The purpose of this book is to support the preaching of the true gospel and the Ezekiel warning to Israel and the world.  My purpose is to do this by showing WHY it is important that God's Church preach the gospel to the public and by suggesting things that ministers and members in the Church can do to be more effective in their efforts to preach to the public.

The second half of this book is primarily written for those who have a Church of God background and are generally familiar with the teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong, who founded the Radio Church of God, which was later renamed Worldwide Church of God.  Knowledge of Mr. Armstrong's teachings is assumed in chapters four through seven.  For those readers not familiar with those teachings, I am writing this chapter.

The purpose of this chapter is to show, from the Bible, what the true gospel is, and in doing so to give an overview of the doctrines taught by the Worldwide Church of God when Mr. Armstrong was alive.

I can start by stating simply that the true gospel is the good news of the Kingdom of God which Christ will establish on the earth as a literal world-ruling government at His second coming, and it includes everything in the Bible that relates to that kingdom.  It includes everything about Jesus Christ because He is the king of that kingdom.  It includes everything about salvation, which enables us to enter that kingdom, including the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for our sins so we may be forgiven, and including the resurrection of Christ which enables Him to continue His saving work as our high priest and head of His church.  It also includes God's law of love as a way of life that will be practiced in the Kingdom of God and which we should be learning to practice now.

I will explain the details of all these things and more in the rest of this chapter.

This chapter is not intended to be a thorough explanation and complete proof of the gospel and all of Mr. Armstrong's teachings, but an introduction.  I do not try to cover all of his teachings, but just what I consider to be some of the major points.  I will show supporting scriptures, but I am not trying to prove these doctrines by quoting all the scriptures that pertain to these doctrines, nor do I try to explain all the details of these doctrines.  For more details I refer the reader to Mr. Armstrong's writings, particularly his book, Mystery of the Ages, which he wrote near the end of his life, but also many of his other books, booklets, and articles, such as The Incredible Human Potential, Which Day is the Christian Sabbath?, The Wonderful World Tomorrow - What It Will Be Like, Why Were You Born?, God's Holy Days or Pagan Holidays - Which?, Did God Create a Devil?, the Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong, and many other books, booklets, and articles too numerous to mention.  These writings explain the teachings of Mr. Armstrong far better and more thoroughly than I do in this chapter, and this chapter is not intended as a replacement for Mr. Armstrong's writings.

Mr. Armstrong was taught traditional Christian teachings and doctrines when he was growing up.  He was raised in a traditional background.  Yet his teachings are very different from the teachings of traditional mainstream Christian churches.  Why is that?

Although Mr. Armstrong did not have a strong religious interest as he was growing up, he took for granted that Christian churches got their teaching and beliefs from the Bible.  But when he was a young man, he was challenged on the issue of the Sabbath day.  He had always assumed that the Bible taught that Christians should observe Sunday as the day for rest and worshipping God in church services.  He believed this because he knew that this is what mainstream Christian churches taught, and he assumed they got their beliefs from the Bible.  But when someone (his wife) challenged him on this, he set out to prove, from the Bible, that Sunday was "the Lord's day".  At the same time, someone (not his wife) challenged him on his belief in the existence of God and on the theory of evolution.  Mr. Armstrong did not believe in evolution, so at the same time that he was researching the Sunday vs. Sabbath issue he also researched the "creation vs. evolution" issue.

Mr. Armstrong began a night and day study of both the Bible and the theory of evolution that lasted about six months.  He had training and experience in business and journalism, and he had a logical, analytical mind.  But most importantly, he was sincere.  Although he had a definite opinion on both of the issues he was studying, he was honest enough with himself and others to approach the research with an open mind and not allow his personal opinions and preferences to influence his conclusion.  He was honest enough to admit he was wrong, even when it was painful, humiliating, and embarrassing.  And in the case of the Sunday vs. Sabbath issue, he proved that, contrary to the teachings of most churches, the seventh day Sabbath, from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, is the real Christian Sabbath.  This was not what he previously believed, nor was it what he wanted to believe.  But he was willing to accept the truth and admit he was wrong.  From that time on, he began to keep the Sabbath and to continue his research into the Bible.  And because he was willing to believe the Bible first, over and above his own prior beliefs, his own preferences and opinions, and the beliefs of traditional Christian churches, he discovered many truths that traditional mainstream Christianity does not have.

It seems appropriate to start with the doctrine Mr. Armstrong studied first, that is, which day is the Christian Sabbath.

Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for mankind.  "And He said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath' " (Mark 2:27-28).  The account of when the Sabbath was made is given in Genesis.  After renewing the face of the earth in six days, God created the Sabbath by resting.  "Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.  And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.  Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made" (Genesis 2:1-3).

Later, Abram was born, whose name was changed to Abraham, and God called him and promised to make him into a great nation (Genesis 12:1-4, Genesis 17:1-5).  Jacob was the son of Isaac, who was the son of Abraham, and Jacob's name was changed to Israel (Genesis 32:28).  In time, the children of Israel multiplied in the land of Egypt until they became a nation, and when God brought them out of Egypt to bring them into the promised land, he told them they would be a special nation and a special treasure to Him.  See Exodus chapters 1, 3, 6, and 19.  "And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, 'Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself.  Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.  And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."  These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel' " (Exodus 19:3-6). 

God intended the nation of Israel to obey God's laws, and by obeying God's laws and way of life to be a positive example for all other nations on the earth.  God would bless Israel for obedience, and the rest of the world would learn from Israel's example that obedience to God's laws brings happiness and prosperity.  "Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess.  Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people' " (Deuteronomy 4:5-6).  See also Deuteronomy 7:12-15, 8:11-19, 11:13-32, 26:16-19, and Deuteronomy chapters 27 and 28 for the blessings that would result from obedience and the curses that would result from disobedience.  Especially note Deuteronomy 11:26-28:  "Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known."

God gave Israel his laws.  The ten commandments are the ten main points of God's law and are recorded in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:1-22.  Although the individual commandments listed in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 are not individually numbered, Deuteronomy 4:13 and Exodus 34:28 show that the number of commandments was ten.  The importance of this will be shown later.

Although the ten commandments are not listed in the Bible before the book of Exodus, it is evident that God's law existed before that time, because God specifically stated that Abraham obeyed God's laws.  "And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws" (Genesis 26:4-5).

Among the ten commandments is the commandment to rest on the Sabbath day.  "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.  In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.  Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it" (Exodus 20:8-11).  Notice that in this command, God directly ties it in with the creation of the Sabbath day in Genesis.  Notice the parallel statements:

            Genesis:  "Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it"

            Exodus:   "Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."

This confirms that the Sabbath day that God commanded Israel to observe by resting is the same Sabbath day God created in Genesis immediately after He created the first man, Adam, on the sixth day.  This answers the question of when God created the Sabbath.  Jesus said the Sabbath was created for man.  Genesis and Exodus show that God created the Sabbath when He created man.  This is very consistent.

God was not so tired or exhausted by the first six days of creation that He needed to rest.  But by resting on the seventh day of creation, God created the Sabbath day for mankind by setting an example for mankind to follow.

It is clear that observing the Sabbath is included in the ten commandments.  Are the ten commandments still in force for Christians today?  Yes they are.  Notice James 2:10-11, "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.  For He who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.'  Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law." This is written in the New Testament, after Jesus Christ died for our sins and was resurrected and ascended into heaven.  It is written by James, one of the "pillars" of the first century Church mentioned by the apostle Paul (Galatians 2:9).  James says that if someone breaks one point of God's law, he is guilty of all.  What "points" of God's law is James talking about?  It is clear that he is talking about the ten commandments, with each commandment being a "point" of God's law, for James uses two of the ten commandments as examples, calling them "points".  Why is it true that if a person breaks one of these commandments that he has become guilty of breaking "all"?  Because, as James points out, the same God who commanded we keep one point also commanded we keep all of them.  Therefore the ten commandments are still in force today.

This is consistent with what Jesus taught His disciples in the sermon on the mount when He said, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.  I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.  For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.  Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:17-19).

There are no passages in the New Testament that teach that God's Sabbath day is done away, or that the ten commandments are no longer in force, or that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday.

