We are that generation friends.
Scriptures have a clear forecast of the "last days", "the time of the end", when the career of mankind in the earth will come to a critical point. It is not a picture of continuing progress and peace, but rather of world trouble and fear. It is a world of distress and perplexity, of fear seizing men's hearts as they contemplate the events taking place on "the inhabited earth" (as the word Jesus used literally means).
The Apostle Paul, writing about 35 years after the time of Jesus` prophecy, has this to say about the character of the last days:
. . . In the last days there will come times of stress. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents. ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, fierce, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God, holding the form of religion but denying the power of it . . . (2 Timothy 3:1-5, RSV).
This is an astonishing picture of a civilization; mankind is throwing off all restraint and indulging its own desires, reckless of consequences. Its uncanny resemblance to the developments in our own world cannot be denied. Especially as we see our moral and economic systems degrade.
So this is the position: whereas the "wise men" of only 100 years ago were confidently anticipating an era of progress and peace for the nations of the world, the Bible, in the words of Jesus and Paul, was foretelling a world of distress, fear, and perplexity, an age of violence, self-indulgence and hatred. Our human philosophers were wrong; Jesus and Paul were right. But they spoke and wrote thousands of years ago! How could they have known? Only because neither of them spoke his own words, but the words of God Himself. It was God who knew, and inspired His Son and His apostle to reveal the character of the last days.
God's Appointments with Man. Now this is gonna be interesting!
When you hear people talk about the end of the world, or the "end times", they may not have read the bible! God's word clearly tells us that this is 'a world without end' although we will soon be coming to the end of "this age" and Christ's return to earth. Christ will live and reign here on earth for 1000 years before the world is destroyed (actually the original text indicate a "revitilization" not destruction) and a new world created.
The bible teaches us that just like creation, ( the world was made in 6 days, and the 7th day was a period of rest) man's history since Adam will be for 6000 years, and then we will have 1000 years of peace... the way God originally intended before man decided he could run things on his own. To God, a 'day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day'.
Many things that were known during and shortly after Christ's life have been lost in today's teaching. Remember, the first Christian believers were indeed Jews. There are many laws and holy days that were given by God and through Moses that we should be aware of. God had a specific plan for the Jews. It is not that they are any more special than us, but that God wanted to use them to fulfill a purpose in His master plan of which we will all take part.
Much of this "hidden" knowledge was known in the first several centuries following Christ's death, but has slowly been lost with time. However, this information is still in our Bibles, we just don't discuss or study it! Some say that the information pertains to the Jews, and therefore Christians don't need to get bogged down with these details. However, every word in the Bible is placed there for a purpose!
Have you ever wondered why certain names or titles were given to Jesus in the Bible. For example:
- The "Lamb that was slain"
- Christ "our Passover"
- Bread described as His "body"
- Christ "our Tabernacle"
- Christ, the "unleavened bread"
- He was the "Firstfruits" of the harvest
And have you wondered about phrases of events that seem strange. For example:
- The "bride" of Christ
- The "marriage supper of the Lamb"
- The "wedding feast"
No wonder some find the Bible difficult to read, most have no idea what these things mean. Jesus wasn't a literal lamb, so why was He called one? These phrases and hundreds more, are easily explained by looking at the Laws and Festivals delivered to the Jews. If we are to understand the Bible fully, and appreciate all the details, we must have a background of our heritage and detailed information on these festivals. These terms all describe Christ's actions fulfilling the Festivals.
Why does the Bible talk so much about the "shedding of blood"? Remember, when man first arrived on the scene (Adam and Eve), God had designed a perfect world with man living in God's presence. However, God gave man free will and did not force Himself upon them. The only rule was that they were not to eat of the knowledge of good and evil. Remember, prior to man's existance there was only the spirit world, and there was a falling away in that realm led by Lucifer (Satan, God's most beautiful angel).
