The Feasts of God

Table of Contents

Introduction

Author's Foreword: The Sons of Issachar Company

1. A Biblical Foundation: Unlikely Candidates

2. A Biblical Foundation: Leaving the Principals of the Doctrine of Christ/Going on to Perfection

3. A Biblical Foundation: Apostles and Prophets

4. A Biblical Foundation: A Building Fitly Framed

5. A Biblical Foundation: First the Natural, then the Spiritual

6. A Biblical Foundation: Transitioning from the Natural to the Spiritual

7. A Biblical Foundation: Spiritually Impacting the Nations

Introduction

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

The Feasts of God were considered by the Hebrew people to be rehearsals of things to come. They were not Old Testament feasts, even though they originated in the Old Testament, and they were not Jewish feasts even though they originated with the Hebrew people. They were the Feasts of God, for all time and for all people.

The first century Church kept the feasts, not because they were under the law to do so, but because they understood the prophetic significance of the feasts.

When the Roman Emperor Constantine made it legal to be a Christian in the Roman Empire, and the Roman Catholic Church became the religious organization of the Roman Empire, Constantine called the Council of Nicaea to establish a uniform Christian doctrine, resulting in the Nicene Creed.

Constantine, who was anti-Semitic, considered the Feasts of God to be Jewish feasts. In an effort to rid Christianity of anything Jewish, he outlawed the observance of the feasts and replaced them with Easter, Lent and Christmas, all with roots in paganism.

In 1951, George H. Warnock wrote and published a book entitled, The Feast of Tabernacles, in which he emphasized the prophetic significance of the feasts, especially Tabernacles, which he perceived to be still future in its full application.

Warnock was ahead of his time. In 1951, Israel, after being reborn as a nation in 1948, was only three years old. Much has happened and changed on the world scene since then, confirming and giving clarity to Warnock’s predictions.

Warnock’s book and others inspired me to dig deeper into the importance of the feasts and how they can help us understand the Bible, especially prophetic scripture.

When I first wrote these teaching on the Feasts of God a few years ago, not many were able to receive the revelation I was attempting to communicate. But now that is changing. I am becoming connected with more and more Kingdom seekers scattered over the landscape, who are beginning to see and understand the emerging Kingdom of God coming on Earth as in Heaven, which the Feasts of God are a precursor to and prophetic rehearsals of, giving much insight into how the prophetic significance of the feasts have and continue to play out on the timeline of history.

I am convinced that without an understanding and working knowledge of the feasts, it is impossible to understand the New Testament. The things that Jesus said, and that which was written by others, which became the New Testament, can only be understood in light of knowledge of the feasts and their prophetic significance.

There are three main feasts, with seven total feasts. The three main feasts are Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. Passover is a three part feast, beginning with Passover, followed by the feast of Unleavened Bread, and then the Sheaf of Firstfruits. Tabernacles is also a three part feast, beginning with Trumpets, followed by Atonement, and then the Feast of Tabernacles. Pentecost stands alone as a one day feast, sandwiched between Passover and Tabernacles.

While the following teachings will take an in-depth look at each individual feast, they should not be considered to be a total or complete look at each feast. Revelation concerning these feasts is possibly inexhaustible, and I encourage you to continue to study and seek more revelation than I have written of here. If, in fact, you receive more and deeper revelation than I have, I will consider my work to have been a success.

Currently these teachings are being sent out over the Internet on a weekly basis, and are only being posted here after they have been sent out, in blocks incorporating all the teachings of each feast.

Following the Foreword, we will begin by laying more of a Biblical foundation than I have written of in this brief introduction, which will be followed with Passover.

Please feel free to contact me with questions and/or comments.

Author’s Foreword

The Sons of Issachar Company

And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.

1 Chronicles 12:32

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

There have been times in my life as a believer that one statement from God literally changed everything for me. Other times I have read a book, that was divinely ordained for me to read at that specific time, and it opened up revelatory knowledge to me that changed the way I read the Bible.

I was walking my dog one day, thinking about the gnawing feeling I had inside that something wasn’t right about the so called end time doctrine I had accepted as true for a number of years. So I asked the Lord to give me understanding and teach me concerning future events, and how they would play out on the timeline of history.

Sometime later I read a book entitled, The Feast of Tabernacles by George H. Warnock, written in 1951, the year I was born. As I read this book, I became aware that Warnock was a forerunner, seeing decades ahead of his time. I wondered if anyone was able to read his book when it was first published and have any understanding of what he was saying.

An Open Door

After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.

Revelation 4:1

It seems to me that reading Warnock’s book was much like the experience John had that day on Patmos, when he saw a door open in Heaven and heard a voice talking with him that sounded like a trumpet, if you can imagine that.

