Herbert W Armstrong

   Now, when you think about the great events in history, how many of those happened on a Holy Day? And what about the Exodus? What about Jericho and going through the Jordan and taking over the Promised Land? What about the death of the Son of God? What about the second coming of the Son of God? What about the birthday of the New Testament Church? What about the chaining of Satan and putting him aside for 1,000 years? What about the 1,000 years of the reign of God on earth? What about when all the other people who've ever lived and died, never knowing God's truth, have their day of salvation? Can you think of any more important events than those? Every one of those happened with God's Holy Days.

   Now, this first started a few years ago when I was in Pasadena in a doctrinal committee meeting, and the men were presenting reasons why they felt the Sabbath Day was changed in the New Testament. And one of the arguments was, "Well, anybody knows the real heart and core of Christianity is the Sermon on the Mount." And right in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks about not killing, not committing adultery, not bearing false witness. He talked about a great number of the Ten Commandments, but He doesn't say a word about the Sabbath in the very neat heart and core of the Sermon on the Mount, of Christianity.

   Let's just back up there with a little curiosity and take a look at a few things. Matthew 5: "Seeing the multitude, He went up into the mountain, and when He was set down, His disciples came unto Him." Now, first of all, that kind of strikes you as kind of unusual? People went for days without eating to follow Jesus. There are many other places where they went through all kinds of hardship in desert places, yet here He is, seeing the multitude, went up in the mountains. In the first place, you've got that colored orange for predestination. Why in the world would Jesus try to get away from the multitude?

   You know, I was told for 20 years as a Baptist the reason they went into the synagogue on the Sabbath, and the reason they went into the Holy Days in Jerusalem, was so they could get all these Christians gathered together to preach at them—all these Jews, rather. And yet here you find multitudes, and He gets away from them. I mean, you'll have to admit that's kind of opposite. Seeing the multitude, Jesus got away from them and went up into the mountains. That's sure not what to do if you're trying to save people, you're trying to convert people, and get them to accept Christ, and get them to join you, and be in your work. And that's sure not what He did—He went up in the mountains.

   Well, there was something wrong. Why didn't the multitude just follow HIM? But when He got up into the mountain, His disciples came. So, He opens His mouth and starts teaching them the Beatitudes. Now, He goes on through chapter 5 and chapter 6. In chapter 6, He talks about prayer, fasting, and money, which shows it was something new in the New Testament. Chapter 7, He goes on with His dissertation.

   Notice the last verse of chapter 7: "It came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at His doctrine." Well, something happened, because when He first started talking, only the disciples were up there. He went up into the mountain to get away from the multitude. When He got up there and got set, the disciples came up to Him. But by the time He got through with these chapters of speaking, there were more people there than just the disciples. When Jesus ended these sayings, the people were astonished at His doctrine because He taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes.

   Alright, one big mistake we make because the Bible is broken up into chapters and verses in order to find things easier, and in order to refer people to parts of a paragraph without reading all the way down in the paragraph, but you have to watch out because many times you thinking a new chapter is just a year later, a month later, or you know... Be careful! Men put these verses and chapters in there. So what happened then? When He was come down from the mountain—see, chapter 8 is not any time later; same time. So now He comes down from the mountain, their still there, a great multitude followed Him.

   So you kind of scratch your head: There must have been some reason they didn't follow Him up the mountain in the first place. Some did, some just went ahead enough to make up the people, but not enough to make a great multitude. So now He's come down from the mountain, and the great multitudes are still there. Now they go to following Him. Well, look what all happens then: There comes the leper and worships Jesus, touches Him, tells Him to tell no man.

   Alright, right at the foot of this mountain is the city of Capernaum in the Sea of Galilee. So Jesus enters into Capernaum all at the same time. No, no time change, no geographical change. He enters into Capernaum. There comes the ruler of 100, saying, "Lord, my servant lies at home, sick of the palsy, grievously tormented." He said, "I'll come and heal him, and he said just speak the words." Of course, Jesus comments about how much faith he showed.

   Verse 14: "When Jesus was come into Peter's house," still in Capernaum, still out at the foot of the mountain on the Sea of Galilee, He comes into Peter's house "He saw his wife's mother laid and sick of a fever." So Jesus touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose and ministered unto them.

   Now you get a time change in verse 16: "When the even was come." Why is that important? Well, look what happens when the even was come: They brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils, and He cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all that were sick. Why didn't they do that earlier? Why didn't they come when He healed the centurion? Why didn't they come while He was healing Peter's mother-in-law? Well, you heard the reason in the sermon this morning—because the Jews had a law against healing on the Sabbath Day unless it was a matter of life and death.

   But when the sun was set, that was Saturday night. So they brought them, and sure enough, the whole Sermon on the Mount happened on a Sabbath Day. And that's why the multitudes wouldn't go up the mountain, because it's more than a Sabbath Day's journey. There's no way they're going to go up that mountain and endanger their membership in the synagogue and being stoned.

   Now, how can you prove that even more so? Well, look at the first chapter of Mark. Mark chapter 1 even makes it more of a cinch. Verse 29, we can start off here: "And when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever." Now, she might have had a fever more than once, so you can't say for sure yet that it's the same occasion. "Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they tell Him of her. And He came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them."

   And that even, when the sun did set, they brought unto Him all that were diseased that were possessed with devils. So here you notice the same occurrence of the healing of Peter's mother-in-law and the fact that at even, the sun set, and they brought those that were diseased. Now back up to verse 21: "Mark 1:21: They went into Capernaum, and straightway on the Sabbath Day, He entered into the synagogue and taught." And they were astonished at His doctrine because He taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.

   So here is the same Sabbath Day referred to, and here it specifically says it's a Sabbath Day when He healed Peter's mother-in-law. And then after the sunset, they, because of their Talmud traditions, brought the diseased and He healed them on Saturday night after the Sabbath was over. But here are great intellectual brains trying to tell you that they don't find the Sabbath in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. And He said every bit of it on the Sabbath.

   So you kind of wonder sometimes about people's intellectuality, and God takes the wise in their own craftiness. You know, and God reveals these things to babes and hides them from the wise and prudent. Not only that, if you don't want to have a real laugh, if Christ in the Sermon on the Mount had said, "Now listen, here I am to tell you the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God," they'd have just looked at Him and said, "Yeah, what else is new?" You know, they didn't need for Him to tell them which day is the Sabbath—they've been aware of that for centuries.

