The following Scripture passages are offered to aid beginning fellowships. The readings and commentary for this week are more in line with what has become usual; for the following will most likely be familiar observations. The concept behind this Sabbath’s selection is doubling of the High Days by rabbinical Judaism.
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Weekly Readings
For the Sabbath of October 2, 2010
The person conducting the Sabbath service should open services with two or three hymns, or psalms, followed by an opening prayer acknowledging that two or three (or more) are gathered together in Christ Jesus’ name, and inviting the Lord to be with them.
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And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the Lord.” / And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the Lord. And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whoever is not afflicted on that very day shall be cut off from his people. And whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall not do any work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. On the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath.” / And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the Lord. On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. For seven days you shall present food offerings to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work. / These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the Lord food offerings, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day, besides the Lord's Sabbaths and besides your gifts and besides all your vow offerings and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the Lord. / On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
Thus Moses declared to the people of Israel the appointed feasts of the Lord. (Lev 23:23–44)
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Questions are regularly asked of The Philadelphia Church, which, without a headquarters congregation or a centralized administration, are answered by the hosting fellowship for the website. A recent and timely question was: if the Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashanah, meaning in Hebrew head of the year, doesn’t represent the return of Christ Jesus (i.e., the Second Advent), what does it represent?
Before an answer will make sense, the High Sabbath must be seen in its cultural context—
Rabbinical Judaism observes Rosh Hashanah on the first two days [not on the first day] of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, with Tishrei recognized as the first month of the new year … rabbinical Judaism’s calendar advances a year with the first day of Tishrei, not with the first day of Abib [Aviv]. Thus, rabbinical Judaism’s calendar recognizes two starting dates for the year, one for people and contracts [the first of Tishrei] and one for the sacred year [the first of Abib] that is of God, which subtly discloses that the people of rabbinical Judaism are no longer of God: if they were of God and sacred, they would begin the year for people in the spring as the Sabbatarian churches of God do.
But rabbinical Judaism’s practice of observing High Sabbaths on two days, not one, has rabbinical Judaism observing the Passover on the dark portion of the 15th day and on the dark portion of the 16th day of Abib, an unscriptural practice originating in the potential inaccuracy of the calculated calendar. Since the Roman destruction of Herod’s temple in 70 CE and the period of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, a calculated calendar has been used to establish the dates for the High Sabbaths, and because the calculated calendar did not reliably determine the date for the monthly new moon crescents, the ancient practice of scheduling two days for the new moon was resumed, with this practice going back at least as far as King Saul (1 Sam 20:5, 18, 27, 34). In the literature of antiquity, Romans mocked Judaism’s “30th Sabbath practice,” this practice of scheduling the observance of the new moon on two days [the 29th day and the 30th day after the previous new moon] instead of on one day, with one of the two days [either the 29th or 30th] being of necessity the day on which the new moon crescent could be (weather permitting) first observed. Roman Emperor Constantine, saying that Jesus was not crucified on two days but once, used the Jewish practice of keeping the Passover on the 15th and 16th of Abib as the basis for rejecting Passover observance and establishing Easter as the official date of Jesus’ resurrection. So it isn’t to rabbinical Judaism and its calculated calendar, refined since the period of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai but still flawed, that Christians go for the dates when the High Sabbaths of God, especially the Feast of Trumpets [the blowing of trumpets], are to be observed. It is to Christ Jesus that Christians go. And Christ left His disciples with only one calendar example, the year of His crucifixion which had the new sacred year beginning with the first sighted new moon crescent following the vernal equinox; i.e., in the year of His crucifixion, on April 12th [Julian calendar], 31 CE. For Christians, the new sacred year should never begin before the spring equinox.
Whereas rabbinical Judaism’s calculated calendar will have Rosh Hashanah occurring 163 days after the 15th day of Abib, with the High Sabbath occurring as early as September 5th and as late as October 5th, for Sabbatarian Christians using the calendar model Jesus left with His disciples, the 15th of Abib can never occur earlier than April 4th, meaning that the Feast of Trumpets can never occur earlier than September 15th. Any scheduling of Rosh Hashanah earlier than the middle of September will disclose to the Christian that Judaism again has Passover on the wrong date for that Gregorian year, and this is without looking at rabbinical Judaism’s set-asides that unscripturally move High Sabbaths a day forward or backward to avoid consecutive Sabbaths
Rabbinical Judaism’s practice of observing Rosh Hashanah on the first two days of Tishrei is prima facie evidence that its calculated calendar is not trustworthy; for even rabbinical Judaism doesn’t trust their calendar to correctly establish the date on which High Sabbaths are to be observed.
