CHAPTER IV

GOD'S MASTER PLAN OF SALVATION AT LAST REVEALED!

We have touched on many subjects in this short book, but now, finally, we are coming to one of our main points. All that has gone before is MERELY PREPARATION FOR WHAT IS NOW GOING TO BE REVEALED IN THE REST OF THIS BOOK!

As I said at the outset of this book, by just looking at today's world, one cannot come to a true, proper understanding of what is going on today, of the REASON for the present world evils we are experiencing, and therefore, we can't possibly understand the SOLUTION to those problems that we don't understand.

We have seen how Lucifer and his angels became Satan and his demons. We saw the way that their thoughts got twisted irreparably from the RIGHT WAY OF THINKING TO THE WRONG WAY OF THINKING. We also have seen the terrible results of Satan's way of get. Though it looks appealing on the outside, although it looks like a way of life that works, it doesn't. Instead of bringing happiness, it brings misery, instead of bringing fulfillment, it brings a feeling of emptiness. Every single benefit that Satan's way offers brings only the opposite result.

Looking at God's way of give, it would seem that by giving more to others we would have less. It seems that by loving others, we open ourselves up to being taken advantage of. It seems that by helping others, we only strengthen our potential competition, which will bring about our own downfall. Yet, nothing could be farther from the truth. Despite how impractical God's way of give looks to the carnal mind, it somehow works. It is an immutable law of the Universe.

We have seen how the first man Adam chose the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil rather than the Tree of Life, and the tragic results from that one fateful decision. It was at that very moment that the Logos, or the Word, knew that He would have to come as the human being Jesus Christ to pay for the penalty of sin, to take Satan off of the throne of the earth which he had tricked Adam into giving him, and restore His way of life to the

world -- but only after man had learned his lesson through six thousand years of Satan's misrule. Man was SENTENCED to reap what he had sown. He had sown the wind, HE WAS TO REAP THE WHIRLWIND! Things were going to be allowed to get so bad that, if Christ did not intervene in world affairs, HUMANITY WOULD WIPE ITSELF OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH.

Yet, Christ will wait until the last split seconds to save humanity from itself. If He waited one second more, it would all be over. If He came one second too early, there would be those who would argue with Him, telling Him that man could have solved his own problems only if But Christ will come at the last possible instant, SO THAT THERE WILL BE NO DOUBT!

Let's back up, then, and review the parts of God's plan of salvation we have already covered. We saw earlier that the Passover lamb represented the slain Christ, sacrificed for the sins of mankind. He was sacrificed at the foundation of the world, through sin. The Passover is a yearly remembrance of this event. Christ instituted the New Testament Passover just before His death. It is commonly referred to as The Lord's Supper. That service that He performed, and instructed His church to keep from then on, showed the true meaning of the Passover sacrifice, both for our physical and our spiritual sins. Our physical sins are forgiven so that we might have physical healing.

Is. 53:5 says that "by His stripes we are healed. This is no trivial matter. Christ was brutally beaten with a Roman whip before He was crucified. But these Roman whips were not as we think of whips today. This was not merely a long cord of leather with a fork at the end to make it crack. These Roman whips for beatings had little pieces of bone and other sharp material embodied in them. When the whip struck the man's back, these sharp little pieces pierced the flesh and dug in like fish hooks. Then, the man doing the beating would snap it back in such a way that it would literally rip chunks of flesh from the back of the man being punished. Many men did not survive a beating such as Christ received. Christ was no effeminate weakling. His father had been a carpenter, or contractor by profession. He, like His human father Joseph, was a strong man, fit and capable. Yet, this terrible beating was so bad that He couldn't even carry His cross by Himself, but someone else had to carry it for Him. He was subjected to this abuse so that WE COULD HAVE THE GIFT OF HEALING TODAY!

If you are doubtful about this point, turn to I Cor. 11:24. In this passage Paul is recounting the directions for observing the annual Lord's Supper. He is showing what Christ did on that night, and telling us the reasons and meanings behind each of the elements. He says in this verse that Christ said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me. CHRIST'S BODY WAS BROKEN FOR OUR PHYSICAL HEALING! This is a most precious GIFT OF GOD that so few understand today, and don't have the faith to act on!

We are commanded to examine ourselves each year before this most solemn observance, because if we eat of the bread or drink of the wine in an unworthy manner, not discerning their meaning for us, we will be guilty of the body and blood of Christ! It says FOR THIS REASON many are sick, and some have died. (I Cor. 11:27-30) That is most certainly true. If we do not understand ALL OF THE MEANING BEHIND CHRIST'S SACRIFICE, THEN WE WILL BE SICK BECAUSE WE FAIL TO CLAIM GOD'S PROMISES. Many people understand that the blood of Christ washes away their sins, but they don't understand that His body was broken for our healing by the forgiveness of physical sins.

