Herbert W Armstrong

   So at this time of the year, I see a lot of things happening. I'm getting a lot of calls from individuals who are having problems, and it's because this time of the year, before each feast, prior to anything important that happens in your life, Satan is trying to distract you. If you do anything, if you're planning to be married within the church, Satan will do something to distract you. Not only Satan personally, I'm talking about his demons and just the society around us, but at this time they try to influence the areas around you. They want you, they want to upset you and get your mind off the things that are happening with the feasts coming up.

   How much have you prepared for the feast? For Trumpets? Atonement? For the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day? How much spiritual preparation have you done? Physical? Yeah, you know, you get your travelers checks, you're doing this, you're getting that set up, getting the car ready. But how about spiritual preparation? How much have you done? Just question yourself. Now, you don't have to raise your hands or cry out loud or run out. What you think about it? Have you done a lot of preparation? Have you really worked on it, or have you been worried about all the physical things happening around you?

   You know, that's the way Satan works. Satan likes to take whatever God has ordained and change it to something else, always keeping people's minds off of the things that God has ordained. If God says, "This is the way I want it," this way, Satan says, "Well, I got to do it this way," or he takes it so close to that and it veers off so that it takes away from what God wants. That's Satan's way of working. He's very subtle.

   There's an article here: "After Turmoil of the Sixties and Seventies, God and Religion Are Doing Well." Well, that's in this writer's opinion, of course, but in this newspaper talks about some of the things that are happening today in the United States. Now we're going into the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. We're going into the time of Trumpets and Atonement. Now does a newspaper concentrate on God's way and God's feast and things that God's doing? No. In fact, here's one section it's talking about Rosh Hashanah. It says, and this is from the Jewish congregations of the San Fernando Valley: "They wish you a happy and healthy New Year's Rosh Hashanah year 5742." Do you see where they've gotten a little bit off from God's feast?

   And then they have here quoted from the Ethics of the Father, two verse five: "Do not separate yourself from the community." Have you ever heard that? "Do not separate yourself from the community"? Say, go and do the things that the world does, stay with the world. And Mr. Armstrong has been talking about the Garden of Eden, you know, doing it either man's way, doing it Satan's way, or God's way. And that's what they're saying it, doing it the community's way. Is God in the community? I don't think so.

   So in this story about "The Survival in the Eighties," it says, "After years of debate over whether God is dead, the consensus for the 1980s is God is both—God and religion are doing well." I'm glad to hear that. Yet only about half of those in the community pray or attend services regularly. Some religious leaders even question the quality of this belief. That's what I want to talk about today—the quality of your belief of the feasts of God that God has ordained.

   They believe in God "as a celestial butler," complained Dennis Prager, director of the Brandeis Barden Institute in Simi Valley, where ethics and religion are taught to Jews of all ages. "Most Americans are believers of God and act as atheists—hearers of the word but not doers." Judaism and Christianity constitute a strong force after having endured tremendous change as well as persecution throughout the ages. Churches have responded at times with schisms, upheavals, and accommodations. They have accommodated whatever the problem was at the time, but they still offer worship of the same God under the same basic rulebook, the Bible.

   It goes on to explain: "The key to survival and growth of religion in our churches is for churches to become more personal, vibrant and dynamic," religious leaders suggest. Says, "Although the overwhelming majority of Americans believe in God, they disagree over how He should be worshiped and interpretation of holy laws." They disagree. They just can't come to an agreement. This dispute is evident in the debate over the growing attraction today of strict denominations. People are lining up behind certain groups because they believe this group is right and that group is wrong.

   Then it goes on, further on. It says Jones says religion cannot ignore what is happening in the world, political or otherwise. The extent of the involvement and how it affects the separation of church and state is still an unresolved issue in the United States. How much the church should be involved in politics, how much should it be involved in the way that the state is run and the way the world is run is under dispute. Says Jones believes religious institutes must join with the private sector to solve human problems—that neither can succeed alone. God can't make it without man, and man can't make it without God.

   So they're trying to change things in the world today, and they're trying to change it by involvement in the community or doing something different than another church does, or having their own particular interpretation of how to do things. Satan wants us to be involved in these types of things. He wants us to do the wrong works. He wants us to look here while God is working someplace else. He subtly tries to do that. He wants to turn us to something else.

   You know, grace in this world has become license. Works—the works of God—have become rituals. Instead of doing those things that are commanded by the law, they do the rituals, they do the ritual things of the laws, the going around the beads, bowing down before statuettes and pictures and statues. The gospel of the Kingdom has now become today almost universally a soul-saving gospel, isn't it? That's what they believe—that you have to be saved at this time. They don't understand that there is a time when the whole world will have their opportunity for salvation.

   Oh, wow. With ice in it too. I'm sorry about that. They want to save your soul now because they don't understand the purpose of the feast. They don't see the long-range plan that God has. So they're trying to save your soul now. Jesus, the powerful God has become an effeminate man in any picture that you see, any statue that you see. They portray God, Jesus Christ, as very effeminate with long hair, usually a beard and a mustache and a long flowing robe. Christ the King has become the babe in a manger. That's whenever you say "Christ," that's what people picture—this little baby there, very weak, that someone has to take care of it. The mother has to be there, the virgin mother, to take care of that baby.

   And then the feasts of God—talking about the church today—had become a vacation. Is your feast this year going to be a vacation, or are they going to be holy convocations? Are you going on vacation this year? I hope so. I hope that you have time for a vacation, but I hope it's not during the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. I hope that the Feast of Tabernacles will not be a vacation. It will be a time of great enriching your life, of taking more of the meat of God.