When this verse is read in light of a prophetic understanding of the Feast of Tabernacles, which is a three part feast, the trumpet talking with John begins to make sense. The first part of the Feast of Tabernacles is the Feast of Trumpets.

Trumpets were blown in ancient Israel when an important announcement was about to be made, perhaps calling an assembly or preparing to go to war. This trumpet voice that was talking with John was announcing to him that he was about to be shown future events.

After reading The Feast of Tabernacles, I read a book by Joseph Good, a Messianic Rabbi, entitled Rosh HaShanah and the Messianic Kingdom To Come. Rosh HaShanah is the Hebrew name for the Feast of Trumpets.

In the author’s foreword, he makes this statement:

It is hoped that this material will aid students of the scripture as they read the Gospels and the Epistles, which were written in the language of the festivals (feasts).

Then on page seventeen, Good writes this:

If one can obtain a good working knowledge of the festivals, then he will have in his possession God’s blueprint for mankind.

I am convinced that without a working knowledge and understanding of the prophetic significance of the Feasts of God, it is impossible to understand the New Testament. Much has been believed and taught concerning the New Testament that is in error, simply because those reading and studying it did so without an understanding of the importance of the feasts as rehearsals for future events.

Interestingly, Jews who did not accept Jesus as Messiah, continued to rehearse His coming every year as they kept the Feast of Passover right on up until the present time, when in reality, the first prophetic fulfillment of that event had already occurred with the coming of Jesus as the Son of Man.

Likewise, many today who are expecting so called end time events to play out in a certain way, are missing the reality that what they perceive to be future is happening right now, in a different way than they anticipate.

Two Prophetic Fulfillments of the Feasts

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…

John 1:14

When Jesus came to Earth as the Son of Man, He was the first prophetic fulfillment of the Feasts of God, which the Hebrew people had kept yearly since Moses led them out of Egypt into the wilderness and on to Canaan.

Jesus was born on Tabernacles, crucified on Passover, and the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost. But there is a second prophetic fulfillment of the feasts that must be understood in order to understand the times (history past, present and future). It is only in understanding the times that we know how to proceed as we walk out our destiny as believers.

The Church has, at least to some degree, experienced Passover (salvation) and Pentecost (power and church government)

The Feast of Passover did not allow leaven. Before the Israelites left Egypt, they were ordered to bake bread without leaven.

Leaven in scripture is representative of a mixture. Passover is about the salvation that Jesus’ crucifixion paved the way for. Jesus crucifixion is the only way to salvation, so there can be no leaven in Passover.

However, Pentecost did allow leaven. The Church was birthed on the Day of Pentecost as recorded in the second chapter of Acts. The continual prophetic fulfillment of Pentecost has been the Church Age, as we have seen the powerful Church of the first century digress into a dead religious organization by the fourth century.

This happened because of leaven. We found in the Church a mixture of God’s ways and man’s ways. A mixture of scriptural truth and religious tradition. A mixture of sin and righteousness, of right and wrong, of truth and lies, causing much division in the Church, splintering it into many denominations and various sects.

And yet, God continued to work in this broken system, gradually restoring what had been lost, line upon line and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little (see Isaiah 28:9-10), which has brought us to the present time.

Not only has He allowed leaven in the Church, He seems to have blessed it at times. We’ve watched great ministries accomplish much for the Kingdom, only to end in disarray and defeat. We’ve seen mega-ministries and mega-churches teach doctrine that eventually proved out to be wrong and in some cases, destructive.

So we have seen the second prophetic fulfillment of Passover and Pentecost, at least to some degree. But we have not yet seen the second prophetic fulfillment of Tabernacles, which is about God fully indwelling a people.

We know that when we were born again (born from above), Jesus took up residence in us. But His being fully developed in us is a process that takes time. The apostle Paul prayed for the Church at Galatia that Christ would be fully formed in them (see Galatians 4:19 AMP). This comes about through the process of sanctification, as we become like God in character.

Throughout Church history we see imperfect men being used by God to move the Church on toward perfection. Martin Luther, who is credited with starting the Protestant Reformation, received revelation that righted some of the wrongs of the Catholic Church. But later in life, Luther wrote that it was an honor to kill a Jew. It seems Luther’s view of grace was greatly flawed.

Luther is but one example, but I dare say that no one has yet reached the full indwelling of Christ (the Godhead).

The Second Prophetic Fulfillment of Tabernacles

And these all [those mentioned in this chapter], having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

Hebrews 11:39-40

Hebrews 11:39-40 is a prophetic scripture revealing to us that God will have a people that reach perfection, while in physical bodies on the Earth, which has to happen for all that have gone before to be perfected.

