Gospel Meditation Galatians 5:1–15

Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace. Recite the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.

1. We look to Jesus for our salvation and not to an ability  to keep all of the Law of Moses, so Paul urges the Galatian believers not to once again, under the pressure of the Judaizers, those Jewish Christians, to continue to obey that Law in hopes of achieving salvation.
2. These Judaizers are urging the non-Jewish Galatian Christians to become circumcised, which would present a barrier to many Gentiles and would lead astray those Gentiles into Law keeping and make them slaves to law keeping.
3. In reality, for followers of Jesus, circumcision is irrelevant since doing so does not save anyone. Our salvation, our forgiveness, is the result of trusting in Jesus, His work on the cross, for our salvation, and this alone.
4. Law keeping binds one to slavery, but in Christ we have freedom, and this from having to keep the entirely of the Mosaic Law. That Law informs us of what is proper conduct, but this is not the means of salvation.
5. This freedom however does not make sinful practices acceptable, or in Paul’s words, “an opportunity for the flesh.” Rather in Christ we are called to serve one another through love, and that love is ‘agape,’ the love by which we are loved by God.
6. Indeed, as followers of Jesus we are to love one another, thus seeking the best for all.

Chapter Five

The authors’ thesis is that Jesus will complete or fulfill the Feast of Trumpets at the time of His return, which will usher in the great Day of Judgment. Is this warranted on the basis of the biblical material itself?

The Jewish holidays: Are They God’s Calendar? Is the roadmap of world history embedded in the holidays themselves?

We use the term “God’s Calendar” because it is not a human calendar; it is not the kind of chronological calendar humans normally use to mark times and seasons. God’s calendar is different, because He created time and space, transcends time and space, and dwells above or outside it but invades His creation for His own purposes.  

The Creator God marks the grand sweep of history, many of us think, around the holidays of Israel. These incredible events that Israel was to keep throughout all generations seem to point to something beyond themselves. In the actual text of the Hebrew Scriptures, supported by the stories of events like the Exodus, is the calendar in and through which God’s history will be worked out.  The holidays are God’s way of announcing what He has done, what He is doing, and what He is going to do.

Must the five feasts, the offering, and the fast be kept today?

Believers in Messiah Jesus are not required to keep the Jewish holidays, even Jewish believers. This is because in Jesus the holidays are kept already. Keeping the holidays will not earn anyone, Jew or Gentile, favor with God. However, an understanding of the biblical-eschatological significance of the holidays for any believer in Jesus helps contextualize the gospel message and deepens an appreciation for the ancient plan of God embedded in Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.

            Though not a requirement for being “in good standing with God,” the holidays may be celebrated by any believer in Jesus. Many Jewish Christians as well as Gentile Christians do observe the holidays because it helps maintain Jewish identity and reminds them of God’s work through the Messiah.

What about the warning of Acts 1:7?

The feast of Trumpets, as we will see later on in this chapter, points to the return of Jesus. As soon as this is stated it is clear that attention must be paid to Jesus’ warning about trying to know or find out the timing of that second advent. Jesus told His disciples, who were inquiring about when the kingdom of God would be restored to Israel, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority” (Acts 1:7).  Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32, and 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2 also speak to this general subject.

            If the first four holidays were fulfilled on the very days they were celebrated, and if the fall holidays are to be fulfilled in a similar way, would not it be that we would then know the exact time, at least the exact day of the year, when Jesus would return to establish that kingdom?

            The authors of this book do not have a definitive answer to this question, and clearly, we do not know the day or the date of the final act of God in history, nor do we suggest that the end time events will take place on the days of the biblical festive calendar. We are content to wait for His imminent return.

Though no one can know the date the Trumpets will be blown, some points can be made. One, though the day and month might be known, the year would not. Not knowing the year changes everything. Two, Acts 1:7 indicates that the date of the restoration is fixed, but there may yet be embedded in Scripture clues as to the times and seasons, which may serve as encouragements and promises to God’s people. Three, biblically-oriented Christians believe in the second coming of the Messiah Jesus at the close of the age. The point Jesus seemed to be making in the early section of Acts chapter 1 was that the focus of the disciples’ work was to be evangelism empowered by the Holy Spirit and not the ruling over of an earthly kingdom.  

An interval of some unknown time

Between the spring and fall feasts is an interval of time of some unknown duration. The first three holidays of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits come in the first month of the Jewish religious year, Nissan. Pentecost is in the third month of Sivan. All three of the fall holidays come in Tishri, the seventh month. The interval of unknown time comes then between Sivan and Tishri, a time encompassing parts of the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth months. The question is: Why the interval and what is God’s strategy during that period?

The most crowded time on the Jewish calendar is the seventh month, with three holidays celebrated, the last one for seven days. The case might be made that the three are in fact one long feast since Trumpets announces the preparation for the Day of Atonement. “Seventh” points back to the beginning of creation. God infused these holidays with a sense of that seven-day perfection of creation and the seventh day of rest. In the seventh month a worshipful crescendo is reached. In between the fall and spring holidays is a dry time with little rain. At Pentecost, when the Spirit was given to the Church, there was a great harvest but it was a dry time for the people of Israel.

What about the Jewish People?

