God’s Plan of Salvation Revealed in the Holy Days

In our first session today, we saw very clearly that God has indeed made certain days holy, and that God's holy days are still holy today. In fact, we saw that they will be observed in the future during the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ during God's Kingdom. It only makes sense that these days should be observed today. We saw each of God's holy days in our Bibles, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. We saw clear commands from God in regard to observing these days. And we saw that Jesus Christ also kept these days setting an example for us. We saw that Christ's disciples and the Apostle Paul kept these days long after Christ's death and resurrection, again setting an example for us to follow today. We saw that the Apostle Paul taught the Gentiles to observe God's holy days as well. Actually, I wanted to... let's go to another verse that, for some reason, did not find itself in my notes. But in Genesis... I'm sorry, Genesis. Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13. This is a very compelling few verses here. It's kind of like Ezekiel 20. We should also remember Acts chapter 13, because it gives a very powerful example of a Gentile church, a people that started... Gentiles that started observing the Sabbath day. Acts chapter 13 verse 42. So this is the Apostle Paul. He's at the city of Antioch. So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath, because in the context of things, we will see that the gospel truly was being preached in Antioch. Paul was telling the truth about King David and about the fact that he was dead, was buried, but that he would rise again, that Jesus Christ was the Savior. So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. They didn't beg to be preached to the next day on Sunday. They realized that the Sabbath was the day that was sanctified and made holy. That was the day that Paul preached upon. So when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. Verse 44, on the next Sabbath, seventh-day Sabbath, almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy. The Jews, who were not accepting Christ as their Savior, but were rejecting him, the ones who had put Christ to death, they were filled with envy. Perhaps there were even some that were following along with Paul and Christ, but were not truly converted.

They were filled with envy. They contradicted and blasphemed. They opposed the things spoken by Paul. So the Gentiles observed the Sabbath day. They began to keep God's day holy and to follow a commanded assembly. So again, we see the Gentiles being taught to keep these days. We even saw that the Feast of Tabernacles and God's weekly Sabbath would clearly be observed after Christ's Second Coming, again during the reign of Christ here on the earth. But why did God establish these days? We clearly saw in the first session that he did establish these days, but we really didn't talk a lot about why he established these days. What was his underlying hidden purpose for establishing these days? This is indeed the mystery of the ages. These days and the meaning of the these days and the meaning behind them have basically been hidden for mankind. Mankind doesn't get it. Not many people are here today except those that God has been working with and called out in the past. We invite people, but many of them don't show up. They don't see the importance of these days. They don't come out because these days are hidden to the vast majority of people on earth. What do these holy days picture? What do they mean? How do we observe these days today? And what is God's plan of salvation revealed in the holy days? Again, we clearly find the origins of these days in the Bible. The Bible and the Revelation and the inspiration of God's Spirit gives us clear reasons for keeping these holy days today.

The themes that these days portray reflect God's spiritual harvest of mankind. We spoke of three seasons in the first session, the early spring harvest, the later spring harvest, and the autumn harvest. These themes that these days portray reflect God's spiritual harvest of mankind to eternal lives spoken of by Jesus Christ. By actually observing these days, we come to understand God's plan of salvation for mankind more fully and more completely. So let's go to John 4, where Christ speaks about a harvest yet to come. John 4. John 4, verse 34, Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to finish his work. Christ came to reveal the Father. Do you not say, There are still four months, and then comes the harvest. Behold, I say to you, Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest. And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true, one sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored, others have labored, and you have entered into their labors. He was speaking of a spiritual harvest.

There is a huge harvest that is yet to be gathered in. God is now working on the first fruits. He is not working on the entire harvest at this point. He is working on the first fruits. We'll see this as we go along today. By observing God's holy days, we see His plan for mortal man, how that mortal man may one day attain immortality and live forever, will truly be harvested into the kingdom of God forever. Christ preached the gospel of the kingdom of God. God's holy days reveal the good news of God's kingdom to come. In Matthew 24, it speaks of the fact that we shall inherit a kingdom that is being prepared for us. Matthew 25. Matthew 25, verse 31, When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. He is going to see whether or not they will follow Him and obey Him, whether or not they will agree to keep His commandments, to do those things that are pleasing in His sight as the Creator of all mankind. He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. From the very foundation of the world, God has a plan that He is working out. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink. He goes on to show that when we serve one another, we are truly serving Christ.

