“But Peter said, ‘I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you.”’ (Acts 3:6)

Israel consistently failed to keep the final feast, the Feast of Sukkot, because she took her calling to be elitist rather than priestly. She thought her calling, gifts and purification were for herself, rather than for the healing of the nations.

Part I   Part II

This brings us to the New Testament, and the final years of the Mosaic Law. Jesus was dealing with the house of Israel but also with Gentiles, as a precursor to the ministry of the apostles. His ministry, like that of Moses, included the appearance of the glory cloud at significant moments. Through Jesus’ atonement for sin, Israel was about to enter into God’s rest. This time, it was the heavenly country perceived by all the saints, not a temporary house of branches like Canaan. However, this Feast of Clouds would require temporary shelters to become “houses of fire,” as a witness to the glory of God in His people.

The first sign was the Day of Pentecost. A single house was filled with a mighty, rushing wind, signalling the presence of God, just as His presence moved into the Tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple once His instructions had been obeyed. The Spirit anointed human lampstands with oil and tongues of fire measured out Yahweh’s architecture not in gold or silver (Acts 3:6) but in human character restored to health.

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. (Acts 3:6-8)

However, this Pentecostal house was but a single house. A greater sign was required to indicate that the third promise to Abraham was finally being fulfilled: the blessing to all nations. After Pentecost, Acts records four events where entire households were visited by God. These correspond to the four “Altar horn” corners of the Land, whose territory was later expanded into four Gentile beasts as guardian cherubim around God’s throne. It appears that they correspond these four Gentile empires, but also to the four gospels, which are the horsemen of the apocalypse. Now that Christ had ascended, the four horns of atonement had become four winds of the Spirit.

This final “household” sign is also the point at which Paul completes his official witness to Jewish synagogues. Maintaining their allegiance to Herodian worship, they have become houses filled with demons, strange fire. At Maturity, the Bible Matrix pattern moves from head to body, from Israel to the nations, from heaven to the filling of the sky and the sea.

These “household conversions” were clearly not the norm, because the fact that all believed before they were baptized is specifically mentioned in three of the four instances. (The fact that it is not mentioned in the case of Lydia is beside the point, since Acts makes clear what were the qualifications for baptism, and it was not membership in a believing household.)

Moreover, the normal effect of the Gospel was a house divided. Jesus had stated that the Gospel would be a sword: “…a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.” (Matthew 10:36) To claim that these miraculous events are the norm to support an unbiblical agenda is akin to claiming that the apostolic gifts continued unabated after the destruction of the Temple (which was also heralded with miraculous signs), or that all babies in the womb are filled with the Spirit as was John the Baptist. If a signpost is the norm, it isn’t a signpost. It’s a fencepost.

So, what was the purpose of these four “household” events?

The movement in each is from a faithful household head who believes to an entire body of believers (including family members and servants), just like the initial “house-filling” of Pentecost was being measured out “architecturally” across the empire. Each event also incorporates a Jewish witness and Gentile “sponsors,” Graeco-Romans who bring their glory into the Church. The first and last are vindications of prior belief of entire households (Day 1 and Day 4), and the other two are conversions of entire households.

These believing households were four horns which put the old Israel, the Jewish rulers who rejected Pentecost, on the Altar, ready for the fires of the Roman armies.

These believing households were also four compass points on a new Israel, four Tabernacles at an empire-wide Feast of Clouds. They were a Pentecostal sign to the Jews that their Abrahamic ministry to the nations had been fulfilled. The transformation of these signature Gentile households into “booths” meant condemnation for Herod’s “Tabernacle.” As it was with Peter’s speech on the Day of Pentecost, and the miraculous apostolic gifts, these new hybrid (mixture) houses were a warning to Jews during the “overlap” of Covenant administrations between AD30-70. This was the final stage of the Abrahamic Covenant before it was finished. It could at last be seen that all of Israel’s history was prefigured in her festal calendar (see Bible Matrix).

