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transcript:

It is great to be here with you on this last day, this great day. So please turn with me first to John the 7th chapter and we will be reading verses 37 through 39.

John 7:37-39 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

On this seventh and last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, as many of you know, ancient Israel had a custom that was completed on this day in this priestly ritual of pouring water from the pool of Siloam upon the altar.

From what I understand, this ritual began a few centuries before Jesus Christ and very possibly during the Maccabean period when Jewish armed resistance and rededication of the Temple took place following the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes and the desecration of the Temple.

During this period, expectation for the coming Messiah intensified and also became misconstrued with political division. This is important when we consider this ritual and the politics of the time and the Jewish expectations that had been corrupted over the Intertestamental period.

Each day of the Feast, a priest would draw water from the pool of Siloam, using a golden pitcher, and carry it through the Water Gate to the Temple, accompanied by recitations from the prophets and hymns of praise.

On the last day of the Feast, the great day, the procession circled the altar seven times before pouring water, creating a vapor that symbolized God's presence filling the Temple.

Brethren, despite the worn conditions of the temporary dwellings by this seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles, which was mentioned earlier in the Feast, the inspired writing of the apostle John makes sure we know this is a great day. As a matter of fact, it is the greatest day of the Feast.

Hopefully we will be adding to our understanding of why the whole of mankind should find this to be the case, and especially the Bride of Christ who has made herself ready under the tender care of Jesus Christ.

But first, let us consider the added emphasis on this day from a few other translations that emphatically stress the importance of this day from the Holman translation, which was a favorite of my dear friend Charles Whittaker.

John 7:37-38 (Holman) On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone is thirsty, he should come to me and drink. The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him."

From the Amplified, Doctor Maas' favorite translation.

John 7:37-38 (Amplified) Now on the final and most important day of the feast, Jesus stood, and he cried in a loud voice, If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on me, as the scripture has said, from his innermost being shall flow continuously springs and rivers of living water.

And finally from the NIV.

John 7:37-38 (NIV) On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living waters will flow from within him."

Please keep this in mind today as we consider this day as a possible type of the last step of the preparation process of the Bride of Christ, His helpmate. Perhaps we may want to look at this day in relation to God's overall plan for mankind.

In a similar way we observe the preparation day for the weekly Sabbath and the Sabbath holy days throughout the year. It may help us to think about this day as a type of the picture of Christ's complete preparation of the Bride to be His helpmate as He brings the rest of mankind into the Family of God.

Today may be a type of the last step of this part of God's work to fill His temple, whose temple we are now, as stated in I Corinthians 3:17, as we now tabernacle with Christ. So let us make sure we set this clear in our minds as well as the warning that precedes it.

Please turn with me to I Corinthians 3 and we will be reading verses 1 through 17 all the way to what Paul had said about living tabernacles.

I Corinthians 3:1-17 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as a spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able, for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his labor.

For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building. According to the grace of God, which was given to me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one of them take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If one defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

As we have all seen over the years, this is the reality of our lives right now. God has set His carefully called and chosen few apart now to be prepared for what He already sees: the completion of the Bride of Christ, filled to the full with God's Holy Spirit, and made perfectly in sync with Jesus Christ at His coming, with His Holy Spirit flowing in and flowing out.

Under the work of Christ, His Bride has finished the preparation process of making herself ready in this very carefully planned part of God's purpose for all mankind as pictured on this day.

Perhaps what Paul is telling us here can be framed in those inspiring words that I read in the last sermon from President Reagan, his call to action at the commencement address to the graduating class of The Citadel.

Although Paul was specifically applying it to the ministry, we need to see ourselves within what Paul wrote in

I Corinthians 3:11-13 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.

In President Reagan's commencement address, he said, as I said the other day,

For you see the character that takes command in moments of crucial choices has already been determined. It has been determined by a thousand other choices made earlier in seemingly unimportant moments of life. It has been determined by all the little choices of years past, by all those times when the voice of conscience was at war with the voice of temptation, whispering the lie that it really doesn't matter. It has been determined by all the day to day decisions made when life seemed easy and crisis seemed far away. The decisions that piece by piece, bit by bit, developed habits of discipline of laziness, habits of self-sacrifice or self-indulgence, habits of duty and honor and integrity or dishonor and shame.

