The Validity of God's Holy Days

Thank you, Mr. Boyan, for that beautiful message, put beautiful music, and so well done. If I have your permission, or I guess if I don't have your permission, I want to tell on you. Two weeks ago, when I was here and gave the sermon on peace, he had planned initially to do this song. And, of course, he didn't know what my subject was, that the sermon was going to be on peace, and it would have been so appropriate to have sung it that day, not knowing what I was going to speak on. Musical piece about peace and the sermon about peace, but it just might have been more peace than this congregation could handle at one time. But I just had to share that with you. Of course, it's such a beautiful piece, it doesn't matter when it's done, it's appropriate at any time that it's done. In the greater Church of God, across the various ones that make up the Church of God, between this point in time and trumpets, atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, all across this land, there will be any number of teachers and any number of bosses, employers, who will be presented with this kind of paper. Now, I just simply highlighted what it is.

Request for excused absence. You know, teachers will be told that, well, my child has to be out of school at certain times, and here's an excused absence. Now, talking about where it's already been resolved and taken care of in years past, there may not be a need. There's going to be any number of teachers that will get this, and of course, many of them will say, okay, and they'll get assignments up ahead of time for the kid to work on. And there'll be bosses that will be presented with this, you know, boss, sir, I've got to be going, be off these particular days, and here's an official form from my congregation, my church, showing, you know, that it is official.

It's just not me taking off, just, quote, have some time off. But when teachers are presented this, and when bosses are presented this, isn't it naturally logical for at least some of those teachers or some of those bosses as they look at this and it says holy days and festivals, feast of trumpets and atonement and feast of tabernacles and last great day, isn't it kind of natural for them to say, hmm, holy days, trumpets, atonement, why do you keep them?

You reckon any teacher has ever asked a parent that or an employee has ever been asked, why do you keep them? Well, sure they've been asked. I don't say everyone does it, but that would be, that would be my natural response. Okay, okay, I'll get the homework assignments up, but I'm just curious, why do you keep them? Now, I'm sure there have been various answers over the years, and obviously people need to use wisdom and discretion and answering, but there's probably been answers like, well, I've always done it. You see, I was born in this church, I grew up in this church, it's what my grandparents did, it's what my parents did, it's what I've always done. It's kind of a tradition for me. Some might answer it that way. There would be some that say, well, because God says to. And, you know, that's a good answer, obviously. God says to. Of course, they might say, well, God tells me something different. You get that. Or somebody might say, well, we keep these holidays because they picture God's plan of salvation for mankind.

And again, a good answer, and again, we have to use wisdom and discretion, and we could go on down with what possible answers might be. But I would ask us, why do we keep these Holy Days?

And I'm going to give you not the only answer to it, but I'm going to give you probably in one sense what's the most basic answer, or certainly one of the most basic answers there could be.

Here's why I keep them. Because they are God's Holy Days. The reason I'm here today on the Sabbath is because this is God's Sabbath. Like Nehemiah said, you have revealed to them your Holy Sabbath.

See, that's where you and I start from. We do it because it belongs to God, the Sabbath. We keep the Holy Days because they belong to God. They are God's Holy Days. I find it interesting that Mr. Armstrong and Mrs. initially, many, many, many years ago now, getting close to a century ago, they started out keeping the Holy Days not because they understood what they really pictured.

They started out keeping them because they saw God says, do it. They are God's Holy Days, and He says, do it. And we don't know really what they're all about, but we're supposed to keep them. So we'll start keeping them the best we know how. And they kept them as Sabbaths, as they were.

