How Important Are the Holy Days?

Obviously, that's on our mind. One of the questions that I've been thinking about is I've been preparing my sermons for the feast. The Holy Days that we're now into is a question which is the importance of the Holy Days. Just how important are the Holy Days to the Church of God? Where would we be without the Holy Days? I don't think that is a question we can examine too much as we understand and look at what we are involved with. This is obviously a very good time to review as we've kept the Feast of Trumpets. We are anticipating atonement in the Feast of Tabernacles. We are in that period that began with trumpets and the Fall Holy Days and are stretching forward now to the Feast of Tabernacles. The Jews, in part of their tradition, call this time the Time of All. This period begins with trumpets and goes to the opening of the Feast of Tabernacles, that 15-day period. They call that the Days of All. It is a time in their tradition of examination. It is a time of reflection. It is a time of judgment as the Holy Days trumpets and atonement. They understand aspects of it to mean that God's judgment is upon the nations and upon the individuals. So as they understand that, they look at that and treat it really from more of a personal period of introspection, which is fine too because there are lessons to be learned from that. I don't say and feel that they have the full knowledge and understanding of the plan of God as God has given that to His Church. But they do understand certain aspects and certain principles. But when we look at what the Holy Days are and what we are doing, the importance of them to us and to the Church of God as a whole is incredibly important. God gave us these days as Holy Time along with the weekly Sabbath. All of them are bound together in the Fourth Commandment, and they are a perpetual reminder of God as the Creator of life and of God's ultimate plan of salvation. When we go back to Genesis 2 and we see how God introduced this concept of Holy Time, it introduces us to the fundamental principle behind these Holy Days. We call them Holy Days not because we decide to make them special by our designating them and observing them. They are holy because of what God has made. They are holy because God's presence is in these days. That's why we call them Holy Days. And that's where we begin to understand the importance of these days. In Genesis 2, beginning in verse 1, where we find God instituted Holy Time, the heavens and the earth in verse 1 and all the hosts of them were finished in this account of creation. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, which means it set apart, because in it He rested from His work which God had created and made. So by this act of resting and by God's presence in and on this day, He created Holy Time.

The Sabbath is a memorial of the creation of God. And when we observe it, when we understand by God's conviction that this is a day that has a bearing on us and a claim on our time and upon our life, we are then worshipping God as the Creator of everything.

Rather than ignoring it and worshipping the created, worshipping the physical, worshipping this material world, when we worship God on His Holy Time, the weekly Sabbath and the Holy Days, we are acknowledging God as the Creator. We are making a statement.

It's a quiet statement. It's not anything that we march around with a big banner and a big placard and trumpet to everybody in that way of making a statement. But by our observing the Sabbath, keeping it, we are making a statement to ourselves and to God, which is most important, that we understand and recognize He is the Creator of life. The first reference here comes at the end of six days of creation. And all that we read about here, all of this physical world. And then God turns to the spiritual creation. And on the Sabbath day, there is a different focus of the creation work that God is doing.

On the Sabbath and on the Holy Days, God is working in a spiritual way with His spiritual creation. And those who are being worked with acknowledge and understand that. That's why we are here on the Sabbath. We come here to worship the Creator more than we do the physical. And at times, that does cost us physically, doesn't it? Because it costs us a day of work. If we are in sales or work in an hourly wage job, we miss a day. And sometimes it has cost us our work and our jobs or held us back because of the decisions we make.

And those are tough decisions that are placed upon us in our obedience and our walk with God. But when we make those decisions, we are saying that the spiritual to us is more important. And we are going to worship the Creator rather than the creation. We are going to worship God rather than the physical. And that is what is most important in our life.

That's what we say every week when we observe the Sabbath and as we keep the Holy Days. This has been a test of God's people from time immemorial, and it always will be, of those who follow God. In Exodus 31, we see that as being a test. Exodus 31 and 13, where the Sabbath command is codified as part of the law of God. God spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Surely, my Sabbaths, you shall keep.

For it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. A sign. And it becomes a sign. Now, keeping the Sabbath is a part of that sign as we observe that time.

You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death. For whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.

Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.

