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FEAST OF TABERNACLES - 2002
Opening of the Feast
Fred Coulter - September 20, 2002
And greetings, brethren. Welcome to the Feast of Tabernacles, 2002. And
this year, you know, the feast is a little bit early, compared to the Roman
calendar, but as far as God’s way is concerned, it’s right on time. You
know, one of the things that’s so important is keeping the feasts of God,
because they show the plan of God. They reveal the step by step plan of God.
Now let’s just ask a couple of questions here as we begin. How many people
really understand the plan and purpose of God, and the framework of how He’s
going to carry it out, if they don’t keep the holy days? Or we can look at
it another way. How many people have lost the knowledge of God’s plan
because they have quit keeping the holy days? And we can ask it yet another
way. How many people do not even have a clue concerning God’s plan, because
they don’t understand the holy days, they never thought they should keep the
holy days, and many of them don’t keep the Sabbath. And you keep Sunday and
the holidays of this world, and you’re totally blinded and have no
understanding concerning what God is going to do? But you see, God has a
plan and a purpose that He is working out here on this earth. And He’s given
us that understanding, and He’s given us that wisdom through Jesus Christ,
and very few people understand that today.
And you know…let’s go to Ephesians 1, because Jesus said, remember, when He
comes to the earth, when He comes back, will He find faith in the earth?
Will there be people who believe Him, who obey Him, who keep His
commandments and love Him? Yes, they will. And these are the ones who know
the Lord. And we are told we are going to know the Lord. And He gives us
understanding and reveals it to whomsoever He desires. But you see, God has
a way of doing it, and that is through the things concerning the holy days.
And this Feast of Tabernacles shows what God is going to do at the end-time
to finish His plan, to set up His kingdom on the earth, and how He’s going
to undo all evil, and how He’s going to bring many, many multiple millions
and billions into His family.
Now here in Ephesians 1, and this is a tremendous thing for us to
understand, brethren. I know that we go over this a lot, but I want you to
understand how important that this is: the calling that God has given you,
the understanding that God has given you. Now let’s begin right here in
verse 3. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly [things, as
it should read] places in Christ:…” And some of the heavenly things
of God are what? The Sabbath and holy days, are they not? Did not God make
and create those for us, and there’s a reason and purpose for it? And just
like everything else concerning God’s way, we have understanding and
knowledge as we do them. Because the Psalm says, “A good understanding are
they that keep His commandments.” So we’re doing that on this Feast of
Tabernacles.
Now let’s continue, verse 4. “According as He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love:…” And of course the Feast of Tabernacles, as we will see, is a
time of great love. A time of showing of how God is going to bring His love
to this whole world. And it’s great love for us that we fellowship with each
other, we fellowship with God the Father and Jesus Christ, and we have the
love of God and serve Him through this. And let’s continue on now. “…Having
predestinated us unto the [sonship] adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself,…” And so, we are the firstfruits, as we saw, with Pentecost. We are
the firstborn. And we are going to reign as kings and priests, as we will
see, as we go through and see what the meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles
is, all during the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great
Day. What a tremendous thing that it is, brethren, that God has taken us
into, as it were, into His confidence, by His love to show these things for
us. It’s a wonderful and tremendous thing. “…To Himself, according to the
good pleasure of His will,…” (vs. 4-5). And we are going to understand the
mystery of His will, and the knowledge and things that God has given you
through His holy days, through His holy scriptures, to bring you that
understanding as a marvelous miracle indeed. Because the world is blinded,
and Satan has blinded them, and all who go about their own work and
business. And we know that Satan has deceived the whole world, and yet, God
has reached down to call you, to call me, to call all the brethren that He
has called, to reveal His great and His awesome plan to us that we might
have a part in it.
Now let’s continue on, verse 6. “…To the praise of the glory of His
grace,…” And that’s what we are brethren. Can you imagine that? Now I want
you to think about that. Don’t focus in on your weaknesses or the problems,
or the difficulties that maybe you’ve been confronted with, even to get here
for the Feast of Tabernacles. But we need to understand that God is
glorified in human weakness when He gives us His Spirit, and we are strong
in Him. So you see, we are to the praise of the glory of His grace.
