Eternal Kingdom and the Feast Days

The following program is a paid presentation. The views and or opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the staff and management of KWAM. Welcome in to All Things Fulfilled with your host, William Bell. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the All Things Fulfilled broadcast. I am William Bell, and thank you for tuning in this morning. Looking forward to a great study. We're going to be talking about the eternal kingdom momentarily, and our really, really excited about the message that we have for today. Hopeful that it will be edifying to you, one that will challenge you to study and encourage you in your walk with God. I'd like to begin by inviting you to the Rains Road Church of Christ, which is located at 33 East Rains Road in Memphis, Tennessee. That's in the Whitehaven area, and we meet at 10 o'clock a.m. for the morning Bible study. We also meet at 11 a.m. for the morning worship, and we meet on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. for the midweek service. And so we encourage you to attend any of those services, and especially we hope you would come for all of them, but nevertheless, we do look forward to having you in our midst. In addition, we study with you also on the Zoom app, and we've set up personal Bible studies as well. And so we are greatly encouraged by your presence whenever you choose to stop by, or when we may be invited to come and study with you. I'd like to also say good morning to the Facebook group. It's always a pleasure to be with you as well, and I'm excited to see you here this morning. Good morning, Ben. Good morning, Tiffany and Scott. And of course, Dolores, we appreciate that. And we do have a phone number for you to dial in. That number is 901-260-5926. Again, that is 901-260-5926. Also, I can see your comments in the Facebook page, on the Facebook page, and so if you do happen to type in, you know, either a question or a comment, I can see it there. Let's see. Just not sure how much more affinity of Hebrew Israelites from Western Africa I can intellectually endure, but I'm glad you're reaching them. Well, you know, everybody has a soul, and the gospel was to reach out to everyone, and I'm sure they had all kinds of people, you know, during the time of Christ and during the time of the apostles' ministry, and you know, all we have to do is read the New Testament and we see that, but I can tell you that there are some good people out there in just about every category you can think of, and to be able to reach those who have a heart for Christ is really a great work, and to see people's lives changed. It's absolutely just powerful, and I've had the experience of helping some of those brothers see the truth, and some of the women as well, and they are very grateful for it, they are very supportive of the gospel, and are doing a great job, and when they learn the truth, you know, they keep that zeal moving forward, and so it's really, really a powerful thing, and we just have to, you know, continue on and just keep working with them, be patient, like Paul said, we have to be patient and apt to teach, and just really, really have, you know, the patience of Job. Sometimes I get people, you know, say of me, I've got the patience of Job. I don't think my wife thinks that, but when it comes down to, you know, certain things, you know, I'm pretty patient with people, especially when they're trying to learn things that, you know, may be new to them, that they may be just discovering some things, and, you know, that's, oh, no reason to apologize, Ben, look, I understand, and look, that frustration is something that is experienced, you know, by me at times as well, you know, because when you're trying to teach, you know, you can feel some of the frustration or, and it bothers you sometimes, especially with the approach that some of them take when they are even discussing with you. I've had some discussions with them that have just, you know, really been so unpleasant, but people listen to them, and they find kernels of truth in them, and they make changes, make decisions, etc., and so with those exchanges, we've had, you know, some good to come out of them, and that's really what we're looking for. Let's see, we have a few more people in here. I'll acknowledge a few more people before we get started here, and I appreciate you very much. If everything is, you know, if you're having a great day today, just type yes in, and the I'm asking you to do that is because the more you interact, the more this Facebook post gets, you know, a bit more activity, and more people will see the broadcast, and then do something else. You know, there's a share button right there. Look, all it takes is a mouse click. All you have to do is hit that share button, share it on your page with a few people, either share it on your page or, you know, share it with a few people and give them an opportunity to hear as well. So don't, you know, keep it to yourself. You know you're going to be on Facebook almost all day, some of you, because I know how that goes. Sometimes I get stuck on Facebook too, and so why not go ahead and share the message with others? But it's good to see you. I see Israel, Hanson, Ken, Marlena. Pleasure to see you as well. Let's see, we've got a name here that's, I know he's from India, and it's going to be tough to pronounce that, but it looks like Chinna, and I hope I didn't butcher that. We've got Solomon from Ghana in Africa, and we appreciate his being on as well. So all of you, thank you for tuning in this