It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. And it goes on to repeat what he had said there. And so the Sabbath becomes a part of that command. When we turn over to Leviticus 20-23, we see where in this chapter that outlines the Holy Days, it begins by talking about the Sabbath. As God proclaims these feasts in verse 2 of Leviticus 23, feasts which would be proclaimed to be holy convocations, these are my feasts, God says.

And then he mentions in verse 3 the Sabbath command, to work six days, but on the seventh to keep a holy convocation. And then he begins to talk about the Holy Days. So again, we see these are holy convocations, just as this weekly Sabbath is. They are time when we come before God, we are taught by God, we let God do His work in us. A wonderful way to approach and to understand this is that God gives us six days to do our work, to work within the creation, within the physical life and world that we have and inhabit to make our living, to do our work as we see it within God's purview.

But on the seventh day, we rest and we turn our attention to God so that He can do His work within us. And if we truly understand the purpose for the Sabbaths, then we realize that on these days, God's doing His work in us. As we rest, reflect, and as we think and study, and we turn our heart and our attention and our focus to God.

Not only by the assembly that we make, but by the time that we take to keep the day in a restful, reflective, spiritual manner, understanding what it was made for, God does His work in us. And it's a cumulative work over many, many years as we keep the Sabbath. The Sabbath should be a time that grows on us, that we grow in appreciation to the point where, indeed, we would not know what to do if we didn't keep the Sabbath.

We would be adrift, we would be lost if we were not keeping the Sabbath on a regular basis, and certainly all of the Holy Days. We're now well into the observance of these annual Holy Days. We kept trumpets on Thursday, and that kicks off this season. We look forward now to the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles. They are all mentioned right here, and it's good just to have a quick review of them.

Down in verse 27, we'll just jump to the Day of Atonement. We covered the Feast of Trumpets already on the Holy Day. But let's just look at the Day of Atonement here, what we were told about it. Verse 27 of Leviticus 23, On the tenth day of the seventh month it shall be the day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you. You shall afflict your souls and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. And you shall do no work on that same day. For it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God.

For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people. Now the meaning of this word affliction in the Hebrew is a word that means to fast. And it is a day of fasting when we do go without food and water. And so the emphasis is on here. And really the emphasis on this one holy day is a bit different from the others because there is no work to be done.

This is a day, you don't even do the work of preparing food, much less the work of our normal labor. We don't even do the work of preparing food on this day. It's a day of fasting, so we get a day off from that. But it is a day, verse 32, it says, of solemn rest. And you'll afflict your souls on the ninth day of the month of the evenings, that sundown from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your Sabbath. So the Day of Atonement is a very solemn day. And it's a day of affliction, and it is a fast day. And for us, that can be a challenge.

I should mention just a principle in regard to fasting here. For those of you that are on medication or because of certain health issues, this question comes up every year. And just to save a few other questions and to remind us of a few things, we have always understood, and I've always advised anybody with health condition, diabetes or heart issues or whatever, where medication needs to be taken on a regular study basis, that you take that on the Day of Atonement. The command and the principle and the spirit of the teaching on this day is not one that we afflict ourselves to the point where we put ourselves in physical danger because of the conditions that we have.

Pregnant mothers, nursing mothers have been in that situation as well. So that is a case for you to look at in your own life and make a judgment and do what you need to do. That's what I generally tell people. And if you have medication that you have to take and a little bit of food or water to go along with that, you do what you have to do. And don't feel guilty and don't feel that you are going to be cut off from the kingdom, cut off from God as a result of that. God understands.

God knows our own normal afflictions, what we have to live with. And again, the teaching and the principle is not that we put ourselves in physical harm because of a medical condition that we have. So do what you need to do and don't feel guilty about it. Those of us that can, should afflict ourselves and fast, even if we really get sick.

So those of us that can, we should. And those of you that can, you do what you need to do. And you are mature enough to make those judgments accordingly. But the principle of fasting here is something that goes far beyond the day of atonement as a means of a spiritual tool of growth and discernment and godliness. That's another subject and another issue, but I just wanted to mention that here as we come up to the day of atonement when we will all be doing that.

