The Predetermination of God's Plan

Brethren, as we grow in this church over the years, many—I just heard that it was Diana Cade who—how many? 53 Passovers? How many? 40?

That she's been celebrating. Many here have done it for decades. And God tells us that we should grow in grace and knowledge. From that first Passover to whether it's the 30th or the 40th, that we actually do grow in understanding about these days. And I want to share again, as far as growing in this grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and God's way of life, I want to share six points about the Unleavened Bread, which has such great meaning.

And this is something that can serve you today, or in 10 years, or in 50 years. Because it's not dealing with just little details. Now we're going to have the bird's-eye view first of what these days represent that God and Jesus Christ created for us.

Actually, we're going to see the first point is that God, the Father, and Jesus Christ planned these days of Unleavened Bread when they planned the creation of the universe way before the creation of man, way before the creation of Adam and Eve. They had discussed what it was going to be like to keep the days of Unleavened Bread. They're part of God's plan of salvation through these six or seven actually feasts that we have during the year. This is the second one that we have, Unleavened Bread. And so I'd like to go and show you four key scriptures.

How God, the Father, and Jesus Christ predetermined not only the Passover and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we've covered that one, but also Unleavened Bread is just as important. It's part of God's plan of salvation. And looking at it again from the grand scale of things, they had this plan. This wasn't something they came up with all of the sudden. Let's go to the first key scripture, Genesis 1, verse 14. Now this is a badly translated verse. We had Protestant translators back in the King James age and otherwise.

And when they looked up the word that they translated as seasons, it's talking about God's feast seasons. It's not talking about Easter or even summer, spring, winter, fall, all these. They're not talking about that.

They're talking about what God put into action. And it's noticed in the Good News Bible, as more translators became aware of the Hebrew understanding of these things, they realized that these Protestants back in time of Queen Elizabeth, they didn't know all of these things about these key terms. And so they translated it as just days and seasons of the year. Notice in the Good News Bible version, it says, Then God commanded, Let lights appear in the sky to separate day for night, and to show the time when days, years, and religious festivals begin.

Here, God is setting up the calendar to be able to know according to the many orbits that we have, what is called the lunations. I've mentioned that before, the cycles of the moon. Right now, we're at the full moon, because basically it takes 29 days and a fraction to go through one cycle of a moon, what is called the lunation. Now, of course, people don't really focus on that, but our idea of a month actually comes from the Roman period, all the way back to the Egyptian calendar, which was adopted by the Romans, and then the Catholic Church adopted that one, because they didn't want to follow anything that was, quote, Jewish, that had to do with the Hebrew people.

So they established their own calendar, and they left out what God established in His Word. That's one of the reasons it tells us there in Daniel 7. Let's go there for a minute. I wanted to cover this scripture at some time. Daniel 7, one of the prophecies of what would happen in the future. Daniel 7, verse 25, talking about the beast power. It says, He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and the law.

Remember, there's a false prophet there, which is the religious leader. They are going to change the times, which has to do with the calendars, and the law of God, and they certainly have done so. So the proper translation of this scripture in Genesis 1.14, it talks about religious festivals. The term is mordim in the Hebrew. In the article Seasons or Special Days, Genesis 1.14, and Israel's worship calendar, you can look it up later in the website, it says, quote, the term Seasons is not the word in the Hebrew Bible that is used for winter, spring, summer, and fall.

See, they have a term for that. He says, it is actually the appointed times in all the other uses in the Bible. It refers not to summer, winter, but to Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacle Seasons. Those are the ones that are being brought out here. It refers to God's festivals.

So that's the proper translation of Genesis 1.14, which, by the way, probably for the first 30 years of my life, I'd never heard this explanation. It just wasn't discussed the importance of it.

Notice how this word is used in Leviticus 23 verse 2.

That when it refers to Seasons, it's talking about the religious Seasons that God has established. In Leviticus 23 verse 2, and if there's something that I think a lot of us do not like is when they lie to us.

