seven individual feasts that God commanded the nation of Israel to observe. They are usually divided into two groups. One, the Spring Feast. There are four of these in the Spring Feast. And the Fall Feast, which is the ones we're studying now. And there are three of the Fall Feasts. Also keep in mind that the seven feasts are all prophetic. They are predictions of things to come. They are the picture of God's program for this earth. He tells you what He's going to do through the seven feasts in this world. Now, the spring feasts we've already covered, but the spring feasts portray the first coming of the Messiah. The Spring Feast portrays the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is portrayed by these feats, the first three, he is pictured as the suffering servant. This aspect of the Messiah the Jewish people totally reject. Even though Isaiah and Daniel clearly say that Messiah will die, the Jewish people will not accept this. But the point is, you have three major events in Christ's life. You have the death, and the burial, and the resurrection. The first three feasts depict the death, that's Passover. The burial, that's the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Body of Christ, would not be allowed to decay. Leaven is a symbol of decaying, firming, and of course the unleavened bread symbolizes the body of Christ would not be allowed to decay on the ground. And number three, you have the resurrection. On the third day, the feast of first fruit is a picture, three days after Passover, is a picture of the resurrection. So you have in death, burial, resurrection, pictured by the first three feasts. The fourth feast is Jesus Christ sends his spirit back to earth after the resurrection and the ascension, and the Holy Spirit is today making a new covenant people. God has a new covenant family, a second covenant people, and they are followers of Jesus Christ, and we have made him our anointed one, our accepted Messiah. So that covers the first grouping of the spring feast. Then we move to the Fall Feast, and there is a gap between the two of say, three, four, five, I think five, four or five months. Then you begin with a second day, the Fall Feast. And the Fall Feast, picture the second coming of the Messiah. The first set, the first coming of the Messiah, the second feast, the second coming to this earth of the Messiah. Now, the Jews and the Church today are looking for the coming of the Messiah. We believe that that Messiah will be coming back for the second time. Thus, we believe that Messiah is Jesus Christ. The Jews will not accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah because He died. And they would not believe this. And so the very one they're looking for is the very one that we have. And at the very end, we'll talk about this, they're going to finally realize the mistake they've made. And they're going to, in wholesale lot, accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah. But it's going to take some doing. And so we'll finally get to that. Let's get to the next speech besides this one. Now, I was not able, in my reading, to find where the Jewish people put very much emphasis on a Messiah in reference to the fifth feast, which is the Day of Trumpets, or as you have been told, Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah means the beginning of the year. And so the Jewish people established this day as their civil calendar New Year. Thus it's called Rosh Hashanah. In the Bible it's called the Day of Trumpets, one and the same. As you recall from the Passover meal that we looked at, emphasis is placed upon the Messiah as they sit around the table, there is an empty chair, and they go knock on the door and they invite Elijah to come in. Hopefully Elijah will be there and he will announce to them the Messiah is on the way. So Passover is definitely associated with thoughts about the coming of the Messiah. But I'm not sure about whether they associate the Feast of Trumpets with the coming of the Messiah. It's not that Jews ever forget about the Messiah, but I don't know if the emphasis is on this day as it is on Passover Day. Maybe they think the Messiah will come in Passover time. I'm not sure that they even think the Messiah will pick any feast day. to come. And so, therefore, I have difficulty also discovering if the Jewish people see anything prophetic about the feast. I don't think they do. To them, it's just a yearly observance of a feast that God established many, many hundreds of years ago. And to them it does not portray a prophetic picture of anything, although it does in the Passover picture the day the Messiah will come. Now the last time we were looking at the fifth feast, which of course is a feast that tells us something about the coming of Christ or the coming of the Messiah, however you'd like to speak of it. This day is the beginning of a ten day period. Now don't get confused here. The last three feasts all fall within ten days. Or let's see, no. The last two feasts, the next two feasts fall within ten days, the next three days. So they're all real close together in the same month. So this begins a ten day period, and this ten day period the Jews call the Awesome Day. or the days of trouble, or the days of awe, or the days of judgment. And it's a ten-day period, and it begins with Rosh Hashanah. It's called the Feast of Trumpets, as you recall, because on this day, as no other, they use the ram's horn, and they blow it many times during this day. The blowing of the shofar, they call it. The shofar is a horn. It calls the people to wake up. The