Christ performed many of His miracles to prove to the people that He had authority to forgive sins. And He stated that if He had the power to forgive these physical sins, He also had authority to forgive spiritual sins. It is a plain and simple matter. [read Lk. 5:18-23 in this connection; also, note that in Ps. 103:3 it says that God "forgives all your iniquities [sins], who heals all your diseases.... , which shows that salvation and healing are really two sides of the same coin, as it is just another kind of sin that is being forgiven.) It must also be noted at this point, so as not to give the wrong idea, that it might not be the person suffering the sickness or affliction today who sinned. It could have been a long forgotten ancestor, or simply the accumulated sins of thousands of years of man living contrary to God's health laws.

There are only two conditions placed on this promise of healing. First, as it says in I Jn. 3:22, we are told that we will receive whatever we ask of Him if we KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS AND DO WHAT IS PLEASING IN HIS SIGHT. In other words, if we expect anything of Him, we must be doing His will and obeying Him.

Secondly, as it says in Mtt. 9:29, we must BELIEVE THAT HE HAS THE POWER TO HEAL! If we meet these conditions, God has promised, UNCONDITIONALLY, to heal. It may not be right away, or even in this physical life, BUT GOD HAS PROMISED TO HEAL US! Those who try to spiritualize away this most precious promise of God simply lack the faith to take Him at His word.

After all, it says in Hebrews 11, the "faith chapter, that Abraham and the patriarchs died without receiving what God had promised them. It refers to them as "pilgrims and sojourners~~ in this present world, looking to the Kingdom of God as their Kingdom. They knew that if God's promises given to them in their lifetimes were not fulfilled in their lifetime, it would be fulfilled in the next life.

In this present century of God's Work, there have been cases when some were healed immediately, some were healed in maybe a month or year, while others died without having been healed. Paul, in fact, was one who sought God for healing, but it did not come in this life. He had God's promise, though, THAT THE HEALING WOULD OCCUR AT THE TIME OF THE RESURRECTION!

Thus, unlike those who refuse to turn to the Bible for its explanations, instead turning to faulty human reasoning, those who are God's true servants look to His Word for their answers, and they are there. For those who are so faithless to say "if it be God's will, I will be healed, I say that they are faithless, refusing to tremble at every word of God. Since they fail to properly discern Christ's precious sacrifice, they will suffer the consequences. IT IS NOT A MATTER OF IF IT BE GOD'S WILL, BUT WHEN IT IS GOD'S TIME!

The other Passover symbol, the blood, washes away our sins

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and makes us able to have a relationship with Him. It is impossible to have a relationship with the Holy God if we have sin tainting us.

One part of this New Testament observance that most people ignore is found in Jn. 13:1-17. Please put this book down and read this passage now.

This ceremony, which Christ instituted PRIOR TO the bread and the wine symbols, is an integral part of the Lord's Supper observance. If Christ, the perfect Lamb of God, and Master of us all, could get down and wash the disciple's feet, who are we to refuse to do it? Remember, Christ not only washed the feet of His future apostles that night, but He also washed the feet of His betrayer. What human man would was the feet of the one who would soon cause his death? No human, carnal man would, but Christ calls us to be humble servants. This is the epitome of the lesson Christ conveyed throughout His ministry of the greatest being the servant of all. The future King of the earth was here washing the feet of lowly men, setting us an example, not just in ritual, but in lifestyle. He took on the job of the lowest servant, showing that none of us should be to good to serve the least human on this earth.

This Lord's Supper was kept at the same time as the first Passover in the book of Exodus. By Christ's time, most of the Jews had transferred this observance to the following day. They transferred it to the WRONG DAY because of an improper understanding of when God's days begin. God's days begin EXACTLY AT SUNSET, WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN OVER THE HORIZON. The Jews of Jesus' day misinterpreted the beginning of the day to be AT DARK, WHEN THE FIRST STAR APPEARS. This subtle difference in the time for the start of the day has meant that the JEWS TO THIS DAY OBSERVE THE PASSOVER A DAY LATE, but they THINK THEY ARE KEEPING IT AT THE RIGHT TIME! The issue of exactly when the day begins may seem trivial, especially to certain scholars in the WCG who now want to follow the traditional Jewish reckoning -- BUT CHRIST REVEALED BY WHEN HE CHOSE TO OBSERVE THE FINAL PASSOVER WITH HIS APOSTLES WHO IS RIGHT, AND WHO IS WRONG ON THIS ISSUE! Something so SMALL may not seem to the mind of man to be of much importance, but it MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE WITH GOD!

