The Calendar, Part 15

As we do today, united from the weekly Sabbath, the falls during the days of Unleavened Bread. As I mentioned last time, the vast majority of Jews around the world, Orthodox Jews, they count to Pentecost from the first Holy Day Sabbath, from the day after the first day of Unleavened Bread.

And I covered, in my last Bible study, I covered the reasons why they do that and the pros and cons of that method of counting last time. The main group of Jews who today count as we do, from the moral after the weekly Sabbath of the Karaite Jews. Back at the time of Christ, the Sadducees, the Boethusians, and the Samaritans counted from the weekly Sabbath, the day after the weekly Sabbath as we do, while the Pharisees counted from the moral after the first day of Unleavened Bread.

And again, I gently covered counting from the first day of Unleavened Bread or the moral after the first day of Unleavened Bread last time. So today I want to cover counting from the moral after the weekly Sabbath of the falls during the days of Unleavened Bread. And actually, what I want to do today is I want to cover or touch on three things in this final Bible study on the calendar.

Number one, I just want to touch on this because this situation comes up occasionally. I'm not going to try to go into it or try to make a judgment one way or the other on it, but something comes up just to touch on it. And that is what happens when the Passover Day falls on a weekly Sabbath, which occurs occasionally. Number two, the role that prophecy plays in supporting counting from the weekly Sabbath as we do today. And then three, this is the most important part of the Bible study, I feel, is the spiritual implications of counting from the weekly Sabbath, which then eliminates a preparation day every year for Pentecost.

And you count from the weekly Sabbath, because then Pentecost will always fall on a Sunday, the week day before is the Sabbath, and it eliminates the preparation day for Pentecost. So the title for this final Bible study is the calendar part 15, counting to Pentecost part 2. And again, we'll be covering counting to Pentecost from the day after the weekly Sabbath that falls during the days of Unleavened Bread. First thing I want to touch on here, and then I'm just going to touch on it, is what happens when the Passover Day falls on a weekly Sabbath, which happens occasionally.

When that occurs, then the only weekly Sabbath that would actually fall during the days of Unleavened Bread would be the last day of Unleavened Bread, which raises a question, because you have the wave sheaf offered on the day after that Sabbath. If that occurs, and the only weekly Sabbath that occurs during Unleavened Bread is the last day of Unleavened Bread, then would the wave sheaf then have been offered on the morrow after the last day of Unleavened Bread, which meant that it would have been offered on the day after the Feast of Unleavened Bread ended. So the question then is, should the wave sheaf was offered, should that day always fall during the days of Unleavened Bread, since it portrayed the unleavened sinless life of Jesus Christ?

Or would it have been offered on the day after Unleavened Bread ended, on those occasions when the only weekly Sabbath that fell during Unleavened Bread would be the last day of Unleavened Bread? Again, I think I'll have a little bit of a leopard. It would be nice if I could put some of this up on a screen, but I'm just going to kind of go slowly and touch on this. You don't need to take notes, just listen, but just to kind of touch on some of these things to help explain the different situations you have that can occur.

So the question then is, should the day the wave sheaf was offered always occur within and during the days of Unleavened Bread since it was an Unleavened offering? So when a Passover falls on a weekly Sabbath, would the wave sheaf then have been offered on the day after the Passover, which would have been on the first day of Unleavened Bread, since the Passover is the day on which all 11 must be removed from our household?

Now, the Passover does link with Unleavened Bread in one sense. It's a day that all 11 must be removed from your household in the Passover day. It has to be out before that day is over. Then the Passover is intrinsically connected to the days of Unleavened Bread in that situation. Now, and that situation occurs when the Passover falls on a weekly Sabbath as far as when the wave sheaf would have been offered or when you didn't start counting the Pentecost.

It's to a very large degree it's a judgment call, in my view. Some of you have just been more scholarly than I have looked into. I have a more clear-cut picture, but I've looked at both sides, and to me it's kind of a judgment call. I'm not technical enough to really internally make a decision one way or the other and say this is the way it should be done, for sure.