We don’t hear about household conversions after Acts 18. It was an “Abrahamic” sign, but the end of Abraham, not a new beginning. Israel was finally purified, the ungodliness banished from Jacob (Romans 11:27) and she had completed her ministry. The only “household of faith” mentioned after this is the gathering of believers.

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:10)

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God… (Ephesians 2:19)

As Revelation 2 shows us, every Church is a household with its own fire, a Lampstand de-centralized and able to multiply across the world. But these lamps are trimmed and oiled by Jesus, who judges them first, nipping their sins in the bud, and then judges the house where they were allowed to become full grown.

For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17)

The Black Sabbaths were over for everyone except the old tent of God, whose priests and kings had kindled a strange fire and become a new Egypt. She would lose her lampstand be burned with fire. The gloom of utter darkness had been reserved for her wandering stars. The day had dawned and the entire world was now filled with light. And all Jerusalem, once the Abrahamic navel of the world, was a barren womb shrouded in the darkness of an empty tomb.

_____________________________________________
[1] Ascension concerns the blameless man bound and exalted, like Joseph or Daniel. The correspondence for Greece might have something to do with the rescue of Jerusalem from an invading Alexander.

Flavius Josephus in “The Antiquities of the Jews” Book XI, chapter VIII, p 350. Tells this story of Alexander the Great arriving in Jerusalem:

“And when he (the High Priest) understood that he (Alexander the Great) was not far from the city (Jerusalem), he (the High Priest) went out in procession with the priests and the multitude of citizens. The procession was venerable, and the manner of it different from that of other nations … and when the Phoenicians and the Chaldeans that followed him (Alexander the Great), thought that they should have liberty to plunder the city, and torment the high priest to death, which the king’s displeasure fairly promised them, the very reverse of it happened; for Alexander, when he (Alexander the Great) saw the multitude at a distance, in white garments, while the priests stood clothed in fine linen, and the high priest in purple and scarlet clothing, with his miter on his head, having the golden plate whereon the name of G-d was engraved, he (Alexander the Great) approached by himself, and adored that name (the name of G-d), and first saluted the high priest. The Jews also did altogether, with one voice, salute Alexander, and encompass him about; where upon the kings of Syria and the rest were surprised at what Alexander had done, and supposed him disordered in his mind (They thought Alexander was crazy for bowing before the High Priest). However, Parmenio alone went up to him (Alexander the Great) and asked him how it came to pass that, when all others adored him, he should adore the high priest of the Jews? To whom he replied, “I did not adore him, but that G-d who hath honored him with his high-priesthood; for I saw this very person in a dream, in this very habit (high priestly garment), when I was at Dios in Macedonia, who, when I was considering with myself, how I might obtain the dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly to pass over the sea thither, for that he (G-d) would conduct my army, and would give me the dominion over the Persians; whence it is, that having seen no other in that habit (high priestly garment), and now seeing this person in it, and remembering that vision, and the exhortation which I had in my dream, I believe that I bring this army under the divine conduct, and shall therewith conquer Darius, and destroy the power of the Persians, and that all things will succeed according to what is in my own mind.”

There is a tradition that says when the high priest met Alexander the Great outside Jerusalem that he took with him the book of Daniel and showed Alexander the prophecy concerning him. It is said that this so moved Alexander that he went to the temple to offer a sacrifice and worship God. [link]

[2] Justus means “upright, just,” and Crispus means “curly headed.” Perhaps the combination of priesthood and kinghood in the Great Shepherd (Revelation 1:13-14).

Part II – The Black Sabbath

“For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night,
in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.” (Exodus 40:8)

Continued from The Household of Faith – 1

“You shall kindle no fire in all your dwelling places on the Sabbath day.” (Exodus 35:3)

Israel took the man who was collecting kindling on the Sabbath and nipped his sin in the bud. His intentions were plain, so they wanted to know what should be done with him. It sounds brutal, but Exodus and Leviticus give us a plethora of strange laws for Israelites. At least, they seem strange until we understand that not only was Sinai replicated in the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle was to be replicated in every Israelite tent, and indeed in every Israelite. Every household was a tent of God, a cloud, and every Israelite a burning star in the sky. The tribes were, after all, arranged around the tent in military “constellations.” This new Black Sabbath was to reconnect every tent with its source, the tent of God.

