Pentecost

We'll title today, Pentecost, the Ladder and Early Rain. Let's review the meaning of the Holy Days. Perhaps in a way you haven't looked at in a while, we're going to look at the Holy Days, first of all, in three different aspects. First of all, the literal event. The Holy Days had a literal event that is a beginning and an event associated with it. Then all of the Holy Days picture something that is to come in the sense of a literal spiritual fulfillment. And also, the Holy Days paralleled the basic doctrines of Hebrews 6. Remember the basic doctrines of Hebrews 6 where Paul says, Let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God, baptism laying on of hands, judgment and resurrection. So we're going to look at the Holy Days from this perspective, the literal event, and then also what they foreshadow in the spiritual sense and the parallel doctrine. For example, first Holy Day, Passover. On Passover, it was instituted, and you read about that in Exodus 12. Passover was instituted where they were instructed to kill the lambs, sprinkle the blood on the doorposts. That literal event took place. Passover, the Old Covenant Passover, was instituted. We read and we'll turn to this one in 1 Corinthians 5. Perhaps this will help us get what I'm talking about more clearly with regard to the parallels. The literal event, the spiritual fulfillment, and the doctrine associated with it in 1 Corinthians 5, verse 7. Now, this is what we're going to do. I'm setting a background here because there are people in the church, even some of the ministry, some members who think, well, Pentecost is the feast of firstfruits. And so it is. It's called in the Bible, the Festival of Weeks, because you count seven sevens. And on the 50th day, you have Pentecost. And some think, well, because it's the feast of the firstfruits, and we are firstfruits, that is those who are being called out now, that maybe Christ would return for the firstfruits on Pentecost. I do not buy that myself, and I want to show from these patterns that there's, I think the preponderance of evidence is what we have always believed there. That is, that Jesus Christ would return on trumpets in the festival, in the fall festival season. But this is part of it, the patterns that the literal fulfillment, the spiritual fulfillment, and the doctrine that it parallels. So we know from Exodus chapter 12 that God instituted passover. They killed the Lamb, sprinkled the blood on the doorpost, and when God passed through the land, saw the blood on the doorpost, He passed over that home. Where the blood was not sprinkled on the Egyptians' homes, the firstborn, both of man and beast, died.

And so with passover, the actual fulfillment of this in the spiritual sense took place with the sacrifice of Christ. So in 1 Corinthians 5, purge out, this is verse 7, purge out therefore the old leaven that you may be in new lump as you are unleavened, or even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. So Jesus Christ came, and He paid the price literally. He died for our sins. And so the literal fulfillment of passover has taken place both in the physical sense with it being instituted, the type of what was to come, and Jesus Christ came, and He paid the price. We accept that sacrifice, that Passover, and we enter into it spiritually. The doctrine, what is required to take Passover, you have to repent and exercise faith in Jesus Christ in order to be eligible to take a Passover. Of course, you have to be baptized and receive the laying on of hands. So in Passover, to be eligible to take it in the New Covenant sense, you have to at least do the first four doctrines of Hebrews 6. Israel left Egypt on the first day of unleavened bread. On the 15th, they left Egypt. The spiritual fulfillment of that is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and faith in that sacrifice, we can leave spiritual Egypt, sin, and death behind. So we have kept that in the literal spiritual sense, that is, feast of unleavened bread, in that we have repeated of our sins, exercise faith in the sacrifice of Christ, and we have in that sense kept the first day of unleavened bread in the spiritual sense. On the last day of the feast of unleavened bread, Israel went through the Red Sea. Now we'll turn forward to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, and we'll see that literal event of them passing through the Red Sea, and the doctrinal parallel, of course, is baptism. 1 Corinthians 10 verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did eat the same spiritual meat, did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Now our focus verse here is verse 2. They were all baptized unto Moses. So there was a literal event on the last day of the feast of unleavened bread that marked the final demarcation of Israel out of Egypt. They crossed the Red Sea, and they marched onto Sinai in the wilderness.

Now when we are baptized, it marks we're saying we're making our final demarcation from sin and death and from spiritual Egypt. Then we come to a Pentecost. According to Jewish tradition, Israel received the law on the day of Pentecost. You can just put in your search engine, put in Pentecost's law. You'll have all kinds of entries that will come up. It talks about Josephus, other writers, talk about how that Israel, according to tradition, received the law and entered into the marriage covenant with God on the day of Pentecost. All of that probably didn't take place on the same day. The law was thundered, according to tradition, on Pentecost. Then after the law, they entered into the marriage covenant. Well, the literal event, the literal fulfillment in the spiritual sense of Pentecost was on the day of Pentecost, 31 A.D. God sent his Holy Spirit. In a sense, as I said in announcements this morning, restoring the tree of life to those who would be called out as first fruits in the church age. Paul refers to the church age in Ephesians 3 and verse 1. And so the literal event in the spiritual fulfillment sense is God sent his Holy Spirit not to just dwell among men, not to dwell in a building made by hands, as he did in the tabernacle that they raised up in the wilderness, or as he did with Solomon's temple when the glory of God filled Solomon's temple, but to literally dwell in human beings. And today we are the temple of God. And as it says in the New Testament in different places, that God does not dwell in buildings made by hands.