But the United Church of God and nearly all other churches of God count to Pentecost from the morrow after the Passover whenever the Passover falls on a weekly Sabbath. The only church of God that does not that I know of is the Church of the Great God of John Reitenbaum. They count to Pentecost from the morrow after the last day of Unlevered Bread on those occasions when Passover falls on a weekly Sabbath.

So on those occasions then, the Church of the Great God will observe Pentecost one week later than we do. Otherwise, we're all in sync. Now, both sides that I looked into a little bit, not for some time now, but back a few years ago I looked into it, and both sides will say that they feel that the Passover that's mentioned in Joshua chapter 5, not going to Joshua 5, but both sides feel the Passover mentioned in Joshua 5 may have fallen on a weekly Sabbath.

And both sides then tried to use that particular situation, that chapter, to try to support their perspective methods for counting to Pentecost when the Passover falls on a weekly Sabbath. Again, I've looked at both, depending on some time, but I've looked at both positions using Joshua 5 to try to support their particular method. And it's not clear to me. I don't think it's dogmatically clear which way is correct in that way, using that particular example. Maybe some of you looked into that and you can come up with a clear reason why one is the other.

But I looked at both sides, one from Fred Coulter, supporting the way we do it, and John Wright and Val supporting the way he does it on those occasions. And it's not real clear to me. I both use Joshua 5 to support their position, so that shows a little bit unclear. But I think the stronger position is our position of counting from the more after the Passover, since the wave sheep would then have been offered during the days of unleavened bread, rather than outside the days of unleavened bread.

Again, that's only when the Passover occurs and falls on a weekly Sabbath. Now let's move on from that, going on to why we count generally speaking from the more after the weekly Sabbath that falls during the unleavened bread and before counting to Pentecost. I want to touch on here, and not touch on, but I want to go into more depth, as to the role that prophecy plays when it comes to counting to Pentecost from the weekly Sabbath versus counting from the first day of unleavened bread. I believe prophecy is the main thing that supports the method that we use of counting to Pentecost from the weekly Sabbath that falls during unleavened bread.

So I want to show how prophecy supports counting to Pentecost from the more after the weekly Sabbath. And again, as I said, that's to me is the primary scriptural support for counting to Pentecost from the weekly Sabbath, rather than from the first day of unleavened bread, as the vast majority of Orthodox Jews around the world do today. First of all, let's look at what Paul wrote to the Galatians, the church in Galatians. Let's go to Galatians 4. I'm just going to look at one verse here. It's a very informative verse. Galatians 4, verse 4.

It's the only verse I'm going to look at. Galatians 4, verse 4 says, But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his Son. See, that tells me God had it all planned out in advance. God planned the time that Christ was going to be born, the time that he was going to die, and he planned it down to the very day. Now, we don't know with absolute certainty on which day Christ was born. Probably, you know, he was born in the fall.

Some say probably on the day of trumpets. Some might say the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, but we don't know which day it is for sure. But we do know with absolute certainty the exact day in which Christ died and the day on which he was resurrected.

He died on the afternoon of the Passover day. At the exact time, the Passover lambs were being sacrificed to the temple. So he could then become the Passover lambs, slain from the foundation of the world. Revelation 13, verse 8. So our sins could be passed over. It all ties together. It all fits. Not only that, but God had also had it planned in advance, the year on which Christ would die, the day of the week on which Christ would die, how long he would be in the grave, and when he would ascend into heaven to be accepted before his Father as the wave-sheaf offering.

All those details were planned and prophesied in advance, and they were fulfilled by Christ precisely as they were planned and prophesied to prove that Christ indeed was the promised Messiah.

