The Last Great Day

The world’s churches have never tried to do away with the second resurrection!

They have never tried to do away with the second resurrection, because they can’t see that teaching! They don’t know that it’s there! They cannot try to do away with a teaching, that they don’t even know exists. The meaning of the Last Great Day is invisible to this world’s religions.

The significance of the Last Great Day is a huge mystery for all other religions.

Why is this so? Why can’t they see the second resurrection in the Scriptures?

They cannot see the second resurrection in the Bible because God has deliberately hidden this teaching in the Bible. It is only to be discovered by those people who will have their opportunity for salvation now in this present age. The way I have at times said it in the past is:

Anyone who understands that there is going to be a second resurrection cannot be in it! He understands too much.

We are accountable to God for everything we know. And the more we know, the more accountable we become. So God has deliberately hidden the understanding about the second resurrection from the world’s religions.

THE TIME OF ADAM’S CREATION

Let’s go back to the time when God created Adam.

When Adam and Eve sinned, God decided to give human beings a life-span of just under 1,000 years, with many men living for over 900 years. Adam lived for 930 years (Genesis 5:5), Seth lived 912 years (verse 8), Jared lived 962 years, and Methuselah lived for 969 years. Noah was the last of the long-lived men, living for 950 years (Genesis 9:29). It is hard for us today to picture having someone around to talk to, who was born back in the year 1100 A.D. But that is how long men lived during the first 1500 years after Adam’s creation.

When God created Adam and Eve, God also gave this planet Earth a perfect 360-day year, consisting of 12 months with every month being exactly 30 days long.

Now after the flood God in stages shortened man’s life-span, so that by the time of Moses the typical length of life was less than 120 years. At some point after the flood God also altered the annual cycle, so that the months were shortened by approximately half a day, while the years were lengthened to approximately 365¼ days. This change destroyed the unity between the solar and lunar cycles. And at the exodus from Egypt God changed the start of the year from the first new moon in the fall (autumn) to the first new moon in the spring, Northern Hemisphere.

Question: Why did God make these changes to man’s life-span and to the start of the year? Was there something wrong with the long life God had originally given human beings? Was there something wrong with starting the year in the fall, instead of starting it in the spring? What do these changes which God made tell us?

Answer: They tell us that God had made some changes to His original plan for mankind!

Conditions that were designed for the way God originally intended to work with human beings were no longer appropriate for the new way in which God had decided to deal with human beings in the changed plan. The original goal of God’s plan, to build a Family of God Beings, remained the same; but the way to achieve that goal was changed.

Let’s be specific.

Question: What does the originally very long life-span for human beings tell us?

Answer: It tells us that originally God intended to give man only one shot at physical life!

Such a long life-span should have been long enough to sort out who would be changed into a son of God, and who would not become a part of God’s Family.

To hypothetically consider this from our modern perspective:

If someone was born a few hundred years before Christopher Columbus discovered America, and that person was still alive today, then by today it should surely be clear whether or not that person was going to unconditionally submit his life to God’s laws and ways or not. If such a man alive today was still not going to resist selfishness, and willingly live by all of God’s laws, then there would be no point in still offering that person another 100 years in a second resurrection. Why would another 100 years cause such a man to have a total change of heart?

The lesson:

The original long life-span tells us that originally God’s plan did not make any provision for a second resurrection. Therefore originally, before the flood, even when people sinned in very serious ways, God did not want their lives to end. God originally did not intend to impose the death penalty for sins like murder. Rather, God intended for sinners to continue living, to see if they would change at some point, and then gladly and willingly obey all of God’s laws.

So when Cain killed his brother Abel, more than 120 years after Adam’s creation, God made very sure that nobody would take it upon themselves to kill Cain in revenge. Here is what God said to Cain after Cain had killed Abel.

And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. (Genesis 4:15)

At that time it was important for God’s plan that the murderer Cain would continue to live, to show whether or not he would ever come to a different way of thinking and behaving; i.e. whether he would ever repent. The life Cain had was his only opportunity to eventually become a part of God’s Family. That opportunity was not to be cut short by imposing an immediate death penalty for his sin.

