The Spiritual Significance of the Holy Days, Part 2

The Sequence of Events:  The Passover

[Study Aired August 29, 2025]

The holy days the Lord gave Israel as well as every experience He gave Israel were given to them for our edification:

1Co 10:6 Now these things became types of us, for us not to be lusters after evil things,

1Co 10:11 Now all this befalls them typically. Yet it was written for our admonition, to whom the consummations of the eons have attained.”

Those festivals take place during three seasons of the year. They begin with the spring festival of the Passover and the days of unleavened bread in the first month of the year, and they end with the feast of Tabernacles and the last great day at “the end of the year”, which is actually the seventh month of the year. Between those four festivals and within the three seasons of the year there are three more festivals, the feast of Pentecost, the day of trumpets and the day of atonement.

Pentecost is 50 days after the sabbath which occurs during the seven days of unleavened bread. That places Pentecost in the summer season. The feast of trumpets and the day of atonement are both in the seventh month. Trumpets is on the first day  of the seventh month and atonement is on the tenth day of the seventh month.

To the natural man these seven festivals each celebrate an outward historical event. Passover celebrates Israel coming out of Egypt. The days of unleavened bread remind Israel that they had no time to leaven their bread as they left Egypt. Pentecost celebrates the giving of the law at Sinai, fifty days after leaving Egypt.

“Before chronos aionios” God the Father developed a plan to create “the… family of God.”

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

Eph 3:1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
Eph 3:2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
Eph 3:3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
Eph 3:4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
Eph 3:5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
Eph 3:6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
Eph 3:7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
Eph 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
Eph 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Eph 3:11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
Eph 3:12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.
Eph 3:13 Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
Eph 3:14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Eph 3:15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

The first thing God the Father created was a wife, through whom and “by whom” [He created] the rest of His creation. Then through His ‘wife’ He is now in the process of making all men of all time “in His image and after His likeness.” He refers to this part of the process of His creation as “the earth”:

Gen 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Jer 22:29  O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

It would be through the ‘earth’ and all that is in the earth that He would reveal Himself to those who would become sons in His family.

Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made [The earth], even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Joh 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

1Co 8:6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

Everything Christ does, He does because of what His Father has “shown Him” and has commissioned Him to do. Just as we are in our relationship to Christ, Christ can do nothing of Himself:

Joh 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
Joh 5:20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.

Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Exactly which “things that are made [make] the invisible things of Him… even His eternal power and Godhead… clearly seen [and] understood”? Anything other than “that which is written” is mere speculation. Here is what is written which makes the Godhead to be “clearly seen [and] understood”:

1Co 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

There it is. Just as “the head of the woman is the man”, so also is the Godhead, “the head of Christ is God.” In other words, just as we are all called “sons of God” and at the same time Christ is called our “husband”, so also is Christ both the wife of God and the Son of God. “The head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.”

The scriptures also tell us all this:

Joh 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

To which is added:

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

We are “as He is… in this world” [G2889: kosmos, not aion]. 1 John 4:17 is just reiterating the Truth of John 20:21 “… as My Father has sent me, even so send I you.” If indeed we are “as He is… in this world”, then we need to know what the Father sent Christ to do, and since we are ‘as He is in this world’, we need to know exactly how the Father intended to use Christ to accomplish the purpose for which He created Christ as His wife and His Son.

Christ said: “As My Father has sent me, even so send I you.” So what exactly did God send Christ to do? Here is Christ’s commission from His Father:

Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

God sent… His Son into the world… that the world through Him might be saved. That is what Christ’s Head has commissioned Him to accomplish, and that is what Christ as our head has commissioned us to accomplish.

The function of God’s wife is to be the channel through whom He would create His entire family, just as we can “clearly see… by the things that are made” (Rom 1:20). Here is how Christ is using the church to bring forth His family just as His Father is using Him to bring for His family:

1Co 11:12 For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.

Again, we “understand… the invisible things of God… by the things that are made.” “The things that are made” is referring particularly to the marriage union, of which we are told that just as “the head of Christ is God” (1Co 11:3), so also “the head of the woman is the man”, and this spiritual ranking is given a second witness in 1 Corinthians 8 where we read:

1Co 8:6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and [besides the “one God” there is also] one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

And again in Colossians:

Col 1:15 Who [Christ] is the image of the invisible God [“the head of Christ”], the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16 For by him [Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Col 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

So the woman is of the man, just as Christ is of the Father, and all things are by Christ, just as all men are by the woman.

