What Comes After Pentecoast?

Pentecost is not the last gift of God before Jesus returns. There is a definite "more" of Jesus. There are not only two major works of Divine grace. The principal types of Scripture do not portray two stages of redemption but three.

The three major aspects of the Christian redemption are as follows: Passover (salvation through the blood of Jesus); Pentecost (the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church); Tabernacles (the coming of the Father and the Son to dwell forever in Their eternal temple).

Table of Contents'

PREFACE

PART I. THE FEASTS OF THE LORD
The Feasts of the Lord
The Three Areas of Redemption
Conquest—The Third Area of Redemption
The Blowing of Trumpets
Preparation for War
You Can Be an Overcomer
The Day of Atonement wp
The Feast of Tabernacles wp

PART II. THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES AND THE CHRISTIAN
The Concept of the House of God
The Glory of God—In His House
The Building of the Temple of God
One in Christ in God
An Eternal Weight of Glory
The Kingdom-wide Fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles
The Last Feast and the Christian

PREFACE

Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place that he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks [Pentecost], and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty: (Deuteronomy 16:16)

When we first received the baptism of the Spirit, in 1948, the Lord gave us a burden for the work of Divine grace that comes after the Pentecostal experience.

The term Pentecostal is derived from the Jewish feast of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit was sent from Heaven on the day of the Jewish feast of Pentecost (feast of Weeks—Deuteronomy 16:16).

Pentecost is number four in a series of seven feasts. The seven feasts were grouped into the three major convocations of Deuteronomy 16:16. The blowing of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the feast of Tabernacles are the final three feasts (Leviticus, Chapter 23), and appear in Deuteronomy 16:16 as the feast of Tabernacles.

The burden that the Lord gave in those days came to us in terms of the seven feasts of the Lord, and also through the design and furnishings of the Tabernacle of the Congregation.

The central concept was—and continues to be—Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Years passed, occupied mostly by work in public-school education. The "vision," if we would want to term it that, deepened and enlarged. A picture began to form of the scope of the plan of redemption as symbolized by the types and shadows of the Old Testament.

It wasn’t until 1967, however, that the motivation to write came. The words seemed to flow, perhaps having been formulated unconsciously over the years..

How does one approach the varied aspects of the New Testament fulfillment of the three feasts that follow the feast of Pentecost?

We have grouped the final three feasts together as constituting the feast of Tabernacles, and view their fulfillment as one of the three major aspects of the Christian redemption.

The feast of Tabernacles includes the blowing of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the feast of Tabernacles itself—all coming in the first month Tishri of the Jewish year.

The three major aspects of the Christian redemption are as follows:

Passover (salvation through the blood of the Lord Jesus).

Pentecost (the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church).

Tabernacles (the coming of the Father and the Son to dwell forever in Their eternal temple).

In describing the Pacific Ocean, one might wonder whether to start with its geography, the marine animals and plants, the chemicals found in the water, or its role in the development of California. Like the Pacific Ocean, the feast of Tabernacles is an awesome topic.

Inasmuch as we have, during the last thirty years, written a number of books and booklets on topics associated with the work of grace that follows the new-covenant observance of the feast of Pentecost, it seemed desirable to pull together into one book a compilation of passages dealing with the several dimensions of "Tabernacles."

What is the best way to introduce the Lord’s people to the concept that Pentecost is not the last gift of God before Jesus returns; that there are not only two major works of Divine grace (salvation, and the baptism with the Holy Spirit), but three; that there is a definite "more" of Christ for us before He comes from Heaven with the saints and holy angels?

Perhaps the introduction could include the fact that the principal types of the Scripture, such as the Tabernacle of the Congregation, the feasts of the Lord, the days of creation, and the journey of Israel from Egypt to Canaan, do not portray two stages of redemption, but three. It could be added also that an objective view of the present state of the Christian Church, the Body of Christ, will reveal that it has not as yet attained the state of maturity and unity that the Scriptures set forth as God’s will for the Body, the unblemished Wife of the Lamb.

We understand, therefore, that the types predict accurately what we see to be true. They stipulate that a third major work of grace is required in order to bring the Divine redemption to the perfection declared and prophesied in the holy Scriptures.

The several selections included in our text present some of the issues included in the spiritual fulfillment of Tabernacles. Hopefully they will serve the saints as an interpretation of the experiences that are coming now to the Lord’s people—particularly the Spirit-filled people.

Before we begin the text, it may be helpful to state what we mean when we speak of a third platform of redemption, as typified by the Levitical feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:33-43). We shall endeavor to sum up the "Pacific Ocean" in a few words.

Deuteronomy 16:16 speaks of the three annual gatherings of the Israelite men: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles.