morning, Jamie and all the rest. And so we really, really appreciate you being there. So go ahead and share it and, you know, type in, let me know that you're here, at least say something, say hello, and that will give other people an opportunity to take advantage of the broadcast. Now let's talk about the eternal kingdom, the eternal kingdom. And good to see you, Thomas. You know, today is a day of blessing. Well, first of all, it's my birthday. Yeah, so I just turned 65 today, and old enough to draw Social Security, right? And get Medicare. At any rate, I am grateful. I feel great, and my health is good, able to move about. So what a tremendous blessing that is from God to be able to see these years. I've known many who have not made them, and so we trust and pray that those who are under the sound of my voice will continue to have many more as well. But now, as we look at the lesson today, as I was saying, it's a day of blessing, not because, you know, it's my birthday. I mean, that's great. But this is a day which the Lord has made. It is an eternal day. And if you are familiar with the feast days, oh, by the way, as far as the God's Old Testament feast days, this would be the day which they call Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets. This is what the Bible talked about as the unknown day. You hear people go to Matthew 24, 36, and they speak about the coming of the Lord, and they say, no man knows the day or the hour. Well, that was that feast day called Rosh Hashanah, which is what it's called now, the Feast of Trumpets. It was called the Day of Coronation. I think it was Coronation. I can't remember that exactly. It was called the Day of Judgment. It was called the Wedding Feast and several other names that it had. The Coronation of the King, that was the name of it. And so several of these, the Day of the Opening of the Books, this was that festival in God's appointed festivals that began today. And so people are celebrating that, but they're celebrating it from the Old Covenant perspective. In other words, those days were prophetic. They were dress rehearsals or convocations for the time of the end. And people who do not understand those days fail to grasp the significance of what God was doing at the time. You see, everything was on a schedule with those feast days. And they started with the Passover on the 14th. That's when the Lamb without blemish was killed for the Passover. Well, that's no coincidence that Jesus died as the Passover Lamb. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 7, For Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed for us. He was fulfilling the feast days. But now watch this. Those feast days marked, particularly with the time of Christ, as I said, they marked the time of the end. So they were running their course each year in Israel, but they were projecting to what we know today as the time of the end. And if people were to study them and understand them carefully, they would see how the end time has already occurred just by understanding the feast days. We're actually in one of those feast days, which is called Shemini Atzeret. That was the eighth day feast. That was after all the others had completed. And the beginning of the new year was symbolized by the eighth day feast. Well, it just so happens that in the fulfillment of those things, the eighth day is the eternal day. And that's why I was saying earlier, this is the day which the Lord has made because it is that eternal Sabbath, if you please. All of the feast days were Sabbath days, by the way. Thank you, Paul and Carol. And good to see you, Gina. All of you. Appreciate it very much. So it started with the Passover. But here's one of the things the Bible says about the Passover and the time of Jesus' death. I want you to note something. In Hebrews chapter 9 and the verse is 26. He says, he then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now, once at the end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. So when Jesus died as our Passover, as the Passover to fulfill all of those Passovers that had been celebrated in Israel, he didn't just die at any point in time. There was an appointed time for him to come. And that appointed time was the time for the beginning of the eternal kingdom. Mark 1, 14 and 15. I'll be there in a second. But you can take note of that. So that's what his death was all about. It wasn't haphazard. He was on a schedule, if you please, on an appointment. All of those feast days were God's appointed festivals. And so you had the Passover. And then following the Passover, on the 15th day, which was the next day, was the feast of unleavened bread. This is where, when you study the Exodus, they had to remove all the leaven out of their houses. And the leaven came to indicate a couple of things. One was the removal of sin. And that's what Jesus did. He died in order to put away sin. To put away the leaven from our lives. Through his blood, through his death, through his resurrection, and through the outworking of the gospel. And bringing in of the eternal kingdom. Again, from the same text in 1 Corinthians 5, starting at verse 7, he says, therefore, well, let's even go a little further. He says in verse 6, your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Now look at how he's talking about leaven. Good to see you, Jerome. Therefore, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you are truly unleavened. You are truly unleavened. For indeed, Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. So there's the feast day fulfilled. Christ died on the 