And when it comes to children, what is the best age for children to begin fasting? Again, that's a personal decision and there are times when they may be able to fast a part of a day and don't ever force a child to fast beyond their means or their age limit or their particular situation. One of the worst things I think we could do is to make that day put a scar on a child by forcing them to fast before they are ready and creating something in their mind, their heart.

It may be a stumbling block later on, so use wisdom and judgment in that as to when children begin to fast and there is a certain time and age when they can. That's a decision generally as a parent and your family to make that decision in regard to how you teach and work that in with your own children. But there is a... I've never known anybody to die from fasting on the day of atonement. I haven't. I'm still alive. I've had some rough days on the day of atonement and or other fast days as well.

I don't do... I'll be honest with you, fasting is not something I do well. And you will relate to that. Many of you will relate to it. But it is a necessary discipline of Christianity, but it is a challenge. And we all have those things that we have to work through.

So do the best that you can and understand that. It's important to gain the knowledge from the day and certainly to work to follow what God teaches us here. The spiritual meaning of the day of atonement goes far beyond just the physical. The physical teaches us certain spiritual principles as well. But it is a day that points us to a time in the future when there is going to be ultimately a day of reconciliation for the world.

When we go through the Scriptures and the whole meaning of the day of atonement, we understand it to be a day when this world finally has its deceiver removed, when Satan will be bound and removed. Hold your place here in Leviticus 23 and turn back to Revelation 20, because a corresponding verse to this in the New Testament here is in Revelation 20, where we see this event of the future.

As John describes it in Revelation 20, where he said, "...I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil, and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He is cast into the bottomless pit, and he shut up, and a seal set on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years were finished.

But after these things he must be released for a little while." So we will observe this and remember this on the Day of Atonement as a time, and it pictures the future event of Satan's binding, and his influence and his deception upon the world will be removed. And it will be indeed a far different time in human affairs.

And the Day of Atonement is a remarkable day in the plan of God for that singular event, when we find that the ultimate source of all human ills and problems and evil will be removed by Satan's removal on that day. And when that takes place, it is going to be indeed a day of complete change, and unlike anything we could really imagine in our world, when that influence is gone, it will be like the entire satanic electrical grid of this world and his influence being pumped out as it is every day, 24-7, non-stop, and influencing as the prince of the power of the air, suddenly it's gone.

It ends. And it will be probably the biggest hangover the world will ever experience. They will wonder what has happened. They will have to be taught. That event will have to be explained. Why am I not as angry? Why is there less tension? Because the prince of the power of the air will no longer be broadcasting. And life can be reprogrammed. It will be a time of freedom unlike anything we can ever imagine, a time of grace unlike any that this world will ever know.

The Day of Atonement is a remarkable day and there's another event that shows us that. Go back to Leviticus and look at chapter 25. There's a little known section of Leviticus and an event there that the Bible talks about called the Jubilee, the year of the Jubilee in Leviticus 25.

And the Jubilee was a way by which God actually intended his society, the nation of Israel, to function on a 50-year cycle of timing, planning, events. It was a 50-year cycle that God set up. Seven years of seven, with sabbatical years every seventh year, as the verses 1-7 talk about, and the land rest and the principles that were involved there, and letting the land rest every once every, within every seven-year cycle. But then it comes down after seven cycles of seven in verse 8, and there is then to be another year there, a 50th year, which would be what is called a Jubilee.

Verse 8 says, So count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven, which is 49, and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you 49 years. Then you shall cause, verse 9, the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, on the day of atonement. You shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all of your land. So here's another trumpet. This is not the Feast of Trumpets. This is a trumpet that would sound once every 50 years, on the 50th year, on the day of atonement. A trumpet sounded to mark a year of Jubilee. And the way it was set up to work, and we have no other reference within the Scriptures of this being done.

That doesn't mean it wasn't done. We just don't have any other reference in the Bible to it. We have the teaching of the Jubilee in chapter 25. Years ago, I did an extensive study on that and gave some sermons. I don't know if I've ever given those here or not. I've given some sermons on it in the past. But to understand the Jubilee is a remarkable thing, and what it was to do in terms of the whole society.

