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Christian Doctrine, S1, SABBATH- SEPARATION
Written by: Unknown Posted on: 05/05/2003
Category: Bible Studies
Source: CCN
SABBATH (FESTIVALS)...
The following chart is taken from "The New Unger's Bible Dictionary"
So also is the material covering the topics of: Sabbath (Festivals),
and Sabbath Festivals (as Types). ---------------------
------------------------------
Festivals of Israel
====================================================================
Cycle or Name of Reference in the
Historic Period Observance Scripture or Apocrypha
====================================================================
"Septenary" Weekly Sabbath Exodus 20: 8-11
(or cycles of Sabbaths) 31:12-17
(i.e. cycles of Sevens) Leviticus 23:12
Seventh New Moon Numbers 28:11-15
(or Feast of Trumpets) 29: 1-6
Sabbatic Year Exodus 23:10-11
(every seventh year) Leviticus 25: 2-7
Year of Jubilee Leviticus 25: 8-16
27:16-25
New Moon Numbers 10:10
28:11-15
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Yearly *** Feast of Passover Exodus 12: 1-28
* and Unleavened Bread 23:15
* (1st of the 3 Great Leviticus 23: 4-8
* Annual Feasts) Numbers 28:16-25
* Deuteronomy 16:16
* 18: 1-8
*
* Offering of the Exodus 23:16
*** Firstfruits or Harvest Leviticus 23:11
Pentecost Exodus 34:22
[or Feast of Weeks] Leviticus 23:15-16
(2nd of the 3 Great Numbers 28:26
Annual Feasts) Deuteronomy 16:10, 16
Day of Atonement Exodus 30:10-30
Leviticus 16: 1-34
Numbers 29: 7-11
Feast of Booths Leviticus 23:34-42
[Tabernacles] Numbers 29:12-38
(3rd of the 3 Great Deuteronomy 10:13-16
Annual Feasts) Nehemiah 8:13-18
John 7: 2, 37
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Postexilic Feast of Purim Esther 9:24-32
Feast of Dedication 1 Maccabees 4:52-59
2 Maccabees 10: 5-8
John 10:22
====================================================================
1.> The Weekly Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11; 31:12-17).
The name "Sabbath" is applied to various great festivals but
principally and usually to the seventh day of the week, the strict
observance of which is enforced not merely in the general Mosaic
code but also in the Ten Commandments.
EXO 20:8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
EXO 20:9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
EXO 20:10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On
it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter,
nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien
within your gates.
EXO 20:11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth,
the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.
Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
EXO 31:12 Then the LORD said to Moses,
EXO 31:13 "Say to the Israelites, 'You must observe my Sabbaths.
This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come,
so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.
EXO 31:14 "'Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone
who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on
that day must be cut off from his people.
EXO 31:15 For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is
a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the
Sabbath day must be put to death.
EXO 31:16 The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it
for the generations to come as a lasting covenant.
EXO 31:17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever,
for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the
seventh day he abstained from work and rested.'"
2.> The Feast of Trumpets (or Seventh New Moon) (Numbers 29:1).
NUM 29:1 "'On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred
assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the
trumpets.
The feast of the New Moon, which fell on the seventh month,
or Tishri. This differed from the ordinary festivals of the new moon
because of the symbolic meaning of the seventh or sabbatical month
and partly, perhaps, because it marked the beginning of the civil
year. This month was distinguished above all the other months of the
year by the multitude of ordinances connected with it, the first day
being consecrated to sacred rest and spiritual employment, the tenth
being the Day of Atonement, whereas the fifteenth began the feast of
Booths (Tabernacles, KJV).
Observance...
This day was observed as a feast day, in the strict sense, by
resting from all work, and as a holy convocation, by the blowing of
horns. Throughout the day trumpets were blown at Jerusalem from
morning to evening. In the Temple it was done even on a Sabbath, but
not outside its walls.
The Day of Atonement, which falls on this month, provides full
expiation of all sins and the removal of all uncleanness; and the
Feast of Tabernacles, beginning five days thereafter, provides a
foretaste of the blessedness of life in fellowship with the Lord.
The fact that Tishri was the great month for sowing might easily
have suggested the thought of commemorating on this day the finished
work of creation, and thus the feast of Trumpets came to be regarded
as the anniversary of the beginning of the world.
3.> Sabbatic Year (Exodus 23:10-11; Leviticus 25:2-7).
The newest edition of "The International Standard Bible Encyclope-
dia" says this...
Observance of the Sabbatical Year possessed agricultural and
economic value, for it prevented continuous tilling of the land
(Leviticus 25:4). It thus corresponded to the weekly sabbath rest
after six days of labor. But a more important feature, and one that
is more stressed by Scripture, is the Sabbatical Year's social
function of aiding the poor; it specifically designated to them
whatever happened to grow during the seventh season (Exodus 23:10).
Unger's Bible Dictionary continues with the following...
Time, Observance...
The sabbatic year, like the year of Jubilee, began on the
first day of the civil year, namely, the first of the month Tishri.
Although this was the time fixed for the celebration of the sabbatic
year during the time of the second Temple, the tillage and cultiva-
tion of certain fields and gardens had already begun to be left off
in the sixth year. Thus it was ordained that fields upon which trees
were planted were not to be cultivated after the feast of Pentecost
of the sixth year, whereas the cultivation of grainfields was to
cease from the feast of the Passover.
EXO 23:10 "For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the
crops,
EXO 23:11 but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and
unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and
the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your
vineyard and your olive grove.
LEV 25:2 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter
the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a
sabbath to the LORD.
LEV 25:3 For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune
your vineyards and gather their crops.
LEV 25:4 But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of
rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your
vineyards.
LEV 25:5 Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of
your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest.
LEV 25:6 Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be
food for you--for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, and the
hired worker and temporary resident who live among you,
LEV 25:7 as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your
land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.
4.> The Year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:8-16).
LEV 25:8 "'Count off seven sabbaths of years--seven times seven
years--so that the seven sabbaths of years amount to a period of
forty-nine years.
LEV 25:9 Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day
of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet
throughout your land.
LEV 25:10 Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty
throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee
for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and
each to his own clan.
LEV 25:11 The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow
and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines.
LEV 25:12 For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only
what is taken directly from the fields.
LEV 25:13 "'In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to his
own property.
