No. 62 - SEASONS OF THE CHURCH, PART II: A WITNESS FOR EVERY SEASON By: John J. Blanchard Saturday, March 19, 2005 The title of today’s sermon is “Seasons Of The Church, Part II: A Witness For Every Season.” I want to start with a quick summary of Part I, “Seasons Of The Church, Part I: To Be A Witness” and what we learned. We learned that Jesus Christ and His Church are the two witnesses and that they work together to be a witness. Together they are for signs, wonders, and way markers along the way in the history of the Church. They are markers for the world at large to understand where the Church is in time. They reveal where the history of the Church is, in effect, at any point in time. Together they form what are called in the Bible the great lights. Christ is the source of light being equivalent to the sun. The Church reflects that light and is the equivalent of the moon. REVIEW OF PART I We noticed in our first sermon in this series that the Church works in two shifts (two halves). The first shift works until Christ’s first coming. The second shift works from Christ’s resurrection until the second coming. Each group of workers (each congregation) has made a covenant with God. The first covenant was a physical covenant, and it had along with it physical promises. The second covenant was a spiritual covenant. With that covenant came spiritual promises. I would like to turn to Zechariah chapter 4 and reread a scripture that we read in the first sermon, just to refresh our memories a little bit about the two trees located on either side of Jesus Christ. Turn to Zechariah chapter 4. Read verses 1-4 and then verses 11-14. We understand that the oil is symbolic of God’s Holy Spirit, but it must be squeezed out through work and effort. Once one has received the Holy Spirit, then the lamps have the fuel to burn brightly. We see that these olive trees are the people that God is working with, and they provide fuel once they get burning to light the lamps. They keep things going, and as such they become witnesses for God (Jesus Christ being the main witness). He provides the truth and the light. The moon (the Church) reflects that light. The agreement that these two congregations made with God was to obey God’s laws that had been delivered at Mount Sinai and to keep certain scheduled appointments down through time that are pictured by the Sabbaths and the holy days. If you recall, we defined congregation and church. The Old Testament congregation was defined this way: as an appointment, fixed time or season, specifically festivals or holy days during the year. They are a witness and a testimony. In the New Testament, Church is defined by the Greek word ekklesia which means a point of origin of the called-out ones, a religious congregation. These two congregations (or two ekklesias) each have a job to do. One works until Christ’s first coming, and one works from that first coming and resurrection until Christ’s second coming. They worked for fixed seasons. They worked for specific times and appointments that form seasons. Their witness is evidence of what God is doing through His purpose and to His plan. That is what it means to be a witness. It is to provide the evidence of what God is doing as a way marker (as a sign and a wonder) for those who seek to know, and so they are able to understand as God reveals the truth. Therefore, the covenant that each of these two groups agreed to is to prepare for and keep these scheduled appointments when they, in fact, do arrive: Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost. These appointments occur every year like clock work but are symbolic of the overall schedule of events in the history of the Church. It is a continuous cycle yearly but just portraying an overall sequence of events and special holy day appointments which God calls His plan. These holy days, in effect, are the key events that take place in the history of the Church and will eventually include the entire world! These key events mark off seasons in the Church. They mark off, in effect, God’s calendar of events. Let us take a brief look at them all and tick them off one at a time in the order that they occur chronologically on God’s calendar. First in the year we have the festival of Passover. Then we have Unleavened Bread followed by Pentecost. Next is the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles (or Ingathering), and The Last Great Day of that celebration which is a new beginning. The schedule is kept by the moon (that is the Church) each year marking off the fact that we believe in these days. That is why this knowledge is so important. When we keep these holy days, we at least (A) have a chance to learn them and (B) we are enacting them and helping God get a job done as we actually go through the days. We do not just picture their meaning but partake of them. We renew our covenant at Passover. We work at putting sin out during the Days of Unleavened Bread and then partake of the Feast of Pentecost picturing God’s first harvest. Each time we have a holy day season, we give offerings to God showing that we are participating, and we are trying to bear fruit for Him. This is how it is done in both the first congregation (the first ekklesia) and the second. The big difference is that the first congregation other than the prophets did this for physical reasons for physical promises. The second congregation (or ekklesia) understands that there are tremendous spiritual promises that go along with this, and these are now spiritual occasions with tremendous meaning for both the Church and all of mankind. We will notice as we study that it is the sun and the moon working together for times and seasons, but it is always the sun that causes the seasons. This is true even outside in the physical world. It is the sun that causes everything else to happen when it has light. The moon simply reflects that light like the churches. Let us turn to the scripture that we read in Genesis chapter 1. We will reread Genesis 1 to see how these two great lights work together. Genesis 1, verse 14: “Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth;’ and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.” God appointed the sun and the moon for times and seasons, and we use them by physical calendar methods. They are also spiritual markers on a spiritual calendar for God. If you would, turn to Psalm 104 where it tells us straight out that the moon is part of this system and is for marking off seasons. Psalm 104, verse 19: “He appointed the moon for seasons; the sun knows its going down.” Here we are told God appointed the moon for seasons and the sun knows its going down. We explained in the first sermon that Jesus Christ came for a short time, and when He was on the earth, it was day. He was here, and wherever He was, the light of