But it was the way everything was to be set up. Everything from economics to finance to agriculture. Everything within the system of the society, even the way the family was structured. And how it would impact the generations of families was all geared to this wonderful law of the Jubilee. You read on through here, it began on the day of atonement. And the 50th year was consecrated, verse 10. And it's interesting, as it puts it here, You shall consecrate the 50th year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his possessions, and each of you shall return to his family.

And it goes on to show that what would happen on the 50th year was in verse 13, Every one of you returns to his possession. And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor's hand, you'll not oppress one another. According to the number of years after the Jubilee, you'll buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crops, he'll sell to you. Everything was set up on the 50-year cycle. And what this was saying was that if you sold a piece of land, it depends on how far it was to the 50th year as to how much that land would be worth.

If there were 30 years to the next Jubilee, the price of the land would be worth more than if there were only 5 years. Because on the 50th year, that 100 acres, or 50 acres, was going to go back to its original owner, the original family, and its descendants. That's the way it was set up. So, in other words, all debts were forgiven, and everything was, in a sense, reset.

To use a computer term, it was rebooted to a benchmark. And people, there was a return of land, there was a return of debt, debts were wiped out, and things started over again, and then there was work toward another 50 years. And when you really understand the details of it, and how that would work through the families and the structure of a society, it's how God would have set up, in a sense, the Kingdom on Earth.

When I studied this a number of years ago, my own personal conclusion was that, we'll see this in the future, this is not for today, that this will be how God is going to restore all things that we read about in Acts chapter 3. When he says he will restore all things, I think it will be done on a model and a pattern of this. But, let's say, for instance, there was a 100-acre plot of land that had been in your family, for generation after generation after generation, here in central Indiana.

And it was good, rich farmland. And it produced corn and beans, you know, in abundance. But your great-great-grandfather overextended himself. And he lost it. It had to be sold. And the family moved off the farm, went to work in a factory, or did whatever they had to do. And your life has been different as a result. Well, on the 50th year, that 100-acre parcel would go back to the descendants of that great-great-grandfather, or great-grandfather, whatever it would be.

And every 50 years, the land would go back to its original owners. So there was no long-term poverty that was passed on from generation to generation to generation. Generations got a chance to restart and do it right. And if another generation failed, then there was always the hope of another Jubilee for another generation down the road.

And some might say, well, how does that work with an industrialized society? It applies there, and the two can coexist. It's an extensive study, but it does work. But you see within all of this the principles of freedom. That's why it says here in verse 10, Consecrate that year and proclaim liberty throughout the land. It is a principle of freedom, and it is a principle of grace, forgiveness, and it's tied to the day of atonement. And so when you see that this one land law, economic law, agricultural law, is tied to the day of atonement, that's when it began, there's a lesson for us to learn as we keep the day of atonement.

Because we fast, we observe it to understand freedom. True freedom in a way that mankind has never really been able to understand. Ultimately, it comes down to the freedom from sin, freedom from the influence of Satan. We fast and we break the hold of Satan even on our own personal life, because we get our heart right with God. In a sense, if we fast on the day of atonement, we afflict our souls as we can and should, in preparation for the Feast of Tabernacles, we kind of reboot our own life, physically and spiritually, and get ourselves oriented properly to go on into the Feast of Tabernacles.

Fasting even can be that way for us throughout the year. But it's tied to the day of atonement to really focus our minds upon Christ's grace and the freedom that we have when we truly understand, again, the two goats that we go through on that day.

It's a wonderful story, and as it is tied into the day of atonement, I'm giving you just a little preview of the sermon I'll give next week, because I think I'm going to focus on the day of atonement from the Jubilee perspective and the liberty that is proclaimed and begins on that day.

It's a beautiful picture, and you see it related to many aspects of the biblical teaching here. And again, this obscure section of Leviticus 25 brings out a wonderful principle. But let's go back to chapter 23, because we can't dwell completely on that here this afternoon. In verse 34, we pick up the story of the Feast of Tabernacles that begins on the 15th day of the seventh month. This shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. On the first day, there will be a holy convocation.