14th day of the first month. And then he said, therefore, let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And so he's telling us that this is the removal of sin from our lives. He's in a context where he's discussing a person that was guilty of sin, of immorality, and he tells him, tells the church what to do in order to purge that leaven out of their house. Clean that out of the church, he was saying. And at the same time, this indicated the feast of unleavened bread. So this was being fulfilled right there in the first century. So look at what we have. That's two of the feast days in terms of unleavened bread and the Passover. But there was another feast day, and that was the feast of firstfruits. And this is called the first of the firstfruits because there were two portions of firstfruits. Now, if you look at Exodus chapter 23, and the verse is 19, Exodus 23 and verse 19. And by the way, if you want to read up on all of the feast days, just go to Leviticus 23, and you can see them all right there in Leviticus chapter 23. But in the 20th, I think it's Exodus 23. And I want to say the verse is 19. Yes, he says the first of the firstfruits of your land, you should bring into the house of the Lord, your God, you shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk. All right, so he's telling them the firstfruits of your land. All right, bring into the house of God. Now, the firstfruits, the first of the firstfruits were taken three days after the Passover. Now, is there any connection between the third day and Jesus's death? Well, think about it. He was raised from the dead on the third day. As the first of the firstfruits, everything is falling right in place. And they're still in the first century, aren't they? With the completion of these festivals, the shadows and types of those feast days were being fulfilled. And by the way, for my law is done away at the cross friends, you know, those from my background from the Church of Christ and others who teach that the law was fulfilled at the cross, you got a problem. Because the feast days were all pointing to the fulfillment of the time of the end. And in Colossians chapter two, notice that those feast days were yet a shadow of good things that were about to come. So, if you're reading Colossians 2, 14, and you're trying to end the law at that point, it's not going to work. Now, we've taught on that before. I've got a video posted on that where Holger Neubauer sat in the studio with me and did some teaching on that. It's posted on YouTube. I would suggest you go and listen to it because it's an excellent discussion. But in Colossians 2 and verses 16, particularly, let's note something. He says, so let no one judge you in food or in drink or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths. See, these were the feast days. These were God's feast days. And he says, which are a shadow. He didn't say they were a shadow. See, if it all passed away at the cross, he would have said they were a shadow. But no, at the time Colossians was written, he says they are a shadow of good things or of things about to come. But the substance is of Christ. And so, we need to take note of that present tense that's used there to see where these feast days of the old covenant were typifying what was coming in the new. But they were already in the process of being fulfilled. So, you have the first of the first fruits, which was the time of the barley harvest. And that was three days after the Passover. Then there was a second portion of first fruits, which was the time of the wheat harvest. And that began on the day of Pentecost. They had to count seven weeks of Sabbaths. And so, seven Sabbaths and on the morning after the Sabbath or the day after the Sabbath would be the 50th day. And that's where we get the term Pentecost. Well, you had another group of first fruits, if you please, another category of first fruits being taken on the day of Pentecost. And that was the saints who were raised out of their sins. And that's why James says in James 1 and the verses 18, of his own will, he brought us forth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creation. Those were people in the first century. They are first fruits. Now, first fruits indicates two things, particularly for those who have future resurrection of body, of bodies coming out of the ground in their end time paradigm. You see, that end time paradigm is totally amiss of God's festivals that were dress rehearsals and convocations for the time of the end. And so, if you're talking about a resurrection sometime in our future, you're way, way, way away from those feast days. Here's two things to note about the first fruits. You know, and I hear guys who want to object to the fact that Christ has fulfilled all things talk about, you know, they go to first Corinthians 15 and they will read verse 20 and they will say, Christ is the first fruits. He died physically and therefore the resurrection has to be physical. But see, when they say that, they're not really understanding or paying attention to the concept of the first fruits. Because when the Bible speaks of the first fruits, the first fruits indicates two things. Number one, and very critical to the study of first Corinthians 15 is the imminent factor. In other words, when the first fruits were taken, it means that the harvest has already begun, that it's already in progress. And once it's in progress, you do not stop it. So when Jesus died and rose from the dead, that indicated that the end time resurrection had already begun. And the first fruits was a