Church of God, New World Ministries

Appointments

When I came home from observing God’s great Feast of Tabernacles, I had several APPOINTMENTS to fulfill. I had an appointment with the dentist to finish a series of dental work that would help me, hopefully, in being able to chew my food better, be more precise in in my speaking (not lisping nor whistling, perhaps) and just general appearance.

I had made an appointment with a mechanic to repair my auto that was malfunctioning so badly I had to borrow my son’s vehicle to get to the Feast this year. This turned out to be a blessing, because his large SUV had the extra luggage space for my wife and daughter that would be needed for the eight days in our temporary dwelling. (I say this “tongue in cheek”!)

I had an appointment to call my electric power company to try to straighten out a disputed bill; which, by the way, resulted in a refund of over one hundred dollars – another blessing!

I had another appointment to get new tires for my wife’s car after we returned from the Festival.

It seems that life is full of appointments! In a sense, that’s GOOD. It helps us in keeping our lives in order to where we are able to use our time more efficiently as God says we should be doing, “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil”, (Ephesians 5:16.)

I was surprised to find how often GOD USES THE EXPRESSION OF APPOINTMENTS. Psalms 104:19 “He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.” Yes, the moon was created to give light at night, but it also serves as a reminder of the time and season to observe God’s annual Feast days. Genesis 1:14 “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: From these statements, it is APPARENT THAT GOD HAD IN HIS MIND TO LATER GIVE HIS HOLY DAYS TO ISRAEL AND TO REVEAL HIS PLAN FOR SALVATION !

Exodus 23:14 “Three times (or three seasons) thou shalt keep a feast unto Me in the year. 15. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the TIME APPOINTED of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty (handed):) 16. And the feast of harvest (Pentecost), the firstfruits of thy labors, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering (feast of tabernacles), which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field.”

Notice Numbers 9:2, “ Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at his appointed season. 3. In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, ye shall keep it in His appointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall ye keep it. 7. And those men said unto him, We are defiled by the dead body of a man: that we may not offer an offering of the LORD in His appointed season among the children of Israel.”

So we see that ALL OF GOD’S FEAST DAYS ARE APPOINTED TIMES AND SEASONS! These Feast days are God appointed statutes that must be kept “throughout all generations”: Leviticus 23:14 “And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.” (Ver. 21, 31 & 41, say the same thing)

Yes, these appointed Holy Days, including the weekly Sabbath, were to be observed forever!

Remember, the weekly Sabbath was the FIRST of THE FEASTS OF THE LORD given in Leviticus 23:2 “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these shall be my feasts. 3. “Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.”

Some may argue: “Well, this was to be applied to ISRAEL ONLY.” NOT SO! Notice what Christ says in the New Testament! Mark 2:27 “And He said unto them, THE SABBATH WAS MADE FOR MAN (MANKIND, NOT JUST ISRAEL), and not man for the Sabbath.” What does the book of Hebrews also tell us? Hebrews 4:7 “Again, He limiteth (to “mark off“, “set borders”, or,“appoint borders”) a certain day (the seventh day, that was APPOINTED BY GOD, as one of His Feast Days), saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said , Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” 8. For if Jesus (Joshua) had given them rest, then would He not afterward have spoken of another day (different from the seventh day Sabbath). (Refer to Psalms 95:7-11 & 106:24-26).

Did not God (in the Person of Jesus Christ) cease from His Creative labors, ending with the creation of mankind itself, APPOINT THE SEVENTH DAY AS THE SABATH??! 9. There remaineth therefore a REST (a keeping of a Sabbath) to the people of God.” He also hath ceased from His own works, as God did from His. 10. For he that is entered into his rest ( he’s keeping the true Sabbath), he also hath ceased from his own works ( his normal day activities), as God did from His. 11. Let us labor (strive) therefore to enter into THAT REST (the weekly Sabbath typifies the coming MELLENNIAL REST or reign of Jesus Christ), lest any man FALL after the same example of unbelief (or disobedience).”

THE SABBATH AND HOLY DAYS were APPOINTED for ALL PEOPLE for ALL TIME!