Service is an important kingdom value that we talked about last time I was here, about learning to serve one another because when we do so, we serve our Savior Jesus Christ. We are to inherit the kingdom that is being prepared for us, beginning from the very foundation of the world. So God clearly has a plan of salvation for mankind. So let's talk about God's Holy Days. Let's talk about the weekly Sabbath for a moment. Why one day out of the week, every week, throughout the year? Why did God sanctify and make holy one day? Why is it not to keep us ever mindful of whom the God of creation really is? It points us back to creation. That's when the day was sanctified. That's when it was made holy. So every Sabbath, it's appropriate. Every seventh day, we keep it. It's sanctified to the Lord. He is our Creator. We honor Him on this day. It is to keep us ever mindful of who God is and who we are. We are the first fruits. We are the ones being called now that understand what I'm telling you today. You're here for a reason. God is calling you. God is working with you. Some of you are not yet baptized. But I have no doubt that God is calling you, but it's up to you whether or not you're going to respond and follow the call. Many are here because they've done that. They were called. They were chosen because they humbled themselves. They were baptized.

They accepted Christ as their Savior. They repented of their sins. God brought them into His spiritual family. He gave them His Spirit as a down payment, as an earnest of what is yet to come when we will be changed in the Spirit and live forever with God and with Christ.

So if you're here today, God is working with you. He's drawing you to Him.

It should be very clear that you're very special in God's sight because, frankly, we sent out a thousand invitations nearly, and who has showed up? Many others heard the Beyond Today telecast. They're not here. We've spoken of these Kingdom of God seminars. If people really wanted to be here, many of them would be here.

They've chosen not to be here. Perhaps they're not being called or perhaps they're just not responding to God's call. A few people did sign up to come. One person called me, said they would be here. Two others had signed up on the website, or one signed up and said she was going to bring somebody, but they're not here. You are here. God is working with you. God's calling you. Will you be chosen by Him? You will if you'll humble yourself and surrender to Him.

Then you'll be chosen. There are many people here who have been faithful over the years. They're still here today. They must endure to the end in order to be saved. That's what the Scripture clearly tells us. But this Sabbath day is essential in order for us to stay close to God. Those who drift away from the Sabbath drift away from God. That is a fact. If they stop keeping the Sabbath, they drift away from God because God is the originator of the Sabbath day. He makes it holy. It's the covenant between us and God. It's very important that we're here.

Every Sabbath, unless we have good reason. If we're sick, some very important reason. Otherwise, we should be here. That is if you want to be a true follower of Christ. If you want to do as He did, if you want to follow the example of the Bible, and keep God's Word holy. We are God's children, called out to be different from the world. God's Sabbath is given for man. The Sabbath was made for man.

Christ is indeed the Lord of the Sabbath. It was given to us to help us stay on the right track spiritually, and to also give us much needed physical rest from the stresses and the hardships of everyday life. Frankly, we need family. This is our church family, and we can draw strength from one another. It's a wonderful thing to keep God's Sabbath holy, and to embrace it, and to be here because you really want to be here.

There's a difference in being here because you really want to be here, or perhaps being here because you think you ought to be here, maybe because of family connections. If you really don't have the right attitude, why not ask God to give you the right attitude? Because attitude makes all the difference. Be here because you want to be here. That's why I'm here every Sabbath. That's why so many of us are here every Sabbath for years and years and years.

We want to be here. This is what we live for. Honoring God, learning to serve Him, realizing that we are His children, that He loves us, and we need to show that love toward Him by honoring Him. Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58. Isaiah says, Cry aloud and spare not, Lift up your voice like a trumpet, Tell my people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins.

If we drop down into verse 13, he says, If you turn away, if you will turn away your foot from the Sabbath, he's talking about people who trample on the Sabbath, because they take it lightly. They work on the Sabbath, they do their own thing on the Sabbath, they speak their own words on the Sabbath.

The Sabbath is really not that special to them. They are the ones who have their feet all over God's Sabbath day. They're trampling on the Sabbath. He says, If you'll turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from trampling on it, and from doing your pleasure on my holy day, now it is a day of rejoicing, but there's a different type of rejoicing. We should rejoice in obeying God, and serving Him, and worshiping Him, not in just doing our own thing that we do every other day of the week. God's given us six other days to do those types of pleasures. The seventh day is sanctified and made holy.