pledge that the harvest would follow thereafter, soon thereafter. Now I'm a little bit off my topic today. I'm not totally off, but I'm a little bit off because I said I was going to talk about the eternal kingdom, but that's okay. Lord willing, I'll be back next Sunday and we'll do this lesson. I'll just have an extra one to do, but this is all in line with the same lesson, because I'm talking about that eternal day. And I'm showing you how we got to the eternal day, which was a feast day. It's Shemini Axaret. It's the eighth day festival. All right. So it was a pledge that the harvest would begin and would be consummated. And that's why you had the first of the first fruits. And then 50 days later, you had the second portion of the first fruits at the time of the wheat harvest. And that represented the saints who were being baptized into Christ, entering into a relationship with him, but they weren't coming out of the ground, were they? They had been buried and they rose with Christ, but they weren't coming out of physical dirt. And they were called first fruits because they became also a part of the pledge for the rest of the harvest with Christ. And that is what first Corinthians 15 is teaching. Our brethren are so unwilling to relook at a subject and to sit down with others who can bring in a different point of view that they are just totally amiss and just absolutely won't consider it at all in some cases. But blessed are those who do and those who are willing to hear because they learn. Now, the second important aspect of the first fruits is that it indicates something that was imminent. Now, please don't miss this one. You don't have first fruits of a harvest that is part of a harvest that doesn't happen for generations later. Look, if you planted a garden this year, which I had a small garden, had some tomatoes. And I remember when we got the first few tomatoes off the plant. Well, we're now about at the end of that harvesting of that plant, but you know what? All of those tomatoes have continued to flow ever since we picked the first ones. Those first ones were the first fruit. And then there were days we didn't get but a few. But then after that, we started bringing in bowlfuls of tomatoes as the harvest continued. And so it meant that the harvest had begun, but it also indicated that it was imminent. And you cannot use first fruits to talk about the first fruits being taken in the first century and the harvest out in the 21st century. That doesn't work. Even in Revelation chapter 7 and also chapter 14, when John sees the 144,000 who stand on Mount Zion having the harps of God, etc., and his name written in their foreheads, what he says about them in verse 4 is this. They are the first fruits. Now, guess what that means? That they had been raised from the dead, not physically. But it meant that they were in the first century. He's not talking about a time after that. And only the first believers could be first fruits. You cannot come in the 21st century and start calling yourself a first fruit. You're not. You're way, way late to the game. So it just doesn't work in order to do that. Now, here's the other part of that. You're talking about something that was imminent. That's why you have all those statements in the Bible saying Christ's coming was at hand. The time is at hand. Remember, we started out talking about the kingdom from that same point of view. In Mark chapter 1 and the verses 14, the Bible says after John had been cast into prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven or the time is fulfilled. And the kingdom of God has drawn near. And so he tells them, repent and believe the gospel. The kingdom has drawn near. See, these feast days are being fulfilled. That's why he came in the first century saying that the kingdom had drawn near. It was the appointed time. The time had been fulfilled. So he had died in that time, God, Galatians 4 and verse 4. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law. And therefore, there was purpose and time to Jesus' dying and rising. He was fulfilling the feast days, his death, his removal of sin, and his resurrection. But also when he sent the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit was there to raise them from the dead from the death of their sins. And that's why you have the first fruits on the day of Pentecost. And all those in the first century who had the first fruits of the spirit, Romans 8 were considered as first fruit saints. So when you get, for example, the Hebrews chapter 12, which is a parallel to first Revelation chapter 14, that I just mentioned talking about the first fruits, they're called the first born ones in Hebrews 12. You see, of those who were like the animals and human beings who are the first from the womb, those would be the first fruits or the first born. So if you're talking about crops, it's the first fruits. You're talking about individuals or animals. It's the first born. And that's what the Bible says about them in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 22. He says, for you have not come to the Mount that might be touched. That's verse 18. Actually, speaking of what was being contrasted, they have not come to the Mount that was in Sinai where they received the law. But in verse 22, he says, but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly. And by the way, this term, this phrase general assembly is another feast day. This is the feast of tabernacles. And that's not difficult to prove from the scriptures. If you go to Revelation chapter seven, you will see the 144,000 who come