LEV 25:14 "'If you sell land to one of your countrymen or buy any
from him, do not take advantage of each other.
LEV 25:15 You are to buy from your countryman on the basis of the
number of years since the Jubilee. And he is to sell to you on the
basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops.
LEV 25:16 When the years are many, you are to increase the price,
and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because
what he is really selling you is the number of crops.
5.> The "New Moon" (Numbers 10:10).
NUM 10:10 Also at your times of rejoicing--your appointed feasts
and New Moon festivals--you are to sound the trumpets over your
burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memori-
al for you before your God. I am the LORD your God."
The new moon stood as the representative of the month or "the
beginning of the month". The new moon was not reckoned by astronomi-
cal calculation, but by actual personal observation. On the thirti-
eth day of the month watchmen were placed on commanding heights
around Jerusalem to watch the sky. As soon as each of them detected
the moon he hastened to a house in the city kept for this purpose
and was there examined by the president of the Sanhedrin. When the
evidence of the appearance was deemed satisfactory, the president
stood up and formally announced it, uttering the words, "It is
consecrated". The information was immediately sent throughout the
land from the Mount of Olives by beacon fires on the tops of the
hills. The religious observance of the day of the new moon may
plainly be regarded as the consecration of a natural division of
time.
6.> Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread
(Exodus 12:1-28; 23:15; Leviticus 23:4-8)
Followed by the Firstfruits [or Harvest]
(Exodus 23:16; Leviticus 23:11).
The "Passover" and the feast of "Unleavened Bread" as a unit
constituted the most important of the three great annual festivals
of Israel, with the other two being "Pentecost" and "Tabernacles".
EXO 12:1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt,
EXO 12:2 "This month is to be for you the first month, the first
month of your year.
EXO 12:3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day
of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for
each household.
EXO 12:4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must
share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the
number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb
needed in accordance with what each person will eat.
EXO 12:5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without
defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.
EXO 12:6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month,
when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them
at twilight.
EXO 12:7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the
sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the
lambs.
EXO 12:8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the
fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.
EXO 12:9 Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it
over the fire--head, legs and inner parts.
EXO 12:10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till
morning, you must burn it.
EXO 12:11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked
into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your
hand. Eat it in haste; it is the LORD'S Passover.
EXO 12:12 "On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike
down every firstborn--both men and animals--and I will bring judg-
ment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.
EXO 12:13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you
are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive
plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
EXO 12:14 "This is a day you are to commemorate; for the genera-
tions to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD--a
lasting ordinance.
EXO 12:15 For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast.
On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats
anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh
must be cut off from Israel.
EXO 12:16 On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one
on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to
prepare food for everyone to eat--that is all you may do.
EXO 12:17 "Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because it was
on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Cele-
brate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.
EXO 12:18 In the first month you are to eat bread made without
yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of
the twenty-first day.
EXO 12:19 For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses.
And whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the
community of Israel, whether he is an alien or native-born.
EXO 12:20 Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must
eat unleavened bread."
EXO 12:21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to
them, "Go at once and select the animals for your families and
slaughter the Passover lamb.
EXO 12:22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the
basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the
doorframe. Not one of you shall go out the door of his house until
morning.
EXO 12:23 When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the
Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the door-
frame and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the
destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.
EXO 12:24 "Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you
and your descendants.
EXO 12:25 When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he
promised, observe this ceremony.
EXO 12:26 And when your children ask you, 'What does this ceremony
mean to you?'
EXO 12:27 then tell them, 'It is the Passover sacrifice to the
LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and
spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.'" Then the
people bowed down and worshiped.
EXO 12:28 The Israelites did just what the LORD commanded Moses and
Aaron.
EXO 23:15 "Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days
eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the
appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out
of Egypt. "No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
LEV 23:4 "'These are the LORD'S appointed feasts, the sacred assem-
blies you are to proclaim at their appointed times:
LEV 23:5 The LORD'S Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth
day of the first month.
LEV 23:6 On the fifteenth day of that month the LORD'S Feast of
Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made
without yeast.
LEV 23:7 On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular
work.
LEV 23:8 For seven days present an offering made to the LORD by
fire. And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regu-
lar work.'"
EXO 23:16 "Celebrate the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of
the crops you sow in your field. "Celebrate the Feast of Ingathering
at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the
field.
LEV 23:11 He is to wave the sheaf before the LORD so it will be
accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after
the Sabbath.
7.> The Feast of Pentecost [or Weeks]
(Leviticus 23:15-16; Numbers 28:26).
LEV 23:15 "'From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the
sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks.
LEV 23:16 Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh
Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD.
NUM 28:26 "'On the day of firstfruits, when you present to the LORD
an offering of new grain during the Feast of Weeks, hold a sacred
assembly and do no regular work.
Pentecost is the second of the three great annual festivals,
the others being the Passover and Tabernacles. The time fixed for
celebrating Pentecost is the fiftieth day from "the day after the
Sabbath" of the Passover.
For the Christian the day of Pentecost is significant because
on that day "the Church" was born through the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit to all who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:25-26;
16:8-15; Acts 2:1-4).
JOH 14:25 "All this I have spoken while still with you.
JOH 14:26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will
send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of
everything I have said to you.
JOH 16:8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in
regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
JOH 16:9 in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me;
JOH 16:10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the
Father, where you can see me no longer;
JOH 16:11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this
world now stands condemned.
JOH 16:12 "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now
bear.
JOH 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide
you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only
what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
JOH 16:14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and
making it known to you.
JOH 16:15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I
said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to
you.
ACT 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in
one place.
ACT 2:2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came
from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
ACT 2:3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated
and came to rest on each of them.
ACT 2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to
speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
8.> The Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:2-34).
The day appointed for a yearly, general, and perfect expia-
tion (satisfaction) for all the sins and uncleanness that might
remain, despite the regular sacrifices.
LEV 16:2 The LORD said to Moses: "Tell your brother Aaron not to
come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain
in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die,
because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.
LEV 16:3 "This is how Aaron is to enter the sanctuary area: with a
young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
LEV 16:4 He is to put on the sacred linen tunic, with linen under-
garments next to his body; he is to tie the linen sash around him
and put on the linen turban. These are sacred garments; so he must
bathe himself with water before he puts them on.