Paul said, "Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good" (Romans 7:12).  Jesus said, in answer to the young man who asked Him how he may find eternal life, "keep the commandments".  When asked which, Jesus quoted a number of the ten commandments.  Here is the full passage: "Now behold, one came and said to Him, 'Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?'  So He said to him, 'Why do you call Me good?  No one is good but One, that is, God.  But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.' He said to Him, 'Which ones?'  Jesus said, ' "You shall not murder," "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "Honor your father and your mother," and, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" ' " (Matthew 19:16-19).  Jesus quoted a number of the ten commandments, plus the commandment to love one's neighbor as himself (Leviticus 19:18).  He quoted these commandments to point the man to the ten commandments and to the two great commandments (Matthew 22:35-40).  Why did He not quote all of the commandments?  Because apparently it was with the commandments relating to loving one's neighbor that the man had a problem.  Notice what the young man answered, and Jesus' reply in Matthew 19:20-22:  "The young man said to Him, 'All these things I have kept from my youth.  What do I still lack?'  Jesus said to him, 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.'  But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions."  Apparently, this man needed to have more love for his neighbor and for the poor and he had too much love for himself and his possessions.

The law of God expresses God's nature.  The way of life that God teaches and commands men to live is the way of life that God Himself practices.  God practices what He preaches.  God sent Jesus Christ to live a perfect life, obeying all the commandments of God, to set an example for us, that we should live as He lived.  It is a way of life that leads to everything right and good.

That way of life can be described with the one word, "love".  Love can be described as an outgoing concern for the welfare and happiness of others.  It can also be described with the one word, "give".

Mr. Armstrong often illustrated this by comparing the two possible ways of life, the "give" way and the "get" way.  The give way of life is the way of outgoing concern for others, the way of honesty, the way of helping, of serving, of cooperating.  It is the way that leads to peace, unity, and happiness.  It is also the way of truth.  This is the way that God practices and teaches.

The Bible teaches that God is love.  Notice 1 John 4:7-11, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."  Also, 1 John 4:16, "And we have known and believed the love that God has for us.  God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him."  God expresses this love by giving.  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).  Also, James 1:17, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."  See also Matthew 5:42, 43-48, 7:7-11.

The "give" way of life is the way that God lives.  But as Mr. Armstrong taught, the opposite way of life is the "get" way.  It is the way of trying to selfishly take from others and get more for the self.  It is the way of selfishness, hostile competition, vanity, greed, deception, and resentment towards others.  This is the way of life that Satan the devil lives.  Jesus said that Satan was a murderer from the beginning and the father of lies (John 8:44).  This is the way of life that leads to suffering, destruction, and death.

God's law is an expression of God's very nature.  It can be summed up in one word, love.  It is the way of life that God lives and commands and teaches men to live.  God's commandments teach us HOW to love.  According to the Bible, there is a direct connection between practicing love and keeping God's commandments.  Notice, "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.  For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.  And His commandments are not burdensome" (1 John 5:2-3).  Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15).

The two great commandments teach us how to love God and love other people.  Someone asked Jesus what the greatest commandment is.  "Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 22:37-40).  In answering, Jesus was quoting the Old Testament scriptures (Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18).  "The Law and the Prophets" is a reference to the Old Testament scriptures, which are composed of the "law" (the books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible), the "prophets" (books such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel as well as the other prophets), and the "writings" (such as Psalms).  Jesus is saying that the Old Testament scriptures are based on love towards God and love towards neighbor.

The two great commandments are further defined by the ten commandments.  The ten commandments fill in details about HOW to love God and love our neighbor.  The first four of the ten commandments teach us how to love God, and the last six teach us how to love our neighbor.  Then the whole rest of the Bible further teaches us how to practice the way of love and how to keep God's commandments in their practical application in our lives.

Jesus obeyed God's commandments and set an example for us in doing so.  "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love" (John 15:10).  "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.  Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.  If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them" (John 13:14-17).

The fact that Jesus kept God's law and commandments also means that Jesus did not sin, for sin is the transgression of the law.  1 John 3:4 says "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness".  The King James Version renders this verse "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law."  By defining God's law, God's commandments teach us what sin is.  Paul wrote, "What shall we say then?  Is the law sin?  Certainly not!  On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law.  For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, 'You shall not covet' " (Romans 7:7).  Jesus obeyed His Father's law.  Jesus had to live a sinless life so that when He died He would pay the penalty for the sins of mankind, not his own sins.  Jesus magnified the law, and taught us to keep the spiritual intent of the law, not just the letter of the law (Matthew 5:21-28, Isaiah 42:21).

The first four of the ten commandments teach us how to love God and the last six commandments teach us how to love our neighbor.  The Sabbath commandment is the fourth commandment.  This may come as a surprise to some Catholics who may read this, because many Catholics have been taught that the Sabbath commandment is the third commandment, and I will explain why this is later in this chapter. 

It takes faith for a person who has not been keeping the seventh day Sabbath to begin to keep it.  This is true about the Sabbath commandment in a way in which it is not true for the other commandments.  Why? 

Faith is believing God.  It means believing what God says, not just believing that God exists.  Even the demons believe that God exists (James 2:19), but they do not believe in the way of life that God teaches.  I do not think the demons believe what Jesus said when Jesus said that it is better ("more blessed") to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).  Abraham became what some call the "father of the faithful" when He believed God's promises (Romans 4:3, James 2:23, Genesis 15:4-6).  Note especially Romans 4:16-22:  "Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, 'I have made you a father of many nations') in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, 'So shall your descendants be.'  And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.  He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.  And therefore 'it was accounted to him for righteousness' ".

Why does it take faith to keep the Sabbath for someone who was not raised in a Sabbath tradition?  Because it requires that person to believe what God says.  This is not true to the same extent for the other nine commandments because often men have been able to discern the moral principles behind the other commandments without believing God or the Bible.  For example, most societies all over the world are able to figure out that it is wrong to steal, murder, and commit adultery, and some people may even able to understand that it is wrong to worship idols or to use God's name disrespectfully.  But human reason cannot determine, apart from the revelation from God, that we should rest one day out of seven, and WHICH day to rest on.  Even societies that may rest one day each week often do not rest on the seventh day, but some other day of the week.  But God tells us to rest on the SEVENTH day.  God counts days from sunset to sunset (Leviticus 23:32), so God's Sabbath is from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.

It can require faith to obey the Sabbath commandment because keeping it can involve sacrifice.  It can make one seem different from other people.  It can sometimes involve financial sacrifice and some people have lost their jobs because of their obedience to the Sabbath commandment.

But there are also benefits that arise from keeping the Sabbath.  But generally, one does not fully learn about those benefits until one begins to keep the Sabbath, and it takes faith to begin to keep it.

The Sabbath day provides much needed rest for man by providing one day a week to rest from his labors.  God did not intend for a person to work non-stop without rest seven days a week.  But there are many other benefits.  It is a time for people to draw closer to God in prayer, Bible study, thinking about God and His greatness, and assembling together for instruction and worship with others who also fear God.  The Sabbath is not a time for personal entertainment and recreation, such as watching football games, playing cards, and watching movies.  Notice Isaiah 58:13-14: "If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the Lord honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words, Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.  The mouth of the Lord has spoken."  The Sabbath is a day for a man or woman to build a closer relationship with God.  It is part of properly keeping the greatest commandment, to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:36-40).

The weekly Sabbath also helps picture and symbolize God's plan for mankind.  When Adam chose to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and thus disobeyed God, he cut himself off from the kind of relationship he could have had with God if he had obeyed.  Adam and Eve were driven out from the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:22-24).  From that point on, mankind in general has refused to obey God and has chosen instead to rule himself, living his own way, deciding for himself right and wrong.  Mr. Armstrong explained that when Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he was taking to himself the prerogative of deciding what is good and evil, what is right and wrong, and mankind has followed that way ever since.  Instead of allowing God to set moral standards men are to live by and looking to God's word to see what God says is right and wrong, each person decides for himself or herself what is right or wrong, and then lives according to his or her own standards, not God's. 