out of the great tribulation. And the Bible says they have palm branches in their hands. That means it's tabernacles because that's how they celebrated tabernacles. So this is another feast day indicated right here in Hebrews. But at any rate, let me finish the thought that I had. And so he says to the general assembly and church of notice, the first born, the church of the first born. So those been those Hebrew Israelites out there and those who consider themselves Jews and any others who are trying to celebrate these festivals from a literal point of view and time, they have missed the whole point of the festivals. They've missed the timeframe of the festivals. They can't be first fruits. Though people in the first century were first fruits of these festivals of the fulfillment of the festivals, of the reality that the shadows see what they're doing is they're following a shadow. They're chasing a shadow around trying to follow the old Testament, trying to follow Moses and Torah. That's what they're doing. They're following a shadow. But remember, Paul said that those feast days and the Sabbaths were a shadow of the things to come. So Jesus came to fulfill those feast days because he was the ultimate fulfillment of them along with his body. That is the church. And therefore that marked their end, their consummation. And then the initiation of that final feast day, which was, I've said it once and I'm saying it again, Shemini Atzaret, which was the eighth day festival, the beginning of the new. That's why you have the Bible talking about a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. So Hebrews 12, the firstborn is the equivalent of the first fruits because where are they standing? They're at the new Jerusalem in Hebrews 12. Verse 22. And if you read Revelation 14, they're standing on Mount Zion. And that's what he said here. He says, you've come to Mount Zion. Well, same thing. And therefore you have the first fruits being spoken of there in the first century. Now, here's what happened. So I want you to watch this very, very carefully. I want you to note this. I want to take you to John chapter four. So if you will turn to John chapter four. Now our call in number is 901-260-5926, 901-260-5926. Now, you know, before I studied covenant eschatology, I had no clue what the feast days was all about. And even for quite a while after studying fulfilled Bible prophecy, I had no clue what the feast days were all about. Until one day in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, we were doing a seminar, several of us. I think it was done. Well, I know it was done. Preston, Larry Siegel, Jack Scott. Oh, I hate to miss his name because he passed away shortly thereafter. David, I'll think of his name in a moment. Somebody type it in. You know who I'm talking about. Who else was there? Of course, I was there. Max King and Bill Kanningeiser. And Bill Kanningeiser has passed away as well. The gentleman who wrote Paradise Restored and Days of Vengeance, David, his name David. If you can think of his name, put that in there because I want to give him credit as well. But he was there and he had just come into the fulfillment of, you know, understanding that all things have been fulfilled. But at any rate, Bill Kanningeiser taught a lesson on the feast days and just blew my mind. And I think he blew a few others mind as well of things we had missed. And then others came along and taught on it. And finally, we got to digging into it. And I mean, it's just absolutely a marvelous study. If you will take the time to go to Leviticus 23 and see how the entire end time is laid out. No, it wasn't David Curtis. Nope. I mean, David Curtis did do some teaching on the feast days. But I'm talking about the guy who wrote the book Paradise Restored. I say his name is David, but it may not be David. David Chilton. Thank you, Jamie. Yes, David Chilton and Paul. Thank you. So it was David Chilton. He wrote the Days of Vengeance. He wrote Paradise Restored and maybe some other books as well. But very prolific writer, good Bible student. And he died shortly thereafter. But when we did that seminar, that's when Bill Kanningeiser taught. And I had Bill on one of my YouTube videos and people really loved his material. Go look him up on YouTube and listen to what he had to say. I mean, he was full of this information, had just a tremendous amount of great knowledge and wisdom on the feast days. But here's the deal. Okay, so we said we're going to John chapter four. And it looks like this is going to be a feast day lesson here. So next week, my lesson is going to be the eternal kingdom. But anyway, in John chapter four, I want you to note something. Starting in verse 30, let's see. Let's just start at verse 30. So you can kind of get the idea. All right. Here's the Lord. He says, then they went out of the city and came to him. In the meantime, his disciples urged him saying, Rabbi, eat. But he said to them, I have food to eat of which you do not know. Therefore, the disciples said to one another, has anyone brought him anything to eat? Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Now watch verse 35. Now write this down. I want all of you to write this down and go back and spend some time with this text if you're not familiar with it. And I know some people are not familiar with it because, you know, I raised it before to some preterists who've been teaching a long time and they didn't even realize the text was here. But I want you to look at this one very, very carefully, especially in light of the feast days. Now notice in verse 35, he says, do you not say, or yes, do you not say, now watch this now. There are still four months and then comes the harvest. Are you all following that? See, they were operating on the Jewish feast days, on the Hebrew feast days. And Passover had already occurred. Pentecost, I mean, the unleavened bread had already occurred. The first fruits, first of the first fruits had occurred and then Pentecost had occurred. So when he's here now talking about there are still four months, that was the time between the summer festivals, which those first four were and the fall festivals. Just like I said earlier, today is, you know, what would be considered as Rosh Hashanah and people are going to celebrate that having no clue what it points to, or they're going to think that it's still pointing to some future end time. Because see, this is where all of the rapture prophecies come about. In September, because it's Rosh Hashanah and they know that that's the feast of trumpets or the day of judgment. So they're saying the Lord is coming. And this is where you get all these false prophecies around this time of year. And they all fail. They're all going to continue to fail. They're never going to happen because people don't get the feast days. They don't understand them. So the Lord is saying, do you not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest? And it's okay not to understand, but it's not okay to remain, you know, without knowledge when you can get it. And I'm not telling you you'll only get it from me. You can go do this research on your own. There's some good books out there that have it all laid out, but you got to be willing to go and study it. So he says there are still four months and then comes the harvest. Behold, I say to you, lift up. Now look at that. All right. For the, remember I told you once the first fruits have been taken, it's not a whole nother generation where they take in the remaining harvest. The first fruits have been taken. And here's Jesus saying, look, there are only four months left for the harvest to take place. So when do you think they expected that harvest? In the same time that the first fruits were taken. That's the point. Four months was imminent, wasn't it? Of course it was. John Pierre and Budala, appreciate all of you being here. Jimmy, Mark Glenn, Ramakrishna, I'm going to butcher these names, Malachi, Ben Israel. We appreciate everybody. All right. And be sure that, you know, I asked you before, but if you just coming in, hit that share button and share the message with someone. Share it to your page and let other people have an opportunity to hear. Now, so he says, behold, I say to you now, this is what Jesus told them there. They have their minds focused on the feast day. Like some people today thinking today is Rosh Hashanah, et cetera. That's what the Jew, you know, the apostles minds were focused on. That's what the disciples minds were focused on at the time Jesus was talking to them. They were saying, okay, you know, these first four spring and summer festivals are taking place. So now we got the last four that are about to come in four months. But now I want you to watch. Jesus directed their attention away from those feast days. Rosy graves. Good to see you. Away from those feast days to the feast days that he was fulfilling. And you'll have to see that. So let's watch it right here in the text. John 4 35. Do you not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest. Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields. For they are already white for harvest. Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute. You got to think about this now. Look, the harvest didn't happen immediately after the. First fruits were taken in terms of. You take the first fruits in the summer and then you do the harvesting. These were what's called the cereal harvest. The grain harvest. The barley, the wheat and everything that grew, you know, like cereals and grains, etc. Then at the time of the end of the harvest, they would harvest the. What grew on the vines and the trees like the grapes and the olives and the pomegranates and things of that nature. So this is not the same as the cereal harvest. Those were taken in the spring in the summer. The fall had to do with everything that grew on vines and on trees, etc. So when Jesus tells them to lift up their eyes and look at the fields, he wasn't saying that. The olives were ready to be harvested or the grapes were ready to be harvested. No, he's talking about another harvest. So watch it. He's telling them this harvest is all ready prepared. Everything is ready. But watch. He says already white for the harvest. And he who reaps, reaps or rather receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life. Now, ladies and gentlemen, eternal life is in Christ. Eternal life is the result of resurrection. That both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. He says, for in this, the saying is true. One sows and another reaps. Now, when you read in the Bible, where Jesus gives these parables about the kingdom of God, and he's talking about the kingdom. So my lesson is still on the kingdom, like I said earlier. When you read those parables, and he says, a sower went forth to sow. And when he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside, some fell among thorns, some fell on stony ground, and some fell on good ground. He's giving you parables of the kingdom of God, because the kingdom was at hand and was about to come. Remember, Mark 1, 14 and 15, the time is fulfilled. The kingdom has drawn