The man executed for collecting kindling is referred to not as an Adam but as an Ish. Ish is Adam’s “new name,” a Covenant/bridal name, in Genesis 2. It may be related to the word for fire. “Strange fire” is thus spiritual harlotry, and this man is a Covenant breaker. He has put his own household, his own authority, above the authority of God. Perhaps the reason his actual motives are not recorded is the same reason such things are not recorded elsewhere in the Bible. It is to force us to contemplate the events in the fiery light of the Law. We are called to judge these situations, just as Israel did in this instance. This is one time they got it right. [1]

What was the reason for the introduction of the Mosaic Law? It was because of transgressions, not merely those of this generation, but also of the tribal heads, the lawless brothers of Joseph. The multiplication of Israel into a nation required a national law, although, as suggested above, this law also made every Israelite a “living sacrifice.” Its ethical, ceremonial and civil elements cannot be untangled from each other, any more than Father, Son and Spirit could be divided.

On the Sabbath day, the only fire was to be God’s fire. The only warmth, God’s warmth. The only light, God’s light. To have one other light visible among the tents would be to claim autonomy. Perhaps this darkness was a disciplinary measure after the idolatry of the golden calf. Without a fire for every household, the Sabbath would have resembled the ninth plague in Egypt, where the entire land but for Goshen was veiled in darkness. And Goshen was a Garden. A single brightness coming from the tent of meeting would be like the flaming sword at the Gate of God. Every Sabbath would be a reminder that Israel had failed to enter into God’s rest.

Immediately after this new commandment, Moses called for donations for the construction of the Tabernacle. This was a new creation. Light and darkness had been divided, with only the light of God visible. That was Day 1. Now the construction of a new house began.

At the end of this process, the glory of God moved in, and those who had been in darkness saw a great light. This building process takes us from Day 1 to Day 7, and we see a correspondence in Israel’s entire festal year, with one major difference.

The Sabbath Week becomes the “first day” in a sense, as a pattern for the entire year. And the Feast of Booths becomes Day 7, when Israel, after the Day of Atonement, has been purified, and is now ready to invite all nations to participate. It is at this feast that every house becomes a “glory cloud.” At the Feast of Booths (Ingathering), every house had its own fire. In this great international feast, Israel symbolically entered into God’s rest. Instead of a Black Sabbath like that of Adam, God became the father of lights. His promises would still come to pass.

____________________________________
[1] For a manifold revelation of how often we moderns misjudge the events of Genesis, get a copy of James B. Jordan’s Primeval Saints.

Here’s some interesting calculations concerning the day of Jesus’ birth in relation to Israel’s festal calendar. It was written by Michael Scheifler (a Seventh-day Adventist), and is reproduced here with his permission.

While much of the world celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ on the 25th of December, can the actual day of Jesus’ birth be determined from scripture? This question will be explored in some detail, and will yield a result that is quite intriguing. The first passage we will consider begins with the father of John the Baptist, Zacharias:

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth… And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course, … And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house. And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, … (Luke 1:5, 8, 23-24)

The clue given to us here is that Zacharias was of the “course” of Abia.

The 24 Courses of the Temple Priesthood

7. But David, being desirous of ordaining his son king of all the people, called together their rulers to Jerusalem, with the priests and the Levites; and having first numbered the Levites, he found them to be thirty-eight thousand, from thirty years old to fifty; out of which he appointed twenty-three thousand to take care of the building of the temple, and out of the same, six thousand to be judges of the people and scribes, four thousand for porters to the house of God, and as many for singers, to sing to the instruments which David had prepared, as we have said already. He divided them also into courses: and when he had separated the priests from them, he found of these priests twenty-four courses, sixteen of the house of Eleazar, and eight of that of Ithamar; and he ordained that one course should minister to God eight days, from sabbath to sabbath. And thus were the courses distributed by lot, in the presence of David, and Zadok and Abiathar the high priests, and of all the rulers; and that course which came up first was written down as the first, and accordingly the second, and so on to the twenty-fourth; and this partition hath remained to this day. — Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 7, Chapter 14, Paragraph 7.