   Because you come once every week to Sabbath service to be fed the spiritual food. But you'll be there for eight days—eight days of really feasting on God's word. And that takes work. You just can't go there and sit there and fall asleep. You have to be there eating of that word. You have to work on it. You have to study, you have to pray. You have to prepare yourself now for the Feast of Tabernacles and for all the feasts.

   The feasts of God are holy convocations. Do you realize that? I'm sure that all of you do. But do you know why it's a holy convocation? Because He wants you there to teach you about the time when you will be there in the fulfillment of it. And how can you expect to be at the fulfillment of the feast of God when they are finally fulfilled in their reality, if you don't come to the feast during the time that pictures that fulfillment?

   In other words, if you miss the Feast of Trumpets this year, say, "Why, I really, you know, something's going on, something's happening. I, you know, I'm going out and I'm not really putting myself into this feast," and you're there in body but not in spirit. And then the next year there's less spirit and more body—gained a few pounds. Then the next year there's more spirit, there's less spirit, excuse me, and more body, and it goes on and on and on until eventually, when the true Feast of Trumpets comes, when Christ returns in His power, what happens? There's no spirit—all body—and you've lost out.

   Your attendance is not enough at the feasts of God. If you go and place your body in a hall where God tells you to be, and your mind and your heart and your spirit and your attitude are not there, right, proper, not participating with vigor and zeal and striving to grow from the spiritual food that is being given to you each feast, then you might as well not go. Because then you're wasting your time and you're wasting the church's time, and you're wasting the seat because there's much more to church attendance. There's much more to feast attendance than just showing up and sitting in a seat. There has to be so much work done by you.

   You're sitting here resting, this is the Sabbath day, correct? But you're working—your mind should be going. Your mind should be striving to get that meat. Your mind should be working to see what I'm saying and what's going on, where I'm going to, the direction I'm taking, what God's feasts are all about, what His plan is for you, how you can take it and put it to use in your life, and thinking about now, how can I make this feast better? How can I come out on a Feast of Trumpets and sit and listen and really get something from them?

   How about Atonement? How many have gone back and read the book on Pagan Holy Days, the Pagan Holiday Days, huh? Have you gone back and read that about God's Holy days and what they really are and what they really picture and studied it and taken the scripture and go back every year? You have to do that. You have to participate in each feast.

   Because to serve at the feast is to give to your fellow man, to your brothers, to go out there and to serve is a beautiful thing. That's part of the feast, not just sitting around and doing nothing and having a vacation, but working not only in serving but also in getting that knowledge and information you need from the feast.

   You know, the Jews went astray in this way. Let's go to John 7. Let's take a look at John 7. Christ went up to the one Feast of Tabernacles as prominently mentioned here in John 7. His disciples asked him about going up to the feast, and John 7 and verse 1, he says (John 7:1), "After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee, for he would not walk in Jewry." Many people today call us Jews. We're spiritual Jews, yes, but we're not Jews. We don't follow Moses' law. We follow God's law, but Christ would not walk in Jewry because the Jews sought to kill him.

   "Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand." Does that mean that God has said the Feast of Tabernacles are not to be kept? No, it was the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles. And the reason they went wrong is because they made it their Feast of Tabernacles, not God's Feast of Tabernacles in the way that they kept it.

   Over in verse 19, it explains this in John 7 and verse 19 (John 7:19). It says, "Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keep the law?" See, they don't, they didn't keep the law, not the way it was supposed to be kept, not the way that Christ had meant it to be kept, and God the Father had meant it to be kept. They kept a law, the laws that the Jews had made for themselves because they didn't know, because God had not opened their mind and not placed His spirit in them. They did what they could at that time and they got went off and went astray. But you don't have that problem, do you? Not with God's spirit in you. You're keeping the feast in the right and the proper way.

   Verse 14 of the same chapter (in John 7:14), when Jesus did get down and he kept the feast, he went down and he taught. He says in verse 14, "Now about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up unto the temple and he taught." He tried to teach them something. And the Jews marveled saying, "How knows this man letters having never learned?" He wasn't degreed, he didn't have a PhD from UCLA. How could he teach?

   And he says, the reason why I'm so learned, the reason why when he taught everybody listen and he taught with authority, he says, because in verse 16, "Jesus answered them and said, 'My doctrine is not mine but him that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine,'" or the teachings, "'whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself.'" He says, "He that speaks of himself seeks his own glory, but he that seeks his glory"—or God's glory—"that sent Him, the same is true and no unrighteousness is in Him."

   And during the feast, that's what you should be seeking after—the teachings of God. That's part and parcel of the feast. Do you think that these verses right in here in this area talking about the feast, the Feast of Tabernacles, just so this is a good place to put it in? There's reasons for this. There's reasons for that. He's talking about a time of learning, a time of growing. Jesus Christ taught at the Feast of Tabernacles.

   And when you go to the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus Christ again will be teaching out of the Bible. It won't be him personally. It will be his spirit working on your mind through the ministry to feed you, to teach you to learn His doctrine, his will and his way. Not yours, not mine. Not the ministers will be speaking to you, but God's way.

   So let's prepare our minds now. It's a good time to start preparing for the feast. We have Trumpets coming up shortly. Let's start looking at the feast, what they mean and the purpose behind them. Okay? And making sure we understand what we are doing. You have to understand—you have to have it deeply inculcated into your mind. You have to set yourself up in a frame of mind and attitude of wanting to know about the feast of God and wanting to learn as much from that as possible.

