God's Plan of Salvation Through the Holy Days

What is your purpose here on earth? What happens when this life is over? Do you go to heaven, or is there something else? God's Holy Days reveal a greater plan.

Presented by Jim Franks
Cincinnati, Ohio - August 23, 2008 (65 minutes)

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Sermon Transcript

I cannot say that I am a TV watcher. When it comes to television I generally am watching sports, or news, or an occasional movie. But I am aware that there are other things on television. I'm aware that there are comedies, sitcoms, and other things. In fact, I became aware of one about two or three years ago because of my daughter. The title, or the program, is called "Everybody Loves Raymond." You may have seen this series or seen some of the programs. I had never seen one of the programs or at least seen one all the way through until a couple of years ago. My daughter came to me.

She said, "Dad, you really need to see this program."

And in the day of DVRs and other things, and they're put on tape and you can go and watch them when you want. So I watched this program. Now, if you're not familiar with the program, Raymond, it's a comedy series and Raymond and his wife, Deborah, have three children. Across the street live his mother, his father, and his brother. His father is Frank and his brother is Robert. His mother is Marie. And in this particular series my daughter said, "This particular program, you really need to see this program."

So I watched this program. And this program begins by Deborah, the wife, asking Raymond to speak to their seven year old daughter about the facts of life. Little Allie is seven years old and he needs to go and have the "father to daughter" talk. So he puts it off and he puts it off and finally his wife insists; so one evening he goes upstairs to his daughter's bedroom, sits on this little seven year old's bed and begins to ask her questions. And he starts out this way.

He says, "What do you know about the purpose in men and women? What is the purpose in men and women?" Well, Raymond is surprised because Allie responds with a question.

She asked this question. "Why did God put men and women on the earth?"

Well, Raymond is completely shocked. This is not the direction he intended for this to go. So he stutters and he looks for words, and he finally comes up with an answer. He says, "Because heaven is so crowded God needed someplace to put the overflow, and so He created the Earth." Well, Raymond knew his answer wasn't correct, but he was hopeful that his seven year old daughter would accept what he offered and go on to the issue at hand. Well, he wasn't correct in that.

Little Allie responded by asking, "Well, okay, what is the purpose in heaven then if the Earth is okay." And, well, Raymond couldn't even answer that so he storms out of the room, he goes downstairs, and he tells his wife how things went.

"Well, how did things go?"

"Well, they didn't go very well. She asked me what's the purpose in life and he told what answer he gave, and everybody laughs because that's ridiculous. Well, his mother's there by now and she says, "Well, we must be able to find the answer in the Bible." So she takes the Bible off the shelf, she opens the Bible, and she begins reading. "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the Earth." And then she stops. She says, "You know, the answer's gotta be in here somewhere but I don't know where it is." And then they go on to other topics, and it's promptly forgotten.

Now, my daughter thought it was so unusual that on a sitcom someone would open the Bible first of all, and then secondarily they would stutter around. You know, it is a comedy, as to why human beings are even on the Earth. And outside of heaven, and going to heaven, or the idea of heaven, the idea of the Earth as an overflow place for heaven simply made no sense.

This program pointed out a fundamental error among humanity, certainly among those who profess Christianity. The error has to do with the future of human beings. What happens when life is over? What happens when this life is over? Do you go to heaven, or is there something else?

Now as part of the church of God we often take for granted that the answer is very simple. I'd like to explain today to you that not only is the answer not so simple, but it is related to us every single year through God's Holy Days.

The title of the sermon is very simple: "God's Plan of Salvation through the Holy Days." If you stop and think about it, man has such great intelligence that he can travel to the moon, but he cannot answer the most basic question of why he's here on Earth. It has escaped him. He has no real concept. Sometimes I don't think we understand fully how narrow the understanding of this particular mystery, as it's called in some places. How profound it is that we have the answer to that question.

There's a website called "preachingtoday.com" and on this website they did a survey of all Americans. All Americans who believe in heaven, and eighty-five per cent of those who believe in heaven believe they're going to heaven, eighty-five percent.

An ABC poll conducted in December of 2005 says that eighty-nine per cent of all Americans believe in heaven. Eighty-nine percent believe in heaven, and eighty-five per cent of that eighty-nine per cent believe they're going there, and yet there is absolutely no biblical support. In fact, the biblical support is absolutely the opposite. That's something again that you and I have learned over the years.

We've learned, when God called us, and each year we relive that whole process that we call "the Plan of Salvation" through God's Annual Holy Days. I want to read a piece from another article a couple of articles, actually because it identifies a fundamental flaw, not only in human behavior but certainly in Christian behavior as we would talk about it today. This is an article in "The Theological Journal" on the subject of preaching, and the title is: "Application without Moralism."

"The fundamental flaw with Christianity as a religion is that there is a disconnect between what is taught and what is practiced." Now we're going to talk a little bit more about practicing Christianity. The title is again, "Application without Moralism." It says, "There's great concern between what is being taught by Christianity and how people live their lives."

The article quotes a Gallup survey that says this: "Those who claim to be religious, claim to be devout Christians have a higher incidence of drunken driving and divorce than non-religious people." It also found that abortion and drug use are the same for the test group as for those who do not make a religious claim in society. Gallup concluded something shocking, yet no secret to those who are true observers. "There's no statistical difference in moral conduct between religious people, those who attend church and those who profess no religion."

