Here we are on the Last Great Day.

 This is the last Holy Day in the rehearsal of God’s Plan of Salvation that lays out for mankind God’s plan of salvation.

 This is a day powerful in understanding God’s plan of salvation for mankind.  It is a day of great and deep meaning for those who ever lived and died not knowing the meaning of life and God’s purpose for them.

 For close to six thousand years, very few people have had a direct relationship with God.  Why is that?

 The simple answer is that mankind, beginning in the Garden of Eden, chose to not have a direct relationship with God.  Mankind made a choice to determine for himself how to live.

 A few of those who have desired to have a relationship with God have some of their stories recorded for us in Scripture.

 But there are billions and billions of individuals who have lived and died never knowing the meaning for life and God’s desire and purpose for creating mankind.

 Great and mighty civilizations have risen and fallen, mankind has achieved greatness on many physical levels – only to struggle with living in peace and harmony.

 Even of those who did have knowledge of God’s purpose for mankind, often had only a limited understanding.

In John chapter 4 we have an interesting story recorded for us.

 Christ was traveling through Samaria, and in the city of Sychar He encountered a woman drawing water from a well.

 He told her to give Him some water to drink, but the woman was taken aback by having a Jew even talk to her.

 The Samaritan’s were a foreign people living in the former lands of the Northern tribes of Israel.  They were not descendants of Israel even though they claimed to be.  They had mixed with some Israelites and blended their cultures and religions – and so the Jews to the south wanted nothing to do with them.

 Christ used this opportunity to illustrate part of God’s plan of salvation – if not the Samaritan woman then certainly to those who would read of the encounter later.
 Christ told her that if she understood Who it was who told her to give Him drink, she could have asked Him and He would have given her living water – water that would permanently satisfy her thirst.

 She didn’t comprehend what Christ was referencing, thinking only of physical water, but Christ explained that physical water doesn’t satisfy permanently, but the water He was offering would bring eternal life.

 She wanted that water!  Who wouldn’t?

Please turn with me to John 4 and we will pick up the story in verse 21.

John 4:21-24 – spirit and truth
 

The Jews who had the written words of the law and prophets were not focused on the spiritual aspects of the law.

 The Samaritans who had some enthusiasm for being religious were missing the truth in God’s law.

 God wants those who worship in both spirit and truth.

 The Samaritan woman understood enough to know that the Messiah would bring understanding to the people in teaching them of God’s purpose.  Christ let her know that He was that Messiah in verse 26.

This Samaritan woman is a type of the whole world.

 The whole world wants what God is offering – eternal life, peace, safety, living without struggling, happy families, etc. – but they don’t know how to receive it.

 

This day pictures the time when all of those who have never known God and His purpose, will have their first opportunity to know God and His purpose and will be invited to be in God’s family and to live His truth.

 Billions and billions of mankind have never had that opportunity – but they will.

Today we are going to consider from Scripture Why The Last Great Day Is Great.

Let’s begin today by doing a quick review of God’s Holy Days as given to us in Leviticus 23.

 What is very interesting in Leviticus 23 with the Holy Days is how those days are listed by their numerical month and day and then after that God gave each Feast a name.

Leviticus 23:3 – the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord

Leviticus 23:5 – the fourteenth day is the Passover

Leviticus 23:6 – the fifteenth day is the Feast of Unleavened Bread
 There were Holy convocations on the first day and the seventh day.

The third Holy Day comes next.
Leviticus 23:9-22 – The Feast of Weeks
 Notice this Day is given a name but no numerical day or month is given – that’s because this Feast must be counted each year!

After the Feast of Weeks (or Pentecost as it is called in the NT) we move to the fall Holy Day season.

Leviticus 23:23-25 – the seventh month, on the first day of the month...a memorial of blowing of trumpets
 Followed 10 days later with the next Holy Day.

Leviticus 23:26-32 – the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement

Leviticus 23:33-36 – the fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord

 Why just seven days and not eight? We’ll come back to that question a little later.
 Notice that the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles is a holy convocation.

Leviticus 23:34-36 – on the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation

We are here today on this day.
 What is this Eighth Day?
 On the eighth day of what?  I see only one possible answer!
 The eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles!
 REF: verse 39. One Feast, two “Sabbath-rest’s.

What is a sacred assembly?

 The Hebrew word used for “sacred assembly” is atzereth (ats-a-‘rah). 