But the ancient practice of scheduling two days for the new moon observance—again, a practice going back at least as far as King Saul—discloses a doubling of the Sabbath or new moon that has significance not understood by Judaism, significance that the modern Sabbatarian churches of God also haven’t understood. Although this doubling is not mentioned by Moses, except pertaining to the Passover (see Num 9:10–11 for the second Passover), it is seen in Israel in Egypt eating the Passover lamb on the dark portion of the 14th of Abib; for Israel was not to leave its houses until dawn (Ex 12:22) on the day on which it ate the Passover. So after the death angel passed through all the land at midnight, slaying uncovered firstborns (v. 29), Israel did not immediately leave Egypt; rather, Israel used the daylight portion of the 14th to gather flocks and to spoil the Egyptians. Israel didn’t leave Egypt until the end of the 14th, the dark portion of the 15th, the High Sabbath or great Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Thus, it is the night of the 15th that represents Israel leaving Egypt. It is this night that is to be much observed. The Passover is eaten on the previous night; so rabbinical Judaism, in partaking in Seder services on the night of the 15th and on the night of the 16th of Abib commits two errors, not one. Neither the 15th nor the 16th is the appropriate day to eat the Passover, and the commanded celebration on the night of the 15th is for Israel’s exodus from slavery, not for eating the Passover.
Using the example of Christ to establish the calendar and the High Sabbaths, there is a first Unleavened (read Matt 26:17 in its Greek original and take out the translator-added words) that was observed by some Israelites in 1st-Century Judah, the reason why the man isn’t surprised by Jesus’ disciples telling him that The Teacher will keep the Passover at his house (Matt 26:18). This first Unleavened is in addition to the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It is the Preparation Day for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, meaning that eating the Passover [taking the Passover sacraments of unleavened bread and wine] prepares the Israelite to leave sin, with ancient Egypt being the earthly representation of sin. The Feast of Unleavened Bread represents ancient Israel’s exodus from sin, an exodus that forms the visible shadow and type of Christendom’s exodus from indwelling sin and death following the Second Passover liberation of Israel.
The prophet Jeremiah wrote,
Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, “As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,” but “As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.” For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers. (16:14–15)
Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, “As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,” but “As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.” Then they shall dwell in their own land. (23:7–8)
The Passover liberation of Israel from slavery in Egypt, followed by Israel’s exodus, will be repeated, with Israel’s liberation and exodus this second time being of so much greater significance that the exodus from Egypt will be forgotten. The Promised Land for this second exodus will be heaven, not the land of Canaan.
The prophet Isaiah speaks in Hebraic thought-couplets [the standard form for ancient Hebrew poetry] about this second Passover liberation:
But now thus says the Lord,
[physical] he who created you, O Jacob,
[spiritual] he who formed you, O Israel:
[physical] “Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
[spiritual] I have called you by name, you are mine.
[physical] When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
[spiritual] when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
[physical] For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
[spiritual] Because you are precious in my eyes,
and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
peoples in exchange for your life.” (Isa 43:1–4)
The thought-couplet is based on doubling the presentation of an idea, with the first presentation representing the physical world, darkness, the community, the outside of the self, the hand and body of a person. The second presentation of the same idea [as in the juxtaposition of the names Jacob and Israel] represents the spiritual world, light, the individual, the inside of a person, the heart and mind [soul, as in what causes a person to live].
As the Lord once gave the lives of Egyptians as the ransom for the physical liberation from physical slavery of Israel, with the Lord then bringing Israel from Egypt to the land representing His rest (from Ps 95:10–11), the Lord will give the lives of men [humankind] as the ransom for the spiritual liberation from indwelling sin and death of Israel, a nation now circumcised of heart and not in the flesh … circumcision in the flesh doesn’t return until the Millennium, when there is again a physical temple, a physical sanctuary which physical men will enter. To enter a spiritual sanctuary, an Israelite must be circumcised of heart; to enter a physical sanctuary, the Israelite must be circumcised in the flesh. When the physical merges with the spiritual, the Israelite must be circumcised both in the flesh and of the heart as Ezekiel records:
Thus says the Lord God: O house of Israel, enough of all your abominations, in admitting foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, profaning my temple, when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. … Thus says the Lord God: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary. (44:6–7, 9)
So the concept of doubling has solid scriptural support, but cannot be understood by those Israelites who are not circumcised of heart, meaning that rabbinical Judaism does not understand what it purports to understand. For natural Israel—the circumcised-in-the-flesh nation of Israel—forms the shadow and type, the left hand enantiomer, of spiritual Israel [Sabbatarian Christendom], the spiritual nation that will be circumcised-of-heart after hearts have been cleansed by faith as rabbinical Judaism cleanses penises with wine. The inner self, made alive through receipt of a second breath of life, the breath of God [pneuma Theon], must make a spiritual journey [a journey of faith] equivalent to Abraham’s physical journey of faith from Ur of the Chaldeans [Babylon, representing this world] to Haran [Assyria, representing death, baptism] where he separated from his “old man” then journeyed down to the land of Canaan [the Promised Land, representing God’s rest]. Unfortunately, Abraham continued south to Egypt [representing sin] where he prospered through Sarah, his wife and half-sister, being taken into Pharaoh’s harem. The symbolism is there for all to see: through the telling of a half-truth (and full lie), Abram’s worldly wealth was greatly increased: “And for her sake he [Pharaoh] dealt well with Abram; and he [Abram] had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels” (Gen 12:16).
