God’s Holy Day of Pentecost

Ronald Weinland

June 1, 2019

Well, I’m a little worn to a frazzle. I did turn 70 this past week on Thursday, and I’m going to blame that on to everything’s that happened today. But I left the house, I was so relaxed I just flat forgot about putting the suitcase in the car that carries the sound equipment and everything else. I had my computers, but they don’t do much good without the rest so I rushed back home to get the camera set up and came through the door and I thought, what in the world is going on because our alarm isn’t set. It’s generally set. So I thought, man, we even forgot to set the alarm today. Got in here and all of a sudden, I came around the corner and I hear these voices and I thought, what on earth? And here are the Harrell’s, Amanda is here from up in Toledo area, Anne is here, Hopkins, and then we had a couple more join us here as well. I was glad that Yuri did show up here to be able to help set this up so it’s all worked out.

But anyway, I hope I can switch gears here in a moment and get a little settled down because I’m still a little frazzled after all this running around. But we’re in the house and so far the internet is working fairly well. We’ve had a little bit of difficulty, but hopefully, it’ll go well.

Anyway, as I mentioned, we are rapidly approaching now this particular holy day that’s coming up that we’re going to be speaking on, I’m going to be speaking on today, and it is about Pentecost, obviously. I wanted to have one done here so that next week, so that next Saturday, next Sabbath everyone in New Zealand, Australia, and other areas of the world, and Europe, and so forth, will be able to have this particular sermon on the Sabbath. Then the one I give here next Sabbath, hopefully, we’ll be able to get that loaded up on time for you to have on Pentecost if everything runs smoothly with that one.

So anyway, we’re pressing ahead here for this particular season of the year.

We have now moved into, again, that second period of God’s annual Sabbaths. Obviously, the first period began with Passover season, with the first and seventh days of Unleavened Bread, and obviously, the two first holy days of the year. Then we come to the one that we’re headed toward next weekend. God instructs His people to be engaged in a specific counting of days from that first holy day period in order to know when to observe the third annual Sabbath of Pentecost. So Pentecost, as we know, is the name given to, or I should say, even by God’s Church, basically, in the New Testament. In the Old Testament it’s referred to oftentimes in different ways – primarily as the Feast of Weeks. We also refer to it as the Feast of Firstfruits.

So this sermon today is entitled God’s Holy Day of Pentecost, and we’re going to go back and look at the basic instruction we do every year. God’s ministry is commanded to do just that, to discuss this particular holy day in this holy day season, and so that’s what we’re going to do at this time.

So if you want to turn over to Leviticus 23 we’ll begin there. All the holy days then obviously we do go to, as a whole, Leviticus 23 at some point to discuss some of this, what God set aside and gave to us as appointed times that we’re to keep with Him and with His Son.

In Leviticus 23:5 it says, In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Eternal’s Passover. Again, just so simple if everyone would just take it for exactly what it says. It’s in the fourteenth day. It isn’t in any other. If people in times past, even after the Apostasy and before the Apostasy would just acknowledge what God is saying it can’t be in any other day. Even the simplicity of what it says here about “at even,” because this is a unique word used only a couple of times in the Bible. It’s “bane ha erebyim” which just simply means “between the two evenings.” Every Sabbath, I shouldn’t say Sabbaths, but every Sabbath in this particular case, but every day is counted between a sunset and a sunset and Sabbaths are as well. We learn that very early on. From the sixth day of the week at sunset to the seventh day at sunset is one complete Sabbath.

Anyway, the same is true, what it says about the fourteenth here. It’s just making it very clear on that particular day, between the two evenings that define that day, is the Eternal’s Passover.

Then in verse 6 it goes on to say, And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Eternal. Seven days you must eat unleavened bread. I love the examples that are given in scripture like this that are really indeed simple, a clear, if you will. Just like with the number seven, it has so much meaning in it. Seven days for unleavened bread, a complete plan of God, because the number has to do with completeness. It’s just like when we’re called and we go through a process of coming out of sin, of becoming unleavened. We’re to strive to eat unleavened bread, obviously, on all seven days and not eat anything leaven, and the same thing is true in our calling. God has called us not to eat that which is leaven, not to partake of sin. We are to strive to be unleavened, so this process that works in our life becomes complete once God basically says, “Now I know you.” It’s an awesome thing we go through in the growth, in the process of growth that God has given to us.

Verse 7 it goes on to say, In the first day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall not do your servile (regular) work (labor) in it. We come to understand what that means, that there are certain things that we can do, there’s certain routines and food, taking care of ourselves, basic things of the house like making the bed, or whatever it might be, but it’s not a time of going through and completely cleaning the house if it hasn’t been done all week as far as vacuuming or dusting and washing of clothes and everything else that we might do at other days of the week. We don’t do that on the Sabbath. But normal things of a normal routine we do. This is what it’s saying. Also saying you don’t do, obviously, anything as far as your occupation is concerned, and so forth.

So these are things we learn through time and we become more grounded in them as time goes along. Even then there are times we question or examine things in our life to see if indeed we’re keeping the Sabbath in a way that’s pleasing to God and not letting down in that particular area, and then not becoming unbalanced on the other hand too, that there are things we can do that sometimes people haven’t. I don’t want to get into all that today because it isn’t about this particular sermon. But again, we learn balance. We grow and we learn what truly is unleavened and pleasing to God. That takes time to become sound minded, to grow in those things. God develops those things within us through the power of His holy spirit. He teaches us.

Verse 8 it goes on to say, But you shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Eternal seven days. So we come back to this thing of seven days. We’re to strive to eat, take into our lives that which is unleavened; not to partake of things that are leaven, sin, and the ways of this world and so forth, “lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.”