“…Wherein He hath made us [acceptable] accepted in the beloved.” We are
accepted of God the Father through Jesus Christ. “In Whom we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His
grace; wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;…” (vs.
6-8).
Now notice verse 9, a very key verse. “…Having made known unto us the
mystery of His will,…”, the secret of His will. And I’ve thought many times,
if you could just run kind of a poll or a survey, or go into a shopping mall
and have a clip-board and come up to people and say, “Sir, or Ma’am, we’re
running a survey. Do you believe in God? What do you think His plan is? Do
you understand what God is doing?” And what would the answer be? “Yes, I
believe in God. But no I don’t keep His commandments, and no I don’t know
what He’s doing.” And you see, that also helps answer the question, because
if you do His commandments, and in particularly concerning the holy days,
then you understand His plan. You have an outline, you have a framework for
it. Because through that God is making known the secret of His will. Now
notice, “…according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in
Himself:…” Now that’s a tremendous thing.
Now let’s come to Isaiah 14, and let’s see something here concerning that
also, because God has purposed these things from before the foundation of
the earth. Now let’s understand something. It says that our names are
written in the book of life of the Lamb, and the book of life was there
before the foundation of the earth. In other words, God has His plan and
everything all ready to go. And of course it became no great mystery to God
that Adam and Eve sinned. And so He had everything all ready to go. Now we
come here to Isaiah 14:24, and let’s understand something: that God is going
to finish it and complete it. Now I know we are living in the days when many
things are happening in prophecy, and many things are taking place. And
we’re living in a time when those things are going on but let’s understand
God the Father is in charge, Christ is carrying out the work. Not only in
us, but in the world to bring everything around according to the plan of
God.
Now here, Isaiah 14:24, and let’s understand how sure this is. “The LORD of
hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to
pass; and as I have purposed,
so shall it stand:…” Now we’ve seen in the prophecies that God has
prophesied that there is coming a new world order. And it’s going to be an
awesome thing indeed, and all the things that are taking place in the world
today are building toward that step by step by step by step by step. And
it’s going to ultimately result in the return of Jesus Christ, the
resurrection of the saints, and we come back to this earth. And as we saw on
the Feast of Trumpets, one of the first things that God is going to do is
cast the Beast and the False Prophet into the lake of fire. And here we have
in verse 25 of Isaiah 14, an indication of that prophecy. He says, “…That I
will break the Assyrian in My land, and upon My mountains tread him under
foot: than shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from
off their shoulders. This is the purpose…” God says, “…that is [I]
purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched
out upon all the nations” (Isa. 14:24-26). So you see, everything that’s
going on in the world is going on according to God’s will and God’s purpose
and it’s going to be carried out.
Now notice verse 27. “For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall
disannul it?” In other words, if someone doesn’t believe it, and if
someone thinks that what the word of God has to say is not relevant to them,
are they going to annul the (King James says disannul, but it means annul),
are they going to annul what God has said? Are they going to change what God
has said? No way. Is any man, is any preacher, is any organization going to
come along and alter and change what God has purposed? Not at all. Notice,
“…who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and
who shall turn it back?” No one will, see, so God has the purpose, God has
the plan. And He had this plan right in the very beginning and that’s why
when we come to the book of Revelation, Jesus says, “I am the beginning and
the end, the first and the last. I am Alpha and Omega.” And we’re going to
see that that has an awful lot to do with the Feast of Tabernacles as God
fulfills and completes His plan.
Now let’s come to Genesis 1, since we talked about the beginning, and let’s
see something here very important. Now there are still some people… Now I
just got a paper here, just oh some months back, where a man said that in
the New Testament we don’t need to keep the holy days. And you know, he sent
me a calendar, and he doesn’t have anything right on his calendar. So I
dropped him a little letter and I said, “Thank you for your calendar,
however I think if you would read these two books…” So I sent him a
Harmony and a Christian Passover, and I said, “I think you will
see that if we use the calculated Hebrew calendar properly that we will have
the right dates. And here’s something for you to consider in what you’re
doing.” Now this was a person who was supposedly a Sabbath keeper. So you
see, just like the Seventh Day Adventists…now they keep the Sabbath, but if
you ask them what the purpose of God is, they don’t know. They may have some
fuzzy ideas: God forgives our sins, we’re going to be with Him… They have
everything mixed up concerning the kingdom of God, and so forth, and the
reason is, is because they do not understand that just as God created the
Sabbath day - the seventh day, God also built into the very universe the
seasons and the keeping of the holy days.
