Feast: Why Are We Here and What Is Our Focus?
#FT22-02
Mark Schindler
Given 11-Oct-22; 64 minutes
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transcript:
We are going to begin the sermon this morning on this second day of God’s commanded Feast of Tabernacles with part of what Christian Hunter just read from Deuteronomy. It is important for us to begin here because it sets up a major foundational point not only for this sermon but for all of God’s commanded feasts in which He has graciously invited us to participate.
If you are not already there, please turn with me to Deuteronomy 7.
Deuteronomy 7:6-11 "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. [Remember, this is us coming out of our worldly bondage to sin.]
Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face. Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them.”
Now, the heading in my Bible of this next section is, “Blessings of Obedience.”
Deuteronomy 7:12-15 "Then it shall come to pass, because you listen to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers. And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be a male or female barren among you or among your livestock. And the LORD will take away from you all sickness, and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you have known, but will lay them on all those who hate you.”
Deuteronomy 7:17-18 "If you should say in your heart, 'These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’—you shall not be afraid of them, but you shall remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt.”
Brethren, this is important because this goes back to what Richard was talking about today. We are hearing things to remember.
This is the foundation upon which our lives are built. We are not here at this Feast while most of the rest of the world goes about business as usual because of anything we have done. Our responsibilities are to respond faithfully to God’s command, but it still boils down to everything that God Himself is doing.
We are here by the grace of God, as they say, because God has decided to invite us into a relationship with Him, and we have the privilege to respond with heartfelt joy to remember.
Within that relationship our part is to obey Him to the best of our ability and then live within all the blessings that He pours out in the midst of a world of fear, while always bearing in mind we are not to fear anyone else but Him! With a deep and abiding respect for all that only God can do in fulfilling His purpose to bring all men into the image and likeness of the God Family, we come before Him this week, and in reality every day of our lives, within the Body of Christ together.
With this in mind, and before going any father into this sermon I would like us to do a quick overview of God’s Plan, as far as we understand it. Because I sincerely believe it is a critical starting point for us to consider during the Feast of Tabernacles and our part in God’s carefully designed plan, as we continue our journey behind Jesus Christ.
We are going to start this overview with God’s own affirmation of what He intends to accomplish. And as Austin [del Castillo] mentioned, if God intends it, it will be done.
Please turn to II Peter 3.
II Peter 3:1-9 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."
For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Peter very clearly draws all of our attention to the Word of God, who became Jesus Christ, as the only One who can do this to perfection. And it is He who is powerfully moving all to repentance with patience, not willing that any should perish under His watch, as they say.
We can then add the very familiar words from God to us through the apostle Paul, as recorded in I Timothy 2, verses 1-6.
I Timothy 2:1-6 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
These are both very familiar scriptures to us but we need to start off clearly seeing a sampling of all the work that is being done for us by Him, while still recognizing the small, though seemingly difficult part we must be doing in faith as our part in the great work only Christ can ultimately complete!
Only He can guarantee knowledge of truth, peace, and salvation! But, on our part, we must be submitting to Him both in repentance and in prayerful thanks to Him for all who are in authority over us, as He carefully crafts and carries out the will of the Father even using those who have yet to be called in their order.
This, brethren, seems like an insurmountable task. However, it is not only possible but in these things our peace and salvation are guaranteed through Him. This is the way that God sees it.
Again brethren, we all know these two simple scriptures, but do we really appreciate all that is in them regarding the impossible being not only possible but guaranteed through Jesus Christ?
As I said, from this point I would like to take us through a short overview of God’s work to create us Their image and likeness. This is all very familiar to us but what better time is there than these days to recount how meticulously perfect is the work of the Word of God! The Feast of Tabernacles is an excellent time to review this plan while considering the awesome work of Jesus Christ to bring it all to fruition.
This is not only a good time to review these things but another good opportunity, as are all the holy days, to put the emphasize exactly where it properly belongs—on Jesus Christ.
Right from the beginning of the Book as recorded in Genesis 1:26, God proclaims the avowed purpose for all mankind by declaring, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Genesis 1:26, KJV).
However, as we know, it is vital to recognize that the physical creation we see in the next verse, Genesis 1:27, is merely the beginning of this incredible process.
It is only at the end of the Book that we get a glimpse of the result of all God's careful work to create mankind fully in the very image of God, with the very same character as the Father and the Son.
So please turn with me to this very well-known set of verses. Please turn to Revelation 21.
Revelation 21:1-7 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."
Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful." And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
Brethren, what could possibly be more exciting than this incredible work of the Word, who became our only means of salvation—a salvation where we have the almost unbelievable opportunity to be in the single most important relationship any could ever have, just as Richard said on the Day of Atonement. Our relationship needs to be with the Word, who became Jesus Christ.
The Father and the Son are creating beings just like Themselves with the exact same character of love and outgoing concern. If this does not cause you to rejoice during these days, nothing can.
We know that there are some few who will not share the reverential awe and excitement for God’s incredible plan at the end when He calls all the general population. They are the ones who will faithlessly remain oblivious to the incredible work of God and remain anchored to a lifestyle that fails to meet this character standard God expects, once they have had the truth and completely understand what they are doing. Sadly, they will be judged into the Lake of Fire and cease to exist as recorded in Revelation 20:14-15.
But, mindful of what we read in II Peter 4 and I Timothy 2, through the astounding powerful work of Christ the “I AM,” this is probably not going to amount to very many, which Herbert W. Armstrong surmised, who will have the opportunity that we have today to reverentially rejoice in the singular work of Jesus Christ, as we prepare to be serving with Him throughout eternity.
We know God’s Word tells us unequivocally, there will be no second chance for those who know the truth and yet trample over the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, as it says in Hebrews 6:4-6 and Hebrews 10:26-29. Brethren, I think we need to take the time to read these verses because they do, in fact, apply to us right now. We must not treat anything God has given us to maintain our uniquely exquisite but unmerited relationship with the Christ, as common.
Hebrews 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
Hebrews 10:26-29 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
We certainly do not want to be among those who were once enlightened, were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and had received the knowledge of the truth, which God is sharing with us especially this week. We must fully appreciating the living Word of God who is making all of this possible.
Brethren, the Feast of Tabernacles is a time for us to reassess how much we truly appreciate Him and all that He alone continues to do to make Genesis 1:26 a perfected reality for everyone.
As Richard said yesterday, we must remember all that has gone on before us. There are billions of people that have lived and died without really having any idea of the really incredible work that is being done on behalf of all men by and through Jesus Christ.
According to God’s unbroken Word, it is His purpose to patiently bring all men to repentance, salvation and full knowledge of the truth, which can only come by His grace through Jesus Christ, who will have all men to be saved, "and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." (I Timothy 2:4-6)
"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (II Peter 3:8-9)
I know we keep going over this, but we need to understand, this is all through Jesus Christ; this is where we stand right now. The truth has been given to us. But are we going to take it? Are we going to do what we need to do? Keeping in mind what God inspired Peter to write about Himself, “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise.”
Let us continue now by noting God’s intricate plan that is on His time schedule; not ours, and His purpose is being accomplished in a certain order that He has set. An orderly progression that has given us the privilege to be Here today.
Please turn with me to I Corinthians 15. Here we will see God's Plan very succinctly stated by the apostle Paul.
I Corinthians 15:19-28 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming [that is us]. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For, He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For, "He has put all things under His feet." But when He says "all things are put under Him," it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him that God may be all in all.
I Corinthians 15:50-58 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Brethren, as I told you at the beginning, I hope you are not sitting out there while going over these things, missing the biggest point of God’s holy days—the clear focus of every one of them is on the Author and Finisher of our salvation and the wonderful opportunity He has given us to abound in the work of the Lord with Him.
The relationship that God has invited us to have, right now with Jesus Christ, should be the absolute source of the joyful feasting that we do this week, and that we abound in learning to work with Him. Striving to continue reaching beyond what we think we can do that we know in faith Christ can and will make possible for us to do.
The Father has a plan to bring all of mankind to Him through Jesus Christ, but every man in his own order! Do we truly appreciate that we could never do this without Him in this once in an eternity opportunity?
I know this is old hat, but we cannot have a proper Feast that God expects us to have this week if we do not keep Jesus Christ and His work as our focus with thanksgiving. Again let us remind ourselves what Jesus Christ Himself said about His perfect work.
Please turn with me to John 6, where will be reading some verses that we typically read during Passover and Unleavened Bread, as meat in due season. But actually, these are words that are meat in any season for us who fully appreciate who it is that we have this exciting privileged relationship with now.
John 6:37-47 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."
The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?" Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life."
"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. . . And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing,. . . No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."
Again, brethren, how much do we appreciate what we have been given by the Father, so that we too can do His will through Jesus Christ, while the rest of the world around us cowers in fear.
We are going to look at a couple of other scriptures right now that should be part of what should make the Feast throughout this week an absolute joy. Turn with me to Matthew 13.
I did not know what Richard was going to speak yesterday, and I certainly did not know the scriptures he was going to use either. But I think God determined that He wanted this repeated.
