FEAST OF TABERNACLES - DAY 3

Fred Coulter - October 13, 2003

And greetings, brethren. This is day three of the Feast of Tabernacles, 2003. And the theme of this has been “The Beginning and the Ending”. And last time we saw the ending of the physical temple, but let’s understand that God began to prepare for that when Jesus Christ was born. So that was the beginning. And the beginning of Christ coming into this world was a new beginning. And He actually prepared for that with John the Baptist. And it is a very interesting thing that it talks about John the Baptist, and also it was preparing now for a greater authority with the Word of God.

Let’s come to Matthew 11. And here’s a scripture that many, many people do not understand. Here it is. Matthew 11, and let’s pick it up here in verse 11 talking about John the Baptist, because he was to prepare the way. You see, whenever God has a new beginning He prepares the way. You can go back and you can follow through beginning with Adam and Eve and you can see the same thing every time there’s a new beginning God prepares the way. So He prepared the way with John the Baptist.

Verse 11, “Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence [or that is, it is taken by those who have force and vigor], and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John” (Matt. 11:11-13). There’s going to be a change. Now the world has misunderstood this change. And the world has misapplied it, and that’s how the Protestants have come up with their perverted lawless grace.

Now let’s go to Luke 16, and let’s look at the parallel account here, and let’s see what else He said about the law and the prophets. Now what He’s talking about here is that until John the Baptist came, the law and the prophets were the highest and greatest authority. You couldn’t go to any greater authority than the law and the prophets. Now when John comes, he prepares the way by having repentance, by having baptism, and saying, “Believe on the one Who comes after me.”

Now, Luke 16:16, “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached,…” Now there’s a higher authority greater than the law and the prophets - the kingdom of God. So this is also telling us about the coming New Testament and the authority of Christ that is going to be greater than the law and the prophets. And the way that the laws and commandments are kept are going to be greater than they were with the law and the prophets. So He made that clear by showing it here, see. “…Since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail” (Luke 16:16-17). So He’s showing that just because there’s a new beginning, just because now the kingdom of God is preached that does not mean that you don’t have to keep the commandments of God, because right when He first started His ministry He told everyone, “Do not think that I’ve come to destroy the law [or that is, abolish the law] and the prophets I’ve not come to [abolish or] destroy but to fulfill.” And that means to make full the law and the prophets and to raise the law to a higher spiritual standard. Now God prophesied of this new beginning. So we’re going to see, yes there was an overlap between the time of this new beginning, beginning with John the Baptist, and then the destruction of the temple.

Let’s come to Malachi 3:1. Now here’s a prophecy concerning John the Baptist. You see, when God does something, He prepares the way. Before the new beginning of the kingdom of God on earth He’s got to prepare and make ready for it. And that has a lot to do with the Feast of Tabernacles. Now verse 1, “Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, Whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, Whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.” And He did. He came to the temple. And let’s see the first thing He did.

Let’s come to John 2 and let’s see the very first thing that Jesus did when He came to the temple. Now let’s pick it up there in verse 13. “And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: and when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables. And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things [out of here] hence; make not My Father’s house an house of merchandise. And His disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up” (John 2:13-17).

Now then we come to a confrontation here with the scribes and the Pharisees. “Then answered the Jews and said unto Him, What sign shewest Thou unto us, seeing that Thou doest these things?” And this is really quite a sign that Jesus gave to them, and they didn’t understand it, and even the disciples didn’t understand it until after His resurrection. “Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Now the Jews, they couldn’t understand. “Well, look it’s been forty-six years the temple was in building.” And it really wasn’t finished until 60-something AD. “How will You rear it up in three days?” “But He spoke of the temple of His body.” (vs. 18-21). So that’s how Christ began. That’s how He began His ministry.

And now then let’s come to the first chapter of John, and we’re going to see something else. And we’re going to see that this is an astounding thing that took place – a fantastic occurrence with Jesus coming and living in the flesh, because it was God Who did this. God dwelling with us. Just exactly like the prophecies have said. You can go back to Isaiah 9, “For unto us a Son is given. Unto us a child is born.” The prophecy of His birth, and we just read the prophecy of the beginning of His ministry. And now here, because God wants to dwell with His people, God came to the earth so He could dwell with them.