President Reagan finished in that address:

Because when life does get tough and the crisis is undeniably at hand we must in an instant look inward for the strength of character to see us through. We will find nothing inside ourselves that we have not already put there.

To which I add, through Jesus Christ.

Now turning to Israel's water ritual on this day. Each day as the priests carried the pitcher of water through the Water Gate, the people read from Isaiah 12:3.

Isaiah 12:3 Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

Once inside the city, they paraded the urn of water around the altar, accompanied by a choir singing Psalms 113 through 118 throughout the Feast. To conclude the ritual, the priests poured the water on the altars in an offering to God.

However, on the last day, the great day of the Feast, as pictured in this day, they marched seven times around the altar before pouring the water, they created a vapor, indicating God's presence in full.

As noted over the years, we have come to clearly understand that this all took place on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, and not as previously understood on the Eighth Day.

The Eighth Day is another commanded holy day that looks forward with great anticipation to the rest of the work of Christ and what is in store for all men. In that respect, the Eighth Day does indeed anticipate a truly great day for all men, but it is, as far as we understand it now, something that pictures the beginning of the next part of God's incredible work to bring all mankind into His Family, following His incredible work to prepare a very select group to be His helpmate working intimately with Him for eternity. Christ's most perfectly prepared intimate relationship with His Bride will be beyond even the best physically intimate limited husband and wife relationship that we can even imagine.

All because of what Christ is doing and what He declared on this day over 2,000 years ago.

Please note what precedes Christ's declaration in John 7:37 and what immediately follows contained God's inspired brackets concerning what He thought about this day and why. This is something that was not clearly seen by the physical people to whom these words were spoken because their focus on God's Word had been so politically distorted over the centuries that they could not see the Word of God who was in their very midst.

Let us consider John 7:37-43, and this will again be from the Amplified.

John 7:37-43 (Amplified) Now on the final and most important day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried in a loud voice, If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, who cleaves to me and trusts and relies on me, as the Scripture has said, from the innermost being shall flow continuous springs of living water. [Remember what President Reagan said. What comes out of you has already been put there, and here again we see it in this passage.] But He was speaking here of the Spirit whom those who believed trusted and faith in him were afterward to receive, for the Holy Spirit had not yet been given. Jesus was not yet glorified. Listening to those words, some of the multitude said, This is certainly is beyond the doubt a prophet. Others said, This is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One. But some said, What? Does Christ come out of Galilee? Does not the Scripture tell us that Christ will come from the offspring of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived? So there arose a division and dissension among the people concerning Him.

Brethren, to physical Israel, that had been divorced because of their harlotry, all Christ's words only caused division and contention as we see throughout the Feast of Tabernacle's chapter.

Please consider what Doctor Maas said yesterday about ordinal numbers representing order as we examine a bit more thoroughly later in this sermon regarding what was going on in John 7 with the Jews as opposed to the order God sees within His Feast of Tabernacles.

For those who have been called to tabernacle with Christ and become just like Him now and wait on Him to reveal His Bride that has made herself ready, this is our privilege and responsibility now to walk, not yoked with this world's mindset of chaos and confusion, but in unity with those whom God has chosen to call at this time.

As Richard said in the commentary he made just before this, we do not know. They are declaring "Peace, peace" when there is no peace. The world is in chaos and confusion no matter what it seems to be.

As noted, perhaps we might consider this day as a final preparation day for the last feast day of the year, the Eighth Day festival, and the beginning of the next part of God's plan to bring all men into His Family, into His image, according to His likeness.

This seventh day of the Feast is the final and greatest day of the feast of preparation for those who have been called to be the Bride of Christ at His return, as we noted in the last sermon. Another very perfectly determined and orderly part of Christ's work as God sees it, having been set in place from before the foundation of the earth.