   Their problem with the Sabbath was that they've been too strict with it. They made the Sabbath a day of bondage when God made it a day for man's rest. They made man a slave to the day, and God made the day for man.

   Well, there are many other Sabbaths that are kind of hidden away. Let's look at a couple of the Holy Days though.

   Acts chapter 2, verse 1 (Acts 2:1): "Now, this is really odd here. When the Day of Pentecost was fully come…" And what on earth does that mean, "When the Day of Pentecost was fully come?" You know, a day is either here, or it isn't. A day didn't "fully come," when is it "partly come," and "halfway come," or "mostly come." "When the Day of Pentecost was fully come…" That is really weird translating. In fact, the Greek word there, "fully come," is the Greek word "sumpleroo, sumpleroo" which means to fill to the full, to fill up fully. So, the Day of Pentecost was having its fulfillment; it was being filled up fully. What it foretold was happening, what it pictured was occurring, the Day of Pentecost was being filled up full by the church's birth, by the Holy Spirit coming.

   But look how they translate it there: "When the Day of Pentecost was fully come." That's ridiculous.

   Now, it's even worse in Acts 12. Most people know how dumb this one is. I noticed the New American Standard Version makes this very plain.

   Acts chapter 12—one of the most obvious mistranslations: Herod kills James, and sees it pleases the Jews, he takes Peter. "Then were the Days of Unleavened Bread. And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four companies of soldiers, or four fours of solders to keep him, intending after Easter…" I mean, don't go around telling people Easter is in their Bible—why, they're liable to know that verse and they'll show you. When it comes right before Unleavened Bread, anybody knows that is says so right there. But that isn't the Greek word for Easter. That's ridiculous. The Greek word there is "Pascha," which is Passover. Most of the translations have it right. He wasn't intending after Easter to do anything but after Passover He was going to.

   Now, another farce is over in Acts 20. Acts chapter 20. You know, some people, in order to get around the Holy Days, will say, "Yeah, those are just time markers. I mean, after you were in the church, didn't you say, 'Well, I'm going to see my family at Christmas time'? Did that mean you kept Christmas? Does that mean you observed it just because you said, 'I'm going to see my kinfolks at Christmas time'?" Is that how they use these verses in the New Testament? Well, that's what they'd have you believe, and that's why they translate them the way they do.

   Notice then, verse 15 of Acts 20: "We sailed from there and came the next day over against Chios, and came to Miletus." Verse 16: "Because Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus." Now, you might realize that you'll surely shows that people tarried at Ephesus until Pentecost, that they hastened to get to Jerusalem by Pentecost. That it's dead obvious that they were wanting to be somewhere where a holy convocation was, and they wouldn't be traveling on those days. Because how else do you explain that, that they hurried to get somewhere before? That they tarried somewhere until? The only argument, is carnal minds wouldn't see obvious examples like that. But notice what's happening here. Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, one of the largest cities in that area, because he would not spend the time in Asia, for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost. They'd say, "Well, he didn't say he was going to keep it. He probably just wanted to get there because he knew there'd be a whole bunch of Jews there and he could try to save them." That's what they always say, but, uh, that's why they translate it this way. But if you get a little nosy and look up the Greek here, it wipes out that idea. It isn't that way. So, what does it say here? Well, it says, "He hasted if it were possible for him to celebrate at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost." Oh, yeah, that verb means he was going to do it. He was going to keep it. He was going to celebrate it. He wasn't just in a hurry to get there so he could nail a bunch of Jews that were gathered together there, if that's the way they translate it.

   Now, you might want to come back to another example back here in Genesis. You know, these same men with their arguments about the Sabbath, they made a statement that might surprise you, and that is, did you know the Sabbath's never mentioned until Moses' time in Exodus? You might say, "Uh oh, wait a minute now. What about that creation back there?" Yeah, let's go back there. Okay, you got them? Okay. Genesis 2: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." Didn't say a word about Sabbath. You didn't see the word "Sabbath" there. It just says "seventh day, seventh day, seventh day," how he rested, sanctified, blessed. Doesn't say a word about Sabbath. And they say, "Don't you know that, uh, they say, well, wonder why God rested back there. He got tired, I guess. Why did God rest back here?" Because he was tired? I didn't think God got tired. I thought the Bible said God didn't tire. Why did God rest back here? Well, their answer was, "Well, he wanted to anticipate the Sabbath he was going to give to Israel hundreds of years later." They even forgot the Holy Days when they were only in captivity 70 years. They couldn't even remember the Holy Days for 70 years, and you think God was going to have them remember this Sabbath Day? He set them an example by resting hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years later. You know, people will grasp at anything to try to get around just saying, "Okay, whatever it says, whatever God says."

   Now, another thing, if you get a little nosier here and you dig in a little deeper, you'll find out a couple of things about some of these words here. "On the seventh day, God ended his work." You know, that's a problem for a lot of people. In fact, the Celiac and other translations try to say they fouled up the word "seventh" there, and it should be "sixth," because if you don't, it says, "On the seventh day, God ended his work." I mean, now wait a minute, what kind of work was God doing on the seventh day? I thought he ended his work on the sixth day, and now here it says, "On the seventh day, he ended his work." Well, what kind of work does God do on the Sabbath day? You know, Jesus really waved the red flag in front of the bulls later, because he was taken to task about the Sabbath day because he'd healed somebody. And you know what his answer was? He said, "Why, my Father works hitherto, and I work," about the Sabbath day. But what kind of work does he do on the Sabbath day? What kind of work did Jesus do on the Sabbath day? You realize in your New Testament, there are 14 guidelines on how to keep the Sabbath in the New Testament. You know, if I had someone ask me how to keep the Sabbath Day, I wouldn't turn to a lot of Old Testament passages, maybe three or four or five, but I think there are 14 things that he says in the New Testament about how to keep the Sabbath. Now, why would Jesus give you all those if he's trying to do away with it, if he's going to change it as soon as he dies?