Now on the surface that is shocking. If you have a whole body of people who profess Christianity, who are churchgoers, and their lives are no better morally than someone who has no religious ties, there is a disconnect. There's something happening in people's lives. There's something happening in our society that's not only is it interesting from the standpoint of studying it, but it's also very sad that a religion that touts morality has no better result than someone who has no religion. There's a disconnect. What causes that? Why is there no practicing of what is taught? I want to tie some other loose ends here in the beginning as we progress through the sermon this morning.

If you stop and think about religion, when do people mostly become most religious? Well, people are most religious when there's been a disaster, or when there's been a death. Funerals and natural disasters force people to think more deeply about religion than they would otherwise. That's interesting.

That it requires, it seems in our society some profound event to cause someone to think about religion or to become religious or to think about what happens after death or to think about well, what does the future hold?

For an example, this is an article that describes the event that occurred at Virginia Tech; the Virginia Tech tragedy back in 2007. The author is Lauren Green, and this appeared on Fox News Fan Central where individuals write articles and they're posted on the web site. She quotes a statement in the beginning which was written by someone, we don't know who it was written by. It's anonymous. Listen to the words: "Virtue in distress and vice in triumph make atheists of mankind. Virtue in distress and vice in triumph make atheists of mankind. Both attest to the fact that there is no God." That is, we can handle distress or if we have evil in the midst of triumph are proofs that God doesn't exist. That makes atheists of mankind.

Then the author goes on. This is a quote I always think of when horrendous events like the Virginia Tech tragedy occur. "Great tragedies either draw us closer to or away from God. The worst single shooting incident in U. S. history is slowly sinking into the psyche of this nation. Like the tragedies of past times such as Columbine and Waco , this one will also be remembered forever. From now on the name Virginia Tech will be synonymous with the murder of thirty-two people that were shot dead one spring day by a lone gunman who unleashed holy hell on innocents. The process of grief is a long, winding course that includes anger. Many will turn to questioning to God. Why, God, did this happen? How could a loving God allow this?"

And she goes on in the article and mentions that the Virginia governor, Tim Kaine, made references to Calvary where Jesus died on the cross, and told the thousands gathered that despair is a natural emotion, but not to let it cause you to lose your faith. He talked about Job, the Old Testament's most afflicted servant of God. Even though Job was angry at God he never lost his faith.

So, the governor, in giving a eulogy at Virginia Tech talked about religion and faith; and many people became more religious. Others, of course, went the opposite direction.

Now President Bush said, "In times like this we can find grace and strength from a loving God." And he quoted from the Bible, saying that "We should not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good."

Then there's a section here that I thought was quite interesting. She writes in her article in the book, The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, The title of a book, " The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil , authored by Dr. Philip Zimbardo. He said he sheds light on the shooters inner demon. "The Lucifer Effect, based on the Stanford prison experiment of thirty-three years ago shows how a prison environment creates evil behavior like what occurred at Abu Ghraib. It explains group or system-wide evil like that under Hitler, communistic regime, or the genocide in Rwanda. He says the evil is not about a few bad apples but a bad barrel." That's the group dynamic.

She goes on to quote from this book. In this particular book it identifies how that individuals in an environment, individuals who practice evil affect other individuals who become practicing evil as well. And you see how that works. So that also you'll find comes to play in something we'll talk about a little bit later.

But we see that tragedy or death, funerals, cause people often to become more religious and wonder about the future. September the eleventh, of course, was a frightening experience and caused the church attendance to mushroom for a few weeks. I always remember the newspaper article that I read in Houston, said "How do you know when things are back to normal after 9-ll? - when the churches are empty again."

So you see, the depth of this religious fervor dissipates, and we go back to the normal way we did things. People in this world today face tragedy and difficulty and often become religious for a short while, but it doesn't seem to last. They have nothing to anchor their faith to. They have nothing to look forward to in the concept that we do that God's Holy Days provide, and God's plan of salvation teaches us. It's very important.

We find a world where people live lives of misery and discomfort, and all for what? All for what? One of the most famous booklets in the history of the Church of God was one entitled, "Why were you Born?" It wasn't coincidental that when the United Church of God began back in 1995, the first booklet we produced was "What is Your Destiny?" What is Your Destiny? What is your future? What does God provide? We don't want someone to take that away from us. The Bible speaks in terms of a plan of salvation. In fact, the Bible is a book about life, not death.

The Bible begins in the very first few chapters of Genesis with a story about the tree of life. The Bible ends in Revelation with a story that includes the tree of life. There's a connection. God is creating life. God is offering eternal life, and God does that through His plan of salvation. It's a plan to bring life. So we begin the scriptures with the tree of life. We end the scriptures with the tree of life. And everything in between weaves together the stories, the understanding, the laws that bring us from physical life to eternal life.

It's a powerful story. It's a wonderful message that's woven together through the lives of individuals. Let's begin this morning in Isaiah 46. I'd like to emphasize in the beginning that God has a plan of salvation, and that you and I learn that plan through the annual Holy Days. That the Holy Days are more than just Sabbaths that we worship on. That they're actually intended for something more.