But never consider this is merely predestination without free choice and work on our part. We must be using all the tools that Christ is providing to make ourselves ready as a sacrificial offering, as we heard from Bill [Onisick] and Ted [Bowling] in the middle of the Feast.

We are assured that God will not falter on His part to do what only He can do through the perfect work of Christ, and we must make sure we do not let us be distracted by this world and falter on our part.

With all this in mind, you can begin turning back to Isaiah when we eventually get to Isaiah the 12th chapter, verse 3 and this most important verse regarding what Christ eventually was going to do for all men, even though physical Israel had only the vaguest idea of what this really meant. As a matter of fact, within the Tabernacles fall harvest festival, it seems that the water ritual that Jesus Christ used as an opportunity to declare the giving of His Holy Spirit, was to the Jews no more than a symbol for a blessing of adequate water for their crops.

We are going to spend a bit of time in both Isaiah 9 through 11 and Jeremiah 30 and 31 because I want us to consider a snapshot of physical Israel, their harlotry and unbelief, and the work that Christ Himself is going to do in His mercy to turn them back onto the road to the Kingdom of God.

Eventually I hope along the way we will find some food for thought regarding what the Bride will be doing as Christ's helpmate at that time. And I hope we are going to see a unified work being done by Jesus Christ and His perfectly prepared and trusted helpmate immediately following the Tribulation and His return.

Then, as time permits toward the end of this sermon, we will take a short look at what God's Word shows us He expects from the perfected helpmate of Christ, because I believe there is a beautiful teaching tool God has given us within His Word that vividly outlines the perfect helpmate of Christ which each of us needs to study in detail as the wife of Christ makes herself ready.

But first, I think it is necessary for us to go back and set up the circumstances within the prophetic words of Isaiah regarding physical Israel and Christ's immediate work with them following His return. So we are going to begin in Isaiah 9. This is amid God's prophetic words through Isaiah to those whom He had set apart as His, but had betrayed Him, as we saw in the last sermon.

However, here is the beginning of His promise to bring them to Him to true repentance and knowledge of the truth, something that could only be done under the government of the Messiah.

It is in Isaiah and Jeremiah that God declares the wonderful work that only Christ could do and will do very shortly.

In Isaiah 9, we are going to pick it up starting in verse 1. And as we read, consider that this immediately follows God's words of disgust to physical Israel as a nation for their harlotry and the reasons for their pain and sorrow and captivity that they had brought on themselves.

We find starting in verse 1 the beginning of a section from God's Word indicating what would ultimately be done through His intended work to bring all, and specifically them, to repentance and knowledge of the truth.

Chapter 9 begins under a subsection heading in my Bible, The Government of the Promised Son.

Isaiah 9:1-7 Nevertheless, the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, as when at first he lightly esteemed the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, and afterward more heavily oppressed her, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them, a light has shined. You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy; they rejoice before You according to the joy of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For You have broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. For every warrior's sandal from the noisy battle, and the garments rolled in blood, will be used for burning and fuel of fire. For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

We need to take a moment to consider verse 6, because I hope it will help us all appreciate more fully what Christ proclaimed on this seventh day that made it the greatest day. He is everything, and without what only He could offer as proclaimed today, almost 2,000 years ago, no one can have a relationship with the Father.

But there is something interesting in Isaiah 9:6 that has puzzled some that I want to address because it is simple to answer when we consider the singular perfect work of the Word under the direction of the Father to accomplish what He and the Father had determined in a very orderly plan.

Isaiah 9:6 gives certain titles of responsibility of the One who would become the promised Messiah.

Jesus Christ, as Jesus Christ of Nazareth, is the promised Son of God, and the government will be on His shoulder. He also fills these titles of Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.

Christ is all of these things, including Everlasting Father. This may seem to be contrary to Christ's words that no one knew the Father before He came to reveal Him. But this answer should be simple in knowing that the God of the Old Testament is the Word. He is the One with whom all men have dealt from creation. He is the One who is in the process of bringing the whole creation to the end the Father and the Word planned from the beginning.

Even Deuteronomy 32, verse 6 tells us in speaking to Israel,

Deuteronomy 32:6 Do you thus deal with the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father who bought you? Has He not made you and established you?