Let's look at how the day of the week and the year of Christ's death were prophesied. And we're going to go back to a section in prophecy in Daniel, Daniel, chapter 9. We'll go back to the 70 weeks prophecy. I'm not going to try to explain the 70 weeks prophecy. That's not my purpose. I'm not going to try to go through that. I'll take somebody with probably more understanding than I do to go through and do that accurately. But I want to show you here, from this prophecy in Daniel 9, it starts with Daniel 9, verse 24, and goes through verse 27. This is a 70 weeks prophecy, but it shows how all these details surrounding Christ's death, resurrection, and so on were all planned in advance very precisely. Daniel 9, verse 24. 70 weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.

Now, all this is obviously prophetic of the death of Jesus Christ.

If you take 70 weeks, of course a week of seven days, so 70 weeks would be 70 times seven days, or 490 days. A day, prophetically speaking, equals one year. And you can confirm that in Numbers 14, verses 33 and 34, and Ezekiel 4, verses 4 through 6. So 490 prophetic days, this prophetic day is one year, 490 prophetic days would be 490 years.

So prophetically then, Daniel 9, 24, could read this way. 490 years are determined to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Now, again, this prophecy primarily pertains to Christ's first coming. But ultimately, there are portions of it that also could pertain to a second coming as well, which is when Christ will truly bring in everlasting righteousness. And then everything will be sealed and finished.

Again, let's just go through and read now, go on verse 25. Daniel 9, 25, Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks, and the street shall then be built again in the wall even in troublesome times.

From the time from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem, it says.

Now, there were a total of four commands or decrees to restore and rebuild Jerusalem.

If you go back and research history. Daniel received this vision probably around 538 BC, and the first commander to create to restore and rebuild Jerusalem happened right about that time, or just after that time. The first decree was issued by Cyrus in about 538 BC.

The second decree was issued by Darius in 520 BC. The third was issued by Artaxerxes in 457 BC, and the fourth was issued by Nehemiah in 444 BC. All those had to do with aspects of restoring and rebuilding Jerusalem. The decree that pertains to Daniel 925 is a decree given by Artaxerxes in 457 BC, and we simply know that by process of elimination. It's the only one that fits.

In fact, you can actually read that decree as preserved force in God's Word. You can actually read that decree given by Artaxerxes. You can read that in Ezra 7, verses 11 through 26.

Now, Daniel 925 then breaks up the 70 weeks prophecy into three segments.

First, one segment of seven weeks, a second segment of 62 weeks, and a third segment of one additional week, which is not mentioned there in verse 25. It's mentioned later, so we'll get to it in just a moment. Now, 62 weeks, or I should say seven weeks, seven weeks will be 49 days or 49 prophetic years. 62 weeks would equal 434 days or 434 prophetic years, and one additional week would equal seven more days or seven additional prophetic years. Now, from 457 BC, from the decree by Artaxerxes to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, took 49 years or seven prophetic weeks to completely restore and rebuild Jerusalem.

That's what it would seem, and that's what history would tend to support as well.

From that point, it took another 62 prophetic weeks or another 434 years until Messiah the Prince would appear on the scene in his ministry until Christ would then begin his three and a half years of earthly ministry. Going on in verse 26, and after the 62 weeks, Messiah should be cut off. In other words, once Jerusalem is completely restored, 434 years or 62 prophetic weeks after that, says Messiah will be cut off. And of course, I know he wasn't cut off at the beginning of that seven additional week or seven years. He lived into that. He had a three and a half year ministry, but of course, when he did die, three and a half years later, that would be after the 62 weeks.

Going on in verse 26, let's read the whole thing. Verse 26.

And after the 62 weeks Messiah should be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the Prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end of it shall be with a flood. And until the end of the war, desolations are determined. Of course, that's referring, you look back historically, to the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 AD. At the end of the war, to fourth the uprising of the Jews against Rome began in the mid-60s. Of course, Rome thwarted that about 70 AD.

Now, what about the one additional week or the one remaining prophetic week of seven years?

What's going on here in verse 27? Daniel 9. Verse 27. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week.