As I mentioned earlier, some have speculated that because Pentecost is called the Feast of First Fruits, that Christ would come and harvest the first fruits on the day of Pentecost. But this breaks the pattern of spiritual fulfillment. Pentecost is called the Feast of Weeks. In Hebrew it's Shavat.

S-H-A-V-O-U-T. There are various spellings of that Hebrew word, Feast of Weeks. It's also called the Feast of Harvest or the Feast of First Fruits because it came seven weeks after the wave sheath was waved. Let's notice this in Leviticus 23. We will of course be going to Leviticus 23 two or three times today. Leviticus 23 chronicles all of the holy days. In Leviticus 23 in verse 15, you shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath. And the morrow after the Sabbath was the weekly Sabbath within the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So the morrow after the Sabbath, you shall count from the morrow. You'll count that 50. And it's inclusive counting. And the reason that at one time the church kept Pentecost on Monday, I think the last time they kept Pentecost on Monday was either 1969 or 1970. I think it might have been as late as 71, but either 70 or 71 began to keep Pentecost on Sunday because understanding that the counting was inclusive counting Sunday, not excluding Sunday as a starting point. So you come to the 50th day and it would be Sunday. You shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath. And that Sabbath is the weekly Sabbath within the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Now the Jews have two different theories on this. One group say that you count the 50 from the first holy day in Unleavened Bread, which would be Nisan the 15th, the first day of Unleavened Bread, the 15th day. And so they come up with Pentecost being on the Roman calendar of June the 6th. And the Jews have already kept Pentecost. They're not keeping Pentecost today because the Orthodox Jews go by that reckoning of counting 50. And I think the prepondence or the evidence is the weekly Sabbath. But I'm just letting you know that there are two different theories on that. So you count 50 from the morrow from the day that you brought forth the wave sheath, the wave offering that was done during Unleavened Bread. Seven Sabbaths shall be complete, even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall you number 50 days. And you shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. So it's called the Feast of Weeks to a large degree because of the counting of the seven Sabbaths. Unleavened Bread centered on the barley harvest, the first of the first fruits, and Shabbat or Pentecost centered on the wheat harvest. Let's notice now Exodus 34.22. Back a few pages Exodus 34.22. In Exodus 34 and verse 22.

And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the seven Sabbaths of the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of In-Gathering at the year's end. Of course, the Feast of In-Gathering at the year's end is the Feast of Tabernacles. Three times in the year shall all your men, children, appear before the eternal the Lord God at a nigh ill, in this sense, the Lord God, the God of Israel. Israel was called the land of barley and wheat. Let's go to Deuteronomy 8 verse 7. You know, when God first called Israel out of Egypt, He talked to them about going to the promised land, a land that flows with milk and honey. At that time, what we call Palestine today was a very lush area, trees and greenery with palm trees and dates and figs and all of those kind of things. But what so much denuded the Middle East happened during the reign of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire reigned basically from the 1500s to World War I, when Britain took over that area of the world and the Turks were defeated. During that 400 years, the Turks would tax the people that they conquered according to the number of trees on their property. So, guess what? You cut down the trees, you lower the taxes. And so, they cut down the trees and you get what you have today. In driving, we drove one time from Ammon across to the Allenby Bridge and then from the Allenby Bridge into Jericho and then from Jericho into Jerusalem. In driving from Jericho to Jerusalem, it's much like driving through Arizona, southern Arizona, in the very arid parts of Arizona. In Deuteronomy 8, verse 7, For the Lord your God brings you into a good land, the land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills. It's always called the promise land.

A land of wheat and barley, and vines of fig trees, pomegranates. A land of olive oil and honey. A land wherein you shall eat bread without scarceness. You shall not lack anything in it, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you may dig brats. So, it was a wonderful land, but of course it then changed through the centuries. The major harvest was in the fall, the Feast of In-Gathering.

So, the Israelites were commanded to make three pilgrimages, as we see here, to that area to Jerusalem. Now, we pick up the Holy Days again. See, we've come to Pentecost. We've seen that there was a literal fulfillment of Passover. The lambs were slaughtered. We saw that on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, they left Egypt. We saw that on the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, they crossed the Red Sea. We saw that on Pentecost, they received the Law. Now, the literal spiritual fulfillment, once again, Passover, Jesus Christ is our Passover. The first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we leave through repentance and faith and the sacrifice of Christ. We leave spiritual Egypt, sin and death. On the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, after we repent, we then are baptized. And then, after that, Pentecost comes. And on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was sent. So, after we go through Passover and the observance thereof and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, then we're ready to receive God's Spirit. Then we come to trumpets. Trumpets were blown in Israel. It was like a dual thing. Trumpets were blown to sound the alarm that some kind of emergency was at hand to call the assembly together or to call them into war. Trumpets is a time, usually, of alarm, upset, but it can be a time of victory and celebration. The literal spiritual fulfillment in God's intervention in the nations has not yet taken place. So, if we're talking about a literal fulfillment of God's intervention, we're in between Pentecost and trumpets. Then the next day, the next one, Atonement, of course, well, let's back up to trumpets. Once again, what about trumpets today? Trumpets today, remember we say that on the last trump, the resurrection will take place. We are to come up out of the baptismal waters and after the laying on of hands in Pentecost and live the resurrected life, the new life, the life directed by the new man, the spiritual mind, as we talked about yesterday.

