This sermon was given at the Canmore, Alberta 2013 Feast site.
This transcript was generated by AI and may contain errors. It is provided to assist those who may not be able to listen to the message.
Are you fully abreast of the world news today? Are you keeping up with all the atrocities, with all the politics, with all the drama that goes on in Satan's world, with all the chemical weapons and the shootings that took place today at the Nairobi Mall, where just 70 people were shot and 20 died as they went shopping on Saturday? Are you keeping up with the world leaders and the decisions that they're making and the economy and the craziness that goes on? Are you going through the mental exercises of saying, well, it should have been done this way or it should be done that way? You know, you and I, if we're not careful, will become embroiled in what's going on in this present evil age, in the society of Satan.
The things that are going on around us are alarming. They're mind-boggling. They make no sense whatsoever. They're also distracting. You and I live in a dynamic age. It's full of dynamism. Some secret documents were released by the government of the United States yesterday or today that showed that right after John F. Kennedy was elected, one of the bombers carrying two big mega nuclear weapons disintegrated south of Washington, D.C., in the air. And one of those big nuclear weapons, as the plane disintegrated, decided or somehow sensed that it was under attack and so it began to arm itself. With four switches, three of them fully armed and the fourth was trying to detonate a nuclear weapon that the BBC News today said would have changed history. But for some reason, that switch, that micro switch, failed and that weapon bounced on the ground harmlessly. You know, there's crazy things, there's alarming things, there's mind-boggling things. And as we read in Bible prophecy, they don't get any better because the mind behind them is just, well, he's twisted. You and I here are at the Feast of Tabernacles and you and I observe God's festival seasons.
And right now, we are about to finish another year of God's feasts. We're just a few days away from the end of an entire year of God's festivals. God's festivals teach us to focus on something. Are we here to focus on the craziness of the world? Are we here during the Feast of Tabernacles when God said, I will put my name and you will go away, essentially, from society. And you will come and you will be with me for eight days, a festival with God. That should tell us there's something our mind should be focused on during these festivals. Not only during these festivals, but the whole festival season, including the weekly Sabbath, which is one of God's festivals, should be re-cementing our minds onto something that God wants us to be involved with. I'd like to discuss today something that's missing in God's festivals. You know what that is? The events of Satan's world. You know, when we think of God's festivals, they don't include Satan. They don't include his world. They don't include the craziness. They're really about God's royal family. The title of the sermon today is Festivals for God's Royal Family. God has created festivals that not only portray the plan of salvation for humankind, but they are festivals for his royal family to become royalty, ultimately in his spirit family, and live with him forever. The focus of the festivals, all of them really can be found in the final prayer that Jesus made.
I should say it wasn't actually his final prayer, but the one that's written out for us in John 17. If we look in John 17 in verse 21, he is praying here in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before he was crucified, and he says here, Father, I pray that they all may be one. Right there is really the focus of your life, the focus of the plan of God, the focus of God creating the universe and the physical realm in the first place, is that we may all be one. One forever, one of the same mind, one of the same composition. In fact, you and I were created in God's image for this very purpose. As you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us. Verse 22, And the glory which you gave me I have given them, that they may be one, just as we are one. I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one. Verse 24, Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am. This is the will of God. If you want to know what God's will is for your life and mine, that's God's will. That we ultimately can be with God as one where He is. When we try to commingle events of this present evil age with our Sabbaths and our Holy Days and our festivals, we're bringing in something from the outside that really doesn't belong. We'll see this as we take a look at the various festivals of God. We don't want to dilute the purpose of these festivals. We really want to come out and be separate and head for this oneness in all ways as we commune with God on His Holy Days, as He joins us and makes them holy by His very presence.
So let's go back to Leviticus chapter 23 and notice something important about the festivals of God. Sometimes we think God created these feasts for us, in a sense. They're our feasts.