Whatever the mark upon Cain was, it sent a very clear message to all other people at that time: don’t even think about killing Cain. As a result of this feature of God’s original plan (i.e. no death penalty for murderers), violent sinners continued to live and multiply amongst the people in the pre-flood world.

At some point God apparently accepted that this approach of dealing with us human beings would result in a greater than 99% failure rate. And that was when God regretted that He had created us human beings in the first place.

And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5)

This was not what God had expected!

This is what God had learned after working with human beings for, in round numbers, 1,500 years. This was not a hastily drawn conclusion. God reached this conclusion after exhausting every way of working with man that was possible, within the parameters God had established at the time of Adam’s creation.

God had simply not anticipated this universal level of evil amongst human beings. This means that God was not prepared for just how perverse our human minds really are! Therefore God also had not made any provision to deal with this universal perverse human conduct. God had come to see that human nature is not neutral at birth, not at all. Human nature is evil from the get-go. Human nature is anti-God.

So God regretted that He had created us human beings.

And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. (Genesis 6:6)

If human nature really was “neutral” at birth, then God would not have reached this conclusion. But God reached this conclusion once God recognized that human nature is evil from the very start, that the thoughts of the natural human heart are “only evil continually”. By “from the very start” I mean from the time a young child is capable of thinking independent thoughts. I do not mean “from the day of birth”! I mean “the very start of thinking independently”.

Therefore God determined to end that way of working with man. A new way of working with man was clearly needed. The new way of working with man had to take man’s perverse anti-God mind into account.

Now to make the break between the two different ways of working with human beings, God decided to kill all people, except for one extended family consisting of four men and four women, Noah’s family.

And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repents Me that I have made them. (Genesis 6:7)

Why destroy them all, when it would not take long for humanity to once again reach the same level of wickedness? What was the real purpose for destroying all but eight human beings? The main purpose for destroying all people was to clear the way for introducing a whole new approach towards achieving God’s intentions, i.e. God building the Family of God.

THE REVISED PLAN AFTER THE FLOOD

It was going to be the same original goal; but God would achieve that goal by a completely different method than the one God had originally implemented at the time of Adam’s creation. That new method for dealing with mankind went into effect when Noah stepped out of the ark.

Now the changes that God implemented in the new plan after the flood meant that it was no longer essential that all human beings would be given a long life-span. The second resurrection, appended to the end of the original plan, replaced the need for the extremely long lives people had before the flood.

The main changes that God introduced after the flood were:

1) Jesus Christ would no longer be on Earth. Instead, Christ would be in heaven with God the Father.

2) Instead of trying to work with all human beings simultaneously, God would break all humanity down into two distinct groups. God would first work with a very small hand-picked group. God the Father would select certain individuals, with whom Jesus Christ would work. Those are the people God would “call” and “choose”. Not “call” only, but “call and choose”. In the process of choosing the few from amongst the many that God would call, God set the total number of those He would “choose” and work with to exactly 144,000 for the next approximately 4,500 years.

3) That group of people, who are called and chosen by God, will produce exactly 144,000 “helpers”, so that from then onwards God can work with all other people simultaneously. But until that small group of 144,000 has been established, the rest of humanity would be kept blinded, as far as the truth of God is concerned.

They would be reserved for the second resurrection, at which time Jesus Christ plans to have those 144,000 assistants to help in working with that huge multitude of humanity. Those helpers will also be known as “kings and priests” (see Revelation 5:10) and as “the firstfruits unto God” (see Revelation 14:4).

4) Because we human beings are so inherently evil, therefore God also introduced the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for all human sins into the plan. The point is that if we human beings are willing to acknowledge our own evil ways, and we are also in our minds willing to change away from evil, then Christ’s sacrifice will be applied to us, to blot out the guilt of our past sins. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins was not included in the plan before the flood, when God had given people those very long lives.

