Topical Studies
God's Master Plan
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Leviticus 23:5 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
The Passover, the first of God's commanded annual festivals, pictures the beginning—the very first step—in God's great Master Plan of salvation for mankind. The Passover was to be a yearly reminder of God's intervention in delivering the Israelites' firstborn from death. It also pictured, in advance, the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ, "our Passover" lamb (I Corinthians 5:7; I Peter 1:18-19), for the sins of mankind. The sparing of the Israelites' firstborn from the death angel through the shed blood of lambs on that first Passover is a symbolic type of our being spared today from the eternal penalty of sin (Romans 6:23) through Christ's sacrifice. After Jesus' death, the Passover, celebrated with the new symbols of unleavened bread and wine, became a yearly memorial of His sacrifice, for Jesus became the reality that the Passover lamb had foreshadowed.
Why Christians Should Keep God's Holy Days
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Psalms 90:4 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Isaiah says that God "inhabits eternity" (Isaiah 57:15), so time to God takes on different dimensions. He can function outside of time if He so desires. These verses, however, give us a rough guide that a thousand years equal one day in God's prophetic revelation to man.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
God's Master Plan
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Malachi 3:6 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
If God had changed His purpose, the sons of Jacob would indeed have been consumed. However, because God has a purpose that He has been working out from the very beginning, He looked beyond what these people were doing to destroy and remove themselves from His purpose. God, in a sense, overlooked what they were doing—all the way to the future, to the conclusion of His purpose for them. God says, "I change not." He has never altered His purpose from the beginning.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace and Law (Part 1)
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Matthew 11:20-24 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Christ mentioned the people of Tyre and Sidon, Sodom, Nineveh in Jonah's time, and finally the Queen of the south. All of these examples of people who lived in different generations are compared to those of Jesus' day, the vast majority of whom did not understand or believe Christ's message. Jesus tells us that they all will be resurrected with the generation that lived during His time! Jesus gave enough examples of people living at widespread times to prove that most of humanity will be alive at the same time on this earth. There will be pre-Flood men and women, all twelve tribes of Israel, those who lived during the Middle Ages, and the vast majority living now. Even babies and children who died untimely deaths will be resurrected then. They will all rise in the second resurrection because they had not been called by God during their first life. The ancient peoples Jesus mentioned in Matthew 11 and 12 would have repented if He had personally come to them in their day. They will repent when resurrected and given access to the Holy Spirit after the Millennium. The Bible shows that the vast majority of those who ever lived will finally be born into God's Family at the end of this coming period of judgment, pictured by the Last Great Day. God's Master Plan of salvation for mankind will then be complete. Then the spirit-composed members of God's great ruling Family can look forward to new heavens and a new earth—and to new and wonderful opportunities in ruling the universe under God our Father and Jesus Christ, our Elder Brother!
Why Christians Should Keep God's Holy Days
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Acts 20:16 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
About 25 years after Christ's ascension into heaven, Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, hurried to be in Jerusalem in time for Pentecost! Just as the early church kept Pentecost every year, so the true church of God continues to keep it today as a continual reminder of our part in God's great master plan of salvation.
Earl L. Henn (1934-1997)
Holy Days: Pentecost
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1 Corinthians 2:6-10 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
How plain! What we have in the gospel is a revelation. We must tied this concept of God's revelation to the word "mystery" (verse 7). In English it does not mean exactly the same thing as in Greek. In English, mystery means "a puzzle that is difficult to solve," but in Greek, it means "a secret that is impossible to penetrate." So, the Word of God, His purpose and plan, is a mystery, a secret that is impossible to penetrate. Paul is implying that man would never find out what God intends, except that God gives it to us by revelation. We have in no way earned this revelation. We have it because it pleased God to give it to us. He withholds it from others, but He has given it to us. He is in no way beholden to us, as if He owed us something. We could dig in His Word over our entire lifetimes and never come to what He freely gives to us for His purposes, for His own reasons. Brilliant men like Adam Clarke have dug into God's Word through the centuries. It took him forty years to produce his famous commentary. Considering that the man was unconverted, it really is a magnificent work, done with all sincerity and dedication. Yet, at the end of his efforts, he did not fully penetrate the mystery of what God is doing among men. A brilliant man and a brilliant work, yet he emerged from his studies not understanding the divine purpose that God gives to us without our earning it. On the other hand, it is very likely that many of us never cracked the pages of a Bible before God began to open our minds. Some have, some have not. But God called many of us in that situation, and though we did not deserve it, He revealed His way to us.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Grace Upon Grace
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1 Corinthians 10:11 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Understanding I Corinthians 10:11 helps us realize the significant position we maintain because of God's calling. "All these things" refers to God's experiences with Old Testament Israel. These events took place over a span of more than a thousand years and involved millions of people being moved about as God worked out His purpose. As the context shows, His purpose included recording these things for our spiritual benefit. God made massive preparations far in advance of our arrival to provide us witnesses of how to do or not to do things to please Him and prepare us for His Kingdom. Paul's powerful admonition tells us how important we are and why we must flee idolatry (verse 14)!
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Elements of Motivation (Part Five): Who We Are
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