Everything was great until Satan told Adam and Eve they didn't need God, that they could know everything God knows, and that they could be in control of their own destiny. So they ate of the knowledge and they were aware immediately of good and evil. At that EXACT moment, sin entered the world... and so did death. You see, God's original plan for man did not include sickness, disease, sorrow or even death!
Noticing they were naked in front of God, they felt shame and they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. It was at that point that God had to kill an animal to provide their clothing. It was the world's first death to "cover the sins" of man. God said that now there would be no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood.
Man now needed a method of forgiveness for these sins. This process included animal sacrifice (shedding of blood) . These required offerings (sin offering, guilt offering, grain offering, burnt offering, etc.) are described briefly in the book of Leviticus in the Bible. The only problem was that these animal sacrifices did not "take away" sin, but like the clothes God provided, they merely "covered them" until the next sacrifice. This needed to be repeated over and over and over, year after year. This was because man was sinful and could not lead a pure life.
However, God said he would send the only one capable of living a perfect life... his son (the Messiah) who would "cover sin" once and for all for all mankind by the shedding of his own blood and becoming the 'sacrifice' for all mankind. God knew that no human like us could ever fulfill this task. He would allow Christ to take on the sin for all man for all time. This would cover the offering to God once and for all. He would establish a New Covenant that would replace the Old Covenant (Law). Hang on... we're almost done...
Now the Bible specifically states that a Will or Covenant goes into effect at one's death, and indeed when Christ died the New Covenant took effect.
QUESTION: If you believed In God, and believed that He was to send a Messiah to fulfill this Law, BUT you failed to realize that Jesus actually was the one, what would you still be thinking and believing today? Think before reading on ....
Well, you would still think that you should be following the Law of the Old Testament. You would still think that you should be sacrificing animals, and you would still be waiting for your Messiah to come! Who does this describe? The Jews (and even the Muslims to a lesser extent).
Even in the Old Testament (also used by Jews & Muslims), the Bible describes this Messiah as a suffering servant AND a conquering King. The Jews have a really hard time explaining this one because they don't realize that this Messiah actually comes two times... first as a servant to mankind and later as a king to rule on earth.
Once you understand the importance of this information, the whole middle-east crisis can come into focus. Why do you think there has never been lasting peace between the Jews and Arabs? It is because of religious differences that relate to this very problem. God told the Jews that they were to build His temple on a specific site in Jerusalem, and they did... twice! Unfortunately, it was destroyed both times (most recently in 70 A.D.). The Jews were scattered throughout the entire world and did not return until 1948 when the state of Israel was born. This is a fulfillment of prophecy. They also took control of Jerusalem in 1967 during the 6 Day War (Yom Kippur War).
It Is Important to note that Bible prophecy also states that the generation that sees the Jews back in control of their holy city, Jerusalem, will not pass before all prophecy in the Bible is fulfilled. They were absent from their land for nearly 2000 years until 1948, and have been in control of Jerusalem since 1967. That generation referred to is alive today. We are that generation! Just one more piece of information that shows we are coming to the end of this age.
Hidden Knowledge
You may have read parts of the Bible and thought it was impossible to understand. Unfortunately, over time many of the "pieces of the puzzle" have been distorted or lost. In fact, the church today in many areas is not teaching correct theology. It is so sad to hear the same sermons year after year, when there is so much we need to learn to form a better relationship with God. A note to confused believers: this does not mean we are returning to Old Testament Law!
The Festivals
In the book of Leviticus and numerous other books of the Bible, God had instructed the Jews to follow and observe certain feasts. We are all familiar to some degree with these festivals, but because we have no knowledge of the Jewish faith, we do not understand the full significance of these special days. Also, since Christ came to fulfill the law previously taught, we Christians do not need to keep the festivals... but we better have an understanding of them. If you're like most folks, you may be learning this for the first time. Remember, you don't have to become Jewish to learn from this information. Never forget that Jesus and his followers were Jews. The Bible was written by Jewish writers inspired by God, and was printed by Jewish people. The first people that believed in Christ (Christians) were also Jews.