This is when our heavenly Father first planned to create His family:

2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

It was all preplanned to be accomplished through His wife, whom He heads, just as Christ is doing all His Father sent Him to do through His Christ whom He heads:

Eph 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Eph 3:11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed [“Before the world began”] in Christ Jesus our Lord:

“The eternal purpose” is the eternal, or aionian, plan of God “which He purposed in Christ”, which plan included us “before the world began”, if we are really “as He is… Jesus of Nazareth”.

Act 22:8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world [G2889: ‘kosmos’].

God’s wife was the very “beginning of God’s creation.” Then God informed His wife of His entire plan and how it was to be carried out.

Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

Rev 3:13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Rev 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

Christ knows who He is whether we do or not. He knows He is “the Son of God”, and He also knows that His Father is also His Husband. Just as Christ is also our Father and we are His sons, we are at the same time His wife:

Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

2Co 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Eph 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Eph 5:24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

Eph 5:31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two [not ‘three’] shall be one flesh.
Eph 5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Christ wants us to “be one as [He and His Father] are one”:

Joh 17:11  And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. [“The head of Christ is God”, (1Co 11:3) and the very “Godhead… is understood by the things that are made”, (Rom 1:20)]

Joh 17:22  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

It was through His wife that He would create the “aions”, and through those eons He would create a spiritual family of sons, lesser gods, to be with Him and to think and act in accord with Himself and to be a happy functional family where the entire family would have “the same mind” as their Creator God, “that there should be no schism” in His family.

Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; [Greek: aions, ages, each life of each man]

Rom 12:16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

1Co 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

1Co 12:25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

Php 4:2 I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.

1Pe 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;

This family of spiritual gods would first be created of the clay of this earth, and it would intentionally be “marred in The Potter’s hand”, totally unfit for the kingdom of heaven:

Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Then that vessel of clay would live a life of great trial and be put through spiritual flames of spiritual fire, which would judge and destroy that marred, carnal, rebellious mind. The sin and destruction of this clay vessel is all an integral part of the plan of God, that through the judgment of the flames of the destruction and death of that marred, carnal, rebellious mind, a new man would be born to “be of the same mind in the Lord.“ All of this is the “one event” and the “all things come alike to all men” spoken of in this verse:

Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

This fiery judgment is what produces the new birth of which Christ told Nicodemus:

Joh 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Joh 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
Joh 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

This second birth was an integral part of the plan of God, “before the world began.”

2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

Our ‘new man’ is new only in down payment form at this time. Our “inheritance of the purchased possession” bodies will indeed be like “the wind” which will be invisible to the natural eye.

But this is the plan that must be lived out by “every man” of all time to attain that new “as the wind” spiritual body:

1Co 3:13 Every man‘s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man‘s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

The “in the Lord” part of these family members, “the spirit of God dwell[ing] in you”, is the part that has been kept “hidden”, kept secret, through the spiritual meaning and signification of the spiritual Words of God. It is the spirit of God’s Words which has kept the masses of mankind from seeing or hearing these spiritual truths. In other words, the deception of the masses of mankind is a deliberate, integral, yet vital part of the plan of God:

Eze 14:9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
Eze 14:10 And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;

Those who argue that Christ would not deceive us and then punish us for what He caused us to do, do not know the Christ of scripture who does just exactly that in the life of every one of us. We all experience “one event… all things come alike to all.” We all experience His deception, and then we all experience His punishment for that deception before we come to know Christ and His Father. That is the doctrine of God from Genesis to Revelation:

Gen 4:6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
Gen 4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto [Hebrew: ‘el’, against] thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him [sin].

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Mat 13:9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Mat 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

This is all by God’s design. It is all part of His predestined plan for the salvation of all men. The creature has nothing to contribute to its own salvation. The entire history of mankind in clay vessels is all a work of God to bring mankind from that marred condition to a perfected spiritual body, as a perfected son in the family of God with the mind of His spiritual heavenly Father. Nothing about the plan of God depends upon mankind. It is all “of Him, through Him and to Him”:

Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. [So much for the false doctrine of God giving man a will that is free from any external influence from Him]
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour [the new man], and another unto dishonour?

Rom 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Rom 11:34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Rom 11:35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Christ came to reveal the mind of His Father to us:

Luk 10:22  All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.

Joh 15:15  Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

While we are not expected to keep the holy days of the law of Moses, those holy days are just as instructive of the mind of our heavenly Father as are the sacrifices which are also fulfilled in Christ and which are also instructive to us of the mind of our heavenly Father.

