Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 3 * PART 1 * BOOK 84
THE RESURRECTION OF THE JUST – 1
Daniel 12:13
Okay, good to see everybody in this afternoon. I think even our TV audience will realize this is the biggest crowd we’ve had yet. We appreciate that all of you have come in. As we found out before we came on the air, we’ve got people from all over the country here today. I haven’t got time to list all the states. But wherever you’re from today, we appreciate the fact that you are here with us.
All right, we’re going to finish where we left off in our last taping. I didn’t quite end up the way I wanted to, and we’re going to go back and finish that today. So, if you’ll join me here in the studio, and for those of you out in television, we’re going to go back to Daniel chapter 12 to finish the last three or four verses dealing with the resurrection of the Old Testament and the Tribulation saints. Let’s begin at Daniel chapter 12 verse 10.
Daniel 12:10a
“Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly:…” In other words, just like now, even as you come toward the end of the Tribulation, there’ll be those that’ll still be hearing the Kingdom Gospel, perhaps from the 144,000, and will become believers. Be martyred for it, of course. But on the other hand, the vast majority of the human race that’s still surviving will never turn from their wickedness. All right, reading on in verse 10.
Daniel 12:10b
“…and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” Now, here’s the timing. And this is what I want to deal with today—because so many, even the people that I read, have just got this all befuddled, or they ignore it completely. We’re just going to look at it for what it says.
Daniel 12:11
“And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, (Which will be in the mid-point of those seven years.) and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.” Now, to take this to the end of seven years, or the final three-and-a-half, it should be twelve hundred and sixty days, so we’ve got an extra thirty days tacked on. Now you come down into verse 12.
Daniel 12:12
“Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. (Or a total of an extra seventy-five days. And then verse 13 is the key to the whole thing.) 13. But (God says to the prophet Daniel.) go thou thy way till the end be:”
Now, you’ve got to go back several verses—I think it’s here in chapter 12. Yeah, just go back to verse 8. Then you’ll see why Daniel is addressed the way he is. Back here in chapter 12 verse 8 Daniel says:
Daniel 12:8
“And I heard, but I understood not: (In other words, all the things concerning these end-time events.) then said I, O my LORD, what shall be the end of these things?” Well, he was human. He was just like we are, you know. You want to know what? What’s coming next? What does the Lord tell him? Just be patient. Shut up the Book, because you’re not going to be concerned with it until the end anyway.
Daniel 12:9
“…Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” All right, so now when you come down to verse 13—I hope I haven’t confused you. Daniel is told that he’s not to be concerned with these hundreds, and now another two thousand—so we’re about 2600 years beyond the time that Daniel is living—and he is just simply told:
Daniel 12:13
“But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.” Well, what days? These twelve hundred and sixty and an extra seventy-five days. So, here we have the end-time scenario after the Tribulation has ended and Christ has returned and the Earth has already been made beautiful like the Garden of Eden. Now, I’ve got to constantly remind people. The Lord Himself said it, “With God nothing is impossible.”
So, when we see a devastated planet as a result of the nuclear explosions that we’ve been explaining the last several programs, don’t think it’s impossible for God to re-establish a beautiful surface of the planet in an instant. But, you see, we are so human. We think, well, that can’t happen.
Well, all I can suggest to people is, on a beautiful starlight night—before the full moon knocks all the light out—on a beautiful starlight night, just consider what little bit of the universe we can see. And it’s only a little infinitesimal part of it all. Yet those trillions of stars are all under God’s thumb. He knows every one of them. He knows exactly where they are.
Well, then I have to make the parallel. If He knows all of those trillions of objects in space, you think He’s going to have any trouble with a few million or billion human beings on the planet? None! None at all. So never limit God. He is so far beyond us. And that’s why we have to take it by Faith.
All right, so here He has devastated the planet with all of the nukes and everything that’s going to totally destroy everything. Yet almost as instantly this planet is going to be as beautiful as it was in the Garden of Eden, for the onset of that thousand-year earthly Kingdom. That’s the way it’s going to happen. All right, after the extra seventy-five days have run their course from the Second Coming, He sets up the Kingdom, and then will come the resurrection of the Old Testament saints, or the believers.