I want you to think back as we get to this portion of the sermon, think back to the article about the shooting at Virginia Tech. In that article the concept of how evil can become systemic because of an atmosphere that is created. The opposite to that is that God creates an atmosphere with His annual Holy Days and their observance that produces something very different in our lives. We practice godliness. We practice when we worship God on His Holy Days something very important. Not only does it ingrain in our minds the understanding of God's plan of salvation, it imbeds within us the necessity for the development of Godly character that will lead to eternal life.

Look, it's rather interesting when you think about the Holy Days how that we are commanded to come and assemble. Why? What do we do while we are preached to; while we hear messages? Is that all we do? Is there much, much more involved, and I hope to show you this morning that there is indeed much, much more involved. Well, look at Isaiah 46:8 -

Isaiah 46:8 - It says, Remember this, and show yourselves men; recall to mind, O you transgressors.

Verse 9 - Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other: I am God and there is none like Me.

Verse 10 - Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, "My Counsel shall stand,…" God's plan will be fulfilled. "…And I will do all My pleasure.

Verse 11 - "Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it." Another word for purpose there, and I don't have all the other translations, but I believe in one translation it actually has, "I have planned it. I have planned it. I have purposed it." This is the way it will be. God has set in motion before the creation of this earth a plan of salvation to bring humanity, created in the image of God, from physical life to eternal life. The plan is about life. The plan is about the future.

You know, It's always been interesting to me that when you study theology, or you study the Christian religion, the Christian religion by and large teaches that the plan of God begins and ends with the death of Christ, And it focuses on the death of Christ as though that's all there is. And then when you look at the Holy Days, and you say, "Well, that's the first festival. There are six others that follow. What do they mean? What is that all about? What is God telling us about the future?" And it becomes an incredible piece of knowledge that is so lost in the society today.

I submit to you part of the reason, and there are other reasons as well, but part of the reason that there's this disconnect between the morality or the lifestyle of those who profess religion or Christianity and the disconnect between what they profess and what they do is also a disconnect in the religious belief that nothing is required or expected of you and that these Holy Days are simply of no value whatsoever. I submit that the Holy Days are a big piece of the puzzle that's missing in the understanding of Christianity today. I believe, and I believe that the Bible supports it that without those Holy Days we lose a huge part of that connection between eternal life and where we are today. We lose that information.

Look at Ephesians 1. The apostle Paul, in writing to the church at Ephesus talks about Christ and he talks about God's plan as he mentions and refers to Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:7 - In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.

Verse 8 - which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,

Verse 9 - having made known to us the mystery of His will…, the mystery of His will. We're told in Ephesians, Paul writing to the Ephesians that this is a mystery. What God is doing is mysterious because people don't understand it. What is His will? What is God doing? …according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,

Verse 10 - that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--to (in) Him,

Verse 11 - in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will. God's plan precedes creation. God's plan precedes what we even find when we talk about the physical Earth and the things that occurred when it was put together and man was created.

We're told that Christ was crucified, or died, before the foundation of the world and in a sense it was planned; it was put in motion afterward, but it was planned. God had a plan. God had a plan that was predestined. There's one path to follow; not that every individual is identified by name in that plan but that that plan, the pathway, that there would be people who would be called and people who will follow God's way of life. That was known before the foundation of the world.

Verse 12 - that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

Verse 13 - In (Him) whom you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

Verse 14 - who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. The guarantee of a future, the guarantee of eternal life, as we see. Ephesians 3, again the apostle Paul refers to this future, this plan of salvation.

Ephesians 3:8 - To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

Verse 9 - and to make all people see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;

Verse 10 - to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places,

Verse 11 - according to the eternal purpose (or plan) which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,

Verse 12 - in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.

Verse 13 - Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. Paul speaks in terms of the future as being glorious. The future of eternal life and the fact that there is a plan, the fact that there is a purpose behind it all leading us to eternal life in God's kingdom.

Romans 8:28 - We are called according to what? - God's purpose, God's purpose, God's plan, God's future; the eternal life that He offers to us.

I Timothy 2:4 - is another verse that tells us that it is God's good pleasure, God's good pleasure to give salvation to all mankind.

So we learn a lot by looking at even these few verses. God's plan will not fail. God's plan preceded creation. God's plan is to ultimately give eternal life to those who follow Him and it will be open to all humanity at some point. Those are key factors in understanding what God is doing; what God has done, and how you and I fit into all of that. And all of that fits very clearly into the Holy Days.

The Holy Days outline God's plan of salvation. They provide the pathway to eternal life. They describe the process by which we go from accepting Christ to the eternal life offered to all mankind in seven festivals.

I remember as a very young child hearing Mr. Armstrong explain the meaning of the Holy Days, and even as a child it made such perfect sense. It made you wonder, well, why doesn't everyone see this? Why doesn't everyone understand this? You know what? Mr. Armstrong makes the statement in his autobiography that he did not understand the Holy Days or their meaning until when - he began to observe them. There is something unique about the Holy Days that observance, practicing, being a part of them, is the only way you truly understand them and understand what they mean.