implication is they may have gone to sleep during the year, and the year is coming to an end. New Year's Day is approaching, and so forth. It does wake up. And after it does, definitely wake up, because you've got ten days to make a move before God makes His move. So I'll talk about this in a minute. It's also called, these ten days, are called the high holy days. Not that they have a low holy day, but it's called the high holy days. And the emphasis is upon personal holiness. Now, why they don't emphasize this the rest of the year, I don't know. We as Christians should emphasize holiness every day of our life. But that is the theme of these ten days, beginning with Rosh Hashanah. That is, do you have personal holiness? If you don't, you better hurry up and get it, because time is running out to repent and to do good deeds, and you better act now before it's too late, because ten days can come and go before you know it. For the Jewish, it's not a time to play around. It's not a time to put off repentance and doing what you ought to have done in the past, because this is the day that God has prescribed by the calendar, either you repent or else. And that or else is implied in these ten days. Thus it becomes very awesome days for the Jewish person. They have just a little time to get all their matters settled, all their accounts brought up to order. And what God is going to do with them and to them and for them for the next new year, which begins now on Rosh Hashanah, is going to be determined by what He does in these ten days. And that's going to be based on whether or not He accepts their repentance. So to the plan of the Jew, Their future New Year, what's going to happen from now on, hinges on what happens right now in their life in this day. So that is a very important day. We don't have a day like this. But to them, because of God's law, this is very important to them. Now the shofar is blown early in the morning to remind the people this is Rosh Hashanah. This is the day if you have not already started to begin the repenting process while you still have time. The blowing of the shofar urges people to take prescribed action. I want to read to you some of that prescribed action. Awake, you that are sleepy. They'll read this in the synagogue, and they will probably read this in their homes. Awake, you that are sleepy. and ponder your deeds. Remember your Creator and go to Him for forgiveness. Don't be like those who miss reality in their hunt after shadows and waste your years in seeking after vain things which can neither profit nor deliver. Look well to your souls and consider your deeds. Let each one of you forsake his evil ways and thoughts and return to the Lord so that he may have mercy Actually, some of the Jews began the repentance process 30 days before Rosh Hashanah. I mean, they really get into this thing, and for the entire month prior to Rosh Hashanah, they every day try to find something else to repent of. And will go back and repent of some things they've already repented of. And try to do as much as they can that they think pleases God and bring holiness to bear in their life as much as they can for 30 days. So why 30 days in advance? Why not wait your last 10 days? I'll tell you why. Because what they do on their 30 days could possibly tip the scales in their favor on the day of Rosh Hashanah. Now, I'm not telling you what is scriptural, people. I'm telling you what I have learned from reading about Jewish traditions and Jewish customs and Jewish beliefs. What you want to do is tip the scale in your favor for a year to come. And they're going to get a 30-day advance on this. And in 30 days, they might be able to do more than they can do in 10. If they can get it done in 30, they can forget about the 10. They're in. Home free. A customary greeting between Jewish people at this time of the year, Rosh Hashanah, is may you be inscribed, and so did God bless you, may you be inscribed in the Book of the Rises. The rabbis have taught, and where they get this, I do not know. But the rabbis teach that there are three books in heaven that God keeps. And the Lord has a trial on the day of Rosh Hashanah. And He opens the books to see whose names are in the books. He will juggle these names for the next ten days. You have three books. And you start out on the day of Rosh Hashanah with your name in one of the three books. At the end of 10 days, it's going to all be finalized. But you can move your name up and down in those three books for the next 10 days. The 30-day group, prior to this, hope that they can move their name up and have it there on the day of Rosh Hashanah. If they do, it's settled for good. And they don't have to worry about moving their name up anymore. It's there. And God gives them credit for the next year. They're all right. The first book is called the Book of the Completely Righteous. The Book of the Completely Righteous. That is, these were people who had, during the quite past year, tried to live according to the will of God. They've gone to synagogue, gone to church every week, gone to all the services, said the prayers, paid their church dues or synagogue dues, put it that way. They have made satisfactory repentance and they have spent the last 30 days repenting of everything they know to repent of. And they have done all the good deeds. They've helped everybody they can help. They've sent all the quarrels they can. I mean, they've given to the poor. They've fed the hungry. They've worked and cheered. They've done everything they can. And they're outstanding examples of what you might would