LEV 16:5 From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats
for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
LEV 16:6 "Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to
make atonement for himself and his household.
LEV 16:7 Then he is to take the two goats and present them before
the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
LEV 16:8 He is to cast lots for the two goats--one lot for the LORD
and the other for the scapegoat.
LEV 16:9 Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the LORD and
sacrifice it for a sin offering.
LEV 16:10 But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be
presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by
sending it into the desert as a scapegoat.
LEV 16:11 "Aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin offering to
make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter
the bull for his own sin offering.
LEV 16:12 He is to take a censer full of burning coals from the
altar before the LORD and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant
incense and take them behind the curtain.
LEV 16:13 He is to put the incense on the fire before the LORD, and
the smoke of the incense will conceal the atonement cover above the
Testimony, so that he will not die.
LEV 16:14 He is to take some of the bull's blood and with his
finger sprinkle it on the front of the atonement cover; then he
shall sprinkle some of it with his finger seven times before the
atonement cover.
LEV 16:15 "He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering
for the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with it
as he did with the bull's blood: He shall sprinkle it on the atone-
ment cover and in front of it.
LEV 16:16 In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy
Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites,
whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same for the Tent of
Meeting, which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness.
LEV 16:17 No one is to be in the Tent of Meeting from the time
Aaron goes in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he
comes out, having made atonement for himself, his household and the
whole community of Israel.
LEV 16:18 "Then he shall come out to the altar that is before the
LORD and make atonement for it. He shall take some of the bull's
blood and some of the goat's blood and put it on all the horns of
the altar.
LEV 16:19 He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger
seven times to cleanse it and to consecrate it from the uncleanness
of the Israelites.
LEV 16:20 "When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most
Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting and the altar, he shall bring for-
ward the live goat.
LEV 16:21 He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and
confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the
Israelites--all their sins--and put them on the goat's head. He
shall send the goat away into the desert in the care of a man ap-
pointed for the task.
LEV 16:22 The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a soli-
tary place; and the man shall release it in the desert.
LEV 16:23 "Then Aaron is to go into the Tent of Meeting and take
off the linen garments he put on before he entered the Most Holy
Place, and he is to leave them there.
LEV 16:24 He shall bathe himself with water in a holy place and put
on his regular garments. Then he shall come out and sacrifice the
burnt offering for himself and the burnt offering for the people, to
make atonement for himself and for the people.
LEV 16:25 He shall also burn the fat of the sin offering on the
altar.
LEV 16:26 "The man who releases the goat as a scapegoat must wash
his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may come into
the camp.
LEV 16:27 The bull and the goat for the sin offerings, whose blood
was brought into the Most Holy Place to make atonement, must be
taken outside the camp; their hides, flesh and offal are to be
burned up.
LEV 16:28 The man who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe
himself with water; afterward he may come into the camp.
LEV 16:29 "This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth
day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any
work--whether native-born or an alien living among you--
LEV 16:30 because on this day atonement will be made for you, to
cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your
sins.
LEV 16:31 It is a sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it
is a lasting ordinance.
LEV 16:32 The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his
father as high priest is to make atonement. He is to put on the
sacred linen garments
LEV 16:33 and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, for the Tent
of Meeting and the altar, and for the priests and all the people of
the community.
LEV 16:34 "This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is
to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites." And it
was done, as the LORD commanded Moses.
9.> Feast of Tabernacles (Booths)
(Leviticus 23:34-36; Deuteronomy 16:13-16; John 7:2-3, 37-39)
The third of the great annual feasts, the other two being the
Passover and Pentecost. It commemorates the first halting place of
the Israelites on their march out of Egypt, and the booths are taken
to commemorate those in which they lodged for the last time before
they entered the desert. It was ordered by Moses in the regulation
he gave to the Israelites respecting their festivals. The dwelling
in booths was to be a reminder to them of the fatherly care and
protection of Jehovah while Israel was journeying from Egypt to
Canaan.
LEV 23:34 "Say to the Israelites: 'On the fifteenth day of the
seventh month the LORD'S Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts
for seven days.
LEV 23:35 The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work.
LEV 23:36 For seven days present offerings made to the LORD by
fire, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present an
offering made to the LORD by fire. It is the closing assembly; do no
regular work.
DEU 16:13 Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after
you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your
winepress.
DEU 16:14 Be joyful at your Feast--you, your sons and daughters,
your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the aliens, the
fatherless and the widows who live in your towns.
DEU 16:15 For seven days celebrate the Feast to the LORD your God
at the place the LORD will choose. For the LORD your God will bless
you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your
joy will be complete.
DEU 16:16 Three times a year all your men must appear before the
LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleav-
ened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. No man
should appear before the LORD empty-handed:
JOH 7:2 But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near,
JOH 7:3 Jesus' brothers said to him, "You ought to leave here and
go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do.
JOH 7:37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and
said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and
drink.
JOH 7:38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams
of living water will flow from within him."
JOH 7:39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in
him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been
given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
10.> The Feast of Purim (Esther (9:24-32).
This feast was instituted by Mordecai, at the suggestion of
Esther, in memory of the extraordinary deliverance of the Jews of
Persia from the murderous plot of Haman.
EST 9:24 For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all
the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast
the pur (that is, the lot) for their ruin and destruction.
EST 9:25 But when the plot came to the king's attention, he issued
written orders that the evil scheme Haman had devised against the
Jews should come back onto his own head, and that he and his sons
should be hanged on the gallows.
EST 9:26 (Therefore these days were called Purim, from the word
pur.) Because of everything written in this letter and because of
what they had seen and what had happened to them,
EST 9:27 the Jews took it upon themselves to establish the custom
that they and their descendants and all who join them should without
fail observe these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at
the time appointed.
EST 9:28 These days should be remembered and observed in every
generation by every family, and in every province and in every city.
And these days of Purim should never cease to be celebrated by the
Jews, nor should the memory of them die out among their descendants.
EST 9:29 So Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai
the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter
concerning Purim.
EST 9:30 And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the 127
provinces of the kingdom of Xerxes--words of goodwill and
assurance--
EST 9:31 to establish these days of Purim at their designated times,
as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had decreed for them, and as
they had established for themselves and their descendants in regard
to their times of fasting and lamentation.