Now here, Genesis 1:14. “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament
of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs,
and for seasons,…” And we’re going to see a little bit later what you
already know, that God says, “These are the feasts of the LORD, which you
shall keep in their seasons.” So right from the very beginning of creation
God set things for the holy days, see. “…For seasons, and for days, and
years:…” And isn’t it interesting that we have all of these things and they
all relate to keeping of the holy days.
Now let’s come here to the book of Genesis because during this Feast of
Tabernacles we’re going to talk… Let’s come here to Genesis 12 and then
Genesis 15. We are going to talk about Abraham and the Feast of Tabernacles.
Because there is meaning for that that we find in the Feast of Tabernacles.
And as a matter of fact, as we have learned through the years, over and over
again, that there are many, many different meanings that God has really put
into the Feast of Tabernacles. That it is the greatest feast, the fullest
feast, the one that has the most meaning. Not only for us but for the world,
for the church, for Abraham, for Isaac, for Jacob, for the children of
Israel, and all of that. It’s really a tremendous thing that God has given
to us brethren.
Now here in Genesis 12:1, here’s the very first beginning step of preparing
for the kingdom of God. “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of
thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land
that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will
bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I
will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in
thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed,…” (Gen.
12:1-4). Now he went in faith. I want you to notice how very broad this
statement is of God. This is actually a statement of what would then become
the beginning of the covenant, as we find here in Genesis 15. So let’s turn
there for just a minute. We’re not going to cover too many things here in
Genesis 15, but just an overview and we’ll come back to this a little later
when we talk about Abraham and the Feast of Tabernacles.
And so we have the promise of physical seed in verse 4, that the ones
“…that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.” Now
verse 5 is an important thing for us. “And he brought him forth abroad, and
said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number
them: and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be.” And that’s the promise of
spiritual seed, that is, those of his children who will be resurrected in
the first resurrection and be given eternal life, and as Christ said, “Shine
as the stars of heaven.” And so brethren, we need to understand that this
Feast of Tabernacles pictures when that will be for us. And we have to do
like Abraham did, verse 6, “And he believed in the LORD; and He counted it
to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:4-6).
Now we know by the chronological setting that this was on the 14th
day of the first month. And we have a complete section on that in the
Passover book, if you need to go through and prove a little bit more
concerning that. But remember, this ties in with the New Testament because
the apostle Paul wrote, “If you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s seed and
heirs according to the promise.”
Now let’s come to Romans 4 and let’s understand that God’s promise expanded
out beyond that of the land of Canaan. And Paul shows very clearly that he
understood this when he wrote Romans 4. Let’s turn to Romans 4 and let’s see
where it tells us that Abraham knew that he was going to inherit the world.
That’s quite a thing, isn’t it? Now let’s pick it up here in verse 13. “For
the promise, that he should be the heir of the world,…” Now let’s just
really grasp that. Let’s understand this, because today we see all the
leaders of the world trying to work out the problems that are there, and
even the greatest and the best of them are stymied with the things that are
happening in the world today. And as we’ve seen the tremendous struggle
between the Palestinian and Jews, and no one can bring them to the peace
table. Not even all the bloodshed that has been going on has moved them to
the peace table. See, that’s why it says in Romans 3 that their feet are
swift to shed blood. And that’s what we’ve seen over and over again. So this
promise that he would be heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed
through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. And that’s what we
are doing brethren. The righteousness of faith through Jesus Christ to love
God the Father and Jesus Christ and keep their commandments. And keeping the
commandments of God and the holy days are so profound and important. And
that is the goal - the inheritance of the world.