King David, on God’s instructions (1 Chr 28:11-13), had divided the sons of Aaron into 24 groups (1 Chr 24:1-4), to setup a schedule by which the Temple of the Lord could be staffed with priests all year round in an orderly manner. After the 24 groups of priests were established, lots were drawn to determine the sequence in which each group would serve in the Temple. (1 Chr 24: 7-19). That sequence is as follows:

These were the orderings of them in their service to come into the house of the LORD, according to their manner, under Aaron their father, as the LORD God of Israel had commanded him. (1 Chr 24:19)

Now each one of the 24 “courses” of priests would begin and end their service in the Temple on the Sabbath, a tour of duty being for one week (2 Chr 23:8, 1 Chr 9:25). On three occasions during the year, all the men of Israel were required to travel to Jerusalem for festivals of the Lord, so on those occasions all the priests would be needed in the Temple to accommodate the crowds. Those three festivals were Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Deut 16:16).

The Yearly Cycle of Service in the Temple

The Jewish calendar begins in the spring, during the month of Nisan, so the first “course” of priests, would be that of the family of Jehoiarib, who would serve for one week, Sabbath to Sabbath. The second week would then be the responsibility of the family of Jedaiah. The third week would be the feast of Unleavened Bread, and all priests would be present for service. Then the schedule would resume with the third course of priests, the family of Harim. By this plan, when the 24th course was completed, the general cycle of courses would repeat. This schedule would cover 51 weeks or 357 days, enough for the lunar Jewish calendar (about 354 days). So, in a period of a year, each group of priests would serve in the Temple twice on their scheduled course, in addition to the 3 major festivals, for a total of about five weeks of duty.

The Conception of John the Baptist

Now back to Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist.

And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house. And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, … (Luke 1:23-24)

Beginning with the first month, Nisan, in the spring (March-April), the schedule of the priest’s courses would result with Zacharias serving during the 10th week of the year. This is because he was a member of the course of Abia (Abijah), the 8th course, and both the Feast of Unleavened Bread (15-21 Nisan) and Pentecost (6 Sivan) would have occurred before his scheduled duty. This places Zacharias’ administration in the Temple as beginning on the second Sabbath of the third month, Sivan (May-June).

Having completed his Temple service on the third Sabbath of Sivan, Zacharias returned home and soon conceived his son John. So John the Baptist was probably conceived shortly after the third Sabbath of the month of Sivan.

The Conception of Jesus Christ.

Now the reason that the information about John is important, is because according to Luke, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the sixth month of Elisabeth’s pregnancy:

And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, “Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.” And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. (Luke 1:24-27)

Note that verse 26 above refers to the sixth month of Elisabeth’s pregnancy, not Elul, the sixth month of the Hebrew calendar, and this is made plain by the context of verse 24 and again in verse 36:

Luke 1:36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. (Luke 1:36)

Mary stayed with Elizabeth for the last 3 months of her pregnancy, until the time that John was born.

And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house. Now Elisabeth’s full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son. (Luke 1:56-57)

Now working from the information about John’s conception late in the third month, Sivan, and advancing six months, we arrive late in the 9th month of Kislev (Nov-Dec) for the time frame for the conceptionof Jesus. It is notable here that the first day of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, is celebrated on the 25th day of Kislev, and Jesus is called the light of the world (John 8:12, 9:5, 12:46). This does not appear to be a mere coincidence. In the book of John, Hanukkah is called the feast of dedication (John 10:22). Hanukkah is an eight day festival of rejoicing, celebrating deliverance from enemies by the relighting of the menorah in the rededicated Temple, which according to the story, stayed lit miraculously for eight days on only one day’s supply of oil.