The first holy day signifies how our Father is in the process of redeeming His “marred… clay… vessel”:

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

The first step in “making it another vessel” is signified “for our edification” by the Passover festival as revealed to us in Leviticus 23:

Lev 23:4  These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
Lev 23:5  In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S passover.

The reason for this festival is given to us in Exodus 12:

Exo 12:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
Exo 12:2  This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
Exo 12:3  Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
Exo 12:4  And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
Exo 12:5  Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
Exo 12:6  And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
Exo 12:7  And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
Exo 12:8  And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
Exo 12:9  Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
Exo 12:10  And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
Exo 12:11  And thus shall ye eat it [The Passover lamb]; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’S passover.
Exo 12:12  For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
Exo 12:13  And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

Exo 12:21  Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover.

Exo 12:27  That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD’S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.

Exo 12:43  And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof:

To an outward Jew this is all simply an account of an historical event in which the Lord treated them and their nation in a special way while killing all the firstborn of Egypt.

To the man who is an inward ‘Jew’ this happened to the outward nation of Israel, and it is written for our admonition (1Co 10:11), revealing that Christ is signified by that lamb which every man kills, and if we acknowledge that fact, the truth is it is our sins which killed Christ (Jer 3:13), in this present time (Rom 8:18), and if we are the first to be judged in this present time (1Pe 4:17), and if we are the first to die to our old man and be crucified with Christ in this present time (Gal 2:20), then the ‘second death’ which is the lake of fire, the second judgment, the white throne judgment, “when the thousand years are expired” (Rev 20:7) will not hurt us (Rev 2:11, Rev 20:6).

Here is why Israel was told that “there shall no stranger eat thereof”:

Heb 13:10  We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
Heb 13:11  For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp [of Israel].
Heb 13:12  Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate [of spiritual Sodom].
Heb 13:13  Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach [Bearing the rejection of those who “say they are Jews but are not”, (Rev 2:9, Rev 3:9)].
Heb 13:14  For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

In our next study we will seek  to know what the next step in the plan of God is revealed to us for our admonition as we examine the spiritual significance of the days of unleavened bread which immediately follow and are attached to the Passover.

Exo 12:14  And this day [the Passover] shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast [the Passover] to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

This 14^th verse is the last verse of Exodus 12 which concerns the Passover. The next six verses are all concerned with the days of unleavened bread, the spiritual significance of which we will examine in our next study:

Exo 12:15  Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
Exo 12:16  And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.
Exo 12:17  And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.
Exo 12:18  In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.
Exo 12:19  Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.
Exo 12:20  Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.

[The next section of this study series can be found here.

Audio Links

The Biblical Overview of The Plan of God – Part 8

The Feast of Tabernacles

“The Kingdoms of This World Are Become The Kingdoms of Our Lord and His Christ”

Introduction

Thus far we have covered the spiritual meaning and the spiritual functions of the first five of the seven festivals which God gave to ancient Israel. In our last study we saw that the three annual holy days that follow the passover and the days of unleavened bread foreshadow the next three steps in the overview of the plan of God as well as revealing the three functions which are being performed by Christ’s firstfruits. These firstfruits, unlike Christ, are repentant sinners and as such are symbolized by a firstfruit-offering that is leavened, a Biblical symbol which is generally used to typify sin. They are also symbolized by the scapegoat which is another symbol for sin. But again, unlike Christ, “the Lord’s goat”, which is a slain sacrifice, Christ’s firstfruits are symbolized as “a living sacrifice” which is accepted as such only upon the sacrifice of the passover lamb Himself. So the passover Lamb symbolizing the first of the firstfruits, is the same in symbol, as “the Lord’s goat”, which is first slain and offered to God on the day of atonement, before the scapegoat “for a sin offering”. (Rom 12:1)

Lev 16:5  And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

We are told both goats are part of “a sin offering…. [to] make an atonement [for] all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins” (Lev 16:21). The first goat is Christ in His non-perfected flesh, while the “living sacrifice” is us as the scapegoat of the day of atonement and as the two leavened loaves of the feast of firstfruits.

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. 

“The third day” symbolizes the completion of the process of judgment which had to be completed in Christ’s Adamic flesh, which is indeed traced all the way back to Adam through His mother. The connection of Christ’s flesh to the flesh of Adam is the very purpose for giving us His long genealogy which ends with these words:

Luk 3:38  Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

That is also the reason Christ is symbolized by a goat in the sacrifices of the day of Atonement. So there we have it. The first Adam is as much a “son of God” as is the last Adam. Both had bodies of sinful flesh, and there is no other way Christ could possibly offer Himself up to His Father as a “sin offering”.