Saints of God, I submit to you, that this will be the second fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Currently we are in the prophetic fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets, the first part of the Feast of Tabernacles. There is a remnant of the Body of Christ today, who has glimpsed and tasted of the coming fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles, which will take place sometime during this seventh millennium since creation, which is the ultimate Sabbath of all Sabbaths; the day of the Lord and that day spoken of throughout the Bible.

This remnant is a Trumpet People, actually the last trump of 1 Corinthians 15:52 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16. They are also an Issachar Company, understanding the times in which we live, like the sons of Issachar did as recorded in 1 Chronicles.

The sons of Issachar were only two hundred men, a small remnant of the entire nation of Israel, with special ability and anointing to discern the times and to communicate that knowledge to the entire nation.

So it is with the Sons of Issachar Company today, a remnant of the Body of Christ, proclaiming the coming second prophetic fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles, for any and all who are able to hear.

It seems that down through history prophetic voices have spoken and in some cases demonstrated the Word of the Lord, which often and probably usually went against the status quo. Often these voices were shunned and persecuted by those who refused to hear anything that challenged their traditional thinking.

But those of us who are getting a clearer understanding of the time in which we live and of the future, in concert with greater revelation of the Kingdom of God, have done so in such a way, orchestrated by God, that we cannot doubt what we have come to know.

And we cannot shrink back simply because of opposition. Like the prophets of old, we must speak what we know to be true. And not only speak it, but become the example of it.

Surely we were born for such a time as this.

Chapter One

The Feasts of God

A Biblical Foundation

Unlikely Candidates

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.

Luke 3:1-2

Did you ever wonder why Luke gave us all this information while introducing John the Baptist in the wilderness?

Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Herod and Lysanias were all political leaders at that time in history. Annas and Caiaphas were religious leaders at that time.

God had an extremely important announcement to make. He was about to identify and introduce the Messiah. He needed someone to make that announcement. Did He choose the political leaders of that time to make His announcement? No, He bypassed them. Did He choose the religious leaders to be His prophetic voice at that time? No, He also bypassed them. Instead, the Word of the Lord came to John; a man dressed in animal skins and living in the wilderness, surviving on a diet of locusts and wild honey (see Matthew 3:4).

God seems to have a way of doing that. When he started the Protestant Reformation, He didn’t start with the Pope or a well-respected priest. Instead, He chose a troubled young theologian and college professor named Martin Luther.

In 1904, when God answered the prayers of many in Wales asking for another spiritual revival like the one that occurred in 1859, He again bypassed religious leaders and chose a young coal miner named Evan Roberts. Roberts preached three times each day for over two years, spearheading one of the greatest revivals in history that not only changed the Church in Wales, but literally changed society and touched many that visited Wales from other nations.

One night in Los Angles, California, God sent a one eyed black man with a scared face into a section of town where blacks were not allowed by law after dark. This happened in 1906, during a time of great racial prejudice and inequality in the United States. William Seymour was then led to knock on a door, where two white ladies were inside praying for revival. When they opened the door, he asked what they were doing. They replied, “Praying for God to send someone to start revival in Los Angles.” Seymour replied, “I’m the man.” He acquired a run-down stable on Azusa Street in Los Angles, turned it into a meeting place and the Azusa Street Revival was born. For over two years many came to that humble building to receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit and witness many incredible signs, wonders and miracles. From Azusa Street the Pentecostal message was literally taken around the world. Pentecostal denominations still in existence today consider Azusa Street as their beginning.

There are other more recent names I could mention that were for the most part unknown until they stepped out in faith to do the impossible. A young man with the call of God on his life to preach the Gospel of Salvation from Charlotte, North Carolina named Billy Graham. Demos Shakarian, a dairy farmer in California that started Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International, which spread to more than 160 nations. Pat Robertson, a young Yale Graduate and Korean War veteran that started the first Christian television network from humble beginnings in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Today CBN (the Christian Broadcasting Network) provides programming by cable, broadcast and satellite to approximately 200 countries, with a 24-hour telephone prayer line. CBN programs have aired in approximately 108 languages in 218 different countries and territories.

I could go on but I think you get the point. God usually doesn’t choose the most qualified, best equipped or well-known people when he has a job to do. The apostle Paul made this point well when he wrote this:

For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29

Not only has God chosen the least likely individuals to spearhead great movements that have changed history, He has always had a remnant to be the trailblazers of those movements; chosen and hand-picked pilgrims to be the firstfruits of many more to come. Not unlike the individuals He has chosen, these remnants have been made up of the most unlikely people from a natural, common sense viewpoint.