But man's ways are not God's ways.  " 'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,' says the Lord.  'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts' " (Isaiah 55:8-9).  "There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death" (Proverbs 14:12, also see Proverbs 16:25).  It is God who has the right to decide what is right and wrong, what is sin and what is not sin.  Man can only decide WHETHER to sin.  But Adam and Eve rejected God's rule and chose to decide for themselves, under Satan's influence, their own standards of belief and behavior.  They chose to "go their own way", independent of God.  And by their choice, they rejected God's government over them.  And since all mankind has come from Adam and Eve, by making the decision to reject God's government over them, they made that decision not only for themselves, but for their children and the whole human race which came from them, and all mankind has been suffering the consequences ever since. 

By following Satan, Adam and Eve rejected God's rule over them.  Man's nature, under Satan's influence, has become evil.  Note the following scriptures.  "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5).  "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?  I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings" (Jeremiah 17:9-10).  In the sermon on the mount, Jesus said, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7:11).  Notice that it is to His own disciples that Jesus said, "you...being evil".  This shows that the evil and wickedness of man's heart is not just the characteristic of a few wicked men, but mankind in general.  "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,..." (Romans 3:23).  Just as Satan deceived Eve about the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, so Satan deceives the whole world into following the wrong way of life (Revelation 12:9).

God intends that the human race learn a lesson from experience that man's ways, apart from God's rule, lead to suffering, destruction, and death.  Mankind is not able to rightly rule itself.  "O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps" (Jeremiah 10:23).  Man needs the rule and government of God over him for his own good and welfare.  This is true individually as well as for the whole human race.  God's laws define the way that leads to life and happiness, but men do not obey those laws because they do not believe what God says.  So God is allowing man to go his own way, make his own decisions, decide for himself what he thinks is right and wrong, create his own moral standards for belief and behavior, and reap the painful consequences of rejecting God's rule and laws.  The result has been war, sickness, suffering, and death from the time of Adam until now.  And Jesus prophesied that by the time of the end conditions would be so bad that unless He returned the whole human race would bring destruction upon itself.  "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.  And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened" (Matthew 24:21-22).

But then, at the time of the end, Jesus Christ will return to the earth in power to establish the Kingdom of God ruling over the nations on the earth, and God's rule will not only save man from destroying himself, but will bring an unprecedented period of peace, prosperity, and happiness to the earth.  As God has allowed man to rule himself for six thousand years, under Satan's influence whose ways Adam and Eve chose, so God will establish a period of one thousand years when Christ will rule the earth, teach all mankind God's law, and bring peace, happiness, and prosperity to mankind.  "And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them.  Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands.  And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years" (Revelation 20:4).  "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord.  For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more" (Jeremiah 31:33-34).  "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9).

Mankind is not learning the lesson now, but man is writing the lesson in painful history, that man's ways apart from God lead to suffering and death.  But when God establishes Christ's rule over the earth and at last brings peace and happiness to mankind, mankind will be able to compare the fruits of his own rule with the fruits of God's rule, and then man will begin to learn that God's ways and laws are for man's good and are the true way to happiness.

The Sabbath pictures the millennial rule of Christ.  Just as the weekly Sabbath is the last day of a seven day week, so the one thousand year rule of Christ over the earth will be the last one thousand years of a seven thousand year period from the time of Adam.  Properly kept, the weekly Sabbath can be a day of delight, a day of rest, and a day of drawing closer to God, just as the millennial reign of Christ will be a day when all mankind learns the ways of God and enjoys peace and happiness.

The Sabbath commandment is also a test commandment.  As I mentioned before, men can often figure out on their own that they should not murder, steal, commit adultery, and that they should honor their mother and father, and some have even been able to learn that it is wrong to worship an idol.  But a man or woman must trust and believe God in order to begin keeping the Sabbath day according to God's word.  This is why it is a test commandment.  It tests man's belief and trust in God and in His word.  God actually used the Sabbath to test ancient Israel in the wilderness after He brought them out of Egypt.  "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you.  And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not.  And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily' " (Exodus 16:4-5).  Notice that God says He will TEST Israel.  "And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one.  And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.  Then he said to them, 'This is what the Lord has said: "Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord.  Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning." ' So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it.  Then Moses said, 'Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field.  Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.'  Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none.  And the Lord said to Moses, 'How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?  See!  For the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days.  Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.'  So the people rested on the seventh day" (Exodus 16:22-30).  Notice that the Sabbath existed BEFORE the ten commandments were given as recorded in Exodus 20, and BEFORE the old covenant was made with Israel as recorded in Exodus 24:1-8.

I will mention one more purpose of the Sabbath, and that is that it is a special SIGN between God and His people.  A sign identifies.  The Sabbath sign identifies to God's people who the true God is, and it identifies to God who his people are.  Notice Exodus 31:12-17: "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: "Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.  You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you.  Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.  Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord.  Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.  Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.  It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed" ' ".  It is a sign that identifies God because it points to the day that God rested after His work of creation, and thus identifies the true God as the Creator.  Notice Ezekiel 20:18-20:  "But I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols.  I am the Lord your God: Walk in My statutes, keep My judgments, and do them; hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.' "  Notice that God says, "that you may know I am the Lord your God."  This shows that the Sabbath day, properly kept, will help the Sabbath-keeper know who the true God is.  It also identifies to God those who are willing to obey what he says, so the sign works both ways.

It is also good to point out that Sunday is not God's Sabbath and does not point to the true God of creation.  It is the seventh day of the week, not the first, that points to the day God rested from the six days of creation, and it is the seventh day of the seven day week that points to the future millennial rule of Christ for one thousand years following six thousand years of man's rule over himself.

Some people think that the Church changed the Sabbath from the last day of the week to the first day of the week in the first century.  Many people think this occurred because of the traditional belief of many churches today that Jesus Christ died on a Friday and was resurrected on a Sunday morning.  But God's true Church never tried to change the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day of the week, and the Bible indicates that the Friday-crucifixion, Sunday-resurrection tradition cannot be true.

Jesus said he would be in the grave for three days and three nights.  He further indicated that this would be the sign that He was the Messiah.  Notice these scriptures.  "But He answered and said to them, 'An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.  For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth' " (Matthew 12:39-40).  "Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah.  And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights" (Jonah 1:17).  From Friday night to Sunday morning would be one day and two nights, so that tradition cannot be true.

Many people are confused about this when they read scriptures that indicate that Jesus was buried right before the beginning of a Sabbath, such as the following:  "Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.  Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time.  So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.  Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen.  And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb" (Mark 15:42-46).  Many assume that the Sabbath referred to above is the weekly Sabbath, that is, the seventh day of the week.  But there are annual Sabbaths also, days of commanded rest that are called "Sabbath" that fall on particular dates in the Hebrew calendar and can fall on any day of the week.  I don't want to try to cover all the details of the proof of the timing of events that occurred when Jesus was crucified -- I will refer the reader to Mr. Armstrong's booklet, Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath?, and many of his other writings for more details -- but I will explain a few points.

There are seven annual Sabbaths given by God, and six of them fall on particular days of particular months in the Hebrew calendar (all except Pentecost).  These are days of rest and assembly, just as the weekly Sabbath is a day of rest and assembly, and they are called "Sabbaths".  Information about these days can be found in chapter 23 of Leviticus.  These days are called "holy days", "Sabbaths", and except for Atonement they are called "feast days".  Notice, for example, that the Day of Atonement, an annual holy day, is called a Sabbath in Leviticus 23:32: "It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath." Also, Leviticus 23:24: "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.' " More information can be found about these days in Deuteronomy chapter 16 and many other places, and I will review these days in detail, and their meaning, in the next section.

Was there an annual Sabbath day around the time of the crucifixion that could fall on a weekday?  Yes.  There is an annual Sabbath that follows the day of Passover.  The Passover day, which is not a Sabbath, but is the day that God commanded ancient Israel to observe by eating the lamb they had slaughtered, is a memorial of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  The Passover lamb represents Jesus Christ.  "Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened.  For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us" (1 Corinthians 5:7).  Here, Christ is called "our Passover", and elsewhere, He is called "the Lamb" as in John 1:29: "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, 'Behold!  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world' ".  The sacrifice of the lamb in ancient Israel represented the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for the sins of mankind.  And in fulfillment of that day, Jesus died on Passover day.  Remember, as God counts days, they begin and end at sunset.  As God counts days, the day of Passover began at sunset the evening that Jesus ate the Passover meal with His disciples.  The night that Jesus ate the Passover with His disciples was same day therefore that he was crucified and died.  See Matthew chapters 26 and 27, Mark chapters 14 and 15, Luke chapters 22 and 23, and John chapters 13 through 19.  What was the annual holy day, a Sabbath, that follows Passover?  The First Day of Unleavened Bread.  Notice Leviticus 23:5-7: "On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover.  And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.  On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it."