EST 9:32 Esther's decree confirmed these regulations about Purim,
and it was written down in the records.
11.> The Feast of Dedication
(1 Maccabees 4:53-59; 2 Maccabees 10:5-8; John 10:22).
It was a popular and joyous festival commemorating the puri-
fying of the Temple, the removal of the old polluted altar, and the
restoration of the worship of Jehovah by Judas Maccabeus, 164 B.C.
1MAC 4:53 And they offered sacrifice according to the law upon the
new altar of holocausts which they had made.
1MAC 4:54 According to the time, and according to the day wherein
the heathens had defiled it, in the same was it dedicated anew with
canticles, and harps, and lutes, and cymbals.
1MAC 4:55 And all the people fell upon their faces, and adored, and
blessed up to heaven, him that had prospered them.
1MAC 4:56 And they kept the dedication of the altar eight days, and
they offered holocausts with joy, and sacrifices of salvation, and
of praise.
1MAC 4:57 And they adorned the front of the temple with crowns of
gold, and escutcheons, and they renewed the gates, and the chambers,
and hanged doors upon them.
1MAC 4:58 And there was exceeding great joy among the people, and
the reproach of the Gentiles was turned away.
1MAC 4:59 And Judas and his brethren and all the church of Israel
decreed, that the day of the dedication of the altar should be kept
in its season from year to year for eight days, from the five and
twentieth day of the month of Casleu, with joy and gladness.
2MAC 10:5 Now upon the same day that the temple had been polluted by
the strangers, on the very same day it was cleansed again, to wit,
on the five and twentieth day of the month of Casleu.
2MAC 10:6 And they kept eight days with joy, after the manner of the
feast of the tabernacles, remembering that not long before they had
kept the feast of the tabernacles when they were in the mountains,
and in dens like wild beasts.
2MAC 10:7 Therefore they now carried boughs and green branches, and
palms for him that had given them good success in cleansing his
place.
2MAC 10:8 And they ordained by a common statute and decree that all
the nation of the Jews should keep those days every year.
2MAC 10:9 And this was the end of Antiochus that was called the
Illustrious.
JOH 10:22 Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was
winter,
SABBATH FESTIVALS (AS TYPES)...
1a.> Passover...
The Passover speaks of Calvary and of redemption by blood
from Egypt, a type of the world; from Pharaoh, a type of Satan; and
from Egyptian servitude, a type of sin. The festival speaks of our
redemption from sin by the Lamb of God (1 Peter 1:19), Christ being
our Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7).
1PE 1:19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without
blemish or defect.
1CO 5:7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch with-
out yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has
been sacrificed.
1b.> Unleavened Bread...
Unleavened Bread typifies the holy walk of a believer after
redemption (1 Corinthians 5:8; 11:23-33; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Gala-
tians 5:7-9).
1CO 5:8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast,
the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast,
the bread of sincerity and truth.
1CO 11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to
you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,
1CO 11:24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This
is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
1CO 11:25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying,
"This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you
drink it, in remembrance of me."
1CO 11:26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you
proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
1CO 11:27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of
the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the
body and blood of the Lord.
1CO 11:28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the
bread and drinks of the cup.
1CO 11:29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the
body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.
1CO 11:30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a
number of you have fallen asleep.
1CO 11:31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under
judgment.
1CO 11:32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined
so that we will not be condemned with the world.
1CO 11:33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait
for each other.
2CO 7:1 Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify
ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, per-
fecting holiness out of reverence for God.
GAL 5:7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept
you from obeying the truth?
GAL 5:8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who
calls you.
GAL 5:9 "A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough."
The divine order is eloquent. First, redemption, followed by a holy
walk. The eating of unleavened bread and the putting away of all
leaven from the household portrays holiness, as leaven is a figure
of "malice and wickedness" (1 Corinthians 5:8 above) and is not
befitting a believer's walk.
1c.> First Fruits...
First Fruits is typical of resurrection, first of Christ's,
then of "those who are Christ's at His coming" (1 Corinthians 15:23;
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
1CO 15:23 But each in his own 1CO 15:23 But every man in
turn: Christ, the firstfruits; his own order: Christ the
then, when he comes, those who firstfruits; afterward they
belong to him. that are Christ's at his
coming. (KJV)
1TH 4:13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those
who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no
hope.
1TH 4:14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we be-
lieve that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in
him.
1TH 4:15 According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who
are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will
certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
1TH 4:16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a
loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet
call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
1TH 4:17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be
caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
1TH 4:18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.
When the priest on the day of Christ's resurrection waved the sheaf
of first fruits in the Temple, it was before a torn veil and was but
an antiquated form, for the substance had come and the shadow had
passed away. Joseph's empty tomb proclaimed that the great first
fruit sheaf had been reaped and waved in the heavenly Temple. This
feast has been completely fulfilled in Christ.
2.> Pentecost...
The type of the feast of Pentecost is the coming of the Holy
Spirit at Pentecost to form the church, the Body of Christ. Because
the church is not yet glorified and contains evil, leaven is present
(Matthew 13:33).
MAT 13:33 He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of
heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount
of flour until it worked all through the dough."
At the Pentecost following Christ's resurrection, the Holy Spirit,
by His baptizing work, formed the separate disciples into one organ-
ism, the Body of Christ (Acts 1:5; 11:16; 1 Corinthians 12:13).
ACT 1:5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be
baptized with the Holy Spirit."
ACT 11:16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: 'John baptized
with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'
1CO 12:13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one
body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given
the one Spirit to drink.
The Church had to begin on Pentecost because it was the first his-
torical instance of the Spirit's baptizing work. Although leaven was
in the two loaves offered at Pentecost, typifying Jew and Gentile
made one in Christ (Ephesians 3:1-10), yet the leaven was baked,
that is, sin in those who are redeemed has been judged "in Christ".
The four-month period between Pentecost and Trumpets was occupied in
gathering in the harvest, typical of the present church period
before Christ restores Israel.
EPH 3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for
the sake of you Gentiles--
EPH 3:2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God's
grace that was given to me for you,
EPH 3:3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I
have already written briefly.
EPH 3:4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my
insight into the mystery of Christ,
EPH 3:5 which was not made known to men in other generations as it
has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and
prophets.
EPH 3:6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are
heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and shar-
ers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
EPH 3:7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's
grace given me through the working of his power.