And then when God saw how serious they were to keep them, God began to open their minds to see how they lay out the plan of salvation. So because they are God's Holy Days. But if I say they are God's Holy Days, where is that proof? Where is the proof of that statement? Let me ask us. Is there a fundamental scripture or section of scripture that would literally support that and back that up that they are God's Holy Days? Does anybody want to venture a guess? We'll do this a little bit interactive today. Leviticus 23. Let's go there. And if you just memorize that Leviticus 23 is the Holy Day chapter. That's what it deals with. But let's notice right up front, right at the beginning of it, Leviticus 23 beginning in verses 1 through 4. Verse 1, The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them concerning the feasts of the Lord. Crucial point. Not of Moses, not of the Jews, not of Israel.

The feasts of the Lord. That the Lord is going to share with Israel. The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, holy convenings or assemblies. Even these are my feasts. I have the habit of taking certain words and highlighting them in God's Word to make them stand out because they're emphasized and I want them emphasized. He says, These are my feasts. It's almost like Moses, you make plain. They're not your feast. They're not your giving it to them. It's me. They're my feast. I'm sharing them with you. And in that sense, you own them too, just like we own them too. In that sense, God is sharing, but they're His feasts. Verse 4, These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their seasons. I skipped verse 3. I did it on purpose. I'm going back to it. God says to Moses to tell them, Israel, these are the feasts of the Lord. What feast starts the list off? Verse 3, Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath the rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work therein. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. And there's something that this bears out. Isn't it interesting that when God starts giving His feasts, the very first feast that starts off His list of feasts is the Sabbath. It's weekly. The others are annual, but the Sabbath leads them off. So I've got a point to make. Do it in question form.

Wouldn't they, these feasts that follow, the list starts off with the Sabbath.

Wouldn't they, those holy days, carry the same validity as the Sabbath? In other words, if the Sabbath has validity, if it still has validity, wouldn't those holy days also have validity? Don't they actually stand or fall together? How would you reach into Leviticus 23 and say, well, the Sabbath is still valid, but the holy days aren't? We're just going to split the list. We're just going to separate the Sabbath from them and keep it and let the others go, because there are those who will keep the Sabbath, but who say they don't have to keep the holy days. There are those who will sanction the Sabbath, promote it, and do their best to keep it, but who will not. I'm talking about even in the greater Church of God, you will find some who will keep the Sabbath, obviously, but who will not keep the holy days. But wouldn't they carry the same validity as the Sabbath? And if it still has validity, wouldn't they also? Don't they actually stand or fall together? Let's just look at the Sabbath for a moment. Let's just take time to look at it for a moment. We won't spend a lot of time with it, but I'll ask the question. When was it instituted? Again, somebody tell me, when was the Sabbath instituted? Creation, recreation week. What chapter and verse tells us? Old Testament, obviously. First book of the Bible, chapter 2. Genesis 2, verses 1 and 2. That's when the Sabbath was created. That's when God brought the Sabbath into being. He had what is actually recreation week, six days, and then he creates a seventh day and says, this is the Sabbath. Blessed, sanctified, blessed, he made holy the seventh day. So that's when the Sabbath was created. Now, let me ask this on the heels of that. Could the holy days have been instituted, been in the plans from the beginning, though they're not specifically mentioned in Scripture until later? Now, a lot of people who don't know better think that because they're mentioned in Leviticus 23 and they're codified there in covenant with Israel, that that's when they came into being. And that's not when they came into being. But just like God incorporated the Sabbath, which came into being at the beginning, he incorporated it with Israel in the covenant. He incorporated the holy days, but that's not when they began. We said that the holy days picture the plan of salvation and God's steps and stages of it. That being true before God ever created Adam and Eve, when the one we know of as the Father and the Son were making their plans to create the human race species for transcendental purposes, we well know. They thought things through, they planned, they even planned for one of them to come and die, the word, the logos, to come and die, if it should become necessary, which it probably would become. So if they were that far thinking and they were planning a way for there to be a sacrifice for sin and an opportunity to finish the purpose, wouldn't they also have planned out their plan of salvation and steps and stages?