Now let’s come here to Romans 8 for just a minute and we’re going to see
how this inheritance is going to be, and how Paul again, reiterates that
this is for us. Now let’s pick it up here in Romans 8:16. “The Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if
children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be
that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together”
(Rom. 8:16-17). Now let’s understand something. When we are keeping the
Feast of Tabernacles, we are portraying a time when we will be living in
that inheritance as spirit beings, and as we will see, reigning as kings and
as priests. Now that’s something, isn’t it?
You see, we do keep the commandments of God, and we do keep the laws of
God, as Jesus said, but we do it in faith. And it’s the righteousness of
faith. We don’t come to God and say, “God, I have done this therefore You
owe me something.” No, we come to God and say, “God, You said we are to do
this, we’ll do it. You said we’re to keep this commandment, we’ll do it, and
we’ll do it in faith and do it willingly. And whatever You decide is best
for us, we trust You in faith for that.” Now that is the righteousness of
faith. And that’s the righteousness of faith that Abraham had.
Now let’s come to Matthew 5 and let’s understand something. And in this
then, we need to realize how profound and important this is. Matthew 5:17,
“Think not that I am come to destroy [or that is, abolish] the law, or the
prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” Now if you want to know
how Jesus fulfilled the law, in the Harmony of the Gospels we have a
whole commentary on that concerning the sermon on the mount. We also have a
booklet that we reproduced called, How Did Jesus Fulfill the Law and the
Prophets. And that will give you great detail how Christ did it. He
didn’t fulfill it so that we have no obligation to do it. He gave us a
higher standard, He gave us a spiritual standard, and this is what’s
important.
Now notice, verse 18, “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth
pass, one jot or one tittle [and that has to do with the Hebrew markings in
the Old Testament] shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be
fulfilled.” So you see, in order to fulfill the law of righteousness by
faith, we also have to be obedient in keeping the commandments of God. Now
notice that right here verse 19. “Whosoever therefore shall break one of
these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the
least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach
them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” So
there you have right from the words of Christ.
Now let’s understand something: what are the least commandments according
to the world? Sabbath and holy days, aren’t they? Yes, indeed. Now let’s
come back here to Exodus 31. Let’s begin in verse 13 because we know that
all the holy days are called Sabbaths. And we know that God puts His
presence in those days because of our experience in keeping those days, and
our experience in fellowshipping with God the Father and Jesus Christ. And
here is a profound thing that Jesus told the children of Israel, which by
the way is also a separate covenant. And when you understand that the church
is spiritual Israel…we are the true Israel of God, then how much more do
these things apply to us, especially since Jesus said that not one jot and
one tittle shall in anywise pass from the law till all be fulfilled, and
heaven and earth can pass away, but it isn’t going to go away. So here we
have heaven and earth… Of course tonight you can go out and you can look up
and you can see the full moon. And that’s a guarantee that you are keeping
it on the right day - 15th day of the seventh month.
Now, let’s pick it up here in Exodus 31:13. “Speak thou also unto the
children of Israel, saying, Verily [or that is, Truly] My sabbaths,…” Now
let’s just put a little input here that we need to understand. Number one,
the Sabbaths were created by God. We saw in Genesis 1 that He made the
seasons. And He gave us the days. Now then, they do not belong to the Jews.
To this day, if you bring up to a practicing Jew that you keep the holy
days, they get angry because they say, “That’s for us. That’s not for you.”
Not true. See, because Abraham kept them. And there’s a fulfillment of the
Feast of Tabernacles with Abraham, which we’ll see a little later during the
Feast. So these are “My Sabbaths.” And He doesn’t give us a choice. He says,
“You shall keep…” Now whenever God commands us to keep something, we should
do so in faith, and there are blessings that come. And in doing so we
understand the purpose of God. We understand what God is doing,
approximately the time schedule when He is doing it, and approximately how
it’s going to be done as God reveals the things to us as we keep them.