One of the issues Paul wrestled with was that while the Gentiles were trusting in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in droves, and while there were also many Jewish people who came to faith, still the Jewish leadership and with them the bulk of the Jewish community did not accept Jesus as Messiah. So, from Israel’s perspective, the interval between Sivan and Tishri has been in some sense a dry time. However, there will be another harvest after the first harvest of the Gentiles is complete; and it is all a matter of timing. That timing will come in the seventh month of God’s calendar, whenever that special time known only to God arrives.

The purpose of the interval

At the time of the ascension, Jesus made it very clear what the Church’s work was to be. He said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Jesus’ followers were to be proclaimers of what we call the Gospel, which is essentially that Jesus took our sin upon Himself, took our sin away, rose from the dead, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and from there, after some unknown interval of time, will return as the conquering Messiah.

The Feast of Trumpets

The Feast of Trumpets is the first of the fall feasts and was celebrated on the first day of the seventh month of Tishri. In Leviticus 23:24 the word that gives its name to the feast transliterated from the Hebrew is teru`ah and literally means “trumpet blast.”

            Two “horns” are mentioned in Scripture; there are the silver trumpets of Numbers 10, and there is the Shofar of Joshua 6 and other passages, which is an actual ram’s horn.

            Numbers 10:1-2 describes the silver trumpets: “The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Make two silver trumpets. Of hammered work you shall make them, and shall use them for summoning the congregation and for breaking camp.’” The ram’s horns were blown while the Hebrew army under Joshua was circling the city of Jericho. The silver trumpets were blown when offerings were brought to the Temple, at the time of all the feasts, and for every New Moon (see Numbers 10:10). These trumpets were celebratory in nature. The trumpets spoken of in Leviticus 23 and 25 are traditionally thought to be a ram’s horn, the Shofar, and are for calling to repentance and seeking of God’s forgiveness.

            It was a ram “caught in a thicket by his horns” (Genesis 22:13) that Abraham sacrificed instead of his son Isaac. The ram’s horn therefore became of special significance in the history of Israel and became a symbol, an icon, in the religious life of the people. In fact, Genesis 22 is traditionally read on Rosh Hashanah (the current Hebrew name for the holiday).

Leviticus 23:23-25

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the LORD.”

Notes on the passage:

One. After almost four months have passed from the last spring feast, the clock is now running.

Two. Again we find an emphasis on “rest,” which is the meaning of the word for sabbath in Hebrew. It is a solemn rest, or a time set aside to commemorate or remember.

Three. A blast of trumpets announced the coming of the holiday.

Four. No ordinary work was to be done.

Head of the Year

Passover began the religious year for Israel. Trumpets announced the beginning of Israel’s civil year or ordinary calendar. Rosh Hashanah is the transliterated form for the Hebrew Head of the Year, and is the Jewish New Year. The new moon of the seventh month of the year would, of course, be a special and holy time. Rather than a time of joyous celebration, this was one of solemn spiritual and moral examination by each observant Jew.

 New Year’s Day may mean the beginning of something entirely new and embedded here may be a pointer to something new for all that is Israel.

The close of the previous civil year     

On the first day of the seventh month, Tishri, is the Day of Trumpets or the blast of trumpets, but it is also the thirtieth day in a season of Teshuvah, which means repentance and return—in the traditions of Judaism. In the sixth month of Elul is when preparations would be made for the climatic seventh month. Prayers and good deeds are performed in order to achieve reconciliation with God. In the Jewish mind, it is a time when you need to prepare yourself for judgment by making amends.

Seventh and sevens

The Torah, the Mosaic covenant, is riddled with sevens, starting with the Creation story. In the Hebrew Bible the very first statement is made up of seven Hebrew words which are translated, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The seventh month in God’s calendar—in a sense the perfect month, the month of completion—and the silence of the previous four months is broken by the blast of a trumpet.

The prophets also described God’s seventh month as though it were God’s final month, a time of great expectation. The prophets Isaiah, Zephaniah, and Zechariah talked about the Shofar of God that will be sounded “in that day.” Isaiah 18:3 reads: “All you inhabitants of the world, you who dwell on the earth, when a signal is raised on the mountains, look! When a trumpet is blown, hear!” Isaiah 27:13 reads: “And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.” The prophet Zephaniah, proclaiming that the Day of the LORD was coming, wrote in 1:14-16:

The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter;the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day,a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.

            And finally there is Zechariah who, in a prophecy concerning the “Coming King of Zion” to save His people, the prophet preached: “Then the LORD will appear over them, and his arrow will go forth like lightning; the LORD God will sound the trumpet and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south” (Zechariah 9:14).

The long prophetic conversation

The completion of the Torah catalyzed a conversation among Israel’s prophets that seems to have lasted throughout her biblical history; this process continued with the apostles of the New Testament period. The prophets were studying and looking for clues, not just about the past, but also about the future. There are hints in Scripture that what God did in the past pointed ahead to or were harbingers of what He would do in the future. A conversation about the seventh month and trumpet blasts was going on among the prophets, which was actually begun by Moses (remember the ram’s horn in Genesis 22).

            Another conversation that went on in the Tanakh concerns suffering. Psalm 22, among others, depicts a suffering, dying, even crucified Messiah. Isaiah presents the same, in his chapters 52 and 53. Zechariah, in chapter 12 verse 10, spoke of a suffering, pierced, and dying Messiah.