call very religious, very holy people. And so God, to reward them, places their name in the Book of the Righteous. the Book of the Righteous. And they have nothing to fear for the next ten days because their judgment in the Book of Righteous is settled. And they're free. They don't have to worry about it. They can rejoice and sing for the next ten days. They're as high as you can get. All right? Now, I don't know how a Jewish person decides what is completely righteous. Because in the Old Testament it says when God looks down upon man he says there is none righteous, no not one. They must have some level of righteousness they think if they acquire that level that is completely righteous and that's good enough for God to put them in the book of the righteous. Now I don't know where they get that. I think that's biblically wrong but that's the concept they have. The second book, or another book, is the book of the completely wicked. And I don't know what you would classify a completely wicked person to be. But these will be people who have, during the past year, it's not just the opposite of the other group, they have rebelled against the commandments of God. They have not gone to synagogue. They have not said prayer. They have not repented. And when it comes to Rosh Hashanah, they're going to totally ignore this celebration. They won't be at the center of God, they won't be repenting, and they don't care. And so there are a lot of folks in this world like that. And so they are going to be inscribed at this day, the day of Rosh Hashanah, they'll be, because they're not going to change. They've already said, we're not going to repent, we're not going to change our lives, we're going to be just like we are if God doesn't like it and you love it. There's a lot of folks with that attitude. And so God said, OK, those with that attitude I'll put in the book of the wicked, the book of death. And the Jewish people believe that at some point from the day of Rosh Hashanah forward to the next year, it could be the evening of Rosh Hashanah or the next day or the next week or the next month, but in some period that they'll die. Or if not, they will be punished and they will have all kinds of Financial failures, disease, sickness, tragedy, sorrow, misery, troubles, problems. I mean, the bottom will fall out of their life. Beginning with the ending of Rosh Hashanah, when God says, I'm going to put you in the book of the wicked, the book of the condemned, the book of death, the book of judgment, and judgment now begins to fall on you. That's final. Because they don't want you in the way. They don't care. You have a lot of people in the Old Testament with this kind of attitude. No matter what God said to them, they said, we don't care. God would judge them. We don't care. Now, there is a third book, and it's the book of the average. That is, it's the book of the in-betweens. Those who are neither completely righteous or those who are not completely wicked. And to the Jewish mind, most people fall in this middle category. Most have a chance to move up. You have to get up in that top group. You can't stay in the in-between group. At the end of ten days, God will move you up, or God will move you down. You either end up in the Book of the Completely Righteous, or you end up in the Book of the Covenant with Him. You can't stay in between. You can't for ten days. But after that, it's going to be finalized on the next feast day, which is the Day of Atonement. We're getting into this now. And this all has to do with the coming of the Messiah the second time, people, prophetically. It's all there. Now, this group does the same thing that they feel The other group had to do, but they did it 30 days sooner. I have a Jewish friend and I asked her, I said, well, did you celebrate this 30 days before? No, no, no, I didn't do that. They may have done that in the chapel. Some may, but I didn't do that. How about the 10? Oh, yeah. But not the 30. Not the 30. I didn't do that. They never done that. So a lot of Jewish people, but they know, I got to do now. I got to make up in 10 days, but some people have done it in 30. And so these are very important days for them because they want to be sure at the end of these days of awesome days, days of judgment, that God will judge and rule. You get to enter into the new year with the righteous, having the benefits, prosperity, health, and all the ten yards it goes with. Now, I need to go back and state this. This is the only feast that the Jews believe is universal. That is, this feast applies to everybody, Gentile and Jew alike, black and white, yellow and red. It's a nationwide judgment. Rosh Hashanah is going to be applied by God to mankind. This is their thinking. And on the day of Rosh Hashanah, God gets out the books and has the names of all six billion people on the face of the earth. How He does it, I don't know. But He goes through and He puts every name in the book of the righteous or the book of the wicked. And then the next year, currently, God will deal with those people according to which book they're in. Whether or not they think anybody besides the Jew can get in the Book of the Righteous, I don't know. But this is their thinking. The whole world is involved in Rosh Hashanah. They're right there. They're correct there. But the whole world was involved in Passover. The whole world was involved in unleavened bread. The whole world is involved. in the resurrection of Jesus. The whole world can be involved in the Second Covenant Pentecost experience. These feasts are for the whole world. But to the Jewish