Now, I am betwixt and between where to go first. Here’s where I always ask the Spirit to lead. So, let’s go back to Matthew a minute. We’ll just put Daniel on hold and come all the way up to Matthew chapter 27.
Now, what I’m going to do in order to clarify these various resurrections—and you’ve got to remember that. I think I stressed it on the program either the other morning or today. I don’t know. But I know I made reference to it, that the resurrection does not just mean to be dead and brought back to life like Elijah did with the widow’s son, or like Jesus did with Lazarus. That was not resurrection. That was just returning them back to life. They died again. But at resurrection, believers who have lived and died will be brought back to life eternal with a body fit for eternity.
All right, now we’re going to go back, and I think we did this in a previous program, we’re going to look at a little field of grain in Israel. Here in America we’re acquainted with forty acres, so you can look at it in that light. All right, we’re going to go back and check out the Scripture for all this. You see, when the Jews were getting ready for the feast of first-fruits, it was in the spring, and barley was their number one early spring crop.
Now, those of you here in Oklahoma, with all of our wheat and so forth, you certainly are aware that as a green field of wheat begins to turn color, gradually gets a little bit more yellow and gold, then all of a sudden sprinkled throughout the field, what do you see? Some early ripening single stems of grain. Just one stem here and a stem there and the heads on that are gold and yellow. Then about two or three days later, the rest of the crop catches up.
All right, now what Israel was to do with their barley harvest was—as soon as those early little individual stems of grain were ripe, they were to go into their barley field, pluck those individual stems until they had enough to make a sheaf or a bundle. All right, then what’d they do with it? They took it up to the Temple, and it was a “wave” offering. That was the instructions. We’re going to go back and look at it in just a moment. All right, after they had plucked out those early stems of ripened grain, then naturally what followed? Well, the main harvest.
Now, I’m going to use the analogy of the grain harvest with the resurrections, because the Lord Himself associated soul-winning with harvesting. You all know the verse. “For the fields are white unto harvest.” It was a spiritual harvest. All right, the same way here. I’m going to use the analogy that as Israel was to go into the approaching harvest of the early spring barley field, they would go in and pluck out those early ripening grains, make a wave offering, and then they’d come in and take the crop. Naturally. The whole idea is to get the crop.
But they were instructed not to harvest the corners or the gleanings. You know what gleanings are. Those are the stems that didn’t get picked up, whether it’s today’s big machinery or whether it was back in antiquity when they used the little hand scythe. So, what was the purpose? Well, to leave for the poor. So, what we’re going to do is take these three segments of the harvest and associate it spiritually. First, we have the First-Fruits. Then the Main Harvest. Then the last part is Corners and Gleanings.
All right, let’s start with the first-fruits in Matthew 27. Now, I’m doing all this to get ready for Daniel’s waiting at the end of the seventy-five days. Matthew chapter 27 and come over to verse 51. It’s the account at the time of the crucifixion, beginning at verse 51.
Matthew 27:51a
“And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to the bottom;…” Now, you all know what the veil was. That was that heavy cloth curtain between the main part of the Temple, or the Tabernacle, in which were the candlestick and the loaves of showbread and the altar of incense. Then behind the veil was the Holy of Holies with the Ark of the Covenant. All right, that veil split, of course, from top to bottom, indicating, now, that the way into the holiest of all was accessible without using the High Priest.
But who knows—what did Israel do with the veil? They sewed it back up. They kept right on with their Temple worship, never catching on to what God had already said. That question comes in every once in a while, “Well, what happened to the veil when it was split in two?” They sewed it back up and continued on with Temple worship until the Romans destroyed it and the Temple in A.D. 70. All right, now back to the text.