   Well back to Genesis just a second and notice what it says: "On the seventh day, God ended his work." So, some kind of work was being done on the seventh day. I mean, he was working on that seventh day. What was he doing? Blessing and hallowing and sanctifying. He ended his work on the seventh day, and he "Shabbath-ed." You know, the word "rested" there is "Shabbath" in Hebrew. Oh, yeah, "Sabbath" is in Genesis 2, but not in the King James Version. It's just kind of hidden in the margin there, and not even in the margin in my Bible. It's mentioned twice, as a matter of fact. He "Shabbath-ed" on the seventh day from all his work which he had made, and God blessed (that word means to declare holier, to declare blessed) the seventh day and sanctified it. Now you've got an unusual word. That word "sanctified" means "to bow down on the knee to worship." I wonder how God did that. I mean, how did God bow down on his knee on the seventh day to worship? Who did he worship? He couldn't have done it. He couldn't have bowed down on his knee on the Sabbath to worship. He didn't have anybody to worship. So what did he do when he sanctified the seventh day? Well, he had it for man to bow down the knee to worship on. It can only apply to man; it cannot apply to God. So God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it, he had "Shabbath-ed" (there again, the word "Shabbath") from all his work which God created and made.

   Now, if you think the Sabbath wasn't there before Moses, you might, sometime when you get a chance, look at the time of the flood. You know, when the birds were sent out, seven days later, more birds were sent out, and seven days later, more birds were sent out. Has that got anything to do with the Sabbath Day? You know, why seven days? Seven days later, seven days later. And, you know, they'd say, "Well, I guess those Jews—if you saw the movie The Ten Commandments—they said Moses kind of scratched his head and, you know, I bet those people would get more work done if we let them rest one day out of seven." And as they would have you believe, the Israelites came out of Egypt and, from that time on, copied the Egyptians in keeping the seventh day and having a seven-day week. The only trouble with that is, at the time, the Egyptians had a ten-day week.

   So, you know, people that want to get around the Sabbath, to me, are like those lizards in the Living Desert movie, running up straws, and they'll bend over and try to run up another straw, and it'll bend over, and down in the water they go, and they swim up a bigger one into the water. You know, just grabbing for straws to try to get around what the Bible says. You know, why do that? Why not just say, "Oh, okay, if that's what it says, okay"? But, you know, it takes a converted mind to do that. The carnal mind will not be subject to God's law. That's a dead giveaway. When someone wants to argue about God's law and they don't want to obey it and they don't want to keep God's law, it's a dead giveaway—they're carnally minded. The carnal mind will not be subject to God's law, cannot be subject to God's law. But people that are converted, if you say, "Look, the seventh day is the Sabbath," and you prove it, they'll say, "Well, all right. It might cost me a job, might cost me some troubles, some friends, some ball games, some fishing buddies. But if it says the seventh day is the Sabbath, okay."

   Now let's look at this one example back in the Gospel of John. This is John chapter 5. Here's one of the healings Jesus did. And, you know, another interesting thing—you ought to count up how many times Christ healed on the Sabbath day. How many times did he heal on Sunday or Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday or Friday? He could heal on any day he looked on all those days alike, then why would he deliberately heal on the Sabbath day all the time? You know, as I turn through my Gospels, I've got red and brown, red and brown, red and brown all the way through there. I've read stories in the past about what a diplomat and what an ambassador Jesus was and how he just, you know, wouldn't ruffle any feathers, and how he was an ideal picture of how to win friends and influence people. And I've got news for you, that's not the one I read about in the Bible. I mean, the one I read about is a pretty good example of how to lose friends and antagonize people, because every chance he got, a man had been diseased 38 years, and he couldn't even wait another day and heal him on Sunday, heal him on Saturday. I mean, people were born blind, and he turns around and heals them on the Sabbath. If you've been blind since you were born, it isn't gonna hurt you to wait one more day. Why did Jesus deliberately do all those on a Sabbath day? Because he was trying to show those people of that day how they had taken his way of life and made it a mockery, made people stumble at God's law, made it offensive.

   What do people say to you when you say something about the Sabbath? "Oh, you can't kindle a fire." Well, you know, I have never yet broken that scripture by kindling a fire on the Sabbath day. Have any of you? Because I've never kindled a fire to melt down earrings to make an idol out of. That's what that was for. Have you ever done that? You ever kindled a fire on the Sabbath to melt down your watch and your earrings and your jewelry to make calves out of? I never did that, so I didn't violate that scripture. You know, they say, "Why, if you follow that Sabbath law, you can't even do this and that and the other thing." Well, you know, where does it say that in here?

   Notice here in John chapter 5: "The Jews therefore said to him that was cured, 'It is the Sabbath day; it is not lawful for you.'" And they nailed him on the easiest point. Look at verse 8: Jesus hit three points, wham, wham, wham, just like that. First, he said, "Arise." Secondly, he said, "Take up your bed." And thirdly, he said, "Walk." Now you can't do any one of those three on the Sabbath day. So he told him three things to do on a Sabbath that they had already been taught all their lives: Don't do it. Don't heal him by having him rise on the Sabbath day. And whatever you do, don't be carrying your bed around on the Sabbath day and walking around carrying your bed on your back. So right away, look what the Jews did. They nabbed him on the easiest one to prove. Now, how did they know maybe his life was at stake? And how did they know how far he walked? But boy, they knew he was carrying his bed. Anybody could see that. So they got him on the easiest. He says, "The Jews said to him, 'It is not lawful for you to carry your bed.'" And he really gives a good answer. He says, "Look, I've been this way all these years, and you guys haven't helped me at all, and you've been teaching me for years about this Sabbath. And here comes somebody along and heals me on the Sabbath day, and if he says take up your bed, I just say where?" You know? He says, "He that made me whole, the same said unto me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'" Then they asked him, "What man is that which said unto you, 'Take up your bed and walk?'" Boy, they had him for breaking the Talmud. "He that was healed, really didn't know who it was, Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place." So Christ used some wisdom and just got out of there. He didn't have to stand there and face accusations by their dumb Talmud policies, which really weren't Talmud yet, but became Talmud, afterward, "Jesus finds him in the temple and says, 'Behold, you are made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come on you.' The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus."

   Now notice what it says: "And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him." You know, really, the Sabbath day is what aroused the Jews first against Christ. I mean, you think they didn't dislike him taking all those people up into the mountain and teaching them? So here, "The Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to slay him." Why? "Because he had done these things on the Sabbath day." And it just got through telling you exactly what he did, none of which break God's law. Now they confront Jesus. They're going to kill Jesus because he'd done this healing on the Sabbath and told a man to take his bed and walk. And what does Jesus say? "My Father and I have been working on the Sabbath from the beginning." You know, that's really what he said there because their confrontation was about what he'd done on the Sabbath. And Jesus said, "Well, my Father works hitherto, and I work." "My Father works miracles." How many people have you seen, for some reason, just kind of get healed on the Sabbath day, have their babies on the Sabbath day? I mean, I've seen more miracles on the Sabbath day, I think, than all the other days of the week put together. Not that it makes any difference which day God works it on, but if you think God doesn't work on the Sabbath, he does. He works spiritual works. He doesn't work physically. Neither can we. "My Father works hitherto, and I work."