Matthew 13:11-17 He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.' But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."
Let me give you what probably was the inspiration for this sermon: It came from a letter that I had that came to the church from a palliative doctor. This is a doctor who takes care of people who are in pain and suffering, the last stage before death. In this letter he was anxious and hopeless because his patients would ask how to be able to face their death, and he had no answers. He appeared to be a very fine man. And so, part of this sermon was in my answer to him, so that he had something he could give to his patients who were on the verge of their death.
God's Plan is being worked out in such a way that it gives hope to the hopeless. You have that hope! We sit here at the Feast of Tabernacles, having been instructed to listen and hear what is being said, because the Great God has determined that you are in this room, or on the hook-up, or watching the live stream wherever you are in the world, gathered together to hear God's message. We have been given the hope that the hopeless does not have, which that palliative doctor needed so much.
This sermon is not meant to be a deep dive look into scriptures that we may not have considered in a particular way before. This sermon, I hope, will be a base for all the good news of the Kingdom of God that God has carefully prepared to give us this week. How precious and how sure that reality is to us.
Hopefully this sermon will remind us of exactly Who is at the center of all the commanded holy days of God and giving us the ability to see and hear what so many have not to this point in time. Without Jesus Christ, we can do nothing, but through Him and with Him, within the places He has set us, we can do anything! God’s people are gathered together in various places around the world in a scattered condition at this time for whatever the reasons. But bridges can only be built by Jesus Christ through us as we work diligently with the abilities He is given within the places where we are to do it.
This, too, is part of our faith-building submission to Him in the work that only He can do. But we must be staying loyally faithful to Him within the place He has determined for us to do our most beneficial work.
Because God’s Word cannot contradict itself as it says in John 10:35, it is God’s stated purpose to bring all men to the truth and repentance in the order He has determined, we need to be working diligently with the gifts He has given, in the places we have been given, knowing that in Him and through Him the Father’s will is going to get done.
This is the unity that is certain. In Jesus Christ we are all dwelling together in unity on this journey, but only if we see Him and stay behind Him. Even within the Body of Christ the connections can only be working in unity when we all remain under the direction of the Head, who sends out the signals.
For the majority of those who have ever lived, this opportunity will not even happen until after a resurrection once more to physical life, when God finally opens their eyes to His whole truth. We will likely be seeing more of that this week in the scriptures like Revelation 20, Isaiah 65, and Ezekiel 37.
Yet our focus, if we really want to understand how we can better fit into the Family of God, now and into eternity, must stay firmly fixed on the Master Builder with thanksgiving, who alone can put all the pieces together to build the permanent dwelling place. The Bible shows us our Great God has a plan and purpose that will produce the best possible results for all involved but according to His time-table, which is exact and perfect.
God has given us the privilege to clearly see that He is sovereign over His creation, and He has carefully planned things from the beginning to produce exactly what He intends with perfect mercy and justice. God has provided us with a wonderful key for understanding His plan within His holy days that He has ultimately set in place for all mankind. But they will never be fully understood unless we are keeping Jesus Christ front and center in all of them, learning to live as He lives.
This may sound pretty simple-minded, and it probably is because I am a simple-minded man, who has a hard time keeping a single thought in my head. But, over the years I have seen that what we know and what we think we know can often fill a thimble, if that. However, it is also clear that, as we draw closer to Christ’s return and what this Feast pictures in part, God is slowly but surely opening more avenues that reinforce the work only He can do in picture in all the holy days.
It pretty much reminds me of Deuteronomy 29.
Deuteronomy 29:29 "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."
We are on a “need to know” basis. And as we grow closer to the time of Jesus’ return, that knowledge we need to know increases. But we must be listening, and hearing what is being said with Christ front and center.
We have full access to the One who is putting it all together to perfection, and He alone can keep us on the right track if we stay firmly seated in the place He has put us, keeping Him as the focus of our attention working as He works. Throughout this week our joy will be fulfilled if we sincerely have ears to hear everything God has prepared for us with a focus on the perfect work of Jesus Christ and our own responsibilities within it.
Brethren, this is such a critical point that we so often miss. Every one of the holy days pictures multiple aspects of the perfect work of the Word of God. Over the next week you are going to see and hear some of those things. This is the source of the rejoicing we share here this week, as God’s holy people prepare for our jobs of service ahead, such as those hopeless people the palliative doctor has been serving agonizing over how to give his patients hope. We have it! And, we are preparing to use it to give them the hope that we have and understand now.