EPH 3:8 Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this
grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ,
EPH 3:9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this
mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all
things.
EPH 3:10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold
wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in
the heavenly realms,
3.> Trumpets...
Trumpets speaks of the regathering of Israel to its homeland
after the out-gathering of the church. Matthew 24:31 speaks of the
Son of Man at His second advent sending His angels with a great
sound of a trumpet to gather together His elect (of Israel) from the
four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
MAT 24:31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and
they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the
heavens to the other.
4.> Day of Atonement...
The Day of Atonement envisions Israels' national cleansing
from sin (Romans 11:25) and refers to the time when a "fountain will
be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusa-
lem, for sin and for impurity" (Zechariah 13:1). It portrays their
future conversion as a nation at the second advent of Christ (Zecha-
riah 12:9-14).
ROM 11:25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, broth-
ers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a
hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
ZEC 13:1 "On that day a ZEC 13:1 In that day there
fountain will be opened to the shall be a fountain opened to
house of David and the inhabi- the house of David and to the
tants of Jerusalem, to cleanse inhabitants of Jerusalem for
them from sin and impurity. sin and for uncleanness. (KJV)
ZEC 12:9 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that
attack Jerusalem.
ZEC 12:10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhab-
itants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will
look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him
as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one
grieves for a firstborn son.
ZEC 12:11 On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great, like
the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
ZEC 12:12 The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their
wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives,
the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives,
ZEC 12:13 the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan
of Shimei and their wives,
ZEC 12:14 and all the rest of the clans and their wives.
5.> Tabernacles...
The antitype of Tabernacles (or Booths) has not yet appeared.
Peter anticipated it, however, on the mount of transfiguration when
he said in Matthew 17:4...
MAT 17:4 Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here.
If you wish, I will put up three shelters--one for you, one for
Moses and one for Elijah."
What Peter desired, the dwelling of heavenly and earthly people on
the earth, was not possible in that age but will be possible in the
conditions of the mediatorial Davidic kingdom. Then the kingdom of
the heavens will bring heaven and earth in closer union. The feast
of Tabernacles (or Booths) is thus prophetic of Israel's millennial
rest. The feast of Tabernacles (or Booths) is a memorial to Israel,
going back to Egypt and forward to millennial rest, as the Lord's
Supper now points back to a finished redemption until Christ ap-
pears. The eighth day following the Sabbath (Leviticus 23:39) points
to the new heaven and the new earth following the Millennium and to
the dispensation of the fullness of time before the eternal state.
LEV 23:39 "'So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh
month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the
festival to the LORD for seven days; the first day is a day of rest,
and the eighth day also is a day of rest.
THE SABBATH...
The Sabbath (rest) was the divinely instituted day of rest at the
completion of creation (Genesis 2:2-3).
GEN 2:2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been
doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.
GEN 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because
on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
From the creation to the Exodus, more than twenty-five hundred
years, no further mention of it is made, when God revealed the
Sabbath for man (Exodus 16:23) and proclaimed it a sign and a cove-
nant forever between Himself and Israel (Exodus 31:13-17).
EXO 16:23 He said to them, "This is what the LORD commanded:
'Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So
bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save
whatever is left and keep it until morning.'"
EXO 31:13 "Say to the Israelites, 'You must observe my Sabbaths.
This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come,
so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.
EXO 31:14 "'Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone
who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on
that day must be cut off from his people.
EXO 31:15 For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is
a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the
Sabbath day must be put to death.
EXO 31:16 The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it
for the generations to come as a lasting covenant.
EXO 31:17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever,
for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the
seventh day he abstained from work and rested.'"
The day was established as one of complete rest and refreshment for
Israel, even to the ordering by God of the death sentence to enforce
it (Exodus 35:2-3).
EXO 35:2 For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day
shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD. Whoever does
any work on it must be put to death.
EXO 35:3 Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sab-
bath day."
The Lord Jesus Christ said in Mark 2:27...
MAR 2:27 Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not
man for the Sabbath.
Thus He showed conclusively that God never intended it as a day for
religious services or worship, but only as a day of rest for man and
beast. In the days when the Lord Jesus walked the earth, the Phari-
sees had applied the Law to so many nonessential and trivial acts
(Mat 12:2) that He Himself was classed as a breaker of the Sabbath.
MAT 12:2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your
disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
Rightfully, there should be no observance of the seventh-day Sabbath
during this age, but it is to be observed again during the Millenni-
um (Isaiah 66:23).
ISA 66:23 From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to
another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the
LORD.
In this age the first day of the week is observed, being the obser-
vation of our Lord's resurrection. The Sabbath is the memorial of
God's completed creation; and in the New Testament, aside from the
four gospels, the few times the Sabbath is referred to in Acts is
relative to the Jews, while the other references (Colossians 2:16;
Hebrews 4:4) explain that the seventh-day Sabbath is not a day for
Christian observance.
COL 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or
drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebra-
tion or a Sabbath day.
HEB 4:4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these
words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work."
SAINT...
A saint is a sanctified one, one set apart for God, not a sinless
person (as many erroneously think). "The sanctified", not the sin-
less; "saints", not those absolutely holy. "To them that are sancti-
fied in Christ Jesus, called to be saints" (1 Corinthians 1:2).
1CO 1:2 To the church of God 1CO 1:2 Unto the church of
in Corinth, to those sancti- God which is at Corinth, to
fied in Christ Jesus and them that are sanctified in
called to be holy, together Christ Jesus, called to be
with all those everywhere who saints, with all that in every
call on the name of our Lord place call upon the name of
Jesus Christ--their Lord and Jesus Christ our Lord, both
ours: theirs and ours: (KJV)
When one is saved, at that very moment God separates him from the
world under judgment and sets him apart unto Himself in Christ
Jesus; and in that instant he becomes a saint, that instant he is
sanctified, and that sanctification is a perfect one: "He hath
perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14).
HEB 10:14 because by one HEB 10:14 For by one offering
sacrifice he has made perfect he hath perfected for ever
forever those who are being them that are sanctified.(KJV)
made holy.