It says here also then that you’re to make an offering made by fire, if you will, or “give an offering made by fire unto the Eternal,” and this is a beautiful expression, too, “for seven days.” This shows that throughout our calling, until everything is complete, that this is a part of our life as well. We talk about going through trials, hardships, the fiery trials of life. It’s through those things, actually, that God molds and fashions so much more within us, because it’s through those periods of times that we have to make some of the greatest decisions, or some of the most important decisions in our life in the sense of becoming balanced, in the sense of saying in our spirit and in our mind, if you will—maybe “in our mind” is a better way of expressing it—but we are to examine ourselves, to look into our own thinking, why we’re making the choices and decisions we are, and there is that desire, or should be that desire then to be obedient to God, and in those times of trial oftentimes it brings people to a point of making a choice that they have never had to make. Obedience to God or not. Because oftentimes it could have to do with things like finances, jobs, and so forth, whether you work on a Sabbath or a holy day, or maybe part way into it. You might be tested in some of those things. On and on it goes. So those are the things that try us and we learn from that, we grow in that.

Verse 9—And the Eternal spoke to Moses, Speak to the children of Israel and tell them, When you have come into the land which I give to you... Now, we’re going to speak a lot about that during this particular season, in the next two sermons especially, because this is awesome what God said. If the Jewish people had just accepted what it said here they would understand more. They would have much more understanding of how God worked with them and what God actually gave to them later on. Even within the Church we would have greater understanding if we truly comprehended the importance of what God told them here in Leviticus.

So again here, The Eternal spoke to Moses and said, Speak to the children of Israel and tell them, When you have come into the land which I give to you and shall reap the harvest of it, then you shall bring a sheaf of/from the firstfruits (beginning). That word means “beginning” in this particular case, the beginning of your harvest unto the priest. So the beginning of the harvest was to be given unto the priests, and indeed, we understand what that means when it comes to firstfruits. It may have that intent, in that respect, as to other scriptures being put together with it, but it makes it clear here that of all these things that are brought together, this sheaf is to be brought unto the priest. This is what it’s about. Again here, the beginning of harvest. We’re going to talk a lot more about that because it all has meaning to it.

Verse 11—And he shall wave the sheaf before the Eternal. So this was something, again, done during the days of Unleavened Bread, this sheaf was brought forward and waved at a particular moment in time. The timing of these things, it all has meaning, which is inspiring when people accept what is being said here. So again, you shall wave the sheaf before the Eternal to be accepted for you. Again, when we understand that it’s about Joshua, when we understand it’s about the Christ, when we understand it’s about something that is being done for us, because it says here “to be accepted for you.”

...on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. So always on a Sunday. It’s always waved on a Sunday. Again, I’ll probably be going back and forth with some of this as we go through these next three sermons (including this one today). Again, all these things have awesome meaning.

On that day when you wave the sheaf you shall offer a male lamb of the first year that is without blemish for a burnt offering unto the Eternal. All these things have meaning. They represent something. Even “the male of the first year without blemish,” there are those examples over and over again. The lamb that they actually took for Passover, it was to be without blemish. God makes certain that we understand that what is offered to Him is, in that respect, the best. That’s what it’s about. It’s about a mindset. It’s about a way of thinking.

God teaches us those things through examples like this and all through the scripture. And on that day when you wave the sheaf you shall offer a male lamb of the first year that is without blemish for a burnt offering unto the Eternal.

It continues on then in verse 15. Let’s notice some very specific instruction that God gives for how we’re to know when then that Pentecost is to be observed. It says then, And you shall count unto you from the day after the Sabbath... So again, all these things are so clear, but I marvel when I read through these things how anyone in times past in God’s Church could become confused about how to do this, about what it’s covering, what is specific here in every detail. It’s a matter of accepting it for exactly what it says, and people haven’t. That may be hard to grasp and comprehend, but again, it’s a reality.

You shall count unto you from the day after the Sabbath, from the day, so it’s from a very specific day, that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. When was that? It was to be done on a Sunday, on the first day of the week during the days of Unleavened Bread. Seven Sabbaths shall be complete. Even unto the day after the seventh Sabbath, so the next day after that, obviously, after that seventh Sabbath, you shall number fifty days. So that day after is the 50th day. It is Pentecost. “Pente” having to do with Pente-cost, “count,” “count fifty” – “penta”. ...and you shall number fifty days and you shall offer a new meat offering unto the Eternal. So again, all these things.

When I go through this I never get tired of it, going through Leviticus, and generally go through it several times in the year – during the days of Unleavened Bread at least once, and then, obviously, Pentecost, and then the other holy days we generally mention those specific areas that apply to that specific holy day that we’re observing at that time.

So Pentecost contains a lot of meaning in its complete fulfillment. It covers a long span as well, a long span of time as we’ve discussed in times past. So the simple counting from the time of the wave sheaf to Pentecost in itself has great meaning in that it ties together so much of the meaning in Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread through to Pentecost. Those are things we’ve just learned in recent times, really. It hasn’t been that long that the Church has really grasped all this in the depth that it has in seeing the importance of a tremendous tie-in then from the wave loaves in Pentecost back to that which was first offered in the wave sheaf, all representing firstfruits to God, the firstfruits of God, and so because we can’t cover everything even in these three sermons that I’ll be giving during this season of the year, I’m going to mention some things here that have to do with Pentecost, that are pictured in it. Even though we may touch upon some of these I do want to go through these step by step and talk about them.

Pentecost is the day that God gave the Israelites the 10 Commandments. That in itself is awesome because there is so much meaning in that as well. So God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, He gave them the Passover; they began a journey out of Egypt, coming out of sin. We know that analogy that’s given there in scripture, to come out of sin, and then they begin this process of coming up to Mount Sinai. Then once they were there and camped around that area at this particular moment in time then, indeed after the wave sheaf would have been offered. Because that hadn’t been observed yet, and so at that particular time when it would have been, God brought them together and gave them the 10 Commandments.

Then Pentecost also is the day when God began to pour out His spirit to a large number of people, on the day of Pentecost, with the beginning of the Church in 31 AD. Now, I love this example because Israel, of and by itself, people of and by themselves without God’s holy spirit, can’t keep God’s law because it requires that you keep it in spirit and in truth. They weren’t able to do that because they didn’t have God’s holy spirit, they didn’t have access to God’s holy spirit, so they did it by their own physical means and the law that they looked at, that they saw, was strictly physical in observance. Idols meant just that, no idols. To us it means a lot more when we understand it spiritually.