Keep in mind the nature of a sacrifice. A sacrifice is never a part of an original plan. We do not in advance plan to make sacrifices. No, a sacrifice is always a response to unexpected developments. To deal with results that were not anticipated, we then make some sacrifices, so that we can still achieve our original intentions. A sacrifice represents a greater cost for something than we originally expected.

And for God to still achieve God’s original intentions was also going to require a greater cost than God had originally anticipated. That “greater cost” is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ’s life for our human sins.

5) Now once our past sins are forgiven, then we are required to obey all of God’s laws and instructions. But we still have the same natures as had the people in Genesis 6:5. So to give us a fighting chance to resist the pulls of our carnal nature, God has made available His holy spirit to all those people who truly repent, who truly change the way they use their minds. The holy spirit enables our minds to resist evil, provided we put out our own maximum effort in the process. We have to put the holy spirit to use in the way we live our lives.

6) For the great majority of people, with whom God would not work during this current age, God appended the second resurrection to the original plan of working with human beings. The people who are in this group are not to know that their opportunity for salvation would come in a second physical lifetime. Therefore this truth is to some degree discreetly hidden amongst the teachings of the Bible.

Specifically, the false churches were not to understand that the vast majority of all human beings after the flood would be given a second physical life, to then have their minds opened to the truth of God. It is not God’s intention to give anyone a choice: would you like to be in the first resurrection, or would you rather have a part in the second resurrection? That is not an option for anyone.

As I said earlier, anyone who understands that God’s plan includes a second resurrection, cannot be in that second resurrection. Such a person only has the choice of the first or the third resurrection. So to minimize uncalled worldly people from accidently coming to understand that there will be a resurrection to a second physical life, therefore this biblical truth is to some degree hidden from general view. It is hidden for the benefit of those people who will be in that resurrection. Hiding this teaching somewhat is an expression of God’s mercy for those people who don’t understand the truth of God. God wants to avoid those people becoming accountable for any knowledge about the second resurrection.

This is the principle of John 9:41. When people who are spiritually blind say “we see”, then they become accountable for that claim, even though they don’t see. Or as Jesus Christ stated it: their sin remains.

When Noah came out of the ark there were only eight human beings on earth, while when Cain killed Abel there had been quite possibly around a million people alive (since nobody had died before Cain killed Abel around 120+ years after Adam’s creation). Yet, even when there were still only eight people on earth, once Noah came out of the ark, God immediately imposed the death penalty for murder.

And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man. (Genesis 9:5-6)

This was a major change from the way God had dealt with Cain!

A long physical life is no longer essential for God’s revised plan. And with the knowledge of man’s violent disposition (see Genesis 6:11-13), God immediately established the death penalty for murder, to encourage at least some restraint. Since the end of the flood it doesn’t matter if people die before reaching old age, because they are extremely likely to be in the second resurrection, where they will all then be given life for 100 years, with the opportunity for salvation.

After the flood God then started to reveal some aspects of the revised plan in a disguised way to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And then in the days of Moses God continued to reveal more details of His plan, also still in a disguised way. That’s what we have in Leviticus 23, with all the annual Feasts and Holy Days.

We in God’s Church understand that these annual observances, from the Passover all the way to the Last Great Day, represent different aspects of God’s plan of salvation for mankind. But the world doesn’t understand that! To them God’s plan is a mystery. To them all those days are just “Jewish observances”. For that matter, even the Jews themselves don’t understand the real significance God has attached to these annual observances.

Let’s look at what God had already revealed to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

THE TIME OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB

As we examine the following Scriptures, I don’t want to diminish that they all basically have an application on the physical level, in this present life. But they also have an application in revealing the various steps in God’s revised plan after the flood. But this understanding requires a greater level of discernment.

Let’s start in Genesis 12.

And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing: (Genesis 12:2)

This is the first hint in the Old Testament that God was now planning to have a first resurrection! This is what God revealed when God called Abraham at age 75 years.