When you know, hey, that translation is a way of lying to us. It's not accurately translating it. Leviticus 23 verse 2.

Now, this one is in the Jewish publication of Scriptures. This is the version. It says, It says, It says, It says, Even these are my appointed seasons. That's the way it should have been translated back in Genesis 1.14. The appointed seasons of God, not summer winter. That has nothing to do with really signs that God wants us to learn. Another Scripture. This is the third one. Genesis 1.14 is the first one. Leviticus 23.2 is the second one. Psalm 104. 104 verse 19. Notice, it is repeated here. The importance of the moons to count the different months. Psalm 104 verse 19. It says, Again, the term moedim should not be translated that way.

In the easy reading version, which is a more modern version, it says, Lord, you made the moon to show us when the festivals begin. And the sun always knows when to set. And so again, God's festivals are intimately woven into the accounts of God's creation. It wasn't an afterthought that God had. In the last Scripture, in 1 Peter 1 verse 10, this is a very awe-inspiring Scripture when we understand it properly. 1 Peter 1 verses 10 through 12. It says, The prophets have inquired and searched carefully. They looked at the Scriptures. They wanted to understand more about this plan of salvation, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ who was in them, so these were converted people. Before Christ came, they already had God's Spirit. There were selected few that were able to have God's Spirit. The Spirit of Christ, which at that time was the Word, who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. Yes, that's what we're celebrating, recognizing the sufferings, when we're talking about the Passover, and the glories that would come after His resurrection. To them, talking about those prophets, it was revealed that not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things which angels desire to look into, angels which are far smarter, and they've been around because they were created as eternal beings. They had a beginning, but they don't have an end. And they certainly know a lot more, but yet, even them, even they do not understand all of God's plan of salvation, because God's plan of salvation is unfolding. It's opening up.

Angels don't even know all the details. Neither do we.

So this day of unleavened bread has tremendous spiritual meaning and symbolism.

So the second point is just like the Passover, the days of unleavened bread were fixed before God gave them to Israel.

They were fixed. They were established by God before the time of Israel. Notice in Genesis chapter 15.

So they had discussed this before. Everything that was going to happen, they were going to carry out at a certain moment in history. In Genesis chapter 15 and verse 13, we see Abraham here cutting a covenant with God and God cutting a covenant. Cutting means they cut these animals into two pieces, and then they would walk through it. And basically it was, if I don't fulfill my part, may I be cut in pieces like these animals? That's cutting a covenant. It is a covenant, too, for the rest of our lives to be dedicated. The shedding of blood takes place.

So in Genesis 15 verse 13, it says, Then he said to Abraham, this is God, Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs.

Talk about Egypt, and will serve them, and they will afflict them 400 years. So again, what happened to Jacob and his family and with Joseph moving over there, that was all predetermined. And that they would have these very long generations, approximately 100 years for every one of those generations, before God would bring them back to Israel.

