GOD HAS HIS APPOINTED TIMES FOR ALL THINGS
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: Eccl 3:1
Ecclesiastes continues with, “a time to be born …”, ponder this, the miracle of a new life. Biologists agree with the bible that we are composed of the dust of the ground, for all the elements found in our bodies are also found in the dust of the ground. They also tell us that life begets life, which is another way of saying; the only source of life is life itself. So, it takes life to create life. In that, the bible is in agreement with the biologists. The bible starts with what some like to call, the first cause “In the beginning, GOD …” one moment, dust, the next, life.
God is the life that begets life; God can create life in an instant, but growth is a work of time. Shouldn’t we, therefore, strive to understand His methods of logical order in His stages of growth, appointed times and, preordained events?
Let’s consider the miracle of conception and birth of a baby. God is in the process of creating a brand new physical life, a completely unique individual, a potential son of God (Jn 1:12). Could that be comparable to the miracle of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? Is God also in the process of creating a new spiritual child of God? Doesn’t the bible itself describe it as a new birth, being born again, a new creature?
The unborn child, protected and nourished in its mother’s womb, goes through a predetermined sequence of development. Aren’t we also, admonished to progress from the milk of the word to the full knowledge of God (1 Peter 2:2)? Don’t we, ourselves, progress from the physical to the spiritual?
Even to His bringing into His kingdom many sons and daughters, we find a correlation to the birth process. We know that God’s appointed convocations give us an outline for His plan of salvation and redemption of mankind. Have you ever considered how similar the conception and birth of a baby is to God’s annual appointed times?
From day one of the start of a woman’s cycle, to the 14th day, the egg is maturing to the point where it can be fertilized.
So on the fourteenth day of the month the egg is ready to be fertilized; does the 14th day of the first month ring a bell? There was an appointed time for God’s lamb to be sacrificed. That time was to be the 14th day of the first month (Nison), not sooner, not later. We know it as the Passover.
The egg must be fertilized within 24 hours.
Does that remind you of how the Passover Lamb must be sacrificed between the evenings? Ex 12:6 [In the evening] Beeyn haa`arbaayim, is literally "between the two evenings," which could be understood to be a 24 hour period.
We are reminded of Jesus’ words in John 12:24 “… unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” Wasn’t Jesus that kernel?
Within two to six days the fertilized egg attaches itself to the wall of the womb and begins to grow.
How odd---isn’t the Feast of First Fruits observed from two to six days after Passover (Lev 23:10-12)? Remember, Passover is an annual event and could occur on most any day of the week. Therefore, the Feast of First Fruits, always being the first day of the week, could happen from two to six days after Passover on any given year.
God’s Son, being the second Adam and the First Fruit, having completed His work on earth is welcomed to heaven by the Father (John 20:17). Here He will have a position at the right hand of the Father until His enemies are made His footstool (Ps 110:1).
The good seed has fallen to the ground and died. The harvest of the First Fruits has begun (James 1:18) with the first of the first fruits having passed from death unto life. There will be much fruit to follow. The harvest will be bountiful.
Fifty days later the embryo has arms, legs, hands, feet, toes, eyes, etc. It is now recognizable as a human fetus, definitely an offspring of the parents.
Fifty days from the day the Wave Sheaf was offered comes Pentecost, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Fulfilled in Acts two, the beginning of the New Testament Church. Definitely a recognizable event, and Christians are recognizable, as God’s own throughout the world.
By the first day of the seventh month the baby’s hearing has fully developed. Now the baby can hear and distinguish sounds outside the womb.
And the Lord said, “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘in the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation’” (Lev 23:24). On that great day described in Matthew 24:31; 1Thes 4:16; 1Cor. 15:51-52; and many other places, He will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet; a sound that will reverberate throughout the universe.
On the tenth day of the seventh month the hemoglobin of the blood changes from that of the mother, to a self-sustaining baby.