Absolutely. Is there a hint of that anywhere? Well, back there in Leviticus, and I haven't turned from there, I'm still there actually, in verses 1 through 4 here, you have the word feasts. And specifically in verse 4 where it says, these are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations which you shall proclaim in their, in their, the holy day seasons, in their seasons. These two words feasts and seasons, in verse 4 for instance, are the exact same Hebrew word. If you looked in Strong's, it's number 4150, 4-1-5-0. Moed, you can look it up, but let me give you the definition of it. This is how that Hebrew word that's translated feasts and seasons is defined. Properly an appointment, that is a fixed time or season, specifically a festival, conventionally a year, by implication an assembly, as convened for a definite purpose. Technically, the congregation, by extension the place of meeting, also a signal, as appointed beforehand, appointed, signed, timed, place of solemn, assembly, congregation, you get the point. You can highlight certain words and they're like an appointment. See, we're here today because this is an appointment. We have an appointment with God. God has given us a sabbatical appointment to convene holy convocation before him on the seventh day, and that's what we're doing.

This says an appointment that is a fixed time, and the Sabbath, for instance, is a fixed time.

It doesn't bounce around from the third day to the fifth day to the seventh day occasionally to the sixth day. It is a fixed time. It's the seventh day, and the weekly cycle has never been lost. This says a festival, an assembly. So when you look at the meaning of those words there in the Hebrew, and then you go back to Genesis, and I'm going to go to Genesis 1. In Genesis 1 and verse 14, where God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years.

Signs, seasons, days, years. The word seasons here is the same exact word as Leviticus 23. It's 41-50.

The same exact word for seasons here is what we find in Leviticus 23. And it says, in verse 15, let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and it was so. And God made, or in the Hebrew, had made. And without getting off into it, and it would warrant a full sermon someday, we know that what we're dealing with with this week in which on the sixth day Adam and Eve were created, we know we're dealing with really recreation week. This is when God renewed the earth. That's when He remodeled it. This is when He made it habitable once again. We know this is not when the earth as a globe was created.

The earth is far older than 6,000 years. It could be as many as billions, because long before He created Adam and Eve, there was an angelic rebellion that destroyed this earth, the surface of it, and God had to renew it. But we can put that together from Scripture. That is all connectable in Scripture and supportive. But at this point in time, creating Adam and Eve, human beings, He's going to renew the planet and all of that. He had made two great lights. Of course, the greater light, the sun, to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars also. And He set them in the firmament. He set them. And that in verse 16, made, can also have to do with appointed. Verse 17, He set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. God simply arranged the tilt of the earth, the spin of the earth, the distance between the sun and the earth, the moon. He moved things around in the kind of positioning that would give us our 24-hour day. He created a seven-day week. The month is actually a lunar month. It's based on the moon, that particular cycle. And then there's the solar year of the orbit around the sun. And of course, we correlate the lunar months with the solar orbit of the earth going around the sun. And we understand all of that. But God placed everything in a way to create days and months and seasons and years. But you go to the beginning of recreation week there. On the seventh day, the Sabbath was instituted at the beginning. And you can prove it. All you've got to do is open your Bible and read it in Genesis 2, verses 1 and 2. You know, you read it. It's there. So there's no question about it. People may say, well, you don't have to do it. You don't have to keep it. But they won't argue with what Genesis 2, verses 1 and 2 says. That's when it was created. That's when it was instituted. That can be proven. The Sabbath was kept by Jesus.

The apostles, the disciples, the early New Testament church. You can prove that. We've got the written record. There's no problem proving it. And the Sabbath will be kept in the world to come.

And that's provable from Scripture. In fact, there's a particular Scripture that states this. And does anybody know where it is? It's Old Testament. You've just been studying your Bible too much. Isaiah 66, 23. Let's go there. Isaiah 66 and verse 23. And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, because God's system is on a lunar basis, lunar minds. And again, we have to correlate that to the calendar that's based on the solar system. We understand that. It's not an issue, not a problem. But notice, and from one Sabbath to another. From one seventh day, because the only day of the week that is sanctioned in Scripture as the Sabbath is the seventh day.