Now here in John 1, “In the beginning was the Word,…” We all know this, don’t we? We should have this memorized and deep in our conscience. “…And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” So He came to this dark world, ruled by Satan the devil, and He entered into it to begin His work. He entered into it to do what God wanted Him to do, and to prepare for a very brand new way, if I could put it, of dwelling with His people. But before that could happen He had to come and dwell with His creation.

Now let’s come over here to verse 14. “And the Word was made flesh [that is, He became flesh], and dwelt among us,…” Now “dwelt” means to tabernacle. Tabernacled among us. “…(And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” And then it talks about how John bare witness of Him. So Jesus lived on this earth. He called His disciples to be the apostles. He trained them, he taught them for three and a half years. And it’s really quite a thing what Jesus did.

Now let’s come to Matthew 8 and let’s understand something about the tabernacling of Christ with men. He was temporarily here on this earth. So in that sense while He was here He was also in the flesh fulfilling a meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles that God temporarily dwelt among His creation. Now He wanted to live permanently with His creation, as we saw when we started out at the beginning. So all during His ministry… Now notice, let’s come here to Matthew 8 and let’s see what Jesus said. He had no permanent place. It was only sojourning in the earth. And so when they came to Jesus, Matthew 8:18, “Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave commandment to depart unto the other side. And a certain scribe came, and said unto Him, Master, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest. And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head” (Matt. 8:18-20). So you see, there was no permanent place for Christ. Though He came and dwelt on this earth, though He called the twelve apostles, the greatest joy that He had was not only teaching them but that He had direct connection with God the Father to talk with Him, to see what He was doing, with God the Father talking with Him, and so forth.

And so Christ was going to do now a new thing to fulfill His desire to dwell with His people. And so you can liken what we are doing today very much in the same way as Christ was only tabernacling when He was dwelling here on the earth. See, because we are strangers and pilgrims in the earth too. Once we are Christ’s then we are strangers and pilgrims as well. Now Christ began to explain this, and began to explain what He was going to do and how. And of course they didn’t understand, When you look at the temple, they couldn’t understand what God was really going to do.

So let’s come here to John 6, and let’s begin here. God was going to do it entirely differently. Instead of dealing with the children of Israel He was now going to deal with those that He individually called. See, even as the Jews couldn’t figure out if you destroyed the temple, how are you going to worship God? So Christ was going to do a new thing. A different thing. And that ties in with the Feast of Tabernacles. It ties in with the meaning of tabernacling. God was now going to hand pick a people for Himself, just like He chose the apostles. He says, “I’ve chosen you – you haven’t chosen Me.” And then He gave them the work to do. He gave them the commission to do. Well, we’ll see that a little bit later.

Now, let’s come here to John 6:35. Christ was going to set in motion a process that was going to be a fulfilling thing to those that He calls and the rest of the world wouldn’t understand it. This becomes profound. John 6:35, “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.” Now God was going to provide through Christ the understanding of the purpose of life: why are we here, what is God doing, and what is going to be the end result of it? But it’s going to be a new process, and it’s going to be one which will, as we will see a little later, it will be a relationship type of standing with God rather than going to a fixed building, or a fixed place. Remember, Jesus told the woman at the well in Samaria, He said, “You’re not going to worship in Jerusalem nor in this mountain, for the Father seeks those to worship Him in spirit and in truth. And those who worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” And so God created in man from the very beginning this inner hungering and thirsting, which He alone can fill. And so through Christ, now He was going to begin fulfilling it.

Now let’s come down here to verse 44 and let’s see how God was going to do it. Now we’re not talking about a temple, and a religion, and a high priesthood, and men you go to, and all of this sort of thing. Now we’re talking about something entirely different. Now we’re talking about God directly dealing with each one. God the Father Himself and Jesus Christ together. Then we’re going to do a phenomenal thing that the rest of the world has never understood. And only those who have the Spirit of God understand.