The Birth of John the Baptist

Based on a conception shortly after the third Sabbath of the month of Sivan, projecting forward an average term of about 10 lunar months (40 weeks), we arrive in the month of Nisan. It would appear that John the Baptist may have been born in the middle of the month, which would coincide with Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It is interesting to note, that even today, it is customary for the Jews to set out a special goblet of wine during the Passover Seder meal, in anticipation of the arrival of Elijah that week, which is based on the prophecy of Malachi:

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD… (Malachi 4:5)

Jesus identified John as the “Elijah” that the Jews had expected:

And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. (Matthew 17:10-13)

The angel that appeared to Zacharias in the temple also indicated that John would be the expected “Elias”:

And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. (Luke 1:17)

So then, the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins on the 15th day of the 1st month, Nisan, and this is a likely date for the birth of John the Baptist, the expected “Elijah”.

The Birth of Jesus Christ

Since Jesus was conceived six months after John the Baptist, and we have established a likely date for John’s birth, we need only move six months farther down the Jewish calendar to arrive at a likely date for the birth of Jesus. From the 15th day of the 1st month, Nisan, we go to the 15th day of the 7th month, Tishri. And what do we find on that date? It is the festival of Tabernacles! The 15th day of Tishri begins the third and last festival of the year to which all the men of Israel were to gather in Jerusalem for Temple services. (Lev 23:34)

Immanuel

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

Immanuel means “God with us”. The Son of God had come to dwell with, or tabernacle on earth with His people.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), occurs five days after the Day of Atonement, and is a festival of rejoicing and celebration of deliverance from slavery in Egypt (Leviticus 23:42-43).

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:7-11)

Why was there no room at the inn? Bethlehem is only about 5 miles from Jerusalem, and all the men of Israel had come to attend the festival of Tabernacles as required by the law of Moses. Every room for miles around Jerusalem would have been already taken by pilgrims, so all that Mary and Joseph could find for shelter was a stable. During Tabernacles, everyone was to live in temporary booths (Sukkot), as a memorial to Israel’s pilgrimage out of Egypt – Lev. 23:42-43. The birth of the Savior, in what amounted to a temporary dwelling rather than a house, signaled the coming deliverance of God’s people from slavery to sin, and their departing for the promised land, which is symbolized by Tabernacles.

Also of note is the fact that the Feast of Tabernacles is an eight day feast (Lev 23:36, 39). Why eight days? It may be because an infant was dedicated to God by performing circumcision on the eighth day after birth:

Luke 2:21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. (Luke 2:21)

So the infant Jesus would have been circumcised on the eighth and last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, a Sabbath day. The Jews today consider this a separate festival from Tabernacles, and they call it Shemini Atzeret.

The Baptism of Jesus

There is another indication in scripture as to when Jesus was born.

Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. (Mark 1:14-15)

Jesus said this after His baptism, upon emerging from 40 days in the wilderness, when He began His preaching ministry. The book of Daniel gives us the “time” or prophesy Jesus was speaking about.

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, … (Daniel 9:25-27)

It is very likely that by understanding this prophecy and date of the decree when it began, the wise men knew exactly when to look for the Christ child. The 70th week of Daniel, a period of 7 literal years, began with “Messiah the Prince”. Messiah means anointed, and Jesus was publicly anointed by the Holy Spirit at His baptism. Daniel 9:26-27 tells us that the Messiah would be “cut off” (crucified) in the “midst of the (70th) week”, which is to say the Messiah would be crucified 3 1/2 years after His baptism.

And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, … (Luke 3:22-23)

Luke hints that at His baptism Jesus became about thirty, so it was likely that His birthday coincided, more or less, with His baptism (A Levitical priest began his service at the age of 30, Numbers 4:3). So His baptism agrees with the time of Tabernacles, because 3 years and 6 months later at Passover, Jesus was crucified exactly and precisely as Daniel had prophesied, in the midst of the 70th week. Knowing the year of His baptism from understanding Daniel, the wise men needed only to subtract 30 from it to know the year the Messiah would
be born.