It is He who has done all the wondrous works of God to be remembered. He is the One who has given birth to the nation of Israel as His special people and will ultimately bring them back to salvation.

Also, in a minute we are going to see that Jeremiah 31:9 also shows that as far as Israel is concerned, it is He that is called a Father to them as He returns and sets up His government.

The main point I want us to see is the awesome work of the Word to accomplish what He and the Father had determined to do from the beginning, and what an awesome gift we have been given to have such an intimate relationship with Him right now.

I would like us to continue to read Isaiah 9, verses 8 through 16, and I am wanting to come to a point from this.

Isaiah 9:8-16 The Lord sent a word against Jacob, and it has fallen on Israel. All the people will know—Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria—who say in pride and arrogance of heart: "The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will replace them with cedars." Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and spur his enemies on, the Syrians before and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with an open mouth. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them, nor do they seek the Lord of hosts. Therefore the Lord will cut off the head and the tail from Israel, palm branch and bulrush in one day. The elder and honorable, he is the head; the prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail. For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed.

Many of you who are familiar with Jonathan Kahn's book, The Harbinger, and his interpretation of these verses, know how he applied them to the terror attack of the World Trade Center and the prideful arrogancy of the people that followed from modern Israel.

Some of them seem to fit, but the bottom line is throughout Isaiah 9:10 and 11, you will find a great deal of prophecy. But the overall lesson that I want us to hold on to from all of this is everything that happens is ultimately under the absolute sovereign work of the Creator, moving the whole creation towards the end of the perfect unity within the God Family.

It is the Word of God who became Jesus Christ to make it all happen to the perfection and to ultimately deliver the whole of the creation to the Father. And we are now being prepared for an awesomely unique part in this plan, as the Bride of Christ.

Let us all now turn to Isaiah 12, that scripture that Christ used as a launching pad for His declaration in John 7. We are going to read the whole chapter. I think it is important.

Isaiah 12:1-6 And in that day you will say: "O Lord, I will praise You; though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; 'For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.'" Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And in the day you will say: "Praise the Lord, call upon His name; declare His deeds among the peoples, make mention that His name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for He has done excellent things; this is known in all the earth. Cry and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!"

Brethren, although Israel pointed to this day with joy, they could not even recognize at that time the Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father, was right in their midst.

Please put a marker in Isaiah 10 because we will be coming back there and we will pick up a few things out of this particular John 7 and this particular Feast of Tabernacles chapter that God gave us as a teaching tool.

Turn back with me again to John 7, this chapter that had this incredible proclamation from Jesus Christ. We will be picking it up right at the beginning. We are going to go through a large portion of this chapter because there are a few very important keys here that Jesus Christ gives us in this Feast of Tabernacles.

Please especially note how far removed Israel was from the true religion God had given them through Moses. So far that chaos, confusion, and division reigned at this feast, and they could not even recognize, as I said, the Everlasting Father who was in their very midst. But brethren, this is for us today who can note what Christ was saying regarding the faithful order of Their plan from the beginning.

John 7:2 Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.

This was inspired. God's physical bride, whom He had divorced, did not even have the slightest clue regarding God's holy time, as we will see in a minute, had become merely a time for philosophical debate and division.

John 7:3-8 His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go up to the Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing, for no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. [Even His brothers only saw the feasts as a time for prideful philosophical discussions, miracles, of signs and boasting.] Then Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not going up to the feast, for My time is not yet fully come."

There are two things that we need to note here as the spiritual Bride of Christ who are making ourselves ready.

First, following what Christ said, we ourselves must always be waiting on God and take care not to put ourselves in positions that will be outside of God's carefully ordered preparation time for just the right moment, as Jesus Christ made obvious here.

Second, as the Bride of Christ and the betrothed to be with Him, we are going to have a target on our backs just like Him.

We are not going to read from verses 10 to 13. But note as Christ went up in secret, the people were wide open to all sorts of speculation but were mainly looking out only for a good show.

John 7:14-19 Now about the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?" Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps it. Why do you seek to kill Me?"