Mr. Armstrong began observing the Holy Days; he and his wife in 1927. It was a wonderful knowledge that he had that the Holy Days should be kept. He acknowledges that they should be kept. He felt they should be kept, but he wasn't sure why. Now I'm sure he had certain understanding; Passover becomes pretty clear. The Church of God Seventh Day kept Passover but what about the other Holy Days? What do they mean? Why are they there? Why are there seven of them? What part do they play in God's plan of salvation? These are no doubt questions that plagued Mr. Armstrong for a number of years.

After seven years of he and his wife keeping the Holy Days themselves, in 1933 there were twenty-one people, nineteen plus Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong, that kept the Feast of Tabernacles but for the next twelve years, from 1934 until 1946 Mr. Armstrong kept the Feast of Tabernacles in the local area of Eugene, Oregon. And they would hold services in the evening, but they didn't really keep the feast; not as a separate entity, or not as a separate body of days. They were just services in the evening; two Holy Days they would have a special service and it was kept in the little hall in Eugene, Oregon.

For the next, well, for twelve years, from about 1933 through 1945...there were twenty-one in 1933 and in 1945 there were still only forty. After twelve years there were forty individuals who came in 1945, who were there in Eugene, Oregon, living there by and large. Maybe a few who came from outside, but most were living there and observed, or they had services in the evening. They were there for - the Feast of Tabernacles - what does it mean?

1946 was a year that changed everything in many, many respects for the Radio Church of God. Mr. Armstrong writes in his autobiography about 1946. He says, "It was in 1946 that the vision of Ambassador College and the beginning of the organizational activity of this great work first was placed in my mind." He goes on to describe how he didn't see a lot of this as he was coming to the thirties and the forties as to where this was going to lead, but in 1946 he says, "For the first time it came into my mind." And he lists, "there were several things that happened in 1946."

First of all, the work developed its own printing department; 1946 for the first time, to print the Plain Truth magazine. One hundred ten thousand copies were printed in November of 1946. For the first time they had three super stations that began to produce fruit. These super stations covered all the United States, the broadcast was covering the U. S., all of Canada, and it reached all the way to Alaska for the first time in 1946. Well, began to produce fruit in 1946, he says.

Also he says that there were six nights a week of broadcasting. He was broadcasting six nights a week on these stations. 1946 was the first ever baptizing tour. 1946 was the founding of the college. The property was purchased; the college did not open until October of 1947. He refers to 1946 as the founding of Ambassador College. He said, "These are the things that happened that made a decided change in where we were going as a church from what we had done before."

But there was one more thing that happened in 1946 that I believe has affected everyone of us profoundly. In 1946 Mr. Armstrong made the decision that no longer should the feast be kept as a local festival where you kept the two Holy Days, came to services in the evening, and everything else was normal in your life. Mr. Armstrong, for the first time, came to the conclusion that we needed to keep the feast away from our homes in temporary dwellings for the full festival time. Now imagine that. In 1946 that decision is made and the entire church is informed that now we're going to Belnap Springs for the Feast of Tabernacles; and we're going to gather there and we're going to live in temporary dwellings for the entire period of the feast.

I submit to you this was such a significant change, and was a significant step in the church that it has had an impact on the history of the church, and on your life and my life. Imagine your life today if the Feast of Tabernacles was evening services the first day and the last holy day and everything else remains in your home just like you would for a weekly Sabbath. How different that would be; because, you see, in 1946 Mr. Armstrong came to a knowledge of the real meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles.

The Feast of Tabernacles means something so much more than he fully understood before; and that knowledge was shared with the church and the church took a major step at that particular point. Keeping the Feast of Tabernacles, the entire feast; leaving home, living in temporary dwellings, was a huge step for a very small church that has profoundly effected us.

Imagine your life today if you did not observe the feast as we do. Imagine your life today; imagine what changes have come about in your life and your understanding based upon the attendance at the Feast of Tabernacles. What is the topic of discussion in all of the churches of God as we come to August and September? Where are you going for the feast? "Wow! That's really good. I wish I could go there some day. Maybe next year I can go there."

Where are you going for the feast? The feast is so central to our worship of God that to imagine not having it is something that, you know, I can't imagine. Yet for twelve years, Mr. Armstrong did not come to that conclusion. It was 1946 that that happened. So 1946 was a seminal year in the history of the church.

But if you look at the Bible, the biblical account, since the days of the New Testament it is difficult, it is difficult when you look at the Bible and you look at what the Bible tells us, then you come to the history beyond the Bible, from the first century until the last century it is hard to find consecutive, long periods of time in which the people of God observed all the Holy Days.

I'm not sure we understand what a remarkable year, we've talked about this before, this is the seventy-fifth year since Mr. Armstrong began in 1933 keeping the feast with a group of people; he kept it before that, but with a group of people. And for us to be, seventy-five years later, still keeping God's Holy Days is a remarkable event. Historically you would be hard-pressed to find a precedent prior to this throughout the history from the first century 'till today. Now, I'm not saying it didn't exist. History is very sketchy during much of this period of time. It is also true that virtually everything written by the true Sabbath keepers, those who certainly during the Middle Ages, their material was destroyed. We have no first-hand information; a very sketchy, very little, so we're kind of left to guess on some of those things. But historically, with what's available, you'd be hard pressed to find that - seventy-five consecutive years.