The Tanakh reveals two Messiahs, a suffering Messiah and a conquering Messiah, One Messiah suffers in His first coming and conquers in His second coming. The coming of this last or second Messiah will be heralded by a trumpet blast in the seventh month of God’s calendar.

Whether or not the prophets related the end-time trumpets to the Feast of Trumpets is not as obvious as we find in regard to the spring holidays, where it is plain that Jesus, in His life and ministry, fulfilled or completed those holidays. In this case, as with the Day of Atonement and Booths, surmises and analogies are made connecting the fall holidays with the end-time events spoken of in the New Testament.

Trumpets in the New Testament

Trumpets were used to gather the people of God together for celebrations. They were used in time of war, and used to announce judgment. In the wilderness after the Exodus, trumpets were blown to summon God’s people to break camp for another day’s journey toward the Promised Land. The silver trumpets were used in celebrative instances, the Shofar for serious and solemn times.

            In the New Testament trumpeting announces the return of Messiah, or Son of Man as in the follow passage (Messiah, Son of Man, and Son of God are synonyms according to usage in the New Testament).

Matthew 24:29-31

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all of 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 out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

Isaiah 13:10, 34:4; Ezekiel 32:7; Joel 2:10; and Amos 8:9 contain the same kind of language that Jesus used in verse 29; the sun darkened, the moon not giving light, stars falling from heaven, and the powers of heaven shaken. These are at least images suggesting judgment, images of events that announce the arrival of the Day of the Lord or the day of judgment.

            The Son of Man appears then, the Messiah Son of David, the conquering hero of Israel, to bring judgment upon the mourning nations.

            Messiah’s messengers, the angels, are sent out with a loud trumpet call. The word used in the Greek text is the generic term for trumpet, transliterated salpiggos. If the language had been Hebrew would we find Shofar or the silver trumpets used?

            The trumpets are probably, but not conclusively, the silver trumpets. Something utterly new and celebratory is present, the newest of the new, newer than any New Moon—the Kingdom of God has come. No more will anyone pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” because God’s kingdom will be present finally. The chosen of God, the elect, will then be gathered at the sound of the trumpet. The desire of ages is realized.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

Paul described the resurrection of all those who are trusting in Messiah for salvation. Some Christians had already died, but that would not prevent them from being raised to life again. Those, however, who are alive at the return of Jesus, will hear a trumpet sound. The dead will be raised, all things will be made new—the Messianic Age will suddenly come in power and great glory.

            Among biblically faithful Christians is a disagreement about the timing of what is called the rapture. Some think it will occur prior to a period of tribulation, others think it will follow a time of tribulation, and still others connect the rapture with the Second Advent itself. In any case, whichever turns out to be the reality, there will be a trumpet blast that announces the final end-time events, including the resurrection of the believers. 

1 Thessalonians 4:16

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

Here again, Paul describes what will happen at the arrival of the Messiah,

and again there is a trumpet, a triumphant blast, and there is resurrection.

Connecting the trumpets

Trumpets figure prominently in the Old Testament. There we find the Shofar and the silver trumpets. In the New Testament there is the trumpet of God calling the elect and announcing resurrection. Are they the same? Does the Levitical Feast of Trumpets foreshadow the day of judgment and resurrection as seen by the New Testament writers?

            The New Testament writers were Jewish, and here in this chapter are quoted Jesus, Matthew, and Paul—all Jews and all steeped in the traditions of the Jewish people, and it must be considered plausible that they were aware of the significance of trumpets and the Feast of Trumpets. At least Jesus and Paul, and probably Matthew, were observant Jews. How often had these men heard the blasts of both the Shofar and the silver trumpets? It is not difficult to conclude that the trumpets of both Old and New Testaments are one and the same.

Is there a biblical warrant?

Is it possible to state that Jesus completed, satisfied, and fulfilled, in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Holy Spirit something that God had laid the foundation for in the spring holidays? Is it also possible to think that the fall holidays will also, in essence, be completed, satisfied, and fulfilled in the return of the Messiah and thus usher in judgment, resurrection, and the great celebration that inaugurates the kingdom of God then come? Paul was convinced that Christ is the substance behind the shadows cast by the holidays. Here is how he put it in Colossians 2:16-17:

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Chapter 20

 A question I ask myself now that I am seventy-plus years old is: Could I survive an awakening like that of the Jesus People Movement now? My answer is, I am not sure.

In the research I conducted in preparation for the writing of my recent book, Awakenings in American and the Jesus People Movement,1 I found that most of those who carried leadership roles were young men and women. None of them lived through two awakenings, and if this is a pattern, then I am safe. In answer to a consistent question I receive on this particular issue—Do I expect another American awak- ening soon?—I can only reply that I do not know. I would love to see one, love once again to see an outpouring of God’s Spirit bringing vast numbers into His kingdom, but it is an unknown.

As I study histories and news of awakenings throughout the world, it seems to me that there are awakenings (or revivals, which is a synonym) going on all the time somewhere on the planet. Some are quite small, others larger, and some even national in scope. Appar- ently, there are no two alike.