The Adversary, as the still reigning prince of this world, doesn’t give to the Lord’s servants the wealth of this world, but gives trouble and trials. It is when one of the Lord’s servants wanders far from God (i.e., wanders into sin) that the prince of this world gives great prosperity to the Lord’s servant; for the Lord’s promise is that He will provide the needs of those who serve Him. And rarely is great prosperity “needed” by any servant of the Lord; rarely do those who have great wealth leave sin and journey into obedience. Often those who have great wealth continue to serve the Adversary when they sincerely believe they serve God, as in the case of Jon M. Huntsman whose charity is legendary. But note: Abram didn’t return those things that Pharaoh had given him because of Sarai, but took them with him out of Egypt (Gen 12:20); so the concept of the redistribution of wealth because the wealth was obtained by past sin[s] is not supported when that wealth is obtained from the world and not from fellow Israelites, post liberation. Jesus telling the rich young ruler to sell all he had and distribute the proceeds to the poor then follow Him (Luke 18:22) was a matter of setting forth the journey of faith the young ruler needed to take; for the young ruler’s wealth was “his proof” of his righteousness, and his righteousness was of this world.
Hence, while the practice of double-celebrating the High Sabbath of blowing trumpets [i.e., the first day of the seventh month] because of calendar vagaries is unscriptural and should not be practiced, the doubling of this High Sabbath has scriptural precedence; for this is the only High Sabbath that is also a new moon, with the moon representing the reflected glory of the sun—
And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. (Rev 12:1–6)
The Woman is Israel; the male child is Christ. And the moon reflects the glory of the sun that clothes [garments] the Woman. The moon represents a second Israel, the nation that remains here on earth, the nation that remains in darkness, the nation that doesn’t flee into the wilderness on the two wings of the great eagle, the nation of Israel that begins the Millennium and is seen in Ezekiel’s prophecies. This second Israel is not the offspring of the Woman represented by the Remnant, but the nation composed of those who are filled with spirit [hence, circumcised of heart] but who have not taken judgment upon themselves when Christ Jesus returns. This nation of Israel will live physically as the antediluvian patriarchs lived long lives; for without indwelling sin and death, this Israel will only experience death from an outside [of themselves] source. The nation will not be immortal, but barring mishaps, the nation will live for a thousand or a thousand-plus years. These Israelites will live until they are changed in the great White Throne Judgment, when the remainder of humankind that was never under judgment is resurrected from death.
When a person born of God through receipt of a second breath of life is baptized, thereby publically and outwardly killing the old self (old nature), the person takes judgment upon the new inner self. The practice of Believers’ Baptism adhered to by 16th-Century Anabaptists and by the Sabbatarian Churches of God ever since, doesn’t permit the baptism of physical children even if these children are filled with spirit through the spirit being poured out on all flesh so that there is no indwelling sin or death in the children. Therefore children filled with spirit and those who are weak in faith even though they are filled with spirit (and because of their weakness, not baptized) will physically enter into the Millennium as the not-glorified nation of Israel, the second nation of Israel, the nation represented by the moon under the feet of the Woman. For the saints are the offspring of the Woman, the Body of Christ that is not in heaven when Satan and his angels are cast into time where his days are numbered: the Christian Church is not represented by the moon, but by the male child caught up to heaven. The Christian Church is represented by Christ, not the Woman. Therefore, when Satan is cast from heaven, the Woman represents the 144,000 natural Israelites sealed from every tribe, except Dan. The Remnant that includes the seven named churches represents the rest of the Woman’s offspring that come through the male child caught up to heaven.
Rabbinical Judaism doubled calendar dates because the people lacked understanding; likewise, the greater Christian Church worships the visible physical creation that reveals the invisible, spiritual things of God (Rom 1:20). Greater Christendom gives to the light that comes from the sun the honor and worship that rightly belongs to the Light that has come from the Father, with Christ Jesus being this spiritual Light. But how is a person not born of God to read Hebraic thought-couplets and grasp what the prophets of old consciously or unconsciously revealed? They cannot. The best they can do is set the stage for endtime, circumcised-of-heart Israel to explicate the mysteries of God.
Returning now to the Feast of Blowing Trumpets, or Feast of Trumpets, the doubling of the High Sabbath should not be on consecutive days; nor should the first occasion be a holy convocation because the physical precedes the spiritual—and the physical isn’t necessarily holy. Abraham had one son of promise, Isaac. Abraham’s first son, Ishmael, is of a slave woman, bearing a child for slavery (Gal 4:24), a child that would become a great nation (Gen 21:13, 18), with “nation” representing an ideology.