After the Passover, or Lord's Supper, there is a normal weekday in between it and the first Holy Day on the calendar. At the time of His death on the cross, Christ had all the sins of mankind put on Him. As far as the Father was concerned, HE BECAME SIN! Christ did not know that the Father would actually turn His back on Him in His final moments of physical life. Throughout eternity He had had access to the Father, and their minds had been in constant contact. NOW, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, WHEN HE NEEDED THE FATHER MOST, HE TURNED HIS BACK AND WAS NOT THERE! This incident is recorded in Mtt. 27:46.

The Father could not, being Holy, have looked upon Christ, who now represented sin. Also, if He had looked on what was going on, He might have been tempted to strike the men down who were doing this, and send legions of angels to rescue Christ. He could not let this happen, so He looked away. This was something that Christ Himself had not known for sure would happen. However, there was a sign that this might be so, BECAUSE WHILE THE

PASSOVER IS A FESTIVAL OF GOD, IT IS NOT A HOLY DAY! Holy Days are created, like the Sabbath, through the presence of God's Spirit in that day. No other day can be a sabbath or Holy Day because God is not in it. Yet, it is a Festival. It can be seen from this, then, that GOD COULD NOT PUT HIS SPIRIT INTO THIS DAY, MAKING IT HOLY, BECAUSE OF WHAT WAS TO HAPPEN ON THIS DAY! This also is further proof that the Jews observe this festival a day late, BECAUSE THEY KEEP IT ON THE HOLY DAY.

In the accounts of the incidents of this day when Christ died, there is reference made to the fact that Christ had to be buried before the Sabbath came. They thus thrust a spear into His side to kill Him off faster than He would normally have died. Because of the lack of understanding about God's annual Sabbaths, or Feast Days, man has been deceived into thinking that Christ died on a Friday before the weekly Sabbath when He actually died on a Wednesday, before the annual Sabbath, which was on Thursday that particular year.

Christ gave only one sign that He was the Christ, and that was that He would be in the grave THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS. Yet, millions believe that He only stayed in the grave part of two days and two nights! If this were so, then Jesus was not the Christ!

Jesus died on late Wednesday afternoon, about three o'clock. It was just hours before the First Day of Unleavened Bread, the first Holy Day of the year. His body was hastily prepared for burial, and the stone was rolled over the mouth of the tomb probably just moments before sunset and the beginning of the Holy Day. Christ stayed in the grave all day Thursday, the Holy Day, and all day Friday, and all day Saturday, and was resurrected at

the EXACT MOMENT THE STONE WAS ROLLED OVER THE TOMB SEVENTY-TWO HOURS, OR THREE DAYS EARLIER! Christ also stayed in the grave all Wednesday night, all Thursday night, and all Friday night, thus FULFILLING THE ONLY SIGN OF HIS MESIASHIP! The next morning, bright and early Sunday morning, He was found to be gone from the tomb -- but this was LONG AFTER HE HAD ACTUALLY BEEN RESURRECTED! The women and disciples just couldn't go to the tomb on the weekly sabbath, and simply waited until Sunday morning to go to the tomb to pay their respects.

The First Day of Unleavened Bread, which we have already discussed when talking about the Exodus, symbolizes our coming out of sin. This is so important that the First Day and the Seventh Day of this Festival are Holy, the only Festival that has two Holy Days in it. These days symbolize putting sin out of our life, and seven is the number of completion, meaning we have come out of it completely.

I would like to make note of an interesting point in passing. Christ is the "firstborn among many brethren, as discussed earlier. He is, then, the FIRST of the firstfruits, since the church is God's firstfruits, but Christ is the first of the first. If you will recall from reading the account of Jesus just after His resurrection (if you don't recall, go back to Jn. 20:11-18, this is the account of Mary's encounter with the newly risen Christ), Christ instructed Mary not to touch Him at their first meeting, as He had not yet gone to the Father and been accepted. This is analogous to the wave offering in Lev. 23:10- 56

11. This wave offering was offered on the day AFTER the WEEKLY SABBATH DURING THE DAYS OF UNLEAVENED BREAD, and was an offering of the first of the firstfruits. Christ, then, was WAVED as our wave offering before God, just after His resurrection. Mary was instructed not to touch Him until He had ascend into Heaven to be presented to the Father. After He returned from Heaven, in all the other encounters with the disciples, they were then able to touch Him because He had been waved and offered. His sacrifice for our sins had been accepted in Heaven!