And so, hopefully you're getting from this that the Holy Days, that we're to live in the spiritual sense, the Holy Days every day of the year. Then we come to Atonement. And on the day of Atonement, the high priest went into the Holy of Holies once a year, and he went in there three times, and he offered blood sacrifice for the building itself, for the people, and for himself and his family. And then, there were two goats, you know. One goat was killed and the blood used for what we just talked about, and the other goat was released into the wilderness since having been confessed over its head and symbolizing the Azazel goat, the goat that went into the wilderness, symbolic of Satan the devil. And so, on the day of Atonement, God has not yet bound Satan. Satan has not been bound in the literal sense of being cast into the bottomless pit. But we are to overcome Satan now and bind him and cast him out of our lives. Remember, Christ said on Passover, that evening after the Passover, that be of good cheer, I have overcome the world, and so can we, and Satan can be bound now. Then we come to the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Feast of Tabernacles was a great time in Israel where they came together and they read the entire book of the law. All five books of Pentateuch were read during the Feast of Tabernacles, and they celebrated their harvest, and they had a joyful time. Now, it says in the book of Kings, during the reign of Solomon, it was almost like a millennial kind of setting where each man dwelt under his vine and his fig tree during the reign of Solomon. So Solomon's reign was somewhat a type of the millennium, especially in the earlier years before he went astray. Of course, we have not yet had the millennium. Christ has not come. Satan has not been bound. And the nations have not yet been judged. And then we come to the eighth day of the Feast, a time in which all humanity, everybody that's ever lived or ever will live, will have a time to go on to perfection. So we see in the Holy Days a certain pattern of a literal fulfillment, a spiritual fulfillment, and a parallel doctrine. And as far as God's intervention, literally in the spiritual sense on that day, we're between Pentecost and Trumpets. But as far as we're concerned, we're to keep the Passover spiritually. Unleavened bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles, last day go on to perfection all the time. So there is a definite pattern there. As I mentioned earlier, the Feast to Passover and Unleavened Bread center on the first fruits of the barley harvest. And the focus is on Christ leading Israel out of Egypt and leading us out of our sins. And Christ is the first of the first fruits. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. We'll see that Christ, the first of the first fruits. Remember where the Bible talks about Pentecost being the feast of first fruits, the feast of weeks. Of course, we've already observed unleavened bread. Christ died for our sins during the barley harvest, the early spring harvest. In 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 17. The Corinthians had all kinds of problems. Even some were saying that there was no resurrection from the dead. That's verse 12. We might could read that now. Christ be preached that he rose from the dead. How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead. So the Corinthians had about every problem that you can possibly mention. The great rhetorical question of 1 Corinthians is 1 Corinthians 1.13, where it says, Is Christ divided? And from your calling to the resurrection, 1 Corinthians shows that Christ is not divided. 1 Corinthians 5.17, and if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain, and you are yet in your sins. Then they which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. See, without the resurrection, there is no hope.

If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now, as Christ risen from the dead, become the first fruits of them that slept. So Christ is the first of the first fruits. He has gone through the process. He has lived in the flesh. He has died. He's been resurrected as a glorious, radiant, life-giving spirit. Christ, the first of the first fruits of them that slept, for since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as an Adam, all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits afterward, they that are Christ, at His coming. Now also in 1 Corinthians, we get a glimpse of when that coming will be in verses 50 through 54. Verse 50, Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound. See, there's no mention of in the Bible that I know of trumpets during the feast of Pentecost. So once again, the types and the patterns, to me, clearly point to what we have taught ever since I've been in the church. And I've been studying the literature and all of that since somewhere around 1961-62, and have taught for many years. And I believe the pattern and also the symbolism is in harmony with what we've always said. In a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. This corruptible must put on incorruption. This mortal put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. See, on one side of the day of the Feast of Trumpets, you have great travail and trouble, a time of trouble that the world has ever known, the great tribulation. The Feast of Trumpets is like the turning point in all of human history. Then on the other side, the resurrection, the victory, and the nations are come into judgment, and the nations become the kingdoms of God and His Christ. Let's go to Revelation 10, verse 7, once again concerning the trumpet and the timing of the coming of Christ.

