The Feast of Tabernacles...

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There were seven "feasts of the Lord." Each of the seven feasts has a kingdom-wide fulfillment and each has a personal fulfillment in the life of the individual believer in Christ. The kingdom-wide fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles is the eternal reign of Christ. The personal fulfillment of Tabernacles is the coming of the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit to make Their eternal home in the personality of the saint.

(8/1/2010). Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord. (Leviticus 23:34)

The Israelites were commanded to dwell for seven days in "booths" made from the branches of trees. After the seven days had been completed there was an eighth day of great rejoicing.

The feast of Tabernacles was a season of thanksgiving because of the fruits of the preceding harvest season, and also a time of joyful anticipation of the soon coming of the seed rain (former rain) that marks the commencement of the new agricultural year.

The new heaven and earth reign of Christ is the kingdom-wide spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles, when all the saved will rejoice with incredibly great joy over the things God has accomplished. The eighth day signifies the first day of the new week of eternity, the week that has no end.

How wonderful it is to realize that the "morning" of life will just be beginning at the time that the new Jerusalem descends from the new heaven and comes to rest on the new earth!

The kingdom-wide fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles, which will take place at the end of the thousand-year period known as the Kingdom Age, will be marvelous far beyond any poor picture we have the ability to paint. But the personal fulfilment of the feast of Tabernacles in us as individual believers is even more marvelous than the kingdom-wide fulfilment.

As is true of all the feasts of the Lord, the kingdom-wide fulfillment of Tabernacles and the personal fulfillment flow into each other, are dependent on each other, and find their significance in each other.

According to our understanding, the personal fulfillment of Tabernacles in the saints is at hand and will find increasing expression throughout that darkest of hours just before Jesus returns (Isaiah 60:2), culminating in the appearing of Christ and His saints in the clouds of heaven. The spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles is the provision God has made for His saints so they may be able to stand during the age of moral horrors that is on the horizon.

Even today we are being prepared for the indwelling of the Fullness of God in us, as the Holy Spirit enables us to put to death the deeds of our flesh and also to experience the crucifixion of our self-love and self-will.

The fourteenth through the seventeenth chapters of the Gospel of John discuss some aspects of the personal spiritual fulfillment of the Old Testament feast of Tabernacles.

The term "mansion," which appears in John 14:2, is not referring to fine homes in Paradise. The proper translation, according to the current usage of the English language, would be dwelling place, or place of abode. The Greek word translated mansions, in John 14:2 of the King James Version, appears in verb form in John 15:4 and is correctly translated abide, in the King James Version.

The "Father’s house" is Christ—Head and Body. It is the "good olive tree," of the eleventh chapter of the Book of Romans. Each of us has been invited to become a room in the eternal Temple of God.

Perhaps the most pertinent verse concerning the personal fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles is John 14:23: Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

The term abode in the verse above is the same Greek noun translated mansions, in John 14:2. John 14:23 is not referring to the personal fulfillment of the fourth Levitical feast, the feast of Pentecost. The feast of Pentecost is fulfilled when we are baptized with the Holy Spirit.

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; (John 14:16)

John 14:23 is referring, rather, to the personal fulfillment of the seventh Levitical feast, the feast of Tabernacles. The Father and the Son enter us through the Holy Spirit and make us Their eternal Temple. It is the Lord’s will that we be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19).

John 7:37-39 also is speaking of the fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles.

Jesus was observing the rejoicing of the eighth day of the feast of Tabernacles, that "great day of the feast." The priest was bringing water in a golden bowl from the Pool of Siloam and pouring it on the Altar of Burnt Offering. The twelfth chapter of Isaiah was being sung.

At that time:

. . Jesus stood and cried, 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 belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:37-39)

This Scripture is fulfilled in a measure when we receive the Holy Spirit. But the maturity of the fulfillment has been reserved for the Day of the Lord.

When the Father and the Son sit on the throne of our heart in the complete fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles, the water of life will flow from the Throne of God in us. We will become "rivers." The Glory of the Lord will pour from us until it covers the "sea" of mankind.

And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. (Ezekiel 47:9)

Ezekiel 47:9 is the fulfillment of John 7:38. The Lord is cleansing us today in preparation for the coming of the Father and the Son to dwell in us in a greater measure than we have known. John 14:23 is a definite experience, as definite as being born again or being filled with the Holy Spirit. Unlike the baptism with the Spirit, however, the fulfillment of the Tabernacles experience proceeds over a period of time as we are cleansed of sin and as we learn to live in God’s Person and Presence.