The Star of Bethlehem

“… in the Old Testament (Daniel 9) the Saviour’s advent was more clearly revealed. The magi learned with joy that His coming was near, and that the whole world was to be filled with a knowledge of the glory of the Lord. The wise men had seen a mysterious light in the heavens upon that night when the glory of God flooded the hills of Bethlehem. As the light faded, a luminous star appeared, and lingered in the sky. It was not a fixed star nor a planet, and the phenomenon excited the keenest interest. That star was a distant company of shining angels, but of this the wise men were ignorant. Yet they were impressed that the star was of special import to them. They consulted priests and philosophers, and searched the scrolls of the ancient records. The prophecy of Balaam had declared,

“There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel.” Num. 24:17

Could this strange star have been sent as a harbinger of the Promised One? The magi had welcomed the light of heaven-sent truth; now it was shed upon them in brighter rays. Through dreams they were instructed to go in search of the newborn Prince.”

– The Desire of Ages, by E. G. White, pg. 60.

Conclusion

So, if you have followed the above reasoning, based on the scriptural evidence, a case can apparently be made that Jesus Christ was born on the 15th day of the month of Tishri, on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, which corresponds to the September – October time frame of our present calendar!

Tabernacles Future Fulfillment

It is also interesting to note that Tabernacles was a feast of ingathering of the Harvest (Exodus 23:16 and 34:22). If Jesus’ first coming was indeed on 15 Tishri, the first day of Tabernacles, then it is quite reasonable to presume that the harvest of this earth, the ingathering of the second coming of Jesus Christ, will also occur on precisely the same date. The unknown factor would be the year that this would happen.

God Has You Covered

Parsing Psalms means consulting the Hebrew for the word order. This one was quite difficult, once again because English translations mess with things, and also because the Hebrew author likes to play with the matrix structures to make a point. I find I have to redo sections and keep shaking it up until it all falls into place. Is this sentence part of the previous stanza or the beginning of a new one? Or does this stanza have one line that gets expanded into its own pattern to make a point?

The good thing is that once it shakes out, there are some beautiful surprises. One of the gems in this Psalm is the sentence concerning the sun and the moon. In English it is simply two lines (a parallelism), but in Hebrew it is chiastic. Wonderful.

PSALM 121

SABBATH – Creation
Song of Ascents. (Creation/Initiation – Ark)
…..I lift up my eyes (Division/Hierarchy – Veil)
……….to the mountains— (Ascension – Altar)
……………From whence comes my help? (Testing)
……….My help comes (Maturity)
…..from the Lord, (Conquest/Oath)
Who made heaven and earth. (Glorification/Shekinah)

The structure of the first stanza seems to focus on the Creation as a Tabernacle. The author might be away from the tent but he is never away from God. He’s just in a bigger tent.

PASSOVER – Division
He will not allow
…..to be moved your foot;
……….He shall not slumber who keeps you
……………Behold, (Lampstand – eyes opened)
……….He shall neither slumber nor sleep
…..Who keeps Israel
The Lord is your keeper;

Once we perceive that this second stanza has a “Passover” theme, the subject matter makes more sense. The mention of the “foot” at the Exodus step is ironic. It is interesting that “slumber” appears at both Altar steps (Adamic protection at the Bronze Altar and Evian resurrection at the Incense Altar). Israel as Prince Adam is at Day 6 and God is the shelter of Booths on Day 7.

FIRSTFRUITS – Ascension
The Lord (Creation)
…..is your shade (Division)
……….and your right hand. (Ascension)

This stanza has only three lines. The song is an “ascent” and the Ascension stanza finishes at Ascension (step 3). The Lord begins the stanza as “Transcendent” source, the shade is the veil of delegation (the Passover night) and the “right hand man” is the Ascended Isaac/Joseph/Daniel/Christ who is worthy to open the Covenant scroll.

