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(Last Day of Unleavened Bread—Live)
Fred R. Coulter—April 19, 2025
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Greetings, everyone, welcome to the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread! Not only is this the weekly Sabbath, its also a Holy Day and it presents us with some problems.
- How do we solve the problem
- Why is it that there are three dates of Pentecost that are kept this year?
- How did that happen?
- Who is right?
We'll answer to that question from Scripture. Let's see what we always must do, especially all the elders and teachers. We must do as Paul said in:
2-Timothy 4:2: "Preach the Word!..." Now, that means exclude any ideas that you think are right.
We will see how we approach the Word of God so that we come to the Truth. And when you go down through time in history, in every generation where there has been the Word of God, they understood it for their generations, like the things in the book of Revelation.
All of those things have to do with the end-time. What's been the biggest problem that people have had? They try and set the time of what the Scriptures and Revelation mean with their own understanding, and they are wrong!
There are certain things that happen that look like they will fulfill the things that we find in Matt. 24 until we read it carefully. The biggest disappointment for the Churches of God in the first century was this: They were all expecting Christ to return in their lifetime! You can see that by reading in the epistles and so forth.
Then you find that Peter finally got things straightened out and he said that the Lord is not going to come until He's ready and 'a day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day.'
That doesn't mean that we take that thousand years as a day and then we wrongly apply it to a week and say that God gave 7,000 years, 6,000 for man and a thousand for Jesus,' because we do not know.
We only know when certain events take place. What was the missing event when Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed in 70A.D.? There was no abomination of desolation that went into the Holy Place. which tells us that:
- we must have ALL the Word of God
- we must put the facts together the way that they should be
So, here you have Jerusalem destroyed; 'not one stone left upon another' as Jesus said. But there was no abomination of desolation! Now think on that for a minute; the prophecy must be complete.
Beginning next week I'm going to go into various Churches of God and other doctrines as well.
Now let's come to 2-Tim. 2 and let's see how we approach the Word of God. We can think on it and see if we can solve things that we don't understand. But:
- How do we do that?
- What if you have a good idea?
- Does that mean that it is true Scripturally?
- What was the best idea to come along in the first century? If you want to avoid being killed with the Jews you come and keep Sunday with us!
- Did that seem right?
- Did that seem good?
- Don't people want to avoid being martyred unnecessarily? Of course!
- Who gave the authorization? Councils of men!
Therefore, it makes no difference of the council makes no difference of the man, it is the Word of God! That's what must stand!
So we begin by laying the groundwork and then we'll examine the Scriptures to see what it tells us.
2-Timothy 2:14: "See that they remain mindful of these things, earnestly charging them in the sight of the Lord not to argue over words that are not profitable in any way…"—because there were a lot of prophecies that could not be understood!
There were also a lot of those who were relying on genealogies. But now with the calling of the Gentiles the genealogies do not matter. They do matter in some cases when it comes down to the Christ, but they do not matter in other things. What does it do when you have those kind of things?
"…but which lead to the subverting of those who hear" (v 14).
How do you subvert someone who hears what you're saying and what you're saying may not be true or may be Truth misapplied? All of those are wrapped up in what we're going to cover here!
Verse 15—this is an obligation for all of us today but especially for all elders, all ministers, all teachers because we must teach the Word of God correctly! When we have any opinions that are not substantiated by Scripture, we should have a cowbell (speculation). When I give my opinion that gives it something to think about, I ring the cowbell so you know this cannot be doctrine. Here's the key:
Verse 15: "Diligently… [really apply yourself] …study to show yourself approved unto God…" Not to please the people because what the people want…
2-Timothy 4:2: "Preach the Word! Be urgent in season and out of season; convict, rebuke, encourage, with all patience and doctrine. For there shall come a time when they will not tolerate sound doctrine…" (vs 2-3).
- What is the whole lesson here?
- What is the whole purpose of the Feast of Unleavened Bread?