It was the First Day of Unleavened Bread, an annual Sabbath, not the weekly Sabbath, that was the Sabbath that immediately followed the crucifixion of Christ.  An annual Sabbath can fall on any day of the week.  Which day of the week did this day fall on when Jesus was crucified? 

Jesus said He would be in the grave for three days and three nights, that is, 72 hours.  He died and was buried in the afternoon, before sunset, on Passover day (Matthew 27:45-60, Mark 15:33-46, Luke 23:44-54, John 19:31-42).  His resurrection would then also be in the afternoon, 72 hours later, in order for Him to be in the grave for three days and three nights as the sign of the prophet Jonah.  Keeping in mind that His resurrection would be in the afternoon shortly before sunset, which day of the week was He resurrected?

When Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb as the first day of the week began to dawn, Jesus Christ had already been resurrected, and the angel told the women that He was going before them into Galilee.  Notice Matthew 28:1-7: "Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.  And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.  His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.  And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.  But the angel answered and said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.  He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.  Come, see the place where the Lord lay.  And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him.  Behold, I have told you.' " See also Mark 16:1-7, Luke 24:1-7, and John 20:1-2.

Since Jesus was already resurrected when the women went to the grave early Sunday morning, and if Jesus was to be resurrected three days and nights, 72 hours, after a late afternoon burial, then He must have been resurrected no later than late Sabbath afternoon, the seventh day of the week, not the first.  Three days prior to this would be Wednesday afternoon, and the First Day of Unleavened Bread, an annual Sabbath, would be on a Thursday that year.

Some will notice Mark 16:9, "Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons."  This appears to say that Christ rose on the first day of the week.  If this were true, it would contradict the other verses we have covered, and the Bible cannot contradict itself.  What is the explanation? 

There are two possible explanations.  One, a footnote in my Bible indicates that verses 9 through 20 are bracketed in some manuscripts as not in the original text and some manuscripts do not contain them at all.  This indicates to me at least the possibility that these verses were not in the original inspired text and were added later, as far as I can tell.  Secondly, the original inspired Greek text did not have punctuation marks, so translators supply the comma that appears after the word "week" in most translations.  Without the comma, or with the comma after "rose", the phrase "on the first day of the week" can apply to when Christ appeared to Mary Magdalene.  For example, if the comma was placed after "rose", the verse would read, "Now when He rose, early on the first day of the week He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons."  The translators in their decisions about where to place punctuation can be influenced by their own religious beliefs just like anyone else and can make mistakes accordingly.  I believe that if these verses are truly part of the original inspired text, then the comma should go after "rose", and the first day of the week is day when Christ appeared to Mary Magdalene, not the day when He was resurrected.  Otherwise, the Bible is contradicting itself.

Some people think that in the controversies with the Pharisees, Jesus taught against the Sabbath or taught that the Sabbath was done away.   That is not true.   Jesus kept His Father's commandments (John 15:10).  Jesus attended the synagogue on the Sabbath day as His custom was (Luke 4:16).  But the Pharisees added many requirements and traditions to Sabbath observance, which God never intended, and made the Sabbath a burden rather than a day of delight.  Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and taught that it is lawful to heal and to do good on the Sabbath (Luke 14:1-6, Matthew 12:9-13, Luke 13:10-16, Luke 6:6-10).

Besides the weekly Sabbath, God gave annual feasts and holy days or Sabbaths to Israel, and these days are still in effect for the Church today.  When Mr. Armstrong was researching the Sabbath question, he was forced to admit that the weekly Sabbath was still in effect.  But in the course of his research, he also learned that the annual Sabbaths are still in effect also.  This is explained in Mr. Armstrong's autobiography, and in the booklet, God's Holy Days or Pagan Holidays - Which?  When Mr. Armstrong began to attend with the Church of God Seventh Day, he found that most of them did not keep the annual Sabbaths, but only the weekly Sabbaths.  Mr. Armstrong did not know WHY God commanded these days to be kept, only that God DID command them.  So Mr. Armstrong and his wife kept these days by themselves.  It was not until years later that Mr. Armstrong began to understand, through the Bible, why God commanded the annual holy days and what they represented.  This is an outstanding illustration of the principle given in Psalm 111:10: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments."  God gives more understanding of His Word to those who believe and obey what He says. 

I have already touched on the fact that the weekly seventh-day Sabbath helps Christians who keep it properly to understand the coming millennial reign of Christ on the earth.  But the annual Sabbaths and feasts of God help to reveal and illustrate much more detail about God's overall plan for mankind.

In this section I want to give a brief overview and introduction to what the annual feasts and holy days of God are, and I want to briefly explain what they represent and help to illustrate about God's plan and purpose for mankind.  In the process, I will also be covering what that plan is.  Although I am giving a brief overview, the reader can learn more from the booklet, God's Holy Days or Pagan Holidays - Which? and Mr. Armstrong's books, Mystery of the Ages and The Wonderful World Tomorrow - What It Will Be Like.

The first day which God commands to be observed is Passover.  Passover is not a Sabbath.  Work is permitted.  Like all days, it begins and ends at sunset.  It is to be kept on the 14th day of the first month in the Hebrew calendar.  You can read the details of the institution of Passover in Exodus chapter 12.  Every household of Israel in Egypt was told to kill a lamb just after sunset when the 14th day had just begun, but before it was completely dark.  They were to splatter the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their house, roast the lamb, and eat it in their house and remain indoors until morning.  Around midnight God killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, but God "passed over" any house that had the blood on the doorposts and did not kill the firstborn in that house.  For ancient Israel, this was a lesson that God protected them and saved them from the plague with which He plagued the Egyptians.  But for Christians today, there is a deeper meaning.

The symbolism with Jesus Christ is unmistakable.  Jesus is called "the Lamb of God" (John 1:29) and "our Passover" (1 Corinthians 5:7).  Revelation 7:14 and 12:11 makes reference to the "blood of the Lamb" in reference to the blood of Jesus Christ.  Paul wrote that we are justified with God by the blood of Jesus Christ (Romans 5:9). 

The penalty of sin is death.  "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23, KJV).  All have sinned, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23, KJV).  Therefore, all mankind has fallen under the death penalty.  God the Father sent Jesus Christ to live a sinless life and die to pay the penalty for our sins in our place so that the death penalty could be removed and we can be forgiven of our past sins.  "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:5-6, KJV).  I think traditional Christianity understands this particular point of God's plan pretty well.  This is not something new that Mr. Armstrong discovered.

When Jesus kept the Passover with His disciples before He died, He made a change in the Passover ritual for the Church, but not the date that Passover should be kept.  Jesus instituted the symbols of the bread, to represent His body which was about to be scourged and broken, and the wine, to represent His blood which was about to be shed (Matthew 26:26-28).  He also instituted a foot washing ceremony, which most churches today do not observe, to teach the lesson of humility and service to others (John 13:2-17).  It is the shed blood of Christ that pays the death penalty in our stead so we can be forgiven and so we do not have to die the second death in the lake of fire (Matthew 26:28, Isaiah 53:4-12, Hebrews 9:11-15, 1 John 1:7-9, Colossians 1:19-22).  It is the suffering that He endured and His broken and scourged body that enables us to be healed physically and spiritually (Isaiah 53:5, Matthew 8:16-17, 1 Peter 2:21-24, Psalm 103:2-3, Matthew 9:1-7, Mark 2:5-12, Luke 5:20-24, James 5:14-17).

The penalty for our sins is death, that is, the second death in the lake of fire.  Christ paid that penalty with His own death, His blood being shed for us, so we do not have to die in the lake of fire, a permanent death from which there will be no resurrection.  This paves the way for God to give us the gift of eternal life so we can live forever.  However, death is not the only penalty for our sins.  We also suffer because of our sins.  When we sin, our character is damaged and our minds are corrupted.  As Herbert W. Armstrong taught in The Incredible Human Potential, when Adam and Eve first sinned, something happened to their minds.  They began to have an attitude of rebellion against God.  Their minds became sinful, wicked, perverted, hostile against God, evil, as the heart of man is described by Jeremiah, Paul, and Jesus Christ (Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 8:7, Matthew 7:11, Luke 18:19).  Sin leads to more sin, which leads to the habit of sin, and a sinful character and nature.  And sin causes suffering.  Sin is the violation of God's perfect law, and God's law when obeyed leads to happiness and everything good.  The violation of God's law leads to unhappiness, suffering, and death.  So in addition to death, suffering is a penalty of sin, and sin leads to an evil sinful mind and nature leading to more sin and more suffering.  We become trapped in a vicious cycle of sin leading to more sin and suffering.

A comparison with the laws of health can help illustrate this.  God designed and put into motion physical laws regulating health.  When we violate those laws by abusing our bodies and not taking care of our health, sickness or injury results.  This is a type and analogy of how violating God's spiritual law by sinning leads to a damaged character and evil nature, a nature that leads to more sin and more suffering.  And the history of mankind with its violence, crime, war, broken homes, poverty, and sickness shows the consequences of violating God's laws.

But Jesus not only paid the death penalty in our place, He also suffered for us, paying the penalty of suffering in our place for our violation of God's physical and spiritual laws.  This paves the way for God to remove the penalty from us by healing our diseases and cleaning up our character, and replacing our evil nature leading to sin and suffering with His perfect, righteous character leading to happiness and everything good. 

It would not do us much good if God removed the death penalty and gave us eternal life, but left us with our evil, sinning nature.  If He did that, we would live forever in a sinful state, sinning and cause grief and suffering for ourselves and those around us for all eternity.  Living forever only has positive value for us if the eternal life we have is a happy one.  So God needs to clean up our character and replace our evil nature with His righteous nature for our salvation to be complete.  How this is done is illustrated by the rest of the holy days and will be described in the next sections in this chapter.

Isaiah 53:5-6 shows that we are healed by the stripes Christ suffered when He was scourged (Matthew 27:26).  This certainly applies to physical healing, and James 5:14-16 gives instructions for being healed by God of our physical sicknesses.  And when we trust God for physical healing, we must also trust God to heal us at the time and in the manner He chooses, and some are not healed until the resurrection.  Miraculous healing of physical diseases was a major part of Jesus Christ's ministry, and this illustrates God's mind and shows His love and that it is His will to heal us.  But I also believe that Isaiah 53:5-6 in principle applies to spiritual healing and opens the way for God to heal and clean up our minds and character.  The actual process by which this is done includes our repentance (illustrated by the days of unleavened bread) and God's gift to us of the Holy Spirit (illustrated by the day of Pentecost) described in the next sections.

The effect of cleaning up our character so we can live righteously in God's kingdom is to remove the penalty of suffering we have brought on ourselves by our sins, because it is our sinful nature that leads to sin which causes the suffering. Though we still suffer trials in this life, our suffering will end in the Kingdom of God when our salvation is complete (Revelation 21:4).

This is the meaning of the sacrifice of Christ, represented by the Passover symbols of the unleavened bread and wine.  The wine represents Christ's shed blood and His death which pays the death penalty for our sins in our stead so we do not have to die the second death.  The unleavened bread represents Christ's body and the suffering He endured in the flesh so we can be healed both physically and spiritually.

The Church of God observes Passover once a year the evening after sunset which begins the 14th day of the first month of the Hebrew calendar, the same day Jesus observed the Passover with His disciples.  We observe it by assembling for services, partaking of the symbols of wine and unleavened bread, and participating in a foot washing service.

Immediately after Passover day are the seven days of unleavened bread.  The first day and the last day of the seven (the seventh day) are holy days, Sabbaths, days of rest and assembly.  The instructions for these days are given in Exodus 12:14-20, and Exodus 13:3-10, as well as various other places.  During these days, only unleavened bread is to be eaten, and nothing with leavening is to be eaten or even kept in the home.  For ancient Israel, this represented leaving Egypt in haste because they had no time to prepare leavened bread.  But like Passover, these days are still in effect today for God's Church, and like Passover, they have deep meaning beyond the limited understanding given to ancient Israel.

What does leavened or unleavened bread represent in the New Testament?  In the context of the time of Passover and the days of unleavened bread, Paul used leavening to represent sin, and unleavened bread to represent righteousness.  Notice what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5:6-8:  "Your glorying is not good.  Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened.  For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."  Here Paul likens leavening to malice and wickedness, but likens unleavened bread to sincerity and truth.  He also says, "let us keep the feast." What feast is he talking about?  The context indicates he is talking about the Feast of Unleavened Bread that God gave Israel at the time of the Exodus.  This shows that the days of unleavened bread were being kept by Paul and the New Testament Church of God.  And since Paul was primarily an apostle to the gentiles (Romans 15:15-16, Galatians 2:7-9), this indicates that Paul understood that these days were not just for the Jews but were for gentile Christians as well.

What lessons can we learn from the days of unleavened bread?  Jesus Christ was sacrificed for us so we can be forgiven, and this is pictured by Passover.  But we also have our part to perform.  We must repent and strive to put sin out of our lives.  Christ paid the penalty for our sins so our sins can be forgiven, but that does not give us permission to continue sinning.  We have to repent.  After the disciples received the Holy Spirit, when Peter spoke to the crowd, he told them to repent.  "Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?'  Then Peter said to them, 'Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call' " (Acts 2:37-39).  Paul wrote, "do not sin" (1 Corinthians 15:34).

Keeping the days of unleavened bread represents and helps to teach us our part in God's plan, that we have to repent and strive to put sin out of our lives.  We avoid leavening for seven days to learn that we need to avoid sin in our lives, and we eat unleavened bread for seven days to help learn the lesson that we need to put the righteousness of Jesus Christ into our lives.  We need to study His teachings, obey His commands, and follow His examples.

The Bible commands that men repent.  What do we need to repent of?  We need to repent of sin, but we also need to repent of our own sinful nature and be willing to let God clean up our character and give us a new nature based on God's righteousness, not our own.  We need to repent of the entire direction of our lives and be willing to begin to go in a new direction.  We have to be willing to give our lives to God in one hundred percent obedience and service for the rest of our lives.  We have to be willing to love God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves.  This love is more than just an emotion, though it may have an emotional quality, but it is a strong commitment of the will.  Love towards God must include the submitting of the human will to God's will, as Jesus did, setting an example for us.  We have to be willing to strive to live by every word of God.

The writer of Hebrews says that repentance from dead works is one of the elementary principles we need to understand (Hebrews 6:1).  We need to repent of sin, but to do this, we need to know what sin is.  Many people think that sin is doing what they think is wrong.  They think that sin is whatever violates their conscience.  This is not true.  Sin is not the violation of our conscience, it is the violation of God's law.  1 John 3:4 states, "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness."  In the King James Version this reads, "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law."  It is the law of God that defines sin, not our conscience.  Paul gives an example.  In Romans 7:7 he says, "What shall we say then?  Is the law sin?  Certainly not!  On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law.  For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, 'You shall not covet.' " It is the commandment against coveting that taught Paul that it was a sin to covet, because God's law and commandments DEFINE right and wrong.  That is why sin is the transgression of the law of God.

Many people think that whatever a person does, it is not a sin if they don't think it is wrong.  That is not true.  A person can be sinning against God and not even know it.  Notice what Jesus said about those who sinned but did not think they were doing anything wrong.  "And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.  But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few.  For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more" (Luke 12:47-48).  Notice that Jesus did not say that those who did not know their master's will were free from guilt and would not be beaten at all.  He said their guilt was less in comparison with the person who knew God's will and knew what he was doing was wrong, and therefore their punishment would be lighter, nevertheless, this shows that there is guilt, and punishment, for the person who violates God's law even if that person does not know it, and therefore the violation of God's law is sin.