   Well, what do you think that did to the Jews? That's like pouring salt in the wound. "Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him because not only had he broken the Sabbath" (according to their Talmud) "in three ways, but he'd also said that God was his Father." Now, he didn't really say God was his Father, "making himself equal with God." He didn't make himself equal with God. Jesus said, "My Father is greater than I." So both of those are false accusations. Jesus didn't say he was equal with his Father.

   Now, let's come back just to an instant back here in Exodus. You know, some people would have you believe that the first time you run across the Sabbath is, uh, here in the Ten Commandment law. It's kind of unusual, you know, to start off with a law like Exodus 20. And you know, an interesting thing about Exodus 20, the very first verse of this chapter, when it says, "God spake all these words," you know, if this is only for Israel, then it should have been "the Eternal that spake all these words." That's the God of Israel. That was the covenant name of the God of Israel. But he doesn't use that word. He uses his "Elohim" name, which is God's universal name. It's the uniplural family of God, the two together. "Elohim spake all these words," not, not the "Eternal," not just the one that became the Christ. "Elohim spake all these words." That proves it's the universal law, one of many proofs. Anyway, coming on down to verse 8, here these people are standing there, and God all of a sudden says, "Remember the Sabbath day." Now, can you imagine that? If you'd been there, you'd have just kind of shook your head a little bit and said, "Wait a minute now. What was that? 'Remember the Sabbath?' You haven't told me about it yet. What do you mean, 'Remember the Sabbath day?' Looks like you'd tell us before you tell us to remember." And he says, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." You know, if I'd been there, I'd have thought right away, "Well, how do I keep it holy? And who made it holy? And when was it made holy?" I mean, now, wait a minute, God, if you're going to tell me to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, then I need to know how it was made holy, and who made it holy, and when they made it holy, and how do I keep it holy? Well, it's obvious that's not the beginning of any law. He starts off with "remember."

   Now, as a matter of fact, if you back up a little bit, back here in Exodus, you know what had happened back here in Exodus 16? Because, let's see. Let's skip over Exodus 16 and start off verse 22: "And it came to pass that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man; and all the rulers of the congregation came, 'This is that which the Eternal hath said: Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Eternal.'" So now here in Exodus 16, he's forewarning, at the time of the manna, about what they'd better do on Friday, the sixth day, because of what tomorrow, the seventh, Sabbath day is. So he's telling them now, "Now, look, this is what the Eternal has said: Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Eternal. So prepare ahead of time. Bake what you're going to bake today, and seethe what you're going to seethe today, and that which remains, over lay up for you to be kept until the morning." And they laid it up until the morning as he abide and it didn't stink, there wasn't any worms.

   Moses said, "Eat that today, for today..." Notice the word is italicized. This is not any revelation of the Sabbath. This is not him beginning to tell them tomorrow or today is the Sabbath—they already know that. Notice the way it's really written: Moses said, "Eat that today, for today is the Sabbath." So, it's next Saturday, and next Saturday, and the next Saturday when you're going to have this problem about manna and when to get it, how much, and when to keep it. Today, you'll not find it in the field. Six days you gather it in, but on the seventh day—and you know the "which is" is added in there—this is not the revelation of the Sabbath in Exodus 16; they already knew it was the Sabbath. Six days you gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, they just took it for granted—they already knew that—in it there will be none.

   Well, it came to pass that some people from Missouri had to be shown, so they went out on the seventh day to gather, and they found none—there wasn't any there on the seventh day. And now, know what God says. And the Eternal said to Moses, "How long refuse you?" All the way from yesterday, "How long?" I just told you yesterday, and how long refuse you? That doesn't make sense at all. That isn't any revealing of the Sabbath at this time at all. They already knew the Sabbath; they were already aware of the Sabbath.

   But look what happens: "How long refuse you to keep my commandments and my law? See, for that, the Eternal has given you the Sabbath. Therefore, He gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Abide every man in his place. Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day." I never have—I've never gone out of my place on the seventh day, not for any manna. Have you? I mean, really, have any of you gone out of your place on the seventh day to hunt for manna? You know, a lot of people don't want to believe miracles, though, so now they've come up with a bush that grows little stuff about the size of the end of your finger that can be kneaded together, sure enough, and make manna out of it—make bread out of it.

   Now, I will believe that when you can show me one of those trees that grows it six days and doesn't grow any on the seventh day, now, if you can show me a tree like that, I might believe it. But until then, I just believe the miracle—God did it. There aren't any manna trees—don't worry about that. Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day looking for manna; there isn't going to be any there. I never have found any there either. Have you? So the people Sabbathed on the seventh day—Shabbat—rested.

   Now, look what we skip over, though. Notice the last verse of this, verse 35: "And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, 52 Sabbaths a year for 40 years." Now, can you imagine that? That's over 2,000 Sabbath days. You'd kind of think, for sure, you'd know which day was the Sabbath then, wouldn't you? Fifty-two times a year for 40 years, God keeps proving to you which day is the Sabbath day.

   Well, let's come back to the New Testament again. It's the Gospel of John, and I've learned some things on the Gospel of John I've never understood, never realized before. I'll tell you a couple of other things while you're looking for God's Sabbath and God's Holy Days being hidden. If you look at the word "atonement," how many times would you say the Day of Atonement appears in the New Testament? I've heard people say the Day of Atonement is the least often referred to Holy Day in the Bible. No, I didn't either. That's not right. Why would you think that?

   Well, how would you go about finding it? Well, you'd look at Acts 27, verse 9, and that says "the fast was now passed," and in the margin, it says it was on the 10th day of the seventh month, and it shows you in the margin back to the Day of Atonement. So you say, "Well, see there, that's the only reference in the New Testament to the Day of Atonement—Acts 27:9." Yeah, but if you take the Concordance and look up the word "atonement," then you've got to find out if that isn't true, aren't you? Yeah, because it mentions it once according to your Concordances. When you look up the word "atonement," you find it once, and that's in Romans 5:11. I'd mark that Holy Day if I were you because that's talking about the Day of Atonement. But it's only mentioned once.