Israel is one nation consisting of twelve distinct tribes. Israel is “a great nation” not because of a large population. Israel is “a great nation” because Israel will be the most important nation within the Family of God. And then Israel will consist of exactly 144,000 individuals, divided into twelve tribes of 12,000 each.

It is the first resurrection that will create one distinct nation within the Family of God. That nation, called “Israel”, will be the Bride of Jesus Christ. It will without question be the greatest nation within the Family of God, which Family will ultimately consist of many “nations”.

And that is what God was already hinting at when God called Abraham.

Let’s look at the next Scripture.

Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? (Genesis 18:18)

Note the reference to one single mighty nation. It is not a matter of not finding some meaning for this in our world today. That is fine. But there is the additional dimension that the real children of Abraham are those who have faith and become a part of the called-out ones in this age.

Know you therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. (Galatians 3:7)

This is a reference to those people who are heading towards the first resurrection. And the people in the first resurrection will constitute “a great and mighty nation” within the Family of God for all future eternity. And it is through them, though the people in the first resurrection, that all nations are going to be blessed.

Consider the following:

God “divorced” both the House of Israel and the House of Judah before the end of the Old Testament. So from New Testament times onwards none of the physical tribes of Israel have been “married” to God. So for the past 2,000 years, in round numbers, Ephraim and Manasseh and Judah and all of the other tribes of Israel have been “divorced from God”.

Now do you want to tell me that the “divorced from God” nations of Israel have been “a blessing to all nations of the earth”? Really? How?

Are people in China and Vietnam and India and Korea and Nigeria and Brazil and Ghana and Uganda and Russia and Chile and Botswana and Borneo and Ecuador and Colombia and Tibet and Thailand and Trinidad, etc. today really better off because of a great and mighty nation of Israel? Really?

Are they healthier and happier than they were before coming into contact with the nations of Israel? Are they more content? Or are they more focused on money and materialism and wealth and perverse ways of living than they were before any contact with “the great and mighty nation” of Israel? Did the nations of Israel today invent and promote “junk foods” for those nations to copy? Did not the nations of Israel develop the chemical fertilizers and pesticides that destroy agricultural land and pollute our foods, and then export those chemicals around the world?

Did the morals in those countries become better or worse because of the film and music entertainment we have exported to them? As a result of contact with the nations of Israel, are those other nations really closer to the true God in heaven, or are they disciples of evolution? Did Darwin and Huxley, of Israelite background, influence the nations of this world for better or for worse?

Colonialism focused on taking as much wealth as possible out of those colonies, and sending it back to the colonial power. While the colonial powers became very wealthy, the local people in the colonies remained poor. Colonialism wasn’t a blessing for the native inhabitants of those colonies, was it? Some of the poorest nations on earth today were once colonies of one of the European nations. The former colonial powers include the nations that make up the “divorced from God” tribes of Israel.

Okay, you answer those questions however you want to. And your answers make no difference to me. My point is simply:

To find some kind of “blessings” that other nations have received because of contact with “the great and mighty nation” of Israel requires some rather convoluted arguments. It’s not just a straightforward clear conclusion.

The principle here is Proverbs 10:22.

The blessing of the LORD, it makes rich, and He adds no sorrow with it. (Proverbs 10:22)

The blessings all nations on earth would experience because of contact with “the great and mighty nation” of Israel would not also add problems to those nations. Israel would not at the same time be a good influence and a bad influence on all other nations. Israel would not “add sorrow” to other nations.

So while people may argue for the colonies having received some benefit from the European colonizing nations, there are without question also many “sorrows” that the colonizers caused for the indigenous people in those colonized nations, in addition to bringing various diseases to those nations. But that doesn’t stack up with Genesis 18:18.

On the other hand:

When, in regard to Genesis 18:18, we understand that the great nation of Israel refers primarily to the people who will make up the total number of individuals in the first resurrection, then it is easy to understand how all those in the first resurrection will be an enormous blessing for not only some, but for all nations on earth during the millennium, and also during the period for people in the second resurrection.