Mankind has taken the path of each person deciding for himself or herself what is right or wrong instead of recognizing that it is God only who had the prerogative to decide right from wrong, sin from righteousness.  Repentance involves acknowledging that God defines sin, and we have to look to God and His Word the Bible, and to God's law and commandments to know what is right and wrong, and then strive to live the right way according to God's will and instructions.

Repentance includes a lifelong commitment to turn from the direction of pleasing the self to the direction of loving God with all our being and loving our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40).  It is a new way of life based on God's law of love.  It requires striving to live, not only according to the letter of God's law, but the spiritual intent of God's law as well.  Notice the examples Jesus gave about the requirement to obey the spirit of the law as well as the letter.  "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire" (Matthew 5:21-22, KJV).  "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matthew 5:27-28, KJV).  

Also, since we are required by God's law to love God with all our being and might, this includes living our lives to please Him in everything we do and striving to submit our wills to His will in everything.  This goes beyond just obeying God's explicit commandments.  This includes striving to know God's will (by studying and believing God's word, the Bible), and then striving to DO God's will.  Jesus set the example by doing not only what the Father commanded Him, but the Father's will also.  "Jesus said to them, 'My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work' " (John 4:34).  Just before Jesus was crucified, He prayed to the Father that if it was the Father's will, Jesus would be spared this suffering.  Nevertheless, Jesus requested that this be done ONLY if it was the Father's will.  "And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22:41-42, KJV).    Notice also John 5:30, " I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me" (KJV).  And John 6:38, "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me" (KJV).  And John 8:29, "And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him" (KJV).  Repentance involves making a lifetime commitment to strive to always do the things that please God, because this is part of obeying the greatest commandment, you shall love God with all your heart.

Repentance requires a commitment to strive to live by every word of God.  When Jesus was tempted by Satan, he resisted and countered every temptation by referring to Old Testament scripture.  For example, note Matthew 4:3-4, "Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, 'If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.'  But He answered and said, 'It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." ' "

Repentance also requires that we acknowledge our guilt before God, that we are sinners, and ask God to clean us up.  We have to come to realize that our very nature is sinful.  "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9).  Everyone has sinned and is in need of forgiveness, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23, see also Romans 5:12).  When David repented after his sin in the matter of Uriah the Hittite, he acknowledged his guilt before God.  "Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.  Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.  For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me.  Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge" (Psalm 51:1-4).  "Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities.  Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me" (Psalm 51:9-10).

The days of unleavened bread are given to us by God to help teach us the lesson that we have to repent and strive to put sin out of our lives, represented by leavening, and to put God's righteousness into our lives, represented by the unleavened bread that we eat.  This is one of the major steps in God's plan for the salvation of mankind, and it is illustrated by this feast of God.

The Church of God observes the days of unleavened bread by getting all leaven and leavened products out of our homes and avoiding eating anything with leaving in it (yeast, baking soda, baking powder, etc.) for seven days, and also eating unleavened bread during this time (matzos for example, although some members make their own unleavened bread).  We observe the first and last of the seven days by refraining from work and by assembling for church services, as on the weekly Sabbath, as commanded by God (Exodus 12:16).  Also, on the evening of the First Day of Unleavened Bread (the next night after the Passover observance), we keep the Night to Be Much Observed, which is a separate event from Passover, by getting together in families and small groups in each others' homes or meeting places and sharing a meal.  For ancient Israel, this observance represented coming out of Egypt, which occurred on the night following Passover night (Exodus 12:40-42).  For the Church, it represents coming out of the bondage of Satan's deception and the sinful ways of this world.

The next day is Pentecost.  In the Old Testament, it is called the Feast of Weeks (Deuteronomy 16:9-11) and is sometimes called the Feast of Firstfruits (Numbers 28:26).  It's description is given in Leviticus 23:15-21.  It is observed 50 days from the Sabbath that falls during the Days of Unleavened Bread, so it always falls on a Sunday.  In the New Testament, it is called Pentecost (Acts 2:1), which means, I believe, "count fifty".  In the Old Testament, it is connected with the small, early summer harvest.  In the New Testament, it is associated with the coming of the Holy Spirit.  

Before Jesus was crucified, He told His disciples that they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you" (John 14:25-26).  After His resurrection and before His ascension into heaven, Jesus told His disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit.  "And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, 'which,' He said, 'you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now' " (Acts 1:4-5).  The actual coming of the Holy Spirit is recorded in Acts 2:1-4, "When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.  Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."

The Holy Spirit helps a person understand the Bible and understand spiritual knowledge in a way that the natural mind of man is not able to do.  I already quoted the verse above where Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would help His disciples to remember the things Jesus taught them.  Note also these scriptures.  "But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.  For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.  For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?  Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God" (1 Corinthians 2:10-11).  Note that Paul said that there is a spirit in man.  Mr. Armstrong explained that the vast difference in intelligence between humans and that of animals such as dogs, chimpanzees, elephants, and dolphins is due to a spirit in every human that God has added to the human brain to empower the human mind with a quality of intellect that animals do not have.  He called this the "human spirit".  But just as the human spirit empowers humans to understand physical knowledge, such as knowledge about science, engineering, literature, and languages, in a way that animals are not able to understand, so the Spirit of God empowers a Christian to understand, as Paul put it, "the deep things of God" in a way that the human mind, apart from God's Spirit, cannot understand.

The Holy Spirit also empowers a Christian.  "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7).  You can study the gospel accounts and the book of Acts to see how the disciples behaved differently, more courageously for example, after they received the Holy Spirit than before.  When Jesus was taken to be crucified, almost all His disciples left Him, even though they previously said they would die with him, and even Peter denied Christ.  But after they received the Holy Spirit they were willing to suffer and even die for Christ.

It is actually the presence of the Holy Spirit in the mind that makes one a Christian and a member of God's true Church.  Paul wrote, "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.  Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.  And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you" (Romans 8:9-11).

The conditions for receiving the Holy Spirit are repentance and faith in God and in Christ, and baptism by immersion in water as a symbol of our faith in the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ for the forgiveness of sins and a symbol of the burial of the old self.  God then gives the gift of His Holy Spirit upon the laying on of hands by the ministry.  Notice, "Then Peter said to them, 'Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit' " (Acts 2:38).  On the subject of baptism see also Colossians 2:11-12, Matthew 28:18-20, and Acts 8:36-39.  On the subject of the laying on of hands and the receiving of the Holy Spirit, see Acts 8:14-17 and 1 Timothy 4:14.

After one receives the gift of the Holy Spirit, he is a Christian, and must then live a life of spiritual growth, developing God's righteous character with God's help, and overcoming sin.  Those who overcome and endure to the end will be saved (Matthew 24:13, Mark 13:13, Matthew 10:22, Revelation 2:11, 3:5).  The Church of God encourages its members to spend time on a regular basis in prayer, Bible study, fasting, and meditation as a way of drawing closer to God.  Meditation in this sense is basically thinking about God and His laws, learning how to apply spiritual principles to everyday decisions, thinking about the lessons of the Bible, thinking about God's creation, etc., as David did (Psalm 119:97, Psalm 1:2).  Prayer is talking to God in prayer, but not repeating memorized prayers (Matthew 6:7).    

It is obvious that the Day of Pentecost represents the next step in God's plan after repentance, the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:37-39).  The Church keeps Pentecost today to commemorate the gift of the Holy Spirit and the founding of the New Testament Church.  But is there a connection between the meaning of the "first fruits" harvest and the coming of the Holy Spirit to the Church?  Yes there is, but this will take some explaining.  There is truth about this that most traditional churches do not know.

Most traditional Christian churches believe that this is the time when God is trying to save all mankind.  Some believe that those who do not accept Jesus Christ in this life, in this age, are forever lost.  But this is not the case.  God has provided a plan for EVERY human that has ever lived to exercise free moral agency to repent, to believe God and Christ, to accept Jesus Christ as savior, and to be converted and be saved.  But this plan is being worked out in stages.  This six thousand year age of man is not the main spiritual harvest.  This is not the time when God is trying to save everyone.