As an aside, visible Christianity isn’t of God; nor is rabbinical Judaism although Judaism is closer to God than is visible [greater] Christianity. Both are far from God, with visible Christians professing belief in Jesus but openly rebelling against Him, and with Judaism denying the divinity of Jesus. Both are nations enslaved by the prince of this world; both are enslaved in unbelief. And both cause the Father to be evil spoken-of throughout the world. Therefore, what was God to do when there remained centuries to go before the time, times, and half a time elapsed between the first Passover [approx 1450 BCE] and the Second Passover in the 21st-Century? And the what was foreknown: He would “plant” a cover crop to protect the mental topography of humankind, a crop that would not be harvested but plowed under to enrich the soil, a crop that would be a great nation [ideology] but a nation enslaved by the prince of this world. And that nation is Islam, a peoples that do not place national allegiances ahead of allegiance to its God; a peoples that rigidly adhere to codified law; a peoples that is mostly untainted by compromise; but a peoples that will never enter heaven until it takes a journey of faith represented by Abraham’s journey of faith, meaning that it, descending from Abraham’s son of a slave woman, must embrace Moses and journey from this world and its prince to Sabbath observance and the keeping of the commandments, a journey Islam will not make until the Endurance, the last 1260 days of the seven endtime years. The plowing under of Islam occurs in the Affliction, the first 1260 days of the endtime years of tribulation—and it will take much to soften up Islam so that this third part of humankind can come to Christ as little children.
The first Passover was eaten on the dark portion of the 14th of Abib, and Sabbatarian Christians eat [or should eat] the Passover sacraments of bread and wine on the dark portion of the 14th of Abib annually. At midnight on the night when the first Passover was eaten, the death angel passed throughout the land, slaying uncovered firstborns of man and beast. Israel then used the daylight portion of the 14th of Abib to loot the Egyptians before hastily leaving Egypt at the end of the 14th, going into the 15th of Abib. Israel was not truly a free nation until the people left Egypt the night of the 15th of Abib: it is this night that is to be much observed because of Israel’s liberation.
However, the ninth plague had concluded before the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “‘This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you’” (Ex 12:2). Thus, the new year began for Israel before the Passover lambs were selected and penned on the 10th day of Abib … the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron on the 1st day of Abib.
Jesus twice said that he would give only one sign that He was of heaven, the sign of Jonah, that as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish [whale], Jesus would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Jesus was crucified on the daylight portion of the 14th of Abib; He was gone from grave on the day after the weekly Sabbath (John 20:1; Luke 24:1). Thus, Jesus was in the grave by the beginning of the High Sabbath, the 15th of Abib (John 19:42). He would have been in the grave all day on the 15th of Abib, all day on the 16th of Abib, and all day on the 17th of Abib, the weekly Sabbath. He was then gone from the grave before dawn on the 18th of Abib. So through Jesus’ modeling, disciples have the basis for establishing the calendar as well as establishing that Jesus was the selected and penned Passover Lamb of God; for Jesus entered Jerusalem five days before the 15th, the High Sabbath (from John 12:1, 12), or on the 10th day of Abib. Jesus entered Jerusalem as the selected Lamb of God.
But when Jesus was sacrificed on the 14th day of Abib—when the Pharisees sacrificed the Passover lamb—Jesus was the entirety of the Lamb of God. There was only the Head; there was no Body of Christ (from 1 Cor 12:27) for the spirit had not yet been given to anyone except Jesus (see Matt 3:16), who had come down from heaven.
When the children of Israel, following Joshua [in Greek, Jesus], entered into God’s rest on the 10th day of Abib (Josh 4:19), the children of Israel where a chosen people that quickly abandoned God and adopted the customs of the people they were dispossessing. The Lord told Ezekiel,
And I said to their children [the children of Israel] in the wilderness, Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor keep their rules, nor defile yourselves with their idols. I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules, and keep my Sabbaths holy that they may be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. But the children rebelled against me. They did not walk in my statutes and were not careful to obey my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live; they profaned my Sabbaths. / Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness. But I withheld my hand and acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out. Moreover, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries, because they had not obeyed my rules, but had rejected my statutes and profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were set on their fathers' idols. Moreover, I gave them statutes that were not good and rules by which they could not have life, and I defiled them through their very gifts in their offering up all their firstborn, that I might devastate them. I did it that they might know that I am the Lord. (20:18–26 emphasis added)
Whereas the children of Israel were a chosen nation, the Lord knew the children of Israel were enslaved by unbelief before the nation entered the Promised Land. The nation was allegorically of a slave woman who bore children for slavery. The nation was as Islam is today … did the angel Gabriel actually appear to Mohamed and tell him that neither Christendom nor Judaism worshiped God in truth? Certainly by the 7th-Century CE, neither Christendom nor Judaism did in fact worship God. Both nations were enslaved by the Adversary. So what would have prevented the Lord from sending Gabriel to the descendents of Ishmael for the purpose of bringing into existence a great slave nation [enslaved nation] that would never take the mark of the beast [chi xi stigma or the tattoo of Christ’ cross]?
