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SERMON TOPIC: The Feast of Tabernacles

Speaker: Ken Paynter

Language: ENGLISH

Date: 22 December 2014

Topic Groups: TYPOLOGY, COVENANTS, FEASTS

Sermon synopsis: The two most important ceremonies of the Feast of Tabernacles -pouring out of water drawn from the pool of Siloam, and the illumination of the Temple were both of post-Mosaic origin. These referred back to the water and the 'pillar of light' provided during the wilderness wandering, when people dwelt in temporary shelters. In connection with the Feast of Tabernacles John records.

John 7:37-38. In the last day (eighth day), that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.

Jesus was saying that He alone was the source of life and blessing.
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The Feast of Tabernacles.

Leviticus 23:34-44.

The Festival of Tabernacles

The Lord said to Moses, Say to the Israelites:

On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Lord’s Festival of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days.

The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. For seven days present food offerings to the Lord, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present a food offering to the Lord. It is the closing special assembly; do no regular work.

These are the Lord’s appointed festivals, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for bringing food offerings to the Lord the burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings required for each day. These offerings are in addition to those for the Lord’s Sabbaths and in addition to your gifts and whatever you have vowed and all the freewill offerings you give to the Lord.

The Feast of Tabernacles.

Leviticus 23:34-44. (continued)

The Festival of Tabernacles

So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the Lord for seven days; the first day is a day of Sabbath rest, and the eighth day also is a day of Sabbath rest.

On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees from palms, willows and other leafy trees and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. Celebrate this as a festival to the Lord for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month.

Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. So Moses announced to the Israelites the appointed festivals of the Lord.

The Feast of Tabernacles.

In Leviticus 23 Moses instructed the people that the first day and the eighth day of the festival were to be special days of rest, set apart from the others.

The seventh day became known as Hoshana Rabba, "the Great Day." The Jewish people developed special observances and traditions to mark this special day in Israel. The most spectacular of these was the water drawing ceremony. A parade of worshipers and flutists led by the priest to the pool of Siloam.

The priest has two golden pitchers. One is for wine, the other he fills with water from the pool.

As the flutes continue to play, a choir of Israelites chants Psalm 118.

The whole procession heads back to the Temple through the Water Gate.

A trumpet sounds as the priest enters the Temple area.

The Feast of Tabernacles.

The Priest approaches the altar where two silver basins are waiting. He pours wine into one of the basins as a drink offering to the Lord and water from the pool of Siloam into the other.

The whole ceremony, with the parade and the flutes and the singing, was such a joyful occasion that one of the ancient rabbis wrote: "Anyone who has not seen this water ceremony has never seen rejoicing in his life.“

The ceremony was to thank God for His bounty and to ask Him to provide rain for the crops in the coming year. Today, many people take water for granted. We simply turn the tap on! Not so in the Middle East during the first century. Water was often scarce.

The people were very much aware of their dependence on God for the rains that were so vital for the preservation of life.

Sukkot or The Feast of Tabernacles.

The two most important ceremonies of the Feast of Tabernacles— pouring out of water drawn from the pool of Siloam, and the illumination of the Temple were both of post-Mosaic origin.

These referred back to the water and the "pillar of light“ provided during the wilderness wandering, when people dwelt in temporary shelters. In connection with the Feast of Tabernacles John records.

John 7:37-38.

In the last day (eighth day), that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said,

out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water

Jesus was saying that He alone was the source of life and blessing.

The Feasts of Israel.

The first annual Feast season of Israel.

The Feast of Passover & Unleavened Bread & the Feast of First Fruits were all fulfilled at Jesus Christ’s first coming.

& 2) 1 Corinthians 5:6-8.

Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch as you really are.

For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

1 Corinthians 15:20,23.

But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.

The second annual Feast season of Israel.