From this day of the wave offering, we are next instructed in Leviticus to count fifty days. The fiftieth day is the Day of Pentecost, or the Feast of Firstfruits. Christ was the firstborn of many brethren, who is to precede all of the rest of the first- fruits into the Kingdom of God. It was on Pentecost when God gave the Ten Commandments, thus starting the Old Covenant, and it

was ON PENTECOST, 31 A.D., WHEN GOD STARTED HIS NEW COVENANT WITH HIS NEW TESTAMENT NATION, OR THE CHURCH! God does things on time. The Holy Days help us keep His plan of salvation plain in our minds.

The Holy Spirit was made available to God's Church on the Day of Pentecost, and we had entered the Church age. There is then a long gap between Pentecost and the GREAT FALL HARVEST, SYMBOLIC OF WHEN GOD IS GOING TO REDEEM ALL OF MANKIND. The

small harvest of firstfruits symbolized by Pentecost is NOTHING

COMPARED TO THE GREAT FALL HARVEST.

If you continue reading in this twenty-third chapter of Leviticus, you will then come to the first Holy Day in the Fall, which is the Feast of Trumpets. Trumpets in the Old Testament symbolized an alarm of war. This Day is a day of "clouds and thick darkness [read Joel 2:1-11 to get a flavor of what this terrible Day of the Lord, culminating in the return of Christ, will be like), it will strike terror into the hearts of men. The nations who have come to fight each other at Armaggedon, will instead turn on the returning Christ as He descends to the Mt. of Olives. They will be deceived into thinking that this is either an invasion from outer space, or the coming of the Antichrist!

This Feast of Trumpets, then, symbolizes the time when God will intervene in human affairs, and Christ will take back the throne of this earth. The Millennium will shortly begin, but not before Christ dispatches the armies of the rebellious nations fighting against Him. After that, He turns His attention to the one responsible for this battle, Satan. He then has Satan bound for the entire period of the Millennium. This event is symbolized by the next Holy Day in Leviticus, the Day of Atonement.

Let's look a little closer at this Day, to glean as much understanding from it as we can. Leviticus 23 talks about this Holy Day when it talks about the others, but Lev. 16 sheds even more light on this day. This was the only day out of the whole year when the High Priest was permitted to go behind the veil into the Holy of holies, representing God's throne. The Mercy Seat behind the veil represented the actual throne in Heaven. The High Priest had to go through elaborate preparations and purification for this meeting with God. It was on this day that the people of Israel saw their sins forgiven.

Satan hates this Holy Day above all, because, to use the vernacular, it's his payday. It is the day he is going to pay for all of the sins that he inspired throughout history. Two goats were selected. Lots were cast, one for the goat to be offered for the Eternal, and the other for the "scapegoat. Some other translations render this "Azazel. This goat for Azazel, or the scapegoat, represents Satan. In verse 10, this goat was brought in before Aaron, and the sins of the people were confessed over it, and then it was released into the wilderness. [verses 7-1OJ

Since this scapegoat represents Satan, and the sins of the people were confessed over it, that shows that Satan was either directly or indirectly responsible for all of the sins of humanity. The English word "scapegoat doesn't quite catch the meaning of what is going on there. Scapegoat commonly means one who takes the blame for what someone else did, WHEREAS SATAN REALLY IS THE ONE, ULTIMATELY, RESPONSIBLE -- AT LEAST FOR STARTING US AND PUSHING US DOWN THE PATH OF SIN.

Verses 21 and 22 show this confessing of the sins of the nation on the head of the goat. But, unlike the impression left in the previous verse (verse 10), it was not just simply let go into the wilderness, but was FORCED to go there by a fit man chosen for this purpose. This it necessary because, unlike sheep, who usually follow a shepherd, goats can be contrary animals, refusing to go a certain way just because you want them to go that way. This summarizes also some aspects of Satan's character.

This Old Testament incident is paralleled by Rev. 20:1-2. This incident takes place right after the return of Christ and just before the setting up of the Millennium and Kingdom of God. The angel comes down from God, lays hold of Satan, and binds him in a bottomless pit for a thousand years so that he can tempt the nations no more. This is just like the incidents with the scapegoat cited above, where the goat had to be FORCED AWAY FROM THE PEOPLE.

This is a very solemn event. It ushers in a change of government over this earth from the administration of Satan to the administration of Christ. It is a sobering event for God. I am sure that at one time God and Satan were the best of friends, but this represents the end of the road, except for the little season after the Millennium, for Satan. Satan has made his choice, so now he has to start paying.