And call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord, honorable, and to honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words. Yes, this is an important day. It dictates how we live on this particular day. The words we speak, the things that we say, the things that we do, they should all be geared toward God. That helps us spiritually, doesn't it? I mean, this is a tough world to live in. I don't know about you, but I find this world tough. I find the entertainment of this world tries to pull me away from God. You know, I find that people try to pull me away from God. There's a lot of glitter and glamor in the world, and it tries to pull me away from God. If I didn't keep God's Sabbath day, I would be long gone. Long gone. The Sabbath day is essential if we want to please God and honor Him. So let us learn to keep the Sabbath holy. We could all do better. I know I could do better. We need to put a pride on ourselves to do better, all of us. Honoring God more faithfully on the Sabbath day, keeping it more honorably, even in the things that we say and the things that we think about and what we do on the Sabbath. We should honor Him not doing our own ways or finding our own pleasure or speaking our own words. Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord. God will be delighted to look down and see this kind of an attitude and approach toward Him as we honor Him on the Sabbath day.

And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken. I believe that has been fulfilled in my life personally. God has allowed these things in my life. He's blessed me. I feel very, very blessed. I'm very, very grateful. I'm very thankful for all the wonderful opportunities that God has given me. And part of it is because I've tried to honor Him on this day. I haven't always done perfectly, and I've asked God to forgive me at times for not keeping the Sabbath in a way that I should. This is a day that we should take very seriously, but we should rejoice on this day. You know, I love this day. I delight in this day. Again, I do a lot of traveling on this day. I'm sort of exhausted by the time the day is over. But, you know, I really love it. You know, it's just a tremendous blessing to know the truth about God's Sabbath and to keep it holy.

And I want that for all of you. I want you to feel the same way. And I know that a lot of you do feel the same way. You do. You know, this is nothing new to you. You can identify with what I'm saying, but I want every one of us here to experience that. And the only way you'll experience it is if you really do it, if you really commit yourself, and you surrender yourself, and you give yourself up, and then you will ride on the high places of the earth. It doesn't mean you're going to be the richest guy in the world. I haven't been the richest guy in the world, but God sure is taking good care of me. All right, let's go on to God's Passover. Now, in Exodus 12, boy, I see time is really bleeding along here.

There's no way I'm going to get through all my notes. I don't think I'm going to try to do that.

And I'll get through whatever I get through. I'll condense it, bring it together. I'm not going to keep you real long today. But God's Passover is certainly described in Exodus 12. Let's go to just two verses there. Exodus 12, verses 26 and 27. Exodus 12, 26 and 27. Exodus 12, verses 26. And it shall be, when your children say to you, what do you mean by this service? These days of 11 bread, this Passover service. What do you mean that you shall say it is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and He delivered our households so the people bowed their heads and they worshiped. Now, we skipped over most of Exodus 12 where the Passover is instituted, where a lamb without blemish, without spot, without wrinkle is taken, an innocent lamb, and that lamb is slain. He's killed. He is sacrificed. And His blood is taken and it's put on the lintels and on the doorposts of the Israelites' homes. So God will pass over those homes so God will not kill the firstborn sons. Egypt does not follow this and all of their sons die that night. That's finally why Pharaoh let God's people go. After all the plagues, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. He finally let them go. Of course, he went after them after that.

But God was instituting something very, very precious, very important. The Lamb of God was slain for you and me. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. There are many scriptures that refer to Christ as the Lamb of God. The Passover pictures the sacrifice of Christ. We get together every Passover once a year as a memorial on the evening of the 14th, as the Scripture says, and we honor God by observing the Passover, by drinking a little wine that's symbolic of Christ shed blood for us, and by also eating unleavened bread, which pictures the beaten body of Christ, his body broken for us. It also pictures the Church of God. Christ is the head of the Church. We take a little bit of unleavened bread because we're a member of God's Church. God's called out ones at this time. It's very, very meaningful. The Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. Days of Unleavened Bread picture putting sin out of our lives, putting leaven out of our quarters, out of all of our quarters, because sin puffs up.

Leaven puffs up and sin puffs up, and sin separates us from God.

And so we need to put sin out of our lives, just as we put leaven out of our homes. It's a wonderful lesson that God wants us to learn. We learn it by observing the Days of Unleavened Bread, by observing the Passover. We see Christ as our sacrifice, as our Savior. We wash each other's feet Passover evening because Christ instituted that practice, humbling Himself and serving His disciples. If Christ will serve us, ought we not serve Him? We follow His example. So Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread are extremely important.