You'll do no customary work. So we have a holy day on the first day. For seven days, we will offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. And then on the eighth day, you will have a holy convocation, and you'll offer an offering made by fire. It is a sacred assembly.

And these are the Feasts of the Lord, which are to be proclaimed. Verse 39 mentions the 15th day of the seventh month when you will gather in the fruit of the land. You'll keep the Feast of the Lord for seven days. On the first day, there's a Sabbath.

And on the eighth day, a Sabbath rests. And when we understand this verse 39 and how it fits in, we know that there's only seven days to the Feast of Tabernacles. And then yet there is an eighth day of a solemn assembly that is mentioned here, which is a separate festival, which we understand and know to be the last great day.

And we know to keep the Feast of Tabernacles is a time that pictures Christ ruling from Jerusalem, His law, the backbone of society, one world government under Christ, the time of the millennium. And we go back to Revelation 20, and we see that here. Following on from what we read in Revelation 20 about the Day of Atonement, where Satan is bound for a thousand years. And then on verse 40, John says, So we see here in verse 4 the reign of Christ for this thousand years, and it's from this reference.

And this is the only place in the Bible where we find a specific time period allotted to this reign of Christ, this millennial period, and the word millennium is a Latin word which means a thousand. And it's taken from this reference here in verse 4. It's the only place where the timeline of the reign of Christ is referred to and limited to a thousand years.

You don't find that referenced in Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel, the other millennial prophecies of the Old Testament. That is finally spelled out here as to how long it will be, a thousand-year period of Christ's reign, the saints reigning with Christ during this period of time.

Then verse 5 tells us of the rest of the dead not living until the thousand years are finished. The first resurrection refers to verse 4. And a reference then to those who have a part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them.

And then down in verse 11, we have reference to the time of the great white throne. This is the period we observe when we keep the last great day. When I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was no place found for them. And I saw the dead, small and great standing before God, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books.

And so the dead, small and great, come up in a resurrection after the thousand years. It's a physical resurrection. It's a time that we observe when we keep the last great day. And it is called here, we take that name of a great period of the great white throne judgment. A time of salvation for the whole world. The day that answers all the questions, as I like to put it. When all who have lived and died and never known the truth of God are given a chance to know that truth. They're brought back to life. They will have an opportunity, as verse 12 says, to have the books of the Bible open to them for the first time, and their first opportunity to have their name written into the book of life, which is a metaphor, if you will, for salvation and eternal life. And that will take place for the many who have lived and died and never fully understood the knowledge, plan, and the truth of God.

It is a unique day, and I think by the time we come to the last holy day, the last great day after the Feast of Tabernacles, we've all been mellowed by the observance of the feast and what we have heard and thought of during that period of time. And it seems by God's Spirit to always be created on the last great day just a sense of anticipation and a sense of relief and joy that it's hard to put your finger on it, but wherever we are, you sense it if you're tuned into the day. It's a very special day. It is a day worth believing, worth living for, fighting for, holding on to in your life. To have that knowledge ripped out of my mind is something I cannot begin to even imagine. I cannot want to be in a position in life where I would lose the knowledge that I have of the last great day. That, to me, when I come to the last great day, and again, I get the privilege... To me, there's no greater privileged sermon for a minister in the Church to give than a sermon on the last great day. And every once in a while I get that opportunity. I give that chance to give a message this year. Just to expound and explain these scriptures is... It's one of the biggest joys I get as a minister. I'll just tell you that, to be able to explain the meaning of the last great day. I told one of the ministers last year, I said, because I had another sermon on the last great day, and Lyle Welty had the morning sermon and I had the afternoon sermon, and we kind of had to flip a coin as to who took the meaning of the day. And focused on that over in Cincinnati. I deferred to Lyle, but I told him, leading up to it, I said, it's just a privilege to speak on the day. So I got a little bit of the meaning in myself when I spoke in the afternoon. You can't help but do that, but it's just a day that sends goosebumps up and down my spine.

I think back of my family, and it always brings back memories of my dad, his family, my mom's family, and ancestors, relatives, some that I knew, obviously many that I just heard about as a kid. You begin to realize that when this day comes to fruition, you'll see them come to life. You'll see them come up out of their graves. And you will be able to be a part, if we are there, we'll be able to be a part of those who are teaching them.