Here, God inspired John to note within this narrative something that points to Daniel the 9th chapter, verses 26 and 27. And midweek of the Feast of Tabernacles, the truth of God's Word filled the Temple, and the Word who became flesh declared the work that He was doing for the glory of the Father. He was speaking to a people who no longer could even remotely be keeping the law as God gave it through Moses.

Picking it up again in verse 20.

John 7:20-24 The people answered and said, "You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?" Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel. Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."

John 7:28-29 Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."

Right here in the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles, the true Word of God filled the Temple with the plan of salvation as the Father had determined it right here during the middle of this Feast of Tabernacles chapter that God gives to us from John 7.

John 7:32-36 The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him. Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to see to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come." Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What is this thing that He has said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am, you cannot come'?"

They could not come.

However, on the last day, the most important day of the Feast, Christ does declare how they can come through the giving of the Holy Spirit to live the letter and the Spirit of God's law. This very Spirit has been given to each one of you, now given this ability to learn and live just like Christ, to become His perfect helpmate for eternity.

On this seventh day, the greatest day of the Feast as far as we are concerned, we see the reality of the wife of Christ who has made herself ready to be Christ's perfect helpmate for eternity.

But when does that start, her job as the perfect helpmate? Perhaps we can find an answer by turning back with me now to Isaiah 10. We are going to be reading some number of scriptures from Isaiah into Jeremiah. Under the subheading in my Bible, The Returning Remnant of Israel.

Isaiah 10:20-22 And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and such as have escaped the house of Jacob, will never again depend on him who defeated them, but will depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God. For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them will return; the destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness. For the Lord God of hosts will make a determined end in the midst of the land.

And then, going over to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 30, verse 3. The remnant is being brought back.

Jeremiah 30:3 For behold, the days are coming,' says the Lord, 'that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,' says the Lord. 'And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.'

Jeremiah 30:10-15 'Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob,' says the Lord, 'nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet, and no one shall make him afraid. For I am with you,' says the Lord, 'to save you; though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you. Yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished.' "For thus says the Lord: 'Your affliction is incurable, your wound is severe. There is no one to plead your cause, that you may be bound up; you have no healing medicines. All your lovers have forgotten you; they do not seek you, for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of your iniquities, because your sins have increased. Why do you cry about your affliction? Your sorrow is incurable. Because of the multitude of your iniquities, because your sins have increased, I have done these things to you.'

Jeremiah 30:24 The fierce anger of the Lord will not return until He has done it, and until He has performed the intents of His heart. In the latter days you will consider it.

Jeremiah 31:1 "At the same time," says the Lord, "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.

Jeremiah 31:4 "Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! You shall again be adorned with tambourines, and shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice.

Jeremiah 31:7-12 For thus says the Lord, "Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, 'O Lord, save Your people, the remnant of Israel!' Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and I will gather them from the ends of the earth, among the blind and the lame, the woman with child and the one who labors with child, together; a great throng shall return there. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of the waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn. "Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock.' For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, streaming to the goodness of the Lord—for wheat and new wine and oil, for the young of the flock and the herd; their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, and they shall sorrow no more at all.

Brethren, we see in these verses Jesus Christ's very particular and personal work to regather the remnant of Israel from all the places where they had been scattered around the world, a war-torn world destroyed by the Tribulation.

Years ago in a short Bible study that John Ritenbaugh had a penchant to give during the director's lecture in the Spokesman's Club, John speculated that Christ Himself would be leading the remnant of Israel on a difficult journey through a world that had been ravaged by the great Tribulation, and Christ was personally teaching them as He gathered them to bring them back to the Promised Land.

Reading again Jeremiah 31:9, it says of them,

Jeremiah 31:9 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn.

John Ritenbaugh considered at the time that Israel was weeping not because of all the tribulation that they had been through at the hands of the persecutors, but as Christ led the way and taught them the truth all along the way, they realized how far off base they were as we saw them in the John 7 Feast of Tabernacles chapter, and that they were the persecutors of the Word of God who had been in their very midst.