The Holy Days though, are consistently listed throughout the scriptures and are profoundly a part of worship that God provided to Israel and to the New Testament church. Let me explain a little more of that this afternoon.

Let's go back to Genesis 1. Where do you think the first mention of the Holy Days takes place? There is a discussion and a debate. It's one that I do not think that anyone can ever fully resolve. And that is, were the Holy Days kept prior to the flood? When did they begin? When did God have this in mind? Now I gave you the information in the beginning because I wanted to establish the point that God's plan precedes the creation of the earth. Genesis 1:14 is a very interesting verse; very interesting verse.

Genesis 1:14 - Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;…" Well, now what's so interesting about that verse? Look at the last part. "… let them,…" that is the two lights, the sun and the moon. "Let them be for signs, that's okay, and seasons,"…

Now what does that mean? People think well that means spring, fall, summer, winter, the seasons. No, well, it doesn't. In fact it's not even the right word for the climactic seasons. It's an entirely wrong word for that. The Hebrew word is mow'ed or mo'ed (either spelling). Mow'ed. This word is more properly translated festival or appointed times - appointed times, an appointment, or a festival, or an assembly. That's what the word means and is often translated festival or feast in the Old Testament.

So let's read this verse this way: "…the two lights in the firmament divide the day from the night and let them be for signs, for feasts , and for days and years." Now one can debate whether the Holy Days were kept prior to the flood or not; but when the Holy Days actually began. One thing is clear; that from the beginning, whether there were Holy Days observed or not from the beginning, God had them in mind.

The Holy Days were not additions or appendages that God kind of threw out in Sinai in order to make life a little harder for the Israelites. God had the Holy Days in mind from the beginning. Whether they were actually observed or not from the beginning is another question. I think that reasonable people can come to different conclusions. Scripturally we don't have the evidence. That doesn't mean they didn't occur, though. I think we should be very careful to reach maybe a wrong conclusion in that matter. But clearly from the beginning God had them in mind. Well, that makes sense because He also had His plan in mind from the beginning. So why wouldn't the Holy Days have been a part of that before creation even? See, this is the point I want to make.

I Peter 1:19-20 tell us that God's plan, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was planned before the foundations of the earth. Before the earth was planned, before the earth was put together, before it became the habitat of mankind God had a plan, and that plan included the Holy Days. Now there's a significance there that you and I should not lose sight of. Let's go to Leviticus 23 now. Leviticus 23 uses the same Hebrew word as is found in Genesis 1.

Leviticus 23:1 - …the Lord spoke to Moses saying,

Verse 2 - "Speak to the children of Israel , and say to them: 'The feasts of the Lord…' The mow'ed of the Lord; the appointed times of God, " '…which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are my feasts.'" So here we have identified clearly several key points. The feasts or the mow ' ed, same word is found in Genesis 1:14, of the Lord are to be proclaimed holy convocations.

The Hebrew word for convocation is miqra. It would be the Anglicized form of it. That means something called out. Holy convocation is a commanded assembly, we've said, and used that term. It's something called out; it's a public meeting; it's a rehearsal; it's an assembly.

We need to take a look at that third word. The Holy Days are called, or by definition a rehearsal, a rehearsal. That concept in the Old Testament fits in perfectly with the concept in the New Testament of a shadow of things to come. You rehearse things that are coming. You rehearse for a play that is coming. You practice for a sports event that is coming. The Holy Days are rehearsals. Ah, that's interesting. Rehearsal for what? God's plan of salvation. The feasts are holy convocations. They are holy rehearsals. They are required events.

Now why a rehearsal? Why something to rehearse something? Why do we need that? God gave the Holy Days for a very important purpose. They were appointed times; they were rehearsal dates. They picture something that God desperately wants us to understand. It is critical to the concept of why man is on earth. It's critical to the concept of where our future is. It is why the world is so off track in talking about going to heaven. It's a complete departure, detour from God's plan, and they miss the point over and over again that is clearly identified in the Holy Days.

Now why a rehearsal? Why couldn't God just tell us about His plan of salvation? Why wouldn't that be enough? Think back to the idea of the group behavior. Think back to the idea of a concept, of an atmosphere, an atmosphere - evil atmosphere, how prisons produce evil behavior.

Well, the opposite to that was also discovered in that survey; that good behavior produces good behavior. Good behavior, now that is, an atmosphere can, and does produce good behavior. It does happen. Think how we learn as human beings. And of course God created us and knows very clearly how we learn.

Whenever you teach someone something you can teach them by explanation or you can lecture to them. You can certainly do that. You can teach them by visual. You can let them see what they need to learn. You can ask them to write it down. We know they'll learn more if they write it down, but the final aspect, the most significant way for a human being to learn is by practicing; or rehearsing something. That is the most profound way you learn; and it's proven over and over again. If you hear something, then you'll retain a certain amount of it. If you write it down where you see it, you'll retain more than just hearing it; but if you have hands on and you experience it, the learning curve goes up almost exponentially as far as what you take away from it.

Mr. Armstrong came to the conclusion in 1946 that until the church practiced; leaving home and living in temporary dwellings for the Feast of Tabernacles they weren't going to understand fully what it meant, and I think he was correct. It produced something that was so powerful as a witness…Now again, some of you, may remember the first feast you ever attended; where you actually stepped out, maybe on faith, you know, because you had very little; packed up and left for the feast.