Feast of “Weeks” or “Pentecost”

Occurred 7 weeks after the Feast of First Fruits and pointed to the great harvest of souls and the gift of the Holy Spirit for both Jew and Gentile,

who would be brought into the kingdom of God during the Church Age (see Acts 2).

The Church was actually established on this day when God poured out His Holy Spirit and 3,000 Jews responded to Peter’s great sermon and his first proclamation of the Gospel.

The Three Annual Festivals.

Exodus 23:14-16. Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me. Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt. No one is to appear before me empty-handed. Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.

The Autumn Feasts relate to Kingdom/ political issues rather than the High Priestly/ religious matters that we saw Jesus address in the spring feasts during His first coming 2,000 years ago.

Back then we saw Him ride into Jerusalem on a donkey as the Suffering Servant, but when Messiah returns this next time He will come as the Conquering King.

The third annual Feast season of Israel.

5) “Trumpets” (Leviticus 23:24)

The first of the fall feasts. Many believe this day points to the Rapture of the Church when the Messiah Jesus will appear in the heavens as He comes for His bride, the Church. The Rapture is always associated in Scripture with the blowing of a loud trumpet (I Thessalonians 4:13-18 and I Corinthians 15:52).

6) “Day of Atonement” (Leviticus 23:27)

Many believe this prophetically points to the day of the Second Coming of Jesus when He will return to earth. That will be the Day of Atonement for the Jewish remnant when they “look upon Him whom they have pierced,” repent of their sins, and receive Him as their Messiah (Zechariah 12:10 and Romans 11:1-6, 25-36).

7) “Tabernacles” or “Booths” (Leviticus 23:34)

Many scholars believe that this feast day points to the Lord’s promise that He will once again “tabernacle” with His people when He returns to reign over all the world (Micah 4:1-7).

The Millennium (1000 years)

Psalm 2:4-9.

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You, ask of Me, and I will give you the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

Daniel 2:44.

And in the days of these things the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

The Feast of Tabernacles.

Zechariah 14:1-19.

A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls. I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle.

On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.

Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness. It will be a unique day—a day known only to the Lord—with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light.

Seismologists have identified a fault line, the position where two tectonic plates meet, running through the Mount of Olives just outside Jerusalem.

In 1967 a U.S. Geophysical survey team analysed the Mount of Olives. They discovered a geological fault line running from the Dead Sea behind the Mount of Olives all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. So an earthquake along this fault line could cause an open fault line to appear, just as prophesied 2500 years ago by Zechariah.

MT OF OLIVES SPLITS

Jesus returns.

Christ’s return triggers an earthquake that creates an East / West cleft as the Mount of Olives is split in two.

The geological fault line along which this split occurs has been discovered and runs from the Mediterranean east to the Dead Sea. Its presence prohibited the Intercontinental Hotel (now called the Seven Arches Hotel) from being built on the brow of the Mount of Olives as originally planned.

It was re-located to the south and built on more stable ground where it stands today.

So it is also possible that the Eastern Gate may be opened as a result of the earthquake which splits the Mount of Olives on Jesus’ return.

EASTERN GATE OPENED

Three consecutive Psalms speaks of the past, present and future activities of Jesus Christ.

Psalm 22 speaks of his death in the past.

Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.

Psalm 23 speaks of his present ministry shepherding his people.

The LORD is my shepherd…

Psalm 24 speaks of his future triumphant return though the Eastern Gate.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates…. and the King of glory shall come in.

EASTERN GATE OPENED

Psalm 24:7-8 Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.

So the King enters through the ancient gates and – as in Isaiah 63 and Zech 14 - he has just come from battle.

The glory will then return to the newly built 3rd temple and Jesus will set up his Millennial kingdom reigning from Jerusalem for 1000 years:

Ezek 43:1-7 Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory… The glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east. … While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple. He said: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever.”

THIRD TEMPLE

The Millennium (1000 years)

Zechariah 14:1-19 (continued)

On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter. The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name. The whole land, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up high from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses, and will remain in its place. It will be inhabited ;never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure. This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet,

their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.