Yet I'm not trying to be technical. I'm trying to explain the 70 weeks prophecy, so please don't get too critical here with me on that because I'm not trying to do that. I'm just trying to bring out some principles here to support while we count to Pentecost, the way we do. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. Of course, as we know, Christ's death brought an end to the Old Testament system of animal sacrifices and offerings. And that's why we've been told that by the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 10.

Christ caused the Old Testament sacrificial system to cease in the middle of the week by dying in the middle of the week. Now, he fulfilled that in two ways. Number one, he was cut off in the middle of the last remaining prophetic week. He was cut off after only three and a half years of his earthly ministry. As we're looking at it, we understand it.

Leaving three and a half years yet remaining to be fulfilled. We used to speculate that might possibly take place in the place of safety, where the woman is nourished for a time, times, and a half a time, or for three and a half years, as we're told in Revelation 12 verse 14. But a second way you can understand that is he was literally cut off in the middle of the week. He died on the Passover, which fell on a Wednesday in the middle of the week in the year that he died.

He died on a Wednesday, which is the middle of the week. Now, the bottom line in all this, without trying to get too technical or trying to figure out every detail, the bottom line is that God prophesied way in advance the precise year and the day of the week that Christ would die. He'd have to die in a year when the Passover fell on a Wednesday in the middle of the week.

But we're told here in this 70 weeks prophecy. Now, from the decree of Art of Xerxes in 457 BC, it'll be 69 prophetic weeks, or 483 years, until Messiah begin his public ministry, which would then lead to his being cut off in the middle of the additional prophetic week.

Now, depending on how accurately you count, taking into consideration there was no year zero, allowing for possible variation or error of one year, how you might interpret things going back that far, that would bring us to either 30 or 31 AD as the year on which Christ would have to die.

Now, on both of those years, the Passover fell on a Wednesday in the middle of the week.

That is, using the Hebrew calendar.

Passover fell on a Wednesday in 30 AD with or without using postponement rules.

Passover fell on a Wednesday in 31 AD, but only if you use postponement rules. Well, both those situations are considering using the Hebrew calendar.

There's some other form of calendar that was used. We can't confirm that one way or another, historically. As I covered in a previous Bible study, 31 AD is the only year that works.

As far as the Hebrew calendar is concerned, it's the only year that works in conjunction with what we are given in the Gospel of John, especially John 7 to the end of John's Gospel, which I covered in detail in the previous Bible study that went through that. But the bottom line is this.

As I look at it, God mathematically calculated, far in advance, according to 70 weeks prophecy, the precise year and day of the week that Christ would die, and God didn't leave anything up to chance. Now, could God have manipulated things somehow to get them to come out right? Well, yeah, He could have, but I think He didn't leave anything up to chance. I think it was predetermined it would be fulfilled precisely as prophesied here in Daniel 9, in the 70 weeks prophecy.

This to me is also strong scriptural evidence that God did not depend on the weather.

He didn't depend when the barley might ripen to signal the beginning of the year, as it was done by the Karaite Jews using their calendar. And also, it kind of tends to support, to me at least, that He didn't leave it up to when the new moon might or might not be sighted.

To me, Daniel 9, verses 24 to 27, is very precise, and lends strong support to the use of a fixed calendar that could be used for calculating far in advance, such as the Hebrew calendar does.

But the question then, because what does all this have to do with county dependent cost? That's the main point I want to try to bring out today. Well, let's go back to another prophecy here, another situation that occurred that became a prophecy. Let's go back to the book of Joshua, not Joshua, excuse me, the book of Jonah, book of Jonah, Jonah chapter 1, verse 17. We're just looking at one verse here. Jonah chapter 1, in the minor prophets, Jonah chapter 1, verse 17, it says, Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Of course, as we know, this also then became prophetic of Christ's death and resurrection.

However, everything would have to precisely work out according to God's calculation. That was a beautiful plan. I appreciate that very, very much. In fact, this prophecy right here, Jonah being in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, even indicates why the Passover would have to fall on a Wednesday in the middle of the week in the year that Christ would die. Now let's go to the fulfillment of this, as it was going to be fulfilled by Christ. Let's go to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. We're very familiar with a lot of you, very familiar with these verses. Matthew 12 beginning in verse 38. Matthew 12 beginning in verse 38.