Now verse 44, “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” Now you see, this is a different thing. This is entirely new. And it’s the only way in this age that God is going to prepare Himself a people for when the kingdom of God comes on the earth. And He’s going to call those that the world does not want. He’s going to call the weak. He’s going to call the poor. He’s going to call the rejected, the down-hearted, the broken-hearted. He’s going to heal them – mentally, physically, and spiritually, and He personally is going to deal with them. Now even the disciples didn’t understand this, we’ll see a little bit later on, and He had to explain to them what it was going to be. But now we have it – no man is going to do anything for God except God choose him, and teach him, and give him the Holy Spirit. Now just think on that. That’s a profound thing. That’s how God separates everything else.

Verse 45, “It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God.” That is, all those who are called. “Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto Me. Not that any man hath seen the Father, save He which is of God, He hath seen the Father.” He’s talking about Himself. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life.” Now this is something all human beings have been striving to get, which they rejected in the Garden of Eden” (vs. 45-47).

Now let’s come down here to verse 51. He says, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” And to this very day the world cannot understand the love of God and the power of God that He would come down here to be the sacrifice for the sins of all human beings, and to let His creation kill Him. Fantastic thing. That takes a tremendous amount of love and, you know, only God could do that, you see. That’s why Jesus had to be God. That’s why John started out and said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”, because what is required here no human being could do or fulfill.

Now let’s see part of what this entails. We’ll continue on right here. Verse 52, “The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him” (vs. 52-56). Now even the disciples didn’t understand this until He instituted the New Covenant Passover on the Passover night just before He was crucified.

Here’s the sum capsule of it. “As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so [that means, exactly in the same way] he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me” (vs. 57). Now, this is a brand new way. Now Jesus had to tell the disciples this. They really didn’t understand it. Because you see, they didn’t know anything about the Holy Spirit so Christ had to tell them how He was going to do this, and that they would have to go out and they would have to do the preaching and teaching and He would be with them. And He was going to begin a new work through them.

Now let’s come to John 14. Very profound section of scripture here where He tells about the Holy Spirit. Now you see, the world doesn’t know anything about the Holy Spirit. Whatever they understand about the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with the truth of the Bible. That’s why they believe that the Holy Spirit is a third person in a trinity. They don’t understand it’s the power of God, and they don’t realize what God is doing, and they don’t realize how this, as we will see a little later, connects with the temple that God is building now. Because He is building a temple. And we’ll look at the beginning of it here.

Now let’s pick it up here in verse 14. “If ye shall ask any thing in My name, I will do it. If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” Now verse 16 shows how He’s going to accomplish this new thing. “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that [it] he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth [it] him not, neither knoweth [it] him: but ye know [it] him; for [it] he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:14-17). This is going to be a phenomenal new thing, that God is only going to deal with those people that have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in them. He’s going to call them. He’s going to choose them. He’s going to give the Holy Spirit. They are in a new covenant with God. They are going to live by every Word of God. An amazing thing. An amazing thing. “Be in you.”

“I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (vs. 18). And so the disciples really didn’t understand this. See, because now He’s explaining what’s going to happen when they receive the Holy Spirit – that now it is going to be a relationship directly with Christ dwelling in him, and He in them through the power of the Holy Spirit. Now there are qualifications for it. Keeping the commandments, believing God, believing Christ, believing His Word. Letting the Holy Spirit lead you, as we’ll see a little bit later on.

And He also says, “Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more, but [you’ll] ye see Me: because I live, ye shall live also. [In] At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father [that is, the day He was resurrected and showed Himself to them], and ye in Me, and I in you.” Here is the key. And this is what the world rejects. “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him” (vs. 19-21). So here’s a relationship based on love. “God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him should not perish, but may have everlasting life” (John 3:16, paraphrased). And that belief has to be continuous and ongoing. So this is a brand new thing. And of course Satan the devil, he came along and counterfeited it didn’t he? Yes, he did.

Let’s continue on here. Verse 22, “Judas saith unto Him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world?” Good question. How is God going to do that? By using His Spirit to call. That’s how. How did Christ manifest Himself to you one day in your life when you first began to understand, when you first wanted to know about God? Why did you find out and the others didn’t? Because many are called but few are chosen. And the answer is: few repent. And few do this, verse 23, “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, He will keep My words:…” That’s very profound. You know, you ask the question: Lord, what should I do? Keep the Words of Christ. You keep the commandments of God. Now as a result of that, because of God’s calling and Spirit and so forth, “…and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him” (vs. 22-23). That means to dwell with him.