- What does Paul say twice? A little leaven leavens the whole lump,
Once you have contrary teachings come in and they are subverted by those teachings and believe that they are true, look what you have 1900 years later. You have a pagan Christianity, which is saying that Jesus was crucified yesterday (Friday) and He's going to raise at midnight when Sunday begins. But that day is called Easter, the fertility goddess of Babylon—Ishtar! And in counting the time, that was not three days and three nights!
- but people believe it
- they were subverted
"…but according to their own lusts they shall accumulate to themselves a great number of teachers, having ears itching to hear what satisfies their cravings; and they shall turn away their own ears from the Truth…" (vs 3-4),
- What is the Truth of God? Jesus said, 'Your Word is the Truth!
- What are we sanctified by? By the Word of God and the Holy Spirit!
- What is Jesus called? The Word; He is the Truth!
- What did he say of Himself, to leave no doubt? I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life!
The next part of it, everybody needs to pay attention to:
- And no one comes to the Father except through Me!
Verse 4: "And they shall turn away their own ears from the Truth, and they shall be turned aside unto myths."
2-Timothy 2:15: "Diligently study to show yourself approved unto God…"—not to please people!
If they have the Holy Spirit of God, all will be pleased. If they don't, there will be a lot of controversy!
"…a workman who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of the Truth" (v 15).
In other words, rightly taking the parts of it, some here, some there, some another place, and rightly putting it together so that we understand what the Truth is. Because God didn't put all the Truth in one place that you get it all right here in one place. That's why we have the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation.
Let's come back to the beginning of the controversy as to why there are three different (observances of) Pentecosts.
Lev. 23 is where all the Holy Days are. Now, all the Holy Days are put there for reason. God wants to know: Do you believe Him?
As I pointed out, the Holy Days were set before the establishing of the Sabbath on day 4, the appointed Feasts! That's why he starts out here in Lev. 23:1. This is what we need to do in understanding the Word of God.
Leviticus 23:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying…"
Now, you search out in the Bible there and show us any place that Moses gave his own personal opinion that he said was the Word of God. You can't find it; it's not there! Here's the command"
Verse 2: "Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, 'Concerning the appointed Feasts of the LORD…'"
- Who appointed them? God did!
- How did he appoint them?
- What time did he use? He used, as we know, the Calculated Hebrew Calendar!
Booklets (truthofGod.org}
- Which is the True Calendar of God?
- Count to Pentecost—From the Morrow After Which Sabbath
In every one of these things, we need to follow 2 Tim. 2. Study it properly, divide it correctly!
"…which you shall proclaim to be Holy convocations, even these are My appointed Feasts" (v 2).
God has set the appointment! We come to God! God does not come to us!
Verse 4: These are the appointed Feasts of the LORD, Holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons"…or appointed seasons!
You don't declare the Feast of Unleavened Bread during Christmas. You don't declare Pentecost on any other day than what God has appointed! Now, this year, it's a little tricky:
- Passover was on Sabbath, with it observed Friday night
- Passover (day portion) was on (the regular) Sabbath
- Sunday was the first Holy Day of Unleavened Bread
Now, that becomes important! So, let's read the command concerning counting up to Pentecost. So, we have the Passover Day on the regular Sabbath, taking the Passover Friday night. Then, the first Holy Day is on Sunday.
Verse 10: "Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, 'When you have come into the land, which I give to you, and shall reap the harvest of it '"
Now, the grain was already planted, probably in the fall before they got there. It was growing, and it was ready to harvest.
"…and shall reap the harvest of it… [we will see when they did] …then you shall bring the premier sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD to be accepted for you. On the next day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it" (vs 10-11)—this means the weekly Sabbath!
But here we have the problem, which is that there is no weekly Sabbath during the seven days of Unleavened Bread, so that the Wave Sheaf Offering comes on the day after the Sabbath, because you have the first Holy Day, which is on a Sunday. that day one. Then you go all the way to the next Sabbath, which is day seven, which is today, but also a weekly Sabbath.
There are those who start counting the 50 days beginning tomorrow, and we will see that that's not correct!
The Jews start their 50-day count beginning on Monday. They start with the 16th, and they come out to the 6th of Sivan! So they're not right.