Remnant is defined as a remaining, usually small part; a fragment or scrap; a leftover.

First God chose the Israelites, a remnant of all the nations on Earth at that time. Then the Jews, a remnant of Israel. Then the Christians, a remnant of the Jews. In more recent times there have been numerous remnants; the Moravians, the Protestants, the Anabaptists, the Methodists, the Quakers, the Pentecostals and the Charismatics, just to name a few.

A New Remnant

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.

Joel 2:32 (emphasis added)

Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

2 Peter 3:8

A study of the preceding verses in the second chapter of Joel reveals that Joel was speaking of the time in which we live. In the second chapter of Acts, Peter used Joel 2:28-31 as a confirmation of the day he was living in but the Spirit wasn’t poured out on all flesh in that day, as Joel 2:28 says. I believe the Spirit will be poured out on all flesh sometime during this day, the third millennium of the Church and the seventh millennium since creation.

But it begins with a remnant. This new remnant is none other than the Bride of Christ, currently being taken out of the Body of Christ in order to complete the Body of Christ, and ultimately bring about the restitution of all things (see Acts 3:21); just as Eve was taken out of Adam in order to complete him, setting in motion a course of events that would bring us to where we are today, over a period of 6000 years (six days).

This Remnant Bride has been chosen by God to not only be the firstfruits of that which is to come, but to announce that which is coming. We are a Trumpet People, fulfilling the Feast of Trumpets, the first part of the Feast of Tabernacles (trumpets were used in ancient Israel when an important announcement was about to be made).

The Feasts of God (Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles) were considered by the Hebrew people to be rehearsals of things to come. And I might add, without an understanding and working knowledge of the prophetic significance of the feasts, it is impossible to understand the New Testament.

Jesus initially fulfilled all three feasts. He was born on Tabernacles, crucified on Passover, and the Holy Spirit came of the Day of Pentecost. But there is a second fulfillment of the feasts that takes place during the Church Age and the Kingdom Age. Currently, we are transitioning from the Church Age into the Kingdom Age.

During the first two thousand years (two days) of the Church, we have experienced the fulfillment of Passover and Pentecost to a degree. In the third day, which we have now crossed the threshold of, as we come into the fullness of Tabernacles we will experience Passover and Pentecost in fullness as well.

In the teachings that follow we will study each feast (Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles) but first I want to continue laying a foundation for our study. Our subject matter is what the writer of Hebrews was referring to when he admonished us to leave the principles of the doctrine of Christ and go on to perfection (see Hebrews 6:1-3).

Chapter Two

The Feasts of God

A Biblical Foundation

Leaving the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ/Going on to Perfection

As it is written, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. Which things we also speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

1 Corinthians 2:9-10, 13, 16

I believe the apostle Paul saw the day (millennium) we are now entering, but like Moses standing on Mount Nebo viewing the Promised Land, which he could not enter, Paul died without entering fully into the promise he so clearly saw. I have come to understand that much of Paul’s writing cannot be fully understood unless read from the viewpoint of third day Christians.

The teaching we have received up until now, especially concerning prophetic scripture, has at best been a mixture of revelation and intellectual knowledge, because certain truths just could not be understood until now. Some, like Paul, have seen it or at least had a glimpse of it, but probably didn’t fully understand what it was they were seeing. In 1951 George H. Warnock wrote a book entitled The Feast of Tabernacles, long before hardly anyone could see what he was seeing (www.georgewarnock.com).

Kelley Varner (www.kelleyvarner.org), another visionary wrote over fifty books on subjects related to this new day we are now entering. When he began few could receive the revelation he was seeing, but when he transitioned to another dimension (Heaven) in 2009, his funeral was attended by many from all over the world, paying tribute to a spiritual father that had so greatly impacted and inspired them. I attended that funeral in Jacksonville, NC, and don’t know when I have been in a more moving service.

In his first letter to the church at Corinth, Paul spoke of the deep things of God, which he said had (past tense) been revealed. Truth, in its entirety, has always been available to the spiritual believer but no one (other than Jesus) has yet been able to access truth in its entirety. However, we are now entering the day (millennium) when I think believers will be able to receive the whole truth. We have barely crossed the threshold of this new day and already a remnant, which is larger than one might think, is beginning to see more of the truth than all the past generations together have been able to receive.

Mindsets and traditions die hard, and while most are reluctant to let go of the past, this remnant is pressing on into the Promised Land.

Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit.

Hebrews 6:1-3

While all truth has always been available to the believer, God has not permitted but a very few to view what a larger remnant are now beginning to see. This remnant is not only seeing it, we are beginning to possess it. Metaphorically, we have crossed Jordan and are beginning to take the land. While we are only in the beginning hours of this new day, a foundation is being laid that will hold the entire house.