The three major American awakenings agreed to be such by the majority of historians are so designated because they were national in scope. The first, 1735 to 1742, when the population was in the neighborhood of one million, was national. The second, 1798 to 1825, was also national and the population had grown significantly. The third, 1857 to 1859, again was national and the population was tens of millions. The JPM, a national event when the population of Amer- ica was far greater than all the other awakenings combined, prompts

1 Some may be interested in this book, so please excuse what might appear to be a sales pitch, but at www.evpbooks.com you will find the book available in print and ebook formats.

the question, was its impact on a par with the others? In my estima- tion, this is a significant question, but one that is likely impossible to answer at this period in history.

In an email I received from Charles Simpson, which quote is contained in his bio at the end of this section, he sug- gests that one million were converted. Then comes the question, which awakening saw the most conversions? My thinking is the JPM would be the answer. And this con- clusion is based on the fact that the focus of the JPM was personal evangelism. My observation is that in Marin County, with a population then of about 170,000, there were probably 500 conversions just in the central area. Extrapolating that yields some large numbers.

Awakenings are exhausting for those involved in Gospel ministry. There was never a day off for me, not that I didn’t want one. I needed to rest and refresh, but those times were few and far between. Those who know me well say I am a “Type A” personality. How valid this might be I am uncertain, and I am not sure whether there is any real science behind such a label, but I have always enjoyed, really love, working hard. There was just so much opportunity, so many open doors, and this was the JPM, with the constant need and constant press of people, which was very difficult to ignore.

I worried about my family, my wife Bobbie and my children, Dory, Grace, and Vernon. From time to time I realized that I was not being the husband and father they needed me to be and that I wanted to be. The years passed speedily, and the pressure to do and go and worry was consistently upon me. I had little ability to examine myself and reflect on what I was doing, especially after the “dark sides” of the awakening began making their appearances. (Stories about these dark sides are coming up.) Once the trouble started, once the camel’s nose was inside the tent, and the wolf emerged from the sheep cover- ing, my life became one of continual strife and anxiety.

One comfort I receive is knowing that what I experienced in the JPM and its aftermath is not atypical; in fact it is usual. That knowledge does not, however, compensate for the losses sustained.

Could I go through an awakening again? Maybe. Would I make the same mistakes? Hopefully not. And one of the reasons I wrote the book on America’s awakenings, and a reason I am writing these memoirs, is to perhaps hold up a warning sign, a cautionary flag, that some of what happened to me could be avoided by others.

Essay Five

When visiting a local Sunni mosque, I was given a booklet entitled A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam. The anonymous author states:

Muslims believe that Jesus was not crucified. It was the plan of Jesus’ enemies to crucify him, but God saved him and raised him up to Him. And the likeness of Jesus was put over another man. Jesus’ enemies took this man and crucified him, thinking that he was Jesus.

The author backed up his contention with a quote from the Qur’an:

…They said: “We killed the Messiah Jesus, son of Mary, the messenger of God.” They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but the likeness of him was put on another man (and they killed that man)…Qur’an 4:157

A fundamental error of Islam is this denying of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ while saying another man who looked like Jesus was actually placed on the cross. This is essentially a form of Gnosticism called Docetism.

Gnostics existed prior to the Christian era and were able to incorporate varying religious thought into their system. The Gnostics viewed matter as evil and mind or thought as good. The Christian incarnation, that is, God become flesh in Jesus of Nazareth, ran counter to their core doctrine. Therefore, they developed the idea that Jesus did not actually die on a cross, rather someone who looked like Jesus did. This belief system is called Docetism, based on the Greek dokeo, meaning “to seem like.”

The basic principle of Docetism was refuted by the Apostle John in 1 John 4:2-3:

“By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.”

Also, 2 John 7, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.”

Ignatius of Antioch (AD 98–117), Irenaeus (115–190), and Hippolatus (170-235) wrote against the Gnostic error in the early part of the second century.

Docetism was condemned at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.

Many sects and cults over the centuries have taken a Gnostic stance and thus substitute their own teaching as the means of salvation. This is precisely what Islam has done.

And Islam must do so. If salvation is based solely on Christ’s death on the cross, where our sin was atoned for, then Islam has nothing to offer but is in fact a conduit for false salvation.

Islam is agonizingly focused on attaining eternity in paradise, or heaven, which is really the same thing. Heaven is fellowship with a holy God, and is made possible only through the cleansing blood of Jesus shed on the cross.

Islam and Christianity are polar opposites. Both cannot be right at the same time. This reality must be squarely faced.

The purest, most religious Muslim or the filthiest, most hypocritical Christian. Which would I prefer to be?

Which am I? I am the latter, and due to the utter holiness of the Triune God, I remain the filthy, hypocritical Christian until that day I stand before the Judgment of God on the Last Day and hear my Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your rest.”

Gospel Meditation

Galatians 4:21-31

Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace. Recite the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.

