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Chapter 48: The Feast Of The Tabernacles
Deuteronomy 16:13 Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. The feast of the tabernacles that God commanded the Israelites to celebrate was to take place after the harvest had been gathered and the grapes had been crushed in the winepress. Deuteronomy 16:14 & 15 Be joyful at your Feast--you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. For seven days celebrate the Feast to the LORD your God at the place the LORD will choose. For the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete. Deuteronomy 14:24-26 But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away), then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose. Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice. It was to be a joyful feast celebrating the bountiful harvest that the Lord had given his people for all the work of their hands. It is comparable to our holiday called "thanksgiving." Leviticus 23:39 & 42 "So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the LORD for seven days; the first day is a day of rest, and the eighth day also is a day of rest. Live in booths for seven days: All the native born Israelites are to live in booths." The feast of the tabernacles is celebrated in the seventh Jewish month, which is in late September or early October on our calendar. The modern word for tabernacle or booth is tent. In the verse below the word "tent" is translated "tabernacle" in the King James Version. 2 Corinthians 5:1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. During the feast of the tabernacles the Israelites were to camp outside, sleeping in tent like structures made from branches and stalks leftover from the harvest. Nehemiah 8:13-17 On the second day of the month, the heads of all the families, along with the priests and the Levites, gathered around Ezra the scribe to give attention to the words of the Law. They found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in booths during the feast of the seventh month and that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem: "Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles, palms and shade trees, to make booths"--as it is written. So the people went out and brought back branches and built themselves booths on their own roofs, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God and in the square by the Water Gate and the one by the Gate of Ephraim. The whole company that had returned from exile built booths and lived in them. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great. The feast of the tabernacles is a prophetic picture of the time when God will make his dwelling place with men and it will be celebrated every year for a thousand years during the Millennium. Zechariah 14:16-19 Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the Earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The LORD will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. The first fulfillment of this feast was when God took on a tent or tabernacle of human flesh at the birth of Christ. Christ came the first time as a suffering servant. The next fulfillment will be when Christ returns to Earth as the Lord of Lords, and the king of kings, and rules and reigns on the Earth. The saved of all ages will live and reign with Christ for 1000 years. 2 Timothy 2:11-12 Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; Revelation 20:4-6 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. The placement of these verses in chapter twenty concerning the first resurrection has caused confusion for some who study prophecy. This is not the first resurrection taking place after the return of Christ, nor is it a special resurrection for the tribulation saints. John is explaining to us what the saints who were raised from the dead and those who were caught up alive to meet Christ in the air, will be doing during the Millennium. The first resurrection that will occur at the sounding of the seventh trumpet is the only resurrection that will take place between now and the end of the one thousand year Sabbath day. There are only two resurrections left to occur before eternity begins. The first resurrection is the rapture that occurs at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and then after the millennium the resurrection of the lost of all ages and those who were saved and died during the millennium. The parable that Jesus told about the man of noble birth who gave his servants money to invest in his absence pertains to Christ, who returned to the right hand of the father and left the gospel in the hands of his servants. Those who are found faithful in using their gifts for the good of God's kingdom will be rewarded during the Millennium. They will receive the higher ranking positions in the Lords kingdom. Luke 19:12-21 He said: "A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. 'Put this money to work,' he said, 'until I come back.' "But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, 'We don't want this man to be our king.' "He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it. "The first one came and said, 'Sir, your mina has earned ten more.' "'Well done, my good servant!' his master replied. 'Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.' "The second came and said, 'Sir, your mina has earned five more.' "His master answered, 'You take charge of five cities.' "Then another servant came and said, 'Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.' "His master replied, 'I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn't you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?' "Then he said to those standing by, 'Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.' "'Sir,' they said, 'he already has ten!' "He replied, 'I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. But those en emies of mine who did not want me to be king over them--bring them here and kill them in front of me.'" It is important to use the gifts one has for God's purposes. The indication here is that faith without works is not real faith at all, and that those who are not using the gifts that they have been given are in danger of being numbered with the wicked. Psalms 84:10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. It is better to be a doorkeeper in God's kingdom than to be cast into the lake of fire with the wicked. For this reason we all need to make sure that we are on the narrow path that leads to eternal life, and not the broad road that leads to destruction. Some may not understand why God will have a Millennium before eternity begins. The purpose of the Millennium is to fulfill the promises he made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David. God promised these men a literal kingdom on Earth with one of their descendants sitting on a throne and ruling over the world. Christ will fulfill these promises when he rules the world from Jerusalem for a thousand years. Isaiah 2:1-4 This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. When the Millennium begins the people will do the reverse of what they did when they were preparing to fight with Christ at Armageddon. Now they will beat their swords into plowshares and there will be no more war for a thousand years. The prophet Micah also prophesied about this time period. Micah 4:3-4 They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken. The phrase "under his own vine and fig tree" in the bible means that men will enjoy the fruits of their own labors. The results of their work will not be stolen from them by thieves or taken from them by governments and taxes or by greedy owners or corporations. Isaiah 65:19-25 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. "Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands. They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them. Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain," says the LORD. It appears that during the Millennium the world will revert to an agricultural society. People will again live to great ages as they did before the flood. Mankind will be at peace with each other and with nature, as it was before Adam sinned. |