 The Soncino (Jewish) Commentary states this regarding Leviticus 23:36:

[The] “solemn assembly or ‘closing festival’. (Heb. Atzereth) the concluding day of the Festival season, applied to the seventh day of Passover (Deut. 16:8) and in Rabbinic literature (not Scripture), to the Feast of Weeks.”
 NOTE: Be careful with relying on Rabbinic teaching for understanding – Jesus Christ corrected the rabbi’s on more than one occasion!

 

Keil & Delitzsch comment on this word at the first place it is used, Leviticus 23:36
“Moreover, on the eighth day… the closing feast was to be observed in the same manner as the first day (vv. 34-36). The name, ‘feast of Tabernacles’ (booths), is to be explained from the fact, that the Israelites were to dwell in booths made of boughs for the seven days that this festival lasted (v. 42).

    Atzereth (ats-a-rah) which is used in v. 36 and Num. 29:35 for the eighth day, which terminated the feast of Tabernacles, and in Deut. 16:8 for the seventh day of the feast of Mazzoth [U.B.], signifies the solemn close of a feast of several days . . . because the word is only applied to the last day of the feasts on Mazzoth and Tabernacles, and not to the first, although this was also kept with a national assembly and suspension of work. . . . The eighth day was rather the solemn close of the whole circle of yearly feasts, and therefore was appended to the close of the last of these feasts as the eighth day of the feast itself (see at Num. 28 seq.).”

So we see that the first place atzereth (ats-a-‘rah) is used it refers to the solemn close of God’s annual Feasts, the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles.

 

Nehemiah 8:14-18

 The Hebrews often used parallelism in their writings. 
 The Holman Bible Dictionary states: “In parallelism, two or three short lines stand in one of three relationships to one another: synonymous, antithetic, or synthetic.” 

 Note the synonymous parallelism in verse 18:
 a.“Also day by day, from the first day
 b. until the last day,  [only OT use of this term]
 c. he read from the Book of the Law of God.
 (First thought, three lines)

 a. “And they kept the feast seven days;
 b. and on the eighth day there was a sacred assembly,
 c. according to the prescribed manner.”
 (Second parallel thought, three lines)

 

Here in Nehemiah 8:18 the “last day” is in parallel with the “eighth day” which indicates they refer to the same day. 

 Nehemiah included the word atzereth (ats-a-‘rah) which indicates the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the solemn assembly which was also the close of God’s annual Feasts.

In the Old Testament, what we have called the LGD is most often referred to as “the eighth day.”  (Leviticus 23:36; Numbers 29:35; 2 Chronicles 7:8-10; Nehemiah 8:18).
 In those verses the Eighth Day is also designated as a “sacred assembly” or KJV “solemn assembly”

 Some think that if is called “the eighth day” in the Hebrew Bible that’s what we should call it today.

But there are other factors to consider.
 
What Does the Eighth Day Mean?
God revealed to Israel that the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles as His Holy Day—but He never told them what the Day meant!

 Israel understood, if imperfectly, what the other Holy Days referred to – but they were given no idea why they were told to keep the Eighth Day!

READ: Soncino Commentary, Leviticus 23:34: tabernacles. Heb. Succoth, lit. ‘booths’. In Exodus 23:16, it is called ‘the Feast of Ingathering’. In Rabbinic literature (not Scripture), it is known as ‘the Feast’, because, as the time of harvest, it would naturally be a period of rejoicing and holiday-making. It really consists of two groups: the first seven days, Tabernacles proper; and the eighth day, Atzeres [solemn assembly]. The seventh day of Tabernacles became in later times (not Scripture) an echo of the Day of Atonement and was known as Hoshanah Rabbah; and the second day of Atzeres [the Eighth Day] assumed the nature of a separate Festival under the name of Simchas Torah, Rejoicing in the Law, the day on which the annual reading of the Torah was completed and restart.

On verse 36 of Leviticus 23 they add: “Maimonides explains the purpose of this eighth day to be, ‘in order to complete our rejoicings, which cannot be perfect in booths, but in well-built homes.”

As I mentioned earlier, Jesus Christ clearly warned His disciples against relying on “Rabbinic sources.”

 Referring to the Pharisees He also told His disciples: Slide 28
Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch (Matthew 15:14).