So from one Sabbath or one seventh day to another Sabbath to another seventh day shall all flesh doesn't say all Jewish flesh or Israelites flesh. It says all flesh. Black, brown, red, yellow, white, Jewish, Israelites, Gentile, all flesh come to worship before me, says the Lord. So again, that's easily provable. Since that is the case with the Sabbath, why would that not be the case with the Holy Days as well? Because they are tied together in Leviticus 23. And they actually originated at the same time. Now again, you can go to the Bible. There's no problem proving that Jesus kept them. There's no problem proving that the Holy Days were kept by the apostles. No problem proving that it was kept by the New Testament church. That can be proven. And wouldn't there be scripture to prove that they also, by exact parallel, will be kept in the world to come?

So where would we go for proof that that which was kept in the past, that Jesus and the apostles and the church kept, is also going to continue to be kept and be kept in the future? Anybody want to hazard a guess? Except our scholar on the front row. I'm kidding. And if nobody else ventures, I'll have to call on him again. Zechariah, what chapter? Which means 14. Right on, Charles. Okay, Zechariah 14 and verses 16 through 19. Zechariah 14 verses 16 through 19. It shall come to pass that everyone that is left of all the nations which came up against Jerusalem, because Christ will return in time to stop annihilation of the earth, and there will be remnants of nations spared, which came up against Jerusalem, shall even go up. This will become the reality. Shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. You know, it's one of the wonderful things about Scripture and the way God has written the Bible. He may leave some things a little gray for us, but he puts enough of black and white and clear-cut and straightforward Scripture that has no wiggle room to it, that there is no wiggle room to it, and it also tells you what the parameters upon the vague or gray Scriptures are, which way they go. This is one of those that is very straightforward, that in the future the nations that remain, the remnants that remain, as they repopulate the earth at that time during the Millennial reign, they're going to practice keeping the Feast of Tabernacles. And what, verses 16, well if you read on down verses 17 through 19, it should be that, "...whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth," because it may take a little bit of time to, I might say catch on, but maybe a better way to put it, it might take a little bit of time for some peoples to realize how serious God is about His Holy Days, "...but who come not up to Jerusalem to worship the King and Lord a host, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up and come not that have no rain, there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen, that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles." There's going to be a consequence for not keeping the Holy Days. And this shall be punishment, the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. God's going to be serious about His Holy Days. Now, what we read in verse 16 comes in the aftermath of verse 9. Look at verse 9. "...And the Lord shall be king over all the earth, in that day shall there be one Lord in His name one." He becomes supreme ruler of the earth under the Father who sends Him back, and He institutes His Holy Days worldwide. But verse 9 comes on the hills of verse 4.

As a result, it's an aftermath reality of verse 4. "...And His feet shall stand in that day up on the Mount of Olives." He's going to come back. His feet are going to stand on the Mount of Olives. He's going to put down the warings and all of that, and He's going to become king over the earth, and He's going to see to it, even enforce it to be done, that the Holy Days are going to be kept. The validity of the Sabbath and the Holy Days stand together. They are tied together. They rise and they fall together. They sink or they swim together. You can't separate between them and say, oh, that doesn't matter anymore, but this does. No, if one matters, the other matters.

You can't separate them. The scriptural record bears out that their validity is past, present, and future. And in God's word and plans, they'll never fade away. They've never faded away, and they won't fade away. Now, again, I'll go back to something we're all very familiar with. Did Jesus keep them? Well, yeah. Of course, people will say, well, He had to. He was a Jew. He was born a Jew. He was born under the Old Covenant, the way they'll put it. He had to keep them. He didn't have a choice. But they won't deny the fact that He did keep them. And, of course, we don't have to go through all the scriptures. The scriptures are so plentiful that He did keep them.

