Preparing for the Spring Holy Days

Brother, we have a joyful, happy time of the year just ahead of us. The spring holy days are near. Spring has just arrived. The weather is beginning to warm. Flowers and blossoms are beginning to come out. It's a beautiful time of the year just ahead, and it is the time of the spring holy days. Did you know that the sacred calendar this year has an extra month? It has 13 months. Last year, the Passover came early, around March 25th. But this year, the Passover comes on Monday, May 14th. Of course, it's observed the evening before on Sunday night, April the 13th.

But this year has an extra month, a 13th month. Seven years out of 19, the Hebrew calendar has an extra month, a 13th month, in order to keep the solar and the lunar calendars in conjunction with each other. Today, we're going to be discussing a little bit more about the calendar later on. But we have a lot of ground we'd like to cover. We'd like to prove, first of all, that the holy days are to be kept by Christians today, and also to look at the calendar and know that we can have full confidence that the calendar we are using is the one God wants us to use, showing us when to keep His holy days. We want to also bring out briefly how the holy days picture a marvelous plan of salvation and how God is working out His purpose. And then, last of all, I'd like to zero in a bit on the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because these are the two holy days that are just around the corner. Well, first of all, let's ask ourselves the question, or let's ask you the question, if somebody were to say, can you prove to me that I should be keeping the biblical holy days today? Could you do it? Could you turn to verses in the Bible? Where would you turn? Let's briefly go back and review some of those verses that you would want to be sure to include. First of all, you could go back to the Old Testament. You could even go to that one chapter that has all of God's holy days, and that is Leviticus 23. This chapter also has, in the first few verses, instructions about the weekly Sabbath. But we will not go back to Leviticus 23, where all seven of the holy days are found. Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, and Last Great Day. Let's come on forward to the New Testament. We begin to find real proof that Christians ought to observe these holy days today. Because people that don't believe they should be observed think they are ceremonial. They think they were just like the sacrifices, things that would no longer be practiced by Christians. But just think, Jesus Christ, who sent us an example, kept the holy days. And you read about this in the Gospels. There are many, many chapters and verses in the Gospels showing that Jesus kept the Sabbath and He also kept the annual holy days. When He was 12 years old, His parents went up to Jerusalem and they kept the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And that's where they lost Jesus for a few days and came back and found Him in the temple.

Well, Jesus Christ observed the holy days. And in John 7, you'll find Him keeping the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day. That whole chapter is devoted to these two last holy days of the year. So Jesus Christ, who sent us an example that we should follow, kept the holy days. Already we have one proof then. Jesus kept the holy days. Number two, the early church also observed and kept the holy days. We will turn to some of these verses now. Let's turn to Acts, chapter 2 and verse 1. We'll just take a few minutes to go through some of these proofs in the Bible that we should be observing the biblical holy days. As we're turning there, I might just mention there's no mention in the Bible whatsoever of Christmas and Easter and the holidays of this world. The only mention would be that we should not get involved in these days that have their origin in ancient false religious worship. We just should not get involved in them at all. We should not try to make them Christian because you can't make something that is pagan and goes back to ancient traditions of man. You can't just take them and somehow make them Christian festivals or observances. Let's read now in Acts, chapter 2 and verse 1.

Now, when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. This is the day that God chose to begin the New Testament church, the church that Jesus said He would found. And so this festival began, appropriately began, on the day of Pentecost, which is the Feast of First Fruits. And that's exactly what the church is today. The church is a first fruits of the Spirit of God. So on this day, you can read all about it here in chapter 2. The church of God began in a very big way. Peter gave an inspired message, and people wonder what they should do about it. And he told them, repent and be baptized. And 3,000 people were baptized that very day and added to the 120 that already believed. So Pentecost then is one of God's festivals, and certainly the church here came together on that day. Let's go to Acts, chapter 12 and verse 1. Well, I should say the people of God came together and the church began on that day of Pentecost. In Acts, chapter 12 and verse 1, about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. Then he killed James, the brother of John, with a sword. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. And notice now, it was during the days of unleavened bread. So here many years after the church had started, we have the days of unleavened bread. In verse 4, when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover. Now, if you have a King James version of the Bible, it will say Easter, but the King James version is the only translation that translates this as Easter. And while they did that, I have no idea, because everywhere else, even they translated the same word as Passover. Passover appears many times in the New Testament. It's always pasha. And so here, it should be translated Passover like it is elsewhere. It certainly is not referring to Easter. But we have the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread mentioned here in Acts 12. Let's go to Acts 20, verse 6. So just quickly a review. I think most of us are very familiar with these verses, but these would be verses that you would want to turn to if somebody wanted you to prove that we should be keeping the Holy Days today. Acts 20, verse 6, We sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread.