   So let's go back to the very basics. Let's start out from the very basics back in Leviticus, Leviticus 23 in verse 2 (Leviticus 23:2). So some of the new people here, some have not celebrated the feast before and we've had quite a few baptisms within the last year or so and some of them will be baptized very shortly, not understanding exactly what the feasts are. Let's cover a few of the basics. Get yourself grounded in that and we'll look on to some of the more future fulfillment of the feast and what you should be looking for when you go to the Feast of Tabernacles this year.

   And when you go through all the feasts this year in Leviticus 23 and verse 2, it says, "Speak unto the Children of Israel and say unto them concerning the feast of the Jews." Is that what your Bible says? It says "the feast of the Eternal, the feast of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocation. Even these are my feasts." See, these are mine. He says, "Mine"—Jesus Christ, the Eternal, the Lord, the God of the Old Testament, who is the Jesus Christ of the New Testament says these are my feasts, not the Jews', not anybody else's. They're mine.

   He made them, he created them. When you create something, they're yours, aren't they? No one else has claim to it. He has the patent, he has patent number one in Washington DC. In fact, created Washington DC. So he's right there. He says these are my feasts.

   So let's go over. We have gone through the feast mentioned in the first part of this chapter over the feast of the chapter, uh verse 24 talking about the Feast of Trumpets. Soon to come. He says, this is one of my feasts. He says, "Speaking to the Children of Israel saying in the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall you have a Sabbath, a memorial of a blowing of trumpets, a memorial of the blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation." That means that you will come together, you will be there and God's presence will be there. That's what makes something holy. That's what sanctifies something. That's what sets it apart and makes it holy—is God's presence.

   He told Abraham when he came to the bush, "Take your shoes off, the ground you walk on are holy." Not because the ground was holy, but because God's presence was there. So he says there will be a blowing of the trumpets.

   Now, let's quickly take a look at just a little bit about what that means. Let's go back to I Corinthians 15. And it explains a little bit about that blowing of the trumpet. I Corinthians 15, known as the resurrection chapter. He's talking about a time in the future. I Corinthians 15, verse 21, he's talking about how death came into the world by one man and also will lead by one man. That death will be conquered.

   I Corinthians 15 and verse 21 he says (I Corinthians 15:21), "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead." So there is going to be a resurrection sometime in the future, isn't there? That hasn't happened yet. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits"—Christ has already been resurrected—"and then after him, afterwards, they that are Christ's at his coming."

   And when does Christ return? When does he return? Let's go over to verse 51 of the same chapter. He says, "Behold, I show you a mystery" in verse 51 (I Corinthians 15:51). "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed" from physical to spiritual. At a resurrection says "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last Trump—for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed." When that trumpet sounds, when we hear that last Trump and the trumpet shall sound, it says here, it's a promise that will be when Christ returns and that you will be changed. Hopefully, you will be changed at that point.

   So the Feast of Trumpets has a little bit more of an implication than just what it seems to have—a time of war. A sounding of the trumpet means war and that you will be changed and you will have a resurrection. I'll show you a little more on that further on in the sermon.

   Then after that comes the Day of Atonement, which is very rapidly approaching. Let's go back to Leviticus 23. You might want to put a little marker on Leviticus 23. We'll be coming back there quite often. Leviticus 23 verse 27 (Leviticus 23:27). Right after he talks about his Feast of Trumpets, he talks about his Day of Atonement.

   "So on the 10th day"—this is verse 27 of Leviticus 23—"It is also on the 10th day of the seventh month." This is 10 days after—this is 10 days after the first day of the month which was Trumpets, then the Atonement will come. "So there shall be a Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation unto you and you shall afflict your souls," which is a way of saying you shall not eat or drink for a 24-hour period. That means no mints, no chewing gum, no cough drops, no clove leaves, no beer—disappointing, isn't it? No, it's not because it's 24 hours of coming back close to God and washing away all your sins and getting back right next to Him where you're cleansed and you can prepare yourself and you picture something very beautiful and you also prepare yourself for the Feast of Tabernacles.

   Says "you shall afflict your soul and you offer an offering made by fire unto the Eternal." Of course, we don't make offerings today in that way. We do not have the sacrificial system. We have no need to because of Christ's sacrifice and that we don't have the Levitical priesthood. We don't have an altar in Jerusalem, but we do bring other offerings—offerings of our hand, the work that we do, offerings to God.

   "And you shall do no work in that same day for it is a Day of Atonement to make an atonement for you before the Eternal your God." See, it's an atonement for you, is to bring you back to God. Says, "For whatsoever soul it be that shall not afflict himself in that day, he shall be cut off from among his people." So you must fast on that day.

   He says, "And whosoever soul that does any work in that day, same day, that same soul shall be destroyed from among his people." Of course, there's some that have to prepare food for their children because young children would not be fasting on this day, or maybe even an unconverted mate that would not be fasting on this day. But you're not going to do any work in preparing food for yourself and your family except the very bare necessity. And you're going to take that time and you're going to study and you're going to pray and you're going to get back close to God and you're going to afflict your soul and then you're going to come to services and then you'll be fed there, fed with heavy spiritual meat that will carry you throughout the day.

   "You shall do no manner of work. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest and you shall afflict your souls"—fast—"in the ninth day of the month at even from then, even unto even shall you celebrate your Sabbath."

   Now, many of the outside churches use this to show that the Sabbath goes from even to even, those who keep the daily, the weekly Sabbath. But they don't keep this Sabbath. They don't keep the Day of Atonement. They use the scripture to prove something, but then they don't apply it to the scripture that the Sabbath day that it's talking about. But we know that that's not right. We know that we have to do that.