The relationship between Sabbatarian Christians who hold the testimony of Jesus [i.e., the spirit of prophecy] and Islam is analogous to the relationship between Jesus of Nazareth and the Sadducees and Pharisees of the 1st-Century … the Sadducees and Pharisees of the 1st-Century knew as little about God and were as unable to recognize the Lord as Islam today knows about the things of God or recognizes the Lord. The Sadducees and Pharisees of the 1st-Century were enslaved in unbelief as Islam today is enslaved in unbelief. Whereas greater Christendom and rabbinical Judaism today hold national allegiances and personal freedom to be of greater importance than allegiance to God, Islam continues in the vein of the Jewish Zealots of the 1st and early 2nd Centuries—actually in the vein of the Maccabees that would rather fight the Seleucid Empire to hold onto their belief in God than worship Zeus and the Greek pantheon. And as Roman legions razed Jerusalem in 70 CE then defeated the revolt of 133–135 CE, Arian and Trinitarian Christendom will ideologically defeat and destroy Islam during the Affliction.
Because there was no Body of Christ when Jesus as the reality of the selected Passover Lamb of God entered Jerusalem in 31 CE; and because Jesus had come from heaven as the only Son of Theos (John 3:16), the Logos [o logos] who was God [theos] and who was with the God [ton Theon] in the beginning (John 1:1), neither the 1st day of Abib nor the 10th day of Abib are celebrated … without the indwelling of Christ in Israel, the occasion or the day is not celebrated. Hence, Jesus’ birth is not to be celebrated (it is not even remembered with exactness).
Leavening [yeast] is an earthly representation or shadow of sin; for yeast spores float in the air and are everywhere as the prince of this world’s broadcast of disobedience comes by the power of the air and affects all living things. Hence, the first Unleavened and the Feast of Unleavened Bread represent when Israel will live without sin. These two periods, butting up against one another, follow the Passover liberation of Israel. The first Unleavened is seen in type by the sacrifice of the Passover lamb on the dark portion of the 14th of Abib, the passing of the death angel throughout all the land at midnight on the 14th of Abib, and by the spoiling of Egyptians on the daylight portion of the 14th of Abib. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, now, represents in type Israel’s exodus from sin, with Egypt allegorically or metaphorically representing sin.
When the physical first Passover (seen in Isa 43:3) is placed beneath (as a shadow) the Second Passover liberation of circumcised-of-heart Israel (seen in Isa 43:4), Israel’s exodus from Egypt forms the shadow of endtime Israel’s exodus from indwelling sin and death, a reality that will cause the shadow to be forgotten, what the Lord told Jeremiah as well as Isaiah (11:11, 16). Israel’s spoiling of the Egyptians—Israel’s taking of those things of value that reflected light—becomes the shadow of circumcised-of-heart Israel being filled-with and empowered by the spirit of God at the Second Passover liberation of the nation. The fine clothing that Israel took when the nation spoiled the Egyptians forms the shadow of circumcised-of-heart Israel being “clothed” in obedience to God following the Second Passover. Therefore, the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (the 15th through 22nd of Abib) represent the seven endtime years of tribulation, when all of Christendom will be liberated from indwelling sin and death through being filled with the spirit [pneuma breath] of God. The first Unleavened represents the 14th of Abib, the Passover, when circumcised-of-heart Israel is covered by grace, the obedience of Christ, through annually taking the Passover sacraments of bread and wine on the dark portion of the 14th of Abib.
Once the Son of Man is revealed [disrobed], grace ends to never return … there will be no more celebration of the first Unleavened once the Second Passover occurs and circumcised-of-heart Israel is finally under the New Covenant; for as a contract provision of this New Covenant, sin will not be remembered (Jer 31:34; Heb 8:12; 10:17). Thus, there will no longer be a need to cover sin by taking the Passover sacraments of bread and wine.
When sin is no longer remembered, beginning for circumcised-of-heart Israel with its liberation from indwelling sin and death at the Second Passover, God will send a strong delusion over those Israelites who refuse to love the truth. This delusion will cause these unbelieving Israelites to believe what is false “in order that all may be condemned” (2 Thess 2:12). In other words, sin becomes simple unbelief, the root for all transgressions of the commandments, John’s definition of sin (see 1 John 3:4). Thus, whatever is not of belief/faith is sin (Rom 14:23), with faith producing belief.
The light of God will dwell within every Christian, regardless of sect or denomination, immediately following the Second Passover liberation of Israel; hence, the first High Sabbath of the year celebrates Israel’s exodus from sin, with the seven days of Unleavened Bread representing that period when Israel covers itself [clothes itself] with its obedience to God, with this period being the seven endtime years of tribulation when anyone who takes sin back inside the person is condemned to the lake of fire. The shadow of this condemnation is seen in Moses relaying the words of the Lord: “‘No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days’” (Deut 16:4). And seen in Moses commanding Israel,
Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out. And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory. You shall tell your son on that day, “It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.” And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year. (Ex 13:3–10)
The seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread commemorate Israel’s exodus from sin, beginning in type with the day when Israel came out from Egypt, not with the day when the Passover lamb was sacrificed and when the death angel passed over the land.