So Paul and his party had kept the days of unleavened bread in Philippi, and after the festival, they sailed away to Troas. And notice also in verse 16, another Holy Day is referred to. Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hurrying to be at Jerusalem if possible on the day of Pentecost.

So another mention of Pentecost here in Acts 20. Let's go now to Acts 27, verse 9.

Acts 27, verse 9, When much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous, and Paul was on his way to Rome, where he would be in like a house imprisonment for a couple of years. Well, sailing was now dangerous because the fast, and it's capitalized in the New King James Version, the fast was already over. And so Paul warned about a coming disaster or shipwreck, which did happen. So the fast here is referring to the day of atonement. And my Bible even has a reference back to the day of atonement scriptures in Leviticus 16 and 23, and also in Numbers. And it says the day of atonement was late September or early October. That's in the New King James Version. So this is commonly recognized as being the day of atonement.

One of God's festivals that comes up in the fall of the year. So yes, the early church kept God's Holy Days. One other verse that is a strong proof would be 1 Corinthians 5 and verses 7 and 8.

1 Corinthians 5 verses 7 and 8. Therefore, purge out the old leaven. So what is this talking about? The Feast of Unleavened Bread. Purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us.

So this is concerning the Passover season, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And look at verse 8 now. Therefore, let us keep the feast. This could only be referring to the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven. Nowhere to put that out. Nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness. Where to put that out too. But with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And we are to take that in, the righteousness and the holiness of Almighty God. So brethren, there is a lot of proof for God's Holy Days. When you put Christmas and Easter on one side, in God's Holy Days, you come up with a blank on Christmas and Easter. No observance. Instead, God commands us not to observe things that come out of ancient false religious worship like that. And instead to keep His Holy Days and to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. So Jesus kept the Holy Days. The New Testament Church kept to the Holy Days. We could read other passages that add additional support, but we'll let that be it here. And then guess what? One additional proof is that in Zechariah 14 in the millennium, all nations that are going to come up to Jerusalem are going to worship and keep the Feast of Tabernacles. There's also some secular history that shows the early church continued to keep the Holy Days pass over. There was a big controversy, the Quartodeciman the 14th controversy, and maybe I can read those from the Encyclopedia Britannica and Eusebius' ecclesiastical history at a later time.

But Jesus kept the Holy Days. The early church kept the Holy Days. They will be observed in the world tomorrow. Yes, we should be observing them today. But you know the first 18-plus years of my life I was not even aware of the Holy Days. I've learned about them when I arrived at Ambassador College in 1958 and was encouraged to look in the Bible and prove the Holy Days for myself, which I did. It's not hard to do, and I've been keeping the Holy Days of God ever since.

Well, let's move on to the calendar now. Do we have the right calendar for the Holy Days? Let me just say that the calendar issue comes up from time to time. It came up when Mr. Armstrong was early in doing the work of God, I think even back in the 1930s, way, way back. And he did study into the calendar and concluded that we should use the Hebrew calendar, the calendar which has been preserved by the Jewish people, and that if their calendar is not correct, we just simply have no way we're lost as far as knowing when to observe God's Holy Days. But we're going to read some verses today that certainly show that we're not lost. God has not commanded us to keep Holy Days, and then we're not even sure when they come. We have doubts about when we should keep them. No, God has preserved knowledge, and there are verses in the Bible to support this which we'll get to in just a moment. The calendar is an interesting study. It's a complex issue, the calendar. And why is that? You know, a solar year, and that is the length of time it takes our planet, the earth, to make a journey around the sun. And on its way, because of its tilt toward the sun, we have what we call seasons of the year. But our earth makes a journey around the sun once every year. But guess how long that journey takes? A very irregular number as far as time. It takes 365 days. We know that. It takes five hours, so it's not 365 and a quarter exactly, is it? Five hours, 365 days, five hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds to make that journey. Isn't that a very odd and irregular number? It is. How are you going to build a calendar around that? And then the month. Take the lunar month as we, as our earth makes its journey around the sun every year. Guess what's happening with the earth and the moon? The moon is making a revolution around the earth once every month, what we call a month. A lunar month is also a very irregular figure. A lunar month is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 2.8 seconds. Isn't that very irregular as well? So the solar year and the lunar month are very irregular numbers. How are you going to construct a calendar on that? Of course, the Roman calendar has like an artificial year 365 and a quarter days normally, but then there are some adjustments that are made even to that. And then the month that we have, January, February, March, April, all that is artificial. It's not related to the new moon whatsoever. The Roman calendar months are just, it's an artificial calendar as far as the solar year and also the lunar year or lunar month. But 12 months of the 12 lunar months comes out to roughly 354 and one half days, just over. And so you see that falls short. And that's why the Hebrew calendar, seven years out of 19, will throw in a 13th month to make up that difference.