1. Paul reminds the Galatian believers of the history of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac, which history contains the plan of salvation by means of love and grace and not by law keeping.
2. “Judaizers,” those Jewish people who also were believing in Jesus as Savior but who also demanded that the Law of Moses be observed as well. These people were upsetting the faith of others and so Paul must defend salvation by grace alone.
3. Paul points to the difference between the slave woman, Hagar, and the free woman, Sarah, and that the son of the free woman, Isaac is born through promise.
4. It is also evident that the essential Gospel story of grace was long noted, all the way back to Genesis 3:15, and it would always, in that day, and in all of history, be attacked.
5. Paul says to the Galatian Christians that they, like Isaac, are children of promise, which is grace and freedom from the burden, and continual failure of keeping the Law.
6. In verse 30 then, a quote from Genesis 21:8–14, “Cast out the slave woman and her son” and this from Sarah and backed by God.
7. How incredible is it that the ultimate plan of God for our salvation was clearly laid out by means of actual human events more than 2000 years before the birth of Jesus.

The authors’ thesis is that Jesus completed or fulfilled Firstfruits in that He rose from the dead on the very day of Firstfruits. Is this warranted on the basis of the biblical material itself? 

The third holiday in the Jewish religious calendar is an offering and not a feast. It is Firstfruits, sometimes rendered First Fruits, and is transliterated bikurim in Hebrew. In the passage devoted to Firstfruits, the word does not appear until Leviticus 23:17. (An account is also found in Numbers 28:26.) In verse 10 of chapter 23 we do find the word “Firstfruits” but it is literally two words, harvest and first and not bikurim. . 

Leviticus 23:9-14 

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of the harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD. And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the LORD with a pleasing aroma, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until the same day, until you brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.” 

Notes on the passage: 

One. Firstfruits was to be observed when Israel dwelt in the land God would give them, and after they reaped their first harvest. It was an offering acknowledging God’s provision.  

Two. A sheaf or bundle of grass, most probably barley, the first grass food crop to ripen in the season, was waved, meaning it was offered in thanksgiving and acknowledgement, before the LORD. 

Three. It was not a loaf of bread made from barely that was waved—thus nothing with leaven was waved—but it was the unleavened, unbaked sheaf of grain that was waved before the LORD. 

Four. There is no instruction to refrain from work involved with this feast—it was a holiday celebrating God’s provision and care. 

Five. An omer, which means “sheaf” or “counting” was waved (in verse ten), then began the count down of forty-nine days ending at the next celebration of a harvest, which was Pentecost, fifty days after Firstfruits. 

Six. A male lamb one year old and without blemish was offered as a burnt offering, called the olah. It would not be used by a priest for food but was entirely consumed by fire on the altar. 

Seven. The offering was to be presented on the day after the Sabbath—a Sunday. 

Three in a row 

Now it becomes clearer why the holidays seem to point to Jesus. He is crucified on 

Passover, buried on Unleavened Bread, and is raised from the dead on Firstfruits. 

Luke 24:1-3 

But on the first day of the week [that’s Sunday], at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 3 

It sounds as though it was all planned—but not by humans. Bible scholars have long puzzled over how everything worked. Did it all happen because God had so determined? Did it happen some other way but then rearranged to make it match up with the sequence and dating of the Old Testament feasts? 

Those who do not accept the evidence and witness of the New Testament must propose a theory to negate the possibility that God had predetermined it all. Of course! As to the rearranging theory, there is no evidence for this at all, and there are thousands of manuscripts of the Greek New Testament extant with no variations in texts that would demonstrate tampering on this point. The text is solid. 

A symbol of what was to come 

As we view the biblical picture of the high priest taking the sheaf offering the day after the Sabbath and waving this sheaf before the LORD, we see a symbol of the greater harvest to come. Christians celebrate Easter, and Easter falls on the very day of Firstfruits. Jesus rose from the dead on that day, which later came to be called Easter. And because He did, those who have been born anew of the Spirit can have full expectation that they also will one day rise from the dead. Jesus rose first, and all those who trust in Jesus will follow as a second fruit or second harvest. Paul expressed it in this way in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23: 

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 

It looks very much like Paul had understood that Firstfruits was related to the resurrection of Jesus. And Paul, a trained rabbi acquainted with the Jewish holidays, knew the third 4 

spring holiday well. Over three consecutive days were Jesus’ crucifixion on Passover, His burial on Unleavened Bread, and His resurrection on Firstfruits. But, there is a fourth spring holiday, and that is Pentecost. 

Theological compatibility 

Three events in Jesus’ ministry tie in with three Jewish holidays, but there must be more—there must be a theological compatibility that connects them as well. There are such connections, and the following is a review of them: 

One, Passover. A sacrifice was made, blood was spilt, so no death came to the households where the blood of the lamb was applied. The Apostle John wrote, “the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7) and, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). As the blood of the Passover lamb in Egypt brought salvation, so the blood of Jesus, which covers sin, brings salvation as well. The first Passover under Moses prepared for the second Passover. Here is God’s dramatic prophecy in action. 

Two. Unleavened Bread. Leaven is not allowed to be used in the Passover bread matzo, and this points ahead to the sinless Lamb of God putting away the sin of those who trust in Him. 

Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 

1 Corinthians 5:6-8 

Three. Fristfruits. The stalks of grain waved before the LORD at the time of the first Fristfruits contained no leaven; this was a celebration of a harvest and God’s provision for His people. On this holiday, as we have seen, Jesus, the sinless Lamb of God, was 5 

raised from the dead and waved before the LORD. It is a day of the celebration of the harvest of resurrection. 