The definite experience, the personal fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles, that is coming to us is described in the twelfth chapter of Isaiah—the words that were sung as the Jews celebrated the feast of Tabernacles.

Let us think about the words of Isaiah, Chapter 12. As the individual enters the personal spiritual fulfillment of the Old Testament feast of Tabernacles these words become very meaningful. We understand then what the Spirit of Christ was proclaiming in Isaiah.

And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. (Isaiah 12:1-6)

"And in that day . . ."

The expression "that day" is used throughout the Book of Isaiah, and also in John 14:20. It refers to the Day of the Lord, the day when Christ comes to rule in our heart in untroubled, unconcealed splendor. "The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day."

". . . thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: . . ."

For two thousand years Christian people often have pointed toward themselves and their works. But as we enter the fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles the Lord Himself becomes the glorious Center of our attention. We praise Him always!

". . . though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me."

Every Christian must go through periods of chastening, of judgment, of warfare. God is not pleased with what Satan has brought about in our personalities. The tribulations through which we enter the Kingdom of God are part of the spiritual fulfillment of the Day of Atonement, the reconciling of us to God’s righteous and holy Nature. They are Divine judgment on the works of Satan that are in us.

Many times the suffering is intense and prolonged. It indeed is a fiery trial. How we desire to escape from the Lord’s prison! But in order to escape from God’s prison we must break God’s laws.

After we have suffered awhile, He who has wounded us binds us up. The chastening of the Lord creates patience and the peaceable fruits of righteousness in us. Our sins and self-seeking depart from us. We enter rest in God and God enters rest in us. Our warfare has been accomplished, our iniquity pardoned.

"Behold, God is my salvation; . . ."

In all our prior dealings with God He has been separate from us. He has saved us, healed us, given us wisdom, helped and strengthened us in every way. God has done these things for us and in us.

But as we enter the "Tabernacles experience" we notice a change taking place in our relationship with the Lord. He Himself is becoming our salvation. No longer are we able even to think anything by our own wisdom or knowledge. He Himself becomes our mind, our prayer, our salvation, our health, our wisdom, our help, our strength.

Sometimes it is difficult for us to "let go." Without our realizing it there are things we do that constitute our "religion." Our set of beliefs and practices are "earning" our salvation to a certain extent, although we Christians would reject that concept if it were brought to our attention. Nevertheless we trust in these religious behaviors and perceive them as being our salvation.

Oftentimes, as God begins to move us into the fulfillment of Tabernacles, events in our lives take place that cause our religious activities no longer to be effective. We discover that one by one the things and thoughts in which we trust are being removed from us. We attempt to hold on, to preserve our former relationship, our former kind of contact with the Lord. But if it is the Lord who is making the change we never again will be content with the old way.

It seems there are people whom the Lord never moves past the salvation experience and others who do not proceed beyond the Pentecostal experience. They do not understand our behavior as we enter the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles. In fact, we ourselves many times are perplexed over the dealings of God with us.

We do know that something is taking place in our relationship with the Lord Jesus. God is shaking loose our grip on Himself and in its place is substituting His grip on us.

". . . I will trust, and not be afraid: . . ."

The prospect of "letting go and letting God" can bring fear to us. We have trusted for so long in our own grasp on God that the experience of "letting go" and allowing the Lord to work His works in us may cause us to be afraid. We are afraid to trust that the Lord is redeeming us according to His own foreknowledge and will, that it is God’s good pleasure to give us the Kingdom.

If we would move past the "waters to the ankles" into "waters to swim in," we must be willing to follow the Lord wherever He leads (Ezekiel 47:3-5).

We move along prayerfully, watchfully, observing the results of what is taking place in us. The wisdom from above always is pure, always peaceful, always full of good fruit. Whenever we feel pushed, fearful, driven, that is not the Lord, ordinarily. The Lord’s ways are joyous, full of love and hope. This is not to say there are not seasons when we are tested to the limit.

". . . for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; . . ."

The darkness is coming during which no man can work. It is at the doors. Christian works and institutions of all kinds will crumble under the spiritual darkness and oppression that will shake the earth in the near future.

God has made special provision for His elect that will enable them not only to stand throughout the great tribulation but also to finally overcome the darkness. This special provision is the personal spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles.

