The Fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles
The Fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles
"I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the Lord Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, (Malachi 3:1-3)
I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matthew 3:11)
Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them." (John 14:23)
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. (Revelation 3:20)
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22)
You know, I began to think. What if the passages listed above are taking place now? Perhaps this is why the necessity for doing the will of the Father is so clear to me. When the Father and Christ are living in us, doing God's will is both possible and necessary.
At the beginning of the Christian Era, God spoke of His desire for a house, a resting place.
Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things? (Acts 7:49,50)
God desires a home, a place where He can rest, and a place for His Throne. When God has these, He will be content.
To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. (Revelation 3:21)
Throughout the centuries of the Christian Era, eternal residence in Heaven has been viewed as the goal of our redemption. Now God is pointing out to us that His goal is a home, a place of rest, and a place for His Throne. When God and we have settled down to rest forever, the result will be Paradise.
Paradise is a byproduct of righteous people. The spirit world in and of itself does not make people righteous, nor does Paradise. Actually, the spirit world is an area of war, of conflict. It is Christ and Spirit-filled people who make the spirit world, Paradise.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down." (Revelation 12:10)
It is impossible to have Paradise until the occupants are totally free from sin and self-seeking. One sinful, self-seeking person would ruin Paradise. The only manner in which a human being can be totally free from sin and self-seeking is by being filled with all the Fullness of God.
If the God of Heaven and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, actually are going to come and live in us, then we will have to be resolute in our determination to set aside our own life, as it were, and constantly seek the will of the Lord Jesus in every aspect of the day and night.
Perhaps the entire Christian community, except for a few "scouts" throughout history who have been "scouting out ahead of the wagon train" so to speak, have not been aware there would come a day when the God of Heaven actually would inhabit His people to this extent.
If this is true, and such a Divine dispensation is upon us, then all of us who have placed our faith in the Lord Jesus need to press closer to Jesus so we might experience the fullness of God.
And to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:19)
Examine the passages above and see what you think.
It is true also that we are going to need more of Christ than we have experienced if we are to stand and help others to stand throughout the Divine judgments that soon are to fall on America because of our sinning.
The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the heavens will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel. (Joel 3:16)
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