They're the feasts of the church or the ones God has called. But not so, as a prayer in the opening night said, thank you for inviting us to your feast. This is God's feast. He says so clearly here in Leviticus 23 in verse 2, speak to the children of Israel and say to them, the feasts of the Lord. These aren't about society. They're not about your life.
They're not about anything. These are the feasts of the Lord. They are talking and they are portraying and they are involving future family members, future royalty. You shall proclaim these to be holy assemblies, holy convocations. Now, for something to be holy and to be an assembly, God has to be present because nothing can be holy without God in it.
You are only holy because God is in you through His Holy Spirit, which is holy because it is God's Spirit. His church is holy because it is His. The Sabbath is holy, the feasts are holy because He is there. He is in them. If you want to look at Ezekiel the first chapter and look at the transportation device that our Savior uses, and at the end of that chapter you can see that He is sitting on the throne with His power and glory and the brightness and the rainbow over it.
And when that thing goes, it goes fast like lightning. It does not turn. There are no demons or Satan that slow it up like what happens to Gabriel at times. It just goes. I don't know how far it takes God to travel from the throne to where we are, but don't be surprised when He returns.
If He hasn't been here, every Sabbath making it holy, and that's what makes the Sabbath holy. Because let's not forget that on the Sabbaths and Holy Days, the one who died for us is Jesus Christ, right? He is the bridegroom and we're His bride that He is cleaning up. He is the Lord of the Sabbath, and He is the Lord of the feasts. This is His people.
This is what He lived and died and created everything for. So first of all, to see that the feasts of the Lord are holy convocations doesn't mean they're sort of on autopilot on a calendar from heaven that, you know, oh, what this day has somehow got a stamp on it. No, this is a time when you and I are to come together with God on His feasts. Really special time. And we should have prepared, we should have gotten ready for this date that we have with our Savior, with the one who is cleansing us, the one who is our Lord and Master, the one who is getting ready to have the wedding supper.
You know, we're already married. If you're baptized, you're already married, you are already the bride of Christ. That ceremony happened at your baptism. It's now the wedding feast that would need to take place as the bride is making herself ready and getting ready for that wedding feast, the marriage supper. So as we look at these feasts, we should just be breathtaking by the opportunity when each one comes around to have a holy convocation. Verse 4, these are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations. Now, they're special time. If we look in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9, we see why they are special for us right now.
Ultimately, these festivals will involve all of humanity in some way in their own appointed time. But in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9, God speaks to you and me and says, you are a chosen generation. Right now, you are the ones who are chosen. A royal priesthood, and these are the feasts for the royal priesthood, a holy nation. Why are we holy? Because we have the right name or the right structure or the right governance?
No, we're holy because we have Jesus Christ and God the Father living in us through the Holy Spirit, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. We're to come out of the world, and on these days we're to set aside everything that we've been involved with and come and proclaim His praises in His marvelous light, who are once not a people but are now the people of God.
Wow. These festivals are opportunities for us to have this relationship of oneness in a way that is limited now that ultimately speaks to the oneness we will have in the divine family forever. We can look in Leviticus chapter 23 and verse 3 and look at as He unfolds them in order to be the one who is the one who says, six days shall work be done.
You know, six days it says in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 and the Ten Commandments, He says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it at four. In six days the Lord labored and did all His work.
And we're to labor and do all our work. What God did for six days was prepare to have a Sabbath with Adam and Eve. And He did all the work necessary to have a holy Sabbath and do spiritual redemptive work with them. And then each week He tells us to get ourselves prepared and do what you do and bake what you bake and do whatever it is you need to do. But when the Sabbath comes, when the Sabbath comes, this is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. You will have this time with your God just as He had worked and He had time with Adam and Eve. And then every time there were holy people that He worked with, He was working with them. He was there on the Sabbath.
He was in the temple. Jesus, when He was physically on earth, was there on the Sabbath and was in the temple. He worked and He tells us that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath, to do a work on the Sabbath. A work that is not the weekday kind of preparatory, but a different kind of work. A work of the God family, a spiritual work, a holy work, a serving and loving, a worship of God, a serving of each other, an inspiring coming out of the events of the week and the affairs of society and spending time with God and with family on this day. It's a wonderful opportunity that God has. It's a holy Sabbath, remember, because God is in it. And just as the burning bush was holy and Moses was told to take his shoes off because the ground was holy, so God tells us to take our shoes off of His Sabbath. Let's go to Isaiah 58 and verse 13. Notice, many years later, He is still showing how precious this time is with us, and He wants us to reciprocate and consider it precious time with Him. Isaiah 58 verse 13, if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, don't come trampling in, don't come bringing the weekday things, don't come bringing the mind and the self and the events of society. No, you take your shoes off, you take your foot off my Sabbath from doing your pleasure on my holy day. It's not our Sabbath, it's His Holy. He's saying, This is my holy day. And if you like being with me, if you like opening your mind to the things of the family of God and of a Gappe mindset, and you call this honorable and a delight, if that's our mindset, if we like, I like to be with God. I like to think of God, I like to worship God, I like the family of God, I like putting this other stuff out of my mind. And if we call this type of a Sabbath a delight, a holy day of the Lord honorable and shall honor Him not doing your own ways or finding your own pleasure or speaking your own words. It's not about what I do and what I've done and where I've been. It's about family, the divine family. Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord. And in a spiritual sense, I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth. We, in Jesus Christ, will rule the nations at His return. It's a wonderful opportunity.
How we keep the Sabbath is a sign to God. That's the Sabbath sign. How we keep that in mind. And it's important that this drama that goes on in the world in our own lives isn't brought into the bride and the bridegroom's weekly festival. This is holy time. You know, He even tells us, if you think ahead to the end times and the church going to the place of safety, that time of the Sabbath is so holy and precious you would not want to think about the things going on in civilization. You would not want to be embroiled in that or caught up in that in any way. And so, therefore, pray that your flight is not on the Sabbath day. Now, as a human being, we'd say, I don't care if it's on the Sabbath day. I just want out of here. But wait a minute. If we are really keeping the Sabbath holy and taking our feet off of it and coming out of the world, the last thing we would want to do is get caught up in events of society and a fleeing and a terror and a worry and a rushing and a serving of, say, self and trample all over that holy assembly that we're to have with God each week. There's a lot of growth that you and I can make in the Sabbath, preparing for the Sabbath and observing the Sabbath, and we'll never do it perfectly, but He sets us a great example here and a great directive of where we should go with it. The bride was not affected in Nairobi. No worry about the church members there keeping the feast, because they wouldn't be at the mall on the Sabbath. They would be sequestered. They would be where God will be. They will be worshiping God, and His angels are about them. The Passover is the next feast mentioned in Leviticus 23. You know, the Passover, if we go to Romans 6, is such an engaging event between us and the family of God. Let's look in Romans 6, verse 3. Here we find that the very sacrifice of Jesus Christ indelibly links us together when we go through the marriage covenant. The baptism covenant is a type of the marriage covenant, and those events are locked together. They form a family bond, a marital bond, as it were. In Romans chapter 6, verse 3, notice, Do you not know as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we should walk in a newness of life with Him, with Him being in us and the Father being in us through the Spirit. And we are then made family, and we have a covenant. And that covenant is expected to develop and grow and remain. Not enter a divorce like five of the foolish virgin's will, not a divorce like Israel had from God, but no, completion. The door opened to the wedding supper, and being those who go in and partake of it. Notice drop down in verse 11 in Romans 6. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God and Jesus Christ our Lord. The Passover rivets us to the Father through Jesus Christ. And in verse 22 and 23, But now, having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, see, we are now in a relationship that is deep and convicted. You have your fruit to holiness in the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death. I don't think we fully understand that. Every sin requires death. God doesn't wave it away. It requires death. Wages of sin are death, and there will be a death for every sin. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. He died, and God will accept His blood on our stead and our behalf.