   So it's a time of fasting. Let's go back to Leviticus 16, and sometime prior to Atonement, Leviticus 16, you should sit down and read verses one through 34, Leviticus 16:1-34) and read about Atonement and what it means. And as far as what it was done on that day and the spiritual implications of that during this period of time on Atonement, we'll start off in verse six: "Aaron who was the high priest shall offer his bullock for the sin offering, which is for himself and make an atonement for himself and for his household."

   "Then he shall take two goats and present them before the Eternal at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation. Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat." One goat here represents Jesus Christ and the other one represents Satan.

   Says, "And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Eternal's lot fell and offer him for his sin offering" just as Jesus Christ was offered for you and for me as a sin offering. "But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Eternal to make an atonement with him and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness."

   The scape—the word scapegoat is probably not a very good translation of what that goat represents. It sounds like that's the term scapegoat today. I think it is somebody that has something put on them that really is not their responsibility. But if you understand Atonement, you understand Satan, that does not apply to him. He deserves everything he gets in this way. He deserves the sin of the world being put on him because he started that sin. He deserves being driven out into a wilderness because then he cannot make people unhappy. But I'll show you a little bit more about that in a few minutes.

   Then verse 15 says to "kill the goat of the sin offering is for the people." See that goat offering is for the people. "And you bring the blood within the veil"—the veil that separated the temple from the holy and the Holy of Holies. He says, "And you do so with the blood as he did with the blood of the bullock and you sprinkle it upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat."

   That word mercy seat, is also translated the seat of propitiation. Or you can say that that is the atonement seat, the seat where God, where Jesus Christ himself sat above that where his presence was there and that blood for the first time, his blood, Jesus Christ's blood allows us to go into the Holy of Holies.

   During this physical representation here, the only one that could go through and into that area was the high priest—that was once a year on Atonement. But what this high priest did, he made in verse 16, "He shall make an atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel and because of their transgressions in all their sins." That's you folks. That's me that they're talking about now.

   "And so shall he do for the Tabernacle of the congregation that remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. And there shall no man in the Tabernacle of the congregation when he goes in to make an atonement in the holy place until he come out and have made atonement for himself." This is Aaron making an atonement for himself, for his household and for all the congregation of Israel. That atonement when we go and we picture it here in a couple of weeks will be for us, specifically the house of Israel. And someday that atonement will be for everyone in the world, all the house of Israel and the Gentiles, everyone will have that same atonement.

   Down in verse 20, "And when he has made an end of reconciling the holy place and the Tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, he shall now bring in the live goat," which is the scapegoat as it's called here. "Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of that live goat, confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions and all their sins, putting them upon the heads of the goat. And that shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into a wilderness."

   All the sins of Israel, everything that ever happened is taken and laid on this goat. He says, "And that goat shall bear upon him all the iniquities unto a land not inhabited and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness." That's what Atonement pictures—the atonement of the blood of Jesus Christ. That goat that was picked by God the Father as the goat that he wanted, who sacrificed himself so that the cleansing blood could be sprinkled on the mercy seat. And then in the final fulfillment, this other goat, this live goat that represents Satan will have all the sins of the world placed back on him. He started it. Why shouldn't he get it back? He's the one that caused it all. He's the one that brought about the sins of this world by his subtle ways and his, the way he did things. And so that will be all put back on him.

   Then after that is the Feast of Tabernacles. And let's go back to Leviticus 23 again, Leviticus 23 and back to verse 33 (Leviticus 23:33). Now "and the Eternal spoke to Moses saying, speaking to the Children of Israel saying the 15th day of the seventh month"—we're still back in the seventh month, the first day, then the 10th day, now the 15th day of that month—"shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days unto the Eternal."

   "Okay? On the first day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no servile work therein"—another Sabbath on that first day. Then over in verse 39 it says (Leviticus 23:39), "In the 15th day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of your land, you shall keep a feast unto the Eternal seven days. On the first day shall be a Sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath."

   "And you shall take you on the first day, the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of thick trees and willows of the brook. And you shall rejoice before the Eternal, your God, seven days." You'll take all these things—some of those could be fruits to eat, whatever, and also branches and so forth to build booths, temporary dwellings, and you shall keep it a feast unto the Eternal. It doesn't say anything about going on vacation. It doesn't say you will go someplace and enjoy yourself in a vacation. Says you will go and you will rejoice before the Eternal your God. It's a feast unto Him.

   It says, "It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths seven days"—temporary dwellings. "All that are Israelite born shall dwell in booths." If you have the spirit of God in you and that spirit is working in you, you are Israelite born, you are a spiritual Israelite, you are a spiritual Jew and you will do that. There's a requirement on you that you will do that. You'll go to a temporary dwelling and you'll dwell there before the Eternal your God.

   "That your generation may know"—this is the reason behind this—"that your generation, you may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt. I am the Eternal your God." He signed it right there. So he wrote this all to you to tell you what to do, then He signs it. He says, "I am the Eternal, your God." So you can't say, "Well, Moses said this, that Moses gave this." He didn't—it's not Moses' feast. It's not the feast of the Jews, it's God's feast. It's God's way of doing things.

   Then also in that is the Great White Throne Judgment Day. That last day, it says the eighth day up in verse 39, the last part of verse 39 says that "on the eighth day shall also be a Sabbath." And over in verse 36, "Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Eternal. But on the eighth day shall be a holy convocation unto you and you shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Eternal. It is a solemn assembly and you shall do no servile work therein."