   But you know what? The same Greek word that's translated "atonement" there also appears in your New Testament, but they translated it a different way, and it's the word "reconcile." "Reconcile." And how many times do you think, with reference to the reconciliation of people to God through the death of Christ, referring to the Day of Atonement when man and God will be at-one-ment again, how many times do you think the word "reconcile" appears in your New Testament? Thirteen. So if you've got "reconcile" 13 times and "atonement" once, yeah, you've got 14 times in the New Testament, which is a good number—perfect number, two sevens.

   You know, you ought to get suspicious when something key like a Holy Day comes out on an odd number in the New Testament. You know, from now on, I get suspicious when I find something like that. It's like the word "tabernacle." Let me show you back here in John 1. John 1 and verse 14 (John 1:14), talking about Christ, the Logos: "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Well, the word "dwelt" there is the word "tabernacle." That's right. When Jesus Christ was on this earth in that temporary physical body, that was a tabernacle—Jesus tabernacled among us. And as you're walking around on this earth in this mortal physical body of elements, that's your tabernacle. Peter talks about, "If this body of my tabernacle dissolves, I have a body from God." Paul says, "In this tabernacle, we groan." So you look up the word "tabernacle," and it refers to our temporary dwelling as humans in this earth as ambassadors in the flesh. And Jesus tabernacled among us, it says right there in John 1.

   Now, there are other verses about tabernacles I'll get into tomorrow in the sermon. But look how many ways and how many places the Holy Days are hidden. How many times do you think the Bible refers to the Passover Lamb? You probably think once; maybe you think a few more times. But so far, I've found 31, and that's not right—it can't be 31. That's an odd number, so there are some more hidden away, and I haven't found them yet. But the Lamb of God... you know, the very first thing John said when he saw Christ: "Behold, the Lamb of God." Passover Lamb. He knew that was the Passover Lamb. That's why Paul said, "Our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed for us; therefore, let's keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread."

   Now, let's notice in the Gospel of John. I want to show you here. I have been tempted to do this—so far, I hadn't gotten the guts to do it—to get an old Bible somewhere and just tear out of the Gospel of John every part that doesn't refer either to a Sabbath or the holy days. You know how many pages you'd have left out of John? I'd say probably two or three—maybe there will be a few more than that. You know how many days in the Gospel of John are tied in either with a Sabbath or a holy day? Less than a month, probably less than three weeks, and they're even numbered, so you know that. Now I'll show you. Let's go through here, and I'll show you.

   Okay, John 1. Here you have the first 14 verses talking about the Logos, introducing you to the fact that the Spokesman in the New Testament day was the same as the Elohim member of that family back in the Old Testament day. So, it's one of four places that says "in the beginning." And you know the number four is God's number of revealing Himself—four gospel writers, four living creatures, four many places in your Bible even connected with ten, four tens or four hundreds. So the number four is quite significant, always tied in with God revealing Himself. "In the beginning" is there four times, and this is one of them. So here, he gives you kind of an introduction about the Christ and how He tied in with the Elohim family in the Old Testament.

   Then verse 15, he starts talking about John and John bearing witness. Verse 19: "This is the record of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, 'Who are you?' And he said, 'Well, I'm not the one.'" And then he showed the difference between him and the one they were looking for—the Messiah to come. Now, that all happened on one day, beginning there in verse 19 on down. And now, notice what happens. Verse 29: "The next day, John sees Jesus coming unto him and says, 'Behold, the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.'" Now, isn't that unusual that that would be the very first words out of the mouth of John the Baptist about Christ? What does that bring you back to right away? The Passover. The Lamb of God. The Lamb of God to be slain for the sin of the world. And even the word "takes away" here really is poorly translated. It's directly tied in with the Old Testament about how Christ would bear the sin of the world.

   Then he goes on talking about, "This is He of whom I said, 'He that comes after me is preferred before me.' I knew Him not." John bore record, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him." Then he goes on talking about the Messiah and the Christ. And then verse 35: "Again, the next day..." So now you've got three days referred to. "The next day after, John stood and two of his disciples, looking on Jesus as He walked..." So now John, with two disciples standing and looking on, says, "Behold, the Lamb of God." Right away again, tying right in with the Passover. These two disciples hear Him speak; they follow Jesus. Jesus turns and sees them following. And what do you see? Verse 39: "He said, 'Come and see.' They came and saw. It was about 4 PM on that third day." So now He's even giving you the times on the days.

   One of the two which heard John and followed Him was Andrew. He first finds his own brother, then he tells you about them going and talking to their brothers. Now verse 43: "The day following..." So now you get four days. "Jesus would go forth into Galilee, finds Philip, says to him, 'Follow me.'" Philip was from Bethsaida. Then he goes through and tells you about them recruiting their brothers because God was calling them. Now you've got four days referred to all if the sudden look how John 2 begins: "And the third day..." In other words, the third day after those previous four days. In other words, the seventh day—not the seventh day Sabbath, but the seventh day from the day began. So one of these days was the Sabbath mentioned in here. The third day was this marriage in Cana of Galilee. So you had the first four days referred to individually, and now it skips to the seventh day. So altogether, there are only five days of events covered here and very briefly.

   So here's this marriage, and Christ worked the miracle and turned the water into wine. All right, now look what happens. Verse 12, well verse 11 says, "This beginning of miracles did Jesus..." You know, I wonder why John numbered the miracles and said, "Here's number one." A little later, he's going to say, "This is number two." He just tells you this is the first of the miracles. After this, He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brethren and His disciples. They couldn't stay there very long, though. How come? Well, here comes the Holy Day. Okay, on the way up to the Holy Day. And you watch how much of the rest of this book is simply an account of Jesus on the way to Holy Days and the Sabbaths of Holy Days and on the way or on the way back.

   So the Jews' Passover was at hand. So right after this marriage at Cana of Galilee, He didn't stay many days in Capernaum, so now they head up to Jerusalem. And He finds in the temple them selling oxen and sheep, and He makes a scourge and drives them out and says, "Take these things out of here; my Father's house is a house of prayer." The Jews said, "What sign do you show us?" Of course, here He's talking. Verse 23: "Now, when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast..." In other words, now you're up to the first day of Unleavened Bread. Jesus is still in Jerusalem. He went into the temple before the Passover and the first Holy Day and showed a type of how God has to clean out His temple because of what they've done to it. So now He's in Jerusalem at the Passover and the first day of Unleavened Bread, many believed in His name, and they saw the miracles He did.