Now looking at the Feast of Booths [Tabernacles], endtime Israel reads the words of the Lord as Moses delivered them: “‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord … you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days … in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt’” (Lev 23:39–43).
Once the Second Passover occurs, circumcised-of-heart Israel will be spiritually as outwardly circumcised Israel was during its exodus when that nation dwelt in tents in the wilderness; the inner selves of all of Israel will be made alive and will dwell in tents of flesh as ancient Israel dwelt in skin and fabric tents. The reality that casts as its shadow the exodus that the Feast of Booths commemorates occurs at the Second Passover and carries on until the Second Advent. Therefore, the Feast of Booths commemorates the same exodus, the same period represented by the 15th through 22nd of Abib that the Feast of Unleavened Bread commemorates.
The above is the key that opens understanding to what the Feast of Trumpets represents.
If the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread represents, for circumcised-of-heart Israel, the same reality as the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles represents, then these two seven days feasts are synonyms. And this is what’s seen by Ezekiel, who, writing about Israel in the Millennium, records,
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall celebrate the Feast of the Passover, and for seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten. On that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a young bull for a sin offering. And on the seven days of the festival he shall provide as a burnt offering to the Lord seven young bulls and seven rams without blemish, on each of the seven days; and a male goat daily for a sin offering. And he shall provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull, an ephah for each ram, and a hin of oil to each ephah. In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month and for the seven days of the feast, he shall make the same provision for sin offerings, burnt offerings, and grain offerings, and for the oil. (45:21–25)
There are two harvests of this earth, the harvest of firstfruits represented by the barley harvest of ancient Judea, and the main crop wheat harvest representing the great White Throne Judgment. The barley harvest ran from the Wave Sheaf Offering to the Feast of Weeks: the harvest of firstfruits runs from when Jesus breathed on ten of His disciples (John 20:22) which was on the day of the Wave Sheaf Offering, to when He returns at the end of the seven endtime years of tribulation, with the glorification of His disciples represented by the two waved loaves of bread on the Feast of Weeks (Lev 23:17).
The Feast of Unleavened Bread represents the seven endtime years and includes the entirety of the period when Israel will live without indwelling sin and death; hence, the First Unleavened and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, together [eight days], represent the periods during which Israel is without reckoned sin. During these eight days, unleavened bread or bread of affliction is eaten; these eight days represent “afflicting” the soul, what is commanded on Yom Kipporim, the 10th day of Tishrei. And the inner self, born of God through receipt of a second breath of life, the breath of God [pneuma Theon] that is the Holy Spirit [pneuma hagion] is “afflicted” through dwelling in a tent of flesh until the Second Advent and judgments are revealed … again, the inner self, born of God as a son, and dwelling in a fleshly body is analogous to outwardly circumcised Israelites dwelling in houses in Egypt [the First Unleavened] and following the Passover, analogous to outwardly circumcised Israelites dwelling in tents in the wilderness [the Feast of Unleavened Bread]. Thus, the Feast of Tabernacles, when Israel dwells in booths [temporary housing] so that the generations of Israel may know that the Lord “‘made the people of Israel dwell in booths when [He] brought them out of the land of Egypt’” (Lev 23:43) represents in type the same period that the Feast of Unleavened Bread represents. But—here is where there is complexity—represents the Feast of Unleavened Bread to another generation; i.e., to a second nation of circumcised-of-heart Israel.
The last high Sabbath of Unleavened Bread—the last day when Israel, the nation circumcised of heart (Rom 2:28–29; Col 2:11) is afflicted by dwelling in tents of flesh—becomes a representation of disciples being glorified upon Christ Jesus’ return. Thus, the counting of the seven weeks between the Wave Sheaf and the Feast of Weeks fits inside the First Unleavened and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, with the fourth day (when the Wave Sheaf Offering in 31 CE occurred, the 18th of Abib) marking the mid point of the seven endtime years; marking when the kingdom of this world is taken from the four kings and given to the Son of Man (Dan 7:9–14; Rev 11:15–18). This is when Satan is cast from heaven and the Holy Spirit is poured out on all flesh (Joel 2:28) and the third part of humankind becomes sons of God (Zech 13:9). This is the beginning of Revelation chapter 13, with the first beast of chap 13 being the amalgamated four kings who have just had dominion taken from them but their lives spared (Dan 7:12). These four kings—sans the body of the fourth king which is burned—are what remains of the demonic king of Greece of Daniel chapters 8 and 10. These four kings are the four horsemen of Revelation chapter 6; so when they come to power is known. They come at the beginning of the Affliction, when they have a reign of a time, times, and half a time (from Dan 7:25) or 1260 days ahead of them.