Idolatry takes on a whole new meaning when you understand what spiritual idolatry is, when we raise up something like an idol above God, to worship it, or to not necessarily to worship it, but when we raise something up above what God tells us to do. As an example, working on the Sabbath, not paying tithes, and on and on it goes. Anything that we do, anything that we do in the last six commandments, and we break those laws. If we break any of those we’re raising something up in our mind, in our attitude and our spirit. It’s before God. In that respect we’re placing an idol, if you will, before God on a spiritual plane.

We learn things spiritually that the Israelites never had the capacity or the ability to see, to grasp or understand. On the day of Pentecost God began to pour out His holy spirit to the Church to start the Church, if you will, the Body of Christ, and then the ability to be able to grasp and see things on a spiritual plane.

So again, all these things have such meaning step by step by step, of even these things with Pentecost, but they’re all inspiring. You think about the timing and when God gave these different things and our ability to grasp and understand them. I was just thinking as we went through some of this, the Israelites couldn’t even grasp spiritual things. And candidly, even those in times before this there were certain things that God gave them the ability to see, different of the prophets, different individuals. I think of king David, who was referred to as well as a prophet of God. But you think, God giving them His holy spirit and He gave them the ability to understand certain things but not to the level that began to be given after Christ was here and the things he taught.

Now, the disciples didn’t understand those things until Pentecost. Then they began to grasp and see things on a spiritual plane of what Christ had said. But the things that Christ taught, they had to do with that which was on a spiritual plane. The understanding of those things are spiritual. They’re physical, too, in times of things that are to be done and so forth, but so much of the teaching has to do with a spiritual grasp and comprehension of things that require God’s spirit to see it, to know it.

Again, Pentecost is the day when God began to pour out His holy spirit to a large number of people when He began to work with the Church in 31 AD. That Church spiritually is referred to as spiritual Israel or the Body of Christ, if you will, and most importantly the Church of God. It’s the called out ones of God. We are God’s. That is an awesome thing to think of at any time, but especially at this time when we think about ourselves, the fact that we have the ability to see things that others cannot, that we have the ability to grasp and comprehend something that we hear or something that we read or something that we see and we’re able to believe it. Then we simply have to make the choices as to whether or not we’re going to live by it. As far as God’s Church, as a whole, those choices have been made.

Also, Pentecost, it’s on a day of Pentecost that Joshua the Christ will stand upon this earth once again at his return as the King of kings over all the nations of the world. Again, awesome to understand the meaning of these things and what God has given to us. It’s on the same day of Pentecost that 144,000 will have been already resurrected to return with Christ at his return on that same day, on that same day that, in that respect, that Christ stands upon the Mount of Olives, and the 144,000 come with him to reign, to rule and all that meaning that’s contained in there from the wave sheaf all the way up to the wave loaves, and again, those things that we’re going to be talking about in this season of the year.

Let’s go back now and pick it up again in verse 16—Even unto the day after the seventh Sabbath you shall number fifty days; and you shall offer a new meat offering unto the Eternal. You shall bring out of your habitations, (verse 17 now), two wave loaves of two tenth of measurement; they shall be of fine flour and they shall be baked with leaven. Again, all these symbols having meaning. I can’t help but think about the temple and things that were given to David, and all the structure of the Levitical priesthood and everything that was to be done, everything that was to be inside the temple, the high priest, all these things having incredible meaning. We haven’t even been shown all the meaning of those things yet, but everything there has meaning on a spiritual plane of what God is building, what God is preparing in His family.

Again here it says, You shall bring out of your habitations, these, let’s see here again ...baked with leaven. Yes, baked with leaven. We have leaven. We have leaven in our lives. The wave loaves, what a beautiful way to describe us. The wave sheaf was the first, or the beginning, if you will, of the harvest. It was a sheaf taken from the beginning of the harvest. Not necessarily the first part cut, but there was that part where they did go cut a sheaf and of the beginning of the harvest and that was taken to the priest to be saved until a specific moment in time when it was to be waved before God.

Again, here the wave loaves, two. To me, what an incredible meaning, too. Two periods of time; one where people were blessed to be able to live by faith and that was accounted to them for righteousness and one of the primary things there was about the Messiah and about God’s plan of grace and mercy and forgiveness of sins. But they didn’t understand those things on the plane that was given after Christ came that we were given in the Church. So the first loaf was unique and different in that way. But God worked with them individually, different ones whom He called, molded and fashioned them, but all with leaven. All of us have been with leaven.

Then it says “of those two wave loaves.” And then, of course, the next loaf here basically then having to do with those who had evidence of the Passover who came, and different in a unique way, how people live by faith according to what was given to them. Perhaps a great way of expressing it, again, is the present truth. They had a different present truth than what we have today. What they were judged by is different from what we are judged by in the sense of the truths and the quantity and the meaning of all those things.

But again, they were judged from the truth that they were given to that point in time, whatever that was, whatever it amounted to, whatever it consisted of, and God gave that to them, accounted that to them for righteousness whereby they were able to be saved and forgiven of sin because they believed in a future revelation or process where God would give those things, even though they didn’t understand what was coming, to deal with His family, to deal with the forgiveness of sin, to send a Messiah.

Then dropping down to verse 20. Well, it makes comment here again, they are the firstfruits of the Eternal. So again, the two wave loaves. We understand what those things mean, but we’ll come back to that later.

Verse 20—And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the Eternal with the two lambs. Now, unique – two lambs now. Before, with the wave sheaf, one lamb. There is one lamb; it represents Joshua. It represents him as our Passover, the things that he went through as the Lamb of God. Now there are two. Just like with two wave loaves there are two lambs.