   Okay. All of a sudden, notice there's no comment about going anywhere, there's no comment about time change, and Nicodemus came to Jesus during Unleavened Bread. What else are you going to get out of that? It didn't say He went out; it didn't say He went down; it didn't say He left; it didn't say anything about any time passing. And yet before that, He told you specifically: day one, day two, day three, day four, skipped to the seventh. And now, here, all of a sudden, it says, "While He was there in the feast, many believed," and all of a sudden, look at chapter 3: "There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus. The same came to Jesus by night and said, 'Rabbi, we know you're a teacher come from God. No man can do these miracles that you do.'" So actually, this message that Jesus gave to Nicodemus applies to Unleavened Bread and Passover. How can you be born again when you're old? How can you have a new life? How can you have a chance, a chance for something new? Well, you know, have Christ as your Passover and start putting sin out of your life—that's how.

   But the story of Nicodemus happened during Unleavened Bread. Right? Now, notice verse 22: "After these things came Jesus and His disciples into the land of Judea." So that shows they'd still been there in Jerusalem, but now, after that, they begin to come back out of Jerusalem into the land of Judea, and tarries and baptizes in Aenon near to Salim. Then He talks about a question about baptizing and why the disciples of John fas and Jesus' didn't. And there's no break of either time or geography between that part of chapter 3 and 4. So when the Lord knew how the Pharisees heard He made and baptized more disciples, notice verse 3: "Now He leaves Judea and departs again into Galilee." So He's back home. But in order to get back home from Judea to Galilee, you've got to go through Samaria. So now He's accounting for what He did on His way back home from that feast.

   So while He's on His way back home to Galilee, He goes through Samaria, and then He talks about the Samaritan woman there at Jacob's well, and the message there. Notice verse 43, verse 40 rather, let's come to verse 40: "Many of the Samaritans of that city believed on Him because of what this woman said." So when the Samaritans were come unto Him, they besought Him that He would tarry with them, and He abode there two days. So now you've got two more days added to the five we've had, so you've got seven days total of what was going on in Jesus' life outside of His trips to and from feasts and Sabbaths. Okay. Verse 43: "After two days, He departs from there and goes back to Galilee." And He admitted that a prophet is without honor in his own home. So He's come back home to Galilee. Notice verse 45: "The Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did at Jerusalem at the feast, for they also went to the feast." So now He gets back to that area, and they've been up there, and they'd seen the miracles, and they talked to Him about what He'd done at the feast. So He comes into Cana of Galilee where He made the water wine, and He comes to the nobleman whose son was sick. Notice verse 54: "This again the second miracle Jesus did when He was come out of Judea into Galilee." So even numbers the miracles—this is the second one.

   All right, He got home from His past feast, stays two days in Samaria, works a miracle on a Centurion's son at Capernaum. Now look what happens. After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus goes back up to Jerusalem—just got home. Why don't they tell you what happened between these feasts? And you know the only way you can tell—or at least the primary way you can tell the length of Christ's ministry—is by how many Passovers there are in the Gospel of John. You can tell He preached three and a half years because of the number of Passovers recorded in John. So all of a sudden, here's another feast. So He's on His way back up to Jerusalem. Now, there at Jerusalem, this pool called in the Hebrew Bethesda, a lot of people couldn't be healed there, and whoever got in there first was healed. And here we read how Jesus got in trouble by telling a man to do three things he couldn't do on the Sabbath. And, so here you have Christ on His way up to the feast and recording Sabbath activities, Sabbath miracles, Sabbath events.

   So coming on over then, verse 19: "Then Jesus answered and said to them..." There's no reference that the Sabbath ended. You know what was said here is still all Sabbath. And all the way through the rest of chapter 5, He's talking all about that message. It's all given on the Sabbath. Okay. Now, look at chapter 6: "After these things, Jesus goes back home. And now He goes over the Sea of Galilee, and a great multitude followed Him because they saw His miracles, which He did on those that were diseased." He went up into the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples, and the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. Can you imagine that? He just got home, and we're already read He just got home from another feast. Now He just got home and another feast. Well, it just sounds like it's just a record of the feasts in Jesus' life. And that's right, except for those other seven days that He referred to slightly.

   All right. Look what happens: "When Jesus then lifted up His eyes and saw a great company come to Him, He said to Philip, 'Where are we going to get enough for them?' And He just said that to prove him because He knew what He'd do." Okay. Verse 16: "When evening was now come, His disciples went down into the sea..." Was that a Sabbath ending? "So now when the evening was come, His disciples went down to the sea and entered into the ship, went over the sea toward Capernaum. It was now dark, Jesus wasn't come to." So here it's still telling you what He's doing back in His home area, which is the Sea of Galilee and Capernaum were in. The sea arose and He works this miracle of calming the storm. Verse 22: "The day following..." So now you've got two more days referred to while He's back home. So now you've got nine days all total, nine days of what all He's doing back home. "The day following, when the people that stood on the other side of the sea, all of the sudden found boats on the other side of the sea, they couldn't figure out how He got over there." And then they wanted to—notice verse 26: "Jesus said, 'Verily, you don't seek Me because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled.'" Here He talks to them about the more important things rather than just hunger and the physical things.

   Now, verse 59: "These things said He in the synagogue, as He taught in Capernaum." When do you think that was? Wednesday? Ha! If you knew how hard it was to even get the Jews in there on the Sabbath, you'd know that wasn't a Wednesday. You know, when you read in your New Testament that He taught them in the synagogue, does it need to tell you it was a Sabbath day? I mean, what else do you think He taught them in the synagogue? They were there on a Sabbath day. Now, "These things said He in the synagogue, as He taught in Capernaum." So most of that really is total Sabbath teaching all the way through there.