Christians are saints. They are not called to become saints; they
become saints instantaneously at their new birth. This fact is set
forth everywhere in the New Testament, and yet there is much confu-
sion among the translators. We do not become saints by acting in a
saintly way, but because we are constituted saints we should mani-
fest saintliness. Undoubtedly we are called upon to live "as beco-
meth saints" (Romans 16:2), but it is highly important to see that
if we have received the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord, we are already saints, sanctified ones, set apart for Him,
belonging to Him, saints by His own designation, His own calling;
"called saints"---not "called to be saints" but "called saints",
meaning "saints by calling".
ROM 16:2 I ask you to receive ROM 16:2 That you receive her
her in the Lord in a way in the Lord in a manner
worthy of the saints and to worthy of the saints, and that
give her any help she may need you help her in whatever
from you, for she has been a matter she may have need
great help to many people, of you; for she herself has
including me. also been a helper of many,
and of myself as well.
(NASB)
We are saints in the same way that Paul was an apostle (Rom 1:1-2),
by divine call. Finally, only God can make a saint, not the human
heads of an earthly church.
ROM 1:1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle
and set apart for the gospel of God--
ROM 1:2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in
the Holy Scriptures
SALVATION...
Salvation is the free gift of God to man, by grace through faith,
entirely aside from works (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:27-28; 4:1-8;
6:23).
EPH 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and
this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
EPH 2:9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
ROM 3:27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what princi-
ple? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith.
ROM 3:28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart
from observing the law.
ROM 4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, dis-
covered in this matter?
ROM 4:2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had some-
thing to boast about--but not before God.
ROM 4:3 What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it
was credited to him as righteousness."
ROM 4:4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as
a gift, but as an obligation.
ROM 4:5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who
justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.
ROM 4:6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness
of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
ROM 4:7 "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose
sins are covered.
ROM 4:8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count
against him."
ROM 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The only condition of salvation is belief on the Lord Jesus Christ.
"What must I do to be saved?...Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you
will be saved" (Acts 16:30-31).
ACT 16:30 He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do
to be saved?"
ACT 16:31 They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be
saved--you and your household."
First comes salvation, and then works (Eph 2:9-10; Titus 3:5-8).
EPH 2:9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
EPH 2:10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to
do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
TIT 3:5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done,
but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth
and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
TIT 3:6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ
our Savior,
TIT 3:7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might
become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
TIT 3:8 This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress
these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful
to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excel-
lent and profitable for everyone.
The salvation offered in this age of grace embodies every aspect of
God's grace, such as redemption, propitiation, justification, for-
giveness, imputation, sanctification, glorification, and reconcilia-
tion.
SANCTIFICATION...
Sanctified, or holy, means "set apart to God". Both words are
employed in each Testament of places, days, and inanimate things, as
well as of persons. When used of persons, there are three primary
meanings...
1.> Positionally...
Believers are eternally "sanctified through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Hebrews 10:10), being set
apart from all that is unholy, and becoming saints, at the instant
of their belief (Philippians 1:1; Hebrews 3:1).
HEB 10:10 And by that will, HEB 10:10 By the which will
we have been made holy through we are sanctified through the
the sacrifice of the body of offering of the body of Jesus
Jesus Christ once for all. Christ once for all. (KJV)
PHI 1:1 Paul and Timothy, PHI 1:1 Paul and Timotheus,
servants of Christ Jesus, To the servants of Jesus Christ,
all the saints in Christ Jesus to all the saints in Christ
at Philippi, together with the Jesus which are at Philippi,
overseers and deacons: with the bishops and deacons:
(KJV)
HEB 3:1 Therefore, holy HEB 3:1 Wherefore, holy
brothers, who share in the brethren, partakers of the
heavenly calling, fix your heavenly calling, consider the
thoughts on Jesus, the apostle Apostle and High Priest of our
and high priest whom we con- profession, Christ Jesus;(KJV)
fess.
Though positionally sanctified, holy, and hence saints of God, this
positional sanctification does not mean that believers are sancti-
fied or holy in their daily lives. This type of sanctification is
entirely separate---it may be called...
2.> Experimental Sanctification...
In which are embodied the daily life phases of sanctification
and holiness, depending upon...
A.> Separation from sin, brought about by the power of
the indwelling Holy Spirit (Rom 8:4-5; Gal 5:16).
ROM 8:4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might
be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature
but according to the Spirit.
ROM 8:5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their
minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accord-
ance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit de-
sires.
GAL 5:16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the
desires of the sinful nature.
B.> Yieldedness to God (Romans 12:1).
ROM 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy,
to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to
God--this is your spiritual act of worship.
C.> Christian growth achieved (2 Peter 3:18).
2PE 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
3.> In consummation...
The final, finished sanctification awaits believers at the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, when "we shall be like him; for we
shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2).
1JO 3:2 Dear friends, now we 1JO 3:2 Beloved, now are we
are children of God, and what the sons of God, and it doth
we will be has not yet been not yet appear what we shall
made known. But we know that be: but we know that, when he
when he appears, we shall be shall appear, we shall be like
like him, for we shall see him him; for we shall see him as
as he is. he is. (KJV)
SATAN...
This terrific personage was probably created the greatest being of
all God's creatures. Of his personality and existence we have the
evidence of highest authority, the Lord Jesus Christ, that he is not
merely an evil influence or principle but a real person, as the
Scriptures attest. He is a person of great dignity (Jude 1:8, 9),
originally created perfect, falling from his high estate through
pride (Isaiah 14:12-14).
JUD 1:8 In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own
bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings.
JUD 1:9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with
the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slander-
ous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"
ISA 14:12 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of
the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid
low the nations!
ISA 14:13 You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will
raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the
mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.
ISA 14:14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make
myself like the Most High."
He appeared to Adam and Eve through the medium of the serpent, and
by tempting Eve brought about the Fall of Adam and the human race,
introducing sin into the world.
Unlike the fallen angels of Jude 1:6, he is free to move about, as
described in 1 Peter 5:8.
JUD 1:6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authori-
ty but abandoned their own home--these he has kept in darkness,
bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.
1PE 5:8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls
around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Satan is not in hell, though that terrible place is especially for
him and his angels (Matthew 25:41), and he will surely be cast into
the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10).
MAT 25:41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me,
you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and
his angels.
REV 20:10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the
lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had
been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
His scene of action during this age is mainly in the heavenly
realms, where he has access to God and accuses the saints before Him
day and night (Job 1:6-12; Revelation 12:10).