We've all heard John 3, verses 16 and 17, for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but should have everlasting life. God sent His Son not into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Christ is our Savior. He is our Passover Lamb.

Why would we not keep the Passover? Why would we not keep the Days of Unleavened Bread? In the first session, we showed that they were to be kept for perpetual generations. Frankly, we are God's people today, and I don't have time to go into the Scriptures and show you that there is certainly a connection between that called-out nation, the physical children of Israel, and God's called-out ones today. We are spiritual Israel. We are to keep these days. They're very, very meaningful. It's a shame, frankly, a crying shame, that the world disdains these days and thinks they're all done away, that they're only Jewish days. Satan has deceived the world when it comes to God's holy days. Now, the day of Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Firstfruits, we already talked about how we are to count 50. They were told to count 50 days from the time of the Wave Sheath offering on the day after the Sabbath during the days of Unleavened Bread. Christ is our Wave Sheath. He is the firstborn among many brethren. He is the Firstfruits, but we are now called out and chosen by God. We accept Christ as our Savior, and we become also the Firstfruits. Christ is the First. He is the firstborn among many brethren. So, Pentecost is symbolic of the Firstfruits. God is calling the Firstfruits. The New Testament Church began in Acts 2. God's Spirit was poured out in Acts 2 upon the followers of Christ, who were gathered together. Only about 120 were there initially, but then over 3,000 were baptized later that day. Peter gave a powerful sermon. They realized that they had killed the Christ. They said, What shall we do? He says, Repet and be baptized every one of you, for the remission of your sins so that your sins can be forgiven. If you aren't yet baptized, you live in your sins. You are in your sins.

For some of you, it's time to make a commitment and move forward. Only you can decide, but you need to think about it, and you need to think about it more seriously than perhaps you have in the past. So Peter preached a powerful sermon, and many repented of their sins. Many accepted Christ as their Savior. Many were baptized, and they received the Spirit of God. When hands were laid upon them by the apostles, they received God's Spirit. The early harvest of God's people are the first fruits that God is calling today. He was calling them back at that particular time, Acts 2. They were among the first fruits. Now, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, certain ones, David, some of the patriarchs, or the patriarchs, Hebrews 11 mentioned some. God called some of them in the Old Testament period. He called more in the beginning here in the New Testament when the Spirit was poured out on Pentecost. He is continuing to call people, but it's still a relatively few people, a small minority of the billions of people who have lived and died on this earth. We are the early harvest of God's people. Judgment has begun upon the house of God. Judgment is upon you and me. This is our day of salvation. Christ is the head of the church. He is our elder brother. We look to Him for guidance and direction. He works within His church.

Only those who are called chosen and faithful will be in the early harvest that will take place at Christ's return. Those who are unfaithful, who were called chosen but unfaithful, in other words, they turned away from their calling. They had been enlightened by God's Holy Spirit, but they turned away, and they rejected God. And God took His Spirit away from them. They will suffer the second death. The second death is for those who refuse to repent of their sins. They will be cast into a lake of fire, and they will be burned up, and they will die a second time. Those who are faithful will be resurrected. They will die once, most of them, except some will be alive at Christ's return, but most will have died, and they will be resurrected to eternal life. There will be no second death for those who die with the Spirit of God dwelling in them.

They will be free at last. They will be free from bondage to sin, free from the corruption of the flesh, free from this mortal life. They will become immortal at that time.

So that is the Feast of Pentecost, or the Feast of Weets, the Feast of Firstfruits. And then there's the Feast of Trumpets, and Christ will return to this earth at the blowing of the seventh trumpet.

I'm not going to take the time to go to 1 Thessalonians 4. You should know it. 1 Corinthians 15, you should know it.

Clearly, Christ will return at the blowing of the seventh trumpet. The last trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised. Those who are alive in Christ shall be changed, some in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. At the last trumpet.

In Hebrews 9, verse 28, it says, Christ is bringing salvation with him when he returns. He's coming back a second time, this time for salvation, for the firstfruits, and also for all others, eventually. So that moves us on to the Day of Atonement.

We're not going to go to Leviticus 16, but again, these are things that many of you know. Christ is our atoning sacrifice. Satan the Devil is going to be banished. He's going to be bound for a thousand years.