   Now, skipping on over to chapter 7, you already know what that says: "After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee." In other words, after this teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum, "After these things, He's walking in Galilee because now they were making it dangerous for Him to walk down in Judea—they were trying to kill Him. Now, the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand." Now, might as well stop to make a comment there. Why do you think in John only it says "the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles," "the Passover of the Jews"? Why do you think it says that? Well, stop and think a minute. What was different from John from Matthew, Mark, and Luke? Well, only that John wrote down there about 95 to 100 A.D. Where was everybody by then? Were there any people of God keeping these Holy Days in Palestine at that time? Why no, they'd been driven out of there in 69—they weren't there in 100 A.D., they weren't there when John wrote his letter. Where did John write his letter from? Well, he'd been up there on the Isle of Patmos, right? You ever stop to look in a Concordance? The word "Jews"—5 times in Matthew, 71 times in the book of Acts, 69 times in the book of John. What does that tell you? It's got to tell you something. The only five times it's mentioned in Matthew is totally different from the way it's mentioned in Acts and John. How did they use the term "the Jews" by the time of 100 when John was writing, by the time of the book of Acts? Well, there's a good example right there. "He would not walk in Jewry because the Jews sought to kill Him." The whole nation or just the most religious radicals? Did the term "Jews" now mean nationality-wise, or did it mean chief religious leaders and powers? Don't let anybody kid you about the term "Jews." You ought to be careful. "The Jews' Feast of Tabernacles." You know, what else could you call it, writing in 100 A.D.? If you were writing from Patmos and you were writing a gospel, what could you have called it? The only people anywhere known to be keeping it were Jews. God's Church was in a place of safety keeping it. But anyway, there's a reason the term "Jews" appears so many times in John and Acts.

   Well, look what happens. His brothers said, "You know, why don't you do these things openly if you're going to become known?" Which shows they kind of wanted to be more famous. You know, His brothers didn't believe on Him. If He had that kind of power, they wished He had, you know, made it more open so they could have said, "Oh, hey, boy, those are His brothers!" So they said, "Don't do these things in secret. If you're seeking to be known, openly show yourself to the world." Well, Jesus says, verse 8: "If you go up to this feast, I'm not going to go..." Is that what He said? That reminds me of a guy that wrote a book against the Worldwide Church of God. And you know, he goes way back into our articles in 1939 and says, "Why, that Church said this was going to happen, that Church said this was going to happen, that Church said this and this and this and this and this was going to happen, and we're all aware it hasn't happened." You know, I could answer the guy's whole book by just putting on his back page "YET"—just big "YET." Yeah. He says, "Armstrong said this was gonna happen, it didn't happen. Said this was gonna happen. Said this was gonna happen." So that—that's a pretty easy book to answer, you know. Just write on the back page "YET."

   Well, anyway, He said, "I don't go up to this feast yet." He was gonna go for sure. They knew He'd be there. They knew He'd have to be there. If it cost Him His neck, He'd be there. "When His brethren were gone up, then He also went up unto the feast," verse 10, "but He used good wisdom, not openly, but as it were in secret." Then the Jews said, "I wonder if He'll be here." No, they said, "Where is He here?" They knew He'd be there. They didn't ask if He'd be there.

   Well, there was much murmuring. "About the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple, and now all of a sudden, instead of being there quietly, He comes out in the open and begins to speak right out in the temple during these days of the Feast of Tabernacles." Notice verse 37: "In the last day, that great day of the feast..." So now you've got the eighth day. But you know what you've got here? The beginning of the eighth day—a night service, beginning the eighth day. And you wait and see if that isn't so. When does the last day of that great day of the feast begin? Sundown, beginning that day. All right. Look what happens. And notice the message is giving during these days. Jesus didn't give the same message during Unleavened Bread that He did during Tabernacles. He didn't give the same message during Passover that He did during Unleavened Bread.

   So, look what He says: I've heard this verse so many times in the Baptist church. If any Baptists are present, excuse me for that—I don't say that slurring of Baptists, but I was one for 20 years, so I know that I know what I believe, so I can refer to them. But He said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink." And you know, I was told in the Baptist church that meant now, that meant forever, anytime, always. No, it doesn't either. That's the message for the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles. That's the day when, "If any man thirst, let him come." Pentecost is firstfruits. These other days are for people who are called, who are chosen, who are elected, who are firstfruits. It isn't "whosoever will, let him come today". Jesus said to the disciples, "You haven't chosen Me; I've chosen you." But the message of the eighth day is "whosoever will, let him come." That's going to be true in that day. "He that believes on Me, out of his belly shall flow rivers..." or "livers." Okay. Rivers and living waters. Now, you know, the Jews have always had a pouring out of water ceremony during the Feast of Tabernacles. And the more you read, say, in Adam Clarke's commentary about some of the things the Jews used for celebrating this feast—they had a ceremony of lights, they had a ceremony of pouring out of water.

   So when Jesus came along and said, "I am..." You ever notice that? You ever notice the word after that is italicized? "I am He"—that isn't in there at all. Jesus, many times in the New Testament—in fact, a good number—used that term: "I am." "I am." "I am." In fact, you'll find 12 times He used that about different things: "I am." That's His name, the name of the God of the Old Testament. And what He really says there—you remember one place when Jesus said "I am," they fell away backwards? Boy, that was—that name of God, that was frightening to those people. So He was tying the God of the Old Testament in with the Jesus of the New. When He said "I am," to prove "I am, the true vine" "I am the true door, the door of the sheepfold."

   Notice going on here. Anyway, you won't find any change of time or geography all the way through the rest of chapter 7. Notice verse 53: "And every man went unto his own house"—to bed, to sleep. So we come back on the morning of the eighth day. Look at verse 1 of chapter 8: "Jesus didn't go to His house; He went out to the Mount of Olives. And early in the morning, He comes again into the temple, and all the people came to Him, and He sat down and taught them." So it's still the eighth day—no time change, no movement, no...they're still here. So now you've got the eighth day message. "The scribes and Pharisees brought this woman taken in adultery." You ever imagine that was on the eighth day of the great Feast of Tabernacles? When they dragged that woman all the way across town and threw her in the middle of Jesus teaching the people and said, "This woman was taken in adultery, in the very act." Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground.