So again, all these things have significance. Those who believed in his coming, not understanding all of that, not understanding that the representation of a Passover, but to believe in the Messiah and God’s process that He would save, save them, that He would give salvation.

...they shall be holy to the Eternal for the priest. So again, counting from the wave sheaf to the wave loaves ties the two together. God’s Wave Sheaf makes it possible for those who are of the firstfruits to be accepted of God, by God. Again, all incredible meaning that God has given us in all the symbolism of these things. That’s why He wants us to review and think about the things that He has given us from holy day to holy day in detail like this so that we can better understand what He’s doing, to be, actually, in more awe of how He’s done it. He just continues to add to it as He will during this holy day season. There are some things, not a lot, but a little bit more that God has given just to help us to even be more in awe of how God just continues to give more and more to us of things we haven’t understood, of things we haven’t seen. Because the reality is there are things that we can’t see clearly, absolutely, until God just gives it.

Leviticus 16. I think it’d be good to look at some of what is mentioned during the Day of Atonement concerning God’s Wave Sheaf, because this reveals, again, much about the work of our Passover who began his work as High Priest once he was resurrected. Because that’s what it’s about; it’s about a process here that God gave to the Church. Once he was received as the Wave Sheaf that’s when the process began that he was our High Priest. I love this story here in Leviticus 16 that really is more about, specifically, the Day of Atonement, but it actually reveals more here as far as timing, or it includes more about the timing of these things.

In Leviticus 16:15 it says, Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people and bring the blood inside the veil and do with the blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. Then he shall make atonement for the Holy Place... Now, this is about the Holiest of Holies and about an atonement that God is making for the Holiest of Holies, for God’s dwelling place, because, again, the tabernacle was divided in two. It had the first section that’s referred to as the Holy Place where the work of the Levites was conducted day by day by day from morning until evening, and then on holy days and at other times as well things that were done that weren’t done every day in the same manner. They had the work of the Levites and they could come inside the temple in the Holy Place, what’s referred to as the Holy Place.

Then there was that curtain that separated the Holy Place from what’s referred to as the Holiest of Holies, and that’s where the ark of the covenant was. That’s where the example of that which was given there for the ark of the covenant to being God’s throne and the two cherubim that were there overshadowing the mercy seat. All these things have awesome meaning to it. God helps us to understand those things, that this is a matter of being in God’s presence alone.

We have the example here then of the High Priest and the work he did which was different only one time throughout the year when he came into the Holiest of Holies.

So when it’s talking here it says, Then he shall make an atonement for the Holy Place... So there is this process here of what the High Priest is doing to make an atonement before God, directly before God, within the Holy Place. It goes on here ...because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of the transgressions, for all their sins. There is this process here that leads up to things that are going to be done in the temple behind the curtain in the Holiest of Holies, if you will. It says here ...and because of the transgressions of their sins and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation. In other words, “of the meeting” or  “the appointed time”; it has both meanings to it just like we read there in Leviticus 23 that word that is used there that so often is messed with and so forth. It’s a word that means “appointed time,” but it can also mean “the meeting time” or “the meeting place” if you will. It can be used both ways. It depends on the context of how it’s used. When God gives then a specific date, obviously it’s the appointed time, it’s the meeting time, not necessarily the meeting place, but we’re commanded to come together, God’s people are, with Him.

So again, it talks about this, and shall do for the tabernacle of the congregation, which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. There shall be no one in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goes in to make an atonement in the Holy Place... Now, I may not have stated this exactly right, but in the New Testament is what I was referring to when I talked about in Hebrews there where it talks about the Holy Place. It is the first part of the tabernacle. But the Holiest of Holies is the second part of the tabernacle, and this is where the high priest would go once a year, it’s into the Holiest of Holies that it’s referred to there in Hebrews.

So again here, when it’s referring to the Holy here in the Hebrew in Leviticus 16 it’s talking about the work of the high priest and what he did that the Levites could not partake in because they couldn’t go into the area where the ark was, the ark of the covenant behind the veil.

So again here, verse 17—There shall be no one in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goes in to make atonement in the Holy, and that’s all the word really is here, “place” is not even there. But again, we know what it’s about. ...until he comes out and he make an atonement for himself, for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel. In other words, for those who will be brought along in the future.

And so, in other words, it’s a process of time here that it’s talking about of a work that the High Priest is doing (speaking of Christ), and there was this work he was to do and he wasn’t going to come back out until a specific moment in time. Again, some of this should be quite obvious to us, what it’s talking about, because it’s about him making an atonement for all.

The reality is for his work, that atonement isn’t completed, he doesn’t return until that atonement has been fully made for his household, the Body of Christ, the Church of God. Until all those have had an atonement, in that respect, made and the work that he’s doing in atoning them to God through his work, through the work that he’s doing, leading and guiding, directing and working at molding and fashioning in the Church, again here, this is what this is about.

I’ll just read it again, verse 17—There shall be no one in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goes in to make an atonement in the Holy. The reality is there is no one there. There is no one, if you will, as a part of Elohim, as a part of a relationship with God, as a part of that which this is all about, until a certain work has been accomplished, until there’s this atonement that’s been made, until he comes out... Finally, then there will be those who will be able to participate.

You know, we talk about worshipping before God. We’ve talked about recently here a lot about those who are playing in the courtyard, or messing around in the courtyard and aren’t in the temple. Well, that’s the first part of the temple, indeed, in the sense of being able to worship God and being able to have a relationship with God, but we’re not fully yet a part of Elohim. It’s just a part of the process that leads us there and until we are a part spiritually in God’s family. It doesn’t mean we have to be with God in heaven, but it’s about being a part of Elohim, truly being the tabernacle. We finally become part of the tabernacle itself and the building of God, the temple of God, but we’re not there yet. This is a part of what’s being discussed here by this example here.

It says, until he comes out. Well, when does he come out? When it’s done. When that work is done. When he’s finished doing that work of atoning 144,000. It’s about the firstfruits, the first part of that family.