But brethren, as I noted earlier, I also have a bit of speculation regarding what those who had been made ready as the Bride of Christ were doing at the same time.

Following the Tribulation, following their resurrection, meeting Christ in the air, the Bride of Christ, as Christ was leading the remnant back to take up the work of physically rebuilding the holy city, may already be there as the perfect helpmate of Christ preparing things for their arrival.

This is merely something I would like you to think about. It is only my speculation, but the Bride of Christ is not going to be prepared to sit around eating bonbons. We are being prepared to be immediately at work with Jesus Christ as His perfected helpmate, and perhaps in this case, ready to receive and help the returning remnant of Israel as Christ leads them back to the real city of peace, not the peace that seems to be there today.

I mentioned earlier in this sermon that I thought there was a good place for us to look and consider how we could better prepare it as a Bride of Christ. However, because of lack of time, and I do not want to keep everyone over on this Last Great Day of the Feast, we are not going to spend a lot of time digging into this. But I would like us to turn right now and read a couple of verses from Proverbs the 31st chapter, starting in verse 10 under the heading, The Virtuous Wife.

Some of you may have figured this is where I was already headed anyway.

Proverbs 31:10-12, 20, 23, 25-31 Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.

Proverbs 31:20-21 She extends her hand to the poor, yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for all her household, for all her household is clothed with scarlet.

Proverbs 31:23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land.

The gates were typically where the leaders and the rulers were seated, and here we have a picture of her husband, Jesus Christ, our Messiah, sitting there among the elders of the gate as she continues to do her work in this work.

Proverbs 31:25-31 Strength and honor are her clothing; she will rejoice in time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness. She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her [That is pretty sobering. Jesus Christ is making a helpmate that is so much in line with Him that He even has praise for her.]: "Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all." Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates. [Jesus Christ sits in the gates.]

Brethren, there is so much that we can glean from Proverbs 31:10-31 in preparing to be the perfected helpmate of Christ that has made herself ready, but that needs to be left for another day.

I think God has given us the perfect pattern of Christ's trustworthy and loyal helpmate for eternity in this virtuous woman.

As we keep this holy and greatest day of the Feast of Tabernacles that perfectly finishes God's preparation for the next part of His plan, the next part to bring all people into His Family, let us rededicate ourselves to preparing to make ourselves ready to be Christ's helpmate in all things, ready to be prepared to receive those remnant that He will be bringing back and to complete some of the teaching that Jesus Christ may have only outlined that will be there to flush out. I do not know.

But it is our privilege to be here as Christ's being prepared helpmate in all things.

I want to end this sermon today with the closing thoughts again from what John Ritenbaugh considered the church of God's primary responsibility before God to prepare the Bride of Christ.

John wrote again, as I said in the last sermon:

Israel failed in its witness. The key to effective witnessing is through preparation. [That is what we are here for, brethren.] And when we neglect our individual relationship with God, the work we do for Him suffers immeasurably. When God prepares a man [John continued] to do a work, He allows him to live long enough to finish it. The admonitions to the end time church, especially in Revelation and Christ's Olivet prophecy, are unanimous. Hold fast and make sure you are spiritually ready for Christ's return. [John says] Jesus Christ wants us to be refined, to change, to grow in godly character and righteousness, so that we will exemplify Him and be prepared without blemish for His return. He sets a very high standard in Ephesians 4:13, "To a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." The apostle Paul wrote, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus." Later he adds, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," and "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches and the glory by Jesus Christ." We have every reason to hope. God urges us to do our part, seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness. He never fails what He sets out to do.

Brethren, today, on this, the greatest day of God's holy Feast of Tabernacles, the living Word of God filled His Temple with truth for all mankind and cried out,

John 7:37-38 "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."

And this greatest of days of the Feast is echoed right at the end in Revelation 22, where it says,

Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

Brethren, we have a great deal to rejoice about on this greatest day of the Feast, as the Bride that faithfully and diligently makes herself ready, as a living witness of all those who will come after us as measured in the Eighth Day that we will be talking about tomorrow, all according to the perfect work in the order of God's plan.

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