near. But if you're trying to celebrate Rosh Hashanah today as one of the Old Testament festivals, what you're saying is that the time was not fulfilled. These things are still in our future. And you've got the all festivals separated by generations from the taking of the first fruits, which took place in the first century. Hebrews 9 and verse 26. So notice verse 38. I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor. See, the prophets had talked about the coming of the kingdom. Daniel prophesied about it. Moses talked about it. All the prophets had spoken about the time of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. Acts chapter 3 tells us that. But he said it was about to be fulfilled in these days, not our days. We weren't there in the first century. These days meant the days of the apostles. And that's where the feast days guide you now. So even though Jesus tells them that, and the point here that I wanted you to get there was that he wasn't talking about picking fruit off the trees. He was talking about harvesting souls as a result of the seed of the kingdom having been sown or soon would be sown starting on Pentecost. And that's why you had those first fruit saints taken on the day of Pentecost who obeyed the gospel. And they were right there in the first century. That's what's going on. That's the harvest he was telling you was already there. Now, let me, allow me to share you the nature of that resurrection and why it became a problem for some of the Jews who were present at the time. In the third chapter of the book of Acts, Peter preaches to them, to the Jews and tells them to repent and be converted. Verse 19, in order that your sins may be blotted out. So that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send Jesus Christ who was preached to you before. Now watch this, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which has to include the kingdom, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. Now the word world there is the word age, the word eon. And then he says, for Moses truly said to the fathers, the Lord, your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren. Him shall you hear in all things, whatever he says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that prophet, speaking of the Christ shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. Verse 24, yes. And all the prophets from Samuel and those who follow as many as have spoken have also foretold these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant, which God made with our father saying to Abraham and in your seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Now that's Genesis 12, three. Now watch what the promise was because the promise to Abraham was a promise of life from the dead. It's the same promise he gave to Adam in Genesis three and verse 15. Verse 26 says to you first, see, there's the first fruits to the Jews. First to you. First God, having raised up his servant, Jesus sent him to bless you. That's the blessing of Abraham in turning every one of you out of your graves. No, that's not what he said. He said in turning every one of you away from your iniquities, away from your sins. Now let's follow this through because only got a minute or so left. If you ignore the chapter division in chapter four and follow through the next couple of verses, watch what happens. He had just told them the promise of Abraham was turning Israel away from their iniquities, from their sins. Then he says, now, as they spoke to the people, the priest, the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus. What the resurrection from the dead. Now, what kind of death have they been talking about? Turning them away from their sins. You see, that's what first fruits is all about. Now, that being said, we only got through to the first four festivals. So I'm going to pick up here next week. This is a good place to pick up for next week. So we'll call this the eternal kingdom part one. I'll probably do three parts to this or two. But at any rate, the next thing comes is what they are talking about today, which is Rosh Hashanah. And Rosh Hashanah or the feast of trumpets was called the unknown day, the day that no man knew the day or the hour. And because people don't understand the feast days, they think we're still looking for the day that no man knows the day and the hour. Well, look, ladies and gentlemen, that's about it for today. That's all the time that we have. And so I want to thank you for tuning in with this. I appreciate everyone being here this morning. Please hit the share button and share this message because people need to hear it. And I want to invite you to the Rains Road Church of Christ. We're located at 33 East Rains Road in Memphis, Tennessee. That's in the Whitehaven area. And we meet at 10 a.m. for the morning Bible study at 11 a.m. for the morning worship and on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. for the midweek Bible study. Also, if you have any questions or concerns, I would like for us to get with you personally to study with you. We can do that by Zoom app. You don't have to leave your house. Don't have to worry about that. We can just hook up on Zoom and we can study with you live, even pull up Bible verses to let you see them because we want to help you get a better understanding of the Word of God. Well, look, today is my birthday. I got to go eat some cake and ice cream. And I will see you on next Sunday, Lord willing. Thanks to the Lord for a great job producing the show. And we'll be back on next week. Have a great one, everyone. God bless.