By Bill Oldham

God has a calendar and He schedules His work by it.

          In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, He put His creation on a schedule. The first thing He did was to make day and night. Then He established the twenty four hour day, for the Scriptures say of the creation, “There was evening and there was morning—the first day”, and right on through the sixth day, thereby establishing a day as being a twenty four day. Genesis 1

          God further defined His creation by creating the sun, moon and stars. They were to, “Separate the day from the night, and serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years.” Genesis 1 And so, in the early chapters of Genesis, we read the genealogy  from Adam down to Noah, detailing how many years they lived, and how old they were when they fathered their first sons. It would be roughly 2500 years later when God would institute His calendar.

          It was during the days when the Lord was preparing for Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt, that He established His calendar. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened; God had sent nine horrific plagues upon Egypt to persuade him to set them free, but he was not going to allow God’s chosen people to leave. So God had a final plague to cause pharaoh to change his mind—the death of the firstborn male of every family in Egypt, and also of their livestock.

          The Lord was going to bring death into Egypt on a given night; He was going to make a difference between the Egyptians and His chosen people. The Lord gave specific instructions to the Hebrews through Moses as to how their households would be spared the death of their firstborn. On a given night, each family was to kill a spotless lamb and spread its blood on the doorposts of their house. When the death angel came into Egypt, wherever it saw the blood, he would “Pass over” that house, it would be spared.

          Now it was necessary for the Hebrews to know exactly what night the death angel was coming and when they were to kill the Lamb. So the Lord established a calendar for them. He told them that this time was going to be the first month of their year and they were to kill the lamb on the fourteenth day of that month. At this time, the Lord commanded them to observe this day every year as a memorial of His mighty deliverance of them from the bondage of Egypt. It was called the feast of Passover. Exodus 12

          Later on, when God gave them His laws, He gave them some very specific feastdays to observe. The Lord told them exactly what days on the calendar they were to observe them and how many days they were to last. There were three that the Lord specified that all males were to go to Jerusalem to observe: Passover, First fruits and the feast of Ingathering or final harvest. Leviticus 23

          Close to 1500 years later, on the exact date of Passover, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, was slain on the cross, on the very day. His blood covers everyone who believes in Him and protects them from eternal death. The second feast was First fruits or Pentecost. It was to be observed exactly fifty days after Passover. Fifty days after Christ was crucified, on the very day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit filled 120 believers, making them the firstfruits of the body of Christ, with the promise He would indwell all who would believe in Jesus.

          It is clear that God works according to His calendar. But now, the third feast, the Ingathering, which by the way begins October 9 this year, we take note that the Lord hasn’t done anything on that day….Yet! Will He?

          “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be GATHERED BEFORE HIM (my emphasis), and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left….the goats will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Matthew 25:31-46

          On that day, will you be gathered in or culled out? On God’s calendar, He is giving you today the opportunity to believe on Jesus and become one of His sheep, will you?

Brother Bill is a Bible teacher and can be contacted at bboldham@sbcglobal.net    

“…blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”  Jeremiah 17:7-8

          Nobody likes fresh, home-grown tomatoes any better than me. I can eat ‘em

morning, noon and night. For the last few years I have tried to grow some in my backyard. My gardening friends assured me I could and told me how to do it. Every year, so far, something has gone awry. The wrong soil, where I had them located, the plant variety, when I planted and on and on. Well this year I was all set: planted when I was supposed to, the best mixture of soil, the best plants, location, not too much water but just enough. You know the rest of the story: the heat zapped them. The heat didn’t just fry mine but just about everyone that I know. I’ve had a back-up plan with a lady in the country who really has great tomatoes but even she is without fruit this year. The heat is a killer.

          There is one thing the Lord looks for and expects from His people and it is fruit. In the Old Testament God lays this out plain for His chosen people. Through the song of Isaiah, God compares the calling out of His chosen people to a man planting a vineyard. God chose fertile land; it was tilled and cleared of rocks. He planted it with the choicest of vines and he built a winepress in preparation for a good harvest. When harvest time arrived, God was expecting good fruit(obedience, faith, love, thanksgiving, worship and service) but instead found foul-smelling wild grapes(disobedience, rebellion and idolatry). Isaiah 5 In the New Testament Jesus presented this same picture to the unbelieving Jews. And then He presents the truth of how God will have the fruit He desires.

Jesus said: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful…I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”  John 15:1-7

Jesus also said that whoever would come after Him, let him take up his cross daily and follow Him. I believe our cross is the daily labor of putting the old man and his works to death. The world, the flesh, and the devil work daily to excite and incite the passions of the flesh. I believe that Satan uses whatever tricks and devices he can to put the heat on God’s children, to dry us up spiritually, to render us fruitless.

Christian people are called to walk in newness of life, to put on the new man who has been created in the image of Christ. Remaining faithful in prayer will keep us spiritually fertile whereby the Holy Ghost can continually feed and water us with the faith, hope and love of Jesus Christ. And not only will the heat not dry us up but we will bear fruit that will remain: “Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22

“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”  1 Corinthians 15:58

Brother Bill is a Bible teacher and can be contacted at bboldham@sbcglobal.net