The negative symbolism of goats in scripture is the flesh and the carnal mind of the flesh, which is unworthy to be part of the kingdom of God (1Co 15:50):

Mat 25:33  And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Making an atonement for sin is the purpose for offering both goats. But the two goats symbolize two separate functions of that atonement process, and those differences are qualified and delineated for us. The first, “the Lord’s goat”, is slain, and then, after and upon the blood of the first goat, the second goat is released alive in the wilderness. This second goat also symbolizes the sin offering, but this second goat is capable of being a trespass offering, which our sinless Savior could not be because He was in a body of sinful flesh which had never sinned:

2Co 5:21  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we [we who have trespassed, and who have sinned are therefore, through Christ, now become a living trespass offering] might be made the righteousness of God in him.

That is why these two goats are sacrificed on the day of atonement, when God’s elect as a living sacrifice, must afflict their souls, for the salvation of His body which is the church:

Lev 16:29  And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:
Lev 16:30  For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. 

2Co 1:6  And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: 

The priest “mak[ing] an atonement for you” typifies Christ as our high priest, and if we are in Him and He is in us, then we, too, are now priests making an atonement for others:

Heb 5:5  So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. [God has glorified Christ to be our high priest].

Heb 5:9  And being made perfect [“on the third day”], he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
Heb 5:10  Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. 
Heb 5:11  Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.

Heb 6:20  Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

What made “the order of Melchisedec” different from the Aaronic order? The only difference we are given is that Melchisedec was both a king and a priest as is Christ:

Gen 14:18  And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

Heb 7:1  For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
Heb 7:2  To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; 

Heb 8:1  Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;

One of those “many things [which are] hard to be uttered” about Christ as our high priest is that in Him we, too, become “saviors” [who are also] kings and priests. Paul could not utter that fact to the Hebrews at the time of this writing of Heb 5:11, but as we have noted, he did tell the Colossians that we are to “fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of the Christ”, and as we just noted, he told the Corinthians that our afflictions are for the salvation of others.

But it was given to the apostle John, in the book of Revelation, to come right out and tell us that we, too, are priests who, like Melchisedec, are now both “kings and priests… unto our God”.

Rev 1:6  And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

These spiritual positions are not just some distant spiritual promise, though they certainly are not yet ours in their fullness. Nevertheless all these promises are already ours in what the scriptures call “the earnest of our inheritance”:

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first [as in “firstfruits”] trusted in Christ. 
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest [Greek: down-payment] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession [meaning our resurrection to rule and reign with Him], unto the praise of his glory.

So Christ has already given to us a down-payment of our inheritance by giving us His Father’s spirit. In that position we can and must claim and confess who we are in Him and where we stand as His emissaries on this earth. If we deny who we are in Christ, He will deny us before His Father:

Mat 10:32  Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 10:33  But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

Because that is true here are five verses which bear repetition. These verses tell us why our heavenly Father sent Christ into this world as His emissary, and they also tell us what is the commission which Christ, in turn, has placed upon us as His emissaries.

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 

Joh 17:18  As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 

Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

1Jn 2:2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 

Our old man cannot receive the depth of what Christ means when He tells us that He has sent us into the world “as [His] father has sent [Him]”. We cannot, in our flesh, comprehend the depth of “as He is, so are we in this world.” What is Christ “in this world”? The answer is, “He is the propitiation for our sins, not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world”, and it is as spiritual kings and priests, in “earnest” meaning in down-payment form, that we as the anointed of Christ fulfill the functions of the three steps that follow the passover which we have covered thus far. In Christ as our passover we are 1) the feast of weeks (Pentecost), also called the feast of firstfruits. We are the two leavened loaves offered to God at Pentecost. If there were any difference in these two loaves, we would have been told so as we were with the two goats at atonement. But we are not told that ‘one loaf is Christ and the other is us’ as so many claim. Those two loaves are both Christ within His “two witnesses”, witnessing to and lying dead in the streets of Babylon (Rev 11). In Christ it is we who are the “seven priests” (Jos 6, and Rev 8-11) who fulfill  2) the day of blowing of trumpets, and in Christ, it is we who fill up in our bodies what is behind of the afflictions of the Christ as portrayed in 3) the fasting and afflicting of our souls, as the living scapegoat sin offering on the day of atonement.