And so over a 19-year period, the calendar all works out. The solar year and the lunar year, it all works out just right. God's calendar works. And it is a lunar calendar, but it also takes into consideration the solar year by throwing in the extra month. So let's try to make it very simple. You know, this could be complex, but I want to make it simple to you and simple to me. The book of Genesis in the Bible reveals that there's a calendar in play. The God put the earth and the sun and the moon into motion and in their relationship to one another. Why, the patriarchs of old were familiar with a calendar. Noah, you read about the ark he built, and when the flood came, you will see that a calendar was in play. Certain days on certain months, certain things happened again and again and again. It's interesting. So there was a calendar, and Noah was very much aware of it. So must have been Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph. But guess what? The Israelites then were in slavery in Egypt, and it appears that at that time they lost the knowledge of the calendar, and God had to reveal it to them. Let's go to Exodus chapter 12 and verse 1. Exodus chapter 12 and verse 1. And this is a key verse because we believe that this is when God revealed the calendar to the Israelites when they were even yet in Egypt, and they were just ready to be set free with the Passover, the death of the firstborn here in Exodus chapter 12. But let us in verse 1 that the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. So God is revealing to the Israelites a calendar, and He says this month right here is to be the first month of the year. On the tenth day of this month, save a side of lamb. On the fourteenth day, kill that lamb. It will be the Passover day, and you will be spared from death when the firstborn are destroyed in the land of Egypt. So the Israelites, of course, did that. But here we then have indication that God revealed a calendar to ancient Israel.

Now, fast forward about 1,500 years from this time to the time of Jesus. When Jesus came, we find holy days, Passover in the New Testament church. We find the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We have the Feast of Tabernacles in Last Great Day, Pentecost. And there's no question. Jesus had no question, and the early church had no question as to when the holy days should be observed. So that calendar that God had given to Israel in Egypt had come on down to the New Testament time. And let's pick up some verses at this point then in the book of Acts. Acts, chapter 7. Now, this is very important because this is how we can make the calendar issue very simple. Do we have to try to figure out the calendar? Thankfully, no. With all those odd numbers that I gave a few minutes ago, no, God will figure it out for us. He revealed it to Israel. It has been preserved, but it's not been preserved by the 10 tribes. It's not been preserved by Ephraim and Manasseh. It's been preserved by the Jewish people. But we're going to notice that that's the way it's supposed to have been preserved. First of all, let's pick up here in Acts, chapter 7 and verse 37. This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren. He's talking about Jesus Christ would be then a prophet like Moses. Moses delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Jesus Christ saves us from our sins and our slavery to Satan and this evil world. So a prophet would be raised up and it goes on to say, "'Him you shall hear.'" Now verse 38, this is he, and it's talking about Moses. Notice he is not capitalized. This is he, Moses, who was in the congregation, in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai. We know that Moses did go up and that God did speak with him. And with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us. This is important at the end of verse 38. Moses then received living oracles to give to us and the us is the church.

