The Guests Are Here, and They Look Hungry
Guest post by Richard Gray. This is part of an ongoing series on the fall holy days.
The Feast of Tabernacles corresponds to the sixth and final day of the physical creation. This festival pictures a joyful time of feasting on God’s word that will have been made possible by the work that was done during the millennium. All of the preparations for this, the largest banquet in the history of the universe will have been completed during the millennium.
The banquet hall (the
earth) has been refurbished. No more crime ridden, drug infested, filthy cities
run by corrupt lying politicians. No more filthy entertainment, good-bye Hollywood.
No more Murder Inc. (a.k.a. as Planned Parenthood). All of the filth and trash
that the way of life that this world has to offer—gone forever!
The 48 Levitical cities, established
during the millennium, will be centers of teaching the truth. That means this
world’s corrupt, lying education system will be gone. These cities will provide
righteous judgment for the people, No more corrupt judges.
There will be no more
churches! The church is a corrupt hierarchical system that originated in
Babylon, and was brought into “Christianity” by the Catholic Church. Today’s
churches of God copied that same system, instead of the congregational system
in the Bible. Their hirelings will no longer teach the people for “…they are greedy
dogs which can never have enough, they are shepherds that can-not
understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his [territory]” (Isa. 56:11).
The correct family structure
will be brought back. There will only be two genders. What a concept! The
husband (male) will be the head of the family, and the provider. The wives
(female) will be homemakers.
The Bridegroom is providing the food, and the
bride and the innumerable multitude are ready to help serve it. This is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
The dissidents, who did not want to help serve, have been fired. “…[A]nd fire
came down from heaven, and devoured them” (Rev. 20:9). And now we are waiting
for the dinner guests to arrive at the appointed time.
“...The fifteenth day of this seventh month
shall be the feast of tabernacles [5521, sukkot, hut, temporary dwelling]
for seven days to the Lord. On the
first day shall be a holy convocation: you shall do no servile work therein”
(Leviticus 23:34, 35). The 15th day of the seventh month is the set
time that the guests are to arrive. On that day the second resurrection will
occur.
“And I saw a great white
throne, and Him that sat on it, from Whose face the earth and the heaven fled
away; and there was found no place for them.
And
I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened:
and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and
the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books,
according to their works” (Rev. 20:11, 12).
Those in the second
resurrection were never, during their lifetimes, given an opportunity at
salvation. For the first time they will be taught the truth. They will be
resurrected into the Kingdom of God on the earth. They shall hear no evil, they
will learn to speak no evil, and they will see no evil. They will still have
their human nature to overcome, but they will be given God’s Holy Spirit. “Thus
says the Lord GOD; Behold, O My people, I
will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring
you into the land of Israel….And I shall
put My Spirit in you, and ye shall live…” (Ezek. 37:12,14).
This is the third and final period of
salvation, and it will be the largest number of people gathered together for a
holy convocation ever. However, the churches of God now just give them a small
cameo appearance on the eighth day, following Sukkot.
The books that they are
going to be judged out of are God’s law, which was to be read at Sukkot.
“And Moses wrote this
law, and delivered it unto the priests, the sons of Levi, which bare the Ark of
the Covenant of the LORD, and unto all the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded them,
saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of
the year of release, in the Feast of
Tabernacles, When all Israel is come to appear
before the LORD thy God in the place which He shall choose, thou shalt read
this law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the
people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within
thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your
God, and observe to do all the words of this law: And that their children,
which have not known anything, may
hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land
whither ye go over Jordan to possess it” (Deut. 31:9-13).
The Feast of Tabernacles
is about feeding the flock the Word of God! “And all the congregation of them
that were come again out of the
captivity made booths, and sat under
the booths: for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun unto that day had
not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness. Also, day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he [Ezra] read in the book of the
law of God. And they kept the feast
seven days…” (Neh. 8:17, 18).
The number seven means
complete and sanctified. “And on the seventh
day God ended [3615, to
be complete, finished, accomplished] His work which he had made…And
God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified
[6942, set apart, made holy, consecrated]
it…” (Genesis 2:2, 3).
Sukkot, beginning with
the sixth annual holy day, pictures the sanctification (7) of man (6). “Sanctify
them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17). God’s Word is the food that
is going to be served at the marriage supper, for “….man does not live by bread
only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the
LORD does man live” (Deut. 8:3).
The second resurrection
is like a new birth. Therefore, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of
the word that you may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2). From milk they will progress
to solid food. “But strong [4731, solid,
firm] meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those
who by reason of use [1838, habit]
have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:14).
The booths were temporary
dwellings made by weaving branches of various trees together. By the end of
seven days most of the leaves would have dried up and fallen off. The booths
would have been looking pretty shabby by the end of the festival. The booths
represent our mortal bodies that are subject to decay, but through the process
of spiritual growth, “…though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is
renewed day by day” (2 cor. 4:16).
Everything that is
physical is subject to decay, and is therefore temporary. “While we look not at
the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal;
but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know
that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved,
we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
(v. 18; 5:1).
Sukkot pictures a one
hundred year period. “And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people:
and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of
crying. There shall be no more
thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the
child shall die an hundred years
old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed” (Isa. 65:19:20).
The seventh day of Sukkot will be the final judgment. On that day the goats on Jesus left hand, “…shall go away into everlasting punishment,” but the sheep on His right hand “…into life eternal” (Matt. 25:46).
After the final judgment “…the heavens shall pass away with a great
noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the
works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10).
God finished the physical
creation on the sixth day of the week. The seventh day of Sukkot will be the end
of all of the physical creation, and that day will be on the sixth day of the
week.
“Seeing then that all
these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought
ye to be in all holy conduct and godliness, Looking for and hasting
unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt
with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness. Wherefore, beloved,
seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in
peace, without spot, and blameless.” (2 Peter 3:11-14).
A lesson to be learned
from Sukkot is that we are only here for a very short time. Therefore, “If ye
then be risen with Christ, seek those
things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on
things on the earth” (Col.. 3:1, 2). All of God’s festivals are about feasting
on His Word, and “…being doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving
your own selves” (James 1:25).
Sukkot teaches us that
all of the things of this world are temporary, and it is all going to be
destroyed, therefore we need to seek God and His ways.
That seems to be just the
opposite of what the churches of God teach about Sukkot. Like a drunken sailor you
are to spend thousands of dollars on food, booze, sightseeing, and entertainment
of all sorts. The exchanging of gifts adds a nice touch. In other words, Sukkot
is all about indulging as much as possible in all of the things of the world
that you can cram into eight plus days. Kind of like having an X-mas vacation in
the fall isn’t it? The eight days of
X-mas, from the 25th of December through New Year’s Day, are a
counterfeit of Sukkot.
No wonder God says, “Bring
no more vain [7723, worthless,
empty] oblations [4503, a gift, tribute, offering];
incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of
assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the
solemn meeting. Your
new moons and your appointed feasts My
soul hates: they are a trouble unto Me; I am weary to bear them”
(Isaiah 1:13, 14).
All of God’s feasts are
about coming out of the world, and being separate from it—not diving headfirst
into it. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in
the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in
the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And
the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God
abides forever” (1 Jn. 2:15-17).
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