Now, question: what made the tabernacle holy? The presence of God. Likewise the temple – what made it holy? The presence of God. Which, just before the temple was destroyed God withdrew. Now we have it, “We will make Our abode with him”. Now that is a fantastic and brand new thing, isn’t it? Has it ever been heard that God would dwell with an individual? God the Father, the great Creator, Sovereign of the universe, and Jesus Christ, would dwell in a man and in a woman? Astounding! Unheard of! And granted, it will be permanent, but however it starts out temporary, as we will see. Because it’s just not automatic fait accompli, because if someone rejects and commits the unpardonable sin, no, it isn’t going to be completed. So in order to make it permanent, it starts out temporary. But in order to make it permanent a person must dwell in Christ, and dwell in God, keep the commandments, have the Spirit of God, grow and overcome and all of those things, and then will lead to a permanent state of eternal life at the resurrection, which then will be another new thing, won’t it? Yes, it will. So when you come to the end of your physical life, then when the resurrection comes there will be a new beginning, right? Yes. So you see all the way through the Bible there are beginnings and endings and it all fits in the plan of God.

Now notice, here’s the separation point. Here is how Christ divides the world from His. Verse 24, “He that loveth Me not keepeth not My sayings [that’s a dividing line]: and the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father’s which sent Me.” Now that is really quite a thing the way that that is done, and that is something that we need to realize and understand.

Now I want to read something to you from the enemy. And it’s from Robert W. Funk, The Coming Radical Reformation. And he’s the head of the Jesus Seminar, which should be re-titled, “The Seminar To Destroy The Knowledge Of Jesus”, and to reinvent another Jesus, because you see this fulfills exactly what we’re saying here. If you don’t love God and keep His commandments you won’t understand it. Yea, and they go further – they reject Him. They reject all of His commandments.

He says:

“The God of the metaphysical age is dead. There is no personal God out there external to human beings in the material world. We must reckon with a deep crisis in God talk, and replace it with talk about whether the universe has meaning and whether human life has purpose.”

And the very thing they reject is what tells them, you see. They won’t understand. That’s why John said the world didn’t know Him. And they don’t know us because they didn’t know Him. And look what they do here:

“We should give Jesus a demotion. It is no longer credible to think of Jesus as divine. Jesus’ divinity goes together with the old theistic way of thinking about God.”

Then of course he debunks everything – the virgin birth, the doctrine of atonement, resurrection of Jesus, return of Christ. And won’t he be surprised when Christ returns, and He’s going to say, “Robert come here.”

Now here’s what they’re going to do to the Bible. This is what they have planned:

“The New Testament is a highly uneven and biased record of orthodox attempts to invent Christianity. The canon of scripture adopted by traditional Christianity should be contracted and expanded simultaneously to reflect respect for the old tradition and openness to the new. Only the works of strong poets, those who startle us, amaze us with a glimpse of what lies beyond the rim of present site should be considered for inclusion. The canon should be a collection of scriptures without a fixed text, and without either inside or outside limits, like the myth of King Arthur and the Knights at the round table myth, or the myth of the American Indians.

The Bible does not contain fixed standard objective standards for human behavior that should govern for all time. This includes the Ten Commandments as well as the admonitions of Jesus.”

Now these people are bent on making a new Bible. And they will. They’re well at it, throwing away 80% of what Jesus has taught, and bringing in all of the Gnostic doctrines that were written by those who were the Gnostics, and led of Satan. So you know we have to be getting close to the end. See, the world cannot understand this. The world cannot grasp what we are talking about. The world does not know what God is truly doing because He is doing it in the minds and in the hearts of those that He calls in a personal spiritual relationship.

Now let’s come over here to John 15:7. “If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be My disciples. As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you: continue ye in My love.” That is the basis for completing what God has started. “If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love” (John 15:7-10). And so this is how it’s done. A whole new thing. A whole change. A change of heart. A change of mind. A change of temple. A change of how God does things.

Now when we come to Acts 2, which we covered on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was given, repentance and baptism, received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now what is that to do? How is that to work in the lives of those that God calls? Now, yes, we’re to be a light to the world, but even sometimes even being a light to the world they can’t even understand it because they have their own ideas and their own ways and things that they are doing.