Matthew 27:51-52
“And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52. And the graves were opened; (It doesn’t say how many. But, again, it’s just a sampling.) the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints (That is these believing Jews.) who had died arose,”
Now, I’ll never forget these three verses. I hadn’t been in Oklahoma but a month or two, and a good old deacon from one of the local churches collared me, and he said, “Les, what are these people who came out of their graves while Christ was on the cross?” I said, “I never heard of such a thing.” “Oh, yeah,” he said, “they came out of the grave while Christ was on the cross.” I said, “Well, now let’s just go look a minute. That doesn’t sound right.”
Now you’ve got to remember, I wasn’t as advanced in my Bible knowledge as much as I am now. But I knew something was wrong. So, I went and looked at it. You know, just like everybody else, what did he not see? The next verse! People don’t read. Look at the next verse.
Matthew 27:53a
“And they came out of the graves after his resurrection,…” Not while He was on the cross! See how easy it is to just goof everything up.
In fact, somebody just showed me a letter to the editor of one of our more famous magazines in the country, and they were referring to me, no doubt about it. And they had totally, totally misquoted me—as misquoted as a man could be. And then the editor comments on my misquote. That’s when I get up-tight. I mean, if they want to comment on what I said, then they ought to check me out on the Internet and so forth. But, no, they don’t do that. They just say, well, this guy is a false teacher, don’t listen to him. Well, no wonder I’m false, if I’m misquoted. How else can you be?
All right, so here again, see how easy it is for people to misread? He thought this happened while Christ was on the cross. No. They didn’t come out of their graves until after His resurrection. Now, why am I emphasizing the “after”? Because Christ had to be the first to ever be resurrected from the dead. And, as I’ve pointed out in one of my recent programs on your daily, Monday through Friday, I was referring to the “only begotten of the Father.” Maybe some of you have heard it in the last morning or two. Well, what does it mean that Christ was the “only begotten of the Father”? Well, the average church member says, well, that’s Bethlehem. No, that’s not Bethlehem. When He became the only begotten Son of God, it was at His Resurrection!
I guess I’d better use the Scripture, because I’ve got time enough. Come back with me to Psalms. You know, this is what I tell people at my seminars. We no more than get started and we start going all over the Book. Well, that’s the way I teach. I can’t help that. Today we’re going to do the same thing. Come back with me to Psalms chapter 2, where you have that only begotten Son of God mentioned for the first time. Clear back in Psalms!
Psalms 2:7
“I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” Well, what day is He speaking of? Well, now again, we’ve got to compare Scripture with Scripture to get our answers. Come up with me to the Book of Acts chapter 13.
Paul is speaking in Antioch of Pisidia. That’s up there in central Turkey. And he’s rehearsing all of this before the Jews in that particular synagogue. Oh, my goodness, I’m going to take the time. I didn’t plan to do this, but let’s just take the time so that we qualify what it means that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. Let’s go all the way up to verse 26. We may just skim some of these things for sake of time. But here Paul is addressing this whole scenario to these Jews in the Synagogue. And he says:
Acts 13:26-27
“Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. 27. For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, (Now this goes back to His earthly ministry, remember.) they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.”
Acts 13:28-30
“And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. 29. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. 30. But God raised him from the dead:” Now, this had been unheard of up until this time.
Acts 13:30-31
“But God raised him from the dead: 31. And he was seen many days of them who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witness unto the people.” Now verse 33:
Acts 13:33-34
“God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is (Now watch this. This is what you have to do with Scripture.) as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. (now the next verse) 34. And as concerning that (the quote from Psalms 2) as concerning that (being called the only begotten Son of God) he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.” All right, so what caused God to call Him the “only begotten Son”? His resurrection!
All right, now let’s go to one more. Go to Romans chapter 1, starting at verse 1. Here’s where there is so much ignorance in Christendom. They don’t take the time to check these things out. Where did the term originate? Well, it originated in Psalms chapter 2. Paul explains it in Acts 13. Now here comes the frosting on the cake.
Romans 1:1-3
“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, 2. (Which he had promised before by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) 3. Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;” In other words, his fleshly lineage came from King David. Now, look at verse 4.