Crossing the Jordan

Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, Pass through the host, and command the people, saying Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it. And they commanded the people, saying When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it.

Joshua 1:10-11, 3:3 (emphasis added)

Within three days. A type and shadow of the third day (millennium) church. Amazing!

The ark is moving and a remnant is following it. In chapter three, verse four Joshua says this: for ye have not passed this way heretofore.

We are entering uncharted territory. The Israelites that followed the ark across the Jordan and into the Promised Land were a remnant, since their unbelieving parents had all died wondering in the wilderness for forty years. Once again there is a remnant following the ark as it moves into the Promised Land, while the masses that are unable and/or unwilling to follow are getting left behind.

In verse five Joshua instructed the people to sanctify themselves. Sanctification means holiness, godliness, sacred or hallowed character.

This is no less than what the remnant has been experiencing as God has been dealing with us through severe tests and trials. He has literally been building his character in us. This is what the prophet Hosea prophesied when he penned these words:

Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

Hosea 6:1-2 (emphasis added)

We are being sanctified, prepared to cross the Jordan and enter uncharted territory, following the manifested presence and glory of God into the Promised Land. The Promised Land is none other than the promise God made to Abraham so many years ago. God’s promise to Abraham was much more than descendants and nations. God’s promise to Abraham was perfection (completeness/wholeness). God’s promise to Abraham was a place of rest where we no longer strive for anything (see Hebrews 4:9-11). It was a place of perfect peace that passes all understanding (see Philippians 4:7).

Abraham didn’t see this promise come to pass in his lifetime. So when will it come to pass?

It was/is the destiny of the third day church. We are that church. And yes, surely, we were born for such a time as this!

Chapter Three

The Feasts of God

A Biblical Foundation

Apostles & Prophets

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:19-22

How many so called churches today are built on the proper foundation? Very few.

We have churches built on denominational foundations. We have independent churches built on pastoral foundations. We even have some house churches built on little more than a foundation of dissatisfaction and/or woundedness.

Any foundation other than apostles and prophets is a weak foundation at best and subject to cause the entire building to fall, which I believe we will see more and more of since we have entered this new day (millennium).

The Separation

Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptable with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire.

Hebrews 12:26-29

Wow! You should probably read that scripture several more times. I could probably teach on it for several chapters.

Everything that can be shaken is going to be shaken. Not only in earth but in Heaven. Is this referring to hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis or does it perhaps have a more spiritual application? While there may be a parallel between the physical and the spiritual, I believe the focus of this scripture is the spiritual.

The Church is on the Earth in earthen vessels (people), but scripture also tells us we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. I believe the shaking being spoken of in Hebrews 12:26-27 is a shaking of the Church. Peter told us that judgment begins at the house of God (see 1 Peter 4:17). New Testament judgment is not condemnation. Rather, it entails a separation. The shaking that is and will continue to take place in the Church is judgment that will separate the earthly from the heavenly; the carnal from the spiritual; the old man from the new man. It will be a separation of ideas and traditions of men from that which is of God. For the last two days (millennia) God has allowed the two to grow together, but in this new day (millennium) that will not be the case (we will look more into this truth as we continue in our study of the Feasts of God).

We are on a journey into perfection and perfection requires a separation of that which is imperfect from that which is perfect. God in his mercy realizes this is a process that takes time, but as we progress into our destiny He is turning up the heat. He is a consuming fire and all the dross must be separated from the pure gold.

A church system built on anything other than a foundation of apostles and prophets is not going to stand after the shaking. Not only must the Third Day Church be built on a foundation of apostles and prophets, it much be built according to the blueprint found in the Book of Acts.

As we become the Church rather than just keep trying to do church, the framework for the true Church will be established, enabling us to become a force to be reckoned with on the Earth. It is also a framework that will encourage each of us to find our place of service and enable us to disciple many new converts, in such a way as to equip them to mature and find their place of service.

It will enable us to fully experience Passover and Pentecost as we progress into Tabernacles.

Surely we were born for such a time as this!

Chapter Four

The Feasts of God

A Biblical Foundation

A Building Fitly Framed

There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness: it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body: it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

1 Corinthians 15:40-44

The word celestial pertains to the sky or visible heaven. Terrestrial speaks of the earth as distinct from other planets. Celestial can also be defined as the invisible heaven; a spiritual or divine place. So the contrast here is between the natural and the spiritual, which is confirmed in 1 Corinthians 15:44.