 In Matthew 23 Christ referred to the scribes and Pharisees as “blind guides” twice (v16 & 24), “fools and blind” twice (v17 & 19) and “blind Pharisee” (v26).
 Why would any disciple of Jesus Christ seek understanding from those He specifically designated as “blind guides”?

We know that before Christ came, the knowledge of salvation was unavailable to almost all God’s servants.

 The children of Israel, as a group, never heard the Good News of the Kingdom of God!
 Jesus Christ was sent to proclaim that message!

Matthew 13:16-17 – righteous men desire to see what you see
2 Timothy 1:10 – Christ brought life

What Is The Timeline?
Ancient Israel was given many prophecies in the OT, but those prophecies seldom included a timeline of events.

 A timeline explains this event will happen and then that event will happen.
 There are some timelines, but relatively few.

 More often they’d mention “the latter days” but gave no indication of how events connected to each other.
 
God informed Israel of a coming judgment, but He didn’t say when.
Deuteronomy 32:35-43 – God will judge His people
 But when? He didn’t say!
Ezekiel 34:20-28 –
 Again, no details on the timing.
 As we’ll see, Jesus and His servant John changed that!

 The specific details of the coming judgment gradually unfold in the New Testament!

God used the Apostle John to record Christ’s teachings on the resurrections.
John 5:25-29 – the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God

Here we learn that the Father has given Jesus Christ the authority to execute judgment.
 This was not known or revealed before!

 We also learn that all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29and come forth.
 In Ezekiel 37 one might think only the children of Israel that would come up.
 Jesus informed us that everyone who ever lived will come up!

We also learn that there will be at least two resurrections: those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

 So those who have done good will come up and so will those who have done evil.
 We’re still not told when; but more information will follow!

After explaining Christ’s teaching on the resurrections in John 5, John then used the term “the last day” seven times.

1. John 6:39 – raise it up at the last day
 That’s the term Nehemiah used to indicate the Eighth Day of the Feast!
 Nehemiah also referred to it as the atzereth (ats-a-‘rah) the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the solemn close of God’s annual Feasts.

 Would the Jews of John’s day have thought when Jesus used the term “the last day”?

 Would they have thought the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles?

 

If they didn’t think that, what would they think the term the last day meant?
 The last time the sun will come up?
 The end of life on the planet??

 Or would they have thought of the atzereth (ats-a-‘rah) as the Eighth Day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the solemn close of God’s annual Feasts?

 Whatever the case, John didn’t explain the term.  He expected them to understand his usage.

 Let’s look at his next use of the term—the next verse!

2. John 6:40 – I will raise him up at the last day
 Jesus referred to having eternal life in connection with the last day.
 Those who see and believe in the Son will be raised up and given eternal life at the last day.

 We understand the Church will be raised up at Christ’s return to the earth which we connect with the Feast of Trumpets.
 But that’s only the First-fruits.  The really big harvest comes—as we will see—at the last day.

3. John 6:44 – I will raise him up at the last day
 In this age – this time period of God unfolding His Plan of Salvation – only those specifically called by the Father are invited to come to Jesus Christ.
 We know that the vast majority of people will be drawn to Jesus Christ at the resurrection of the last day.

4. John 6:54 – I will raise him up at the last day
 Those in whom Jesus Christ dwells through the Holy Spirit will be raised up at the last day.

 Today only those God calls into Church are given the Holy Spirit.
 But He will eventually call everyone who ever lived to salvation! (2 Peter 3:9)

5. John 7:37 – on the last day
 Christ was speaking of the Holy Spirit.
 Notice, John again used the term the last day. But here he referred to that great day of the feast.

 

After we look at the other two places John wrote of the last day, we’ll come back to John 7:37.

6. John 11:24 – he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day

7. John 12:48 – will judge him in the last day
 The coming judgment will be based on the teachings Jesus Christ brought from the Father.

 God’s servants understand that today; everyone else will be given that understanding later.

Notice that of the seven references, the first four mention the dead being raised from their graves at the last day.
 The sixth mentions rising again in the resurrection of the last day.
 The seventh mentions judgment taking place on those who are raised up in the last day.

I said the details of the judgment gradually unfold in the NT.

 Revelation 19:11-21 refers to events pictured by the Feast of Trumpets.
 Revelation 20:1-3 to events pictured by the Day of Atonement.
 Revelation 20:4-6 the Feast of Tabernacles.
 Revelation 20:11-13 the Last Great Day.