And in people's minds, they don't realize maybe why He did, but He did keep them. And it was such a custom. If you notice with me in John 11. John 11 is the account of Lazarus being raised from the dead. The religious leaders know the jigs up. They cannot deny His power. From the time that Lazarus was resurrected and the undeniable proof of Lazarus himself had been dead four days, walking around alive, that's when they got totally 100 percent serious about how do we kill him.

How do we get him out of the way? And they even tried to figure out what do we do with Lazarus, because he's evidence and proof walking around. But just breaking into the thought here in verse 55, verse 55, And the Jews' Passover was nigh at hand, and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. Then they sought for Jesus, and they spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple. And they said, What do you think? That he will not come to the feast? I mean, question mark, that he won't come? Because they knew it was this custom to come. Now, both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment that if any man knew where he was, he should show it that they might take him. They knew he kept the feast. And people today, reading the Scripture, know that he kept the Holy Days. But again, they write it off that he only did it because he had to, because he was a Jew, and he had to satisfy that. I want to introduce another aspect. In Luke 22 and verse 15, we read this every year at Passover. We can read it other times of the year, like today. But we read Luke 22 and verse 15 at Passover. And that's where Jesus Christ makes this statement. And he said to them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. That Passover that he desired above all the others that he had eaten with him previous. This one he desired with a greater desire because this was going to be the last Old Testament Passover, which was a full meal, that he would eat with him.

From this night forward, the Old Testament Passover was not going to be necessary because on this night, after the meal was finished, he was going to take bread and wine, and he was going to institute the New Testament symbols of his body and blood. And that's why he desired this Passover. He was instituting the New Testament Passover of the New Covenant. So, I want you to think of something.

Passover in and of itself is not a holy day. It's the most solemn event and solemn occasion of the year. But let me put Passover this way. Passover is the springboard into the holy days.

Passover is the initiating point of the holy days. Passover is the beginning of this annual cycle because, and here's the main reason for that, without Passover and what it is in pictures, there would be no holy days. In other words, think of it this way. If the holy days picture the plan of salvation for mankind and there were no Passover, there was no sacrifice of Jesus Christ, there could be no plan of salvation. There is no plan of salvation because there's no salvation aside from Christ. Without a sacrifice for sin, without the covering blood of Christ, you can't have unleavened bread. You can't have cleansing. You can't have Pentecost. Pentecost pictures the pouring out of God's Spirit and creating the New Testament Church, which are the firstfruits from this age. But without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, there's no way to be cleansed of our sins. There's no way to be a clean vessel, and God will not put His Spirit in a dirty vessel. So without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, you can't have any of what the holy days picture and are all about. Why? You don't need trumpets. Why would Christ need to even come back? Mankind's a total lost cause. There's no salvation for anybody. Not for me, not for you, no one. Passover is central. It makes the whole plan, as pictured and laid out by the holy days, possible. And that's why God can have and does have a plan of salvation. And what those holy days picture are the steps and stages of that plan, and they answer the questions. And that whole plan does show God as all-powerful, all-merciful, all-loving. It does show that those attributes of His makeup are real.

That's what that plan pictures and bears out. And something else to bear in mind, and we don't need to turn to these scriptures. You're familiar with them, but I think it's good to verbalize them. Malachi 3.6. Malachi 3.6. For I am the Lord. I change not. You know, you think about it.

How much trust in God, how much confidence in God could we have if God's values were changeable, if His righteousness was changeable, if His character was changeable? But to know that we serve a God whose values and standards and righteousness and love and nature and character and whatever words you want to put on it stays the same forever. Can't change. Doesn't change.

Malachi 3.6. I am the Lord. I change not. Hebrews 13.8. New Testament. Jesus Christ. The same.