Notice, it says, But in the fourth generation they shall return here, where it would become Israel. For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. So God had not determined to punish the Canaanites. They gave them time to repent until they didn't. And so then, a little over 400 years, God would bring Israel back. When? When is that happening on this first day of Unleavened Bread? That was the day predetermined by God after the Passover took place. They would begin their trek out of Egypt to Israel, the Promised Land. Notice, he says, And it came to pass when the sun went down, and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. On that same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying to your descendants, I have given you this land from the River of Egypt, talk about denial to the Great River, the River Euphrates, and then talks about all the Canaanites that would be expelled and removed from the land because of their iniquity. So let's go fast forward 430 years later. It's the time to start keeping the first day of Unleavened Bread. In Exodus 12, verse 40, again, this is all hidden inside the Scriptures, but they are there for us to examine and understand. In Exodus 12, verse 40, now this is after the Passover, which happened in verse 29, And it came to pass at midnight, that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, and this was the Passover, this was the tenth plague that took place. And then the next day, in verse 40, that night that we celebrated. Did the world realize what we were doing? No. Many of us didn't realize the importance of that night because we're celebrating what God had planned ahead of time. It says, now the sojourn, which means the stay of the children of Israel, who lived in Egypt, was 430 years. And it came to pass at the end of the 430 years, on that very same day, talking about the same covenant, that Abraham cut with God, and God passed through, and said, if I don't fulfill this, it's like I'm not God, I'll be cut up. And he fulfilled it to the letter. On that very same day, it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations. Well, it used to be limited to the physical families and race of Abraham, but in the New Testament, now everyone of any race and nationality, whether man or woman, they have access to becoming spiritual Israel. And you can read that over there in Romans 2, where it says that a Jew is not a Jew anymore, according to his race, but it is according to the faith in the sacrifice of Christ, in willing to obey God. We are all incorporated into this Israel of God. And so the first day of unleavened bread was predetermined. And Pentecost, of course, the third feast, which we're going to be keeping in a little more than two and a half months from today, or a little less, actually, because we're talking about counting from 50 days from right to the Sabbath that we're going to be keeping here this week. We start counting on that day after the Passover. The Sabbath is 50 days to Pentecost.

Well, Pentecost was predetermined, and that's how Israel, after they left Egypt, 50 days after leaving, they met in Mount Sinai, and God gave them His laws to keep. And in the New Testament, in Acts 2, we see that on that day of Pentecost, God gave His people the Holy Spirit. So everything is predetermined, and we should not forget the importance of this first day of unleavened bread.

So let's go to the third point. So what did the days of unleavened bread actually symbolize?

As it has been mentioned in Exodus 12, we see the Passover was the tenth plague. That was accomplished. But you see, the first feast, yes, the lamb was sacrificed. They had to put on their dentals and on the top of the doors the blood to be able for the angel of death to Passover. That's where the term Passover comes from. But after that Passover, they were still in Egypt. Just because now you have access to forgiveness, you still are in the world. You're still subject to the false teachings and beliefs of the Egyptians. So God had to remove His people. That's the second feast, the removal from the false system.

They had to leave Egypt where sin permeated that whole country. It's not enough to receive forgiveness and rescue.

They had a chance then to show fruits worthy of repentance, worthy of that sacrifice that was done. Because of what use would it have been if the Israelites ate the lamb, they had the protection, and then the next day they're participating in all the false teachings and false beliefs. See, they were part of Egyptian life then. So it's not enough to receive forgiveness and the rescue. They have to be taken out of the system, the false system.

After the Passover, they could do so by showing their abstention from sin. They had to start a new life. They had to clean their minds of all of that influence of Egypt and false values and false teachings.

And that's, as Enrique mentioned in his first message, the symbol of the seven days is a symbol of completeness. See, it's not just one day. This is a way of life that we are representing with those seven days of unleavened bread.

Let's go to Luke chapter 3 to see how John the Baptist, when people came and they said they had repented, John the Baptist questioned their sincerity. He said in Luke chapter 3 in verse 8, let's start in verse 7, He said, Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? A lot of people, they just wanted to get protected from what was coming and they were just pretending. And they weren't changing their true nature. So then he goes on to say in verse 8, Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. Well, Abraham is not going to justify anyone else except Abraham. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. God has many ways to carry out His will. And so these days of Unleavened Bread, we're starting to basically show God, Yes, there are fruits of repentance. We're not going to go back to the false values and beliefs of the Egyptians, of the world that we have. We're not going to fall into that. Now, there's a lot of good things in the world that don't have to do with false teachings and false beliefs. God wants us to live in the world, but don't get contaminated with those false teachings and beliefs, because they will cause us to sin. We're going to touch that in a moment. So, we are to repent. This is the fourth point. Repent from what? From the false values and beliefs of the world, the spiritual leavening that is all around us. So, it's important to see that sin has three dimensions. There are three categories that cover what sin is. Let's go to 1 John 2.