   From this scripture, many of the Jews around Ezra's time knew that they must keep the Last Great Day, that they must do something because it says that you have to be there and it says it is a solemn assembly. So they really didn't understand what it pictured or what they were supposed to do. So they went and they stood around and they waited and they made it a solemn assembly. They stayed for hours, but they didn't know exactly what it pictured or what it was supposed to represent because they didn't know at that point, it wasn't open to their minds.

   The Feast of Tabernacles to most people—most of the Christians today, if you go in and you read commentaries on this, this is, "Well, they had this big harvest season and after the harvest season was over, then they had this big feast just to enjoy themselves and have a good time." And that's really the origin of this, you know, the Oktoberfest that the Germans have. I guess they just had that or just about this time of the year. They have an Oktoberfest and they go out and they drink a lot and they have these breads and whatever else they do. But that's not the reason behind it because, see, they don't understand the spiritual implication of what God is doing here.

   Christ tried to tell them that the Great White Throne Judgment Day, as I'll show you later on, is a time of judging. It's a time when God's spirit will be poured out upon all mankind—all mankind at that time will have God's spirit poured out on them. And then after a period of time, they will be judged.

   Let's go back to John 7 again, back to John 7 when he kept the Feast of Tabernacles. And then he also kept the Last Great Day. John 7 in verse 37 says (John 7:37), "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood up and cried, saying, 'If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living waters.'" But this spake he of the spirit—of the Holy Spirit, that's what he's talking about—"which they that believe on him shall receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified."

   And so he's talking about a time on the Last Great Day of anybody who comes to him will be given his spirit. That's the time when his spirit will be poured out on everybody. But before that time will come, what has to happen? He has to take the whole world and he has to take them and knock them down to make them see, this is the way to live because they don't want to live that way.

   He has to go out and virtually crush the whole world except for a few people and then start all over again to convert the world at the end time because they refuse to believe now. If you walked out to that street and you told the people the truth of the Days of Unleavened Bread, of the Passover—they believe that to an extent—Pentecost, to an extent, Trumpets, Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day, they laugh at you because they don't have God's Holy Spirit, because they can't see it, because they won't see it until they're brought to their knees.

   You know, there's something kind of funny here too down in verse 17. It says, "It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true." And the only way the people will believe God's way at this end time is how to be almost virtually crushed. And two witnesses will go out and tell them this is God's way. Two witnesses. You have to have two witnesses before you can condemn anybody. And God has sent out two witnesses and we will send out two witnesses before the world finally comes to its knees in righteousness. He has to have two witnesses against the world before he brings it down to its knees.

   And I've been telling you all along, haven't you seen it right here? These are my two witnesses that have been telling you all along that this is going to happen. In chapter 8, chapter 8 and verse 1 (John 8:1), it says, "Jesus went out unto the mount of Olives and early in the morning." Okay, this is still the Last Great Day. This is the next morning. It was still the Sabbath day. "And early in the morning, he came again to the temple and all the people sat down unto him and he sat down and he taught them."

   So what did he teach them the day before? He told them, "Come to me and you'll have living waters." He spoke about the Holy Spirit. Okay? And then the next day, what happens? Is there a woman taken in adultery? And it goes on and tells what happened there and he shows that he is a righteous judge. He judged her righteously. He looked into her heart. He knew exactly what her heart was. Where was the other guy? Where was the man that was in the same act with her? Did they bring him? No, they didn't. They were trying to trap him. But it shows that in that time and that Last Great Day will be a day of judgment.

   And then in verse 15, he says something and he's talking about that time when we as the saints will be with him, judging with him. Says, "Yet judge you judge after the flesh. But I judge no man. And yet if I judge, my judgment is true for I am not alone, but I am the Father that sent me." See, he could judge righteous judgment, but he didn't judge her at that point. See, he didn't judge her at that point. But in the Last Great Day, there will be judgment. That will be a day of judgment. There will be a time when God's spirit is poured out on everybody. And then, and then there will be a day of judgment.

   This is not the only day of salvation as many of the Christian religions teach today. "Well, if you don't accept Jesus now, that's it. You're going to hell and we'll never see you again." No, it's not that way because the truth of the Bible is not, is not that we are condemned. We will be judged. The judgment is on the house of God now. Judgment will be on the people of the world in the future and judgment will come out of this Book. And that's why you must study. You must know, you must understand the Bible because that's the rule by which you will be judged. That's why you have to stay close to it. That's why you have to study it. That's why when you go to the feast, when the minister speaks out of that Book, you listen and you work to learn more about it.

   You have to remember also—and I've mentioned this, I think, quite a few times—that the world's days that they have that they celebrate are always something looking back, always looking back. But God's holy days always look forward. They are prophetic to the world. And to us, Passover has not come to the majority of the world. It has for us. Pentecost has not come for the majority of the world, but it has for us. All of us have the Feast of Trumpets to look forward to. All of us are looking forward to that, that points to something that will happen in the future. It is a prophecy of the future and you have God's spirit to understand that prophecy.

   Let's go to John 16 in verse 13 (John 16:13). He says, "Howbeit"—this is John 16 and verse 13—"Howbeit when He, the spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth." So in other words, he'll help you to learn, he'll teach you, show you the way. "For He shall not speak of himself"—and that will be better translated "itself"—"but whatsoever it shall hear, that shall it speak and it will show you things to come."

   Now, that's the reason why you understand the feast of God and that's why the world does not understand the feast of God—because it's a prophecy and God's spirit in you to show you things to come. And you can understand the implications of the feast. And each year you keep the feast, you understand it deeper and you'll get more meaning out of it. And we, as human beings have to go back every year and rehearse it and rehearse it because if we didn't, if it was once every 10 years, about eight years into the cycle, we'd all disappear here. The goal is brought back up to you again—this is what you're shooting for. This is where you're going. This is the direction your life should be taken.