   You know what He wrote? I know what He wrote. I know what He wrote. He wrote Deuteronomy and put the chapter and verse, except it didn't have chapters and verses then. But He wrote Deuteronomy, and you know what it said? It said, "If people are taken in adultery, they both shall be brought." Wonder who the man was that wasn't brought—the mayor or the high priest or one of the tax collectors, or... It says something, the fact that they didn't bring him, you know? You know what's so bad about the woman? Why should she be the scapegoat? Drag her naked all the way across town, apparently, and threw her in there to the temple and said, "We caught this woman in the very act of adultery." Now, you surely would know what Jesus would say. You'd probably say, "Well, I wonder how that happened—just one person, huh?" But He just wrote Deuteronomy down on there, and then it says they mumbled at this, and He stooped down and wrote again, and then He probably just wrote very plainly, "Where is the man?" And it says they just kind of were embarrassed, and they began to get out of there because they knew they'd broken that law of Deuteronomy that said, "They shall both be brought together before the judges and stoned." But they'd have gotten in trouble with their buddy if they'd dragged him there since he's the mayor or somebody, anyway. But anyway, I don't know how we got off on that. But it doesn't cost you any more, anyway.

   So back to John 8. Here we are early in the morning on the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles. He comes into the temple. The scribes and Pharisees bring this woman in. Then, let's see, we'll have to skip on over here to verse 20: "These words Jesus spake in the treasury as He taught in the temple, and no man laid hands on Him, for His hour was not yet come." So here He is still teaching on the eighth day. All of the red-letter teaching goes on through chapter 8. Look at the last verse of chapter 8: "Then they took up stones to cast at Him." So now, instead of the adulteress getting it, He's going to get the stones. "They took up stones to cast at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by." That's all it says.

   Verse 1, chapter 9: "And as Jesus passed by, He saw a man blind from his birth." It's still the eighth day, except now He's not in the temple. The only change is that He came out of the temple, and now He's dealing with a miracle of healing. And all that goes on through chapter 9. Notice verse 13: Now apparently either this is a double Sabbath, or a Sabbath. "They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind, and it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes." Now, this is just the teaching about the Sabbath, referring back to the Sabbath day.

   Okay, skipping on through... you can read through, and you won't find any time change or geographical change on through chapter 9 and even on into chapter 10. Now, notice what happens in chapter 10, verse 19: "There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. Many of them said, 'He has a devil, he's mad.' These aren't the words of him that has a devil. Can the devil open the eyes of the blind?" And now all of a sudden it skips to another feast. Look what it is: verse 22: "It was at Jerusalem the Feast of the Dedication." So apparently, it skipped from the Feast of Tabernacles accounting all the way to December when the Feast of the Dedication was. "It was at Jerusalem; it was winter. Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. The Jews came and began to talk to Him," and there's no change there. So now He's down there for the Feast of Dedication.

   Verse 39: "They sought again to take Him; He escaped out of their hand." "He went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized." So now He leaves Jerusalem finally again and goes back beyond Jordan. All right, chapter 11: He comes back to Jerusalem because here is Lazarus of Bethany, which is a suburb of Jerusalem, just a couple of miles outside at the edge on the Jericho road. So now He's back in Bethany, and He gives this accounting about Lazarus being dead and how Jesus loved Mary and Martha. They knew about the resurrection at the last day, but they hated to wait that long to get to see him again. And they thought if Jesus had been there, He could have kept him from dying.

   Now, coming on over to verse 55 of chapter 11: "And the Jews' Passover was near at hand." So here you had Him down at the Feast of Dedication. Then He went back home, and it didn't tell you a thing about Him except that He was just in Jordan over there. And all of a sudden, He's back in Jerusalem at Bethany with Mary and Martha and Lazarus. And now it's just six days before Passover. That's why He's back down there again. And while He's there, He's in Bethany, so the Jews' Passover was near at hand. "Then they went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves." Then they sought for Jesus and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple, "What do you think? That He will not come to the feast? Things are too hot now; we've got things too stirred up—maybe He'll skip, won't come to this feast."

   Well, verse 1 of chapter 12: "Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom He raised from the dead." And they made Him a supper. Apparently, this was a Friday night supper, a Sabbath meal. So when Jesus would get out of Jerusalem, He'd usually go to Bethany and keep the Sabbath with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus Friday night and then go into the temple on the Sabbath day. So six days before the Passover—of course, Passover day was a Wednesday, so six days before the Passover would be a Friday. So here He's having a Friday night Sabbath meal with Mary and Martha and Lazarus, and they made Him a supper.

   And then, coming on over to verse 12: "On the next day," which would be Saturday, "much people that were come to the feast, when they heard Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees..." So now you read about Palm Saturday here, Palm Saturday. Who ever heard of Palm Saturday? I'm here to tell you it was Palm Saturday—there ain't no such thing as Palm Sunday. Where do you think you get a Palm Sunday, anyway? You know, there are several ways you can prove this is Palm Saturday. In the first place, what day did they take up the Passover Lamb back in Exodus? On the 10th day. The 10th day was the day they took up the Passover Lamb. Then they kept him up till the beginning of the 14th when they slew him. Well, you know, that was a Tuesday night or a Wednesday back then, so the 10th was a Saturday. So there are several different ways you can prove this is Palm Saturday. So they took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet and cried, "Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel!" When Jesus had found a young ass, sat thereon: "Fear not, daughter of Zion: behold, your King comes, sitting on an ass's colt." So here He comes in on Palm Saturday. You read all about Palm Saturday there in chapter 12.

   Now notice chapter 13: "Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come..." "During supper," as that New American Standard Bible has it, "during supper, He arises..." And from here on, you know what it is: foot washing before Passover, Passover, and all the words of Jesus after the foot washing, after the Passover. And that finishes the book of John. And what do you have? Nine days, ten days out of the whole book—21 chapters—and you had nine or ten days that weren't either Sabbath or Holy Days. And how much space did they take? I really don't think you'd have three pages if you took anything in the Gospel of John that didn't pertain to a Sabbath on the way up or back or a Holy Day. How much of John would you have left? You know, I really believe that's why God had John write this Gospel so much later. Now, I know they wrote from a different angle, and John was the beloved disciple, and he could give you more of the intimate, deep nature of Jesus, and that's true. But when I see how much the Sabbath and Holy Days dominate the Gospel of John, I mean, that is just astounding. And you wait till you see how much of the rest of the Bible actually happened on a Sabbath day. I hope in the Kingdom we'll have red-letter Sabbath passages and maybe blue-letter words of Christ. But I'd like to know all is part of this fat Bible that either occurred on a Sabbath or Holy Day. I really think that when Abraham went up to offer Isaac, the day that God intervened and spared Abraham sacrificing Isaac was probably the very day that later would be the Passover. I know it wasn't Passover back then—they didn't have that.

   Well, we'd better quit there. So, we'll see you again in the morning. Bring your nodose and big cushions, and see you again in the morning.