We've been ridiculed over the years for doing this. I remember one gentleman a number of years ago that came to me and he said, "You know how much money the church would have if they just, everybody stayed home from the feast one year and they gave all that money to the church. It would be…," and he gave me an astronomical figure. Like a hundred million dollars, or whatever. Ten per cent of everyone's annual income just given to the church, "What a shot in the arm! It could do the work; it could do all of these things." He said, "Why don't we do that? Just declare, 'This year we're not, no one's going to the feast. We'll just do something at home and we'll give all that money.'"

We said, "But that's not what God says." You can make anything seem right. The human mind can reason that anything can be right, and maybe would be better; but God said this: "We go to the Feast of Tabernacles. We practice something very, very important." Very important! It tells us something we could not learn any other way.

Now some will argue, "Well, okay, that's fine for the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, the Holy Days are clearly a part of the Old Testament. But what about the New Testament? Are they really a part of the New Covenant?"

Now we had this argument of course, a number of years ago. It's amazing how factual information gets overlooked when it comes to even something like the Holy Days. In reality the Holy Days are even more a part of the New Testament than the Old since the Old Testament contains one-third more scriptures than the new.

Let me give you some examples. We clearly know in the New Testament that Jesus Christ kept the Holy Days. It's indisputable that he kept the Holy Days. He died on Passover day. The New Testament church begins on Pentecost. The apostles keep the Holy Days. There are several references in the book of Acts. Paul says, "Let us keep the feast" in I Corinthians. Paul wants the Colossians to not let others judge them in reference to the Holy Days.

The facts are; there are more references to the Holy Days in the New Testament than there are in the Old when you consider that the Old Testament has twice the number of books as the New Testament. There are forty-eight references to the Holy Days in the New Testament even though there are one-third fewer verses than the Old Testament. There are eight references to the Holy Days in the book of Acts alone; which is the story of the church. There are only five books in the Bible that have more references to the festivals than the book of Acts. These five books are Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, II Chronicles and John.

The book of Acts was written by a gentile doctor. The word love does not appear once in the book of Acts. The word prayer appears eleven times, the word grace eleven times. There are eight references to the Holy Days in the book of Acts.

In the four gospels there are thirty-one positive references to the Holy Days. Prayer is only mentioned thirteen times and grace is only mentioned four times. There are nine references to the festivals in Paul's writings. If you exclude the book of Leviticus there are more references to the Holy Days in the New Testament than in the Old in spite of the difference in the number of verses.

Let's go to Colossians 2. Paul gives a very important clue to why the Holy Days are so central to the work of the church and the understanding of the church in the New Testament as it was for Israel in the Old Testament. Colossians 2 Paul makes a significant statement. He's addressing a different issue. He's addressing the issue of judging.

Colossians 2:16 - Therefore let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths,… He's addressing the issue of judging; how people in that area were judging the Christians for the way they worshiped God and the way they celebrated their festivals, but verse 17 is the key.

Verse 17 - which are a shadow of things to come, which are a shadow of things to come,… Paul understood that the Holy Days, or the festivals, pictured something to come; pictured events in God's plan of salvation that were necessary to bring about eternal life, and it was something that was not learned outside the Holy Days, or at least not understood fully.

Consider the Holy Days and the meaning of the Holy Days. Sometimes we get into a position where we think that anything Jewish, of the Jewish perspective, must be the right perspective. Now that may be true or it may not be true when it comes to certain traditions. Obviously the biblical perspective takes precedence over any other perspective whether it be Jewish or not.

But there are seven festivals, Passover through the Last Great Day, that we would all acknowledge that seven is a significant number; now again, seven festivals. It's interesting that God gave the Holy Days, but He did not tell ancient Israel why they were to be observed in several cases. The Jews have developed their own tradition around the Holy Days. We do not automatically accept that. Again, it doesn't mean it's wrong but we do not automatically accept that.

The Passover and "Unleavened Bread" have historical ties to Israel's departure from Egypt and we study the history. We understand that. The Feast of Weeks, that is Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles have agricultural ties. "Unleavened Bread" and Passover have historical ties. Pentecost and "Tabernacles" have agricultural ties to Israel, the two harvests.

But, what about "Trumpets?" What about "Atonement?" What about the Last Great Day? Nothing is said definitively in the Old Testament as to what these days mean. The Jewish writings openly acknowledge that we don't know, and they develop their own traditions about these days. If these days were only for Israel then why didn't God explain their meaning to Israel? This has stumped theologians and Bible scholars for years. Why provide for elaborate celebrations without explaining why? Well, the obvious answer from our perspective is that these were never intended just for Israel. They were never intended just for Israel. So the Jews just developed their own traditions.

On Pentecost they have a tradition that it was the date for the giving of the Torah. Now, that may or may not be true. The timing historically would match up but again, and there are certainly meanings and aspects of Pentecost that would lead one to believe that.

"Trumpets" to "Atonement" is considered a time for repentance and forgiveness; a time of cleansing. "Tabernacles" was a time of rejoicing. The Last Great Day the Jews openly admit they really don't know why. In fact, the best explanation that they can offer is that, "We had so much fun for seven days we should stay for an eighth day."