So the Israelites were given the calendar and part of the living oracles would have been the calendar. How could it not be the calendar? We don't have any information in the Bible on exactly how to calculate and manage the calendar, but God gave it to the Israelites and it was given to them to be brought on down to us because we need a calendar if we are to know when to keep the Passover, when to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the other holy days. But as I mentioned just a moment ago, the 10 tribes, the lost tribes of Israel they're called, did not preserve the calendar or even their identity. But guess who did preserve their identity and they know who they are and who did preserve the Old Testament scriptures, which also are part of the living oracles, and did preserve the knowledge of the calendar. Well, let's turn to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3 and verse 1. I'll tell you what, God has committed to one of the tribes of Israel this job of preserving the living oracles that were given. In Romans chapter 3 and verse 1, what advantage then has the Jew? And what is the prophet of circumcision? So is there any advantage to being a Jew? The next verse he says there is much in every way. There is advantage to being a Jew. But what? Chiefly at the top of the list, because to them were committed the oracles of God. So those living oracles that God gave were committed to the Jewish people. These two verses prove it. And guess what? You go ask any Jew, are you really sure that the Sabbath, that seventh day in ancient times, is on Saturday? Oh yeah! We had a Jew that lived in our hometown where I was growing up in the eastern part of North Carolina and my father asked him, my father understood just a little bit about the Sabbath and when it was. So he asked this Jew, are you really sure that it's the same day as back in old times? Oh yeah! This Jew said our people have always kept the Sabbath. And you know, the Jewish people also have preserved the Old Testament Scriptures, the Holy Scriptures, the Hebrew Scriptures. They have preserved it generation after generation after generation. Nobody else has preserved the Old Testament Scriptures, but like the Jewish people have done.

And also, what about the calendar? You know, you can look at the calendar today. You can find various days that the Jews observe. You can find Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. You can find the Passover, though they actually have that on the 15th instead of the 14th. But still, there's not a calendar issue there. They know it's on the 15th. That's just what they believe that it should be. But Passover is actually on the 14th according to the Bible. We'll get some verses on that maybe later on. But the Jewish people have kept the living oracles of God that were given back at Mount Sinai. And that knowledge included the Scriptures, the Holy Bible, and that knowledge included the knowledge of the Sabbath and the Holy Days and the calendar for calculating when the Holy Days should be kept. The Jewish people have done that. Nobody else has. Nobody else even claims to. But look again at the last part of verse 2 here. To them were committed the oracles of God. You know, this means that somebody did the committing. And guess who that was? That was God. God has commissioned the Jewish people to keep the Holy Scriptures, the Old Testament Holy Scriptures, which they've done a marvelous job, and also the knowledge of the calendar. They have done it. God committed it to them. They've done it.

Brother, none of us, and anybody that comes along and wants to redo the calendar or maybe come up with some different ideas, which of course they're acting on their own authority, but no one else can say that generation after generation they looked over the shoulder of somebody who kept the calendar, therefore they know how it should be done. You know, none of us. We didn't look over the shoulder of anyone. Take the Old Testament Scriptures as they were being preserved generation by generation by the Jewish people. Did you look over their shoulders? Did anybody else today? No? But we have faith that they have faithfully preserved the Old Testament Scriptures. Faith that God committed to them. He looked over their shoulders and made sure that they've done it right, because we need we need scriptures that are truth and do not have error in them. And we also need a calendar also that has the right time to observe the Holy Days.

So we have no doubt whatsoever that this calendar that the Jewish people have had committed to them is the correct calendar to reckon the Holy Days.

Now, one other verse we could read is Matthew chapter 5, and here is just another verse that supports that God is saying to it that His Word and also the calendar, the knowledge of the calendar, have been faithfully preserved down through the years. That's Matthew chapter 5 and verse 17.

Do you think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets? You know, most people do. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

So Jesus didn't come to destroy God's law, as so many people believe, or the prophets.

Verse 18, You know, those little jots and tiddles were little punctuation marks that the Jews put beside their letters. Their letters are consonants only. And so they had those little jots and tiddles there to aid in pronunciation of the words. So Jesus said, not one of those little marks will vanish away or pass away until it is all fulfilled. So God has seen to it that His Word, the Bible, and also the knowledge of the calendar have been preserved. So, brethren, that makes it very simple to me.

I don't have to try to take all these numbers here. Solar year 365 days, five days, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds. And a lunar month is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 2.8 seconds. You know, God's made it easy for us. He has seen to it that someone is preserving the calendar, according to His will. You know, the Hebrew calendar is so accurate.

Here is a quote from a book by the title of The Essence of the Holy Days, Insight from the Jewish Sages by Abraham Yaakov Finkel, 1993, page 141. He said, the calculation of the calendar was transmitted to the sages in an unbroken chain going back to Moses. According to the ancient calculations, the exact time between one new moon and the next is 29 days, 12 hours, and 793 chelicum, or parts of an hour.

And it comes out to 29, a decimal figure, 29.53059 days. It is interesting that NASA, in their calculations, come out with exactly the same, as it goes on down to explain. So, it just shows again the accuracy that has been built into the calendar. But why should we marvel at that? All that NASA is doing is verifying what God has inspired to be preserved already.