God will enter His people and be their strength and their song. Neither Satan nor Antichrist nor the False Prophet can stand before God in His people.

The world and the fleshly churches will be deceived and overcome by the forces of Hell. But the believers in whom the Father and the Son are dwelling will be able to persevere throughout all calamities. God working through them will crush Satan under their feet (Romans 16:20).

It will not be the saints who are persevering and finally overcoming Satan, it will be God who, through Christ, is dwelling in them. The victorious believers will sing and dance on the heights of Zion while the world is drowning in the flood of filth that will issue from Satan.

". . . he also is become my salvation."

It is not merely that God has provided all the elements of our salvation. Rather it is true that God Himself has become our Salvation. In that Day we will know that Christ is in God, and we are in Christ, and Christ is in us. Christ is the Wheel in us and we are the wheel in Christ in God. We have become God’s chariot (Ezekiel 1:16). "Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation."

We undergo fiery testings while the Spirit of God is cleansing us from all unrighteousness. But then there is joy indescribable and full of glory when we become conscious that the Father and the Son are dwelling in us forever. The feast of Pentecost and the feast of Tabernacles are both associated with water. Pentecost speaks of the former and the latter rains that will be poured on us, while Tabernacles signifies the establishing of the Throne of God and of Christ in us and the issuing of the River of Life from the Divine Presence that has been formed in us and is abiding in us forever.

Pentecost is associated with rain. Tabernacles is associated with the rivers of living water. Both speak of the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps it was at the point when this verse (Isaiah 12:3) was being sung that Jesus of Nazareth stood and proclaimed the flowing of the River of Life from the belly of the believer (John 7:38).

In the experience of Pentecost the believers have ministered in fragmented gifts and manifestations of the Spirit. When we arrive at the complete fulfillment of Tabernacles, that which is perfect will have come. No longer will we be seeing as in a clouded mirror. In that Day we shall know as we are known. We shall draw enough living water from the throne of Christ in us to release the entire creation from the bondage of corruption (Ezekiel 47:8,9; Romans 8:21).

"And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted."

As we move into the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles we exalt the Lord as we never have before. Prior to the Tabernacles experience we speak much of what we are gaining from salvation; how we shall persuade God to do this thing or that thing for us; how busy we are as we attempt to build the Kingdom of God in our own wisdom and strength.

But as the Lord settles down to rest in us, and we learn to rest in Him, we exalt Him. It is a natural transition from self-centeredness to Christ-centeredness. The Holy Spirit possesses infinite wisdom. He knows precisely how to move each of us from the bondage of self-love and self-will into the wonderful liberty of love for God and for performing God’s will.

"Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth." For the first time, perhaps, we understand and appreciate the fact that the Glory of God fills the whole earth. Satan strives to keep the saints concentrating on his wicked antics in the earth, on the increasing wickedness, perversity, and foulness of the deeds of people, so we will not perceive God’s Glory..

When we are able to see with Christ’s vision we will understand that it is God’s intention to redeem, not destroy, the earth and its peoples. The catastrophes falling upon the earth are the pains of birth, the birth of the Kingdom of God. The Father and the Son are taking up Their eternal residence in us. Out from us the rivers of living waters will flow to the meek of the earth.

The waters of life will flow on and out until the knowledge of the Glory of the Lord covers the earth and its peoples as the waters cover the sea. The nations of the saved will respond with great joy when God moves into the whole earth through His elect.

It is as we enter the Tabernacles experience that we become conscious of the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth. Although the coming of the Kingdom of God is the main topic of the four Gospels, many of us have not had an understanding of the plan of God concerning the earth.

But as the personal spiritual fulfillments of the last three feasts take place in us, as a firstfruits of the day when the great kingdom-wide fulfillments come into being, we see and enter the Kingdom of God.

It is in the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles that all will be brought together in Christ. The Kingdom of God will be established on the earth. Christ will sit on the throne of His "father," David, in the city of Jerusalem. The "good olive tree," of which every true Christian is a member, whether he or she is Jewish or Gentile by physical birth, will "blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit" (Isaiah 27:6).

When Christ is dwelling in us we discover we are singing in our heart and it is a love song to the Lord.

"Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee." The Glory of God dwelling in us causes us to shout for joy. God is great and greatly to be praised! God has come to take up His eternal abode in the Body of Christ, in the Wife of the Lamb.