the Son was present. Then the Son knew its going down. He knew He had to be killed and then resurrected. On either side of that life of Jesus Christ we have the moon working in two congregations (two separate ekklesias). Each bears witness or evidence of what God is doing, and they do it by keeping the holy days and the Sabbaths. They set themselves apart from the world and are used by God as His treasures. They are His special people to be a light to the world. THE HOLY DAYS I would like to now look at some of these holy days as outlined in the scriptures. First of all, if you would turn to Exodus chapter 12, we will look at the institution of the Passover. Read Exodus 12:1-4. In the first month of God’s year the people are told at the first Passover to mark off the fact that this is the first month for them. It is the beginning of months. It does not matter how the world recognizes a physical calendar. For God’s people this is the beginning of months. He said you will mark it off by taking a lamb, and you will use it (as we will see in a moment) as the Passover lamb. Let’s continue reading Exodus 12:4-11. This was a very significant event. It was the first festival that God was marking off with His people. It had tremendous significance down through time. In these scriptures we just read the beginning of months (the first month, the fourteenth day of the month) the Hebrew word used there is chodesh which means a new moon, by implicating a new month. It is a new moon and by implication a new month. It is also related to the word chadash which means caused to be new, a fresh new thing, cause to rebuild. We see that month means it is a beginning of a new thing, to rebuild something new that God is doing and He marks off by the moon. That is what month and moons mean. They are synonymous in the Bible. They mean the same thing. It is the lunar calendar. Now let’s turn to Leviticus chapter 23 because we are going to see here that all the holy days are outlined. They go by the month, which means they go by the moon. First we will start in Leviticus 23:4, the Passover. “‘These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover.’” That is, the fourteenth day of the first month each year marks God’s Passover. Verse 6, Unleavened Bread: “‘And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.’” Following the Passover we have a seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread with a holy day at the beginning and at the end of that period. Now if you drop down to verse 15, we have Pentecost. “‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seven Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord.’” For the Feast of Pentecost (Pentecost meaning fifty) we are to arrive on that day by counting fifty days (49 plus one) from the day after the Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread. Then we count 49 days. That is seven full weeks, which is why sometimes this is also called the Feast of Weeks as well as the Feast of Firstfruits. On the fiftieth day (the day after the seven weeks are completed) we make an offering to God of the firstfruits of the land. This is called the Feast of Pentecost. Let us drop down to Leviticus 23:23, and we will look at the Feast of Trumpets. “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, saying: “In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.”’” We come to the fall holy days seven months from the first month. At the beginning of the seventh month, we have the Feast of Trumpets. It is a day of no work. It is a holy convocation, and it is a very special day to God. A short time later on the tenth day of that month, we have the Day of Atonement. On the first day of that month we have the Feast of Trumpets, and on the tenth day we have the Day of Atonement. Drop down to verse 26: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls,’” (that means to fast) “‘and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.’” On the tenth day of that seventh month we have a fast day. It is a very special day. It is the Day of Atonement. On that day we also make an offering to God. Then we come to the final set of holy days, the Feast of Tabernacles (or Ingathering). That is spoke of starting in Leviticus 23:33. “Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel saying: “The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it.”’” We see on the fifteenth day of that same seventh month we have another festival. It lasts a week just like the Days of Unleavened Bread lasted a week. They have holy days at the beginning and at the end of that period of time in which we make offerings to God. THE HOLY DAYS AND THE AGRICULTURAL YEAR This is a very significant calendar of events in the history of the Church. Now I want to bring in another concept that God very strongly uses throughout the Bible. That is that these holy days are tied to the agricultural year, which is why you see certain offerings made when the harvest comes in. It is very important to acknowledge that God is blessing us with fruit of the land physically speaking. But for the Church we are going to see its very special spiritual blessings. We have two separate crops being raised by God, and they are crops of mankind. The first harvest, Pentecost (being the Firstfruits) and the Feast of Tabernacles (or the Feast of Ingathering) representing a huge second harvest of people from the earth. This is why God often uses the agriculture year and the growing of grain, fruit, vegetables and trees as produce that God calls very special to Him. We have to offer offerings of them. They simply portray what God is doing with people in a spiritual sense. Back up now, if you would, to Leviticus 23 where we will see how much this is tied to crops. Leviticus 23, verse 9: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.”’” This is often called the wave sheaf offering. This is the day after the Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread. We take of the crops of the land (the firstfruit crops) and make an offering to God from that. This is showing that this firstfruit is getting started, and it actually pictures Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the first of the firstfruits, as we have looked at in the past. This happens in the spring holy day season. Then we mark off fifty days, as we said, and we offer another offering of that firstfruit harvest a little later in the year. It is a grain offering with two loaves, if you remember as we read in Leviticus 23:16-17. Loaves come from grain. You take the grain, grind it and bake the bread. God is saying the very first fruit, the wave sheaf (Jesus Christ who died as our Passover and was resurrected) is the first accepted sacrifice for mankind. The second sacrifice at the Feast of Pentecost pictures the first harvest of mankind (the firstfruits) and is pictured as two loaves. One loaf represents the first congregation of God before Christ’s first coming, and one loaf represents the second congregation of God that has been working since Christ came. These two loaves are part of the firstfruits of God. Whoever had the Holy Spirit of God from each of those two congregations forms part of this firstfruit offering to God on the Feast of Pentecost. There is another offering from the fruit of the earth and from mankind spiritually spoken of in verse 37. After telling the people that they must keep the Feast of Ingathering (the Feast of Tabernacles) we are told: “‘These are the feasts of the Lord which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day, besides the Sabbaths of the Lord, besides your gifts, besides your vows, and besides all your free-will offerings which you give to the Lord. Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days; on the first day there shall be a Sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a Sabbath-rest.’” A SPIRITUAL FARMER Here we have people offering God offerings from the fruit of the land physically when these calendar of events come around each year. They are picturing what God is doing from among mankind on the earth as a harvest to God at each occasion, a spring harvest and a fall harvest. All of those physical offerings are simply portraying what God is doing spiritually. We know in order to have a crop from the physical earth (the physical ground), we need to have seed in that ground. We need to have water to get to that seed to sprout and grow. It needs sunlight in order to grow. In essence, God is showing us year by year when we keep the holy days in its agricultural season, we are seeing that God is a spiritual farmer raising two crops for Himself. There are two harvests, as it were, from the earth that is from mankind. The holy days are way markers of these seasons as we go down through history. Let’s notice a couple of scriptures that would show us God is a spiritual farmer using mankind as the ground to grow His crops. Turn, if you would, to James 5:7. “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.” James says be patient like God is patient. He is a patient farmer. The believers, the brethren, must be patient as God produces these crops. Turn to Isaiah 55 where we will see a brief discussion of these crops and the fact that the former and the latter rain are speaking of the New Testament and the Old Testament. The former rain is the Old Testament, the truth and doctrines of God. The latter rain is the New Testament. God gives the crops the former rain and the latter rain in order to sprout the seed of God. Read Isaiah 55:8-11. God says My thoughts are the truths you need. My thoughts are the doctrines you need, and it is like rain that comes down from heaven. My thoughts will nourish the earth, that is mankind, so that it brings forth a bud that the seed may be profitable to God and to mankind. Then he concludes with verses 12-13. “‘For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.’” The sign from God is that He can (through the sun) bear crops on the earth. The evidence of these crops is shown through the moon that reflects His light. It is a lamp to the world to show as way markers and signs what God is doing spiritually with mankind. There are basically four ways to comprehend God’s plan and His intentions. There is history. There is a record of the first ecclesia, which is written for our example. There is prophecy, which is inspired teaching. When it is written in the Bible it includes prophecies of what will happen, but prophecy itself is basically inspired teaching. The third is miracles, which is the equivalent of signs and wonders in the Bible. The fourth is God’s calendar of events (the holy days) by watching them take place and get fulfilled. When we partake of these, when we notice them and when we reflect the truth of these, we are reflecting the written record of the witnesses. We become a witness ourselves as to what God is doing down through time! GOD’S CALENDAR OF EVENTS In God’s calendar we find it measures time a little bit differently than the calendar you have hanging on the wall. Yes, you can use the sun and the moon to mark off the calendar on the wall. You can attach whatever significance to any day that you want. Cultures around the world do this. But what God is doing each year is symbolic of what He is really doing overall with mankind. So God’s calendar marks things off a little bit differently. We could call that prophetic time versus physical time. We need a prophetic timing device, just like with physical time we use the calendar and we mark it off with the sun and the moon. With God’s prophetic timing device, we need to know what to watch for as signs and wonders in God’s Church, while we picture the holy days to find out exactly where we are in time. The holy days get repeated every year. We have to find out which holy day we are partaking of and where we are in time. God reveals this through the understanding of His word, the Bible. So just as a physical device would mark off physical time, a spiritual timing device would mark off God’s spiritual events. How do we calculate a prophetic year? It is actually very simple. If you were to look at the fact that God said the sun and the moon are both “for signs and seasons, and for days and years,” you can use them both for physical time and as well as for God’s prophetic timing device. Since we are using the actual cycle that the sun and moon go through every year, and God has figured a way to utilize the physical calendar and tie it together with the spiritual calendar, all we do is look at the length of a solar year. A solar year is 365.25 days. The length of a lunar year, which is the moon marking off time, is 354.37 days. We add them together and divide by 2 so we get an average. You will find that the average between the two (when you use them both together as a calendar) is 360 days. Therefore, God’s prophetic year using both of them in His mind would be a 360-day year. That means when you divide by 12 months in a year, each month is 30 days long. We are not going to get into a discussion of how God rectifies the two calendars and how He caused the Jews to put in an intercalary month. This was to keep the sequence of events going simultaneously because we are talking about a prophetic year here. People get lost in the physical details and miss the main import of what God is saying. This is very important as you will see as we go through this sermon. Keep in mind we are talking three calendars here: the solar calendar which goes by the sun, the lunar calendar which goes by the moon and a prophetic calendar. It is a totally different calendar. It draws from the other two, but it is a different calendar that is marking off