So again here ...until he comes out, that he may make an atonement for himself, for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel. So indeed, it’s for his household, but it’s for those in the future as well, for those who will come along in the Millennium, for those who will come along in the Great White Throne. So the work that he’s been doing and the groundwork that’s been set, this is only the first phase of it. But when he returns, he returns with 144,000, and then that’s the first part of the temple, the first part of what God fulfills and completes, but he’s done it for the future as well for all the assembly that will come along in time.

Verse 18—Then he shall go out unto the altar that is before the Eternal... So again, returning on Pentecost. We understand those things now, plugging those things in that God has given us, better understanding of when these things take place. ...and make an atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bullock and the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times... So this thing of seven times over and over again, for cleansing, for coming out of sin. It’s a matter of being complete. There’s a completeness that’s revealed here then that has taken place.

...and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. So again, this pictures those who have now been consecrated and received by God. The wave loaves. This is what’s taking place at this moment when he returns. Because this is when, if you look at it spiritually, what’s taking place. We know what took place when or after Christ was resurrected and we understand he fulfilled the Wave Sheaf then, and he told various ones there not to touch him because he had not yet ascended to his Father. After that was done, almost, so quickly there he appeared to him again and he let them touch him. They hugged him. They held on to his legs. They grasped him. They embraced him and he allowed that.

So again, showing here that the Wave Sheaf had been received by God. Then we come to the wave loaves that’s on a Pentecost. That’s about the 144,000. So when he comes back out during this period of atonement that’s pictured here, of what the high priest is doing, what he’s symbolizing, he comes back out and he sprinkles this blood, again, as it talks about here, consecrating this. Again, this is about the wave loaves and them being consecrated and being received by God. This is when it happens. This is finally, though they’re resurrected even as Christ was resurrected, he wasn’t immediately received by God. Christ made clear that there was something else he had to do so that we could grasp and understand every step of the symbolism of those things kept physically of what God was going to do. He was going to fulfill.

It is here that once even after all 144,000 are resurrected it doesn’t mean they’ve been received by God yet on a spiritual plane. But once they’re up on the Mount of Olives with Christ then this is fulfilled. It’s complete. It’s just showing a completeness of that which is done. Now it’s complete; God has received the 144,000 to serve in His Kingdom in a specific moment in time.

So again, this pictures those who have now been consecrated and received by God, the wave loaves coming with the Wave Sheaf of God at his (Christ’s) return. So, beautiful symbolism that’s pictured throughout the Old Testament. Again, I love these verses here in Leviticus 16 that have to do with Atonement. We’ve just touched upon those things that have to do with things about the wave sheaf leading up to the wave loaves and what work was being done for 2,000 years. Because it says he didn’t come out until certain things were accomplished from the time of the Wave Sheaf until the time of the wave loaves.

Verse 20, and it says, And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy, the tabernacle of the meeting, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. So again, we know the example of those things that are pictured in all this and this now takes place, the beginning of the wandering of Satan, if you will, apart from or separated from mankind. Because that happens upon Christ’s return and that goat then is taken care of for the next 1,000 plus years. So again, incredible meaning in these things that God has set out in verses like this.

I’ll just read it to you, Leviticus 23:20—And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the Eternal, with the two lambs. I don’t think we’ve even ever focused on the two lambs, the fact that there are two wave loaves and two periods of time being focused upon here.

They shall be holy to the Eternal for the priest. So what is this about, “For they shall be holy to the Eternal for the priest”? Well, it’s about the High Priest again, and it’s about the wave loaves now being holy – in the Family of God – to serve our High Priest for the next one thousand some years, in that respect, before others are added to the family. But this is talking about this first great resurrection that’s taking place with the Wave Sheaf coming with the wave loaves.

It says, “they shall be holy to the Eternal for the priest.” So God has given to our High Priest then at that time 144,000 to help rule this earth. Very organized awesome process that God has given of things that we don’t even fully grasp yet.

So all this is so very clear, but a few years ago it wasn’t, a lot of this that we have gone through. That’s why I have mentioned here recently that so often we can begin to take things for granted if we’re not careful because we hear, like this, Pentecost, certain scriptures read, Unleavened Bread, certain scriptures read, all the way through to the Last Great Day, certain scriptures read, especially out of Leviticus 23, and we continually go back to those things as God wants us to. But with that repetition, if we’re not careful, we can begin to think, “Well, I already know all that.”

Well, that’s wonderful if we do know it, and if we’re able to hold on to it thank God for that because there are many who have gone before us who haven’t been able to, who have lost various facets of that through time. Thousands! Hundreds of thousands of people through time! We don’t know how many. Just in that last period of time here look at how many have been dispersed in that sense after the Apostasy. And that, again, goes back to this thing of “Many are called and few are chosen.” It’s mindboggling, it really is. And so blessed are we?

So we have to make sure that we never get into this rut of thinking, “Well, I’ve heard this; I know this.” Well, if you’re listening, you’ll always be able to add a little bit more, perhaps not even something else new being given at that moment in time, which we will touch upon during this period of time of this Feast season of Pentecost, but we’re growing, each one of us, and there is always something there that we haven’t fully seen.

Just like you can listen to a sermon, you can go back and listen a year later and I’ve often times heard people do this where they said, “I didn’t hear that the first time.” I’ve even heard people go back the following week and say, “I didn’t hear that the first time.” That’s the way it is because we’ve heard certain things, we’re building. It’s just like these layers of bricks or of stone, if you will, or cinderblocks and all this mortar that goes in between. Then all of a sudden, we’re ready for another row or whatever and you can’t build those others on top of it until the other is put down. That’s the way it is with our mind and so we’re constantly able to have a process of growth take place in us and we can go back and see things in Leviticus 23 we’ve never seen before, just like with what is stated here in Leviticus 16 that’s been covered a great deal with the Day of Atonement.