Ancient Israel never had access to God's Spirit or to spiritual salvation.  They never had the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior.  They were never promised eternal life.  They were promised physical protection and blessings if they obeyed God's law, but not eternal life.

Even since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the founding of the Church of God, most of the billions of people that have lived on this earth never heard the true gospel or had an opportunity for salvation.

The fact is, God has allowed Satan to blind and deceive the whole human race for this six thousand year age of man.  It is God's purpose to allow man to write the painful lesson in history that Satan's way of "get" and being independent of God's rule, with each person deciding for himself what is right and wrong, is a way that leads to suffering and destruction.  Those lessons are being written in history right now, and according to prophecy the suffering of this world is going to increase even more before Christ returns.  This is Satan's world right now, not God's.  Satan can only do what God allows, and in God's time Satan and his evil influence will be put away, but right now it suits God's purpose to allow Satan to deceive the majority of mankind.

There is no "contest" between God and Satan over the salvation of men with God trying to save as many as possible right now and Satan opposing Him.  Satan has absolutely NO POWER against God, and can do NOTHING apart from what God allows according to His will.  For proof of this, read the first two chapters of the book of Job.  Satan could not go one millimeter beyond what God allowed Him to go in attacking Job.  If God wanted to open salvation to all mankind at this time, He would do it and Satan has no power to hinder God's efforts in the slightest.

God has allowed Satan to blind the minds and hearts of most people to God's truth so they CANNOT understand the truth and be converted.  Only the few that God specifically calls and "draws" can be converted at this time.  Jesus said, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:44).  Jesus did not try to save everyone, but rather He often spoke in parables, not to make the meaning clear, but to HIDE the meaning from all except those few who were His disciples, whom the Father was drawing to Christ.  Notice what Jesus said.  "But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable.  And He said to them, 'To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so that "Seeing they may see and not perceive, And hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, And their sins be forgiven them" ' " (Mark 4:10-12).  Here is a plain statement from Jesus that He spoke in parables to the crowds for the purpose of PREVENTING them from understanding so that they would NOT turn and have their sins forgiven them.  It was NOT the Father's will that the crowds repent and receive forgiveness of their sins, AT THAT TIME.  But for His disciples, Jesus explained the parables because they were the few that God was calling and drawing to Christ at that time.  But not the majority.

I do not say that every parable told by Jesus was for the purpose of hiding the meaning.  There were some parables Jesus spoke for the purpose of making His teachings clear.  Often these had to do with expounding on God's law and teaching right from wrong.  For example, the parable of the good Samaritan recorded in Luke 10:25-37 was given to make clear how men should live.  It is obvious that the parable was given to make the meaning of God's commandment to love your neighbor as yourself clear to the one who asked Jesus "who is my neighbor?", and it is equally clear that the man got the point, because Jesus said, "You have answered rightly".     

Nevertheless, Jesus did often speak in parables to hide His meaning from the majority, and when it came to the secrets of the Kingdom of God, these things were revealed only to the disciples, not the crowds.

Herbert W. Armstrong taught that from the time before man existed, Lucifer was on a throne of the earth.  This is consistent with Isaiah 14:12-14, which says, "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!  How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!  For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' "  When Jesus was tempted by Satan, Satan, as ruler over the earth, offered to give his kingdom to Jesus if Jesus would worship him.  "Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, 'All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.'  And Jesus answered and said to him, 'Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve" ' " (Luke 4:5-8).  Before He was crucified, Jesus said, "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me" (John 14:30).  This is Satan's world, his civilization, his system, his way of life that men practice, not God's.

But God is calling a few now into His true Church to learn and live a different way of life.  Eventually, God will remove Satan and make salvation available to every human that has ever lived.  That will be the great spiritual harvest.  I will go into more detail about that later.  But right now, in this age of man, is the smaller spiritual harvest of the few that God is saving now.  Christians in this age are called "firstfruits" (James 1:18, Revelation 14:4).  These are the firstfruits, the early harvest, as pictured in the Old Testament Feast of Weeks or Feast of Firstfruits, and this is the connection between the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost in the book of Acts, and the same day picturing the early summer harvest in the Old Testament.  And this is another valuable lesson God uses His holy days to teach us.

Jesus Christ is also called the firstfruits in 1 Corinthians 15:23, and he is pictured in the wave sheaf offering in Leviticus 23:9-11.  Christ is the first of the firstfruits, and after Him are those called and drawn by God to Christ to be saved in this age.  But the majority of mankind is not now being offered salvation.

God is only saving a few now.  But why?  This will become clear as we go through the rest of God's holy days.

The next holy day is the Feast of Trumpets.  This is given in Leviticus 23:23-25.  It is called "a memorial of blowing of trumpets."  It is a Sabbath day, a day of rest, and a day of assembly for worship services.  Apart from the association with trumpets, no special meaning for this day is explained in this passage in the Old Testament.  However, since Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread, and Pentecost, all Feasts of God commanded in the Old Testament, each have an important application and meaning in the New Testament and help us to understand various aspects of God's plan, it seems likely that the Day of Trumpets also has meaning for the Church.

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the sins of mankind was a major milestone for God's plan, and is pictured by Passover.  The days of unleavened bread show the need for Christians to repent and put sin out of their lives.  The major milestone in God's plan of the Holy Spirit being given to the Church is pictured by the Day of Pentecost.  After Jesus' first coming, death, and resurrection, and after the Holy Spirit was given to the Church, what is the next great event to occur in the plan of God?

"Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.  And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?  This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven' " (Acts 1:9-11).  The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ will return to this earth.

Since the Day of Trumpets is the next of God's holy days in the Hebrew calendar after Pentecost, and since the return of Jesus Christ to the earth is the next great event in God's plan, is there any connection between the two in Scripture?  The answer is yes.  There are a number of scriptures in the New Testament that associate the return of Christ with the blowing of trumpets.

The next great event in God's plan is the return of Jesus Christ in great power and glory to the earth.  Notice what Jesus said in Matthew 24:29-31:  "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."  Notice that Jesus said that when He returns He will send His angels with the sound of a trumpet to gather the elect.  This shows that there will be the sound of a trumpet at the return of Christ. 

Notice that at the time of Christ's return, true Christians who have died will be resurrected, and those who are alive will be changed to immortality.  "But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.  For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And thus we shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17).  Also, "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" (1 Corinthians 15:51-53).  Notice that both of these passages refer to the sounding of a trumpet. 

The book of Revelation speaks of end time events shortly before the return of Christ.  Revelation 8:2 speaks of seven trumpets that are to sound:  "And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets."  Other scriptures show that these seven trumpets sound one at a time during God's punishment of the world in a period called the "Day of the Lord."  But it is at the LAST of the seven trumpets that Christ returns to rule the earth and establish the Kingdom of God on earth.  "Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!' " (Revelation 11:15).

When Christ returns, He will rule the earth and establish the Kingdom of God ruling over all the nations of the earth.  The resurrected saints will rule with Christ for 1,000 years.  Notice Revelation 20:4-6:  "And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them.  Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands.  And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.  But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.  This is the first resurrection.  Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.  Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years."  Those resurrected or changed from mortal to immortal at this time will rule with Christ over the nations of the earth.  These are the few that are called and drawn to Christ by the Father in this age pictured by the Day of Pentecost.  The majority of mankind will still be physical and mortal.  Note also that this resurrection of the saints is called, "the FIRST resurrection", indicating that there is more than one resurrection.  I will talk about another resurrection when I explain the meaning of the holy days that follow the Day of Trumpets.

The return of Christ and the resurrection of true Christians will bring to an end the 6,000 years of man ruling himself in opposition to the ways of God, and it begins a period of one thousand years of God's direct rule over the nations of the earth. 

Christ and the saints will then teach mankind then living the laws of God and the way of life that leads to peace, happiness, and prosperity.  Christ will rule the nations, establish justice, and enforce the ways of peace, bringing to pass the prophecy of Isaiah 2:2-4: "Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the Lord’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it.  Many people shall come and say, 'Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.'  For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.  He shall judge between the nations, And rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore."  This is the time when Jesus' statement to his twelve apostles in Matthew 19:28 will be fulfilled:  "So Jesus said to them, 'Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.' "  This will be a time when salvation is open to all men then living, not just the few.  All will be taught God's truth and all will have an opportunity to repent of their sins and their sinful nature, to have faith in God and in Jesus Christ, to accept Christ as their savior, and to be baptized and converted and to be saved.