PENTECOST - Testing
By day, (Transcendence)
…..the sun (Hierarchy – Bridegroom)
……….Nor shall smite (Ethics)
…..the moon (Oath – Bride)
by night. (Succession)

Now, I did wonder if this was an expanded “Testing” line for the previous stanza, but that would mess up the rest of the Psalm. Notice the movement from day to night, from waking to rest; the chiastic matching of sun and moon as Covenant head and body (Law given as Light, Law received as reflected Light), and the smiting of the Law as the Covenant Ethics, fire from heaven, at the centre. The apostles are not consumed but enlightened.

TRUMPETS – Maturity
The Lord (Transcendence)
…..shall protect [you] (Hierarchy)
……….from all evil; (Ethics)
…..He shall keep (Sanctions/Oath)
your life. (Succession)

This is the “bridal” stanza, the resurrection body. “Protect and keep” harken back to Adam’s ministry. Notice that “life” appears at Succession. This is the same structure that undergirds the book of Revelation – with the dragon and the woman at the very centre. The seven churches are the new Hierarchy and the martyred saints have the oath, the testimony, of Jesus.

ATONEMENT – Conquest
The Lord
…..will guard
……….your going [out]

BOOTHS/INGATHERING – Glorification
……….your coming [in]
…..for this [time],
for evermore.

This one I’m not sure what to do with. It looks like a single stanza with the centre missing (a common practice) but then the author might also be saying that God has the saint covered at Atonement (the Day of Coverings) and also at the Feast of Ingathering. The last six lines would then be the “Jewish” ministry and the “Gentile” guests, the “there and back again” of all Christian mission. The two feasts are linked in that Israel tastes death at Atonement, then serves the wine to the world at Booths. It is Communion (restricted table) and the Love Feast (unrestricted tables), the Head and the Body.

Finally, notice that every stanza concerns “covering.” This is the second of the “Psalms of Ascent” so it may be relevant to the order of this group of songs as a unit.

The prophets were God’s “Covenant sheriffs,” hammering on the door with the broken contract like repo men from hell. They don’t want your car. They want your blood.

It should not surprise us when their words follow the Covenant structure. The first chapter of Joel is, once you know what you are looking at, a beauty and a terror. The prophet uses the Annual Feasts as a theme. It turns out that the Lord’s rebellious people will be the meat on the table.

T R A N C E N D E N C E – SABBATH disturbed
The word of the LORD (Transcendence)
…..that came to Joel ["The Lord is God"] (Delegation)
……….the son of Pethuel ["mouth of God"]. (Covenant Head)
……………Hear this, you elders, (Un-ethic-al Rulers)
……….And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land! (Covenant Body)
…..Has [anything like] this happened in your days, (Day of Coverings)
Or even in the days of your fathers? (Succession)

Notice that the Word-baton is passed from the Lord to Joel to the people in stanza one. Then, we take one step out in the fractal, and it is the same Word being passed from these people to their children, children who will not be passed over, children who will suffer the plagues as the offspring of Pharaoh.

H I E R A R C H Y – PASSOVER removed
Tell your children about it,
…..[Let] your children [tell] their children,
……….And their children another generation.
……………What the chewing locust left,
……………the swarming locust has eaten;
……….What the swarming locust left,
……….the crawling locust has eaten;
…..And what the crawling locust left,
…..the consuming locust has eaten.
[No Rest, no Glorification, no Day 7]

The second half of this stanza is an ironic Covenant body, a glorious swarm united by an unholy spirit that brings de-Creation.

E T H I C S  1 – Firstfruits fail
Awake, you drunkards, and weep; (Creation)
…..And wail, all you drinkers of wine, (Division – Mourning)
……….Because of the new wine, (Ascension – Firstfruits)
……………For it has been cut off
……………from your mouth. (Testing – Wilderness)
……….For a nation has come up against My land,
……….Strong, and without number; (Maturity – Gentile Hosts)
…..His teeth [are] the teeth of a lion, (Conquest – Atonement)
…..And he has the fangs of a fierce lion.
[Again, failure to abide, dwell, in God's rest.]