Those in the first resurrection will help people in the millennium, and in the 100-year period that follows, to overcome the selfish pulls of human nature and to eventually also become spirit-born sons and daughters of God. 144,000 sons of God will be available to work one-on-one with all those people around the world who seek God’s ways. Now that will be a real blessing for the people in those nations.

Consider the meaning of the name “Israel”.

And He said, your name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince you have power with God and with men, and have prevailed. (Genesis 32:28)

The name “Israel” means: to as a prince (i.e. ruler) have power with God. Do you understand this? It means that God shares some of His power with those God calls “Israel”. Do you grasp this?

Now in this present age the physical “divorced from God” nations of Israel don’t really have any power with God, do they? They have no power at all with God! So in our world today the actual meaning of the name “Israel” doesn’t really fit with the physical descendants of the twelve tribes of Israel. It just doesn’t!

But the meaning of the name “Israel” fits perfectly for all those people who will be in the first resurrection. They are the ones who will be “kings and priests”, and they will “reign on the earth” with Jesus Christ (Revelation 5:10 again). Yes, they will indeed “have power with God”.

You cannot get a better fit for the meaning of the name “Israel” than the people in the first resurrection.

So when Jesus Christ gave Jacob the name “Israel”, Christ was in fact revealing a major step in God’s revised plan of salvation for mankind, that step being the first resurrection.

Consider also the following:

When God told Abraham that God would make him “a great and mighty nation”, through which all nations would be blessed, God had not yet “married” the nation of Israel. So Genesis 18:18 is an expression of God’s intentions. And those intentions were extremely significant.

With this statement in Genesis 18:18 God was telling Abraham that all of the remaining places in the 144,000 for the first resurrection would be filled by descendants of Abraham. At that time it was God’s intention to not have any non-Israelites in the first resurrection. Abraham’s descendants would fill all the remaining places.

That’s what Genesis 18:18 really means!

Let’s look at the next Scripture, where God is speaking to Jacob.

And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of you, and kings shall come out of your loins; (Genesis 35:11)

This is the first reference to the two steps by which God builds His Family, which two steps follow the step of Jesus Christ Himself becoming the first of the firstfruits in God’s Family.

Don’t confuse this statement, said to Jacob, with the statement in Genesis 48:19, which was said to Joseph. Genesis 48:19 is in a different context from Genesis 35:11. We’ll look at Genesis 48:19 shortly.

Here in Genesis 35:11 God has expanded the statement God made to Abraham. In this verse “a nation” refers to the 144,000 in the first resurrection; and “a company of nations” refers to the people from the millennium and from the second resurrection, who will eventually be added to the Family of God. They will then be known as “the nations of them which are saved” (Revelation 21:24).

The physical people of Israel have never consisted of “a nation” plus “a company of nations”. Yes, after Solomon the nation of Israel split into two distinct nations. But neither one of those consisted of only one tribe. The House of Judah actually consisted of three tribes! When the people rebelled against Rehoboam and made Jeroboam their king (see 1 Kings 12:20), Rehoboam actually ruled over the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The tribe of Benjamin was never a part of the House of Israel; it was always with Judah. See the next verse, verse 21.

And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. (1 Kings 12:21, also verse 23)

Then the tribe of Levi also came to the House of Judah.

And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defense in Judah. (2 Chronicles 11:5)

And in every several city he put shields and spears, and made them exceeding strong, having Judah and Benjamin on his side. (2 Chronicles 11:12)

And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their coasts. (2 Chronicles 11:13)

So the House of Judah always consisted of three tribes. That is why the House of Judah in the New Testament still had Levitical priests and also Benjamites, like the Apostle Paul. Those two tribes had always been a part of the House of Judah. And the House of Israel consisted of the other ten tribes (two tribes for Joseph).

The point is this: at no time during the Old Testament did Israel ever consist of “a nation and a company of nations”! It was always a case of either “a three-tribed nation” or a “ten-tribed nation”. It was never “one nation plus a company of nations”. So it is hard to find an application for Genesis 35:11 at any point in time from the days of King David to our time today.