This is from the "Jerusalem Post," a rabbi in Jerusalem wrote this about the eighth day. He said, "The most mysterious festival of the Jewish year is Shemini Atzeret, the assembly of the eighth day. It is different from the three major festivals in that it's not linked to an agricultural or historical phenomenon. It is not until we come to Deuteronomy that we're able to extrapolate the deeper significance of this festival from a seemingly insignificant word." And they quote Deuteronomy 16:15. Celebrate to God your Lord for seven days so that you will be altogether joyous. "Our sages, seemingly with no scriptural basis have made this holiday, Shemini Atzeret; the day of our rejoicing in the law when the annual cycle of Torah comes to a close and begins again." They've extrapolated that; but they don't know what it means.

"Trumpets"? What does that mean? What about "Atonement"? If you read the account in Leviticus 23 it says, "It's a memorial of the blowing of trumpets for" what? And how about "Atonement"? Well, we know what we teach and what we know about "Atonement," but what does it say in the Old Testament? The Jewish writers say there's something mysterious about these festivals. There's no historical connection "Trumpets." There's no historical event. There is also no agricultural event attached to "Trumpets." There's none attached to "Atonement." There's none attached to the Last Great Day.

What is this all about? Why these seven festivals? What are they telling us? We understand from Colossians 2 that each one of these festivals foreshadows something; it all falls into place very, very well. The plan of God begins with Passover which foreshadowed the death of Christ. The plan of God begins with Passover. It doesn't end with Passover; it begins with "Passover." Unleavened bead foreshadows the removal of sin from our lives; a requirement that we do something. It wasn't all done by Christ.

The concept that Christ did it all means that there should be only one festival; no more to follow and that's just what many people do. Even the Church of God , Seventh Day only keeps the Passover.

Pentecost foreshadows the coming of the Holy Spirit and the sealing of the First Fruits. "Trumpets" foreshadows the return of Jesus Christ. Atonement foreshadows "at-one-ment" of the world and the removal of Satan. Tabernacles foreshadows the millennial reign of Christ on earth. The Last Great Day foreshadows the time of resurrection and eternal judgment; the completion of God's plan.

God's plan, as identified through the seven annual festivals as proclaimed, as put together, you might say, before the foundation of the earth. God's plan. What is God's plan for? You know there's a scripture in the writings of Paul that says, "So that we can experience the fullness of God," or so that we can have the fullness of God, or the fullness of the Godhead in another place. Referring to Christ and having the fullness of the Godhead but that we can through being given eternal life can become a part of an eternal family. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing that God has provided. And it talks again about a fulness and completion, or the fulfilling of it all.

We learn about God's plan in four ways. We hear it. We read it. We write it down. And we rehearse it. We rehearse it on an annual basis. God's Holy Days are the great rehearsal of God's plan. The miqra, the rehearsal, the practice each year of what God has given us.

We as a body must be not only very clear on how we understand God's Holy Days and therefore God's plan of salvation. We must be passing it on from generation to generation. We must be passing it on to our children. You know, I found, to be able to tell stories and explain to our children and to explain even to the church the significance of God's Holy Days is a very important part of who we are and what we are.

I've often found that in the case of storytelling that women are often better than men. A man would say, "Well, you know, what did you do last weekend? "Well, I drove down to Louisville and had a great time." His wife would tell about the trip down, and we stopped here, we stopped there. We did this. We did that. It was a beautiful day. They'd tell you the color of the grass on the side of the road. Everything you could imagine in the story.

I learned this quite vividly quite a few years ago with my wife and our oldest daughter actually. Our oldest daughter was about five I guess at the time and she would ask us. She would… Christmas was coming and the things that were going on. And she says, "Well, why don't we celebrate Christmas? And she would ask me, and ask her mother, and I'd give her a very simple answer, and she'd ask her mother, and her mother'd say, "It's really a long story. We have to have time to tell the whole story. And so finally one day, my daughter said, "Hey, mom, tell me the story. Why do we not keep Christmas?"

Well, my wife goes on for probably two hours, you know, and she begins with Nimrod and Cimmaramus and Baal and all the things that are wrong about Christmas and the worship and the decorations, and everything there is to know about it. And when she was finished my daughter said, "That really is a long story, Mom." But then the next day, as you would have it, they're in a store and they're coming to the check-out counter and the lady, of course says, "Well, little girl, what is Santa Claus bringing you for Christmas?"

And our daughter, Molly said, "Well, nothing."

"Nothing?"

She said, "Well no, we don't celebrate Christmas."

And the lady said, "Don't celebrate Christmas? Why?"

And Molly looked at her with a straight face and said, "Lady, don't ask. It's a long story."

But, you know, the ability to tell a story; the ability to help people understand. You know, the plan of salvation is a story. And it's told vividly through seven festivals. You know, God doesn't just give us this little idea. "Okay. You can have eternal life. You know, you have to accept Christ; you have to repent of your sins. He gives us Holy Days that describe that. He gives us festivals that describe that.

Now, instead of just saying, "Well, you're gonna' live in temporary dwellings to picture the millennium." He gives us a seven day festival to picture that. He gives us the beautiful mural on the wall that describes all aspects of it instead of a little snapshot.