What great event occurs ten days into the seventh month? The Day of Atonement is the day when the blood of the sacrifice is taken into the Holy Of Holies for the cleansing of the Temple. Remember, brethren, we are the Temple Of God (1 Cor 3:16-17). This is the most serious day of the entire year, and is spent in total fasting and humble prayer (Lev. 23:27-32; Ex 30:10). This is also the day when Satan will be bound and cast into the bottomless pit, where he will remain for a thousand years (Lev. 16; Rev. 20:1-3). God’s temple having been cleansed, our accuser banished; we are now a fully functioning child of God.
On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the lungs become fully developed. If born before then the baby would have a hard time breathing.
And the fifteenth day of the seventh month is the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, or Ingathering---a coming together for all of God’s people, it’s a wonderful time of celebration, “and they sang a new song ---”(Rev 5:9). And in Psalms 149:1-5 we read:
1 Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.
2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
3 Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.
4 For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.
Certainly God‘s First Fruits will be joyously exercising their lungs at this time.
It has been said that every analogy breaks down at some point; apparently we have reached that point. What follows seems to have no connection with the Holy Days of Leviticus 23, however it is worthy of consideration.
Birth takes place at about the tenth day of the ninth month after conception.
Nine months and ten days after Passover, (the 25 day of the month Cisleu) the eight-day festival of Hanukkah (Feast of Dedication) starts.
Although Hanukkah is not mentioned in Leviticus 23, it does seem to have a bearing with Christ’s warning in Matthew 24:15 and mentioned in Dan. 8:13-14, about the Abomination of Desolation. Could this be the beginning of the Tribulation mentioned in Matthew 24:21?
Antiochus sacrificed a pig on the altar in the Holy of Holies, which led to a rebellion of the Jews. This is the time the Jews celebrate the deliverance from the armies of Antiochus Epiphanes. Are we being told about a future antitype of this event?
Hanukkah is a celebration of deliverance and cleansing of the temple.
Eight days later, at the end of Hanukkah, deliverance and cleansing of the temple is complete.
Eight days after birth the clotting ability of the blood of the baby is at its highest point.
Eight days after birth an Israelite male baby is circumcised, a sign of the eternal covenant between Abraham and God. But we are circumcised with the circumcision that was made without hands by the circumcision of Christ. Buried with Him in baptism, the symbol of death, burial, and resurrection (Col 2:11-12).
Could anyone have understood the human gestation sequence 3,500 years ago? The correlation of God’s appointed times, with the birth of a child is astounding to say the least. How can one deny the truth of intelligent design in the face of such evidence? How can one not believe in the first cause? “In the beginning GOD ---!”
The continuity of God’s appointed times did not stop at the cross as some would have us believe; otherwise, why did Pentecost occur at the precise time appointed? Pentecost came 50 days after the Wave Sheaf offering. The Passover was fulfilled in the year of His choosing; Christ is at the right hand of the Father. Yet the Apostles were still observing Pentecost. And the Holy Spirit came right on cue.
Therefore, let no one, regardless of credentials, pass judgment on us for honoring God’s shadows of things that has come and are yet to come as He has determined.
Read again Col 2:16-17, Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: Is Paul saying not to observe these days or not to let anyone judge you for observing these days?
17 Which is a shadow of things to come; but the body [is] of Christ. (Note, if you are using the NIV you will find that they have taken the liberty to insert the words “that were” in front of “to come”, thus changing the meaning to indicate they’re all past. Consider God’s judgment reserved for those who would add to or take from His word (Pro 30:6; Rev 22:19).
God has revealed to us the process He uses to obtain the growth and results He desires. Let us honor His gifts of knowledge He has given us. Remember that a good understanding have all they that do His commandments, for His commandments make us wiser than our enemies, or even our teachers (Psalms 111:10; 119:98).
Review Acts 2:1, “and when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place.” And we all know what happened next. One wonders, what if they had not been there observing Pentecost? God has set appointments in His times and He has shone them to us, will we listen?
Doing the right thing, at the right place, at the right time could never be more important than when God has set a time. Brethren, God created time, events in His time is not coincidental. Let us keep the Feasts of the Lord, so that we may be found to be in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing.
There is a new world coming and is right now going through the birth process. Could there be a danger that some, because of the cares and distractions of this world, might become stillborn?
Del Leger, Christian Church Of God, Grand Junction, Co. (970) 249-6857, dlleger@montrose.net