Is there a biblical warrant? 

Is it possible to state that Jesus completed, satisfied, and fulfilled, in His death, burial, and resurrection something that God had embedded in the Jewish holidays and which mark the roadmap of world history? 

If Jesus’ death had coincided with a single Jewish holiday and nothing else matched up, it would be nothing more than an interesting coincidence. Then we see two matchups, which causes us to take notice. But three that match? Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection occurred on the exact days when Jewish holidays are celebrated, and the fundamental theological content of each holiday and each Jesus event are compatible. We must take note! Now, what if there is a fourth holiday that relates to Jesus, too? 

Chapter 1 9

From Memoirs of a Jesus Freak by Kent Philpott

One of the young men who had been part of The Living Room out- reach with Ted Wise was Lonnie Frisbee. Lonnie was younger than the rest of the group, several years younger than me, and he loved to talk theology and the Bible. Ted and the others were quite philosophically oriented, and I would often complain to them that I could not follow what they were saying. The reply was that they had been influenced by their mind-altering experiences, especially via LSD.1 But I could understand Lonnie and he understood me.

Lonnie was thin and below average height, with longish brown hair and a smattering of facial hair. He looked much like depictions of Jesus seen in art throughout the centuries. His soft, easy manner drew people. He was not a dynamic or loud preacher; he was serious yet conversational. He identified with those who had lived a hard life and were searching for answers.

Lonnie loved to roam the streets of the Haight and witness to the hippies about Jesus. On many occasions, I watched him begin a simple conversation with one hippie, which then turned into a preach- ing event, as people stopped and listened in. On some occasions, the crowd of hippies who gathered around Lonnie resulted in cars stop- ping and blocking streets. It was plain there was something about him—perhaps an anointing, a gift of evangelism, certainly a pas- sion—but whatever it was, many were coming to Christ through his witness and testimony.

I did not know much of Lonnie’s past, but I talked with him about his girl friend, Connie, and his plans to marry. They lived at the House of Acts in Novato with Ted and Liz Wise, Danny and Sandy Sands, and Rick and Megan Sacks. I did not know until years after his death from AIDS that he had ever been involved in homosexuality. He never once talked about it with me nor did anyone at the House of Acts mention it to me. Maybe he thought I would judge and reject him had he told me, or maybe he thought the past would remain the past. It seemed to me that he had a genuine love for Connie and looked forward to having a family.

After awhile, Lonnie expressed a desire to return to his hometown, Costa Mesa. At the Living Room we would talk about this and were divided as to what we thought about it. But Lonnie was determined to return home and start reaching out there. Shortly after his move, he called and asked me to gather up some of the old bunch and travel down to the House of Miracles, the Christian house he had opened in Costa Mesa, in order to interview some Christians with whom he was thinking of joining forces.

David Hoyt, Danny Sands, Rick Sacks, and I drove down to Costa Mesa and met with Chuck Smith and a number of his elders or deacons. Pastor Smith wore a shirt and tie, as did the rest who were with him. They sat on the furniture, while we Jesus freaks sat on the floor. For some period there were questions and answers, and theology was discussed. After Pastor Smith and his folks left, and after much discussion and debate, the four of us advised Lonnie that he should develop a relationship with these more experienced men and cooperate with them. This subsequently turned out to be a significant event in the history of the JPM.

Shortly after Chuck Smith and his leaders left, Lonnie wanted to drive to Huntington Beach to look at a group that had opened a kind of Christian nightclub. It was that very night we encountered David Berg, who soon developed a cult known as The Children of God—a Bible based cult that became a scourge to the Jesus People Movement.

From time to time, Lonnie would call to talk over events, but after a while we lost touch. I knew he became enmeshed with Chuck Smith and his church, Calvary Chapel. Reports of many coming to Christ, with miracles occurring, drifted up north to us.

Only later on did I learn of the trouble Lonnie ran into. I heard from
people who were close to Lonnie at the time, that a kind of jealousy developed, primarily over Lonnie’s notoriety, and an attempt was made to curtail the characteristic independence that Lonnie clung to. Then, after the arrival of John Wimber at Calvary Chapel, in 1970 or 1971, there was an open break, and Lonnie joined with Wimber, who had split off from Pastor Smith. Lonnie connected with Wimber’s new church, The Vineyard, until certain conflicts arose. In my view, Lonnie was essentially “thrown under the bus.”

Now that the Jesus People Movement was ending, human engineering would be employed in order to attract crowds and create excitement and interest. That is what commonly occurs, as the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit diminishes and everything changes. It happened in Marin and the entire Bay Area as well. The power and the miracles actually did not reside in or with us, and they faded little by little, although they did not entirely disappear. As I see things now, I think Lonnie—along with so many others, including me—simply did not understand the difference between “normal” times, when we do all the same things like preach, pray, and plan, but the results are not so dramatic and encouraging. It’s not nearly the same as during the exciting times of awakening and revival. God has His reasons for this, as I will propose in the next chapter.

I have struggled over this somewhat harsh treatment of fellow Christians, but I thought it necessary to tell it like I saw it or the account of Lonnie Frisbee would be incomplete or appear doctored to please others.