Verse 11: "On the next day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And you shall offer that day when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering to the LORD. And its grain offering shall be two tenth parts of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the LORD for a sweet savor. And the drink offering of it shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin" (vs 11-13). So this has to be kept, because it says when you come into the land!
Verse 14: "And you shall eat neither bread, nor parched grain, nor green ears until the same day, until you have brought an offering to your God. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
They weren't to start eating any grain. Now remember, all during the 40 years that they were wandering they had no bread, except manna. That was it!
Verse 15: "And you shall count to you beginning with the next day after the Sabbath…."—that means a first day of the week!
This is the problem! That Sabbath must be during the Feast of Unleavened Bread!
Have we proved how many times already that the Passover Day is an Unleavened Bread day. So, when the Passover falls on a Friday, Friday night beginning, and the day portion is on the weekly Sabbath, then we will see from Josh. 5 that that is the Sabbath to begin the count for the Wave Sheaf Offering! So, the next day after that Passover Sabbath, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, then the Wave Sheaf Offering is waved in that week. it doesn't wait until the day after the next Sabbath, which then happens to be the seventh day of Unleavened Bread.
"…next day after the Sabbath, beginning with the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete" (v 15). That means every week ends in a Sabbath!
Now, if you have a calendar, let's take a look at it, 2025:
- April 12th the weekly Sabbath
- Sunday, April 13th, the Holy Day
So you've got two Sabbaths, weekly, which was Passover, and annual, which was 13th. That's the first day. So then, the Wave Sheaf Offering has to be waved on the 13th.
If you wait until the 20th, THEN you're outside the Feast of Unleavened Bread! So, let's see what happened in Josh. 5, because these Scriptures tell us the proper sequence at that time. Now, I covered part of this earlier concerning the circumcision, so we won't get into that.
Joshua 5:10: "And the children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho. And they ate of the old grain of the land on the next day after the Passover…" (vs 10-11).
That was the first day of Unleavened Bread! You have the Passover, then the first day of unleavened bread. Same sequence we had this year. What was the command in Lev. 23:14? You're not to eat any grain until the Wave Sheaf Offering has been waved!
When it says that they ate of the old grain of the land the next day after the Passover, that's the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And that first day came after the Passover, which was on a weekly Sabbath. So, what does this show us? That's on the day after the Passover, when it falls on a weekly Sabbath, that is the Wave Sheaf Offering Day! Why does it show that? Because they weren't to eat any grain until the wave sheaf was given!
So, it could not have been after the next Sabbath where the Wave Sheaf Offering was waved outside the days of Unleavened Bread.
Verse 11: "And they ate of the old grain of the land on the next day after the Passover..."
That shows that next day after the Passover was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Always follows! You have Passover, then first day of Unleavened Bread—always!
So, when the Passover fell on a weekly Sabbath, right here, that's when it had to happen, Because if you have the Passover in the middle of the week, the Wave Sheaf Offering is not waved until the day after the weekly Sabbath.
In the year that Jesus was crucified, He was killed on the 14th, and He was put into the tomb. The next day was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but He was to be three days and three nights in the tomb; so, we have:
- Passover in the middle of the week
- then you have first day of Unleavened Bread
- then you have Friday
- then you have the weekly Sabbath
That's three days and three nights! He was there Passover night, Unleavened Bread night, Friday night, and then raised from the dead on the Sabbath! Then He ascended to the Father in the morning after His resurrection!
Joshua 11: "And they ate of the old grain of the land on the next day after the Passover…"
That means the Wave Sheaf Offering had to be offered the day after the Passover, which tells us the Passover Day was a Sabbath Day, because they're not to wave it until the day after the Passover, when the Passover is on the Sabbath!
And they "…ate of the old grain…"—which they were told they were not to eat until the Wave Sheaf Offering was given, after the Passover! This tells us that the day after the Passover in this year was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the first day of the week!
"…unleavened cakes and roasted new grain in the same day" (v 11).