But we'll get to know them. We'll know that great grandfather that I didn't know, and my grandmother, my mom's mother, that I never, never knew, because I was a couple of years old when she died.

And you have those stories and memories and expectations and hopes, and that's all wrapped up in the meaning of the last great day for our own personal little corner of our own world.

But for the greater world, it just opens up explanations for why this world is, where it's headed, and hope for the future. And so, as I said, it just creates a spirit and a mood and a joy, wherever God's people are gathered on that day, that is unique and you just have to be there to experience and to understand it. But looking at all of these days, they are so important and so valuable to us.

Historically, these holy days were barometers that indicated the strength of God's people, whether it was the Old Testament nation of Israel or the Church of God today. I could read to you, and I've done it, I know, in years past, but I can show you that even in our own time, when Mr. Armstrong finally locked in on understanding the Holy Days, the Church grew from that point, and it ignited something within the Church that took years to multiply and to develop to what we have been a part of. When we look at the historical record in the Bible, these days were so important to God and to ancient Israel, we find that when Israel neglected their worship of God, when they forgot who God was, they always forgot the Holy Days. When we see periods of revival in Israel coming back to repentance and worshipping God, whether it's during the time of Josiah, during the time of Hezekiah, and these would be the nation of Judah, we see them doing it in connection with the Holy Days.

Israel was strong when they were keeping God's word, God's law, and the Holy Days show us those connectors. When they were weak, divided, disunited, they were not observing the Holy Days. The benchmark story of really the whole question about the importance of the Holy Days to the people of God, I think, is summed up in 1 Kings 12. I'll take a minute just to hit the highlights of that story. In 1 Kings 12, this is the time of Israel as a united nation. David had been king. Saul was their first king. He disqualified himself. David became king. David united all the tribes under one banner. He passed it on to his son Solomon. Solomon took the kingdom of Israel to its height. The reign of Solomon is likened to a type of a millennium when you really read the Scriptures regarding the time of Solomon. If you want a little Bible study to do during the feast this year, look at the Scriptures and Chronicles and Kings that detail and describe the reign of King Solomon and the wealth, the wisdom, the power. His reign was a type of a millennium. It represents the pinnacle of Israel's achievement. But Solomon died as well. He passed on the mantle to his son, Rehoboam. But 1 Kings 12 tells the story where the tribes revolted against Rehoboam. In chapter 11 of 1 Kings, we see that because of Solomon's sins and because of what had happened near the end of his reign, God made a decision, it seems, to divide the nation. He made a contact with a man named Jeroboam who was one of the leading generals. He said, I'm going to give you ten of the nations. And if you follow me and if you obey me, unlike what Solomon has done, then I will make a view and I will make a covenant with you. He was going to divide the house of Israel. Well, Jeroboam was a bit headstrong and he had to kind of run off to Egypt and flee off to Egypt. Solomon died. Rehoboam was made king. And Rehoboam understood that his position was a bit shaky. We read in verse 1 of chapter 12 of 1 Kings where Rehoboam went to Shechem. For all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. This was north of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the United Capital, but Shechem was another regional outpost. And he very quickly, it seems, went there to, in a sense, have this reaffirmed. And it happened that when Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, heard it, for he was still in Egypt, he had fled in the presence of King Solomon and had been dwelling in Egypt, that they sent and called him. And then Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam. And so you have this confrontation in Shechem between Rehoboam, who is the appointed king, and he's the son of David and Solomon in the legitimate line, but then there's Jeroboam. And there is unrest. And there is a faction building around Jeroboam.

And they come to Rehoboam and they make him an offer. They said, look, your father had a heavy yoke upon us. He taxed us. He took our young people and he built up his army. And, you know, we need some tax relief. We need our...the surge of troops needs to be brought back, to use a modern term.

And some of this needs to be changed. If you'll do that, we can get along. And they made this offer to Rehoboam. Rehoboam was a young man early in his reign. He had the legitimate reigns of power and he seems to make an effort to listen to them. But then, as the story goes on, Rehoboam turns to his counselors, his cabinet, and he says, what should I do? And they said, basically, pour it on. Raise the taxes. Don't listen to them. You've got the power. Forget them. And so Rehoboam comes back and he says, well, you thought my dad was strong.