Essay Four

It is declared by a growing number of Christians and non-Christians alike that what is observed in the Islamic State (ISIS, also called Daesh from an Arabic acronym) and other groups that engage in violent jihad does not represent true Islam. This, however, is debatable.

Muhammad did force non-Muslims into submission and made them pay a tax to stay alive. Muhammad did behead captured enemies, or at least ordered such and then observed the process. He did cut off the hands of thieves. He did arrange that captured women and children be sold as slaves. He did permit captured women to be taken as concubines; in fact, his last wife was a beauty he had rescued from a Jewish tribe that the Muslim army had defeated. Muhammad authorized lying whenever the cause of Islam was being defended or advanced. He did practice forced conversions. Whatever Muhammad did in his lifetime, as spelled out in the Qur’an, found in the hadith, or seen in the biography of Muhammad (called the Sira, written by Ibn Ishaq), are being imitated by the Islamic State now. And this Caliphate does not deny but proudly embraces this fact.

Not only do they not deny they are imitating Muhammad’s tactics, but IS would view non-compliance to be at minimum weakness bordering on apostasy. This is the present situation. Muhammad taught that Islam should be global and that Shar’ia Law be universal, which would result in the entire world then being at peace. It is the task of Muslims to bring this about. Anything less than this is un-Islamic.

Then there is Salafism. This term describes Muslims who practice a conservative, even radical form of their faith. They attempt to imitate Muhammad and hope to live under Shar’ia Law. It is just that they cannot do so except in a place where it is politically and culturally possible. “Most Salafis are not jihadists, and most adhere to sects that reject the Islamic State,” writes Graeme Wood in his March 2015 article in Atlantic entitled, “What ISIS Really Wants.” They might, however, if given the chance, be every bit as strict as violent jihadists. Wood states that Salafis might implement “monstrous practices such as slavery and amputation – but at some future point.” The Salafis’ stated agenda is to purify their personal lives, including personal hygiene, and to be faithful in prayer and observance of all standard forms of the main rituals of Islam. ^[1]

Are all those who promote and/or engage in violent jihad real Muslims? If the answer is No, then it must be asked, “How could this be?”

There are many reasons why one would turn to violent jihad other than wanting to live like Muhammad. Is it possible that young men and women living in very poor circumstances, without much of a future, could be recruited into something they would later regret? Perhaps peer pressure overcomes them. Perhaps boredom, hopelessness, or a strong sense of inferiority might trigger the desire for a radical change in living. By means of the Internet, which jihadists use but detest at the same time, they recruit these vulnerable youth.

Not only those who grow up in less-than-ideal circumstances are attracted to violence and murder. It is enough that Muhammad both sanctioned and participated in such. The desire for a wonderful eternal future is a powerful magnet and may be the strongest motivator for a violent defense or advance of Islam.

The Internet also shows clearly what is available in the Western world; could envy be an instigating element that plays on the Muslim mind? Or, might a motivation be a chance for a quick ticket to paradise and seventy-two virgins, which may appear to be the only way to get love? Might young men and women be driven to distraction, to a cultic or toxic state of mind and made willing to do almost anything to lift themselves out of depression and despair?

Since Islam is both religion and state, which predominates? Or is there such a blending that there is no religion or state, just Islam? Islam is yet very much tribally oriented, one tribe against another, which is plain to see in daily news stories. Is the Muslim fighting for Muhammad, the imam, the umma (Muslim community), the political boundary, or what? This question might receive a hundred different answers, and silence as an answer could be expected.

Are all fighters with al-Qaeda, the Taliban, the various Shia and Sunni militias, even with ISIS, true Muslims? Yes, No, and Maybe! Only God knows.

---

^[1]     By “Personal hygiene” is meant the intent to properly observe and avoid the many ways that Muslims might defile themselves before prayer. A chief instance of this is to avoid splashing oneself with urine in the toilet. Proper techniques for washing feet, arms, hands, and face before prayer is critical in the Muslim mind. This little section could continue for many pages describing the means of coping with and defending against the evil jinn (demons), since hygiene in the Muslim world is not what non-Muslim Westerners understand but is more concerned with superstitions about the supernatural.

Chapter Three

The authors’ thesis is that Jesus completed or fulfilled Firstfruits in that He rose from the dead on the very day of Firstfruits. Is this warranted on the basis of the biblical material itself?

The third holiday in the Jewish religious calendar is an offering and not a feast. It is

Firstfruits, sometimes rendered First Fruits, and is transliterated bikurim in Hebrew. In the passage devoted to Firstfruits, the word does not appear until Leviticus 23:17. (An account is also found in Numbers 28:26.) In verse 10 of chapter 23 we do find the word “Firstfruits” but it is literally two words, harvest and first and not bikurim. .

 Leviticus 23:9-14

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of the harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD. And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the LORD with a pleasing aroma, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until the same day, until you brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.”

Notes on the passage:

One. Firstfruits was to be observed when Israel dwelt in the land God would give them, and after they reaped their first harvest. It was an offering acknowledging God’s provision.

Two. A sheaf or bundle of grass, most probably barley, the first grass food crop to ripen in the season, was waved, meaning it was offered in thanksgiving and acknowledgement, before the LORD.