Now continuing on. There’s another aspect that’s very important with the
keeping of the Sabbaths of God. That is right here, this is plural. This
means all the Sabbaths. This is not just the weekly Sabbath. The weekly
Sabbath starts everything out. The annual Sabbaths carry everything through
and give us the understanding. And the annual Sabbaths of the holy days,
that is what people count as the very least. So God says if we keep them,
we’ll be called great in the kingdom of heaven, right? Yes, indeed.
Now here’s another aspect of the Sabbaths. “…For it is a sign…” Now
the “it” is the keeping of the Sabbaths “…is a sign between Me and
you throughout [all] your generations; that ye may know that I am
the LORD that doth sanctify you.” So you see, in the keeping of these, not
only do we know what God’s purpose is, we know God. We know Him through
prayer, through study, through living, through His Holy Spirit, through the
keeping of His commandments, the keeping of His Sabbaths. Then He talks
about the Sabbath day and the importance of that.
Now verse 17, “It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel
for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the
seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.” Now he says here in verse 16,
let’s go back and read that verse. “Wherefore the children of Israel shall
keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations,
for a perpetual covenant.” Now then, for those who argue about Old
Covenant/New Covenant, this is done away, that’s done away, in the New
Covenant we don’t do this. Now, how do you handle this? This is a perpetual
covenant. Now you see that’s very important for us to realize and
understand.
Now let’s come to Leviticus 23. And God did something very wonderful in
Leviticus 23. And He did something that you have to seek after. You have to
dig for it, that is, if you’re willing to keep the least of the commandments
of God. Now here in Leviticus 23, and we’ve gone over this before, but you
see, part of the things that we understand of God’s word is to come back and
be grounded in the foundational thing, and then let God lead us to more
understanding from that.
Here in Leviticus 23 all the holy days of God are put in this one chapter.
And as we saw, God created every one of these holy days, in their seasons.
And if we go back and understand that Abraham kept the charge of God, His
commandments, His statutes, and His laws, we know that Abraham kept these
days in his way when he was alive on this earth. Otherwise he could not be
called righteous. Otherwise he could not be called the father of the
faithful, could he? Now just because you don’t find them defined back in the
book of Genesis in a way that it’s defined here, does not mean that it was
not so. Because you see, the Bible gives us the essential knowledge. And if
God repeated everything over, and over, and over, and over again we would
have a book that would be so big, and so thick, and so unwieldy and
cumbersome that we would get exhausted from trying to go through it. So God
has given it this way for us, that we by faith believe God. So He starts
out, we know, here in Leviticus 23, the Sabbath, the seventh day. And these
are holy convocations, or appointed times. These are the feasts of the LORD.
They belong to Him.
Now notice verse 4. “These
are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall
proclaim in their seasons.” And we know that the calculated Hebrew calendar,
we can now prove by going back with astronomical proof, that the calculated
Hebrew calendar is what God has used ever since the days of Hezekiah. So
don’t let anyone come along with some other calendar, some other scheme,
some other way, to try and derail you. These are the times and seasons that
God has given. He has given us the calendar to understand it. And since God
commands us to keep them, doesn’t it make sense that He would give us a
calendar whereby it would be easy to do? And that’s what the calculated
Hebrew calendar is. And we know that even the Jews, though they use the
calculated Hebrew calendar, have moved the Passover from the 14th
to the 15th, and they keep an extra day of Unleavened Day to the
22nd. But that doesn’t change the calculated Hebrew calendar.
Now we’ve gone through all the holy days, haven’t we? The Passover, the
Feast of Unleavened Bread, counting toward Pentecost, Pentecost, Trumpets,
Atonement. And now here we are for the Feast of Tabernacles. So let’s read
this here. Leviticus 23:33, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 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”
(Lev. 23:33-34). And so we meet for eight days because God says on the
eighth day, as we will see, there’s a special feast. And the meaning of that
is so fantastic and great that it’s just absolutely mind-boggling what God
is going to fulfill and do on that day.
Now let’s continue verse 35, “On the first day shall be an holy
convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. Seven days ye shall
offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an
holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto
the LORD:…” Well today, because Christ fulfilled the sacrifices in burnt
offerings, we do not do those things today. But we do take up an offering on
each one of the holy days. He says of the eighth day, “…it [also] is
a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.