They come on the day [short while] immediately following the Second Passover, when the first horn or great king of the demonic king of Greece is suddenly broken because he is first. They come as Pharaoh and his armies came after the fleeing Israelites, and they are no more successful in immediately recovering these newly liberated Israelites than Pharaoh was … recovery of these Israelites (that is, returning these Israelites to being slaves of sin) is left for the man of perdition, a human being possessed by Satan who is disguised as an angel of light. This human being will be to circumcised-of-heart Israel as King Saul was to ancient Israel. The evil spirit in him will be Satan; however, because the man of perdition will be an Arian Christian [i.e., of the king of the North], the human person will believe that the angel possessing him is Christ Jesus so the human person will have no difficulty in sincerely declaring himself God. The human person will be a Latter Day Saint. The demonic false prophet will be the first horseman of Revelation chapter 6, and the first beast of Daniel chapter 7, and this false prophet to come to the office of “prophet” that is being reserved for him: the false prophet will, most likely, come claiming to be the angel Joseph Smith, and will come to a people already prepared to believe that men become angels after the example of the warrior prophet Moroni who allegedly first appeared to Joseph Smith on September 21, 1823.
The period of time that is usually translated into English as the “Tribulation” is better translated as the Affliction [te thlipsei from Rev 1:9]. This period is when, according to Jesus, “‘Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake’” (Matt 24:9). So afflicting the soul by either eating the bread of affliction [in the spring of the year] or by fasting [on Yom Kipporim in the fall of the year] forms a type and shadow of the saints being delivered into tribulation in the Affliction, the first 1260 days of the seven endtime years, because they bear Jesus’ name.
Although it has been traditionally taught in the Sabbatarian churches of God that the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles represents the Millennium, these seven days better represents when Israel lives without sin, dwelling in temporary housing [booths], with circumcised-of-heart Israel being filled with spirit and having the mind of Christ and thereby liberated from indwelling sin and death as outwardly circumcised Israel was liberated from physical bondage to Pharaoh. Now, understand, once Christ returns, the harvest of firstfruits will conclude: all of Israel that has taken judgment upon itself will have those judgments revealed, with some being condemned to the lake of fire and some being glorified as younger siblings of Christ Jesus.
But a portion of Israel, also living without indwelling sin, will not have taken judgment upon itself and will physically enter into the Millennium; so as previously mentioned, in the Millennium two nations of Israel will then exist, one glorified and one consisting of living inner selves still living in tents of flesh … 16th-Century Anabaptists understood the concept of Believers’ Baptism: the person who hasn’t physically matured is still a child and is too young to take judgment upon him or herself, what baptism represents. Hence, if for no other reason than “youth,” there will be a nation of Israel that is without sin and not under judgment and that enters physically into the Millennium. This nation will be spiritually, throughout the Millennium, as the saints were during the seven endtime years of tribulation, with Satan being loosed after the thousand years for a short while (Rev 20:7) being analogous to when Satan was cast from heaven and came as the Antichrist in the Endurance, the last 1260 days of the seven endtime years. This means that the thousand years of the Millennium with the “short while” [1260 days] when Satan is loosed after the thousand years, together, form the mirror image of the Affliction and Endurance.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles, in the Millennium, form mirror images of each other—
So once the Son of Man is revealed and grace ends (because it will no longer be needed when disciples are liberated from indwelling sin and death through being filled-with and empowered by the spirit of God), Israel will never again live in bondage/slavery to sin. Thus, as the first Unleavened (when Israel in Egypt took the Passover, and when Jesus ate the Passover) precedes the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Last Great Day follows the Feast of Tabernacles, which represents the liberation of Israel from slavery to indwelling sin and death. Therefore, the Last Great Day actually represents [for glorified Israel] the Millennial reign of Christ and represents [for physically living Israel] the great White Throne Judgment.
The Feast of Tabernacles, where dwelling in booths represents in type the living inner self, born of spirit, dwelling in a tent of flesh, has greater significance to Israelites represented by the main crop wheat harvest than it has to Israelites represented by the barley harvest as firstfruits.
When a Sabbatarian understands that the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles both represent the liberation of Israel from indwelling sin and death, with the First Unleavened representing the period when circumcised-of-heart Israel lives under grace and with the Last Great Day representing the Day of the Lord that includes the Millennium and the great White Throne Judgment, then the Sabbatarian will realize that the blowing of trumpets [Feast of Trumpets] and Yom Kipporim represent the beginning of the new year and the selection of the Lamb of God, neither of which are celebrated prior to the representation of disciples having the indwelling of Christ as the vessel able to “hold” eternal life, the second breath of life, the breath of God.
The 10th day of the month represents the selection of Israel, both of those who will be glorified at the Second Advent and of those who physically enter into the Millennium, with the compression of the Passover when Israel afflicts its soul by eating the bread of affliction [unleavened bread] causing Israelites in the fall of the year to fast on Yom Kipporim.