Three. It was not a loaf of bread made from barely that was waved—thus nothing with leaven was waved—but it was the unleavened, unbaked sheaf of grain that was waved before the LORD.

Four. There is no instruction to refrain from work involved with this feast—it was a holiday celebrating God’s provision and care.

Five. An omer,  which means “sheaf” or “counting” was waved (in verse ten), then began the count down of forty-nine days ending at the next celebration of a harvest, which was Pentecost, fifty days after Firstfruits.

Six. A male lamb one year old and without blemish was offered as a burnt offering, called the olah. It would not be used by a priest for food but was entirely consumed by fire on the altar.

Seven. The offering was to be presented on the day after the Sabbath—a Sunday.

Three in a row

Now it becomes clearer why the holidays seem to point to Jesus. He is crucified on

Passover, buried on Unleavened Bread, and is raised from the dead on Firstfruits.

Luke 24:1-3

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

It sounds as though it was all planned—but not by humans. Bible scholars have long puzzled over how everything worked. Did it all happen because God had so determined? Did it happen some other way but then rearranged to make it match up with the sequence and dating of the Old Testament feasts?

            Those who do not accept the evidence and witness of the New Testament must propose a theory to negate the possibility that God had predetermined it all. Of course! As to the rearranging theory, there is no evidence for this at all, and there are thousands of manuscripts of the Greek New Testament extant with no variations in texts that would demonstrate tampering on this point. The text is solid. 

A symbol of what was to come

As we view the biblical picture of the high priest taking the sheaf offering the day after the Sabbath and waving this sheaf before the LORD, we see a symbol of the greater harvest to come. Christians celebrate Easter, and Easter falls on the very day of Firstfruits. Jesus rose from the dead on that day, which later came to be called Easter. And because He did, those who have been born anew of the Spirit can have full expectation that they also will one day rise from the dead. Jesus rose first, and all those who trust in Jesus will follow as a second fruit or second harvest. Paul expressed it in this way in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23:

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

It looks very much like Paul had understood that Firstfruits was related to the resurrection of Jesus. And Paul, a trained rabbi acquainted with the Jewish holidays, knew the third spring holiday well. Over three consecutive days were Jesus’ crucifixion on Passover, His burial on Unleavened Bread, and His resurrection on Firstfruits. But, there is a fourth spring holiday, and that is Pentecost.

Theological compatibility

Three events in Jesus’ ministry tie in with three Jewish holidays, but there must be more—there must be a theological compatibility that connects them as well. There are such connections, and the following is a review of them:

One, Passover. A sacrifice was made, blood was spilt, so no death came to the households where the blood of the lamb was applied. The Apostle John wrote, “the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7) and, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). As the blood of the Passover lamb in Egypt brought salvation, so the blood of Jesus, which covers sin, brings salvation as well. The first Passover under Moses prepared for the second Passover. Here is God’s dramatic prophecy in action.

Two. Unleavened Bread. Leaven is not allowed to be used in the Passover bread matzo, and this points ahead to the sinless Lamb of God putting away the sin of those who trust in Him.

Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 1 Corinthians 5:6-8

Three. Fristfruits. The stalks of grain waved before the LORD at the time of the first Fristfruits contained no leaven; this was a celebration of a harvest and God’s provision for His people. On this holiday, as we have seen, Jesus, the sinless Lamb of God, was raised from the dead and waved before the LORD. It is a day of the celebration of the harvest of resurrection.

Is there a biblical warrant?

Is it possible to state that Jesus completed, satisfied, and fulfilled, in His death, burial, and resurrection something that God had embedded in the Jewish holidays and which mark the roadmap of world history?

            If Jesus’ death had coincided with a single Jewish holiday and nothing else matched up, it would be nothing more than an interesting coincidence. Then we see two matchups, which causes us to take notice. But three that match? Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection occurred on the exact days when Jewish holidays are celebrated, and the fundamental theological content of each holiday and each Jesus event are compatible. We must take note! Now, what if there is a fourth holiday that relates to Jesus, too?

      Galatians 4:1–20

Sons and Heirs & Paul’s Concerns for the Galatians

Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace. Recite the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.

1. Paul’s missionary work in Galatia (southern part of what is now known as Turkey) was being undermined by those who insisted that Gentiles, as well as Jews, must continue following the Mosaic Laws found in the Old Testament.
2. Such practice would amount to the ancient “elementary principles of the world,” principles that were, at minimum, a satanic doctrine.
3. The “fullness of time” had come, God sent His son to redeem all people, likened to adopting them as sons and daughters. Daughters is to be included in “sons.”
4. This work of the Son freed us from slavery to the Law.
5. Paul was very much concerned that the Galatian Christian, both Jew and Gentile, would fall into the trap of believing they must submit to law keeping instead of simple trusting in Jesus as Savior. Paul worries that he may have labored over them in vain, and thus his impassioned plea.
6. Indeed, the Galatians had done so much in receiving and accommodating Paul, as he was afflicted by a serious physical condition, perhaps having to do with his eyesight.
7. Paul states he is in “anguish of childbirth,” while he is waiting and hoping for the Galatian Christians to grow up in Christ and leave law keeping behind as their means of salvation.
8. We actually find Paul describing himself as being “perplexed” on their account.