And so salvation and eternal life in Christ are ours through that plan. You know, the Passover is not about everyone at this time. It says in Exodus 12, verse 43, No foreigner shall eat it.
It is only for the people of God. It is focused on the people of God at this time.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread really is about Christ and His betrothed bride marching, moving. She is getting herself cleaned up, washed and cleaned and presented, leaving more and more of society behind. It is moving toward Elohim and away from this present evil age.
It is moving out of Egypt, a sinful society representing Satan's world, and moving towards the kingdom of God, towards a promised land. And that is your life and mine portrayed in six days of marching. And that is a wonderful opportunity that we are in now. We should be moving together as we are betrothed in this covenant that we have. Betrothed. Essentially, that is a marriage.
It is not a Western marriage, but it is of the day. It was a betrothal, and that was considered a marriage that would have to be broken by a divorce, as I understand it.
That is a very serious agreement that you and I have made at baptism.
We are preparing for a spiritual wedding. Ephesians 5 talks about that, verses 22-32, how the physical marriage really is a type of the spiritual marriage. And we are moving forward in that relationship with God to a spiritual wedding. We are to be successful in that, be part of the bride that has made herself ready.
Let's go to Exodus 13, verses 6-9, and notice something special about the days of unleavened bread. This involves the eating of unleavened bread. Sometimes we don't put the emphasis on the eating of unleavened bread that we should, because it has a special meaning for God's rule family. Notice here in Exodus 13, in verse 6, seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days, and no leavened bread shall be seen among you. Verse 8, you shall tell your son in that day saying, this is done. Why do we eat unleavened bread each day? This is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt. Eating unleavened bread is linked to our journey with Christ coming out, being separate from this world. Going on, verse 10, eating unleavened bread shall be a sign to you on your hand as you eat it, and as a memorial between your eyes that the Lord's law may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. Unleavened bread is about a people who God has brought out of society, is bringing out of this world. It's a symbol about our uniqueness in becoming one with the family of God and the process that's involved in that. Feast of Pentecost is the next festival. That term Pentecost I don't personally like. It was one that was used around the time of Christ where the Jews refers to the counting process, which is fine, but God named that festival in Exodus 23, verse 16, he named actually it was an Exodus 23, verse 16, he named that the festival of harvest. Let's go there. Exodus chapter 23 and verse 16. This is about a harvest, an important harvest. It's the small harvest, as Mr. Armstrong used to say. The good news about the Feast of Pentecost is it's the little harvest. There's a big one later on. Exodus chapter 23 and verse 16 says, And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you have sown in the field.
He talks later about a feast of ingathering, which you and I are celebrating this week.
You know, Jesus Christ was the first fruits of the barley harvest, which had ripened at the beginning of unleavened bread. But we are called the first fruits of the wheat harvest in chapter 33 and verse 22. And the very first of the of the summer, the great crops that come in throughout the summer, we're the first fruits of that. We're small. But it's very important. We see in the past that on the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit overflowed in the apostles. Whether or not it first was given on the Feast of Pentecost is irrelevant. It just overflowed. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit. And it was visible. And the words that came out, and the words that came out, and the hearing, and all the events at the starting of the New Testament church were amazing on that day. And one thing that happened that day is the church was together in one accord.
All the members were together in one accord on the Feast of the First Fruits, the Festival of Harvest.
In the future, the saints are going to become at one with God. You and I will be fully together with one accord in what this first harvest speaks of. Let's go to 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Thessalonians 4, and verse 16.