I'm going to sting you with scorpions. I'm going to make it even harder for you. And this was unbearable. Jeroboam, along with the leaders of ten of the other tribes, they say, to your ten so is real. What do we have to do with the house of David? And so they leave. And a new nation, what is called in history, the history of the nation of Israel, is set up under Jeroboam in the north. Rehoboam goes back to Jerusalem. He represents the house of David. He has two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, that is now under his leadership.

But he has the capital. He has the temple. And that's a unique part of it altogether, but you have a divided nation. You have two kings, one named Jeroboam and one named Rehoboam. And we read what happens. Now, think about this.

Come forward into our own time in American history and think about what would have happened if we'd had a...when the Civil War took place in our own history, we had been left with two halves of a nation. This is what is taking place here. How do you do that? You know when the southern states formed their Confederacy, the Confederate States of America, they built a new capital, or they designated a new capital, Richmond, Virginia.

Ultimately. Not too far from Washington, but they had to have their own capital. You have to do these things if you're going to retain the loyalty of people. In verse 25 of 1 Kings 12, Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and he dwelt there. And he went out there and he built another city, Penuel. Jeroboam said in his heart, Now the kingdom may return to the house of David.

There was this big draw. The house of David loomed pretty large in everybody's minds. This is all they'd known. Now you've got this new government. And how is he going to retain their hearts, their loyalty? He said, If these people go to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of these people will turn back to their Lord. Reoboam, the king of Judah, and they'll kill me and go back to Reoboam, king of Judah. So he asked advice. And the result of that advice was to make two calves of gold.

Remember another man who did that? His name was Aaron. And he only made one, and that created enough problems. Reoboam made two, but he set them in two different locations. And he said to the people, It's too much to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which had brought you up out of the land of Egypt, these two calves. And he set one of them up in Bethel, which was just a few miles north of Jerusalem.

In fact, you could go to Bethel today, and on a very, very clear day, if you got to the highest point in Bethel, you could probably see some of the buildings in Jerusalem. It wasn't that far away, but it's far enough to be in the northern nation of Israel. And he put the other one way up at the very northernmost part in a place called Dan. Now, he said, This became a sin for the people, went to worship before the one as far as Dan. And he made shrines on the high places, and he made priests from every class of people who were not of the sons of Levi.

He set up his own ministry, who were not ministers. They weren't of the designated family.

And then he did one more thing. He wasn't enough to bake golden calves. It wasn't enough to create his own clergy. He knew he had to do one more thing. He tinkered with holy time. He ordained a feast, in verse 32, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah. You know, it's kind of like... hurts, but not quite.

It's like the feast, but it's not quite the feast. Can you imagine going to the Feast of Tabernacles a month later? You ever hung around a feast site the day after the feast?

I've done that. Jekyll Island, another place I remember hanging around, getting up on that next day after the feast, everybody's gone. It's not the same. It's not the same.

The feast is over. A lot of people have already gone, and invariably a big storm comes in. Snow comes in or something, and it's just different. Time to go home. Keep the feast, then move on. Jekyll Island's not the same a day after the feast. The beach is still there, but God's people aren't there, and the time has changed. Well, he took a whole month later to make a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. That's the Feast of Tabernacles. He tried to create holy time, to create, as it says, like a feast that was in Judah and where they offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And at Bethel, he installed the priests to the high places which he had made. So he created an avis or a local type of rental car system that just didn't quite measure up to the number one. But the people bought it. They bought it. And they bought into the lie, and they said, well, this is more convenient. Now I know I've got all the crops in, and it's better to go in the eighth month, a month later, than on the seventh month. And I don't have to go as far. I know you can hear all the reasonings and all the human nature that kicked in to make this work for Jeroboah. And they made offerings on the altar on the 15th day, but these were nothing compared to what God. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, offering sacrifices on the altar and burned incense. And from this point on, in the rest of the story of Israel, they had about 200 years of experience left. They never had a good king, a good king defined by one who obeyed God and tried to turn the people's hearts back to God. They had a lot of bad kings. There was another king that came along. His name was Jeroboam II. And they did have a period of revival, economically, at least, and their fortunes rose. They never, ever went back into any semblance of the worship of God on the Holy Days, the Sabbath, and the covenant that had been set up. And ultimately, as we know, they went into captivity. And those ten tribes gave rise to one of the great myths of history, and that is the so-called lost ten tribes of Israel. We know they weren't lost. We can trace that story, and we do, and we can know what happened to them. We know that story. But the history, they were lost. But their 200-year history, from the time of this Jeroboam forward, wasn't very good.