1 Corinthians 15:42-44 speaks of the resurrection of the dead. While I think there is a physical application of this scripture I believe our focus here should be on a spiritual application. Back in verse thirty-one of this chapter the apostle Paul said, “I die daily.” So he is not speaking of dying physically, he is speaking of dying to the old man; the Adamic nature.

In verse forty-four he says there is a natural body and a spiritual body. Is this referring to an individual or is it referring to something more? I believe it is referring to something more.

Back in 1 Corinthians 12:27 Paul said this:

Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

When this is applied to 1 Corinthians 15:44 it becomes clear there is a division in the Body of Christ. There are those in the Body of Christ who are still carnal and there are those who are spiritual.

So, 1 Corinthians 15:40-44 and the rest of that chapter, which I encourage you to read, while it has an application to our natural, individual, physical bodies I believe Paul is using the natural to show us the spiritual application. Otherwise, he would not call his subject matter here a mystery.

The Mystery

(Note: Trump/trumpet in 1 Corinthians 15:52 & 1 Thessalonians 4:16 is referring to the prophetic fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets, which we will study in detail in later teachings.)

Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

1 Corinthians 15:51-53

Paul also speaks of this in his first letter to the church at Thessalonica.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

1 Thessalonians 4:16

Both these scriptures have been applied, perhaps by most believers, to a resurrection of those that have died physically and gone on to another dimension (Heaven). But a thorough study of these and other relating scriptures, while there may be a physical application, is in my estimation not about a physical resurrection but about a spiritual resurrection.

Another of Paul’s writings that makes this clear is Ephesians 2:4-6:

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us , even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

We are seated together with the Lord, not on a big chair somewhere in the cosmos but in a position of authority, having died to the old man and having been resurrected as a new creature in Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). The key is that we have died to the Adamic nature and been resurrected with the nature (character) of the Lord, which is pure, genuine, unadulterated love.

Now, you and I both know this is not the case with all believers. Even those that do have an experiential knowledge of dying to self are still in the process of maturing and have not yet completely arrived. While some have barely, if at all begun the journey into perfection, others have, most likely by no choice of their own, been subjected to severe tests and trials causing them to die to that old nature and grow toward maturity.

Those growing toward maturity Paul spoke of in Romans 8:14 & 19.

The Sons of God

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons [mature believers] of God. For the earnest expectation of the creature waitheth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Romans 8:14 & 19

Creation is waiting for the Sons of God to be revealed. A son in the Hebrew culture of the Bible was a mature child, ready to receive all his father’s inheritance and operate in all the authority of his father’s name. (I should add that the New Testament application of this has nothing to do with gender. As believers, as men and women mature, they become sons.)

So, we see there are two distinct groups within the Body of Christ. There are those that live and act as though they are still dead in their sin and those that realize they are in a process of being resurrected, and caught up to a seat of authority with Christ.

Both are a necessary part of the Body of Christ. Lest those of us who have been going through this process of dying to the Adamic nature and maturing in the Lord think we are better than those who have not, we must realize we have been chosen for the path we are walking. Just as we, individually are in the process of maturing, the Body of Christ is in the process of being restored to the original blueprint or pattern found in the Book of Acts. We are but the firstfruits of many more to come. We have been chosen to blaze the trail for others to follow, which is why we have suffered as we have.

The exciting thing is that while we are being restored to the original, in this new day (millennium) we will continue to grow beyond the original to completion (perfection). But it takes the many facets of the Body of Christ to bring that to pass, celestial and terrestrial.

We are a building being fitly framed with diverse materials until one day (this day/millennium) we will suddenly appear (in the twinkling of an eye) (see 1 Corinthians 15:52) to have been raised up a glorious structure.

Ephesians 2:19-22 (emphasis added)

Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 4:18

Chapter Five

The Feasts of God

A Biblical Foundation

First the Natural, then the Spiritual

And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

1 Corinthians 15:45-46

The third day I shall be perfected.

Jesus in Luke 13:32 (emphasis added)

I read Luke 13:32 for many years assuming it was referring to Jesus’ resurrection on the third day after the crucifixion. But His body had not been perfected while He was in the tomb. While He did walk out of the tomb with an immortal body, the scars of the crucifixion were still in His hands, feet and side.

If the third day in Luke 13:32 is not referring to Jesus’ resurrection, it must be referring to the third day (millennium) (see 2 Peter 3:8) of the Church, when the Body of Christ will be perfected. The apostle Paul spoke of this in his letter to the church at Ephesus:

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Ephesians 5:25-27

Many put this perfecting off somewhere in the future, at the time of a so called rapture. They believe the Church will be perfected in an instant by a sovereign and perhaps supernatural act of God. If that was possible, God could have created Adam perfect, but he did not. Perfection is a process that can only be attained through a process of being perfected. Thus, Adam was created sinless but not perfect. Let me explain:

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Genesis 1:26-27 (emphasis added)

God spoke creation into existence. When God said it, it was a done deal. When He said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” it had to happen. I have often read that scripture thinking of image and likeness as the same thing, but a study of the Hebrew words that translate as image and likeness show that they are two related but different things.