Thus, I think, God's people are fasting in sorrow for this tragic event, and also to remind them of the penalty of sin, and how it separates us from God. But, the happy side to this story is that once the sins are removed, access to God's Throne is open, and we may be forgiven our sins. Thus, it is indeed significant that this was the only day in the sacred year when atonement was made for sin.

Going back to Leviticus 23, we now note the Feast of Tabernacles. Christ has already returned, symbolized by the Feast of Trumpets, Satan has been bound, symbolized by the Day of Atonement, so now the Millennium can start, symbolized by the Feast of Tabernacles.

During the Feast, Israel was commanded to dwell in booths, or temporary dwellings. This gives the Feast of Tabernacles a double meaning. First of all, the seven days of this feast symbolize the great Fall harvest of souls, when ALL OF HUMANITY WILL BE CALLED TO GOD, TO HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM. It thus

pictures the Millennium, so we are to dwell in temporary dwellings to emphasize the point that our kingdom is not of this present world, but we are looking for the Kingdom of God, soon to come.

Next, this feast also symbolizes the fact that our bodies are only temporary dwellings, or booths, and that it is only in God's Kingdom, when we have our spirit bodies, that we will have reached our permanent home. The feast, for those who observe it, is a joyous time of Christian unity, brotherhood, and fellowship. But, just as we are not now in the Kingdom, the feast comes to an end, the temporary dwellings are left behind, and we come back to reality. The feast is simply intended as a foretaste of the abundant life in the world tomorrow. And, since God's people follow the Biblical example of saving a full tithe of their income to be spent mostly at this Festival, it is a feast of abundance and joy unparalleled!

While discussing the Feast of Tabernacles, which lasts seven days, Leviticus talks about another, little noticed Feast kept on the EIGHTH DAY [vs. 36) Most of the world, even of the Jews, have forgotten about this Day, but it is a separate Feast Day with a commanded assembly like all the others. In fact, in the Book of John, a NEW TESTAMENT BOOK, this festival is referred to this way: "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and He cried out, saying, "If anyone comes, let him come to Me and drink. [Jn. 7:37) Christ, on this Last Great Day of the Feast, talked about mankind coming to Him and drinking -- not of water, but of His Holy Spirit! Only by so doing can we ever be completely satisfied.

Jesus kept all of the feasts of God. He is our example. We are to do as He did. The Apostles kept these feasts as well. We are writing a booklet on this subject to give it a more thorough treatment than we have here. We have only intended on giving the overview here.

This Last Great Day is the final step in God's plan of salvation. This day occurs immediately after the Millennium, and is the time of the second resurrection, when all of those who have ever lived without knowing God will be given their one and only chance to enter the Kingdom and Family of God.

This is the period referred to in Rev. 20:11-15 as the Great White ThroneJudgment. Many religious people have pictured this event like a giant assembly line, with God reading the things written in the Book of Life to people, and then passing judgment. They view this as a SENTENCING SESSION rather than as a JUDGMENT PERIOD.

Right now, God is only judging those in His Church. Only they have been called and selected, and understand His truth -- not because they are better, or something special, but because God called them to do His work of proclaimihg His Gospel message to the world as a witness before the end of the Age. As seen above, those called during the Church Age are small in number, pictured by the small spring harvest of Pentecost. It is only

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later, in the fall that the REALLY BIG HARVEST is brought in. This Great White Throne Judgment, which one scripture indicates will be a period of one hundred years, is the time when all of those down through history who did not have God's calling will be given their chance for salvation. They will be resurrected, in the second resurrection, to a physical life.

Ezekiel 37:1-14 describes this incident, telling how a valley of dry bones put on flesh once more so that they could come to know God. This rounds out the plan of salvation, and what a wonderful picture it makes, showing that ALMOST ALL OF HUMANITY WILL ULTIMATELY BE SAVED! This certainly is much better than the false doctrine of an ever burning hell where almost everyone ends up.

However, before the joy of the New Heavens and New Earth immediately following the Great White Throne Judgment, there is a final, sobering note. Turn again to Rev. 20 and read verse 15. This shows that, even after all God has done for man, to bring him to his incredible potential of becoming a God Being, there will be some who want to remain wicked like Satan. God will have no choice but to burn them up in a Lake of Fire.

I Pet. 3:7,10 warns: "But the heavens and the earth which now exist are kept in store by the same word, reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men... .But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

Before the New Heaven and the New Earth spoken of in the last part of Revelation, the wicked will be burned up along with the entire EARTH and everything on it in preparation for the New Heavens and New Earth. As a part of this old world, the wicked will be burned up with it. The world will, for a few moments of time, be a Lake of Fire before it passes away and the new one comes. And, when the New Heaven and New Earth appear, we will have reached only THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY!

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