So, we don't doubt that God has preserved the calendar and when we should be observing His holy days. So, we can put that one to rest. It's in good hands. God has seen to it. Just as all of the Scriptures, God inspired the Old Testament Scriptures to be preserved by the Jewish people. He inspired most of the manuscripts for the New Testament are Greek. So, God obviously used the Greek world to preserve the New Testament Scriptures. And God has faithfully done that. It's come right on down. We have here then the Word of God. It's amazing how closely the manuscripts, the major manuscripts, are the same when we go back and study them.

So, God has seen to it that we have the true Scriptures by which we are to live by every word of God and also we have the true calendar when we are to keep His holy days. Let me just say a word or two about the holy days. We have a very fine booklet with the title, God's Holy Day Plan, The Promise of Hope for All Mankind. It has a chapter on each of the seven holy days. Each of us should have a copy.

Hopefully even a hard copy. You can mark in it. Take some notes. Maybe use a marker for certain sections to highlight. And these holy days of God picture a marvelous plan. I hope we never get so close to the holy days that we begin to take them for granted.

Let's not ever let that happen. Let's marvel at them. Passover, the fantastic sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins. We want to dwell on that a whole lot more, even a little bit today and also next time as we get closer to the Passover. Then the Feast of Unleavened Bread. After our sins are forgiven, then we are to put away sin.

We are to begin to obey God's laws with the help of His Spirit. And so the Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures putting out leaven or sin from our lives. And then Pentecost, the third holy day, a firstfruits of the Spirit. That's a marvelous thing. God is just...most of the world is deceived today. God's allowed it. And yet God is calling a few to be in His church.

They're the firstfruits. And Pentecost pictures the firstfruits to receive the Spirit of God. And then coming forward to the fall of the year, the Feast of Trumpets. And Jesus Christ comes back at the seventh trumpet. So the Feast of Trumpets representing events leading up to and including the second coming of Christ.

Then the Day of Atonement, the whole world is going to come to be at one with God. How wonderful that will be. But I tell you, we need it, don't we? The world, the news in the world gets worse every day. Look at all that is happening.

And Satan will be bound, and the world will come to be at one with God. And it will be great Atonement. And then the Feast of Tabernacles, a joyful festival picture in the wonderful one thousand year reign of Christ and the saints. And then the last great day. What a wonderful bit of understanding that is. Those who have never understood will have an opportunity.

Everyone that's ever lived will have his opportunity to be in God's family. You know, we all wonder what's happened to this Malaysian airline flight. One day we'll find out. If we don't find out in this age, we will find out. And those people will have an opportunity to be in God's family. So that last great day of salvation is a wonderful bit of understanding.

So God in the end is going to have mercy on all. You know, one verse in the Bible says, this is Romans 11 in verse 32, that God has committed them all to disobedience.

Boy, you think about that. That's something that you can ponder. God has committed them all to disobedience. But the rest of the verse says that he might have mercy on all. So in the end, he's going to turn everything around and he's going to reveal the truth to everyone. But today, he has committed the world to disobedience so that ultimately he may have mercy on all.

So the Holy Days do picture a marvelous plan by which God will accomplish his purpose.

Well, today I'm not going to have time to get into all the questions on Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We'll be back in a couple of weeks before the Passover and we will cover more about more questions, such as even perhaps a little bit about, is the Passover on the 14th or the 15th? There has been controversy about that. And again, we can make it very simple. It's on the 14th, according to the Bible, and we'll bring out some verses that illustrate that. In the Old Testament, were the lambs killed at the beginning of the 14th? Or were they killed the afternoon of the 14th and then the meal eaten that night? Just when were the lambs killed in the Old Testament? We'll also bring that out. When should the New Testament Passover be kept?

And we'll cover that. Why should only baptized members take the Passover? Why not children? I've just been corresponding with someone from Africa who feels that children should be allowed to take the Passover. So I've had to come back several times explaining that no, a person should be baptized and should be spiritually circumcised before partaking of the Passover. We need to understand that. We'll read some verses on that as well.

In the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we also need to understand exactly what leaven is and that it is to be put out for seven days. Maybe a few comments about the night to be much observed would be in order because we do encourage getting together for food and fellowship on that evening.

And no doubt some other things about the Feast of Unleavened Bread that we can bring out.