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, Teacher, we want to see a sign from you. We want to see some sign that you really are who you say you are. You say you're the Son of God.

You say you're the Messiah. Well, give us a sign to show us you truly are the Son of God. We want to see a sign. Verse 39. But he answered and said to them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah, which we just read.

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. So here's where prophecy, in my opinion, proves we should count to Pentecost from the weekly Sabbath, or from the morrow after the weekly Sabbath. Christ would have to die on a Wednesday in the middle of the week, and he would have to be in the grave for three days and three nights before being resurrected to fulfill becoming the wave sheaf offering.

When did Christ become the wave sheaf offering?

Let's go to John, chapter 20.

John 20 tells us. John 20. Let's begin in verse 1.

John 20, verse 1. This is after Christ's death and his resurrection, although the disciples don't know he's been resurrected, but this is the day after he died. He's been in the grave for three days and three nights, and this is after that. John 20, verse 1. Now on the first day of the week, which we call Sunday, now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went into the tomb early.

Well, it was still dark where they supposedly laid Jesus after he died. And they saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb, because up on the cliffs they had caves there, and they put a stone over the cave, and that became a tomb for different people who were buried there. And the tomb that he was buried in would never been used before. It didn't contain anybody else, just the body of Jesus. And then just quickly, verse 6. Later, Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb, and he saw the linen clothesline there, but no body. Verse 8. Then the other disciple, that would have been John, who came to the tomb first, went in also, and he saw the body wasn't there, and he believed it wasn't... maybe he'd been resurrected, didn't know for sure what happened, but he saw the body believed that he wasn't there. The body wasn't there. He saw it was gone. Verse 9, for yet they did not know the scripture that he must rise again from the dead, so they didn't realize that he was resurrected. They just saw somebody stole the body, but they realized, they believed what Mary said, that the body wasn't there. Verse 10. Then the disciples went away again to their own homes. Verse 11, but Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

Then they said to her, a woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, because they had taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they've taken him. In which she said this, verse 14, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but didn't know it was him. Didn't know it was Jesus. Didn't recognize him. Then Jesus said to her, verse 15, woman, why are you weeping?

Whom are you seeking? She supposed him to be the gardener, said to him, well, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.

I'll give him a proper burial. Verse 16. Then Jesus said to her, Mary, in a very compassionate voice, and she reasonably recognized who it was by the voice, she turned and said to him, RABBONAI, which is a teacher. She knew who it was.

Now, that's verse 17. Again, this is the first day of the week, Sunday. Then Jesus said to her, DO NOT, and this is the new, I'm reading from the New King James, which is a correct translation of this verse. Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren, and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.

Again, the New King James version correctly translates to verse 17. What Jesus said here is correctly translated in verse 17, it says, DO NOT CLING TO ME.

The old King James, the AV, has it, do not touch me. That is not a correct translation. The correct translation is, DO NOT CLING TO ME. Again, what day of the week was this? That was the first day of the week. It was a Sunday, verse 1. Why didn't Christ, excuse me, why didn't Christ want Mary to cling to him? You can imagine how she'd want to cling to him. She thought he was dead. Then she thought somebody stole him a body. Then she realized there he was. He was alive, talking to her. You can imagine if somebody you thought was dead, that you loved very much, you're extremely attached to, had great deal of affection and love for, all of a sudden they're standing before you talking to you, you realize they're not dead, they're alive. You can imagine you want to put your arms around that person, and you wouldn't want to let go. You just want to hug them and hold on for dear life.

You're so overjoyed to realize they're not dead, they're alive.

Why didn't Christ want Mary to cling to him? It tells us right here. Because he had not yet ascended to his father. He had not yet ascended to his father for what purpose?