God wants you to know and know that you know what's coming and to understand the future. He's given it to us in a wonderful way. The Feast of Tabernacles, God's Holy Days are not simply appendages that were just thrown in for ancient Israel. The Feast of Tabernacles is not a vacation. It's a time to go and learn and experience God's way of life. To be in a godly atmosphere. To be in a place where godly behavior is taking place and it affects people's lives. You come back from the Feast of Tabernacles; how do you feel? And I think most of us come back feeling wonderfully spiritual.

You want to almost find the nearest housetop and shout God's plan to people because it's been so vividly covered and explained during that eight day period of time, seven days and the Last Great Day. We come back with resolve. We come back with conviction.

You know, even in the Protestant world, at least when I was growing up as a child, they would have, what would they call them? Revivals. Usually they would have them in the fall, and maybe in the spring because they recognized that this level playing field consistently, all of the time. They'd come in church early Sunday. Doing this, doing that; but there has to be something added in there. There's something missing in their worship if there isn't something that kind of lifts people up.

You know, God knew that as well, and so He gives us these seven annual festivals that we worship on. We celebrate on. We understand; we have explained to us God's way and we practice living a Godly life. We create a Godly atmosphere. Creating a Godly atmosphere will produce Godly behavior. It does work. It does happen. You've seen it historically. You can see it in the studying of groups. It does occur.

It occurs the opposite of that as well. You create an evil atmosphere you affect everyone, and evil behavior becomes acceptable. To have a godly atmosphere where we can practice and rehearse.

You might say through God's Holy Days we practice the three R's. We rehearse or practice reconciliation. We rehearse or practice restoration. We rehearse or we practice rejoicing. Reconciliation, restoration and rejoicing are all themes of all the Holy Days; of all the festivals because they bring us into a relationship with God that helps us understand what it's all about so that when tragedies occur, when things that happen in life, instead of necessarily making us religious for a short, while they fit into that puzzle. Maybe not perfectly; it's hard to understand some things; but they fit in the puzzle that we have before us; or they fit in the picture that we have before us because you see, we have God's plan very conveniently and very neatly in this big picture, and God gave it to us through the Holy Days. And we learn every single year how to get a clear picture of God's plan of salvation. It's a wonderful thing. Everything that we do that God has given us is for a purpose. The Holy Days were given for a purpose.

When I think about the concept of rehearsal or practice I think about sport season and I think how when I played baseball in high school we began practicing in the gymnasium in January. It was too cold outside. We couldn't play outside. We practiced in the gymnasium; and we practiced and we practiced - everyday, everyday, everyday. You know, five days a week after school we practiced because we were getting ready for what? We were getting ready to play the game. We were getting ready to do something. It wasn't that there was no purpose to the practice in the aspects in the game of baseball so that we could participate in the real game.

That's so true of God's Holy Days as well. We're practicing; we're rehearsing for the future. There are so many stories of human potential. Every single human being has the potential to be a child of God. One of the things that I've appreciated and enjoyed over the last few years is seeing people in different parts of the world who have the same understanding of God's plan, who'll be keeping the same Holy Days, the same festivals as we will. And not only is it a unifying factor for the church of God, it is a solidifying factor in God's plan. And you see human beings in all the other parts of the world and the commitment they've made to God's way of life because they see that picture.

I think I've told the story of the young man that we met in Lagos. In fact, unfortunately I'm not sure he's even still attending the church these days but it was such a compelling story. His name was Innocent and he was offered a job; he was a handicapped individual. He could not walk and he didn't have a wheelchair so he had to pull himself along with his hands. That was the way he got around. The church met in an upstairs room in Lagos and he would pull himself up one stair at a time, one stair at a time to get up to come to church.

But his story was even more interesting than that and more inspiring than that in that as a handicapped individual he had very little hope of having a job in Nigeria, very little hope of having a job. He got some training. He became a physical fitness trainer. Now, you know, he couldn't walk. He would help athletes in the country with their physical fitness. He would be a part of their national team as a trainer.

Well, of course, they played a lot on the Sabbath and when he came to the knowledge of the truth he had to give up the only job he had in life and the only hope for a job in life. He had to give that up in order to obey God, and it was just such a remarkable story of a young man. So the church actually gave him the money to go back to school and learn how to be a cobbler, and the last time I saw him he was able to measure your feet and he would make you a custom pair of sandals and shoes. And that was how he was making a living. But he walked away because he saw a bigger picture. A picture that included not just the Sabbath, but the Holy Days and God's plan of salvation.

Every human being has the potential to be a child of God in the kingdom of God. Raymond Romano could not answer his seven year old daughter's question. He couldn't answer her question, but you and I can answer the question. We can explain clearly to our children why human beings were put on earth. We understand it through God's festivals. We rehearse them each year. We explain them so well in the sense of over and over again so often that we all have a very clear picture of what God has in mind. We have to paint that picture for our children; we have to paint that picture for the church as we continue into the future. It is our future.

I simply this afternoon, yes it is afternoon now, wanted to emphasize to all of us as we look forward to the fall holy day season, that we understand the significance of these days. That we get out of these days what God would have us get out. That we attend the rehearsals; that we go to the practices so that we never forget God's plan of salvation and where we fit.