The last two steps in the overview of the plan of God

There are yet two more annual holy days that fill out and finish the overview of God’s plan for all mankind of all time. These last two holy days continue to be “types of us”, and they continue to reveal how Christ through us, as “the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”, will effectuate the salvation of all men of all time.

Let it be made clear that this study is not intended to deny that mankind must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Mat 4:4). But let it also be made equally clear that this study is declaring that there is an order to God’s plan for the salvation of all and the destruction of death, and that we are focusing on the overview of that plan.

These last two holy days are shadows of how  we will be used by Christ to bring the ages to their predestined consummation with “the church, which is His body, [becoming] the fulness of Him that fills all in all”, by bringing all men to Christ.

Here we read of the work of those two leavened loaves as they are revealed to us again, in the book of Daniel:

Dan 2:34  Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
Dan 2:35  Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.  [“God… all in all”]

Here is this same message concerning God becoming all in all in the New Testament:

Luk 13:20  And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? 
Luk 13:21  It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. [“God… all in all”]

1Co 15:28  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. 

Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 
Eph 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Eph 1:22  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 
Eph 1:23  Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. 

Rev 21:3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. [All men, God “all in all”]

Christ has been granted by His Father to be the head of the church, which is His body, [which church is] “the fulness of Him that fills all in all”. God being “all in all” is the goal, the ‘telos‘, of His plan. That which “fills [God]” and brings about the goal of God’s plan for all men is Christ and the church. It is we who are the firstfruit fullness of Him that fills all in all”.

But before this can be accomplished, Christ and His body must first destroy death because we are informed that death is “the last enemy to be destroyed”:

1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 

1Co 15:28  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, [when death is destroyed] then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. 

This brings us to a revelation from which our old man recoils in utter disgust, and a revelation which I have been unable to find in any commentary.

The simple fact is that to destroy death, you simply must annihilate all flesh that is upon the earth, and it is the destruction of death that is the real purpose for the feast of tabernacles and the last great day. The feast of Tabernacles symbolizes the millennium, and the last great day symbolizes the “short season” which follows the millennium, in which Satan is released from his prison and is sent out “to deceive the nations in the four quarters of the earth”.

Here is the holy spirit itself giving us the correct order of events as they will take place within each man spiritually and without dispensationally:

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

It is all being done through reigning priests, and the purpose for the millennium, which leads mankind into the “short season” of Satan’s deception of the nations, is to give God the occasion He is seeking to destroy death, by the annihilation of all flesh. Death simply cannot be eliminated from this earth as long as physical flesh exists:

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

This “occasion” God is seeking to destroy (death) is symbolized by the feast of tabernacles and the last great day. It is the events that take place in these last two steps in the overview of God’s work with mankind in vessels of clay which provide God with that ‘occasion’. He is seeking to harvest all the rest of mankind who were not part of the first two firstfruit offerings. It is an unbreakable Biblical principle that God always gives Himself “an occasion” to do what He has already “determined before to be done”. Here is are just a few examples of God doing just that:

Gen 15:16  But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

Jdg 14:4  But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. 

God already knows what He is in the process of doing, and it is simply a matter of waiting on him to do what He wills to do:

Job 23:13  But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.

Isa 48:14  All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The LORD hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

Isa 46:10  Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

In the third and last harvest “in the year’s end”, it is God’s counsel and His pleasure to begin harvesting “all in Adam”. It is the feast of tabernacles with its attendant last great day in which His soul desires to start that final harvest process through which He has declared that He will “destroy death” (1Co 15:26).

Exo 23:16  And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

It is Christ Himself who has revealed to us that “The field is the [whole] world”:

Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

Here are all three harvests as they are presented to us in “the Revelation of Jesus Christ”:

Rev 14:14  And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man [Christ the first firstfruit], having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. [The Word of God, also called a fiery sword].
Rev 14:15  And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. 
Rev 14:16  And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. [This angel is speaking to Christ as the first firstfruits harvest]
Rev 14:17  And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. [This is us as “the (second pentecost) firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”, Rev 14:4, Rev 19:10 and 20:8]
Rev 14:18  And another angel came out from the altar [the cross], which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. [Grapes are the third and last harvest “in the end of the year”].
Rev 14:19  And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. [“The lake of fire”]
Rev 14:20  And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. [“Fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them” Rev 20:]

Rev 19:15  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

Rev 19:21  And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

But this is simply not taught in the churches of the great harlot, Babylon, who are convinced of the false doctrine of “eternal spiritual flesh”. Here is a typical example of what is generally taught in the churches of this world:

“At the beginning of the Millennium, only believers will be alive (Revelation 19:17-21), some who live through the Tribulation Period, and some who come back with the Lord at His second coming. It will be a time of peace unparalleled in history (Isaiah 2:4; Joel 3:10; Micah 4:3). Jesus will be ruling on the throne of David, imposing a benevolent theocracy on all of His creation. Jesus will ensure that everyone has every need fulfilled, while not tolerating the sin so prevalent in today’s society (Psalm 2:7-12; Revelation 2:26-29; 12:5; 19:11-16). We can only imagine such a time of “heaven on earth.”