Again, it’s a great thing to pray, to ask God for help that we never become complacent because that can run into this attitude of being rich and increased with goods and becoming complacent. So it’s a matter to always far rather to be thankful, to be grateful for what we are able to see, and then if we’re able to add something else to that in our own understanding that we didn’t grasp before, awesome! Then if God comes along and gives a little bit more, awesome! It just enriches and helps to inspire more what we already have. It’s a building process.

I don’t know how many of you have been involved in construction or watched construction, but I love it. I marvel at it. I think about the process of seeing each phase of the way because it’s all exciting to see things come together and the work that goes into it. To me, it’s a beautiful process. I don’t care whether it’s the first part of a foundation and you’ve seen the ground out there, the hole that’s been dug, and you haven’t even laid the foundation yet, and then all of a sudden you come in and you have a truck come in and you lay the concrete and you have it smoothed out and whatever else you have to do in the preparation before you starting going up with parts of the frame. Each phase along the way is a beautiful thing if you can have in your mind what you’re working for. You’re not just out there slapping things down; you’ve actually planned something out.

We’re blessed to be a part of God’s plan in all this and we get to participate, and if you’re able to see those things on a spiritual plane, life becomes more exciting, more fulfilling.

But the day of Pentecost – awesome, awesome, awesome about the 144,000, the day of Pentecost and a time when Joshua the Christ returns.

Let’s turn over to 1 Corinthians 15. I’m going through this about a thousand miles an hour. I still feel like I’m rushing up here from services, where services were going to be today, and because I just took off in the vehicle. I left so quickly that I just called my wife and told her, “I’m heading back and catch a ride with someone else to bring you home.” I just took off. I didn’t want to have to wait because I knew that every minute was going to count by the time I got back here to get the camera set up and everything else set up and I didn’t want to wait for goodbyes.

Anyway, I took off and get back here and I found out I spoiled a surprise that I was going to have because of my 70th and people coming from all the way down from the Toledo area, and then all the way up from Georgia. Anyway, I know how to ruin things sometimes. But I feel sorry for some of you in one regard because I am going a thousand miles an hour. I know I am! I’m speaking really fast today. I’m going really fast. My adrenaline is probably at an all time high.

Anyway, 1 Corinthians 15. By the way, I do want to add something to the record. I had made a comment about the first book, The Prophesied End-Time, that we had one person that was called as a result of that. Well, we had one person in the United States, but I forgot we had one person in Europe as well. So she reminded me of that, they reminded me of that over there. But we did have two people then, one in Europe and one over here in the States. Two people. Awesome!

1 Corinthians 15:20. It is really incredible to me to know that we’re so close now to one of the greatest fulfillments of all time concerning God’s plan, and that is squarely centered on this holy day of Pentecost, because that’s what we’re waiting for. We’re waiting for a sealing to take place. We’re waiting for certain things to be accomplished. It’s my personal hope and prayer as I’ve prayed to God very strong about this that if there is any way to fulfill it, any way to accomplish it, what an awesome thing if we could finally be sealed maybe by this Day of Pentecost. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

Well, we would know that then in the days following as certain things began happening in the world, and they can. As it is talked about in the post this world is really messed up. I think of the one article about this individual in one of the departments of the UN. I wish I could think of the specific area. I can’t even think of it; I won’t even try to say it. But anyway, making a comment that we are far nearer to a nuclear war than we’ve ever been since WWII. It’s on the minds of people more and more. Though it’s a hideous thing, it’s something that has to take place in time.

But what an awesome blessing if we could just get away from all the garbage and the filth of this age and get on with things, building in a new age under a new government. Again, that’s my hope. But whether it is or isn’t we have to wait on God’s perfect timing because it’s in God’s hands and He has His reason and His purpose for what He does and how He does it. So we learn from that.

So the post is written. It’s not edited yet, but hopefully it’ll be out sometime this next week, just so that everyone knows.

So again here, 1 Corinthians 15:20 it says, But now has Christ been raised from the dead and become the first fruit of those who have slept/those who have fallen asleep. That’s what it’s about, “from those who have fallen asleep.”

So using this expression here, not about a physical sleep of someone falling asleep but that which God has given to us to have a different viewpoint or different way of looking at death then to know that there is life. There is life which is going to follow, it’s just a matter of time. We go to sleep. We may sleep for five hours, six hours, eight hours, ten hours in a night, and then we wake up. God wants us to grasp and view things as He does. Death is in the same way whether it be dead for 6,000 years almost, five thousand whatever it is for Abel, and then on up through the period of time whether it be a year, a month, it doesn’t matter. With God it’s this matter of a context on a spiritual plane of being like in a sleep and God wakes us up. He gives us a new body, a new life. Awesome! Incredible!

We don’t look at death in the same way as the world does. We miss individuals. It’s hard when that comes because there is a separation of a routine of life that we might normally have, but again, it’s not without hope. It’s not without understanding. We are awesomely blessed to grasp what we do. It’s going to happen. It happens in time. I’m thankful I’m still here at this point in time because there have been a few times that I had conversation that I may not be. So again, we don’t know, but if it happens it happens and life goes on and there will be a resurrection. It’s just the way of life. What a beautiful thing that God has given us that kind of hope, that kind of comfort, that kind of peace of mind. Because people in the world, they don’t have that. But we’ve been blessed to have that.

It says here, But now has Christ been raised from the dead and become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by or through, if you will, man came death... So it’s meant that all were to die. All human beings were meant to have a certain lifespan and die, not to continue to live on. A physical body comes to a point in time where it just wears out and quits.

For since by/through man came death, by/through man came also the resurrection of the dead. So it’s using this example referring to Joshua the Christ and what he went through and what he made possible for us, the ability to be resurrected from the dead as a part of God’s plan, and a part of God’s plan, too, having to do with the hundred years. But still, it goes beyond that because those during the hundred years the point is in time they can have a resurrection, too. They have the opportunity of the kind of resurrection it’s speaking of here.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.  So again here, it is referring back to Adam in that regard, through human beings everybody dies in time. A physical body is going to die and that’s the point, human beings die. But in Christ people can live and that’s what it’s telling us.