JOB 1:6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the
LORD, and Satan also came with them.
JOB 1:7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan
answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back
and forth in it."
JOB 1:8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my serv-
ant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and
upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."
JOB 1:9 "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied.
JOB 1:10 "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and
everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that
his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.
JOB 1:11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has,
and he will surely curse you to your face."
JOB 1:12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he
has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."
Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
REV 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come
the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the
authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who ac-
cuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.
In the future... he will be cast out of heaven forever (Rev 12:9).
REV 12:9 The great dragon was hurled down--that ancient serpent
called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was
hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
When Satan finally reaches hell (the lake of fire), he will suffer
eternal torment there (Revelation 20:10), though meanwhile he is a
great ruler, the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2), and
the ruler of an innumerable host of wicked spirits in the heavenly
realms (Ephesians 6:12).
REV 20:10 And the devil, who REV 20:10 And the devil that
deceived them, was thrown into deceived them was cast into
the lake of burning sulfur, the lake of fire and brim-
where the beast and the false stone, where the beast and the
prophet had been thrown. They false prophet are, and shall
will be tormented day and be tormented day and night for
night for ever and ever. ever and ever. (KJV)
EPH 2:2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of
this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit
who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
EPH 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but
against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of
this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly realms.
While neither omnipresent, omnipotent, nor omniscient, through this
host of wicked spirits he is able at all times to keep in touch with
man and man's affairs throughout the whole world. He is also the god
of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4) and the world system (John 12:31;
14:30), which is enforced by the military forces of the world and
based upon greed, power and the love of power, selfishness, and
personal pleasure. Satan also holds the "title deed" to the earth
for the present time (Luke 4:6-8). Adam lost it in the Fall, but
Jesus Christ won it back at the cross, but even though Satan has
been judged (John 16:11), his sentence is temporarily postponed.
2CO 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers,
so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of
Christ, who is the image of God.
JOH 12:31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the
prince of this world will be driven out.
JOH 14:30 I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of
this world is coming. He has no hold on me,
LUK 4:5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an
instant all the kingdoms of the world.
LUK 4:6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority
and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to
anyone I want to. ------------------------------------------------
-----------------
LUK 4:7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours."
LUK 4:8 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God
and serve him only.'"
JOH 16:11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this
world now stands condemned.
God committed the power of death to Satan, but the Lord Jesus broke
that power upon the cross (Hebrews 2:14-15; Revelation 1:18).
HEB 2:14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in
their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds
the power of death--that is, the devil--
HEB 2:15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by
their fear of death.
REV 1:18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for
ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
In the end times Satan will be bound for the one thousand years of
the Millennium, when Christ returns to the earth; afterward he will
be loosed for a "little season" (Revelation 20:1-3, 7), during which
"little season" he will instigate a last rebellion against God.
Then, crushingly defeated, his final doom will be eternal torment in
the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10).
REV 20:1 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the
key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain.
REV 20:2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the
devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.
REV 20:3 He threw him into REV 20:3 And cast him into
the Abyss, and locked and the bottomless pit, and shut
sealed it over him, to keep him up, and set a seal upon
him from deceiving the nations him, that he should deceive
anymore until the thousand the nations no more, till the
years were ended. After that, thousand years should be
he must be set free for a fulfilled: and after that he
short time. must be loosed a little sea-
son. (KJV)
REV 20:7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released
from his prison
REV 20:10 And the devil, who REV 20:10 And the devil that
deceived them, was thrown into deceived them was cast into
the lake of burning sulfur, the lake of fire and brim-
where the beast and the false stone, where the beast and the
prophet had been thrown. They false prophet are, and shall
will be tormented day and be tormented day and night for
night for ever and ever. ever and ever. (KJV)
SCRIBES, PHARISEES, AND SADDUCEES...
Scribe...
Means a writer (grammateis, Gr.). They were public writers to
write at dictation, and to draw up legal documents. They were copi-
ers of the Law and other parts of Scripture, and devoted themselves:
1.> To the study of the interpretation of the Law, which was both
civil and religious, and to determining its applications to daily
life; their decisions became the oral Law or tradition.
2.> To the study of Scripture generally, regarding historical and
doctrinal matters.
3.> To teaching, each noted scribe having a company of disciples
about him. Many were members of the Sanhedrin (Matthew 16:21; 26:3).
MAT 16:21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples
that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of
the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must
be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
MAT 26:3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assem-
bled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,
Though some believed in the Lord Jesus (Matthew 8:19), most were
hopelessly prejudiced against Him (Matthew 21:15)... and had a large
share in the responsibility for His death.
MAT 8:19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, "Teacher,
I will follow you wherever you go."
MAT 21:15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law
saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the
temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant.
They were also associated in the persecutions of Peter and John (see
Acts 4:1-5) and in the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 6:12). Public
scribes still frequent the streets of cities of the Near East.
ACT 4:1 The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the
Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the
people.
ACT 4:2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were
teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the
dead.
ACT 4:3 They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening,
they put them in jail until the next day.
ACT 4:4 But many who heard the message believed, and the number of
men grew to about five thousand.
ACT 4:5 The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met
in Jerusalem.
ACT 6:12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the
teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the
Sanhedrin.
Pharisees...
(From the Aramaic word meaning "separated") were a sect
holding the doctrine of foreordination and considering it consistent
with the free will of man. They believed in the immortality of the
soul, in the resurrection, and in the existence of spirits; that men
are rewarded or punished in the future life, according as they have
lived in this life; that the souls of the wicked shall be held in
prison forever under the earth, while those of the virtuous rise and
live again (Acts 23:8).
ACT 23:8 (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that
there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge
them all.)
Pharisaism is the final result of that conception of religion which
makes religion consist in conformity to the Law, and promises God's
grace only to the doers of the Law. Religion becomes external, and
the disposition of the heart less vital than the outward act. The
interpretation of the Law and its application to the details of
ordinary life accordingly became a matter of grave consequence,
expositions of the Law growing to large bodies of precepts of bind-
ing force.
They also delivered to the people multitudinous observances by
succession from the fathers, which were not written in the Law of
Moses, these being the traditional interpretations of the elders
which our Lord pronounced as being of no binding authority (Matthew
15:2-3, 6).