Starting in verse 15, John says, Do not love the world or the things of the world. These are all the values of the world, their way of doing things. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, because God did not create these false systems. It's Satan, the one who is the deceiver, all of these false teachings. He says, for all that is in the world, now he's going to define it in these three categories, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away, all of these false values. One day they're going to disappear. We're actually going to have a world where it's going to be unleavened. And we're not going to have the sins and false teachings. People will not be damaging their lives. Where was it that I was watching? I guess it was the Chilean news station. And they were showing all the damages of fentanyl that drug is causing over there. And they had a young man who had taken fentanyl and he was able to survive, but he lost his nose and everything here was just red. There was no lips, nothing around. He lost the whole thing. I guess he was breathing some of that, but it just destroyed all the frontal part of his face. And that's part of the damage that people are doing following a false system. Notice what it goes on to say, verse 17. And the world is passing away and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever. Those are going to be the true values that are going to be lasting. They're going to be forever. Now, these three categories of sin, we see them at first in Eden, in the Garden of Eden, where God told Adam and Eve not to take of that tree. Let's go to Genesis chapter 3 real quickly. Notice there are three categories that she looked at. She lusted after what God had said, don't do. Genesis chapter 3. And Satan is talking, verse 4. Then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. This is not going to affect you this way. For God knows that in the day that you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, in other words, something that would satisfy the appetite, the fleshly lusts, there's this thing of satisfying your inner wrong desires, that it was pleasant to the eyes, that it was very nice and looked very pleasant, and a tree desirable to make one wise. That's the pride of life. She took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. He should have known better. He didn't. Just followed along.

And so the pulls of the flesh have to do with those worldly appetites, the base desires that want to be fed, the lusts.

They become addictive. They become what you can call parasite sins. They just latch on, and they don't want to let go and drain you of spiritual power.

Notice in Colossians chapter 2 and verse 23. Colossians chapter 2 verse 23. It says here, these things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humidity, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. And the Jubilee Bible says they have absolutely no value against the appetites of the flesh. So if you feed them, they get stronger. It's harder to break the habits. The lust of the eyes is the desire to impress others, to be important in front of others, your peers, and be able to have them admire you and think you're important. This has to do with power, position, beauty, intellect, wealth, or accomplishments. The things that a person can say, well, look at me. Oh, I'm so great. Yes, admiration in this way.

And people go after that. They want fame. They want glory. They'll get it in whatever way they can. We start out in school. You see some people that, oh, they want to be in the in-group. Those are the ones that impress others. And, oh, I've got this and I've got that. Maybe they're smarter. Oh, I'm smarter than you. Or I'm prettier than you. Or I've got more accomplishments. See, it's this competition. And then people get into this type of rat race where they're competing with others. Frustrated. Especially now that you have all this social media talk about the lust of the eyes. That's all. It's there. The frivolity. Look what I have. What you don't have. Putting people down in that way.

And the last category, the pride of life. This is selfishness. Me, first. I'm independent. I choose what I want. Don't tell me what to do. See, it's the same sin that Eve, she wanted to do things her own way. What makes me think I'm wise.

The pride of life produces a willful spirit. I don't care if it's sin. I'm going to do it anyways because I like it.

Stubbornness. I'm not going to change. I know it's doing damage to me, but I'm not going to change. It's my way or the highway. Have you heard that?

All of that is completely the opposite of what God wants to produce. What the Days of Unleavened Bread mean to us.

And so what is the remedy? Point five. It's the Days of Unleavened Bread. The lessons that we can learn from these days.

There are two main symbols during this time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The first one is leavening, avoiding leavening, and the second is eating unleavened bread.

Now these are symbols for avoiding evil and wickedness and participating of what is good and righteous. So that's Unleavened Bread.

