month of the year. "And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of
Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall
be the first month of the year to you" (Exod 12:1-2). In Leviticus 23,
Numbers 28 and 29, we find a register of these annual Holy Day or set appointed
times. When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, God said that the
Sabbaths was a covenant sign between Him and His people. "Speak thou also
unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it
is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that
I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for
it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death:
for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his
people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest,
holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely
be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to
observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It
is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the
LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed"
(Exod 31:13-17). Also see Eze 20:12,20. God’s Sabbaths are a sign between God
and His people!!
The Purpose of God’s Holy Days! God set
in motion His plan of salvation for His chosen ones. He gave His church seven
annual feasts, with seven annual Holy Day Sabbaths! The annual Holy Days were
appointed to keep us in remembrance of the understanding of God’s great plan of
redemption. These annual Holy Days picture the different epochs in the plan of
spiritual creation–marks the dispensations and pictures their meaning. It is a
fact of history that those who profane God’s weekly Sabbath and His Holy Day
Sabbaths have lost the true meaning of what these days pictures. The story of
spiritual regeneration is in these feasts days. It is only those who keep God’s
true Sabbaths and Holy Days that are given the true meaning of these days! When
man lose sight of God’s plan of reproducing Himself, they lose the meaning of
the plan of salvation.
Because each feast day has a purpose for
mankind, we should follow them according to God’s will and not the ideas of
men. We have been brought into the knowledge of keeping these days Holy, so we
must keep them according to God’s word. As we learn more of God’s word, we must
put it into practice in our life, or else we will lose understanding of this
knowledge.
Our job today is not to convert the
world, but to teach that the Kingdom of God will soon be here and we must make
ourselves ready to be a part of that Kingdom. We are to preach that Christ is
coming again to rule as King of kings, and Lord of lords. This is the true
gospel– the good news of the Kingdom!
God has ordained three harvest feast for
His people Israel. "Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto Me in the
year. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened
bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib;
for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before Me empty:)
And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown
in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end [turn] of the
year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field. Three times in
the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD" (Exod 23:14-17).
These three harvest show us that God has
set three times for the firstfruits to be brought before the Lord! Commanded
Holy Day offerings are to be given three times in a year. The word of God does
not say to bring a Holy Day offering seven time as some Churches of God teach.
The ancients of Israel brought their offering at each harvest. The feast of
Unleavened Bread was the barley harvest. Next was the wheat harvest where the
first fruit of wheat was brought and the third harvest was the fruit, nuts and
vegetable harvest that came at the late harvest or end of the growing season.
"Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God
in the place which He shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in
the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear
before the LORD empty: Every man shall give as he is able, according to the
blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee" (Deut 16:16-17).
The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost is the
only feast that we are instructed to count! All other Holy Days or festivals
come on definite days of definite months. But this one annual Sabbath must be
determined by counting! There are conflicting ways of counting for Pentecost.
If we start our count from the weekly Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened
Bread, even if the weekly Sabbath is Passover and the day after is the first
Holy Day of the Days of Unleavened Bread we still come out on a Sunday after
seven perfect Sabbaths! Others will say you cannot start your count because the
weekly Sabbath was Passover, Not the Days of Unleavened Bread! But, the Sunday
during the Days of Unleavened Bread is the 1st Holy Day. This
follows God’s plan. Passover, Wave Sheaf offering [a sheaf of the firstfruits],
which we know was on a 1st day of the week, Sunday! We cannot take
the steps out of order.
The Old Testament speaks of counting
weeks for the offering of the wheat harvest. "And thou shalt observe the
feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of
ingathering at the year's end" (Exo. 24:22). "Seven weeks shalt thou
number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou
beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks
unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand,
which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath
blessed thee" (Deut 16:9-10)
Some Churches teach that the New
Testament Church did not start until Pentecost! But, is that true? Christ had
followers before Pentecost of Acts 2:1. Some had the Holy Spirit breathed on
the earlier! "And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith
unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22).
On this special Pentecost the true
Christians were of one accord! "And when the day of Pentecost was fully
come, they were all with one accord in one place" (Acts 2:1). The true
disciples were all meeting together at this time. At this Pentecost service,
the power of the Holy Spirit from above was given to the disciples and
they preached in other languages!
The feast of Pentecost opened the way for
the 2nd harvest of firstfruits being called out of the world during
the New Testament dispensation that began with power of the Holy Spirit
being given to the Apostles and brethren meeting with them. "But ye shall
receive power, after that the Holy Spirit 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" (Acts 1:8).
This power gave the Apostles and disciples
the ability to preach the gospel into all the world for a witness that Christ
was the Son of God, His government was coming and that His plan and purpose for
mankind was being worked out here on earth.
God is not calling all mankind to know
His truth at this time. Only those who God the Father calls can know the true
Christ. "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw
him: and I will raise him up at the last day. And He said, Therefore said I
unto you, that no man can come unto Me, except it were given unto him of My
Father" (John 6:44,65).
The whole world has been blinded to God’s
truth until the end of this age. Every one will be called to know God’s truth
in their own order. The Father has opened the way so all Israel can be saved!
Not only Israel, but the Gentiles that have been grafted into the body of
Christ. "Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles,
to take out of them a people for His name. And to this agree the words of the
prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the
tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins
thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the
Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom My name is called, saith the Lord, who
doeth all these things" (Acts 15:14-17).
God at this time is calling two groups to
be offered up to the Father as the firstfruits of the wheat harvest. This is
picturing the two witnesses and the two Churches with them in Revelation 11.
These two groups have to go through the first part of the tribulation. They
will be witnessing to the world of God’s truth and His plan of salvation.
WHY did they have to go through the three
and one half years of tribulation? Because they were practicing syncretism!!
Syncretism is the
mixing of religions. Christ had told His disciples to beware of the doctrine of the
Pharisees and Sadducees! "Then understood they how that He bade them not
beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the
Sadducees" (Matt 16:12). These two churches were following the
"Pharisees" Jewish Hebrew calendar that incorporates the postponing
of God’s true Holy Days. The brethren of the wheat harvest of Revelation 12:17
were postponing the Passover and Satan went to make war with them. It is proven
that two churches must go through the three and one half years of
tribulation–Rev. 11. Revelation 12:11, — The brethren of the barley harvest
were keeping the true Passover– no postponing!!! They are protected by God for
three and one half years.
All during His ministry, Christ has
warned His followers not to follow the Judaism of the Pharisees! He knew that
they were teaching the doctrines and commandments of men. "Then came
together unto Him [Christ] the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which
came from Jerusalem. And when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with
defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault. For the
Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding
the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the market, except they
wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to
hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables. Then the
Pharisees and scribes asked Him, Why walk not Thy disciples according to the
tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? He answered and
said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is
written, This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from
Me. Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments
of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men,
as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And He
said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep
your own tradition"(Mark 7:1-9).
The two wave loaves of Pentecost wheat
harvest is also pictured as the 144,000 and mixed multitude of Revelation 7.
These are the servants that have to go through the tribulation. "And one
of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in
white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And
he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have
washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Rev
7:13-14). They finally realize that they had been keeping God’s Passover and
Holy Days on the wrong appointed dates and days!!
COGIT