We begin to see also in this how the Holy Days are so intimately and intricately tied together. In Revelation 10, verse 7, But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished. You know what the greatest mystery of God is? How that a human being, living in the flesh, made of dirt and dust, as you heard in the sermon this morning, can be transformed into, at resurrection, it is a birth, born into the family of God as a glorious, radiant spirit being. The mystery of God should be finished as he is declared to his servants the prophets, and the voice which I heard from heaven spoken to me again and said, Go and take this little book, which is open in the hand of the angel which stands upon the sea and upon the earth. You see, it says, and when the seventh angel begins to sound, and we know that in the book of Revelation, you have seven trumpets, and at the seventh trump, the resurrection takes place. The Feast of Pentecost centers on the first fruits, as we mentioned, of the wheat harvest. During the Pentecost season, Israel observed that first one that they observed, as we mentioned, God gave the law, and they entered into the marriage covenant with him. Let's go to Exodus 19 first. We'll see this part about, and one of the main reasons why, according to Jewish tradition, it was on Pentecost, is because it says clearly it's in the third month when they receive the law. In Exodus 19, in verse 1, in the third month when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. And then Exodus 19 is basically taken up with Israel preparing to receive the law, and also talking about how God wants them to enter into a covenant with him. Verse 5, Now therefore if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine. Now if you go forward to Exodus 24, this is where they actually entered into the marriage covenant. And once again, according to Jewish tradition, the law was given on Pentecost, and in that season, I don't think all this took place by any means on the same day. I know it didn't. But in that season, and about that time, they entered into the marriage covenant with the one who became Christ. In Exodus 19.5, and he sent young men of the children of Israel which offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord. And Moses took half the blood and put it in the basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, read it in the audience of the people, and the book of the covenant was what he had just received on Mount Sinai, chapters 20 through 23. And they said, all that the Lord has said will we do and be obedient. So this is where Israel said, I do, and entered into the marriage covenant. And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, Behold the blood of the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words.

Israel was the first nation to enter into a covenant relationship with God. And God, to a large degree, viewed Israel as a nation, as a type of first fruits of the spring harvest. Let's notice this in Numbers 3 and verse 41, because we have the type, the anti-type. Do you understand the type and anti-type? One is that which is foreshadowed by or identified with an earlier symbol or type.

We talk about Abraham being a type of God the Father, being faithful. But Isaac, a type of Christ who was perfectly obedient.

Sarah, a type of the church.

In Numbers 3 verse 41, Israel was a type of that which was to come in many ways. And here they are noted as a type of first fruits.

Numbers 3 and verse 41. And you shall take the Levites from me, I am the Lord, instead of the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites, instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the children of Israel. And Moses, numbered as the Lord, commanded him all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and all the firstborn males by the number of names from a month old and upward of those that were numbered to them, were 22,203 score and 13.

Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites, instead of their cattle, and the Levites shall be mine. I am the Eternal. And for those that are to be redeemed of the 203 score and 13 of the firstborn of the children of Israel, which are more than the Levites. And it talks about their redemption and so on. So the Levites were taken as a type of the firstborn, replacing the firstborn of Egypt. And now we go to Jeremiah chapter 2. And in Jeremiah we find that the whole nation of Israel was also viewed as first fruits. It's a type of what was to come, what we're observing today, the Feast of First Fruits. And from Israel, it has now gone to the physical Israel to the Israel of God.

In Jeremiah chapter 2 and verse 3, Israel was holiness unto the Lord and the first fruits of his increase. Israel was holy unto the Lord and the first fruits of his increase. All that devour him shall offend, even evil shall come upon them, says the Lord. So Israel, the first nation to enter into a covenant relationship with God, but they did not have God's Holy Spirit. God was not their spiritual father in the sense that they had been begotten to a new life through the Holy Spirit. The church members today, those who have been called out from the day of Pentecost 31 A.D. to the present time, we are the anti-type of Israel. We are the true Israel, as it were, the Israel of God. Notice in Galatians 6 verse 16, it's the only place in the Bible where this term is used. Galatians 6, 16, very important memory scripture because what the church has done, you know, if we go back and we'll do this in just a moment. In Galatians 6 verse 16, And as many as walk according to the Israel, peace be on them in mercy and upon the Israel of God. Now, one of the things you have to be aware of and conscious of, there is and has been a movement for a long time in the fields of religion of what is called replacement theology. That is that the church totally replaces Israel.

Of course, that would have to do with the people believing that you go to heaven and all life on earth ceases with resurrection and going to heaven eventually. But the Bible does not teach replacement theology, but it does teach that God's purpose is to bring all nations into a covenant relationship, the New Covenant, bring them into that New Covenant relationship with Him. Now, there will be people who live over into the millennium in the flesh, and all of them won't be of the Israel of God at that time. And one of the great jobs that the first fruits will have will be to bring those nations into relationship with God and Christ and into the New Covenant. Now, let's quickly go back to Exodus 19, and then we'll come quickly back to the New Testament, where this is fulfilled in the church. We've just seen Israel of God. In Exodus 19, in verse 1 again, well, we're going to start.