The Hebrew word for image is tselsm. Among other things it means a representative of. The Hebrew word for likeness is demuwth. It has to do with character.

So to be made in God’s image is to be His representative. When He created Adam in His image, Adam became God’s representative on Earth. However, to be made in His likeness is to take on the very character or nature of God. One can be a representative of someone without being like that person. It was God’s original intent that we be not only His representatives but that we become like Him, having his character.

Genesis 1:27 says, So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

What happened to likeness? We see that God created Adam and Eve in his image to be His representatives on earth but nowhere in verse twenty-seven is likeness mentioned. So Adam and Eve were created in His image but not in His likeness. However, in verse twenty-six God spoke of image and likeness and once God said it, it had to come to pass.

I asked the Lord, “Why did You create man in your image but not in Your likeness, right after You said, ‘Let us make man in our image after our likeness’?” Suddenly the answer became very clear to me. Image can be created. Advertising agencies do it all the time. But character cannot be created. Character has to be developed.

God’s character is perfection. In order for His character to be perfected in us, we must be perfected. We are literally the Body of Christ on Earth, so in order for Jesus to be perfected, we must be perfected.

In order to be perfected, possessing the character of God, which is pure, unadulterated, genuine love, we must overcome evil. In order to overcome evil, we must have knowledge of good and evil. Adam didn’t have this knowledge until he sinned by disobeying God.

Destined to Fall

And the LORD God said, “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.

Genesis 3:22

Can you see that God set Adam up? He created Adam knowing he would sin. He also knew Adam had to sin in order to have knowledge of good and evil. Before Adam sinned he had no knowledge of either; thus we was neither. He just was. What was he? He was God’s representative on earth. But God wanted more of His man than that. He wanted a man just like Himself. He wanted a perfect man. So He caused the fall of man, using the serpent (the devil) to put the man in a position to be perfected. He then began the process.

The first Adam was of the earth; a natural man. While he was created without sin, God knew his nature (having to do with the natural) would lead him to sin, which it did. Hence, he was not created perfect, just sinless until he gave in to his natural nature, which was inevitable. It had to happen to start the process that four thousand years later brought Jesus into the Earth that night in a stable in Bethlehem. It took the fall of the first Adam to bring the last Adam into the equation, enabling man to ultimately be perfected.

Destined to Succeed

The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

1 Corinthians 15:47, 45

When Jesus walked the earth He was sinless, but He took the sin of all mankind on Himself, becoming sin for us (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). He became imperfect in order that we might be perfected. His individual, physical body was forever scarred so that His corporate body, the Body of Christ, could be eternally perfected.

That perfection is what the prophetic fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles is all about. The prophetic fulfillment of Tabernacles is about the coming of Jesus as the last Adam, and about the Body of Christ (the Church) being perfected. I don’t think you would disagree that we (the Church) have experienced the prophetic fulfillment of Passover and Pentecost during the first two days (millennia) of the Church, at least to some degree. But the prophetic fulfillment of Tabernacles has been put off somewhere into the future and rightfully so, until now. As we enter this third day of the Church, which is the seventh day of/since creation, we are getting a glimpse of and a remnant is beginning to experience Tabernacles.

Chapter Six

The Feasts of God

A Biblical Foundation

Transitioning from the Natural to the Spiritual

That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.

Joel 1:4

And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

Joel 2:25

The first Adam was created imperfect but the last Adam (Jesus) is being perfected in this, the third day (millennium) of the Church. While there is an individual application of this truth, it only has meaning when seen as the perfection of the entire Church; that corporate man that is the Body of Christ.

Like Adam was created sinless but imperfect (incomplete), the first century Church was born a powerful but incomplete Church, falling short of perfection. By the end of the first century, heresy had made its way into the Church, and much of the initial power had been lost. When the Roman Emperor Constantine made it legal to be a Christian in the Roman Empire in AD 327, and then seventy years later Emperor Theodosius made it law that all Roman citizens had to be Christians, marrying Church and state, the Spirit for the most part left the Church. The adultery of the Church was consummated and the Dark Ages followed.

In Joel 1:4 and 2:25, palmerworm is gazam in Hebrew and means gnawer. Locust is arbeh in Hebrew and means swarmer. Cankerworm is yelek in Hebrew and means devourer and caterpillar is hasil in Hebrew and means consumer.