An example timeline needs to be shown: the Tribulation or Affliction begins with the Second Passover liberation of circumcised-of-heart Israel from bondage to indwelling sin and death of the sort observed by Paul in himself in Romans chapter 7. Using next year as an example year (and a probable year), the Second Passover occurs on the second Passover, May 19th, the 15th day of Iyyar. The great falling away [the Apostasy] of 2 Thessalonians 2:3 will then occur on Sunday, December 25th, Christmas day, 220 days later: this is the opening of the fifth seal. The opening of the sixth seal occurs 360 days later, or on the December solstice 2012. And 1260 days after the Second Passover liberation of Israel is October 30th, 2014, the last day of Satan’s reign over the earth as the spiritual king of Babylon. October 31st, 2014, would then be the first day that the Son of Man reigns, with Satan and his angels being on this day cast from heaven and coming to earth on Halloween as troubling spirits. This would be day 1261 of the 2520 days of the seven endtime years. Christ will return as the Messiah on day 2520, or on or about April 12th, 2018, Armageddon, three or three and a half days before the sacred year begins in 2018.
Rabbinical Judaism’s calculated calendar begins the month of Abib (Aviv) on March 17th, 2018, which is before the equinox and a month too early. The sacred year will actually begin with April 16th, 2018, and this will be the beginning of the Millennium, the reality of what the Lord told Moses in Exodus 12:2.
Christ doesn’t return on Trumpets, but at the beginning of the year: He returns to destroy the armies of the Antichrist at Armageddon, with the three or three and a half days between Armageddon and the beginning of the new sacred year being foreshadowed in Scripture. He will again eat of the fruit of the vine with His then-glorified disciples on the Night to be Much Observed (the dark portion of the 15th day of Abib) soon after He returns, not a half year later.
The Blowing of Trumpets can only casually represent Armageddon; it actually represents the reality of the shadow seen in Exodus 12:2, the beginning of the new sacred year.
Because there was no nation of Israel that was circumcised-of-heart in Egypt, the new sacred year could not be celebrated on the 1st of Abib. Because there was no nation of Israel that was circumcised-of-heart in Egypt on the 10th day of the 1st month, the selection of sin offerings for Israel could not be celebrated on the 10th day of Abib. These two celebrations had to be moved forward to after the Passover liberation of Israel; hence, they are seen in the mirror image of spring High Sabbaths of God.
Because the Millennium will start on the 1st day of Abib, the first day of the sacred year, and because naturally circumcised Israel is only a shadow and type of circumcised-of-heart Israel, the 1st day of the sacred year is not celebrated when it first physically occurs, but will be celebrated when it spiritually occurs. Trumpets, now, is a celebration of the spiritual first day of the Millennium, not of when Christ returns three or three and a half days earlier. Trumpets is not a celebration of Armageddon, which it would be if it were a celebration of Christ Jesus’ return. The death of so many (Isa 66:15–16) is not something to celebrate.
All of the Holy Days pertaining to the harvest of firstfruits occur in the spring of the year; all of the Holy Days pertaining to the main crop wheat harvest occur in the fall of the year, with the spring Holy Days forming a mirror image, a non-symmetrical image of the fall Holy Days.
The first Unleavened isn’t part of the seven-day long Feast of Unleavened Bread; nor is the Last Great Day part of the seven-day long Feast of Tabernacles, which represents the inner new man, born of God as a son of God, dwelling in a temporary tabernacle, the tent of flesh that is the inner new man’s abode here on earth.
In a mirror image, a person’s right hand becomes (in the image) the person’s left hand; thus what precedes the seven days of Unleavened Bread follows the seven days of the Feast of Booths.
The fall Holy Days are celebrated by all of Israel as the spring Holy Days are, but the spring Holy Days pertain to the harvest of Firstfruits, the early barley harvest, whereas the fall Holy Days pertain to the main crop wheat harvest in the great White Throne Judgment. The kingdom of this world still belongs to the present prince of this world, and will continue in darkness until the Second Passover when Christendom is liberated from indwelling sin and death. Satan will, then, no longer have any dominion over circumcised-of-heart Israel. However, when Israel returns to sin as Israel in the wilderness sought to return to Egypt, circumcised-of-heart Israel will be the slaves of the Adversary and condemned to the lake of fire.
So what is physical or in darkness [as in under Satan’s reign of disobedience] is not seen in the spring Holy Days, but is seen in the mirror image of these Holy Days, when the Last Great Day represents the Day of the Lord.
The doubling of the new moons by ancient Israel and the doubling of the High Days by rabbinical Judaism comes from both “sensing” the doubling represents the fall High Sabbaths forming the spiritual mirror image of the spring High Sabbaths.
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The person conducting the Sabbath service should close services with two hymns, or psalms, followed by a prayer asking God’s dismissal.
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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."