Righteousness,holiness, and obedience
The feast of Tabernacles is associated with righteousness, holiness, and obedience. Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner. (Nehemiah 8:18)
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and sulphur: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)
. . . and his servants shall serve him: (Revelation 22:3)
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. (Revelation 22:14)
The new earth that is coming will contain a righteous world. The city of God, the new Jerusalem, will be filled with people who are holy, righteous, and obedient to God and His Christ.
It is not possible to enter the holy city on the basis of "grace," on the authority of assigned righteousness. The temple of God is holy, which temple we are. It is not an imputed (ascribed) holiness, it is a holiness formed in us as we cleanse ourselves from the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Notice the blessing: "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life." Many today are attempting to get into the city of God by some means other than doing His commandments. They will never be permitted to enter.
The new Jerusalem is not a city of ascribed righteousness, ascribed holiness, ascribed obedience. We are not allowed in because of the righteous, holy, and obedient conduct of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are allowed into the city on the basis of the righteous, holy, and obedient behaviour produced by the new creation that God is forming in us in the present hour.
The Kingdom of God is the new creation that has been born in us. If we continue to live in the appetites of the flesh, not allowing the new creation to be formed in us, we will not be permitted to enter the new Jerusalem. In order to partake of the Tree of Life and to enter through the gates into the city we must keep God’s commandments.
When considering entrance into the City of God, the question of doctrine is not raised. The issue always is one of righteousness, of holiness, and of obedience to God. The inhabitants of the holy city, the new Jerusalem, are not practitioners of evil whose sins are covered.
Paul taught us in many places that it is not possible to keep on sinning and then enter the Kingdom of God.
Envying, murders, drunkenness, revelling, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:21)
For this ye [saints that are at Ephesus] know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. (Ephesians 5:5)
The feast of Tabernacles of the Old Testament always was celebrated by a refreshing in the Law of God. So it is true that the new heaven and earth reign of the Lord Jesus Christ is the occasion for the revelation of the beauty of holiness; for the adorning of the foundations of the wall that separates unrighteousness from righteousness; for the unveiling of the glory that covers every faithful servant of the Lord Jesus.
It may be true that we have accepted only one-half of the message of the Apostles of the Lamb. We have received by faith the blood atonement made by Christ on the cross of Calvary. We have not received with equal fervour the call to repentance that the Apostles issued:
Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. (Acts 3:26)
The Apostles of Christ never preached that God sent Jesus to forgive us while we continued in our sins. The Apostles of the Lamb always preached repentance. God sent Jesus to turn us away from our sins. We no longer are bound by the ordinances of the Law of Moses but we certainly are obligated to observe the laws of morality, and we receive grace from the Spirit of God to do so.
Are we to continue to sin because we are under grace and not under the Law of Moses? Certainly not! He who continues to sin will find himself, when the kingdom-wide fulfilment of Tabernacles is celebrated, not in the holy city of God but in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur.
This is what the Book of Revelation declares. Only those who are ready to receive in themselves the dreadful penalties established by the Spirit of God should attempt to change the Book of Revelation.
The last two chapters of the Book of Revelation describe the new heaven and earth reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the kingdom-wide fulfilment of the feast of Tabernacles. The new heaven and earth reign of Christ will be characterized by righteous behaviour on the part of all people who have been saved; by the pure, utter, terrible, holiness of God Almighty and His Christ shining from the new Jerusalem in an unprecedented display of glory; and by the faithful, eternal service of those conquering saints whose privilege it is to stand before the Throne of God and of the Lamb and to behold the face of the Father.
All unrighteousness will be imprisoned forever in the Lake of Fire. All uncleanness will be imprisoned forever in the Lake of Fire. All disobedience and rebellion will be imprisoned forever in the Lake of Fire.
Sin, uncleanness, and lawlessness will continue to be present in the new creation but they will be confined in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur. The spectacle of the wicked dead will serve future generations as the eternal Divine warning of the consequences of unrighteous behaviour, of uncleanness of deed, word or imagination, and of rebellion against the Lord God and His Christ.