This is a picture of the process of destruction, which I believe is a prophetic scripture with more than one application. Joel was prophesying to Israel but I believe his prophecy has an application to the Church as well, which is the case with many of the Old Testament prophecies.

The destruction of the first century Church was a process that took time and culminated with Constantine and Theodosius. The restoration of the first century Church has also been a process that has taken time (actually much more time than the destruction of the Church).

When Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five thesis to the church house door in Whittenburg, Germany in 1517, a great step was taken in the restoration of the true Church. The Welsh Revivals of 1859 and 1904 plus the 1906 Azusa Street Revival in Los Angles, California were other great steps toward the restoration. In the mid-twentieth century came the Charismatic Renewal or Movement. Today, all the past revivals/movements/etc. are culminating in the third day (millennium) of the Church, as we transition from the Church Age into the Kingdom Age. The process of restoration is about to be completed (perfected).

For most of the past two thousand years the Church has operated in the natural, but in this third day we will mature into the spiritual to a much greater degree than we saw in the Pentecostal/Charismatic Movements of the twentieth century, until we reach perfection and become the glorious Church the apostle Paul spoke of in his letter to the church at Ephesus (see Ephesians 5:27).

Chapter Seven

The Feasts of God

A Biblical Foundation

Spiritually Impacting the Nations

And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Revelation 11:15

As we have already established, the first Adam was a natural man, of the earth. The last Adam (Jesus) was a spiritual man from Heaven, who gave all mankind the possibility of becoming spiritual by being born from above (born again).

For most of the first two thousand years of Church history the Spirit had little influence. From the end of the first century and more specifically from the fourth century on, the Church was ruled by and filled with carnal men and women operating in ideas and traditions of men, rather than operating on a true scriptural foundation and being led of the Spirit. But in the twentieth century we witnessed the reintroduction of the baptism with the Holy Spirit on a wide scale, and in this third day (millennium) of the Church we are beginning to see the perfection of the Church take greater strides toward completion.

Now I want to look at the nations and how the Lord is bringing them under His rule in this third day of the Church and seventh day since creation.

As mankind began to multiply on Earth nearly six thousand years ago, it was only natural for them to cluster into tribes, communities, towns and cities. The natural progression was for government to emerge, perhaps sometimes for the purpose of civil order but probably more often for the purpose of the stronger individuals or families to rule over the weaker. We see this continuing right up until the present time.

After creation it was only a matter of a few hundred years until man’s wickedness was so great that it resulted in the destruction of everyone on the planet, except for one man and his family. That man, Noah, found grace in the eyes of the Lord (see Genesis 6:8) and was spared.

Even though Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, like Adam, he wasn’t perfect. His imperfection caused the inevitable. Noah had an opportunity to start over with a race of people living in harmony with one another, but his nature made that opportunity impossible to attain.

Reinstating the Curse

And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: and he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

Genesis 9:20-21

After the flood Noah planted a vineyard, drank the wine and became drunk. In his drunken state he was lying naked in his tent and was seen by his son, Ham. Instead of keeping what he had seen to himself and protecting his father’s dignity, Ham told his brothers, Shem and Japheth. Shem and Japheth, out of respect for their father, walked backward into his tent and covered him with a garment. When Noah awoke and realized what his younger son, Ham had done, he cursed Ham’s son, Canaan, saying, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren (see Genesis 9:25).”

Ham’s revelation of his father’s nakedness brought shame on Noah and led to Noah cursing Ham’s son, Canaan. The destruction of wicked mankind had rid the earth of the curse brought on the earth by Adam and one statement by Noah put it back in place. We see the fulfillment of that curse many years later when the Israelites invaded Canaan (a nation of Ham’s descendants) with orders from God to kill every living creature.

There can be no doubt that curse is still in effect today. There are more acts of war on the planet than ever before in history. There are more Christian martyrs in the world than ever before. And over the objections of the United States, the UN appears to be more and more poised against Israel.

While there are numerous Biblical prophecies informing us how all this plays out, involving much war and destruction, there are also prophetic promises that ultimately the Lord will rule the Earth with righteousness.

I believe that as we enter this third day (millennium) of the Church and seventh day (millennium) of/since creation, we are getting a glimpse of a new world system, ruled by the King of kings and Lord of lords.

In fact, I believe we are already making progress toward this reality, in spite of the globalists, socialists and communists who think it is their destiny to rule the world.

Never has there been a day like this day. Never has there been a time like this time.

Surely we were born for such a time as this!

To continue reading, click on "More" at the top of the page and scroll down to "The Feasts of God (2)."