For the purpose of being accepted as the wave-sheaf offering. Again, all this was calculated and prophesied in advance, and it was fulfilled precisely as prophesied and planned in advance by God.

So why did the Passover have to fall on a Wednesday in the year that Christ died? Why did it have to fall in the middle of the week? Because after he died, he had to be in the grave three days and three nights. He died on the afternoon of Passover, by about three in the afternoon, and he would have been put in the grave around sunset that night.

So it hadn't been the grave until sunset Saturday night, to have three days and three nights.

But he had to be in the grave for three days and three nights. Then after being in the grave for three days and three nights, he had to be resurrected and then ascend to his father to be accepted as the wave-sheaf offering. And he would have done that on the very day the wave-sheaf would have been offered, just as he died at the same time the Passover labs were being slaughtered. And the only way all that could be fulfilled precisely as prophesied would be to begin counting to Pentecost from the weekly Sabbath that falls during the days of Unleavened Bread. Why? If you counted from the first day of Unleavened Bread, tomorrow after the first day of Unleavened Bread, as Orthodox Jews around the world do today, if you'd come from that way in the year that Christ died, the wave-sheaf then would have been offered on the next day.

It would have been offered on the day after the first day of Unleavened Bread, which would have been on a Friday in the year Christ died.

In the year Christ died, the Passover was on a Wednesday.

The first day of Unleavened Bread was on a Thursday. And when was the wave-sheaf offered?

Again quoting Leviticus 23 verse 11, He shall wave the sheep before the Lord to be accepted on your behalf on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.

If that Sabbath was the first day of Unleavened Bread, as Orthodox Jews believe today, then in the year Christ died the wave-sheaf would have been offered on Friday.

As that was the day after the first day of Unleavened Bread in the year that Christ died.

If that was the case, then Christ would have had to ascend to His Father on Friday to be accepted as the wave-sheaf offering.

If that were the case, then you would have to try to squeeze three days and three nights between Wednesday sunset and before Friday sunset, which is a virtual impossibility. It can't be done.

It can't be done.

Which proves the wave-sheaf had to be offered on Sunday in the year that Christ died, as Scripture indicates.

And since the wave-sheaf was offered on the day after the Sabbath, that Sabbath had to be the weekly Sabbath that falls during the days of Unleavened Bread in the year that Christ died.

So prophecy and the precise fulfillment of prophecy proves we should count to Pentecost for the morrow after the weekly Sabbath, even as we do in United today.

Now, I want to get to one final—I got two final—preparation, but this is the most important part of the Bible that I feel is this next section here.

Very important question. Why would God purposely eliminate a preparation day for Pentecost?

See, if a day of preparation is important to God, then why would God want us to count to Pentecost in a way that ensures the day before Pentecost is always a weekly Sabbath, eliminating a day of preparation for Pentecost? Why would God want that? What can we learn from that? Is there anything spiritual we can learn from that that's very important?

What does Pentecost portray? It portrays the spiritual harvest of the firstfruits.

The harvest for every one God is now calling, and the harvest of all those who respond to that calling that God is giving them now.

The firstfruits must prepare to become what? What do we want to prepare to become when Christ returns?

We had to prepare to become the bride of Christ.

We had to make ourselves ready to become the bride of Christ. That's the only way we prepare to be the bride of Christ is by making ourselves ready. We have to make ourselves ready. And we must all prepare in advance by making ourselves ready in advance.

In other words, we can't wait until the day before Christ returns to prepare.

We can't wait to make ourselves ready to become the bride of Christ at the last possible moment before he returns. Let's go to a parable that shows that, that makes that point very clear.

Matthew 25, the parable of 10 virgins. Matthew 25, beginning in verse 1.

Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five were wise, five were foolish. Now why were the five wise and why were the other five foolish? We all know the story here. Five were wise by taking oil in their lamps. They were prepared in advance. They made sure they had oil and they made sure their oil was not going to run out.

Five were foolish. They took no oil in their lamps. They went into the last moment.