Exodus 19, let's look at verse 3. And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, You shall say unto the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel, You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how bare you an eagle's wings, and brought you unto Myself. Now therefore, if you will obey My voice instead, and keep My covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people, for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak unto the children of Israel. That was what Israel was supposed to bring the nations into relationship with God. But they failed. They went into spiritual hoardings, and God granted them a divorce. Now, let's notice in 1 Peter 2 how this is now passed to the church.

1 Peter 2.

I don't know, I'm sure you remember every sermon I've ever given since I've been here, but I'll briefly rehearse. In Hosea 1, it talks about how Israel played the role of the harlot, committed spiritual fornication, and they became lo ami, not My people, and lo ruhamah, not having obtained mercy. And so God granted them a bill of divorcement. Now, with the church, whereas Israel was supposed to bring all people into relationship with God in Christ and failed, now God has turned to the church to bring all people into relationship with Him, and not just for physical temporal blessings, but for eternal life and living forever in the family and kingdom of God. And Peter takes up on, in fact, to a large degree, this is a quote from what we've just read from Exodus 19. So look at 1 Peter 2.9. You'll see the similarity. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation. Remember, Israel was to be a holy nation. We've read from Galatians 6, 16 that we are now the Israel of God. We're the holy nation. What do holy nations have? Anything holy has God's active presence in them. Holy things have God's Spirit within them. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. See, we're going to be kings and priests in the kingdom of God. That doesn't mean that everybody is a priest today. Some espouse this thing about universal priesthood, that everybody that's called is a minister. You read 1 Timothy 3.1 and see that it is a different calling. But we're all called to be kings and priests in the kingdom of God. You know, Revelation 5.10 says, and he's made us kings and priests. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, purchased people, that you should show forth the praises of him who have called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in times past were not a people. See, that goes back to the Hosea 1, where it says, and you shall become lo Ami, not my people. But see the Israel of God, you are my people, which in times past were not a people, but are now the people of God, Ami, which had not obtained mercy, lo Ruhama, but now have obtained mercy through Hama. So that has passed to the church, and that began on the day of Pentecost, 31 A.D. The Church of God is the Israel of God and holy nation. Now we go to James 1.18 back a few pages, and we see that church members today are the spiritual anti-type of the firstfruits. Remember, we read from Jeremiah 2.3 that Israel is the type of the firstfruits. Here's the anti-type or the fulfillment of His own will. Beget He us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. So that is the Israel of God, the Church of God, the firstfruits that are being called out today. In ancient Israel, both the spring and fall harvest were dependent upon the rains coming at the right time. The fall rains are called the early rain. Remember, the civil year for the Jews started in roughly September. Remember, the Feast of Tabernacles is in the seventh month on the sacred calendar, but it's the first month with regard to the civil calendar. And right after the harvest, not so long after the harvest, they would plant the spring crops. They would plant the barley, and they would plant the wheat. My brother grows winter wheat. They plant it in November-December, and they harvest it in June, the time of Pentecost. So his wheat is just about ready to be harvested.

So the spring rains are called the latter rains, and the early rain is the fall rain. The early rain in the fall season comes from October to December. They are necessary for the seed to germinate, so the crops will come up. Let's look at Deuteronomy 11. Deuteronomy 11, and it will speak of the rains in Deuteronomy 11 verse 13. Now, what does this have to do with Pentecost? Well, it has a lot to do with Pentecost because Peter talked about the rain and quoted from Joel in his sermon on the day of Pentecost. Deuteronomy 11 in verse 13.

And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments, which I command you this day to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give you the rain of your land in due season, the first rain and the latter rain. The first rain could be called the early rain. The first rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your corn and your wine and your oil, and I will send grass in your fields for the cattle that you may eat and be full. Take heed to yourselves that your heart be not deceived and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them. The latter rain came in the spring and supplied the moisture necessary to help the grain crops to mature. The rain is prophetic of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon people's lives individually as they repent and exercise faith in the sacrifice of Christ. After they repent, exercise faith in the sacrifice of Christ and are baptized, they receive the laying on of hands. Now let's read this prophecy from Joel.

Joel 2 that Peter quotes on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was sent. I hope one of the things that you're really getting from yesterday's sermon and today is how that the Bible is woven together as a beautiful tapestry. Line upon line, precept upon precept, hear a little, bear a little, somewhat like a jigsaw puzzle and you put it all together and it weaves this beautiful story of men who lived hundreds and in some cases thousands of years apart and yet this beautiful harmony. Could this possibly happen by chance? Could this happen even by some kind of plan? Well, who would have planned it out during the days of Moses when he wrote the Pentateuch or the days of the prophets and then for it to be then valid for Peter to quote on the day of Pentecost hundreds of years later. In Joel 2 and verse 21. Joel 2 verse 21. Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice, for the Lord will do great things. Be not afraid, you beast of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the trees bear her fruit, the fig tree and the vine yield her strength. Be glad then, you children of Zion. Remember that Zion is a type of a church, symbolic of the church.