But I've got about 15 to 20 minutes remaining in my sermon time this afternoon. I would like for us to look at things that will help us in preparing for the Passover. It's time to begin to get ready for taking that bread, taking that wine, representing the broken body and the shed blood of Christ. But what I'd like to do is to have us look at some of the Scriptures in the Old Testament that paved the way for the first coming of Christ. And the next time we'll probably read some of the verses in the New Testament. Before getting into some of those prophecies in the Old Testament, let me just mention that in the Old Testament God had, from the very beginning, had mankind to do animal sacrifices. And he himself killed an animal, and with the skin of the animal, he clothed Adam and Eve when he drove them out of the garden. And we find that Abel sacrificed of his sheep. He sacrificed to God. How did he know that he should sacrifice? They must have been instructed about it when you find that Noah also sacrificed animals. And after the flood, Abraham built altars and sacrificed animals. And so did Isaac and Jacob. How did they know that they should sacrifice animals? God must have instructed them to do that. Did they know that it represented a sacrifice to come into the future? A greater sacrifice? A much greater sacrifice?

Did they understand that? Maybe to some extent it's possible that they did. I don't think with the fullness of understanding we have now. But David did understand. He said in one place that sacrifice and offering you don't want, or else I give it to you. So, you know, they understood that there was something greater than just animal sacrifices. But God had them to do it. Of course, on the Passover night, he had the people themselves to make an animal sacrifice. They were to kill an animal and roast this lamb and then have a Passover meal. And then the blood from that lamb would cover them and they would not be killed that night. Then as God brought the Israelites into the land of promise, he set up a whole tribe, the tribe of Levi, to do sacrifices. And so those sacrifices were done systematically and regularly. There were sacrifices in the evening, every day, in the morning, every day. And then there were special sacrifices on the Sabbath and the high days. So all of these sacrifices were a type or looked ahead to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And so when John the Baptist saw Jesus walking, he told his disciples, behold the Lamb of God. Here's the sacrifices in the Old Testament. Here's the one they really represented, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. That's what John the Baptist said, John chapter 1. And so those sacrifices in the Old Testament were in a sense prophetic of a sacrifice that would come that would take away the sins of mankind. But not only did God have mankind to do animal sacrifices, but he gave amazing prophecies in the Old Testament. One verse in the New Testament says that even the prophets inquired and wondered about the things they wrote down, some of the things they must have scratched their head about. Let's read some of those prophecies because they looked forward from their perspective. They looked forward to the first coming of Christ. They looked forward to this coming sacrifice for the sins of mankind. Let's go to Psalm 22 to begin.

Just an excellent passage describing the suffering of Christ. Psalm 22, and we can begin in verse 1. Psalm 22 in verse 1. Words that Jesus Christ later would utter on the cross. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me and from the words of my groaning? So this was a prophecy of Jesus Christ crying out to God. Verse 6. But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people. Jesus Christ was despised. He was rejected. Crucify Him, they shouted. Crucify Him.

All those who see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip. They shake the head, saying, He trusted in the Lord. Let Him rescue Him. Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him. Yes, they mocked Jesus Christ as He was hanging up on the cross. In verse 12, many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of bass and was like enemies and bulls all around Him. They gape at me with their mouths as a raging and roaring lion. And what was Jesus Christ thinking? What was going through His mind? Verse 14. I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potcher, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws. You have brought me to the dust of death. And we even have the very thoughts, some of the thoughts, going through the mind of Christ. Verse 16. For dogs have surrounded me. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. Yes, they did when they crucified Him.

I can count all my bones, and the scourging and the beating that He went through, it exposed His bones. They look and stare at me. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. These are amazing prophecies written by David around a thousand years before it happened. David was inspired to write this down.

Around a thousand years before it even came to pass.

Let's go through some amazing prophecies in Isaiah. Isaiah 7 and verse 14.

Isaiah 7 and verse 14. Isaiah lived approximately 700 years before Christ would die. Isaiah 7 and verse 14. Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son. And whenever that virgin's name was Mary, and she did conceive, and she gave birth to Jesus Christ. She was the human parent of Christ, and God the Father was the spiritual parent through the power of the Holy Spirit. And some Mary who had never known a man gave birth, a virgin did give birth, and conceive and bear Jesus Christ. And shall call His name Emmanuel, which means God with us. And we read in John 1 and verse 14 that the Word was made flesh. And earlier in that chapter that the Word was God. So the Word was made flesh. It was God in God with us. God in the flesh. The very place of the ministry of Christ is given in chapter 9. Let's just read some of these prophecies. Some of them describe other aspects of His physical life. Here's His ministry coming out of Galilee, the great Galilean ministry. In Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 1, the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed as when at first he lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. And afterward more heavily oppressed her by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan in Galilee of the Gentiles. That's where Jesus would begin His ministry. In verse 2, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. This is used in Matthew 4 to refer to Jesus Christ at the beginning of His ministry and those miracles and the truth of the message that He was preaching. Even the very manner of ministry is described in Isaiah 42.