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Now, that harvest takes place. The timing of it is the seventh trumpet. But the event itself shows growth that took place in an early group, and it's that specific group that will always be with the Lord. It brings us to the Feast of Trumpets. There's a sequence of events that the various trumpets, the first six trumpets, bring us through in end-time prophecy. It brings Satan-led civilization to the very edge. And how close is that edge? Well, Jesus said it's going to be so close that if it weren't stopped, nothing would live. No flesh would remain alive. It's a terrible time. We have a booklet called The Book of Revelation Unveiled, and I would strongly encourage you to read that booklet, because it is not a picnic. Even getting from where we are today into the beginning of that time is challenging, and we really need to be dedicated and devoted to our betrothal to Jesus Christ, and let nothing tempt us to commit adultery or fornication with any other mindsets, or be drawn away from the calling that we have. But you know, as bad as it's going to be, even in those first trumpets, the bride will not be involved in Satan's, in Babylon's punishment.
Let's go over to Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 20. Isaiah chapter 26. It's God's will that you do not participate in those things. That's why Jesus said, pray that your flight is not on a Sabbath day. You shouldn't be involved in that.
You're not part of this world. You're the special holy people of God.
And if you read in Revelation chapter 3, when it talks about the Philadelphia mindset, I will say instead of an era, the mindset, those individuals have been developing that agape mindset. And they have shown themselves a certain growth to where God said, I will spare you from that which must come upon the earth. And here in Isaiah chapter 26, let's notice something he says in verse 20. Come, my people, the people of God, the royal family, into your chambers, something provided for them, a place that has been prepared for them. And shut your doors behind you.
Ah, there will be doors there. That's about as much as we can say.
Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment until the indignation is passed.
For behold, the Lord comes out of his place. He returns to the earth to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will also disclose her blood and will no more cover her slain. You know, the focal point of trumpets is the seventh trumpet. If we go to Revelation chapter 11, we see a great event that takes place. Revelation 11 verse 15 through 18. This festival of trumpets, the seventh trumpet, speaks of the return of Jesus Christ and Him taking over the world, and Him being the King of all, the ruler of all. So if we look here in Revelation 11 verse 15, it says, the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell down in worship, saying, We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was and who is to come, because you have taken your great power and you've reigned. Now notice in verse 18, the nations were angry and your wrath has come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that you should reward your servants, the prophets and the saints, those who fear your name, small and great. You know, this is the time of the reward. That's the timing of it. A very exciting thing happens within this festival of trumpets that we celebrate. If we look in chapter 14 in verse 1, it says, I looked, and behold a lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 having his father's name written in their foreheads. In verse 3, they sang as it were a new song before the throne.
These were the 144,000 redeemed from the earth. Verse 4, these are the ones who are not defiled with spiritual false religion, prophetic women, for they are virgins, virgins who have made themselves ready. And these are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. Wonderful, wonderful things that come from this.
In chapter 15, in verse 2, those who have victory over the beast and over his image, he sees them standing before the throne of God, before on the sea of glass, and singing a song of Moses. And the song of Moses is important if we focus on it. What are they singing?
Well, verse 3 says, Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the saints.
Who shall not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy, and all nations shall come and worship before you. And this leads right into the festival that we are celebrating now.
We now see that Christ and his bride and the saints are the ones who are the leaders and the rulers of the next age. And God will be glorified, and all nations will come and worship before him.
It's a wonderful, wonderful prelude to this millennial oneness that God will then have with mankind. Begin to build with the nations for a thousand years.
Just as our walk with God begins with the Passover, with the recognition of the blood of Christ, and a coming out of sin, so we have the Day of Atonement with the two goats that speak to the next generation and says, Yes, this one goat must be led away, and he must go, and this mindset must leave, and the other goat must be killed for a sin offering, for an atonement. There has to be an atonement so that a relationship with God can take place. That is a very important time.
It says in Amos 3.1, Can two walk together unless they be agreed? The false leader of this world is removed, and once again the festival that we celebrate is not about the craziness. It is about God and people, about God bringing people to know Him. In Isaiah 6.1, it talks about the punishment of the serpent. It's going to be removed, and Satan is bound and sealed for a thousand years.