I will explain more about this period of one thousand years when I cover the meaning of the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles.  But before I go to that I want to explain more about the resurrection of the saints.

Christians who have died are described in the Bible as having fallen asleep.  Note these scriptures.  "But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.  For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first" (1 Thessalonians 4:13-16).  "For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.  For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep" (1 Corinthians 11:29-30).  "Behold, I tell you a mystery:  We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).

How does the concept of falling asleep in death, and then later being resurrected from the dead, fit with the concept of traditional mainstream Christianity that all humans have immortal souls that live on after the death of the body and can never die?

As a child, I was raised Catholic.  If I remember correctly, I was taught that I had an immortal soul.  The soul was pictured as the "real me", the real consciousness that in a sense lived inside my body.  I was taught that when I died, if I had a mortal sin on my conscience that had not yet been forgiven, I would go to an ever-burning hell fire where I would be tortured for all eternity, but if not, then I would eventually go to heaven where I would be happy looking at the face of God for all eternity, but first I would have to spend time in a place called purgatory, which is a place of suffering, where I would be punished for whatever sins I had committed that were not "mortal sins", and after a time in that place, which might be many years, I would then be allowed into heaven.  I think I was also taught that among those outside the Catholic Church and those who were never baptized, which is the majority of mankind, if anyone lived a good life, they might go to a place called limbo instead of hell for all eternity.  Limbo was a place of happiness, but not as happy as heaven, not as close to God.

I do not know what Protestants teach about the ideas of purgatory or limbo.  I do know that they teach that man has an immortal soul ("immortal" meaning it cannot die).  I do not know what they teach about the fate of the billions of people who have lived on the earth and died who never heard of Jesus Christ or had the opportunity to become Christians.  Perhaps some Protestants believe that those who died without an opportunity to become Christians will be tortured forever in hell fire.

I have not found these ideas in the Bible.

Ezekiel 18:4 says, "Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die."  If you look up in Strong's Concordance the word translated "soul" in the statement in Ezekiel 18:4 that the soul that sins shall die, you will find that it corresponds to Strong's number 5315 and is translated from the Hebrew word, "nephesh".  Some of the definitions of this Hebrew word given in Strong's Concordance include "that which breathes", "living being", "the man himself", and "activity of mind".  In the King James Version, nephesh is most frequently translated in into the English word "soul", but is also sometimes translated "life", "person", "mind", "heart", "creature", etc.

Genesis 2:7 states, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."  The word translated in the New King James Version as "being" is the same Hebrew word "nepesh".  The King James Version translates this verse as follows: "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

Genesis 2:7 clearly states that God made man physical, from the dust of the ground, and that man, made from the dust of the ground, became a living soul.  Ezekiel 18:4 clearly states that the soul that sins shall die.  The word "immortal" means, "cannot die".  There is no evidence from the verses we have looked at so far that the soul is immortal, but rather, the soul can die.

"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die' " (Genesis 2:16-17).  "And the woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, "You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die." ' Then the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die' " (Genesis 3:2-4).

In Ezekiel 18:4, God says that the soul can die.  In Matthew 10:28, Jesus says that the soul can be destroyed.  "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

The Bible pictures those who have died to be asleep, unconscious, as we are when we sleep without dreams (1 Thessalonians 4:13-16, 1 Corinthians 11:29-30, 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, John 11:11-14, Luke 8:52-55, Mark 5:39-42, Matthew 9:24-25).  Man is described as mortal, subject to death, in need of immortality, but not having it yet.  At the first resurrection when Christ returns to the earth, Christians must be changed from being mortal to being immortal, both those who are resurrected from the dead and those who are alive and are changed.  "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.  Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.  So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory' " (1 Corinthians 15:50-54).

This is the purpose of the resurrection, to bring back to life those who are dead in their graves.  If we have immortal souls that live on after we die, and if those souls go to heaven or hell when we die, what need is there for a resurrection?

The prophecy given to Daniel shows that at the end time many will be resurrected back to life from the dead.  "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt" (Daniel 12:2).  Daniel himself is told that he will be among those who come up from the dead.  "But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days" (Daniel 12:13).  The time between Daniel's death and his resurrection is described as "rest", which is metaphor very similar to the one Paul uses when he describes those who are dead as "asleep."

Man does not yet have immortality, that is, eternal life.  We must receive it as a gift from God.  "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23).  "Now behold, one came and said to Him, 'Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?'  So He said to him, 'Why do you call Me good?  No one is good but One, that is, God.  But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments' " (Matthew 19:16-17).  The reward of the saved is to RECEIVE immortality.  We do not have it yet as immortal souls.

The Bible does teach that there is a spirit in man.  "But there is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding" (Job 32:8).  "Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, Or the golden bowl is broken, Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, Or the wheel broken at the well.  Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12:6-7).  It is the spirit in man that empowers the human brain with intellect and enables every human to know and understand the things that animals cannot understand, just as the Spirit of God enables a Christian to understand knowledge of the things of God in a way that the unconverted mind cannot understand.  "But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.  For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.  For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God" (1 Corinthians 2:10-12).  The spirit in man, which Mr. Armstrong called the "human spirit", empowers the human brain with intellect and gives understanding, but it is not a "soul".  It does not provide life and consciousness apart from the human brain, and it does not live on as a conscious entity after death, but as Solomon says, when a man dies the body returns to the earth and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

There is no consciousness, no awareness, in those who have died.  The only hope for life after death is a resurrection from the dead, which is yet future.  Solomon wrote, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going" (Ecclesiastes 9:10).  Speaking of the condition of those who have died in this age, apart from a future resurrection, Solomon wrote, "For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten.  Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a share In anything done under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6).  "Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.  His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his plans perish" (Psalm 146:3-4).  The King James Version translates this same passage as follows:  "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.  His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish."

For proof that a resurrection from the dead is NEEDED for anyone to have life after death, consider what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:12-22 and 1 Corinthians 15:30-32.  First, 1 Corinthians 15:12-22:  "Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?  But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.  And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.  Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise.  For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.  And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!  Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.  If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.  But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive."  Now see 1 Corinthians 15:30-32 where Paul says, "And why do we stand in jeopardy every hour?  I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.  If, in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me?  If the dead do not rise, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die' ".  Why would Paul say that if there is no future resurrection from the dead, it would be better for him to say, "Let's eat and drink for tomorrow we die" if Christians who die go to heaven upon death?  That would not make any sense, nor would there be any need for a resurrection if we are really immortal souls who go to heaven when we die.  The answer is, Christians who have died are not in heaven with Christ and do not have immortal souls.  They died and are unconscious in their graves, and they will be raised back to life from the dead and given immortality at the second coming of Christ to the earth, which is yet future.  That is why a resurrection from the dead is needed.  Without the resurrection, there would be no life after death at all, and there would be no hope of reward after this physical life. 

Have the righteous who have died gone to heaven?

According to John 3:13, "No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven." After Jesus died and was resurrected, Peter spoke to the crowds on the day of Pentecost about king David, saying, "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day" (Acts 2:29).  "For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool" ' " (Acts 2:34-35).

Some may refer to Elijah as one who was carried into "heaven".  But in the Bible, the term "heaven" can refer to this earth's atmosphere, or outer space with its planets, stars, and galaxies, or the heaven that is God's throne.  Notice the phrase "birds of heaven" in Job 35:11 and Jeremiah 16:4 referring to the heaven that is this earth's atmosphere.  These verses refer to birds flying in the atmosphere of the earth.

2 Kings 2:1 says, "And it came to pass, when the Lord was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal."  Then in 2 Kings 2:11:  "Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven."  But did Elijah go into the heaven that is God's throne, or just into the air to be set down someplace else where it would not be known where he was?  It is clear that Elijah's work as the prophet in that area for that time was finished, and it was God's time that Elijah be removed and Elisha take Elijah's office and carry on his work (1 Kings 19:16).  But was it time for Elijah to die?  Or was Elijah to be taken to the heaven that is G