Later, Christ will banish him into outer darkness for all eternity. Revelation 20 shows that Satan is to be bound for that thousand-year period that follows the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement does picture the binding of Satan the Devil in Revelation 20, verses 1-3. Satan will be bound by a fit man. That fit man is Jesus the Christ. He's going to bind Satan. He is the angel or messenger of God that will bind Satan the Devil for a thousand years. And again, Christ is our atoning sacrifice. So the Day of Atonement pictures these things. That's part of the plan of salvation, isn't it?

Each one of these days pictures a specific step in God's plan. Satan is going to be bound, and then the Feast of Tabernacles pictures the millennial reign of Christ. Christ will establish his kingdom here on the earth for a thousand years. These days, picture entering the Promised Land. They picture a thousand-year rest when Satan will no longer be able to influence mankind.

Revelation 20, verses 4-6 shows that the firstfruits will rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years. He clearly shows that the first resurrection is for the firstfruits, those who are being called now. Revelation chapter 5, verses 8-10, show that when Christ returns, he will establish his kingdom on earth and will rule and reign with the saints for 1,000 years. So, the Feast of Tabernacles pictures the millennial reign of Christ. Basically, we believe that there is essentially a 7,000-year plan of salvation from the time when Adam and Eve were created or actually were recreated. Genesis 1 shows that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, but the heaven and the earth became chaotic and confused. Something happened. It was Satan's rebellion that happened. Satan, Lucifer, was here on the earth, and he rebelled against God, and God had to deal with that. And the earth became chaotic and confused, so God recreated it in six literal days. In the evening and the morning were the first day, and the second day and the third day. Now, the world, the earth, the universe, could be billions of years old. But mankind, if we understand the Bible as it's written, man's been around about 6,000 years, roughly, not quite 6,000 years. So the first six days of the week, in a sense are man's days. God's allowing man to have his way in rebellion against him. But the seventh day is different. That's that Sabbath rest. That's that 1,000-year period. In 2 Peter 3,8, it says that one day is as a thousand years. So there's a tremendous analogy that we can have through the seventh day week, six days being for man or 6,000 years for man, and then God's kingdom is established at the beginning of that seventh year, or the seventh thousand-year period. That seventh day, or seventh 1,000-year period. And the first fruits will rule and reign with Christ as well. We've already talked about that. Then the eighth day, or the last great day, it goes into the great white throne judgment period. Revelation 20 verses 11 through 15. Let's go there for a moment. I can go a little bit over time since we started late and we had a little break. You know, this is a little different Sabbath. Revelation chapter 20.

Revelation chapter 20 verse 11. Then I saw a great white throne. Up to this, it's speaking about the thousand years of Christ here on the earth. The first fruits reigning with Christ. Verse 11, this is after Satan has been loose for a season.

And then Satan is cast basically into outer darkness or into the lake of fire, as it says in verse 10. Verse 11. Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it. So this is after the thousand year period, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, for there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. And the books were opened. Speaking about the books of the Bible, they were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. I gave a sermon about that some time ago. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. This is speaking of another period where people are going to be judged. People who have not truly understood God's plan of salvation, like you have an opportunity to know God's plan. You are among the first fruits. This is your day of salvation. But during the great white throne judgment period, it says in verse 13, the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were all judged, each one according to his works. Now, it's certainly our belief that God is a gracious and loving and merciful God, and that people who did not know God, like many billions of people who grew up in India or China or Africa, many places lived and died, never even heard the name of Christ. There's only one name given under heaven whereby a person can be saved, and that's through Christ, and that's through accepting Christ. You can't just say that every path leads to salvation. That's what some people will tell you, Hindus, Buddhists, all of them. It's not true. Big lies. The fact is they have to come to know Christ. They have to come to know the true God. God is going to bring them out of the graves. Ezekiel 37 speaks of a physical resurrection when they will be brought out of their graves, and God's truth will go forth out of Zion. During the millennial reign of Christ, God's truth will pervade the earth, and there will be saints. We will be ruling and reigning with Christ. We will be teaching those during the thousand-year period. During the Great White Throne Judgment period, Christ, the Father, and you and I will teach the people, the billions of people who will come up, and they will have an opportunity to either accept Christ as their Savior or to reject Him. It will be their choice. It will be their one real opportunity. It will be their day of salvation. Now is not their day of salvation. Their day of salvation is coming during the Great White Throne Judgment period.