Genesis 35:11 is primarily a reference to how the Family of God will be structured for all future eternity.

Next, the statement regarding “kings shall come out of Jacob’s loins” is challenging for one simple reason.

While at the time of Jacob God was already planning to have Jacob be the father of twelve tribes, at that time it was not God’s intention that Israel would ever have human kings! It was God’s intention that God would always be Israel’s King! When the people demanded a human king, God told Samuel “... they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them” (1 Samuel 8:7).

When God said that kings would descend from Jacob, God was not talking about human kings. Human kings are not really important; they just aren’t. God was referring to the 144,000 kings (see Revelation 5:10), who God intended would all come from physical descendants of Jacob. That was the plan at Jacob’s time. At Jacob’s time it was absolutely not God’s intention, that centuries down the line God would “divorce” all of the tribes of Israel.

God’s later decision to not restrict membership of the 144,000 kings to the physical descendants of Jacob was due entirely to Israel’s endless idolatry and rejection of God’s laws. That’s the “only evil continually” human nature once again causing God to change His original intentions. Had Israel been faithful to God, then all of the 144,000 kings would indeed have come “out of the loins of Jacob”.

Let’s look at one more occasion in the life of Jacob. Here is what Jacob said to Joseph shortly before Jacob died.

And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born to you in the land of Egypt, before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. (Genesis 48:5)

Reuben and Simeon were Jacob’s firstborn and second-born sons. So Jacob here appointed Ephraim and Manasseh as his own first two sons. Now let’s drop down to verse 19.

And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. (Genesis 48:19)

This statement certainly applies to this present life. That is not in any way questioned. But it also follows the pattern of the new (revised) plan God had implemented after the flood.

The firstborn (replacing Reuben) shall be great; he represents a great nation, the group of 144,000 that make up the first resurrection. The second-born (replacing Simeon) shall be a multitude of nations; he represents the people from the millennium and the second resurrection, who will eventually become a part of God’s Family.

Now in this statement “the younger is greater than the older” “greater” refers to total numbers of people. It does not refer to status, position, power or authority. While those in the first resurrection will be greater in status and in power within the Family of God, those people in the Family of God who are represented by the Last Great Day are immensely greater in numbers than those who will be in the first resurrection. Where there will be only 144,000 in the first resurrection, those who become a part of God’s Family after them are likely to consist of multiple billions of people.

So the prophecies that basically refer to Ephraim and Manasseh in our world today again reflect the pattern God has chosen for building the Family of God. The questions we should ask regarding Ephraim and Manasseh are:

Why did God make the firstborn “a great nation”? This had nothing to do with the personality or the character of the man Manasseh. And why did God make the second-born “a multitude of nations”? This also had nothing to do with the personality or the character of the man Ephraim. God did this to reveal the two steps by which God inducts human beings into His Family.

It follows the pattern.

So yes, already in the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob God provided “hints” that reveal that human beings would join the Family of God in two steps. But those “hints” are well disguised, so that the world in general would not discover the details of God’s revised plan. Specifically, God did not want people in general to understand that there will be a second resurrection.

That brings us to the time of Moses.

All of us understand that the annual observances presented in Leviticus 23 reveal all the steps in God’s plan for mankind. And the world (e.g. Bible scholars and Bible commentators) can see the Feasts and Holy Days that are presented in this chapter. They know about the Passover and Pentecost.

But when it comes to the Last Great Day, then the information is again disguised to some degree. Let’s notice this.

Right up to the Feast of Tabernacles every observance is given its own description. And every observance has its own name. So we see the weekly Sabbath (verse 3), the Passover (verse 5), the Feast of Unleavened Bread (verse 6), Pentecost (verse 15), Trumpets (verse 24), Atonement (verse 27) and the Feast of Tabernacles (verse 34).

But there is no description for the Last Great Day!