This is what God is wanting you to recognize that will make His Feast your Feast, as it says in Deuteronomy 16:14, in a way that will please Him. The source of our joy must come by clearly recognizing that Christ is among us and in us, preparing us and giving us hope to share with the hopeless.
What may seem impossible for men with that sense of hopelessness, is possible with our Great God, and has been His Plan and purpose all along, according to His Word. He will accomplish what He has set out to do and we are part of His vanguard!
One day down the road all will come to realize what we have the privilege to know now. We serve the Great God of creation who inhabits eternity (Isaiah 57:15). He is more than capable of declaring the end of His plans and purposes for all men from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10), through the very real presence and work of Jesus Christ. This is the reason why we began this sermon with some of those verses Christian Hunter read a while ago from Deuteronomy 7.
Through those verses you see again the pattern that most of us have noted over the last 12 months as we have read the book of the law. God very conspicuously points to the relationship He expects us to have with Him in the phrase, “The Lord your God,” which is declared over 240 times within the book of Deuteronomy, and 10 times in just these 20 verses alone. This affirmation distinctly points throughout this Book to the power and authority of the One True God and whether or not we see Him as the Lord our God, willing to submit to His will in every aspect of our lives, or not.
It is in this constantly repeated phrase that we see what and who must be the focus of our attention! Which brings us to the title of this sermon, "Why are We Here and What is Our Focus?"
This needs to be the focus of our attention, not only this week, but throughout our lives within the Body of Christ! Of course it is the Word of God dwelling with us as we go on this journey—dwelling in us and uniting us. God reminds us through the apostle Paul, in I Corinthians 6.
I Corinthians 6:19-20 “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.”
Brethren, we must keep this in mind as we keep this Feast. We have been purchased with an incredible price. And we belong not only to God but to each other where Jesus Christ Himself dwells as the source of unity for the glory of the Father. He too has made a temporary dwelling with us to make sure we finish this journey with Him, becoming a permanent dwelling in the Family of God.
Please turn with me now to Psalm 29. I believe this may help us sharpen our focus a bit! There is even a particular clue within it, as to what needs to be the clear focus of this marvelous Feast of Tabernacles. And since Psalm 29 is only 11 verses, we will be read whole psalm.
Psalm 29:1-11 Give unto the LORD, O you mighty ones, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders; the LORD is over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars, yes, the LORD splinters the cedars of Lebanon. He makes them also skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the LORD divides the flames of fire. The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth, and strips the forests bare; and in His temple everyone says, "Glory!" The LORD sat enthroned at the Flood, and the LORD sits as King forever. The LORD will give strength to His people; the LORD will bless His people with peace.
Now I would like to read verses 7-11 from the “Contemporary English Version” because it gives a greater sense of God’s power and authority and the reaction it should evoke from those in His presence.
Psalm 29:7-11 (CEV) “The voice of the LORD makes lightning flash and the desert tremble. And because of the LORD the desert near Kadesh shivers and shakes. The voice of the LORD makes deer give birth before their time. Forests are stripped of leaves, and the temple is filled with shouts of praise. The LORD rules on His throne, King of the flood forever. Pray that our LORD will make us strong and give us peace.”
In a comment that John Ritenbaugh made regarding this psalm he said, “David uses thunder as a metaphor for the voice of God. For the purpose of instruction, the reason is to make obvious the connection between something that everybody is familiar with—the powerful, reverberating sound of thunder—and the power of God's spoken Word.”
Within the midst of our journey through this world where the creation is shaken by His Word, we have been given the opportunity to hear this powerful Word not as the world now hears it in calamity and destruction, but as God intends His people to hear it—hope for the hopeless.
But God has given us the opportunity to hear with reverential awe the clarity that should evoke the shouts of praise among His elect, who have been set in our proper places to hear the power of the words of the LORD our GOD, so we can grow to the fullness of Christ to which we have been called in preparation to serve all that will come, as these holy days of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day picture.
Please turn with me to another very familiar scripture in Ephesians, because it clearly points to our focus throughout these days of praise that involves working as God works.
Ephesians 4:1-6 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Ephesians 4:11-18 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.
During this week as we hear the thunder of God’s Word there is a great deal of work involved to make sure that we are letting Jesus Christ do His work within us. As His living dwelling place He is moving us to learn more carefully to learn and live as He lives in unity. We are doing this to prepare to serve all the hopeless who will come after us.
We do this by learning to live His Word within the body that Christ is knitting together, as only Christ can do. But it does requite our own sacrificial work. Bill mentioned this in a sermonette, recently, and Martin may have detailed this a bit, too. I think we need to go back to Numbers 29 because we need to see how much service God required during the Feast of Tabernacles. This gives us an idea of what He expects from us, and how we deal with each other.