…as in Adam all die, all physical human beings, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every one in their own order. Beautiful! Everyone in their own order. God has a plan. How awesome is it that we understand that plan? There aren’t many in the world who understand that. They don’t grasp the thousand years. They don’t grasp the first great resurrection. They don’t understand the resurrection that comes after that. Because after that is an awesome resurrection – spirit into God’s Family after the Millennium, and physical for those who have ever lived who are going to be in the hundred years back to physical life.

But everyone in their own order; Christ the firstfruits, of the firstfruits, in other words; he is the foundation of it all, making it all possible, the very first, the beginning of the harvest. Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. So again, it’s a beautiful picture here even of the wave loaves when it said to gather, if you will, to bring in to make out of their households or out of their families. Basically, think of all the harvests, the first harvest. There was just this wave sheaf that was taken out of the beginning of the harvest, and then you have this massive spring harvest that goes on, on and on, in some places of the world way beyond, obviously, Pentecost, but this first, primary harvest, especially if you look at certain grain, specific grains. That particular time of year there is this certain amount that, out of all this early harvest, they made two wave loaves, they made two loaves. They baked two loaves that were made with leaven. Again, all the symbolism in all this, the two loaves, the leaven, and the fact that these two loaves were taken out of the first harvest.

How much...? We can’t even begin to grasp how much grain there must have been from that harvest and only a small amount was used to make the two wave loaves. That’s very much what it’s been like for the last 6,000 years. Think of all the millions and billions of people that have lived and yet out of all that just a small amount in the sense of making two wave loaves. It’s, to me, the analogy is awesome because the comparison is so fitting because out of a harvest like that you can make a lot of bread... a lot of bread. It did to feed hundreds and thousands and millions of people, in that respect, yet here just two loaves representing what it does here. That is so apropos in the sense of what it teaches about us.

How blessed are we to be taken out of (I don’t want to go back and read those verses), but it’s like this is taken out from amongst you, out of your families, out of the whole nation of Israel, just two loaves from the grain of the harvest that was used to make the flour that was leaven,  added to the leavening that was added to it to make the two wave loaves. Incredible example. But all the rest through time. Again, the examples are awesome.

Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. That’s what’s talked about in Revelation 7. I thought it’d be good there today just to touch upon a little bit of that as well, Revelation 7, because, again, it’s a part of the story. Here are the wave loaves and that timing then that put together there, the wave sheaf up to the wave loaves, the first harvest. You can’t separate them. That’s why there’s this count. That’s why it has so much meaning to it. That’s why I’ve marveled at this time here that we’ve been in, seven end-time prophetic periods of 1260 days. The first five gave us a point of up, plus the 70 days. Doesn’t escape us, it’s about Christ’s return. Then something we went into uniquely so that had a lot more to do about the Church in the last two periods of time, the two 1260 days, and then 50 more days. Again, awesome the timing of various things. Fifty days and here we are we’re almost to that point in time. Seven periods like that, one of 70 days, the last period here of 50. Awesome!

So we have to wait and see what’s next, what’s in God’s timing, what is God going to do and if there is something beyond that that goes beyond a single year then we’re going to marvel at it. We just have no idea what it is yet, but everything that God has ever revealed has always been inspiring and exciting, though sometimes very difficult to go through. Just like the Apostasy and all the things we began to understand afterward when God began to reveal to us what so many things meant. The stones of the temple, not one will be left upon another. Awesome! The thirds that it spoke of in Ezekiel, of things that scattered and of the different examples that God gave of what would happen. Anyway, on and on it goes.

Revelation 7:1—And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth... So we’ve been looking at this a little bit here of recent time because to us this is awesomely important as far as what it says and as far as what is revealed, because it’s about the completion of the wave loaves. It’s not fully baked yet. All the grain isn’t there yet to bake it, to make it, to wave it up before God to be accepted before God.

After these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth holding the four winds of the earth so that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. Again, it’s referring to those four angels where everything begins in the first four Trumpets of the Seventh Seal, when those things are manifested, when they’re finally manifested and they finally take place, but they’ve been holding back for a long, long time because this happened a long time ago, in that respect, if we look back to what we’ve already been through and to what we understand about the Seventh Seal then, when it was opened. We have these first four angels that have been told, “Don’t do anything until something else is accomplished first.” God has helped us to understand there’s greater emphasis here now than ever before because this is what it’s about.

Again here, And I saw another angel (verse 2) ascending out of the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea... They’re the ones that are given to hurt the earth and the sea, the first four, saying, Do not hurt the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And so it’s about a sealing, and we understand that, the completion of 144,000. And I heard the number of those who were sealed and there were sealed one hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

I marvel how much we have learned and come to understand just about this since the Apostasy, because before this in the Church we didn’t grasp this. We didn’t understand this. There were certain verses here in this, when you go through these chapters, especially here beginning in Chapter 7, and this wondering. We always have wondered. I marvel. It talks about Daniel. He wanted to know. He was given these things. He was given certain things to write and he wrote them. He didn’t know what they meant, but he wanted to know because he knew that it had to do with the coming of the Messiah. And who hasn’t wanted to know that?

But now we know we’re at a particular point in time. It’s mentioned in the post, because I marvel at this, of what we’ve just seen in the last year. I marvel of what God gave to Mr. Armstrong about the seventh revival of a European power, and given to understand what this particular power was going to be like. We marvel at how it’s reflected today in what is given in Daniel, the clay and the iron. What an incredible example! It has great power in the sense of strength. You talk about the masses of number of people there that are beyond that of the United States, the wealth that’s there that is beyond that of those 28 nations combined together that are a part of the European Union, and yet it’s weak in how it’s held together, even though that is there, if you add it together they don’t have it together in the sense of the kind of power and strength that you would think or that they could have, or you would think should have but aren’t able to achieve.