And now we come to the Feast of Tabernacles. And what do we do at the Feast? This is our favorite Feast of the Year because of the beauty, because of the opulence, because of the things that it portrays that will happen to the next generation. This isn't about us. We will actually be reigning and ruling with Christ and helping bring this about. But it's a wonderful time to show that when God is with mankind and there's no agent of sin messing it up, what a beautiful time it will be. And it will certainly fulfill all that God had once established for Israel to become a leader among the nations. To show that God's way works, that the blessings, the physical blessings of rain and dew season, and the cedar overtaking the reaper, and all these things will be just really, really signs that God's way works. But who are the rulers? What are they like? Let's go to Revelation chapter 19 verses 5 through 8 because we are here celebrating actually a time when you and I will be the rulers. We'll be the literal spirit royal family of the time that we're portraying during these seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles. A voice came from heaven, chapter 19 of Revelation, saying, praise our God, all you servants and those who fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it was the voice of a great multitude as the sound of many waters and the sound of mighty thundering, saying, hallelujah for the Lord omnipotent reigns. You ever stop to think when you pray, our Father in heaven, thank you for being the God that you are. I mean, what if you are one of those types that you see in these futuristic, you know, star future movies where galactic empires and space war against each other? You ever seen one of those? You'd want to be your God, you know, this guy over here with the big guy and this guy over here with some Klingon or whatever. Aren't you glad when you get on your knees that you have a God who is agape love?
Everything is perfect and pure and we can really say and will at that time, wow, God, the omnipotent one reigns. What a special privilege that is. And of course, in order for him to reign and us to reign with him, we have to be of the same mindset. And so it says here in verse 7, let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready. This festival really should encourage us to be readying, being washed and scrubbed with Christ and his blood and his spirit and not be foolishly thinking that, oh, yeah, we're ready, you know, come Lord, only to find the door closed in our faith and we're not prepared. But we need to be readied and have grown up into Christ and have developed that mindset of the family of God and actually have become one. Come out of this world and become one.
And that is what the royal family is comprised of. At the end of verse 8, it says, the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. That's the doing of God's law. That's the doing of his love, love for God and fellow man. It's not just the believing in it or the treasuring it, it's the doing of it. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 56 verses 5 through 7. Isaiah chapter 56 verse 5.
Even to them, that's to you and me, to the bride, to the firstfruits, I will give them in my house and within my walls a place and a name, better than that of the sons and daughters, better than that your parents gave to you, I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
You know, this is what we can look forward to. Verse 6. And also the sons of the foreigner who joined themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath and hold fast my covenant. This now expands from the family of God to those that we are teaching, to those who say, no, no, not that way, this way.
Come and learn and understand the knowledge of the truth. You also now have a thousand years with Sabbaths and festivals to come to know us. And the sons of the foreigners and the other nations will join themselves to the Lord to serve him. In verse 7, even then I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices, yes, those will be restored, will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. You see how God is redeeming and developing relationships with us, and all of these festivals speak to that. At the end of the Millennial period is the final removal of Satan the devil, and that removal is complete once he is done away with, he and the demons are judged.
There's, in Revelation 19, it speaks of a lake of fire reserved for them.
There is then a time when all humans will be resurrected. We read in Revelation chapter 20, and around verse 11 through 12, you'll see that all come up and the books are open. They can now understand this way, and they don't have the deceiver there. They don't have the society there.
And another book is open. That's the book of life, and their names are written in the book of life.
Those are the first people the Bible defines as having the book of life recording their names in it after you and me. That is a wonderful time. This is the wheat harvest. This is the big one.
That's the big crop. That's when maybe 60 to 120 billion people will show up standing.
And what a day that's going to be. You know, God's feasts, they're big, but they're about the family of God. They're about rescuing and then redeeming his people. It's about an exodus from society.
Let's look over in 2 Corinthians chapter 6. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 12 through 18.
2 Corinthians chapter 6 will begin in verse 12.
You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections.
That scripture screams at me.
God's festivals and his Sabbath all are about focusing on the oneness and moving in that direction.
But do I limit my progress in that direction? Do I limit my growth? Do I limit my being developed as a true member of the bride of Christ by my own affections? Is that what limits me and holds me back?