special days that have significance to God and His Church. It is a schedule of events, God’s plan. SEVEN MONTH AGRICULTURAL SEASON We said we are tying in the agricultural season. If you were to look at the agricultural season in God’s book, the Bible, you would see it is seven months long. Basically that is what you find in the world as well. It goes from spring until fall. It goes from the Passover at the beginning of the holy days (the first month in God’s calendar) to the Feast of Tabernacles at the end of the agricultural year. God also calls this the Feast of Ingathering when there is a huge crop coming in, and God expects an offering from that crop. So God’s growing season is seven months long. We can verify that, as we said, with the physical calendar. During the physical calendar you have two crops. You have a spring crop and a fall crop. That is why in the spring we have a small crop of what we call winter wheat. You have some fruits and vegetables that come up quickly. Later in the fall you have a huge crop. God calls these in His spiritual calendar of events the Firstfruit Harvest and the Harvest of Ingathering which we can also call the innumerable multitude. The Firstfruit Harvest is very small and the fall harvest is very, very huge. The physical calendar has the same cycle. If you were a farmer and you were in tune with the land as most farmers are, you would find that each crop has certain requirements to grow. You have to prepare the ground. You have to work that ground and make it fine and ready to receive water and the seed. Then you have to plant the seed. That seed requires rain. If you are in a dry area, you need to give it water. You need to irrigate your crops. But those seeds need rain to sprout and grow. The last thing that we need is the sunlight. Every plant must have sunlight in order to grow and come to fruition and have a harvest. All of these elements play a part to have a harvest. It is the same with God’s harvest. They must have ground. They must have seed planted in that ground. They must receive rain which we saw in Isaiah 55 as God’s thoughts and His truth. They must have sunlight. That is Jesus Christ shedding light on people, using the truth to grow a crop. Comparing the physical and the spiritual, in physical farming we would find that basically there is grain (like wheat, rice, oats, corn). There are fruits like tree crops and often in the Bible you see olives and figs talked about. Also there are apple trees and orchards. We are talking about crops that come from trees. Then God also talks often about a vintage which is one year’s harvest from a vineyard. These are all agricultural terms. These are all based on agriculture. God is using these physical things to portray what He is doing spiritually. FRUIT OF RIGHTEOUS CHARACTER God expects His crops to bear fruit. What is that fruit? That fruit is holy righteous character, godly character (to become like Him). There is also the term fruit of the Spirit. Fruit of the Spirit is the fruit of the firstfruits, and eventually this is something the huge harvest will need to have to be profitable for God. Turn, if you would, to Galatians chapter 5. We will read how difficult it is to bear fruit for God. It takes work. Just like a farmer has to work the ground and get a crop to grow, God knows that it is difficult for us as well. Read Galatians 5:16-26. Paul outlines very clearly it is a struggle to bear fruit for God, but it is well worth the effort. He tells us exactly which fruit to bear. One would be like weeds, thorns and briers in God’s Book. The other would be a wonderful crop of good character which is what God wants us to bear for Him. He wants to see a wonderful crop of character. On the holy days we give a physical offering which is just a type. If it was the Old Testament, we would offer Him fruit of the land. In our day and age we offer money to God to get the work done and get the truth out for other people. But in effect what we are really doing is offering God ourselves and the fruit that we have been bearing that year. We show it to God and say here is what we are doing for You. Here are the types of crops we are bearing for You, and we offer ourselves as an offering to You. We are comparing God’s physical agricultural year to His timing device (to what He is actually trying to do). Remember, He needs soil. He needs seed. He wants sunlight to shine on it. Let’s just look at a few scriptures. There are actually many of them in the Bible that would flesh this out for us, but we just want to look at a few. Let us turn to Matthew 13. Read Matthew 13:1-9. What Christ is saying here is My Father and I are farmers. We are using mankind as the field, and We want growth. If you have an ear to hear, hear what I am telling you. Turn now back to Hosea 10:12 where it is speaking of farming once again. “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you.” To bear a crop we see here we must take that ground that is laying and not doing anything and break it up. We need to make the fallow ground soft so it can receive the rain and the seed. Learn to be merciful, for then God will give us mercy which is one of the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit. Then He shows us the opposite if one does not allow themselves to bear good fruit. Verse 13: “You have plowed wickedness; you have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, because you trusted in your own way, in the multitude of your mighty men.” Sometimes we do not listen to God, and we listen to false preachers. We listen to people from the world who may be sincere in trying to do the right thing, but often teach the wrong way to rear children, the wrong way to have character or pushing a wrong lifestyle. We have to resist those, or God says we are plowing wickedness and sowing iniquity. We are not bearing good fruit, but we are actually bearing bad fruit. Now, if you would, turn to Jeremiah 4. There are many scriptures that we can read to prove that God is a spiritual farmer. We are just selecting a few here. It is a wonderful study to go thorough the Bible and do this on your own. In Jeremiah 4:3 we are told this: “For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: ‘Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your hearts, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.’” He says break up your fallow ground. Make your heart soft so that I can put seed there into your mind and your heart. Then I can water it with My truth, and you can bear a good crop for Me. We will be in concert working together. I am the spiritual farmer, and you are the land (the dirt). It is not a coincidence that God formed Adam of the dirt of the ground. You can go back to Genesis and study this subject carefully. God is showing that we are dirt, but we can be profitable dirt if we let Him put His ways in us and we live by them. Then we can bear a crop for God. We looked mainly at ground here. The ground produces, like I said, fruits and vegetables, grain and also the trees grow in the ground (trees being preachers, preachers of the truth). They should be preachers of the truth. Turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter 7. Trees are the biggest things that the ground can produce. Here we are told an interesting thing about trees. Christ gives us a warning. Matthew 7, verse 15. “‘Beware of false prophets…’” That’s false teachers because prophet means inspired teacher. Continue reading Matthew 7:15-20. Jesus Christ is once again explaining that He is a spiritual farmer. He intends to send out teachers to teach His way of life. They would be witnesses of His way of life. They would be workers in the field. But He said beware because sometimes these trees bring forth bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. God has no choice but to cut down trees that are bearing bad fruit and eliminate them, because they can be very harmful to people. That is why this is a warning. He is saying beware of these false trees that will come along and teach falsely in My name. We see that the physical agricultural seasons are very much involved with how God shows what He is doing in His Christians (in His Church). They are those who truly want to bear fruit for Him and those who really want to exemplify His way of life in every aspect of their lives. Each Christian, in effect, has their personal season. In their overall life from baptism and the receiving of the Holy Spirit (which is their Passover) until their death, they are to bear fruit for God. Each year they mark off God’s holy days and show God how they are doing on each holy day. They come to those appointed Feasts and say, God, this is the fruit I have been bearing. I have been putting sin out of my life. I am exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit. I am offering myself to you as an offering. The holy days are yearly reminders. This is the purpose of reenacting the holy days every year. It keeps us on track. It keeps us bearing fruit, and it keeps us working toward God’s purpose. We offer offerings to Him and we are a witness to our fellow man. It is a wonderful thing to use God’s love, His truth, and the rain and allow it to land on our softened ground (our softened hearts). It is a wonderful thing to bear fruit for God and to actually have the fruits of the Spirit in our lives. It is a wonderful thing to both God and to the individual. But the Church as a whole also does this. SEASONS OF THE CHURCH The Church as a whole, as the moon, reflecting God’s light has its seasons. Remember the moon represents the Church. Therefore, the holy days (which we saw earlier) are based on the lunar cycle. The moon is for seasons, as we saw in Psalm 104. Therefore the Church is for seasons. Passover through Pentecost are the spring holy days. Christ working in those firstfruits is trying to bear an early, small crop so that He can go ahead and have a large crop. You will notice in the calendar of events physically the spring harvest is separated from the large harvest by summer time. God delineates the two seasons by summer time. It is very important to notice this. Christ expects us to notice this. With spiritual help and vision we can. Turn to Matthew chapter 24:32. “‘Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near, at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.’” This is a response to the apostles asking Him what will be the sign of His return. Toward the end of this discourse after going through the things we talked about in the first sermon about Matthew 24, Christ answers. He says when you see these things taking place, know that summer time is here. We need to realize that the firstfruit harvest is almost over, brethren! Then we are into summer time when the sunlight grows the harvest that will be the fall harvest. That is the innumerable multitude harvest. The agricultural seasons are very much alive and well in God’s Church and on schedule. We are the ones who must come into concert with that schedule. Each Christian (each person who has received the Holy Spirit) understands these things. They must work very diligently while we still have time to bear a crop for God. The seasons of the Church (the moon) all based on a lunar cycle go like this: There is a cycle of the moon every month. The month starts with a new moon as we call it. Then the moon waxes. That means it gets brighter and brighter until we have the full moon. Then it starts darkening until it goes out and becomes dark. We call that one lunar cycle or one month. From the new moon to the dark moon is one month. At the full moon the moon is fully reflecting the sun’s light. That is when you have a full moon in the sky. When the moon is full is when the candle is growing most brightly. God calls the moon in other places candles. It is burning like a lamp. Before the day and age of electricity, people used candles and oil. It would burn brightly and they could have light at night. Let’s define candle here in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament the term candle is niyr which means to glisten, a lamp or a light. It also means to till the soil, the gleam of a fresh furrow. It also means a freshly plowed field, a freshly plowed ground. It is related to the word nuwr which means to shine and to have fire. We see that a candle in the Old Testament with the full understanding of God’s word is a lamp that is lit to burn like fire but it is also related to having a soft heart, a freshly plowed furrow to receive the seed of God and His rain. Then we use that truth and knowledge to burn as an illuminator for God. If you would look up candle in the New Testament, you would find it comes from the term luchnos and luchnia which means portable lamp or illuminator or a lamp stand. Now let us read a few scriptures in the New Testament which would pertain to this subject here. Go to Matthew chapter 5. Jesus Christ was giving The Beatitudes to the apostles and told them the following. Matthew 5, verse 14: “‘You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.’” Jesus Christ says you are the light of the world. You are a lamp on a hill. You are that golden glow, that glistening furrow that is bearing fruit for Me as a witness letting your light shine. Turn to Revelation chapter 1:20 where Jesus Christ is speaking to John. “‘The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.’” So the Greek term luchnos or luchnia means lampstand or candle. It is the candlesticks that glow for God. How well we bear fruit for God determines how bright we are burning. How well we reflect the truth of God determines how bright we are glowing. How well we reflect God’s name, His character, shows how much we are taking on His character and bearing holy righteous character. This is producing a crop for Him. Of course, the opposite of light is darkness. The moon is characterized every month as becoming brighter and then going darker again. There are times when the moon does not shed God’s light very well. You can see this many places in the scriptures but I just want to turn to Isaiah chapter 13 right now. Isaiah 13, verse 9: “Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and He will destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.” When the moon does not cause its light to shine it is because of sin. When sin goes unrepented of, God says I must punish. I must punish in order to get it to reignite. I have to do something to keep these lamps (these candles) burning. It is important for us to understand that God chastises every son He loves in order to keep the lights burning. He warns us to wake up and start bearing fruit for God. Once we have made that covenant with God and agreed that we are going to bear a crop and keep these scheduled appointments with Him, we must keep going forward. We must bear a crop thirty, sixty or hundredfold. We have to keep performing well to keep our end of the agreement that we made with Him. It requires the light of the sun to do so. Sometimes He will even reduce the light that He sends to the Church as a form of punishment. It is to get them to understand that He is leaving if the Church does not wake up and start bearing fruit for Him. He says I cannot be coexisting with people who will not repent from sin. SEVEN ERAS OF TESTING We understand that there are seven church eras spoken of in Revelation chapter 2 and 3. These seven eras are actually seven testing periods of the Church. They are seven testing periods of the moon, each Church era being one cycle of the moon. That is why I said the prophetic calendar is different than the calendar hanging on the wall. The calendar on the wall can be repeated every year over and over but it is not portraying what God is doing. God’s prophetic calendar keeps moving forward. We have passed Passover, for instance. Passover has occurred. Jesus Christ died and was resurrected. He does not need to do that again. The Christians partake of Passover when they are baptized. They receive the Holy Spirit. God does not have to send His Son again, and His Son does not have to die a second time. But we enact it every year physically to remind ourselves of what we are supposed to be doing. Each of these seven testing periods is one cycle of the moon. They vary in length. If you add all seven testing periods together, you go from Christ’s first coming and resurrection to His return. It is a period of about 2,000 years. So you see that 2,000 years represents from Passover to Pentecost. Actually Christ returns on the Feast of Trumpets, but the firstfruit harvest is locked away at Pentecost. The 2,000 year period is represented in the first several holy days of the year, the spring holy days. Now let us take a look at Revelation chapter 2 and see that the light of the Church in a cycle of the moon grows brighter and brighter until it is full. Then it goes darker and darker, and Christ has to do something about it. When the Church’s light is ready to be completely extinguished, Jesus Christ has to do something. Let us read about it in Revelation 2:1-7. Jesus Christ tells John to tell the first era of the Church here that I understand you have been working for My name’s sake. One of the things we said is we show evidence to the world where God is working by upholding His name and bearing fruit for Him. He says I see you are laboring in your field. You are getting something done, but you have some things you are not repenting of. You are in danger of having your light go out. He said I want you to get rid of these things and work on them. If you do not, I will at the crucial point in time move your lampstand forward to the next Church era. He did, indeed, do this. Jesus Christ visited that Church era in the night and moved their candlestick forward so time advanced to the next test period for God’s Church. It was moved to the next Church era which was Smyrna. You find that these seven test periods follow one after another chronologically until Christ’s second coming. You find a new moon. It is starting to glow which is a fresh start. We saw that a congregation is defined as a fresh start. It is something new where the luminary starts to grow as evidence and a witness to God. Then it burns brightly, and it starts to go out as it begins to be overcome by Satan’s sin and his temptations. Before the candle gets completely extinguished, Christ moves the candle ahead to the next generation of the Church. There are seven testing periods, and remember each season is seven months long. God shows us that His Church runs basically for seven months, as it were. Christ comes on the Feast of Trumpets, but Christ also comes to each of these Churches and moves the candlestick forward. Each Church era has a spring and a fall. It has its own history of its agricultural cycle. That is what the moon is showing as the glistening furrows produce crops and then start to go out. God is saying I have a season that is broken into seven seasons. They are seven cycles. Each is a Church era in the overall plan of God. Since there are seven test periods seven months long, seven times seven is 49 months. Keep in mind that from Passover to Pentecost there are 49 days. Each of these seven test periods are also shown another way in the Bible. God uses seven as a testing period. He says when I test things, I test it for sets of seven. I will show you. First you have the week. Each week is a period of seven days. The first six days we work and we struggle. We are out in the world fighting off Satan and his temptations. The seventh day is the Sabbath. It is a rest period. Each week is a test for a true believer. Then you have six years in God’s overall calendar where He shows that every seventh year is what we call a Sabbatical year. It is a Sabbath year of rest, which is why we rest our physical gardens every seventh year. He is trying to remind us to let our land rest every seventh year. Because as you have struggled for six years to bear fruit for Me in a seven year cycle, I want you to relax in the seventh year. It is a year of rest. That is what Sabbatical means. It is a year of rest. In the overall plan of God which is 7,000 years long, we see that mankind suffers and struggles to bear fruit for 6,000 years under the tyrannical rule of Satan. It is very, very difficult. He sows weeds and thorns in our lives and tests all of mankind with sins, wars and all kinds of evil things for 6,000 years. Then we get to that wonderful period called the Millennium. It is the seventh day of rest. It is a 1,000 year period when Satan is locked away. So we see this principle of testing over a period of seven. It is God’s way of completion. It is completing the test. He grades the test on the seventh day or the seventh millennium of the 7,000 year period. The term Pentecost is to count fifty. It is a testing that has been going on in God’s Church for 2,000 years! When you divide that spring holy day season (the Festival of Pentecost) where we start counting during Unleavened Bread to the Festival of Pentecost, you count seven weeks or 49 days or seven testing periods. On the fiftieth day it is Pentecost, and it pictures once again the Jubilee Year and the Millennium. So we have the Church being tested for seven periods or seven eras. As we saw, each era itself is a full cycle of the moon. So you could also say that this period of seven cycles is 49 months long once again (seven times seven). These testing periods add up to 49 months. It is not on the calendar hanging on your wall but God’s prophetic calendar. It is very important to realize the prophetic calendar is something entirely different from the calendar hanging on your wall. Let’s turn back to Leviticus chapter 23 just to review what we read at the beginning. We will look at counting Pentecost. Leviticus 23, verse 9: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.”’” This is on the day after the Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread. Verse 15: “‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed.’” (seven full weeks) “‘Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord.’” We saw that this is the firstfruits. So you have seven testing periods in God’s Church amounting to 49 months. We picture it in the spring time counting 50 days to get to the Feast of the Firstfruits, having completed seven full testing periods. Each era of God’s Church during this testing period works for one month. It is one full cycle of the moon. During that cycle of the moon they are a witness for God. They are the evidence of His plan. The Church, the congregation and body of Christ is a light to the world which should be burning brightly. When it gets dark, God has to do something. Remember he moves the candlestick ahead. It is important to get in our mind these seven testing periods each represent one lunar cycle. Each lunar cycle during the spring holy days is pictured as a week. It is a testing period. There are six days of work and then a rest period. Each era is bearing a crop to God which has a beginning and an end. It has a spring and a fall. Each new moon has its completion of its work. That is why Christ told Ephesus I know your work that you are working in My name. You are doing these things, but you have something you are just not overcoming. I am going to have to move your candlestick to the next generation of the Church if you do not get your act together. Each Church era eventually just runs out of gas. God has to do something to keep the lamps burning. They run out of fuel. This continues to progress forward until you come to the last Church era. Each Church era is a complete season unto itself with a beginning and an end. Christ then visits those Church eras in the night, as a thief in the night. He moves the candlestick forward. Remember God’s annual agricultural cycle is seven months long, seven testing periods. Seven times seven is 49 months of work. Therefore, the first six Church eras work for 42 months, which is very important to mark off in our mind. Because as we are using the sun and the moon for a calendar of events to note signs and seasons, we need to know this. It is important to know the signs and wonders to look at and to know where we are in time, because in a prophetic year, 42 months is very significant. UNDER ATTACK FOR 42 MONTHS Turn to Revelation chapter 13. We are going to look at this briefly today and then we are going to come back to it the next time. We will then complete this fascinating subject. It is speaking of the beast power here with Satan behind it. Satan is the driving force and the ruler of it. Read Revelation 13:5-10. Here we can see that Satan works against the Church. He has power to fight the Church for 42 months, and then something happens. We will talk about that the next time, but this 42 months is very significant. Now we will go to the Bible and look at a thumbnail sketch of the two ekklesias. The first ekklesia is the first congregation that worked until Christ’s coming, up until the second ekklesia. There is a place in the Bible that is in the chapter before what we just read. Turn to Revelation chapter 12. We will see how the prophetic year and God’s schedule of events is shown right here. We are looking here for signs and wonders as way markers. Later we will talk more about the prophetic time in the next sermon. I want to nail down the fact that Satan has been against the second ekklesia and fighting it for 42 months. We have to look at a whole history here. It will be a brief thumbnail sketch. Read Revelation 12:1-5. Here we have the first ekklesia pictured as a woman. This woman down through history is the first congregation of God and had worked and struggled to bring forth the seed that was Jesus Christ. We can follow His physical genealogy from Mary and Joseph all the way back to Adam. We do not need to do that right now, but mankind has been struggling through this called-out nation of Israel. In particular, it was the sons with the anointed oil. These were the prophets who were preaching and teaching the evidence of God. They were writing down the things that He told them to say. That effort ended up producing a physical human being called Jesus Christ who had the Holy Spirit immeasurable. He was a miraculously conceived Child with the Father conceiving that Child in a physical woman. Jesus Christ was man but He was divine. He lived a perfect life and died. That was the seed that this woman struggled to give birth to. In pain and struggling she succeeded in having this Child. Who was there when the Child was about ready to be born but Satan the devil. He had a third of the angels that he had deceived. They were ready to kill the Christ Child. This is a side point, but we see that Satan had to use physical people to try to kill Christ. He used the Roman soldiers and King Herod, because he cannot directly do anything himself. He must work through people, which is part of the curse that is on Satan. I want to review these scriptures here one by one and get a picture of what it is talking about. This is the history of the first congregation’s work. First we saw a woman, which pictures the congregation of God, the Church, clothed with the sun. That is Christ’s light and truth. They had the truth. Jesus Christ was working in them as a witness through the prophets, the sons of oil, and through the priesthood. The priesthood was portraying annually the holy days for the people and teaching them the ways of God. Underneath this symbolic sign of this woman is the moon. Therefore, we see that she is supported by the prophets. The prophets were the ones giving her guiding light. The sons of oil were for example Moses, David, Isaiah and Jeremiah. They were giving guiding light to the congregation of Israel (the anointed ones). They were that first olive tree. They directed her steps and showed her how to walk. On her head was a garland of twelve stars. That is twelve angels, as we saw before. Stars represent angels. So each of the twelve tribes of Israel had an angel bringing help and messages to it to help and guide it, work for it and defend it. There was one over each of the twelve tribes. She was with Child. That means she was pregnant. She bore a male Child, Jesus Christ. Christ lived a perfect life and died. He was resurrected and caught up to heaven. That is the first five verses of Revelation chapter 12. She had a great enemy and that was Satan. Along with his demons, Satan fought to try to stop this at every turn. He was unsuccessful. Jesus Christ defeated Satan soundly. They attacked that first ekklesia with all he had, and then once he found he could not attack them, he attacked Jesus Christ (the fruit of that woman). Let’s go back to see the first reference to the woman. Keep your finger in Revelation. We will go back to Genesis chapter 3 just to tie it all together from beginning to end. Genesis 3, verse 13: “And the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’” This is speaking to Eve here in the Garden of Eden. “The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’ So the Lord God said to the serpent: ‘Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.’ To the woman he said: ‘I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.’” Here we see the woman pictures the Church here, and the seed that Eve was carrying was going to have a struggle against Satan but eventually would win. It would only win because of the perfect life of Jesus Christ. So this is the woman that you see pictured working all of those thousands of years in Revelation 12 up to the point where she gives birth to Jesus Christ. Let us continue with the thumbnail sketch of Revelation by going to Revelation 12:6. “Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.” Now notice that it is the same woman! She has worked in two shifts. The physical first ekklesia (or congregation) has now on the other side of Christ’s first coming continued to work as a Church, as a congregation, as a second ekklesia of witnesses. She works for a period of 1,260 days where she is fed and prepared by God for a special time, that being His second coming. Continue reading Revelation 12:7-12. This set of scripture verses from 6 through 12 shows that when Jesus Christ was resurrected and caught up to heaven, Satan was cast out. He no longer had access to heaven. He could no longer accuse the angels that were up there. There was great rejoicing in heaven at this event, because Satan was cast out. So they were very happy. They were shed of this evil being who was causing them tremendous difficulty. Now they feel sorry for the Church and for the earth because Satan has to focus his wrath and his attention against the Church and against the earth. But because of Christ’s resurrection, the blood of the Lamb and the testimony (the witness) will help them overcome. That is what the Church has been doing for this period of 42 months (1,260 days) that the Church was hidden. If you were to take 1,260 and divide it by 42, you would see that that is a month. There are 42 months in 1,260 days! During this time that Satan is after the Church, he cannot destroy it because every time he comes close, Jesus Christ moves that candlestick ahead. He gives the Church a fresh start, a new furrow, new light and new truth coming to them to help them to grow. Then they can bear fruit and the moon can glow once again to its full brightness. This cycle kept repeating six times for the 42 months! Continuing in Revelation 12:13. “Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.” This time and times and half a time adds up once again to 1,260 days, the prophetic period, using God’s calendar, that Satan was after the Church. He was after the Church constantly for the same period of time, 42 months. Verse 16: “But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” After 42 months Satan goes after the Church with a terrific vengeance. Jesus Christ has no place to move the candle to. It is in the last era of the Church. When we continue the conclusion of this sermon the next time, we are going to see what has happened to the Church during the Laodicean era. If you were to look up this term “remnant”, you would find it means the end time, the last group. It is the last group of the saints having to face Satan. They have a terrific battle with him. THE LAST ERA OVERCOME If you go back to Revelation 13, we will reread this a little bit. Revelation 13, verse 5: “And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them.” That means he gained the victory over them. “And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.” That is because he has always possessed the earth. Since Satan was given authority over the earth, he ruled the kingdoms of men. But he could not rule the Church of God, this woman. There was enmity between him and her, but he could not conquer her. It was not until this very last remnant of the Church that Satan actually overcomes the Church for a very brief period of time. It was after 42 months of struggle against the second ekklesia, the Church. It was during that time period we would call the 49 months or the 49 days (seven weeks from Passover to Pentecost). During this time from Christ’s resurrection to this point in time, there have been 42 months of the 49 months where Satan was after the Church. Then in the last cycle of the Church (the last cycle of the moon) something horrible happens here. It never happened before! We are going to talk about that more in the next sermon, but it is important for us to grasp that the seasons of the Church and God’s calendar are different than what you see hanging on the wall. It is different than the solar and lunar calendar that you would follow to mark off physical time. The seasons of God’s Church mark off signs and wonders and way markers along the way in the history of God’s Church in both the first and second ekklesia (the woman) which Jesus Christ will eventually marry at His return. All is not lost. There is a wonderful future for both the Church and the world! We just need to see where we are in that point in time. We will talk about this more in the third in this series Seasons of the Church.