The Millennium (1000 years).

Zechariah 14:1-19 (continued)

On that day people will be stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another. Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected—great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.

Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lord will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.

The Millennium (1000 years)

Isaiah 11 v 1 to 12.

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy,

with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

The Millennium (1000 years)

Isaiah 11 v 1 to 12 (continued)

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the

Lord as the waters cover the sea.

The Millennium (1000 years)

Isaiah 11 v 1 to 12 (continued)

In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean. He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth.

Satan bound during the Millennium (1000 years)

Rev 20 v 1 to 6

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain.

He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended.

After that, he must be set free for a short time.

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.)

Faithful Christians rule in the Millennium (1000 years)

Those who have been faithful with the talents and gifts God has given them will be rewarded accordingly.

1 Corinthians 3:10 & v12-15.

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care…………

If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.

If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.

If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved even though only as one escaping through the flames.

Faithful Christians rule in the Millennium (1000 years)

If you think for one moment that heaven is a place of equal opportunity you are mistaken….

This is apparent in many scriptures, but very clear in

Luke 19:12-13 & 16-27.

He said: A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return.

So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. Put this money to work, he said, ‘until I come back………..

The first one came and said, Sir, your mina has earned ten more. Well done, my good servant! his master replied. Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities. The second came and said, Sir, your mina has earned five more. His master answered, You take charge of five cities.

Faithful Christians rule in the Millennium (1000 years)

Luke 19:16-27 (continued)

Then another servant came and said, Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow. His master replied, I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest? Then he said to those standing by, Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas. Sir, they said, he already has ten! He replied, I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them bring them here and kill them in front of me.

Faithful Christians rule in the Millennium (1000 years)

There is a difference in splendour in the resurrection bodies that Christians are resurrected with.

1 Corinthians 15:35-42.

But someone will ask, How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come? How foolish!

What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendour of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendour of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendour, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendour.

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead.

The Millennium 1000 years.

Daniel 12:1-3.

There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.

It speaks of Jesus crowned with Glory and Honour, perhaps the believer too will be crowned according to the reward received for loyal service and sacrifice and this is the same as star differing from star in splendour.

Hebrews 2:9.

But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

The Millennium 1000 years.

Hebrews 2:5-8.

It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking.

But there is a place where someone has testified: What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him?

You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honour and put everything under their feet.

In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them.

Faithful Christians rule in the Millennium (1000 years)

The church will judge the world and angels.

1 Corinthians 6:1-3.

If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people? Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!

Matthew 19:27-30

Peter answered him, We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us? Jesus said to them, Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

Peace during the Millennium (1000 years)

Micah 4:1-6.

In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it.

Many nations will come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths. The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.

They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore, everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken.

All the nations may walk in the name of their gods, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.

The Lord’s Plan In that day, declares the Lord, I will gather the lame; I will assemble the exiles and those I have brought to grief.

Jesus is ruler in the Millennium (1000 years)

The Lord will rule with a rod of iron, but unbelievably there will still be those who will oppose Him.

With all the prosperity and peaceful surroundings, why would anyone rebel against God? Besides, Satan is bound for a thousand years and won’t be able to tempt man to sin!

It’s true that this world will be free of the tempting power of Satan for one thousand years, but every person that is born into this world is born with a sinful nature (Psalm 51:5).

Even though everyone who is granted to enter into the millennium will be saved and filled with the Spirit, as time goes on, that will change. As each generation passes, men will begin to resist the grace of the Lord and choose their own way. They will not want to retain the Lord in their hearts. This rebellion will not be an outward uprising, for the Lord will not allow that, but a rebellion of the heart. Though they will obey, it will only be for the purpose of receiving blessings from the Lord. At the end of the thousand-year reign of Christ, Satan will be released on the earth again. He will find many eager to follow him.

End of the Millennium… 1000 years

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