 Please notice that we only learn the specific timing of these events in the closing chapters of last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation!

 The other 11 Apostles and Paul never read the book of Revelation.  They never had this explanation given to them. 

 Only John, at the end of the first century A.D., “saw” the complete Bible.

 

Clearly the focus of six of John’s seven references to “the last day” is the resurrection of the dead;
 The first-fruits, relatively few, are raised at His return and an exponentially greater number will be raised “at the last day.”

 We have long known the second resurrection is the focus of the eighth day of the Feast.

Interestingly, the term “the eighth day” is never used in the New Testament.

Now let’s go back and further examine John 7:37, the fifth time John wrote of the last day.
John 7:37 – On the last day, that great day of the feast

 Notice, John again used the term the last day. But here he added that great day of the feast.
 The word great (megas) is used 195 times in the NT and 150 of them are translated great.
John 19:31 – “Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high [megas] day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.”

 

 John 7:37 is translated this way in the NIV: “On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.’”

In addition, we’ve just seen that day was the atzereth (ats-a-‘rah) the sacred assembly at the close of God’s seven annual Feasts, it seems especially clear what on the last day, that great day of the feast would have meant to the Jews of John’s day.
 But there’s, even more, we can learn from this verse.

We read John 6:44 earlier where it states that today, only those specifically drawn by the Father can come to Jesus Christ – “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

 But what Jesus taught on that Last Great Day in John 7 was different.

 Anticipating the fulfillment of that day He said: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.”

 Today, anyone cannot come to Jesus; only those who have been specifically drawn by the Father at this time can come to Him.

 But in the second resurrection, pictured by the Last Great Day, that restriction will be lifted.

Ezekiel 37:1-14, 21-36

 When Christ said He will bring Israel back, He didn’t mean just those who are alive at that time.

 He also meant those who died and are in the graves in those nations!

 Who knows how many millions that is—since they were removed from the land in 70 A.D.?

 And the Gentiles who will also be raised from the dead, when they’re converted will become, as Paul wrote, the Israel of God.

John 5:25 – “the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.”

 All who turn from their former sinful ways and begin to live by “the word that I have spoken” (John 12:48) will be welcomed into God’s everlasting Kingdom.

 At that time anyone who thirsts can come to Him!

 

The Last Great Day foreshadows something truly great!

 REF: Leviticus 23:42-43
 Why did God instruct Israel to dwell in temporary dwellings for seven days?
 Why not all eight days?

 

As the children of Israel dwelt in booths while God brought them out of Egypt, so today His first-fruits dwell in temporary physical bodies.

 Every human who ever lived has dwelt in a temporary dwelling: His or her body of flesh!

 Every human dwells in a temporary tabernacle of flesh.

 And in one sense, all humans live in Egypt!

 A country that did not know God or follow His ways.

 So starting with Abraham, He had to call each human being out of Egypt!

 They became strangers and pilgrims on the earth, being trained to become children in the everlasting Kingdom of God!

But when the LGD arrives, which will happen after Jesus Christ’s 1,000 year reign on the earth,

 God’s firstfruits will no longer be in bodies of flesh; at the last trumpe, they will be changed in the immortal and incorruptible children of God.

 And it seems likely that all those humans who will live during the Millennium will have also been granted eternal life before the second resurrection of the Eighth Day!

 So by the Eighth Day their existence will no longer be temporary!

 They’ll be living permanently in the everlasting Kingdom of God!

 

So Israel dwelt in booths for seven days; but when the Eighth Day arrives, those who served Him during the 7,000 years will be in permanent dwellings!

What makes the LGD great?
 The LGD day teaches God’s servants that all who have ever lived but not known the truth will be resurrected to be given the knowledge of salvation and the opportunity to enter the kingdom of God!

 As God said through Ezekiel: 13Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. 14I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,” says the Lord’” (Ezekiel 37:13-14).

 

No other religion or church has this knowledge that salvation is offered in this life.

 God has had a plan from the beginning. He had a vision of what would be accomplished.   He is creating a Godly family where He will be our God and we will all be his sons and daughters.

 God reveals in His Word that every human being who has ever lived will have the opportunity to see and know God, and all will have access to the Fountain of the Water of Life.

 Billions of  people who have never had chance to see God and know God and have a relationship with God will have that opportunity to drink freely of the spiritual waters of everlasting life.

 

That understanding is what makes the Last Great Day truly GREAT!