   So let's look at those days in their fulfillment now, okay? Because right now we keep those days and we're practicing those days and we're looking at those days, but all we're doing is we're going through physical motions trying to gain spiritually so that when the actual day comes, then we can actually participate in those days. Because once the Feast of Trumpets happens and occurs, then you'll be a participant. You'll not be sitting back and listening, you'll be active, active in doing something on those days.

   So let's go to the prophecy of the feast of God. Let's go to Revelation 19. Revelation 19. This is what should make you happy. This is what should make you rejoice, not what's happening in the world today, not the problems that you're having in your life, not the marital problems that you're having, not the problems you're having with your children. None of that should matter. Because you're looking to something way beyond that. You're looking to something so great and so spectacular that all those little things fade into the background and disappear.

   It says in Revelation 19 and verse 1 (Revelation 19:1), if you look and you break this up here—the chapter 19 talks about and describes the Feast of Trumpets, chapter 20 from verse 1 all the way through verse 3 talks about the Day of Atonement, and verse 4 and chapter 20 all the way over to verse 10 is the Feast of Tabernacles. And then verse 11 through 15 at the end of chapter 20 is the Last Great Day. That's a prophetic fulfillment.

   Let me go back to that again so you can write that down. I know many of you are writing and scribbling, getting out your crayons, trying to steal your crayons from your kids so you can write this down.

   Chapter 19, verses 1 through 21 talks about the Feast of Trumpets. Chapter 20, verse 1 through 3 is the Day of Atonement. Chapter 20, verses 4 through 10 is the Feast of Tabernacles. Chapter 20, verses 11 through 15 is the Last Great Day in fulfillment. And then you notice, after that chapters 21 and 22, everything is beautiful as the song says—from that point on everything is beautiful.

   Let's go back now to verse 1, chapter 19. Says that "After these things, I heard a great voice of much people"—actually, it says "of many in heaven saying Hallelujah." Now that word "hallelujah" is the uh, actually the same as "Hallelujah" in Hebrew, "Hallelujah" in Greek. And it means the same as "Praise the Lord."

   Now you'll notice today in many of the churches that has been overused, you know, "praise the Lord, praise Jesus." But we know that when it actually finally comes, it will be a lot different than just "praise the Lord" and just rote—I mean rote speaking. It will be something that really means something. It will come from the depths of the heart. "To salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God, for true and righteous are his judgments."

   Says, "For he has judged the great whore"—so he has to judge the great whore, that Babylonian system at this time—"which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, has avenged the blood of his servants at her hands." That Babylonian system has killed his sacred—not sacred, his sanctified and holy people, his saints. They are not sacred. None of us are sacred, only God is sacred himself. He shows that in this chapter. But he has taken, this system has taken and destroyed his saints, and he is going to avenge at that time.

   Then he said again, "Hallelujah," and "for her smoke rose up forever and ever"—the burning of this particular religion, this particular Babylonian system will burn with smoke forever and ever for a long time.

   "And four and twenty elders which are around God's throne and four beasts fell down and they worshiped God saying that sat on the throne saying amen. Hallelujah." Praise God, praise Jesus Christ, praise the Lord—only in the right way.

   So then a voice came out from the throne saying, "Praise our God, all ye his servants and ye that fear him, both small and great." And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thundering saying, "Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigns." This is going to be the day he reigns. This is going to be when he comes back in his full power and full glory. This is the time that's pictured by the Feast of Trumpets when Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords.

   It says, "Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him. For the marriage of the lamb is come and his wife has made herself ready." And how do you make yourself ready? Now, notice it says the lamb—see, the lamb is there ready for the marriage supper and the wife has made herself ready. You notice it's an active thing on the wife's part. It's an active thing on our part to make us ready. We cannot sit back and say, "Well, somebody else do it for me." We have to do it. We have to prepare ourselves for this marriage supper.

   That's what the feasts come in. That's where the Sabbath days come in. That's where the Bible studies come in. That's where the personal Bible studies and the fasting and the prayer and the meditation and working on ourselves and helping and changing ourselves with God's help. Soee, that's how you prepare yourself for this day. This day is just not going to come and you're just gonna sit back and wait for it. It's a free ride in. It won't happen. You must make yourself ready as the bride of Christ, you must prepare yourself.

   "And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white." And then there's a definition here—this fine linen that's clean and white says "this fine linen is the righteousness of the saints." Okay? Everybody that's righteous here, raise your hand, everybody except Frank Pinto. There's two answers to that question. None of us are righteous. We know that. And the only righteousness that we have is the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

   We are not righteous ourselves. We could never be righteous. It's just that cleansing of Jesus Christ is the only thing that justifies us. That's what it says here. The linen, the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints—in other words, cleansing yourself, getting yourself cleansed, going to God and asking for forgiveness, living the life that He wants you to live to the best of your ability. And where you fall short, you ask him for help. And then when that cleansing comes, then you have the fine white linen.

   "And he said unto me, 'Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the lamb.'" And he said unto me, "These are true sayings of God." This is something that's really going to come to pass. It's true. You know, sometimes we use words in society so much that they lose their meaning. And we say what's true today, everybody says, "Well, I know he's telling a lie." But when God says it's true, it's true. It's guaranteed, it's locked in, it's ironclad that this is going to happen.

   Then I—this is talking now about John. John fell at his feet to worship him, this angel that brought him the message. And he said unto me, "See thou do it not. I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus." In other words, don't worship me. I'm nothing. I'm this angel. You only worship God and Jesus Christ.