Isaiah 42. Did Jesus come with an overpowering personality? Did He get up on the street corners and get a big following and He was now ready to go conquer the world? Not at all.

No, Jesus did not come to conquer the world the first time. He ended up being killed by the world instead. Isaiah 42, verse 1, Behold, my servant, He's talking about Christ, whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon Him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out nor raise His voice. Jesus didn't. He will cause His voice to be heard in the street. It wasn't a powerful shouting out and trying to get a big following after Himself. Verse 3, A bruised reed, He will not break. He was so lowly and so gentle and so meek, A bruised reed, He will not break. And smoking flax, He will not quench. He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged till He has established justice in the earth. And that's going to happen after His Second Coming. But much of the verses 1-3 is talking about the type of ministry that Christ had. It was one of meekness and humility, not overpowering and conquering. Let's go to Isaiah 52 and 53. And, brethren, these are some verses I encourage all of us to ponder and meditate about in the days ahead. These are some of the richest verses in all of the Bible on the suffering of Jesus Christ at His First Coming and what His suffering accomplished. Isaiah 52 in verse 13, Behold, my servant shall deal prudently. Jesus Christ has dealt prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. He shall yet be exalted, yes. But now it gets to His First Coming, just as many were astonished at you. So His visage was marred more than any man, the scourging and the beating did that. His form more than the sons of men.

So shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths of Him. And what had not been told them they shall see, and what they had not heard they shall consider. That would yet happen also. Next chapter, verse 1, Who is believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness, and when we see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him.

He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him. And by His stripes we are healed. All we light sheep have gone astray. We've turned every one to His own way. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all, of all mankind, in fact. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted. Yet He opened, not His mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before its shearers is silent. So He opened, not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment. He was falsely arrested. And who shall declare His generation? Who He really was, no one. For He was cut off from the land of the living.

For the transgressions of my people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked, but with the rich at His death. He was hung between two evil people, but He was laid into the tomb of a rich person, with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord. And that would be the Father, God the Father, who gave His only Son. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He has put Him to grief when you make His soul an offering for sin. He shall see His seed. He shall prolong His days. And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand, because Jesus Christ was resurrected from the grave. He shall see the travail of His soul, the Father did, and be satisfied. By His knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, and this looks only ahead to His Second Coming, I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoiled with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death. And He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Isn't this a rich passage on the suffering of Jesus Christ, His coming, His death?

And this was written around 700 years before it even happened.

It's a prophecy about the coming of Christ and what He would do.

There's also a scripture that shows that Jesus Christ would be born in the city of Bethlehem. Let's read that in Micah, Chapter 5. Go into the Minor Prophets. We'll read just a few verses then. Micah, Chapter 5 and verse 2. And the New King James version even has here as a heading, the coming Messiah. Micah, Chapter 5 and verse 2. But you, Bethlehem, Ephrata, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old from everlasting. And so, you know, even in the time of Christ, they were wondering where some asked where would He be born, and it was told in Bethlehem that Jesus Christ would be born in Bethlehem. He was. Bethlehem is a small little village just south of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the big metropolis back at that time, and Bethlehem is just a very small little village, and yet that's where Jesus was born. And God so arranged it so that this registering of everybody, this census that was going on, people had to come back to their home city. So Joseph and Mary came down to Bethlehem, being at the lineage of David, and to register, and during that time they were there, Jesus was born. God arranged it so that He would be born to fulfill this prophecy. Let's notice in Zechariah some other prophecies, amazing prophecies that were made and were fulfilled when Jesus came the first time. Zechariah 9 and verse 9. Here's an amazing one. Zechariah chapter 9 and verse 9, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold your king is coming to you. He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey. What kind of king is this? On a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. Well, we know that this happened just before Jesus was crucified. He came into Jerusalem. People threw out palm branches, remember? And Jesus was riding on a donkey, a colt. He had sent His disciples to get a colt for Him to ride on. So Jesus arranged for this prophecy to be fulfilled. Now, many people think this happened on a Sunday, right? Palm Sunday. But it didn't. And we'll cover that next time as well. There's a lot of things next time I'd like to cover as well that will help us to get ready for the Passover. Let's read Zechariah chapter 11 and verse 12, something else that was to happen and did happen. Zechariah 11 and verse 12.