They didn't prepare in advance. Let's go down to verse 6, Matthew 25. And at midnight a cry was heard, Behold, the bridegroom is coming, go out to meet him.

Then all those virgins arose and they trimmed their lamps.

But if you've got to do more than just trim the lamp, you also have to have oil. And the foolish said to the wise, well, you know, we don't have any oil.

We never got any oil, so we're not prepared. Give us your oil, for all lamps are going out.

But the wise answer is saying, no, lest there should not be enough for us and you, but go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves.

The point is, we each have to prepare for ourselves. We each have to make ourselves ready. We can't make someone else spiritually ready to become the bride of Christ. We can only make ourselves ready to become the bride of Christ. And that's a daily chore, daily job that we have, spiritually speaking. But no one else can do that for us. We're the only ones that can make ourselves ready. Going on in verse 10. And while they went to buy, well, the foolish went to buy and the foolish went to get prepared, the bridegroom came. And those who were ready went in with him to the wedding and the door was shut. But afterward the other virgins also came saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. We need more time here. You came very suddenly. We weren't prepared. We didn't think you were going to come at this time. We thought we had lots of time left.

Give us a little more time. We're not ready. We're not prepared. Verse 12. But he answered and said, assuredly I say to you, I do not know you. You had plenty of time.

You had your whole lifetimes. It's the time I called you. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. So we all have to be prepared spiritually in advance. We can't wait till the last day or the day before. There is no preparation day to become the first fruits. There is no preparation day for being ready to become the first fruits of God, as Pentecost portrays. We can't get spiritually prepared in one day or at the last possible moment. We must all be prepared in advance by making ourselves ready now, by working on that now, by making use of the time that we have right now. And that, in my view, is why God purposely wants us to count to Pentecost in a way that eliminates a preparation day for Pentecost. Because spiritually speaking, no one can make themselves ready to be part of the bride of Christ, be part of the first fruits, in one day or at the last possible moment.

We all must become prepared in advance. Now, before I close, I just want to look at one final, question. And just a speculation on this, but I just want to touch on it because I think it's interesting. It does tie in. When was the Acts 2, the Pentecost, mentioned in Acts 2, when was that observed? What day was that Pentecost observed on? Well, there's no clear historical record as to whether they observed it on Stephen the sixth, which is how the Jews observed it today. By counting from the first day of unleavened bread, by counting from a fixed day of the month, it's going to always occur at a fixed day of the month on Stephen the sixth, regardless of what day of the week that might be. Now, there's no clear historical evidence as to whether that particular Pentecost in Acts 2 was observed on Stephen the sixth or on Stephen the eighth. If they had counted from the weekly Sabbath, then the year that Christ died, they would observe Pentecost on Stephen the eighth rather than on Stephen the sixth. Now, the Pharisees, they counted as Orthodox Jews do today, so the Pharisees would have observed it on Stephen the sixth back in Acts 2 when that had happened.

But prophecies I've shown would indicate it would have properly have been observed on Stephen the eighth, on Sunday, not on Friday. Maybe that, this is total speculation on my part, I realize that, but maybe that is why Acts 2.1 states when the day of Pentecost had fully come.

Maybe it came to the Pharisees on Stephen the sixth, but maybe did not fully come until Stephen the eighth. That's just total speculation on my part, I realize that, but it kind of fits in with what Scripture tends to tell us. I want to just close with one final thing here. Here is what one objective SDA scholar, named Dr. Samuel Bakiellke, who died a few years ago, I believe, but he was challenged on the holy days at one time by one of the ministers actually in United, and he looked into it. I don't know if he ever observed them or not, but he actually wrote two booklets on them, as some of you know. But this is what he wrote in his book entitled, God's Festivals in Scripture in History, Part 1, the Spring Festivals. This is what he wrote on page 231 of that particular book in regards to counting to Pentecost. This is what he told the objective independent researcher. Nothing tied him with us at all. This is what he found out in his research on which is the proper way to count to Pentecost. He wrote on page 231 of that book, God's Festivals in Scripture in History, Part 1, which Sabbath is meant, the weekly Sabbath, or the annual Sabbath. The question became one of the outstanding points of contention between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Pharisees interpreted the Sabbath as the festival day, and he says, Passover, actually first day of the 11th bread, as we realize, is the festival day. But he doesn't have the right day. He says, Neeson 15th, of course, Neeson 15th would have been the first day of the 11th bread. He says, thus they weighed, the Pharisees weighed the first sheaf of barley on the following day on Neeson 16th. From that day, they counted the 50 days to Pentecost, this being the prevailing Jewish tradition that has continued to this day.