And Judah had its own difficulties. They had bad kings, a few good kings, like Josiah, like Hezekiah. But ultimately, they went into captivity to the hands of Nebuchadnezzar because of their sins.

Some of them came back under Ezra and Nehemiah. They rebuilt a temple that was a poor, quality version of what Solomon had built.

They struggled on during their time. Finally, the Romans ruled them. The Greeks ruled them. The Persians ruled them.

They rebuilt Jerusalem to a degree. Christ, in the New Testament period of the church, came and went. Ultimately, in 70 AD, the Jews were just wiped away from Jerusalem again. That temple that was built by Herod the Great was destroyed.

Finally, in 135 AD, a few years later, after that, there was another revolt of Jews in Jerusalem. They were finally, completely expelled from the land.

A pagan temple was built on the site of the Temple of God. The Jews didn't have access to it until 1968.

Were they denied, during that period of time, for nearly 2,000 years, access even to the city, and to that place called the Temple Mount?

In the meantime, the Jews wondered.

They kept their identity, but they went through pogroms, massacres, ups and downs.

They were expelled from Spain in 1492, all of them. The whole ethnic group of Jews were kicked out of Spain.

They were sacked by the Czars and the Russians through the years. And then, in our own experience of the 20th century, the Holocaust of Nazi Germany attempted to exterminate them and killed over 6 million of them.

And today, we see the nation of Israel strong, but struggling, and still attacked by its enemies in the Middle East.

The point of just going through that brief thumbnail sketch of Jews and Israel is to bring it back to 1 Kings 12, because it all began with what Jeroboam did.

When Jeroboam rebelled and changed holy time, the fortunes of both nations really were never the same.

And the physical descendants of Abraham, as we know them down through Israel and ultimately then to the tribe of that one tribe of Judah, has never been the same.

So what you see here is the beginning of over 2,000 years of experience.

2,800 years, let's call it. Of destruction, disobedience, and bad fruits.

And it's connected to the Holy Days. It's connected to holy time.

So I bring you back to the question I asked at the beginning. How important are these to the people of God? The Holy Days.

What we are doing now. What we are in in this season of the year.

When you look at the Bible and the whole story and you put it together, they are very important.

But the ultimate importance for us, I guess, is the answer that you will give.

Because we are all creatures of our own imagination and we are tuned in to the station W-I-I-F-M. What's in it for me?

We all kind of ultimately bring it down to that, don't we?

So let me give you a little bit of homework during the next few days and through the Feast of Tabernacles.

Write yourself a note. Write yourself a letter. Write yourself a little story.

Answer that question. What does the Holy Days mean to you? How important is it to you?

What does it mean to you and to your family?

Just make a list. If it's nothing more than your list of ten things, I don't care how you do it.

Or if you have to write a little story about it or a few paragraphs, write yourself a letter. If you really want to get some imagination, write yourself a letter.

Imagine yourself in the time of the Great White Throne Judgment and you're teaching that uncle or aunt or relative that you really would like to meet or know or see.

And you begin to tell them about the Holy Days and what it's meant to you as a means of teaching somebody in the future.

Use a little bit of imagination. I don't care how you do it, but answer that question for yourself.

That's the homework I give you for the next few days.

How important are they to you? What have the Holy Days meant to you?

Answer that, and perhaps it will help you to focus on holy time and the integral nature of that to the plan of God and to the people of God from the very beginning to our experience today. And let's get the most that we can and our observance of the Holy Days going out into the next few days.