Is that what limits me and holds me back? Would I rather on God's Sabbath do what I want to do and think what I want to think and not be inconvenienced for my own selfish physical thoughts and desires? On God's holy days and feast days, would I rather cruise and do what I want to do?
What affections do I have that Paul says here are holding me back, that are restricting me?
Verse 14, do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. You and I have been called out from the Passover, to unleavened bread, to the harvest of the first fruits, to our joining Christ, to trumpets, to even coming out and away mentally on the Sabbaths, coming out of the tribulation into a place of safety. All of these things are to be bringing us out. How much are we yoking ourselves back mentally? For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? What communion has light with darkness? How much mixing do I do in my own mind and life? What accord has Christ with the devil? What part has a believer with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols?
For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord. Don't touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.
It's kind of an if situation. If you do this, if you come out from among them, then I will receive you, and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, said the Lord almighty.
Chapter 7, verse 1. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
We celebrate God's holy days and His festivals, and one component that's obviously missing from them is societal craziness, drama, things of Satan in this world, and our own selfish nature.
We are to separate ourselves from Satan's society and the events and issues. Let's look in Ephesians chapter 5, verses 8 through 11. We wrap this up. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 8.
For you were once darkness, wow, not just in darkness, you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. That is who we are. We're the precious, holy, royal family of God.
And we are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.
For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. Verse 13. All things that are exposed are made manifest by the light. For whatever makes manifest is light. We are to awaken out of our sleep. We are to grow. We are to develop. We are to come out of the things of this world, come into the things of God's feasts.
God's goal for you and me actually lies beyond what the feasts actually depict. The feasts talk about a sequence of events that bring people to what God's ultimate goal is. It says in 1 Corinthians 13 that even when it comes to prophecies, and feasts are prophetic events, the prophecies will expire.
When it says fail, I think that means expire. At some point, every festival that we partake points to a future event, and that future event will eventually take place.
And so what is really the goal, the ultimate goal of God's festivals? I think we could see it in the model prayer. At the outline, we're to pray, to begin with. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. There's a new heavens and a new earth, and ultimately the Aloeim family will be there. Let's go, in conclusion, forward to Revelation 21 and take a look at what these festivals and what this human experience ultimately looks forward to down the road.
Revelation 21 verse 1 says, now I saw a new heaven and new earth, brand new. For the first heaven and earth had passed away, there was no more sea.
And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. You know, the holy city won't be called New Jerusalem.
It'll be given a new name. Ezekiel 48 verse 35, the new name will be, the Lord is there.
That's the new name for what is called New Jerusalem. The Lord is there. And that tells us about what Jesus's desire, the goal of the God family is, that we would all be one, and we would all be present together. In verse 3, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be their God.
In verse 9 it says, then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came to me and said, Come, I will show you the bride, the lamb's wife. Wow! See, here's the goal. Here's what God is looking forward to, and here's what all these festivals finally culminate into.
The bride, the lamb's wife. And he carried me away into the spirit to a great high mountain, and he showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven of God.
That's not the bride, by the way. That is the city. The bride's inside, as we're going to see in just a minute. Verse 11, having the glory of God. Ah, there's something inside that city that has the brightness, the glory of God, the Father, and Jesus Christ.
Something special else is in there as well. Let's notice, as we look down in verse 22, it's not the structure of New Jerusalem. Verse 22, but I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. Ah, now we're really seeing what God has as his ultimate will and purpose and plan. A place where all of his family resides, and they are the temple. The city had no need of the sun or moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and the Lamb is its light. And who else is there? Oh, here's the bride. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light. Wow. Verse 26, and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. Brethren, you and I are so blessed not only to have the knowledge of God's plan, but to participate in the development from human beings into the divine children of God.
When you celebrate each Sabbath and each festival, be coming out of these civilizations and societies led by Satan, and be fulfilling God's will to be at one with him and one another, both now and forever.