Passover, including the first three feasts, typifies the salvation experience of the blood atonement, repentance and water baptism, and the new spiritual birth.

Pentecost portrays the life lived in the Holy Spirit rather than in the wisdom and energies of the physical body and soul.

Tabernacles, including the blowing of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement, symbolizes the spiritual warfare and judgment we experience as the Father and the Son make Their abode with us in perfect, complete union.

Doesn’t Christ come to live in us when we first are saved?

Yes, He does.

However, each of the three areas of redemption has an immediate fulfillment and a prolonged program.

Salvation takes place the moment we receive Christ by faith. Salvation also is a prolonged process, as evidenced by the statement: "he that endureth to the end shall be saved."

Pentecost should be experienced immediately. We should be baptized in water and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit as soon as we repent and place our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. However, learning to walk in the Holy Spirit is a lifelong program.

The Tabernacles experience, the abiding in us of the Father and Christ, takes place when we are reborn. Being reborn is just that—the beginning of a re-creating of all that we are. As we are being re-created, the Father and the Son increasingly are able to abide in us, as Paul outlined in the last part of the third chapter of Ephesians.

The Scriptures indicate there will be a specific, historical, Church-wide dimension of the fulfillment of Tabernacles, just as the atonement made by Christ and the fulfillment of Pentecost were specific historical events. The historical fulfillment of Tabernacles will put the finishing touches on the work of redemption, preparing us for the new heaven and earth reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It may be noticed that we view the blowing of Trumpets and the solemn Day of Atonement as being integral parts of the feast of Tabernacles.

The Scriptures do not state these two prior feasts are part of Tabernacles, and other writers and scholars that we have studied do not group Trumpets and the Day of Atonement with Tabernacles.

Therefore, an explanation of our position may be in order.

First, Trumpets and the Day of Atonement are considered together, in modern usage, marking the beginning and ending of the "Ten Days of Penitence."

The first day of Tabernacles begins only five days after the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement sometimes is considered to be the most important of all the Jewish observances. Because the last three observances take place in the same month, the first, the tenth, and the fifteenth through the twenty-second (counting Simchat Torah, the eighth day), it seems probable that Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles should be considered as one convocation. We think the Lord intends for the concept to be held in this manner.

Also, the first annual convocation, that of Passover, includes the feasts of Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits. Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits are of the greatest symbolic importance, their spiritual fulfillment including the descent into the interior of the earth and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Christ rose from the dead on the day of the observance of the feast of Firstfruits.

In the inclusion of Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits, the second and third of the seven feasts of the Lord, in Passover, the first of the three major annual convocations, we have a precedent for including Trumpets and the Day of Atonement, the fifth and sixth of the seven feasts of the Lord, in the third major annual convocation.

If Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits were included, but not mentioned, in the first annual gathering (as set forth in Deuteronomy 16:16), that of Passover week, it seems reasonable that Trumpets and the Day of Atonement, because of their calendar proximity to Tabernacles, could be considered as being anticipatory of Tabernacles and part of Tabernacles without violating sane and accepted principles of biblical interpretation.

It is not likely that the Lord would stipulate three major annual gatherings, and in the list omit one of the events of supreme importance—the Day of Atonement.

It is not these natural features alone that have caused us to include the blowing of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement as integral parts of the Feast of Tabernacles. Rather, it is the spiritual fulfillment of the three that, to our way of thinking, emphasizes their interrelatedness and unity.

The blowing of Trumpets announces the coming of the Lord and the resurrection of the dead—not only in the worldwide physical sense but also in a personal sense as part of our individual redemption. The blowing of Trumpets proclaims the nearness of judgment, of the Day of Atonement.

The Day of Atonement is the reconciliation of man with God that must take place when the Lord comes to live with man.

The Feast of Tabernacles is the eternal union that God in Christ is seeking with man, a union that can be based only on complete reconciliation.

It can be seen from the above that the three final feasts of the Lord must be considered together. It is impossible to have a "Tabernacles" experience until the King has come and cleansed His Temple in the "Day of Atonement." For this reason we include Trumpets and the Day of Atonement as inseparable elements of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Today many of the saints are seeking power. They desire power with God.

The goal of the true Christian is not power with God, the goal is union with God through Christ. Union with God is possible only as we allow the Lord to purge us, in fulfillment of the Day of Atonement, from all sin and self-seeking.

Why don’t you, dear reader, come with us as we take our journey up from Sinai (Pentecost) and march toward the land of promise. A deeper judgment and reconciliation to God will prepare us for the fullness of God’s Glory promised in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Robert B. Thompson Escondido, California September 27, 2001