Now, this eighth day pictures this time, this Great White Throne Judgment period time, this last great day of the feast. It also pictures the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven in Revelation 21. Revelation 21, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. This is after the Great White Throne Judgment period has taken place. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, and heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them, and He will be their God, and God will wipe away every cheer from their eyes. And there will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, and there will be no more pain, for the former things have passed away, a new heavens and a new earth, a New Jerusalem coming down from heaven. Nothing that defiles will be allowed in this kingdom. Notice verse 7, When he who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. So, overcoming is important. The cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, and that's the short list, they shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. If they don't repent, now hopefully most people will repent. We really don't know how many, what the percentages will be, but hopefully many, many, most of them will repent. If not, they will be cast into the lake of fire and they will die a second time.

People are not in heaven right now. Only those who are the 24 elders and the angels and God Himself, the rest are in the grave. They're awaiting a resurrection to life, once again.

So, we could read more in Revelation 21 and 22, verse 27, says, But there so by no means enter it anything. Nothing will enter God's kingdom, the new Jerusalem, that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. No doubt, God will continue to write names in the book of life as people repent, as they repent and are given salvation and eternal life. In Revelation 22, He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street and on either side of the river was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. It's just speaking about all peoples who will come to know God and they will all be healed and they will repent of their sins and they will be born into God's family. They will become spiritual beings. They will become like Christ.

And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. They shall see his face and his name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there. They need no lamp nor light of the sun, so the Lord gives them light and they shall reign forever and ever. This is God's plan of salvation revealed to us. These words are a hidden mystery to most people. They don't really grasp it. They're befuddled by falsehood and error. They don't know these things that we're sharing with you today. These are the words of life. This is God's plan of salvation revealed in his holy days, each one of the holy days. Passover, Days of Unleavened Bread. It all shows the plan of salvation. We all must come to repent and accept Christ as our Savior. We must receive the Holy Spirit, the day of Pentecost. We must become a part of his family, a part of his church, the New Testament church, the day of Pentecost, the Feast of Firstfruits. We are the called out ones now today, the Firstfruits. Christ is going to come back at the blowing of the seventh trumpet. The Feast of Trumpets, we acknowledge Christ's return. The Day of Atonement. Christ is our atoning sacrifice and Satan is going to be bound for a thousand years. The Feast of Tabernacles takes place. It's a millennial rest. We're going to rule and reign with Christ. All people will come to know God that are alive at that time. Those who follow Satan will be cast in the Lake of Fire at the end of the thousand-year period. They would not have come to conversion and they will be cast in the Lake of Fire. And if those who were converted and still follow Satan, they will be cast in the Lake of Fire. We don't know everything and exactly how it's all going to work. But we see through a glass darkly, but we see a whole lot better than the rest of the world.

We understand these things. The Feast of Tabernacles pictures the millennial reign of Christ here on the earth. And then we have the last great day, the eighth day, the Great White Throw Judgment period and the New Jerusalem and the rest of eternity. Frankly, it's all in God's plan of salvation. The Tree of Life is talked about here in chapter 22. It was talked about in the early stages of Genesis, was it not? And they were not given access to the Tree of Life because they had sinned against God. They had rejected God. But in the end, in Revelation 22, they will eat of the Tree of Life and they will live forever.

God's plan is wonderful. It's just amazing, really. I wish this place would have been filled with people. Evidently, it wasn't God's will directly or He would have made it happen. I mean, He wouldn't have minded if they'd come, I'm sure of that, but it was their choice.

They chose not to come.

I'm looking forward to being free at last, not free from God's holy law, but free from corruption, free from dishonor, free from weakness, free from Satan, the oppressor, free from this corruptible flesh, free once and for all, free from sin. Observing God's holy days help us to comprehend His master plan for us. Step by step, the holy days show us our destiny. They speak to why we were created and what God has in store for us. It is important to begin keeping these days when we learn of them. Observing them will strengthen our faith in their importance. It will show us God's way. God's weekly Sabbath and His annual Sabbath are a tremendous blessing. God's holy days, both the weekly Sabbath and the annual Sabbath, reveal to us more clearly God's wonderful plan of salvation. These days are indeed holy. They are sanctified. They are set apart for a holy purpose and a holy design. Jesus Christ Himself observed these days. Christ's disciples observed these days long after Christ died. It is important that we too observe these weekly and annual reminders of God's love and concern for us. Because God loved us, He gave His only Son for us. Because Christ loved us, He laid His life down for us. We will see God's love more clearly as His love is revealed in His special holy days, which reveal His loving plan of salvation for all of mankind. To me, what we heard today was priceless. You can't put a price on it. It's worth more than silver and gold. These are the words of life.