Now let’s come to 1 John 3 and let’s see what happens when we receive the Holy Spirit. It is called the earnest of the Spirit, Ephesians 1. And it is called a begettal in 1 John 3. Now let’s go to 1 John 3 and let’s read it here. This becomes real important for us to do and to know and to understand. And also how he shows the relationship continues.

Now let’s pick it up here in 1 John 3:8. “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.” So there it is, a dividing line. “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is [begotten] born of God doth not [practice] commit sin;…” That’s the way that it should read: does not practice sin. “…For His seed [that is, the seed of God the Father] remaineth in him: and he cannot [practice] sin, because he [has been begotten] is born of God” (1 John 3:8-9). Now that’s what happens when the Holy Spirit is given. The seed of God, which is the begettal of the Holy Spirit, unites with the spirit of your mind and then you start becoming a new creature. Then you start developing the very mind of Christ. Yes, we start out as babes. We are to grow in grace and knowledge, and all of these things are absolutely necessary. And we have to continue at it.

Here in chapter three he explains a little bit more about it. He makes sure that we understand it. Now let’s pick it up here in verse 23, chapter three. “And this is His commandment, That we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave us commandment. And he that keepeth His commandments…” Now, this goes right back to John 14 where we read it, didn’t we? “The one who is keeping His commandments dwells in Him, and He [Christ] in the one who’s keeping the commandments” (vs. 23, paraphrased). So that is the great and brand new thing that God has been doing ever since Christ. And we’re going to see what He’s preparing for. And we are going to see that when this comes to an end there is a new beginning, and goes right on with what God wants us to do.

Now notice, “And hereby we know that He [dwells] abideth in us, by the Spirit with He hath given us” (vs. 24). That’s why it’s important that you understand you have the Holy Spirit of God, that you exercise the Spirit of God, you’re led of the Spirit of God. That’s why prayer, and study, and living, and growing, and overcoming are all profound and important because this is part of what God is doing to build, as it were, a new spiritual temple. And this is a temple made without hands. And this is the work of God. And it’s the work of God in each one that has the Spirit of God. And what is the greatest thing that can come out of this? What is the greatest thing that we can do right now?

Let’s come over here to 1 John 4:7. It says, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth [has been begotten] is born of God, and knoweth God.” Now that’s a tremendous thing. Yes, the first part of chapter three says, you know, the world doesn’t know us because it didn’t know Him, and it’s hard for them to understand this. But we do. “He that loveth not knoweth not God;…” Neither the one who keeps His commandments, as we have seen. And John said there in 1 John 2:4, he said, “He that says I know Him, and keeps not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him”, you see. Because you see, if you don’t love, you don’t know God, “…for God is love” (1 John 4:7-8). And that’s the greatest quality that God wants to produce in your life. That’s why it’s faith, hope, and love, and love is the greatest because that is what is going to be for all eternity.

Now notice continuing he says, “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” And through His way, for the work that He is doing now so that you are going to become a part of that spiritual temple and you are going to have a work to do, because it’s not a temple like a building. It is a temple that is the body of Christ to do the work of Christ. An amazing and fantastic, and wonderful thing that God is doing. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (vs. 9-10).

Now let’s come down here to verse 16. “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.” Do you believe that? Do you believe the love that God has to you in all circumstances, in everything that you do? Do you believe that God is going to give you eternal life? Do you believe that the love of God is the greatest thing that you can do in this life now, and that the love of God through all eternity is the greatest thing that is going to see us through all eternal life? That’s why we are living temporarily in this flesh. This body, we are going to see in a little bit, is a fleshly tabernacle.

Let’s continue on and finish here. “God is love; and he that [is dwelling] dwelleth in love [is dwelling] dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect,…” So it is a process, it’s being perfected. It is helping us to overcome human nature, to overcome sin, to overcome Satan, to overcome the world. And it is the love of God which provides that, you see. “…That we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear:…” That’s what we need to grow in, brethren, “…because fear hath torment. He that feareth [or is fearful] is not made perfect in love” (vs. 16-18).

Now let’s see how this is. This is really quite a tremendous and fantastic thing that God is doing with His Spirit in us.