mind, this feast here is the only one that pertains to the whole world. Now, the in-between group will spend their awesome days going through great periods of mourning, weeping, and repentance. Probably far beyond anything we do ourselves or we can comprehend. They have to earn themselves a spot in the Book of the Righteous. That's the bottom line. They have got to earn themselves a spot. And one good deed is considered to cancel out a lot of bad deeds. A lot of folks have that kind of theory. This is a time that they will help the poor. If the poor people knew this, this would be a time to go buy all the Jewish stores. This is the time that you can get them to straighten out differences, no hard feelings, settle debts. I mean, this is the time that if there's anything wrong or bad in your life, you change it. If you don't have time, much time to do it. If you want your new year, and who doesn't, to be blessed of God, then you better do this now. So we don't see things like this, but I'm just saying this is the way they see things. And so they'll participate in the synagogue services, become very religious, have all kinds of prayers of repentance. I want to give you a typical prayer that's recited in the synagogue. And I'm not going to read it because it's very repetitious, but they'll all read this together. And every one of the lines, every one of the sentences begins, Our Father, Our King. Every one. I think there's about 40 of them here. Now, again, Our Father, Our King, Our Father, Our King. I'm just going to say Our Father, Our King once. But I understand it goes ahead of one of them. Our Father, Our King, we have sinned before thee. Our Father, Our King, renew unto us a happy year. Unknow, and I left out Father and King, unknow every severe decree against us. Frustrate the counsel of our enemies. Remove pestilence, sword, famine, captivity, and destruction from the children of you covenant. That's the first covenant. Forgive and pardon all our iniquities. Blot out and cause our transgressions and our sins to pass away before your eyes. Remove all records of our guilt. Cause us to return to Thee in perfect repentance. Send perfect healing to the sick of Thy people. You want to be well in the new year? You better pay attention to what you're showing. Remember us in the book. Now notice these now. Remember us in the book of happy life. Inscribe us in the book of redemption and salvation. That's interesting. Inscribe us in the book of sustenance and maintenance. Inscribe us in the book of merit. That's the book of righteousness. and scribe us in the book of forgiveness and pardon. Call salvation to spring forth for us. Exalt the horn of Israel thy people. Notice this last one. O Father our King, exalt the horn of thy Messiah. So they do talk about the Messiah at Rosh Hashanah. Now, this is an incomplete list, but I mean, they will go through these and they will read things like this and they will think of things that they have done and they will do their best to repent. But now the in-betweens don't have the assurance of those that's already inscribed in the Book of the Risen. So they have to wait and hope and pray. They come next feast day, the Day of Atonement, God sits down to finalize which direction he'll put the names. They all hope that God will move their name from in between to the Book of the Righteous, which then gains for them in the new year a blessing. I asked this friend of mine, I said, well, how do you know that God has put your name in the Book of the Righteous? She said, well, well, he just has to. I said, why does he have to? She said, because we beat our breasts and we cry and we weep and we repent and repent and repent. And he just has to forgive us after we've done this for 10 days. But we don't know, she said, but we he just has to. He just has to. Well, he doesn't have to either. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. You can't get away from the Lamb. There's just no way. There's no forgiveness without the sacrifice. There's not. But she feels that this is the only hope they have. Done everything she knows how, and her repentance will be accepted. But she's not sure. So I would assume that many people were entering into the new year with fear and trembling. Man, I don't know whether I made it or not. I don't know how they would handle difficulties and tragedies. It happened to very, very righteous people. I don't know how they mainly would handle this. Anyway, again, I'm not sure where the three-book idea came from. It's not mentioned in the Bible. Although I will have to admit that the Bible does reference God keeping books. And these are some scriptures that I have given you out in the audience. Psalm 69, 28. And probably from these verses, this system was evolved. Psalm 69, 28. The psalmist says, this is a prayer request, let them be blotted out of a book of the living and not be written with the righteous. So there is an implication here that there is a book of life and this book of life does contain the names of the righteous. That seems to be what the psalmist is saying. Then you have Exodus chapter 32, and these are old books of the Bible now. Exodus chapter 32, but the book of the in-between, I don't know where that comes from. And the book of the wicked, I don't know where that comes from. Exodus 32, 32. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin, and if not, blot me out. If not, blot me, I pray thee. This is Moses praying. People of Israel sinned, and God threatened to wipe them out. And God, as Moses is praying, God forgive their sin. If you're not going to forgive them, then take my name also out of the book. We don't know what book you're talking about. So Moses knew about a book, too. Blot my name out of my book. Therefore, I'm sorry, 32 and 33. And the Lord said to Moses, Whosoever has sinned against me, him will I blot or remove out of my book. So there does seem to be this name in the book and name out of the book. Malachi chapter 3, verse 16. Who told Moses about such a book? He doesn't tell us. They that feared the Lord spoke often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and thought upon his name." And so there is no doubt that the Bible says there are books being kept in heaven. Even Jesus on this earth referred to such books. He, too, didn't talk about it. Luke chapter 10, verse 20. We'll get next week. There is a book of the Lamb. We're going to get to that one, the book of the Lamb. And finally, the inbound books. There are some books out there, folks. I agree with this now. Verse 20, Jesus tells His disciples that they're coming back from a very successful road trip. He says, Rejoice, not that the spirits are subject unto you, they cast out evil spirits, but here's the reason you ought to rejoice, because your names have been written down, implication is, written down in the books in heaven. Or your names have been written down in one book in heaven. Now, there are some grounds for the Jewish people to have the idea about books. But on this day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish people are reminded that their future hangs in the balance. Who will live and who will die? Who shall have rest and who shall have trouble? Who shall be cast down and who shall be exalted? Who shall be vested in the book of life and who shall be placed in the book of death? These are all crucial questions, people, to Jewish people. Now, next time, The Lord willing, I want us to examine Rosh Hashanah in light of its prophetic understanding and the days following Rosh Hashanah up to the Day of Atonement. Rosh Hashanah are the days of judgment. In the book of Revelation, we're going to get into this, the book of Revelation talks all about the days of awe, when God will judge the wicked of the world. They are already sentenced, and God says, now I will carry out the judgment of the wicked. And we will read of tremendous judgments that Jesus Christ will bring upon this world in the period between Rosh Hashanah and the Day of Atonement. I'll give you some days. I can't give you dates. We'll talk about the secret coming of the Messiah. The world won't see him, but you and I will. The secret coming of the Messiah. The idea is pretty clear. The righteous don't have to worry. They got it right. The righteous don't have to worry. If on Rosh Hashanah, the Messiah who comes says, Your name is in the book of what? The righteous. How do you get to be in the book of the righteous? Through him. We get our righteousness through our Christ. And he declares, you are righteous through me. You don't have to worry about the days of awe. Come on. Come with me. We'll talk about that. And then what follows after that is the tribulation period. where over three-fourths of the wicked on this earth will die in a matter of years. God has laid it all out in the Feast. It's all there. Which, if I'm correct, now I'll say this again next time, I've decided when Jesus comes secretly for the righteous, that's the folks back at the fourth Feast who are under the second covenant. When he comes back to get those people, He'll come back on the day of Rosh Hashanah. I may be wrong, but God has always called His calendar in every event in His prophetic program on the day. If that's true, Rosh Hashanah would be the day that Jesus comes back secretly. Now, which Rosh Hashanah? I have no idea. Don't know that. But we've got some pretty good ideas. We can look at some pretty good things and figure out we'll be getting pretty close. So I want to be a little more conscientious in the future about Washington. I look next year's calendar. I already know when it's going to be. You know, they're going to be in September. So I think the time has started getting. But anyway, we'll get to that. And I haven't preached on the tribulation period and the second coming of Christ in years. We're going to get into it. Because you see, the Day of Atonement, is the second coming. That's it. When God comes back, that's the day of atonement. And the last feast is the thousand year reign of Christ. Paradise. The last feast. Tabernacles. What a great time we're going to have. So, what we're looking at now, folks, is in our future. How far in the future? I don't know. It's probably a lot closer than we might think. It really is. And we'll talk about some of the indicators. Jesus gave signs. They would tell the Jewish people about the Day of Atonement. Not so much Rosh Hashanah, but the Day of Atonement. But we can take the signs he gave for the Day of Atonement. Back at us, seven years, and we're going to be right there at one of those Rosh Hashanahs. Father, we're thankful tonight for Scripture. And we do pray for the Jewish people. So close are they to the truth, and yet just the Messiah way. We pray, Lord, for them, that their eyes might be opened, as some Jews do, that they will ahead of time, accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah, that doors might be opened in their lives, that they might see Him now to be the one He really is. And we pray that as we go through this, that we'll also get an understanding of God's program for this world. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen.