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CHURCH
(Continued from page 3)
anniversary of Israel 's exodus out of
Egypt. Egypt also is symbolic of
sin- and Israel was taken out by
God with mi racles, as He delivers
His people today from the bondage of
sin. There are two annual holy daxs
in this festival-the first and the last
of the seven.
The third annual festival is the
Feast of FIRSTFRUITS, called in the
New Testament of the Bible " Pen–
tecost," because tbis is the one set–
apart time of year when the Church
COUNTS to calculate the proper day.
It
is 50 days, counted beginning on
the "morrow after the weekly Sab–
bath" which occurs during the
Feast of Unleavened Bread. " Pente–
cost" is simply the Greek for "fifty–
count." This pictures the coming
and indwelling of the Holy Spirit,
begetting the "firstfruits"- those
relative first few called to spiritual
salvation. The Holy Spirit carne on
the very fiftieth day- the first time
t he Holy Spirit was given to a
group, which formed the Church of
God. This annual festive occasion
reminds God's people yearly that
they are merely the
first
to be
called to spiritual salvation; that the
world, except the few called, is CUT
OFF from God- neither "saved" nor
"lost"-just not yet called! There–
fore not yet judged.
Another incidental proof of the
identity of the one true Church is the
knowledge, t hat with the foundation
of the Church of God, "the time is
come that JUDGMENT must
begin
at
the bouse of God." Those called into
God's Church
are
now being
judged.
O thers are not-YET!
These annual festivals are built
around the annual harvest seasons in
Jerusalem. Tbe first three portray
the early grain harvest , typical of the
first early spiritual harvest in the
conversion of man. The last four cor–
respond to the final great autumnal
harvest. They all come in the seventh
sacred month .
Festival number four is the Feast
of T rumpets
(Rosh Hashanah
in Ju–
daism), on the first day of the sev–
enth month of the sacred calendar.
The Feast of T rumpets pictures and
reminds the Church yearly of the
44
SECOND COMING of CHRIST
lO
reign
over all the earth.
Largest Convention on Earth
The fifth festival is the Day of Atone–
ment, called in Judaism
Yom Kip–
pur- a
solemn fast day. No food
may be eaten from sunset to sunset.
It pictures to God's people restoring
roan to AT-ONE-MENT with God. The
world, cut off from God these 6,000
years, has been deceived and led by
tbe god of this world, Satan. Jesus
Christ QUALI FIED to replace the for–
mer Lucifer on the THRONE of the
God's law and way of
life may be summed up
in the one word
"love"-which is
outflowing-t he way of
"give"- while Satan's
way is that of "get."
' '
earth. When He comes as KING of
kings, Satan shall be deposed, bound,
shut up (Revelation 20:3) for 1,000
years. Without Satan , who has
"worked
1
the people of the world"
(Ephesians 2:2), humanity at last
may be made AT ONE with the true
Creator Goo!
The sixth festiva l is the Feast of
Tabernacles- a seven-day festival,
with the first day tbe sixth annual
Holy Day. The feast of Tabernacles
(or Booths) is followed by an eighth
day, a one-day holy day- making in
all an eight-day festival.
This pictures the millennial reign
of the KlNGDOM OF Goo, ruling all
nations for 1,000 years. During this
millennium, ALL living will be called
to repentance and faith and eterna!
salvation througb the reigning
CHRIST-with no Satan to overcome.
More of the details of this time will
be given under PROOF number seven,
to follow.
This seventh and final holy day
begins at sunset just as the Feast of
Tabernacles is ending. As stated ear-
lier, small though the Worldwide
Church of God may be in numbers,
this is the largest church convention
or conclave held annually on earth–
with festival sites all over the world.
When the Billions Shall
Be Called
The final eighth day (the seventh fes–
tival) brings to mind again every year
what is in God's master plan for the
BILLIONS of people who have lived
and died since
Adam-cut off from
God-uNjudged- neither "lost" nor
yet "saved."
They will be resurrected after the
mi llennium in a special resurrection
(Revelation 20:11-13). This is also
described in Ezekiel's prophecy of
the "valley of dry bones" ( Ezekiel
37). All previously uncalled will be
resurrected MORTAL, and with the
7,000 years of humanity now history,
will face up to what their experience
in sin rea lly proved. All then will be
called to repentance and ETERNAL
LIFE.
Final Fate of the lncorriglble
There shall then be one more resur–
rection-of those who
were called
to
salvation, but rejected it- the incor–
rigible wicked. They will be resur–
rected MORTAL to realize their fatal
decision. They will be "cast into the
lake of fire. This is the second death"
(Revelation 20: 14-15). This "lake of
fire" is pictured by Peter in his sec–
ond letter.
"This second epistle, beloved, 1
now write unto you; in both which I
stir up your pure minds by way of
remembrance: That ye may be mind–
fu l of the words which were spoken
before by the ho1y prophets [Oid Tes–
tament], and of the commandment of
us the apostles [New Testament] of
the Lord and Saviour : Knowing this
first, that there shall come in the last
days scoffers, walking after their own
lusts, and saying, Where is the prom–
ise of his coming? For since the fa–
thers fell asleep, a ll things contínue
as they were from the beginning of
the creation.
"For tbis they willingly are igno–
rant of, that by the word of God the
heavens were of old, and the earth
standing out of the water and in' the
water: Whereby the world t hat then
was, being over flowed with water,
perished: But the heavens and the
The
PLAIN TAUTH September 1979