So after the Wave Sheaf Offering was waved, then what did they do? Some of them cut some sheaves of new grain and was using that. But they couldn't do that; they couldn't put the sickle to the harvest until the Wave Sheaf Offering was waved!
Verse 12: "And the manna stopped on the next day after they had eaten the grain of the land. And there was no more manna for the children of Israel, but they ate the fruit of the land of Canaan that year." So there we have the actual time.
Now, when you count seven complete Sabbaths, so you get out your calendar and you mark it down:
- Passover was the 12th
- first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was the 13th
That was the Wave Sheaf Offering Day! That Wave Sheaf Offering took place the next day after the Sabbath, but that Sabbath was also the Passover Day.
This tells us right here in Jos. 5 that that's the same sequence that they had back then that we had this year. If you count seven Sabbaths, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven—the 7th Sabbath is May 31st. Then June 1st is Pentecost!
Look what happens when they don't wave the Wave Sheaf Offering on the day after the Passover when it's a Sabbath. Then you have the 20th of April becomes the Wave Sheaf Offering Day. But that is the next day after all the Feast of Unleavened Bread is over! So then, you count seven weeks, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and what do you come up with? Pentecost on the 8th of June. The Jews count it this way:
The Wave Sheaf Offering is on the next day after the first Holy Day, so they end up with their Pentecost on June 2nd[transcriber's correction], which is a Monday, Sivan 6. So this year, there are three different counts!
What's another key in this? The sacrifice of Christ was for the whole world! We saw that the Passover Day itself was the first day of Unleavened Bread. So, the Passover Day becomes unleavened from sunset to sunset in addition to the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. But it's separate from because the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is separate from anything else. The special central day of God!
Now, don't you think that that day, as it says in Matt., Mark and Luke, the first of the unleaveneds means when they killed the Passover lambs, that's an unleavened bread day! Have to be!
Now then, Jesus ascended, as we saw, He has to ascend on the first day of the week when the Wave Sheaf Offering was waved. In the week that Jesus was crucified, that did not take place until the day after the weekly Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
That first day of the week, which is called the day of the unleaveneds, that's when the Feast of Unleavened Bread began; the day of the unleaveneds.
It's translated in many translations on the first day of the week, but a literal translation shows it is on the day of the unleaveneds! So, you have the Passover Day. After that, you have a regular day, and then you have Thursday, which is the Holy Day, but the Holy Day is not the weekly Sabbath.
So then you have a Friday, and then you have the weekly Sabbath, and then you have the first day of the week, which is the Wave Sheaf Offering Day, in the week that Jesus was crucified, but on the first day counting toward Pentecost!
So, I hope I didn't confuse everybody, and hope that you understand it, but I don't think many of us realize that there were three days of Pentecost this year.
So, what we have to do, we have to use the Scriptures to tell us exactly what happened in Josh. 5.
Verse 11[transcriber's correction]: "And they ate of the old grain of the land…"—and they couldn't do that until the Wave Sheaf Offering!
Since Passover was on a Sabbath, that Sabbath is counted for figuring the Wave Sheaf Offering. On the day after the Sabbath, it shall be waved.
"…on the next day after the Passover, unleavened cakes and roasted new grain in the same day" (v 11).
So, that shows us by Scripture the correct count when we have the Passover Day itself falling on a Sabbath. Most other years, we don't have that problem.
But the Jews have the problem because they count beginning with the next day after the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread! They always end up with Sivan 6 on whichever day of the week that it falls on.
I hope this helps you clarify it, because we will be keeping Pentecost on the 1st of June, because that is the 50th day!
Scriptural References:
- 2-Timothy 4:2
- 2-Timothy 2:14-15
- 2-Timothy 4:2-4
- 2-Timothy 2:15
- Leviticus 23:1-2, 4, 10-15
- Joshua 5:10-12, 11
Scriptures referenced, not quoted: Matthew 24
Also referenced: Booklets {truthofGod.org}:
- Which is the True Calendar of God
- Count to Pentecost: From the Morrow After Which Sabbath
FRC:bo/po
Transcribed: 4/25/25
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