So be glad, you children of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for He have given you the former rain moderately and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat and the fat shall overflow with wine and oil. Then we pick it up again down in verse 29.

Let's read verse 28. 28 is important. Joel 2, 28. And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions, and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids of those days will I pour out my Spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. And then it goes from the pouring out of God's Spirit to the day of the Lord and the heavenly signs. The sun shall be turned into darkness, the moon and the blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord. And so once again, if we follow the timeline with regard to the day of the Lord and the coming of Christ, there is no question in my mind when that would be. Now we go and see in Acts 2, when that day of Pentecost had come, what happened? Acts 2. In Acts 2, verse 1, and when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly they came a sound from heaven and a rushing of mighty wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting, they being this 120, who were told to wait there in Jerusalem until they received power from on high, which is the Holy Spirit. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like its fire, and it set upon each of them. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other languages as the Spirit gave them utterance. There were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews devout men out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noise abroad, the multitude came together. It started this house, and people said, there's a big commotion going on down here. Let's get out. Let's go see what's taking place. And so they began to rush out into the streets and began to investigate to see what was going on. And what was going on was that they were hearing in their own language. Verse 6, Now when there was noise abroad, the multitude came together, and they were confounded because of every man heard them, them being the apostles, speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans the apostles?

And how you hear every man in our own tongue wherein we were born. And it talks about the various nations that were there. Verse 12, They were all amazed and were in doubt, saying one another, What does this mean? Others mocking said, These men are drunk. And then Peter stands up.

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them, You men of Judea and all you that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you and hearken unto my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing it is nine o'clock in the morning. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, what we just read about the rain. It shall come to pass in the last days, says God, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my handmaids, I will pour out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass, and whosoever shall call in the name of the Lord shall be saved. So it goes from the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost to the time that we read about in the last few verses of Revelation, which we won't do at this particular moment. Now, Peter preaches his sermon, and we come toward the end of it, verse 37.

Now, when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts. I mean, they were convicted. We talked about conviction yesterday. And they said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? I mean, we, they were convicted down to their toenails from the great matter to the toenails. I mean, they were moved. And Peter said unto them, Repent, be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off. This is important because we will read from Ephesians, chapter 2, in just a moment. This promises unto you and to your children, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to those that are far off. Who are those that are far off from the promises? The Gentiles. But on the day of Pentecost, they didn't really get it that the Gentiles would be included. It was later where Peter went to the house of Cornelius, as it recorded in Acts 10, where it was made evident that the Gentiles should also be recipients of the Holy Spirit. Even as many as the Lord our God shall call, on Pentecost, God began to call out the firstfruits, and they were begotten of the Spirit of God, where the Spirit of God came to dwell in them. They became the temple of God. They entered into what I would call the begatthole process. They received the earnest, the down payment on eternal life, later to be born at the resurrection into the kingdom of God, at the coming of Jesus Christ. So from 31 A.D. to the present time, God is calling out the firstfruits. We are in what Paul calls the dispensation of grace in Ephesians 3, 1 and 2, the church age.

Who knows how much longer the church age is going to go? Where God is calling out people from all nations, races, kindreds, and tongues, to be a part of the Israel of God, the firstfruits.

And the Israel of God, the firstfruits, will then be ministered, they will be kings and priests, and it says in Isaiah 61, that we will be ministers and you will be sent out to the nations. And one of the great ... of course, the great goal is to bring all nations into relationship with God and Christ, that they might receive this very essence that you heard about this morning, the very essence of God into their being.

39 Again, for the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord, our God shall call. God's not calling everybody today as we know, is not trying to save the world today. This is not the only day of salvation as we know. If it were, God would be a respecter of persons because there is none other name given under heaven whereby men must be saved.

And everybody hasn't heard, but eventually every tongue shall hear, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is the Christ. And every person will have an opportunity to receive of the Spirit of God. Then they that gladly received the word were baptized, and the same day they were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers. Now we go to Acts chapter 10.

See, this, what was there at Jerusalem at that time, were Jews and proselytes. They were of the congregation of Israel in the flesh, who after the day of Pentecost, became the Israel of God. God began to raise up the tabernacle of David through the church of God, and call out the firstfruits of whom you are a part, as you sit here today. In Acts 10 verse 43, Acts 10 deals with this vision that Peter had about the sheep coming down with unclean animals, and Peter told to eat, and Peter said he'd never eaten anything unclean.

And Peter finally understood that he was not talking about animals, but talking about men, that there is no man unclean. In this great verse, we need to read this verse. This is Acts 10.34. Then Peter opened his mouth and said of the truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation, not just Israel, he that fears him and works righteousness is accepted with him, the word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all.