He doesn't change. And all the things that matter, there's no change. The same. Yesterday, today, and forever. Confidence that that gives. And again, when you deal with the issues of the Sabbath and the Holy Days, and I'm talking more specifically about the Holy Days today, their purpose has never changed. And the fact that they are holy time has never changed. So what about His followers then and now? There's a scripture in 1 Corinthians 11 and 1. Again, it'll ring our bell because we're very familiar with it in the words of Paul. But there in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 1, Paul said, Be you followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

Now, some people would say, well, yeah, that makes sense. Paul is telling the Corinthians in the letter to be following Him as He follows Christ. You know, Christ was a good person, obviously, and He went around doing good and all of that. And Paul tried to be a good person and go around doing good. And so that's what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to try to be a good person and go around doing good. And as far as that goes, that's fine. But that's not enough. That's not as far as it goes. It doesn't go far enough. Because if Paul said, Be you followers of me, as I also am of Christ, I'll ask the question, Did He keep the Holy Days? Did Paul keep the Holy Days? Well, if He did, they were supposed to follow Him in keeping the Holy Days. And again, are there any scriptures shedding light on this? Well, the book of Acts, we'll just look at two or three areas in the book of Acts, which simply are the events of the church. And these events take place over a number of years. We know that. But for instance, Acts 18 verse 21, here's Paul in Acts 18 and verse 21, it says, But He bade them farewell, saying, He's saying goodbye to them, and He says, I must by all means, if there's any way possible, if I can just make it happen, if there's any way I can make it happen, I must by all means keep this feast that comes in Jerusalem. If at all possible, I've got to be in Jerusalem to keep this feast that's coming up. I've got to be there. I want to be there. I want to keep this feast in Jerusalem. Acts 20 verse 6. Luke writing says about Paul and the company, he says, And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread. Why after the days of unleavened bread? Why sell away after? Why not sell away during? Or maybe even sell away right before them? Very simple answer. He sailed away after because he kept the days of unleavened bread there. He didn't want to sell away during. He wanted to keep the days of unleavened bread where he was because the days of unleavened bread meant something to him because he knew they meant something to God. Verse 16, it says, For he hastened.

He was in a hurry if it were possible for him to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.

And then Acts 27 verse 9, Now when much time was spent and when sailing was now dangerous because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them. The words, the fast, if you have a margin, your margin may say what mine does. That the fast was on the tenth day of the seventh month. If it doesn't have it listed there, and it may, you could write it in yourself sometime.

Leviticus 23 verses 27 and 29. Leviticus 23 verses 27 and 29. The day of atonement is the tenth day of the seventh month on God's calendar. So the word, the fast, they could just have written in their atonement. It's interesting how, as you flow through the book of Acts, it's interesting how the holy days are being used to mark time. They're being used to mark time.

Brethren, my maternal grandfather began listening to Mr. Armstrong in the early 1940s.

I grew up with the holy days. All my life I've been involved with the holy days. I mark my years by the holy days. They are the signposts of my whole year. My years are built around the holy days, the spring holy days, the late spring, early summer holy day at Pentecost, the fall holy days. That's how I think. It's a cycle of time in my mind that drives my years.

What I have been doing because I grew up with it and long ago proved to me the validity of it, that's what they were doing. Now here's something that's interesting too, talking about Paul. I said, did Paul keep the holy days? If you go into the greater Christian community and whether you're dealing with the Protestant side or the Catholic side, but especially the Protestant side, although it's true of the Catholics also, there is no champion in their eyes. There is no champion next to Jesus Christ alongside Jesus Christ that stands taller than Paul. Peter doesn't stand as tall. James or John don't stand as tall. The biggest Protestant champion—now I'm talking about their perspective from their eyes next to Christ—is the Apostle Paul.

All you have to do is read their books, go to their seminaries, just go sit in their pulpits long enough, and it emerges after a while that Paul is their main champion because they kind of think, well, he brought the truth to light that all that kind of stuff is done away with.

Yet you read through Acts and you don't see Paul doing anything but keeping these holy days.