Then you think of what God told him as well. He said there will be three things. It’s like I can hear this in my mind and as he spoke those things, talking about this European power is going to have this last resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire, it’s going to have that which is military, it’s going to be 10 nations, and it’s going to have a common economy. I think of how he died in ’86 and it wasn’t until 1999 finally the euro came out, the currency came out. But it wasn’t until this last year that finally they have resolved, they have, it’s a part now of their system where they have their own military. They have their own machine now that is fully integrated and they can command it to go wherever they need to if they so choose. So it’s there now.

This is causing a lot of problems with the United States because the United States sees it as competition with NATO and a threat to NATO. You look at NATO and you think, what a mess, especially with Turkey as a part of it and here they are messing around with the Russians and getting weapons from the Russians, and missiles and so forth from the Russians and making deals with the Russians. How can they be in NATO? It’s insanity! And yet this is the kind of world we live in and we were already told about Esau and the things that he would do and how he would betray Israel.

So again, all these prophetic things that have been taking place just in the last year alone. So again here, we have the military power and then finally the talk. They have made it clear that there are nine to ten nations now that are in full agreement. They actually have ten that are a part of this military system, that are fully integrated. But they have the nine to ten they’re talking about that are going to come together in a stronger way, in a greater bond, if you will, and then let all the rest come along in their own pace if they want to later on, lag behind. Awesome! Now it’s there! Like was stated at the Feast of Tabernacles, the stage has already been set. And so, again here, incredible to understand.

So again, to think of where we are prophetically is awesome, so time will tell. But again, this thing here of things we’ve never seen, never grasped nor understood, and now here we are, all these things being fulfilled. But I was thinking about the 144,000, reading some of these verses, and there was a time in God’s Church not too long ago when there was this comment about the verses, verses 5 through 8 that mention the names of each group of the tribes of Israel, saying there’ll be 12,000 from each. That’s why a lot of the Church during Philadelphia there was this feeling that, well, we have to have so many out of Ephraim, we have to have so many out of Manasseh, so many out of Issachar, Zebulon, Asher, and on and on it goes, Gad. There are going to be exactly 12,000 from each of those. Well, we were a long way from 144,000, before the Apostasy ever came, of baptized members, let alone the fact that there would be that many from different tribes.

But then there was this thing about an innumerable multitude and it was like this is going to be the Laodiceans who are called because they’re going to be a lot larger in count. Well, we just didn’t understand at the time. Now God has blessed us to understand that it’s not about specific tribes but the names. God gives names for a reason. He will use those things for a reason. The construction of a spiritual temple is in twelves, the things that God has given have to do with twelve, that which is a matter of perfection as far as God is concerned. So seven and twelve, the seven, completeness, twelve having to do with that which has to do with that which is done by the hand of God in the sense of perfection on a spiritual plane.

Going on here, finally, Revelation 7:9 it says, After this I beheld, and behold, a great multitude, so this is that great multitude. The Church used to think they’re all Laodiceans because there’s going to be a lot of people called out of the world when tribulation begins. Well, that’s not what it’s about we’ve come to understand.

Which it says, no man could number, of all the nations and peoples, and families, and languages.....stood before the throne and before the Lamb... Well, again, we understand that now. That’s not a great multitude of people coming in during the period of Laodicea or coming in during a time of great tribulation. It’s not about that at all. What an awesome thing that you’re able to come along and learn the truth. Some of us had to unlearn certain things that we thought were true, and so the present truth that God has given to us is to understand that no, during 6,000 years only God knows the count, only God knows the number, Him and His Son, those who have been set aside during the first 4,000 years and those who have been waiting now in a sleep, you know, fallen asleep, waiting for a resurrection in the next 2,000 years. That’s what it’s talking about. No one can number them. No one knows that count except God Almighty. He knows every one personally by name, waiting to give them a new body, a spirit body.

Again here, obviously no one able to number of all people’s and frankly, periods of times, of families of the earth and so forth, and languages. It says here, they stood before the Lamb, before God’s throne, clothed with white robes, with palms in their hands... So again, that matter of what is reflected on a physical plane of what is righteousness before God, how we’re clothed in white having to do with that which is righteous and God having made it so.

...and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God who sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb! And all the angels stood around the throne and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped God, saying: Amen! Blessing, glory, wisdom, all these things that we should think about toward God when we understand the timing of things, when we understand our calling, the blessing of being called, whether to become a part of 144,000 or to live on into a new age, to be the beginning of the Millennial period, the beginning of the Church in a new age. Of those opportunities, they’re awesome! They’re beyond comprehension, they really are. To experience them? Well, what an awesome God we serve and what incredible opportunities we’re given.

Blessing, glory, wisdom, all that comes from God that we’re blessed to receive, thanksgiving, that we should be given then in response to those things, honor, the way we think toward God, the way we act toward God, power, and might, to grasp the power that we’re able to have in our lives, the might, to be strong and of good courage, that those things, they all come from God. So again here, saying these things be unto our God forever and ever. Amen.

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, Who are these who are arrayed in white robes, and from where did they come? And I said to him, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are they who came out of great tribulation... Again, understanding that most of you just take for granted because you don’t realize that during the time of Philadelphia and Laodicea this was never understood by God’s Church because the idea, the thought was that those who come out of great tribulation are the 144,000, is this great multitude as well, but all these that came out of great tribulation that are able to have their robes washed and so forth, as it talks about here. What an incredible thing that we grasp this, that everyone, it’s not about the great tribulation at the end, it’s about the fact that everyone whom God has ever called has to come out of, has to go through a lot of trouble and trial of life to be molded and fashioned to receive what God has prepared for them. All of them have to come out of, have been called out of, have to go through great tribulation. This is not easy. This was not meant to be easy to become a part of God’s Family.

These are they who came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. So again, going back to Passover, going back to the very beginning, and that brings us up to this point anyway of what we’re focusing during this Feast season of the wave loaves, of the fulfillment then of the firstfruits, the 144,000 who are going to return with Christ because they are the ones who work together with Christ to establish the Kingdom of God to reign and to rule on the earth. What an awesome blessing to be able to know and to understand these things.

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