And then we pick it up in 43. Peter began, he finally came to the house of Cornelius, began to preach the gospel of the kingdom. To him give all the prophets witness that through his name, that is the name of Jesus Christ, whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins. While Peter yet spoke these words, the Holy Spirit fell on them which heard the word.

And they of the circumcision which believed, the Jews were astonished as many as it came with Peter because that on the Gentiles, the nations, the ethnos also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit. So in a sense, you had a second Pentecost here with the Gentiles, for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God, then answered Peter, can any man forbid water that these should be baptized, which will receive the Holy Spirit as well as we?

And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord, then prayed they him to wait there to stay with them several days. So these events begins and marks the beginning of the calling out of the firstfruits. God said that at the coming of Christ, that Christ would be like the former and latter rain on the earth. James ties the coming of the Lord to the early and latter rain. Go to James chapter 5.

James 5 is an end-time prophecy. A lot of times we read the book of James, we don't think of there being a great prophecy there, but the first part of James talks about the rich men, rich men are now gathered in Switzerland, Basel, Switzerland, meeting of the Bilderbergs, in which to a large degree they map out and plan the financial strategy for the coming year. They pretty well garnered the market with regard to controlling the world's economies. They wanted to control health care. They wanted to control the food supply. They wanted to bring you to the point that you're an abject servant and they're well underway. And in the first part of James, he talks about how the cries of what you might call the average man, verse 4, Behold the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept by fraud cries and the cries of them which have reaped or entered into the ears of the Lord of Sobooth. You have lived in pleasure on the earth and have been want and you have nourished your hearts, as in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and killed the just, and he does not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth. Of course, we are that first fruit and hath long patience for it until he received the early and latter reign. Be patient, establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draws nigh. Grudge not one another, brethren, lest you be condemned or judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door. Take my brethren the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy, which endure. You have heard of the patience of Job and you have seen the Talos, the result of the Lord. The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.

So Jesus Christ, of course, is going to come again. And more and more this reign, the early and latter reign, the availability of the Holy Spirit to the nations, will increase and increase during the reign of Jesus Christ. Christ's death, burial, and resurrection was in the spring of the year. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit, as we have noticed, came on the day of Pentecost. And then the first fruits are being called out. That began on the day of Pentecost. They were not born in the family of God on that day. They received the earnest of the Spirit. So once again, I believe it's correct to state that Christ's Second Coming will be in the fall of the year, and the first fruits of the spring harvest will help bring all the nations in the relationship with God and Christ. The early and the latter reign also teach us about the pouring out of God's Spirit in a corporate way in which it will eventually be available to every person who has ever lived or ever will live. Now let's notice Leviticus 23. Once again, we come to this part about the first fruits type, any type. The first fruits there were symbolized, well, it was literal, two loaves. Two loaves were waved. It was quite an ordeal that they went through where they would go out and gather the very best grain. They would grind that grain up, make it into fine flour, and made it into two loaves. These two loaves represented the first fruits, the wheat harvest. What do those two loaves represent in the spiritual sense today? Well, you have heard maybe it represents, which to me is an oxymoron, Old Testament and New Testament Christians. But let's see if that's what the Bible really says. And we will see that there is not at least altogether a dogma on this, but I think we can pretty well identify them. We read earlier the first two verses, Leviticus 23, 15, and 16, about counting to 50. Now, verse 17, You shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenths deals. They shall be a fine flour. Say that these are two loaves weighed about five and a half pounds. They shall be baked with leaven. They are the first fruits unto the eternal. And there were various animal sacrifices also. We want to focus on the two loaves that were baked with leaven, which are the first fruits. We have shown from the Scripture that the church represents the first fruits in the spiritual sense. And again, we note that the two loaves were baked with leaven. At Passover, leaven was absolutely forbidden. And in the regular meal offering, no leaven was permitted. We know also that leaven represents sin. We've heard it over and over. Passover and unleavened breads speak of the death and burial of Jesus who was without sin. Yet on Pentecost, God commanded just the opposite. Why? These two loaves were to be baked with leaven. As we've already noted, Pentecost speaks of the beginning of God's marriage to Israel as a nation under the Old Covenant. Pentecost, 31 A.D. when the Holy Spirit was sent, marks the spousal of the Israel of God to Jesus Christ. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 11.2 that we are espoused to one husband, to Jesus Christ.

So, the two loaves. Let's go to Ephesians 2. 2. If the church represents the first fruits, and if Paul is correct in what he says here, I think we can safely draw the conclusion that the two loaves represent. That and the spiritual sense today. Ephesians 2 verse 11.

Wherefore remember that you being in times past Gentiles in the flesh. Notice that in the flesh. They were not Gentiles in the Spirit. Remember yesterday, there's one Spirit. One spiritual essence. We're all partakers of that one Spirit. But one Spirit, we're all baptized into one body.