But let's take it a little bit further with him. Paul makes an interesting statement in Acts 18.6. You can jot it down. You don't have to turn back there. But in Acts 18 and verse 6, God had made it plain to him that his main arena of responsibility was going to be in the Gentile arena. Peter's main would be with Israel and the other apostles with Israel, but Paul's main arena would be the Gentile. It didn't mean Peter couldn't work with Gentiles. It didn't mean Paul couldn't work with Jews and Israelites. But there are main arenas of responsibility. Paul makes this statement in Acts 18 verse 6. He says, from henceforth, I go to the Gentiles. He was the main apostle to the Gentiles. He goes to the Gentiles. That's where he's going to spend most of his time. What did he teach them? And again, in light of the holy days. We have a very familiar and undeniable section of Scripture in his first letter to the Corinthians. He makes a very revealing statement in this first letter to the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Now, picture. Yes, there were some Jewish converts in the congregation at Corinth, but Corinth was a Gentile congregation. It was a congregation of Gentiles that had been converted to the truth. And look at what Paul is writing them, beginning in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 6. He says, look, brethren, you know, in so many words, your glorying is not good. Don't you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lot?

Purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that you may be a new lump as you are unleavened.

For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore, brethren, you Corinthian brethren, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Can you picture as the congregation is sitting there, and this letter is being read to them, that they start looking at each other and say, what in the world is Paul talking about? The feast? What feast? Leaven? There was no surprise.

And by the way, Paul, in what he wrote here, is what we do at the Feast of Unleavened Bread each year. We do analogy messages of drawing an analogy between physical leaven and spiritual leaven. And that's exactly what he's doing. He's doing an analogy. And he says, let us keep the feast to a Gentile congregation in the early to mid-fifties AD, twenty-something years after the church had begun. And then notice in this letter, Chapter 16, verse 8, as he's wrapping this letter up, he says, I will wait, I will tarry or wait at Ephesus until Pentecost. He's talking about these days as though they're common knowledge, which they were to the church. And that's just it, to the church, because they were part of the church. The Gentiles were brought in, became in God's sight spiritual Jews. They became, as Galatians 6, 16 calls the church, the Israel of God. Spiritual Israel. They're still a physical Israel, yes, but the church is a spiritual Israel of God. And that means that they were taught what the church knew and was being taught. What did Christ tell his disciples? You've got it there in Matthew 28, 20. In Matthew 28, 20, he told them. He told them to go forth. He says, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. Now, if you were God and your intention was to invalidate the Holy Days and to do away with them, and they wouldn't be binding anymore, why in the world would you pick a Holy Day to start your church on? You think about it. It wouldn't make a lick of sense.

Acts 2, 1, When the day of Pentecost had fully come, he chose the Holy Day of Pentecost, and we would say rightly so because we know what Pentecost pictures and why that's the Holy Day that God initiated the pouring out of his spirit, so to speak, and generating the firstfruits, generating the church. It makes sense to us because of all that we know and understand. But it wouldn't make sense if the Holy Days have no validity. He gave more veracity, more support, more underpinning and foundation to the Holy Days. And just as there remains the keeping of the Sabbath to the people of God, as Hebrews 4 and 9 bears out, so it is to with the Holy Days. And you think about, again, what they picture and their purpose, and when you look at what the Holy Days picture as picturing the plan of salvation, there are certain aspects that have been fulfilled. There are certain aspects that are in process of being fulfilled, but there's a whole bunch of it that hasn't been fulfilled yet, that is yet to be fulfilled, and we know that.