Romans 1:4
“And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by (What great act?) the resurrection from the dead:” And the resurrection is almost totally ignored today. They can talk about taking Jesus into your heart. He’s died for your sins. But they’re leaving out the power! Because the power was not exercised until He arose from the dead! Are you with me? Now, that’s the “only begotten” part of the Son of God, that He was raised from the dead.
All right, now let’s come back again, quickly, to Matthew 27. I don’t think I finished with those verses.
Matthew 27:53
“And came out of the graves after his resurrection, (Because He had to be the first to be resurrected and to be declared to be the only begotten Son of God.) came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.”
Well, now remember, these are believing Jews who had died. And like we’ve always taught, the soul and the spirit went—for the Old Testament Saint—down to Paradise. But now in this case, they come out of the graves and receive, not just the resurrected soul and spirit, but the body. They walked into the streets of Jerusalem in the new, resurrected body.
Now it goes to common sense, then, that they went only long enough to prove resurrection, and that they were the sampling of the first-fruits that we saw in the barley field in the realm of the spiritual. I think that’s the whole purpose, so that they could fulfill the role of the first-fruits. Then they went on up into Glory, because there’s no record of Jews still living today that were on the streets in “zero”—two thousand years later. So, we have to assume that they went on up into Glory in those resurrected bodies.
All right, now let’s come back, then, to Leviticus chapter 23 and pick up where all of this actually began. It’s right back here in the early days of Israel’s Temple worship, when they’re still out in the desert, and they have the little Tabernacle Tent. Now, you get into chapter 23 and you have the feast days of Israel. All got it, Leviticus 23, let’s start at verse 9.
Leviticus 23:9-11
“And the LORD spake unto Moses saying, 10. Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, (Now, like I said, the earliest grain was barley. So, when you reap the barley harvest–) then ye shall bring a sheaf (or I call them bundles) of the firstfruits of your harvest (those earliest ripening stems of grain, the sample) then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: 11. And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.”
All right, so that was the first step of fulfilling these resurrections—the firstfruits, which was Christ and these samplings that came out of the graves at Jerusalem.
All right, now if you’ll back up a few pages in Leviticus to chapter 19, we see that the next part that they have to obey with regard to harvest is in verse 9. Leviticus chapter 19:9, these were all instructions according to the Law.
Leviticus 19:9
“And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shall not wholly (or completely) reap the corners of thy field, (You leave them.) neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.” And the reason is in verse 10—for the poor. So, God provides for the whole set of society. The poor were dealt with by leaving the corners and the gleanings. In other words, they would be the picture of the very last of the resurrection.
All right, now I haven’t really got time enough to go into the next segment, but let’s come back and stop at Daniel chapter 12, a minute, before we go on to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. So, if you’ll stop at Daniel 12, just to refresh our memory. Because I’ve got to remember, our attention span isn’t all that long, even for adults. We know it’s not long for kids, but adults aren’t much better.
Daniel chapter 12, again, the very last verse, verse 13, remember, Daniel is curious. What in the world is the meaning of all this? And God just says it’s not for you to know. Because it was so far out in the future, he wouldn’t have any contact with it, anyway. All right, here is what He says then in verse 13.
Daniel 12:13
“But go thy way till the end be: (Then he would be part of it.) for thou shalt rest, (Well, what does that mean? In death. His body would be asleep in the ground, and his soul and spirit would be in the presence of the Lord.) for thou shalt rest (Then here’s his end.) and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.”
Now, just like the word “company” in I Corinthians, “lot” is a military term. It was a term of organization. Now, I think all of you are aware of military chain of command. When you’re down here as a foot soldier and a Private, you’re in a Company. Then when you move up in organization, the next one is, if I remember right, Battalion. And from Battalion you come to a Regiment. Regiment to the Division.
All right, those are all military terms. So, if you write a letter to a serviceman, you have to know what part of the organization he’s in, or he’ll never get his mail. It’s the same way in Scripture. We’re using here military terms of organization. Daniel is told to wait in his particular lot, whether it was a Company or a Battalion or whatever, but God knew. Well, Paul is going to use the same thing, only in the Greek. It’s going to be a little different term, but it also is a term of organization. God is an organizer. God is meticulous in everything He does.