It is all quoted in Dr. Bakiyoki. The Sadducees, however, supported by the Bothusians, the Karaites, and the Samaritans, took the word Sabbath to mean literally the first Sabbath that fell during the week of 11 bread. This means they counted the 50 days from the first Sunday after Passover.

Consequently, Pentecost for them would always fall on the same day of the week, namely on Sunday.

This method of reckoning, Pentecost, excuse me, quote, quoting Dr. Bakiyoki here, this method of reckoning, Pentecost, was widely accepted in early Christianity, apparently even by chordodescent Christians who observed Passover on the fixed date of Neeson the 14th. So Dr. Bakiyoki then, in his objective research, indicated to him that the early Christian Church widely counted Pentecost from the weekly Sabbath. That's what his research told him.

So I want to conclude this series then at that point. But in conclusion, let me just summarize this entire series of Bible studies on the calendar with these five main points I would like to end on.

Number one, the calendar and calendar issues will not be settled until Christ returns. It's a complicated subject, as we've seen. And the final questions are going to continue on until Christ returns won't be settled until Christ returns. Number two, until then whatever group you keep the Holy Days with will have to determine when to appoint them and when to observe them.

Number three, to do that, they will either have to use the Hebrew calendar or some other calendar of their own making. Because all these groups they can't agree on which is the correct calendar to use. If you don't get rid of the Hebrew calendar, don't use that. As we've seen, there is no biblical calendar that everyone can agree on. Now, there are many groups who say, yeah, there is a biblical calendar and they try to say this or that. But those different groups that try to come up with some other calendar that's not the Hebrew calendar say there's a biblical calendar. They can't agree what that biblical calendar should be among themselves, that is. So there really is no biblical calendar that they can agree upon. Number four, the Holy Days were given to us to observe so we can understand God's plan of salvation. If you don't keep the Holy Days, if you don't understand the many of the Holy Days, how they all pertain and point to Jesus Christ, you will not correctly or fully understand God's plan of salvation.

Those are revealed through keeping God's annual feasts and Holy Days.

And the Hebrew calendar does that as well as, if not better than any other calendar that can be devised. As far as, you know, helping us keep those Holy Days in a way that we can understand their meaning, how they point and picture and portray God's plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. So there's really no reason or purpose for trying to devise some other calendar.

All that accomplishes, as you look at history, is strife and division. That's all it accomplishes.

Number five, and this is the final point, and I think a very good point, is that we should not judge one another over each of the calendar. It's a complicated issue. We shouldn't be judging one another. God looks at and is going to judge our hearts as we know. That's the bottom line in all this. God looks at and will judge our hearts, not on how perfectly we understand all things.

We're never going to understand all things perfectly, and there's going to be some things that we will not understand until Christ returns. And that's true for all of us. In the meantime, God will judge our hearts and our attitudes, and He will refine our hearts until, quote, we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4, verse 13. That's what we're all striving for, to come to the very stature and maturity of Jesus Christ.

That is our ultimate goal. And to attain the spiritual maturity of Christ so we can be we have to want to obtain the spiritual maturity of Christ, you should say, so we can be ready to become the bride of Christ at His return. That is our purpose being called this time. That's what we should be focusing on. So with that note, then I will conclude this series of Bible studies on the calendar.