I would ask us, as we wrap this up, I would ask us, what do these days specifically mean to us? I mean, we understand them, and each year going through the cycle, we understand them, I think, more comprehensively and deeper. But what is our basic understanding of these various aspects of God's plan put together in His plan of salvation? How do we most relate to them? What really stands out, and each of us has to answer this for self, what really stands out to you? We get attached to them more and more as time goes on. What is your strongest personal attachment? What pulls your heart in more and more? Let me just give a real brief rundown of these holy days. Just real brief nutshell. Passover, which again is not a holy day in and of itself, but without the Passover, there could be no holy days. Without the Passover, there's no salvation. There's no reason to have a plan for something that can't be. There'd be no plan of salvation. But Passover, you know, it represents opportunity for life. It represents a way to be saved from oblivion, from the second death. Granted, a future, a parole, a pardon. And there are many messages that will deal with those kind of aspects and more. And then, because we have the Passover and we move into unleavened picturing putting sin out, becoming different, changing, a confirmation that we can be different, that we're not automatically stuck with the way we are, that we're cleansed in Christ and we make a battle against sin, you know, we fight to do what's within our power to be unleavened and to stay unleavened in Christ. And then you have Pentecost. And again, I'm just giving these in a nutshell.

Pentecost, that you're not going to have to do it on your own. You're going to have help. God won't do it all for you because then you'd build no character. But He knows how much help to give you if you're doing your part. We have a responsible part. And if we knew we had to do it on our own, we'd just give up and quit because we'd say, what's the use?

It's just, it's not workable. God says, no, you make the effort. You do. You do what's within your power. I'm there to support you. I'll add the strength, but you've got to give me something to add to because we're in a deal here where you've got to grow in character and all and overcome and all. But God pours out His Spirit. He gives us of His Spirit. And all of that makes us part of the New Testament Church.

It makes us first fruits. It gets us in training to be prepared for the kingdom of God. And then you've got trumpets. And Christ returns, and He begins to rule this world. He begins to put down all disease and plagues and wars and rebellions and begins to produce that peace. And you have atonement, where it wouldn't be much of a fun place with Christ here if He were allowing the devil to still run around. So the devil and his are bound, and He's reconciling the world to Himself. And peace and unity reigns. And of course, feast of tabernacles, you've got the whole world under God.

Zechariah 14.9, Jesus is Lord over all the earth. And then have the last great day, the eighth day, the final festival, when all of our loved ones, many dead and buried already, others that will yet in time die and be buried. But you've got all the billions of mankind who have lived in the past who haven't had a chance opportunity for forever. You've got all those billions. I remember one time I heard an interview with Dr.

Graham, and Dr. Graham was asked by the interviewer, he said, Dr. Graham, he said, what about all of these billions of people who have lived and lived before Christ, who had no say about where they were born and when they were born and, you know, what area or what not, and never even had a name to even know the name, had a chance to even know the name of Jesus, let alone what he, you know, taught, whatever. Where are they? Because, see, by Protestant doctrine, if you die unsaved, you're burning in hell forever.

And Dr. Billy Graham knew what he was being asked, but he also knew how unfair that makes God if he were to say, well, sorry, but all of those billions are simply burning in hell now. He wouldn't say that. He just said, I don't know, but I know God's fair. And maybe he knew more than he would let on. But, see, I do know because of the plan of salvation, I know the time will come when all those graves are going to be opened.

And those people who had to live and do during a time of Satan being the God of this world, they're going to come up at a time when Jesus Christ is the God of this world, when he's the Lord of the planet, and it's going to be a peaceful time, and it's going to be a prosperous time, and it's going to be a wonderful, glorious day of salvation for those people. And that's all entailed in the eighth day.

That's all entailed in God's plan. The hope, the confidence, the comfort that the holy days give, the hope they offer for mankind, even though mankind is not aware of that hope, but the hope is still there, and it will be brought about. And the answers are provided for it. The answers of God's love, the answer, you know, answering the questions about His love, His mercy, His all-powerful magnitude, and all of that. But here's a final thought I'll leave you with as far as the holy days, which are tied to the Sabbath, and you can't separate them.

The holy days, they too, are a necessary and unremovable part of the full gospel.