   He says, "For the testimony of Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy"—the spirit of prophecy, knowing what's happening in the future, that spirit being given to you that shows you what is to come. That's the testimony of Jesus Christ. And you know that by keeping the holy days and participating in the holy days and learning from the holy days and understanding what they mean.

   Says, "And I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war." Remember I told you the trumpet was a sound of war. He righteously can judge now and righteously make war because he knows he has to intervene at this point.

   "His eyes were as a flame of fire"—not a little baby in a crib someplace—his eyes are like flames of fire, "and on his head were many crowns and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood"—talking about a vesture, this outer garment dipped in blood—not his blood, not the sacrificial blood, but the blood of war. The blood that is splattered when you take a sword and you destroy someone, that type of blood.

   A time of war where Jesus Christ comes back with power and with might and with authority. It says the world must do it this way or they'll forever be unhappy so they have to do it this way. There is no choice in the matter.

   "And his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God."

   "And he has on his vesture and on his thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." If he is King of kings, then there must be other kings at this time. Who would that be? Those saints that are with him at that time? He is the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords. And this is the time that he sets up his government and he comes back and he sets up the way he wants it to be done—the right way. For the first time since the Garden of Eden, things will be run right in the world. No more crisis management in the world, it will be done right.

   And then it says in verse 17, "I saw an angel standing in the sun and he cried with a loud voice, saying to the fowls of heaven, and in verse 18, "that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses" and on and on.

   Then he said in verse 19, "And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army." And at this point, it says "the beast was taken and the false prophet that wrought miracles before him."

   Now, this false prophet will wrought miracles, will bring about great and wondrous signs so much so that it might even deceive the very elect to see him do all these things and wonder, "Hey, where does he get that power?" Unless you know about that, unless you understand where his power comes, you could be deceived.

   But he'll take that false prophet and the beast "which deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshipped his image. And these both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone"—better known in circles as Gehenna fire. He cast it into that lake of fire. "And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh."

   It's going to be a tough time coming, isn't it? It's going to be a rough time. It's going to be a time when the world is being shaken so much so that the whole world will almost be moved out of its position. And it may even be so completely shaken—all the world around. And then we have those who say, "Well, you know, Happy New Year, have a good new year," and they don't even realize what's coming, what's really going to happen during that time.

   Then after that time when Christ returns and he takes over the world and he becomes the King again of this world completely and utterly, then he starts to do something, he starts to work with the world. We'll be with him at this time. You'll be here doing these things. Don't think of this as something is happening in the future and you'll be standing back in a corner someplace watching—you'll be involved. This is you we're talking about now. When you make it into the Kingdom of God, this is something you'll have to do. And you've got to know it now and you've got to understand what's happening now. So when it happens, you don't sit there and say "What's going on?" You've got to know it now so that you can participate fully.

   "Says, I saw an angel come down from heaven having the keys of the bottomless pit"—or the abyss or the cavern—"and a great chain in his hand." And that chain signifies prison. "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years." They take Satan out at this point and they bind him for 1000 years and they cast him into a bottomless pit and they shut him up and they set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled. And after that, he must be loosed a little season.

   They lay hold of him like the Day of Atonement services say—they take this goat by the hand of a fit man and take him out to the wilderness and they leave him there. This is what happens to Satan. They take Satan with all the sins and they take him out and they put him into a wilderness where he'll have no influence on the world for 1000 years. But then after that 1000 years, he'll be loosed for a little season which I'm not sure exactly what that would be. I don't think anyone really definitely knows, but a little season—not too long.

   Then in verse 4, "I saw thrones and they that sat upon them, judgment was given unto them." You know who he's talking about, don't you? Put your name in there. Write your name down there. Because if you make it into the Kingdom of God, that will be you. "I saw thrones and they that sat upon them and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of them which were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands"—they had not received the mark upon their foreheads or in their hands—"and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."

   The Feast of Tabernacles pictures that 1000-year millennial reign. Says, "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection"—on such the second death has no power. Ah, first resurrection, second death. So there's much more to this than what appears. It's not just a case of living your life, dying, and that's it. There's a resurrection and there's a second death that all fits into God's plan.

   This is—but they "shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years." See, "Blessed and holy is he that has"—this is verse 6, I got off track here—"Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years." Put your name in there again.

   "And when the thousand years were expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison"—that chain that was talked about in verse 1. He says that "he shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea."

   So after this 1000 years is over, Satan will be loose for a little while and he'll try to stir up those in the four corners of the world, the orientals and so forth, to come down and to try and destroy. It says that they'll come down in verse 9, "And they went up on the breadth of the earth and compassed the camp of the saints about and the beloved city"—Jerusalem, of course.

   Now, when are the saints camped out? During the Feast of Tabernacles, right? That's when you're camped out, you're in this camp where you have these temporary dwellings. We'll be keeping the Feast of Tabernacles at this point. We'll still be keeping the Feast of Tabernacles during the millennium and all the way to near the end of the millennium. We'll still be keeping the Feast of Tabernacles and they'll come down and they'll try to destroy us. And you know who will fight for us? Not us at that time. In fact, we will be doing the fighting at that time.

   And what will happen is God will destroy them and "fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are"—that is better translated "were," where they were thrown—and back in chapter 19 in verse 20 where they were thrown, they are burned up by this time—where the beast and the false prophet were—"and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever."

   Satan is thrown into this pit, into this abyss, into this area to be tormented. Not because he can be killed, not because he can be hurt, but because he'll have no influence on everyone, on anyone in the world. So that must be a tremendously difficult thing for a being whose whole purpose in life is to control the world. And God takes him and puts him into an area where he has control over nobody, where he will be tormented day and night. And because of the perversion, because of the way he has become, he will be tormented simply by his own character.