Rather, the Last Great Day is just discreetly slipped in there, without any fanfare. And it is not even given its own name. It is easy to think that it is just a part of the Feast of Tabernacles. In other words, it is something that God didn’t really want scholars and commentators and Bible-reading people in general to pick up on. Let them think that the Last Great Day, mentioned in two specific verses, is nothing more than a part of Tabernacles.

Let’s notice: In verse 34 God introduces the Feast of Tabernacles. Within that context verse 36 then says:

Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and you shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and you shall do no servile work therein. (Leviticus 23:36)

        

“Seven days ...”, yes that’s the Feast of Tabernacles. But where did that “eighth day” come from? So far nothing has been said about “eight days”. Can you see that the eighth day is quietly slipped in there without attracting much attention? People in the world are not even supposed to notice it. Or if they notice it, they are supposed to assume that it is a part of the Feast of Tabernacles.

And that is the end of the account. The next verse is a concluding statement.

These are the feasts (Hebrew “mow’ed”) of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: (Leviticus 23:37)

And then from verses 39-43 the account reveals some additional details about the Feast of Tabernacles.

Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep a feast (Hebrew “chag”) unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a Sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath. (Leviticus 23:39)

Again the reader expects a discussion about seven days. But again “the eighth day” is quietly slipped into this account. Most readers are not going to ask: where did this eighth day come from? I thought we are speaking about seven days?

And then verse 41 again refers to only seven days.

And you shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. (Leviticus 23:41)

And the next verse also again refers to seven days.

You shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: (Leviticus 23:42)

The disguise for the Last Great Day here is that the only two references to an “eighth day” in this chapter are both surrounded by references to “seven days”. This ensures that the two references to an “eighth day” don’t stand out, and don’t attract much attention. It is easy to assume that this “eighth day” is somehow a part of the Feast of Tabernacles.

This “eighth day” is not something God wants people, who have not been called by God, to understand.

And unless God opens a person’s mind, the truth about the Last Great Day is never going to be understood. That is to ensure that worldly people don’t become accountable for this knowledge.

THE REST OF THE STORY YOU ALREADY KNOW

If you are a member of any of the Church of God groups that trace their origin back to the time of Mr. Herbert Armstrong, then you already know the other references to the Last Great Day.

1) The valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37 is a discussion of the second resurrection, which is a resurrection to another physical life.

2) The last half of Isaiah 65 tells us that in the second resurrection people will all be given a 100-year life-span.

3) Matthew 10:15 and Matthew 11:21-24, show that the people of Sodom and Gomorrha and Tyre and Sidon, etc. will come up in the second resurrection together with the people of Jesus Christ’s generation.

4) In John chapters 8-10 there are three things that apply to the people in the second resurrection: the woman caught in the act of adultery, the man who was born blind, and the other flock of sheep that Jesus Christ owns.

The above four points have all been expounded many times in the past, and you are very likely to be already familiar with those points. But note that the context for each of those four points does not spell out that they all refer to the second resurrection. And you have to read the Gospel of John very carefully to even notice that this is a discussion of the events on one specific Last Great Day. That obscurity is deliberate.

To tie these statements to the Last Great Day, to the second resurrection, requires some additional insight and discernment, which becomes available when God’s spirit opens the mind of a converted believer. But this additional insight is not available to people who are cut off from God.

The last Great Day, which represents the second resurrection, is an enormous expression of God’s mercy. It is God’s merciful response to the evil and perverse ways that human beings demonstrated during the first 1,500+ years after Adam’s creation. It is a provision to make possible access to salvation for the much more than 99% of human beings, who would otherwise never have a real chance to become a part of God’s immortal Family.

The Last Great Day is a day of hope. It is not for you and me, whose minds have been opened by God’s spirit to understand the true purpose of human life. It is for the people who received the seed “by the wayside” in the parable in Matthew 13:1-9. And it is for the people who never received the seed in any way, not even by the wayside.

Let’s rejoice that all those people will also receive the opportunity to become a part of “the nations of them which are saved” (Revelation 21:24).

Frank W Nelte