The Spirit of God spoke through the Prophet Zechariah on the occasion of the restoring of Solomon’s Temple: Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. (Zechariah 4:6)

This is a prophecy concerning the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth. The Kingdom of God is God in Christ in His saints. It is the Body of Christ, the holy city, the new Jerusalem. It is the eternal Temple of God. The eternal Temple of God will be brought to completion and perfection but not by the wisdom, talents, and energies of man. The eternal Temple of God will be perfected by the Spirit of God.

God is moving today in all the earth to fulfill the words of the Hebrew Prophets and of the Apostles of the Lamb. The living stones of the eternal house of God are being fashioned "at the quarry." Each stone will be "made ready" before it is brought to the construction site (I Kings 6:7). God perfects us where we are. When it is time for the Body of Christ to come together there will be no sound of a "hammer or axe."

It always is commendable to desire the unity of the members of the Body of Christ. But when we attempt to bring the members together by our own means we find we must "cut and hammer" so the pieces will fit. But in the Day of Christ the Body will flow together by the Spirit of God, just as the animals were brought by the Lord into the Ark. All that was required of Noah was to build the Ark. The Spirit of God took care of the remaining details.

Our responsibility is to "prophesy upon these bones." God’s responsibility is to cause the bones to come together, to give them strength, beauty, and life.

The Lord Jesus stands at the door of the heart of each Christian. If the Christian hears Christ’s voice and opens the door of his heart, the King enters him and dines with him, giving to the disciple to eat and drink from His own body and blood. Then the King works many wonderful works of reconciliation and hope in him, casting out sin, driving out the moneychangers, enabling him to make the transition from self-centeredness to Christ-centeredness.

Just before He returns in the clouds of glory the Lord Jesus will summon His holy ones from the four corners of the heavens and the earth. In that Day, two "Christians" will be sleeping in one bed. One, being full of the Life of the Lamb, will be taken. The other, being full of mere human life, will be left.

Then the Father and the Son in Their Fullness will enter the believers who have been living by the Life of Jesus. The clay vessels of the earthly frames of the saints will be shattered in that midnight hour, as portrayed by the breaking of their pitchers by Gideon’s soldiers. The Glory of the God of Heaven will stream from their personalities (Isaiah, Chapter 60). This is the lightning that will blaze from horizon to horizon (Matthew 24:27). Christ and His chosen ones will be glorified together in the sight of the peoples of the earth.

. . .and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. (Zechariah 14:5)

The members of the Body of Christ, the true and only Christian Church, the Wife of the Lamb, will be gathered together into one complete, perfect, light-filled Temple of God. Then the Wife of the Lamb, now shining as the sun in the purity of righteousness and holiness, will be lifted up triumphantly by the Spirit of God to be with her Lord forever.

Antichrist and the nations, seeing this lovely, glorious spectacle, will set themselves to prevent the taking over of the rulership of the earth by the Lord and His saints.

But Antichrist will be destroyed by the brightness of the return of Christ and His saints.

Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously. (Isaiah 24:23)

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: (II Thessalonians 2:8)

It was fifty years ago, when in Bible school, that the Lord first laid on my heart the truth concerning the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish feast of Tabernacles. It was difficult for me to believe it really was the Lord Jesus who was speaking to me, since I had had no teaching concerning this.

But Christ has seen fit to bring me to the present hour. Now I see that the understanding concerning the feast of Tabernacle really is from the Lord.

The twentieth century has been a time of the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish feast of Pentecost. We who are Pentecostal know how real the Holy Spirit is, how the Spirit will help us bear witness of Christ and also strengthen us to gain victory over the deeds of our sinful nature.

However, Pentecost is the fourth of seven feasts. The last and greatest of the Jewish celebrations is that of Tabernacles.

Passing from Pentecost to Tabernacles, from the rain of the Spirit to the establishing of the Throne of God in our heart so the water no longer is only rain but also an inner well, makes total demands on our personality. We must be willing for God to bring down our natural strength and substitute His Virtue for our natural desire to please God.

We may pass through a period of darkness. If we do not draw back but keep our eyes fastened on the Lord Jesus, the day will surely come when the twelfth chapter of the Book of Isaiah becomes our testimony.

Many of us have been saved and filled with God’s holy Spirit. We have experienced the spiritual fulfillments of Passover and Pentecost.

Let us now follow the cloud and the fire until we inherit the fullness of the salvation in Christ, until we enter the personal spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles.

You can hear the morning sermon at morning. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

You can hear the evening sermon at evening. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

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