Isaiah 66:22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. 23. “And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall ALL FLESH come to worship before me, saith the LORD.”

Those to whom God has revealed the true Sabbath Day and the Annual Holy Day APPOINTMENTS, and who CONTINUE TO KEEP THEM, as He commanded, there are GREAT BLESSINGS promised! Luke 22:28 “Ye are they who have continued with Me, in My temptations (trials).29. And I APPOINT UNTO YOU A KINGDOM, as my Father hath APPOINTED unto Me; 30. That ye may eat and drink at My table in My Kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

Yes, the twelve original Apostles will be APPOINTED to rule not far below Christ Himself, in the coming Kingdom of God on this earth!

WE CAN BE INCLUDED IN THOSE APPOINTMENTS!

Revelation 20:4 :And I saw thrones, and they (the Saints) sat upon them, and judgments was given unto them: and I saw the souls (lives) of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and REIGNED WITH CHRIST a thousand years.” (Ver. 6).

It’s revealed that Christ has been given an appointment to be heir of all the universe! Hebrews 1:2 “Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath APPOINTED HEIR OF ALL THINGS, by whom also He made the worlds.”

Again, we find that we are to share that APPOINTMENT with Jesus, our Savior. Hebrews 2:6 “But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? 7. Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and did set him over the works of thy hands. 8. Thou hast put ALL THINGS (the universe) in subjection under his feet. For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.”

So, you can see the unbelievable, tremendous rewards and blessings that are given to those who receive these APPOINTMENTS!

THOSE WHO REFUSE TO KEEP GOD’S APPOINTMENTS WILL BE PUNISHED!

Just as we are required to keep certain contracted appointments in a timely fashion and fail, there may be penalties involved. For instance, if I fail to give at least two days notice before my dental appointment and I can’t meet my obligation, I must pay a fee.

Our contract with God to keep His Appointments, is far, far more serious!

Hebrews 3:1 “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest or our profession, Christ Jesus; 2. Who was faithful to Him that APPOINTED HIM, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.”

Will we remain FAITHFUL to keeping God’s APPOINTED SABBATHS AND FEASTS as Jesus Christ and Moses did? Will you BELIEVE THE WARNING God gives to those who are not faithful? Verse 6 “But Christ as a Son over His own house; whose house we are, IF WE HOLD FAST THE CONFIDENCE (FAITH) and the rejoicing of the hope firm UNTO THE END. 7. Wherefore (as the Holy Spirit saith, To day if ye will hear His voice, 8. Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9. When your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years. 10. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart; and they have not known My ways. 11. So I sware in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest.”

Some have failed to keep God’s Appointments, and they will receive ANOTHER APPOINTMENT!

THIS IS THE APPOINTMENT FOR THE WICKED!

Hebrews 6:4” For it is IMPOSSIBLE for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly Gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5. And have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, 6. IF THEY SHALL FALL AWAY, TO RENEW THEM AGAIN TO REPENTANCE; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame.”

God is specific in the type of transgression these people get involved in: It is FORSAKING to keep GOD’S APPOINTED SABBATHS; the ASSEMBLING OF OURSELVES TOGETHER! Hebrews 10:25 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. 26. FOR IF WE SIN WILFULLY after that we have received the knowledge of the Truth, there remaineth NO MORE SACRIFICE FOR SINS. 27. But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and FIERY INDIGNATION, which shall DEVOUR THE ADVERSARIES.”

Matthew 24:48 “But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; 50. The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, 51. And shall cut him asunder, and APPOINT him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Jesus Christ will return at an appointed time, but He said only the Father knows the day and hour: (Matt. 24:36) But, thank God, Those who are faithful in keeping His appointed days will not suffer the Appointments of the wicked. Notice! I Thessalonians 5:2 “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 4. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 9. For God hath NOT APPOINTED US TO WRATH, BUT TO OBTAIN SALVATION by our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Can you grasp the fantastic reward offered to those who are faithful in keeping the Appointments of God! WE ARE TO BE APPOINTED ETERNAL LIFE IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD, along with our Elder brother, Jesus Christ! Don’t get too involved in earthly matters that you miss your appointment with Christ!

 
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