“The believers who live through the Tribulation will be mortal. They will live and repopulate the earth during the Millennial Kingdom. Without the devastation of sin taking its toll, we can imagine the population increase during the Millennium will be enormous, almost incomprehensible. All those who are born during the Millennium will enjoy the benefits and blessings of Christ’s reign on the earth, but they will still be born with a sin nature, and they will still have to freely repent and believe the Gospel, personally choosing Christ as Savior and Lord.

“Yet, at the end of the Millennial Reign, Satan is loosed and is able to deceive a vast multitude to follow him in one final rebellion against the Lord of glory and His saints! It seems that the further humanity gets from the end of the Tribulation and the start of the Millennium, the more they will “take for granted” how good they have it, and some may even harbor doubts about the goodness of God. Even though the number who rebel with Satan are said to be “as the sand of the sea” (Revelation 20:7), they may still be a minority compared to the number who do not rebel. It will still be a large number of souls who join Satan. Undoubtedly, one of the primary reasons God gives us this picture of what will happen in time is to demonstrate the deep-seated sin nature inherent in all of humanity (Jeremiah 17:9).

“Additionally, God is trying to tell us something about His nature as displayed during the Millennium. His grace and goodness will be on display continually. But at the end of the 1000 years, He will have zero tolerance for rebellion. When it happens, He will show no mercy and offer no “second chances.” At that time He will be quick to judge, and the final rebellion of Satan and sinful man will be over in a flash of fire. After this, the final judgment of the dead takes place (the Great White Throne Judgment, Revelation 20:11-15). Eternity can thus begin with every aspect of sin gone for all time.

“Finally, God is trying to reinforce some very important lessons concerning Satan himself, especially for believers. First, that he has been and always will be the enemy of humanity. As God has fixed His love on us, Satan has for us a special hatred. Ever since Satan’s fall (Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28), he has been the adversary of believers, and he is aptly described as the ultimate deceiver of mankind (John 8:44; 1 John 2:22). All he can give or promise man is death and destruction (John 10:10a). Satan is also shown here to be a truly defeated foe, and his ultimate doom is certain, along with the doom of all who follow him. God is trying to remind us that Satan is a created being who is powerless before Him (2 Corinthians 12:7). All this should encourage believers today to take God at His Word concerning our position in Christ with respect to the devil (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13; 1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Corinthians 4:1-7; James 4:6-8; 1 John 2:15-29; 1 John 4:1-3), especially as we remember this grand truth: “…greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).” [This is taken from this link: http://www.gotquestions.org/release-Satan.html#ixzz3Kr4TUNoo]

 

Here are the verses that were given to prove his statement that “At the beginning of the Millennium, only believers will be alive (Revelation 19:17-21), some who live through the Tribulation Period, and some who come back with the Lord at His second coming.”:

Rev 19:17  And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
Rev 19:18  That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
Rev 19:19  And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
Rev 19:20  And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Rev 19:21  And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

So there it is. We have been shown what the Bible says about the last two steps of the plan of God for all men of all time, and we have reviewed what the churches of this world tell us the Bible says.

We did not get to what the scriptures reveal about why the leaders of this world would consider handing over their rulership to us, and we did not get to what leads up to the rebellion against our rulership at the end of the millennial rule. We will, Lord willing get to all these things as time provides.

But in our next study we will compare these two teachings concerning the fate of all flesh, and we will see whether these scriptures we just read are really telling us what we are being told by those who believe in the fallacy of “eternal spiritual flesh”. Then we will go back to the beginning of the millennium to discover how the rulers of this world will be made by God to give the rulership of this world over to God’s elect, and we will also see how that, in time, all flesh will rebel against our rulership over them, and how that rebellion will provide God with the occasion He is seeking against all flesh. In doing so, we will again see that in everything God is doing, He will be found to be doing it “through Christ… by the church”:

Eph 3:9  And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 
Eph 3:11  According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

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