Then I said to them, If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages, if not refrain. So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. Well, that's exactly how much Judas Iscariot received when he betrayed Christ. Thirty pieces of silver.

And the Lord said to me, Throw it to the potter that princely price they set on me.

Sell out the Savior of mankind for thirty pieces of silver. That princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter. And Judas did come back and he tried to give the thirty pieces of silver to the Jewish religious leaders and they didn't want it. So he just threw it down on the temple floor and they went out and bought a field with it. So that prophecy was also fulfilled. Let's read also Chapter 12 here, verse 10. Zechariah 12 and verse 10. I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication. Of course, we know this is really looking forward to the millennium when this is going to happen. Then they will look on me whom they have pierced they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son and grieve for him as one grieves for a firstborn. And actually, Jesus Christ was pierced. You know, some people have felt that Jesus died of a broken heart. No! Jesus died when a spear of a Roman soldier was thrust into his stomach, his abdomen area, and out came water and blood, it says. Maybe some of these we can again read next time. We don't have time to get into this today, but you could also, in Daniel chapter 9, the 70 weeks prophecy. Are you familiar with that? We have a good article that you can study in case you are not right up on that, but the 70 weeks prophecy even foretold when to expect the Messiah. But after a certain number of days, a day representing a year, and from a decree to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, from that decree you could count forward. And the Jews were actually expecting the Messiah because of that prophecy in Daniel chapter 9, the 70 weeks prophecy. So that's something that we should study would take a bit more time.

Brother, these prophecies will help us to begin to get ready for the Passover. I want next time to read many other verses, many from the New Testament, and maybe get into the final days of the life of Jesus Christ and events that happened, many of these events fulfilling these prophecies that we read right here in the Old Testament. And we want to then begin ourselves just focusing on that sacrifice, and we want to study it. We want to pray and ask God to help us to be prepared. It's time to prepare for the Passover. Many verses in the New Testament that we can read and study about the sacrifice of Christ and our need for it. And we'll bring out some more of those next time. You can be discovering them for yourself. Some good reading would be our Holy Day booklet on God's Holy Day plan. Here it is. The chapters on the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread would be very, very good chapters to read. What about the most recent issue of the Good News magazine? It has several lead articles on Jesus Christ and His sacrifice. So you know we have many, many things that we can read. We can also do more praying and just thanking God for this sacrifice because without it we'd be without hope. There'd be no way we would have to pay for our own sins and we'd have no hope of life eternal in God's Kingdom. So let's be preparing for God's Holy Days and let's do some examination. In conclusion, let's read from 1 Corinthians 11. And these verses do encourage us to examine our hearts and minds. Make sure that we understand about the Passover. We have three weeks. We have ample time to do reading, studying, and meditating about the Passover. In 1 Corinthians 11, verse 23, For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you. So Paul had been given it by God that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you, this dew in remembrance of me. And we will do it on the Passover night in remembrance of Christ in his broken body. In verse 25, in the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This dew as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. Some people use that verse to say, Well, just do it any old time you want to.

But actually, Jesus died on the Passover day, and it is a memorial to his death on the day that he died. And the 14th day, the Passover day, just comes once a year. It's like a birthday. A birthday comes once a year. Well, the day of his death comes once a year. And as often as we then take the bread and the wine year by year, we do then picture and proclaim his death until he comes. But look at verse 27 now. Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Brethren, you can read earlier in this chapter, some of the people in Corinth were not taking the Passover in a right manner. And that's why Paul is having to write this. We want to make sure that we do take the Passover seriously and understand what it means, what it pictures. It goes on to say in verse 28, Let a man examine himself. And let us do that. Let's examine ourselves. Look at our hearts and minds. Confess our sins. God is righteous to forgive and cleanse us of our sins if we do admit and confess them. Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. So this Passover, let's keep preparing for it. And this Holy Day season, we'll talk about it more in the Sermon's Just Ahead. Let's determine to walk closer to God, to draw closer to Him, and to love Him because He truly first loved us.