MAT 15:2 "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?
They don't wash their hands before they eat!"
MAT 15:3 Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God
for the sake of your tradition?
MAT 15:6 he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify
the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
They were the worst persecutors of Jesus, and the objects of His
scathing criticism (Matthew 23:13-29; Luke 11:42-43).
MAT 23:13 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You
yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying
to.
MAT 23:15 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert,
and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as
you are.
MAT 23:16 "Woe to you, blind guides! You say, 'If anyone swears by
the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of
the temple, he is bound by his oath.'
MAT 23:17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the
temple that makes the gold sacred?
MAT 23:18 You also say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it means
nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his
oath.'
MAT 23:19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar
that makes the gift sacred?
MAT 23:20 Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by
everything on it.
MAT 23:21 And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the
one who dwells in it.
MAT 23:22 And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by
the one who sits on it.
MAT 23:23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin.
But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--jus-
tice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter,
without neglecting the former.
MAT 23:24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a
camel.
MAT 23:25 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside
they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
MAT 23:26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and
dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
MAT 23:27 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on
the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and
everything unclean.
MAT 23:28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as
righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wicked-
ness.
MAT 23:29 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves
of the righteous.
LUK 11:42 "Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of
your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect
justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter
without leaving the former undone.
LUK 11:43 "Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most impor-
tant seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.
Sadducees...
Was a Jewish party, opponent of the Pharisees. The members
were few in number but educated and usually wealthy. In distinction
from the Pharisees, they denied the resurrection (Matthew 22:23-33),
the existence of angels and spirits (Acts 23:8), and placed no
credence in the supernatural. They had members in the priesthood and
the Sanhedrin.
MAT 22:23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resur-
rection, came to him with a question.
MAT 22:24 "Teacher," they said, "Moses told us that if a man dies
without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have
children for him.
MAT 22:25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one
married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to
his brother.
MAT 22:26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother,
right on down to the seventh.
MAT 22:27 Finally, the woman died.
MAT 22:28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of
the seven, since all of them were married to her?"
MAT 22:29 Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know
the Scriptures or the power of God.
MAT 22:30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be
given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.
MAT 22:31 But about the resurrection of the dead--have you not read
what God said to you,
MAT 22:32 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living."
MAT 22:33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his
teaching.
ACT 23:8 (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that
there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge
them all.)
SCRIPTURE EXACTNESS...
LUK 4:16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on
the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And
he stood up to read.
LUK 4:17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Un-
rolling it, he found the place where it is written:
/================================== | |
LUK 4:18 "The Spirit of the | ISA 61:1 The Spirit of the |
Lord is on me, because he has | Sovereign LORD is on me, |
anointed me to preach good | because the LORD has anointed |
news to the poor. He has sent | me to preach good news to the |
me to proclaim freedom for the | poor. He has sent me to bind |
prisoners and recovery of | up the brokenhearted, to |
sight for the blind, to re- | proclaim freedom for the |
lease the oppressed, | captives and release from |
| darkness for the prisoners, |
| |
LUK 4:19 to proclaim the year | ISA 61:2 to proclaim the year |
of the Lord's favor." | of the LORD'S favor and the |
| day of vengeance of our God, |
| to comfort all who mourn, |
| |
\==================================/
LUK 4:20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attend-
ant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fas-
tened on him,
The passages that were just quoted above (Luke 4:16-20) are from the
Old Testament (Isaiah 61:1-2) and is an outstanding example of the
meticulous exactness of Scripture. Our Lord did not finish reading
the passage but stopped after the phrase, "the year of the Lord's
favor", which is still going on, and has been for over nineteen
hundred years. The end of the sentence is "and the day of vengeance
of our God"; Jesus did not read that because the day of God's ven-
geance has not yet come, but it may commence at any moment when the
Lord Jesus descends from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel and the trump of God (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
1TH 4:16 For the Lord himself 1TH 4:16 For the Lord himself
will come down from heaven, shall descend from heaven with
with a loud command, with the a shout, with the voice of the
voice of the archangel and archangel, and with the trump
with the trumpet call of God, of God: and the dead in Christ
and the dead in Christ will shall rise first: (KJV)
rise first.
SEPARATION...
2CO 6:17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the
Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."
2CO 6:14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do
righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can
light have with darkness?
"Be separate" (2 Corinthians 6:17) is an exhortation from
Paul to all believers. In verse 14 Paul instructs believers not to
be "yoked together" with unbelievers, which means in marriage;
membership in lodges, clubs, etc., which are part Christian and part
non-Christian; This can apply even to membership in some churches,
many of which have become hopelessly alienated from God and His
truth in their testimony.
Then there is separation from the world, meaning its system, in its
evils, sins, lusts, pleasures, and the separation from false teach-
ing (2 John 1:9-11).
2JO 1:9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching
of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has
both the Father and the Son.
2JO 1:10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching,
do not take him into your house or welcome him.
2JO 1:11 Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.
That separation is not meant to be from "contact" with evil in the
world or the Church, but from participation in it, and acceptance of
it as shown from 1 Corinthians 5:9-11.
1CO 5:9 I have written you in my letter not to associate with
sexually immoral people--
1CO 5:10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immor-
al, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you
would have to leave this world.
1CO 5:11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with
anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or
greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With
such a man do not even eat.
Christ was "holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners" (Hebrews
7:26), yet in constant contact with them in the interest of their
salvation, never to be understood by this world's hypocrites (Luke
7:34-39).
HEB 7:26 Such a high priest meets our need--one who is holy, blame-
less, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.
LUK 7:34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say,
'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and
"sinners."'
LUK 7:35 But wisdom is proved right by all her children."
LUK 7:36 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with
him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table.
LUK 7:37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town
learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought
an alabaster jar of perfume,
LUK 7:38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began
to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair,
kissed them and poured perfume on them.
LUK 7:39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to
himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching
him and what kind of woman she is--that she is a sinner."
Acceptance of the evils of this world system is the loss of unbroken
communion and fellowship with God, and service, all three of which
separation holds intact (2 Corinthians 6:17-18).
2CO 6:17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the
Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."
2CO 6:18 "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and
daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
JOH 15:18 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me
first.
JOH 15:19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its
own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you
out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
JOH 15:20 Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater
than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you
also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.
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