Turn with me to Numbers 29.
Numbers 29:12-34 'On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work, and you shall keep a feast to the LORD seven days. You shall present a burnt offering, an offering made by fire as a sweet aroma to the LORD: thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year. They shall be without blemish. Their grain offering shall be of fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for each of the thirteen bulls, two-tenths for each of the two rams, and one-tenth for each of the fourteen lambs; also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
'On the second day present twelve young bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish, and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance; also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings.
'On the third day present eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish, and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance; also one goat as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
'On the fourth day present ten bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year, without blemish, and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance; also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
(I hope you are not falling asleep, here! I want you to pay attention. This is what God's Word says He expects during His Feast in sacrificial offerings.)
On the fifth day present nine bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish, and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance; also one goat as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
'On the sixth day present eight bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish, and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance; also one goat as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
'On the seventh day present seven bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish, and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance; also one goat as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
'On the eighth day you shall have a sacred assembly. You shall do no customary work. You shall present a burnt offering, an offering made by fire as a sweet aroma to the LORD: one bull, one ram, seven lambs in their first year without blemish, and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bull, for the ram, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance; also one goat as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
'These you shall present to the LORD at your appointed feasts (besides your vowed offerings and your freewill offerings) as your burnt offerings and your grain offerings, as your drink offerings and your peace offerings.'"
Brethren, did you notice as we went through this, how much work was involved (pretty much by the priests)? But did you also notice that when we got to the Eighth Day, it dropped way down to only one bull, etc. Those people who come up the Eighth Day will not have all the work that you are required to have, but they also are not going to have the same place of honor in God's plan in His order that that He has determined beforehand, maybe like Jeremiah, from before the womb.
Why are we here?
We are here to serve our Great God, the Great I Am; to show Him that we firmly believe He is the Lord our God. We need to be showing we are willing to do in service according to His expectations.
We have been commanded to come to this Feast and rejoice; yet, this is not a time to just sit back, but rather work as hard as we can to prepare for our own as living sacrifices with Jesus Christ with great appreciation!
Turn with me to II Chronicles 5. I believe that this is something that should be on our minds, showing our joy at being here. This passage is after Solomon had built the Temple, and was bringing the Ark of the Covenant into the Temple.
II Chronicles 5:1-14 So all the work that Solomon had done for the house of the LORD was finished; and Solomon brought in the things which his father David had dedicated: the silver and the gold and all the furnishings. And he put them in the treasuries of the house of God. Now Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, in Jerusalem, that they might bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD up from the City of David, which is Zion. Therefore all the men of Israel assembled with the king at the feast, which was in the seventh month.
So all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the ark. Then they brought up the ark, the tabernacle of meeting, and all the holy furnishings that were in the tabernacle. The priests and the Levites brought them up. Also King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him before the ark, were sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude. Then the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim.
For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles. The poles extended so that the ends of the poles of the ark could be seen from the holy place, in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day. Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they had come out of Egypt.
And it came to pass when the priests came out of the Most Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, without keeping to their divisions), and the Levites who were the singers, all those of Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, stood at the east end of the altar, clothed in white linen, having cymbals, stringed instruments and harps, and with them one hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets—indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying: "For He is good, for His mercy endures forever," that the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.
Brethren, do you feel the same glory of the Lord as He fills you? This is an incredible thing. They brought up the ark of the covenant, which was the throne of God in their midst. God through His Holy Spirit has given us something that is way beyond that, and He gave them as an example to follow. Sacrifice and rejoicing beyond measure took place when the presence of the Lord was among Israel in the House built with hands. How much sacrifice and rejoicing does God expect this week from those who have Him dwelling within and uniting us this week?
On Israel’s wilderness journey God clearly established His presence and the power of His majesty among His people, on His throne over the ark of the covenant within the Tabernacle.
We now have the privilege of being united with Him, and His dwelling in us, leading us. How much do we appreciate and take advantage of this greatest gift to walk as one united Body in Jesus Christ.
As Richard made very clear on the Day of Atonement, we have been given an incredible privilege to have an absolutely intimate relationship with our Creator unlike any who will come after us. Let us this the most wonderful Feast we have ever had, make the most of the time He has given over the next week to grow to be like Him, and do what is pleasing to Him, so that God can see that our Feast is His Feast that He uses to build the bridge to the future and among ourselves.
We will finish with what should be our focus during these days. Turn to Revelation 1.
Revelation 1:4-6 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
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