Remember also that what we read from Acts 2.39 and 40 about, to your children and to those who are far off, as many as the Lord your God shall call. And God is calling out the first fruits now. There's only been one that is Jesus Christ resurrected, born again as it were into the family of God as a radiant, glorious Spirit being. Wherefore remember that being in times past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision, by that which is called the circumcision, the Jews in the flesh made by hands. That at that time, you were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope without God in the world.

The Jews thought that all those promises were just for them.

Today, the Zionists believe that those promises made to Abraham just for them. So it's their land. Eventually, God is going to give it to Israel. But before Israel really receives the blessings, they're going to have to look upon Him whom they pierced and repent.

Verse 13, But now in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were afar off. Remember Acts, those who are far off. But now in Christ Jesus, you who are sometimes afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who have made both one and have broken down the middle wall of partition between us. See, there was the court of the Gentiles. They couldn't enter into. There was a partition between them and the Jews. Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, not the spiritual law that contained in ordinances for to make in Himself a twain. See, too, at one time, one new man, so making peace that he might reconcile both Jew and Gentile under God in one body by the stake, having slain the enmity thereby. So you had two, and they become one in Christ, Jew and Gentile. And came and preached peace unto you, which were afar off the Gentiles, and to them that were nigh the Jews. For through Him we have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now, therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God.

See, they are also a part of the Israel of God. If you are part of the Israel of God, you are part of the Holy Nation. If you are part of the Israel of God of the Holy Nation, you are the first fruits for God and Christ. Therefore, I conclude that the two loaves represent the first fruits in the spiritual sense, the Jew and Gentile joined together as one in the Israel of God, in the Church of God. And we read that verse again 19, now therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, He's the head of the corner, in whom all the building fitly framed together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. And which temple you are, in whom also you are building together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. You talk about inspiration of the Bible, you talk about the beautiful tapestry that is woven. Brethren, if we can't see that, then I think we are blind, but I think we do see. And then, in Romans 2, or as they say, a little icing on the cake, remember about the book of Romans. The book of Romans is a blueprint to world peace, because if all the nations would repent and have faith in Christ, be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit, we could have peace. In Romans 1, God takes the Gentiles to task. In Romans 2, He takes the Jews to task. And note what He says. Romans 2, verse 26. Therefore, if the uncircumcision, the Gentiles, keep the righteousness of the law, shall not His uncircumcision, that is of the flesh, be counted for circumcision, and shall not uncircumcision, which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge you, who by the letter in circumcision, transgress the law. For He is not a Jew, which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. But He is a Jew, which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart and the Spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. Then we'll have one final Scripture and wrap up in Galatians chapter 3.

These great promises, the great plan of salvation as revealed by the Holy Days, Passover, Unleavened Bread, Jesus Christ our Passover, sacrificed for us. We can repent and come out of spiritual Egypt. We can leave sin and death behind. We can be baptized with the past buried. Our sins remembered no more.

We can receive God's Spirit and have a new mind and a new heart, and the law of God written on our inward parts. Whereas with the Jews, when they received the law, they did not have such a heart. But now that Spirit is in each of us. God does not dwell in buildings made by hands. We're having our judgment now. In a sense, our Feast of Trumpets, as it were, in a sense, the trial part. Hopefully we'll be spared during the Great Tribulation.

We're to live the new life, the resurrected life, now.

And judgment is now on the house of God. This is our one and only opportunity to live faithfully to God in the flesh. Of course, if we don't do it, and with the help of God's Spirit, we can do it. I believe we will do it. We can go on to perfection. As we heard, the sermon basically closed almost in the second to last Scripture, I believe, this morning. Become you therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. That's possible through God's Spirit. Oh yeah, you will sin along the way at times. But that's not your intent. That's not your motive. That's not what you want to do. Your desire is to live as Christ lived. And it is possible. And if you stumble and fall, we have the intercessor, a comforter alongside God's Spirit and Jesus Christ, our intercessor, who will make intercession for us. God is not a respective persons. All of these promises are for every human being who's ever lived or ever will live. The greatest promises to Abraham are these of eternal life.

Galatians 3, verse 14. That the blessings of Abraham might come on the nations, the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Brother, and I speak after the manner of me, and though it be a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man dissinoles or heads there too. Now to Abraham and his seed where the promise is made, he said, not unto seeds as of many, but as of one, and to your seed, which is Christ. Unfortunately, in the church over the years, we have emphasized too much the physical side. Physical Israel, and how great physical Israel is. Physical Israel is nothing compared to the Israel of God, the firstfruits. That group of people through whom God will work in bringing all nations into relationship with Him. Has God forgotten Israel? No way! He has not forgotten Israel. Israel will be restored, and so will the other nations. And we will minister to them in the millennium. Now verse 26, For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Brethren, let us rejoice this day in what it means that we now have the great promise, the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. And we are to renew that promise every day. That Holy Spirit, keep that Holy Spirit burning brightly in our hearts and minds. Never let our lamps go out. And God will be with us. He will be with us even to the end of the age. So let's have a wonderful Pentecost every day of the year.