These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be
holy convocations,…” (vs. 35-37). Now this is a summary. First of all it’s a
holy convocation. Then when they convoke to do it, then under the covenant
with Israel, then they had the burnt offerings and they had the meal
offerings, and all of that thing on everyone of it’s day.
Now verse 38, “Beside the sabbaths of the LORD,…” So here again, these are
called the Sabbaths. “…And beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and
beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD. Also in the
fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of
the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day
shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath
[which is the Last Great Day]” (vs. 38-39). Now, the Feast of Tabernacles
for the children of Israel picture that when they came out of Egypt, they
lived in the temporary dwellings. Well now today we understand that
everything that there is on this earth, and according to God’s plan, it is
all temporary. Because we know, as the Last Great Day pictures, that there
is going to be a new heaven and a new earth, and God’s plan go on forever
into all eternity. So what they did then, they took boughs, they made
booths, and so forth.
Now let’s come down here to verse 43. “That your generations may know that
I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of
the land of Egypt: I am
the LORD your God.” Now, we’ll see the meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles for
us in this day. We’ll see what it means in doing it and what we are to learn
by it, and how we are to understand that God is the only one Who gives
eternal life, and that our lives right now are very temporary. But we look
forward to eternal life and the glorious salvation through Jesus Christ.
Now, let’s understand that with the Feast of Tabernacles, it is a great
time for fellowship. Fellowshipping with God the Father and Jesus Christ,
because They put Their presence and Spirit in every meeting that we have.
And on the first holy day, which begins tonight, and on the Last Great Day,
God puts His special presence in those days so that we can really learn and
understand the will of God. But in the meantime we should fellowship with
each other, spend time together with each other, and make this a really
wonderful feast of knowing and loving the brethren, and getting to know
people that you’ve never met before. Go out and especially take those who
you’ve never taken out, to a meal or dinner, and spend time with them, and
fellowship with them, and get to know them, and this is a perfect time
during the Feast of Tabernacles to do so.
Now let’s just finish up this by looking and seeing the ultimate conclusion
of the Feast of Tabernacles, and the meaning for us. And of course we’ll
come back here again. Let’s come to Revelation 21, and let’s see the
ultimate of what this is going to do. And let’s see what we are to
understand with the Feast, but also what a great and joyous event that this
is going to be.
Revelation 21:1, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth:…” And that’s what
we are looking to, brethren. Because this first heaven and this first earth
are temporary, just like we are temporary. “…For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” So there’s going
to be a whole new earth. And there won’t be any oceans there because as
spirit beings we won’t need to have the temperature modulated. So that’s
going to be quite a thing, isn’t it?
“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of
heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great
voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with
men,…” And of course, this then is men made perfect. Men now the spirit sons
of God. “…And He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God
Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death [there will be
eternal life], neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more
pain: for the former things are passed away” (vs. 2-4). And this is the
whole meaning and the depth of the Feast of Tabernacles.
Verse 5 he says, “And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all
things new. And He said unto me, Write:…” And the apostle John wrote this.
Tremendous for us, isn’t it? “…For these words are true and faithful.” And
they are going to come to pass. “And He said unto me, It is done.” The
finality and completion of the plan of God, it is done. “I am Alpha and
Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of
the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit
all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son” (vs. 5-7).
And so brethren, let’s have a wonderful Feast of Tabernacles, keeping this
in mind and focusing on all the things that God has for us.
And brethren for tomorrow, by popular request, (we’ve had many requests for
it) four years ago I did a video where I showed the Tabernacle of God. And
so tomorrow you’re going to see that video that I did in 1998 for the first
holy day. And if I did it today, I would have to repeat it just exactly as I
did then, so, since you’re use to even watching some reruns on television,
we’re going to go ahead and rerun the first holy day of the Feast of
Tabernacles, 1998, which shows all about the Ark of the Covenant, and the
tabernacle and the instructions for it. And I hope that you will enjoy it a
lot, because there’s a lot in there, and many brethren have asked that we
see this again periodically. So, it’s been four years now. So, we’ll go
ahead and watch the video tomorrow.
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