It's that simple. Notice what it says in Psalm 34 verse 14.

Psalm 34 and verse 14. It says, Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. We've heard that many times, but do we practice it? Do we depart from evil when we see something that can cause us to lust and to go forward with wrong values?

And by the way, all the programs that we see either in the TV or movies, we have to be so careful because Hollywood is not based on God's way.

It's making money. They know sex, violence, many other things, vanity, beauty. They'll get you to do that. Pretty soon, a person can start lusting and having wrong thoughts and ideas.

Not everything is that way. There are very fine programs as well that don't contain this leavening.

Notice in Psalm 45 verse 7.

Psalm 45 verse 7.

It says, You love righteousness and hate wickedness.

Oh, there are a lot of people who say, Oh, I want to follow God. Yes, but do you hate wickedness? Are you willing to put away what is going to cause sin?

Because sin is attractive. It sounds good, but it's never producing good fruit. You can't compromise with it.

It goes on to say here in verse 7, Therefore, God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. He's going to bless you.

But you've got to do it God's way, not the world's way, because it's never going to end up right if you do it the world's way. Notice in Romans chapter 12, we have a New Testament Scripture that repeats the same principle. Romans 12 verse 9.

The apostle Paul, using some of these Old Testament Scriptures, mentions, Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.

It doesn't say just tolerate it. It says abhor it. Get away from it. Flee fornication. Don't get close to that. Don't toy around with it. These are the things that we have now being bombarded in the world more than ever before.

And a youth can follow God. He can work on himself and herself to avoid that leavening.

And so the last point. For seven days, are we going to show we really mean it? That we fear eating leavening just as we do with sin. Are we going to show that?

Are we going to put on the fruits of God's spirit? It's not just avoiding what's evil, but putting in what is good.

The fruits of joy, love, joy, peace, patience, temperance, kindness, goodness, and meekness and self-control.

That's putting on eating unleavened bread.

One day, the whole world is going to be unleavened. And we're going to have a part in that. We're going to show people how to unleaven their lives and live up to their true potential.

They're not burdened down with all of these parasitic sins. They will learn to avoid leavening.

In Isaiah 11 9, it tells us that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the bottoms of the sea. See, all of this knowledge, we're going to show them. But first, we have to begin living it.

Before we can help others, we have to help ourselves. Before we can learn to be a lifeguard, we have to learn how to rescue ourselves from the water.

We can't go and help somebody else if we can barely survive on our own and are almost drowning. So it's not complicated. God truly cares what we do and how we obey Him.

It tells us there in Ezekiel 43 through 45 that when Christ comes back, it shows He's going to be in His temple.

And He says they're going to be keeping the feasts of God. Notice in Ezekiel 43, as we begin to conclude, Ezekiel 43, this is a wonderful vision of Christ coming back, establishing His kingdom.

It says in Ezekiel 43, 1 through 2, it says, And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters and the earth shone with His glory.

Here's Jesus Christ coming back in glory and majesty. And then he says, verse 7, And He said to me, Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of my souls, of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever.

And what's He going to do in chapter 45, in verse 21?

It says, And in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall observe the Passover.

So Christ is telling us. That's what He's going to be doing.

And then there will be a feast of seven days, unleavened bread shall be eaten. That's what we're doing today.

And it says, on verse 25, And the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the feast, He shall do likewise for seven days.

And so we have the past, we have the present, and we have the future.

And these feasts of God have been predetermined before the existence of mankind, and they are predetermined to follow through until the end.

So I'd like to end with the Scripture in Luke 12, verse 32. I'll go ahead and read it, because it's so touching, so important. Christ said, Do not fear little flock. We're a little flock. We're not powerful.

People are aging. We've got a new generation coming up. They have to take the baton.

They have to continue contending for the faith once given to the saints.

Do not fear little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. That's what God wants to give us all. Happy first day of Unleavened Bread.