When Moses received the Torah (the Law) from God, which included the 10 commandments, there were also numerous other laws that were to be followed. Christians no longer need to follow these laws, as God had a separate plan for the body of believers. However, the day is coming when there will be a return to things Jewish (but not a return to the 'Law'). Jesus will return to earth, after He has completed His master plan and the Jews finally figure out that He indeed was (and is) their Messiah. The Bible, as you may know, says that Christ Himself will reign from Jerusalem for a 1000 year period. The Jews are promised an eternity with Christ as King in their own land. However, believing Christians have the same promise of eternity with since they were 'grafted into' the same 'fig tree'.
Knowledge of these Jewish things will not change anything about who you are as a believer, except that it will allow you to understand more fully about the Bible and future events. In fact, an understanding of prophecy is impossible without an understanding of the Old Testament Festivals.
Getting Started
Centuries before Jesus was born, the Jews were following the various Festivals and customs... waiting for the coming of their Messiah. These were to be followed on the EXACT days and hours given by God. The original Hebrew translation for these special festivals was "a practice" or "preparation" and "rehearsal of future things".
In Colossians 2:16-17 the principle of hidden information was given to us through these feast or festival days. The verse is "Let no man judge you in meat or in drink, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days .... which are a shadow of things to come." In other words, don't worry about what others might say about what I have instructed you to eat or drink on these holy days, or let them judge you regarding the new moon each month which I have placed in the sky along with the stars to inform you of the dates these festivals should be followed .... because, these are a rehearsal of My future appointments with you! These feasts are pictures of great events on God's calendar. They are a shadow of things to come (including Christ the Messiah!)
The Jews know every little detail of these holy days, and follow them exactly. Because the early church leaders knew these festivals related to Old Testament Law, and Jesus came to fulfill that Law and replace it with the New Covenant, they didn't see a need to continue to teach about the holy days. Wrong! Yes, it is true that believers don't need to practice these holy days. However, we must thoroughly understand them if we are to know what is coming in the future. Even though they contain an Old Testament legal element, they also reveal a fulfillment by Christ.
The problem is the Jews are following the holy days because they think they still need to. Unfortunately, they don't see the significance behind them. Christians on the other hand, don't know anything about them because we think it's just something the Jews do and the festivals must not be important for us.
There are a total of 7 feasts or festivals that were to be observed. The Bible also instructed us that these would be fulfilled by Christ on their EXACT days. The first 4 feasts occur early in the year at the time of the "former rain". This refers to the rainy season early in the year, but also describes "reign". These are known as the spring festivals. The final 3 festivals occur during the "latter rain" late in the year and are called the fall festivals. This is also a picture of Christ's first coming (the former reign) and Christ's second coming in the future (the latter reign).
These festivals are often related to agriculture. The dates they are to be practiced are EXACT, and are provided via the earth's position to that of the heaven's. It is interesting to note that God gave us the stars and what we hear of as the "zodiac" to help us relate back to Him and what He wants us to do and to look forward to on specific days. Satan has, like most things, confused the entire situation so that today people are looking to the stars for answers... not to God! What a disaster. (Be sure to go back in my blog and read the entry on the zodiac)
The spring festivals have already been fulfilled by Jesus. There was then a 'pause' scheduled (the age of grace or the church age) of 2000 years. The prophetic time clock stopped. When it resumes, then the fall festivals are to be fulfilled.
We do not have time to go into the fine details of each festival here, but I would like to show you some examples of feasts that have been fulfilled by Jesus and then skip to the festivals that are coming soon!
Let me stress here again: Everything God does, everything recorded in his word, is EXACTLY what he wants to convey to us. The numbers, dates, the stories, etc., have all been designed and recorded for his purposes. Tune in next time...
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