   And that's why God does not allow anyone to go into the Kingdom of God unless they have developed that God-like character. And then the Last Great Day, then I saw—this is verse 11—"a great white throne and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened"—the books that list the names of those individuals and the acts of those individuals.

   "Another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works"—judged by the word of God, judged by the word of God and the word of God, judged by Jesus Christ and by the canon or the rule that He has given each and every one so that they can look at that and they can study it and they can learn that and that's how they're judged out of the book.

   "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works." And of course, we understand that the word hell here is just the same word as grave—that the grave gives up all the dead. And these were all judged according to their works. "And then death and hell"—the grave—"were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

   And that completes the holy day picture all the way down to what we'll be looking at. Then from that point on, in verses 20, chapter 21 and 22, it gives you a hint of the things to come. That after that point, the earth will be completely cleansed. And God the Father himself, it says in chapter 21 verse 3, God himself shall be with us at that point. So you must prepare yourself now. You must start now, you must get yourself spiritually oriented and get off the physical.

   Forget about the physical, start concentrating on the feast. Because what happens is if you're thinking physical, you're having all these problems, you get down, you get dejected, you get unhappy, you walk into service and you say "Hi, how are you doing?" to somebody, or they say it to you and you say "Fine" and you walk on and he said, "How are you doing?" Walk off because you're not thinking spiritual, you're thinking physical. Prepare yourself, get yourself ready. Spiritually work on being happy because God commands you in his feast to rejoice.

   You must rejoice. You have to, you have no choice if you want to spiritually prepare yourself and get ready, you must rejoice in them. And that means not worrying about if you're going to have enough money because God will provide it. That means not worrying about your accommodations because God will take care of that. That means not worrying about anything. Just prepare yourself spiritually.

   That's what has to happen. Let's go to Ecclesiastes 10. Ecclesiastes—that's right after Proverbs, just before the Song of Solomon. Ecclesiastes 10. I'll give you 20 minutes to get there. Someone said, "Ecclesiastes, is that in my Bible?" Everybody's either there or decided they're going to just fake it and pretend like they're there.

   Ecclesiastes 10, Ecclesiastes 10 it's right after Proverbs just before the Song of Soloman, Ecclesiastes 10, I'll give you 20 minutes to get there. Someone is saying is Ecclesiastes is that in my Bible? Everybody is either there or decided they're going to just fake it or pretend to be there. Ecclesiastes 10 and verse 19 (Ecclesiastes 10:19). It says, "A feast is made for laughter." A feast is made for laughter. That's what the feasts are made for. It's to bring for the first time, if you look at it, real joy to the world. A feast is made for laughter and you have to get in that attitude.

   Proverbs 15 and verse 15 (Proverbs 15:15), and I want to get you into that attitude, in that frame of mind now, as you go towards the feast to get yourself prepared, not worrying about the physical, but worrying about the spiritual. Proverbs 15 and verse 15 says, "All the days of the afflicted are evil, but he that is of a merry heart has a continual feast."

   Are you of a merry heart? Then if you are, you should be having a continual feast. You'll have that feast-like attitude all the time. You'll enjoy the feast this year. Now is the time to start to get that attitude, thinking about the spiritual things and what really is pictured by God's holy days, not the mundane things of life that we have to experience every day but something so great that it's almost impossible for our minds to understand. And in fact, without the spirit of God in us, we cannot understand them. And it is just a physical thing and it's an unhappy thing. It is just not, it's no fun and you can't rejoice in the feasts—and yet God commands you rejoice, rejoice in each and every one of those feast days. Have a wonderful time, be happy. You must be spiritual. There's no doubt about it. Physical is all death and destruction.

   Let's remember that the definition of a converted mind. Let's go to Romans 8. Romans 8 and take a look at the definition of a converted mind. This is gonna say something about the way you would conduct yourself at the feast and how you would live and the joy and the feast and the happiness that would come with keeping the feast properly. This is a definition of a converted mind. It says, "But they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit."

   That's the difference. If you mind the things of the flesh, the first thing that happens to you when you go to Squaw Valley, it's going to be miserable and you're gonna get upset and you're gonna get mad. Someone's gonna pass you on the road, you're gonna holler at them, they're gonna holler back at you, and then you're gonna find out they're a member of the Church of God. And then you're gonna find out you're a member of the Church of God and you'll be embarrassed and your whole feast goes downhill from there.

   And there'll be a lot of people that will go out and will serve day in and day out, serving as far as parking cars, ushering, passing out books, cleaning up the area around there—they'll be serving, really serving physically. But if their mind is on just that service and what that's doing, they've lost the purpose of the feast because if you're standing out there and the rain is pouring down and you're directing traffic—I'm giving you a hint about something there. Or maybe it's snowing on you and it's cold. You only brought your lightweight suits from Southern California. You have to really think about the spiritual things. So that's where it's at.

   We're coming to a time of feasting. We're talking about feasting in God's word, feasting in fellowship, feasting on fine foods, and feasting in the presence of God the Father and Jesus Christ. If you remember that everything you do, you are doing with God there, then you have a better chance to really truly rejoice in the feast of 1981. Remember everything you do in every way, no matter what it is during those feast days, God the Father and Jesus Christ are right there just like He is here now. And if you remember that in everything you do during the feast, because that whole eight days is sanctified, the Day of Atonement is sanctified, Feast of Trumpets is sanctified—if you remember that and you keep that in your mind, you'll have one of the greatest feasts that you've ever had. That's a guarantee. It's a guarantee.