The next stanza had me confused for a minute. The vine and fig tree looked to be the “Tabernacles” of stanza 3. But stanza four is a de-Creation. The prophets runs the matrix backwards, winds the days of the Creation week back to nihil.

E T H I C S  2 – Pentecost (harvest) fails
(Booths destroyed – no Shekinah fire)
He has laid waste My vine,
And ruined My fig tree;
…..(Day of un-Coverings, un-Atonement)
…..He has stripped it bare and thrown [it] away;
…..Its branches are made white.
……….(un-Trumpets – no bridal fanfare)
……….Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth
……….For the husband of her youth.

(un-Pentecost covers all the feasts but as a single failed harvest):
……………un-Sabbath
……………The grain offering and the drink offering
……………Have been cut off from the house of the LORD;
………………..un-Passover
………………..The priests mourn, who minister to the LORD.
…………………….un-Firstfruits
…………………….The field is wasted, The land mourns;
…………………………un-Pentecost (Spirit taken away)
…………………………For the grain is ruined,
…………………………The new wine is dried up,
…………………………The oil fails.
…………………….un-Trumpets (brothers ashamed)
…………………….Be ashamed, you farmers,
…………………….Wail, you vinedressers,
………………..un-Coverings
………………..For the wheat and the barley;
………………..Because the harvest of the field has perished.

……………un-Booths (no Ingathering)
……………The vine has dried up, (No King)
………………..And the fig tree has withered; (No Covering Veil)
…………………….The pomegranate tree, (No Tabernacle)
…………………………The palm tree also, (No Wilderness Oasis)
…………………….And the apple tree — (No Fruits – Maturity)
………………..All the trees of the field
……………are withered; (No Succession)

How amazing was that!
Ethics 3 is the Incense Altar, the fragrant smoke from the sacrifice, the Elders with bowls of Incense.

E T H I C S 3 – Trumpets warnings to the elders
Surely joy has withered away from the sons of men. (Ark – Genesis)
…..Gird yourselves and lament, you priests; (Veil – Exodus)
……….Wail, you who minister before the altar; (Altar – Leviticus)
……………Come, lie all night in sackcloth,
……………You who minister to my God; (Table – Scarlet cloth)
………………..For the grain offering and the drink offering
………………..Are withheld from the house of your God. (Lampstand – Numbers)

……………(Incense Altar – Deuteronomy – Law repeated)
……………Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; (Genesis)
……………….. Gather the elders, all the inhabitants of the land (Exodus)
…………………………[Into] the house of the LORD your God, (Leviticus)
……………………………..And cry out to the LORD. (Numbers)

Looks like their bodies would be scattered in the wilderness. How subtle.

……….(Mediators – Joshua – Day of Atonement)
……….Alas for the day!
……….For the day of the LORD [is] at hand; (Ironic Light!)
………….It shall come as destruction from the Almighty...
………….(Firmament ripped, rolled up – Judge at the door)

The “Pentecost” of this stanza ends with no rest. Notice that there is a three-level de-forming (the “seed” Bridegroom’s House), then the Pentecostal grain, then a three-level de-filling (the bridal “herds” who need shelter). The first triplet works from the ground up, and the second works from the top down to the ground. Then follow the sacrificial animals, the sheep who “suffer punishment.” This is some sublime poetry.

…………………….(Return to a Landless—cropless—wilderness)
…………………….Is not the food cut off before our eyes,
………………………..Joy and gladness from the house of our God?
…………………………….The seed shrivels under the clods,
…………………………….Storehouses are in shambles;
…………………………….Barns are broken down,
…………………………………For the grain has withered.
…………………………….How the animals groan!
…………………………….The herds of cattle are restless,
…………………………….Because they have no pasture;
………………………..Even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment.

Finally, the chapter ends with Israel on the Land as a sacrifice on the four-cornered altar. The holy fire descends and she is consumed. What is interesting is that the symbols in this cycle point largely to the Temple, the Edenic spring, which would be devoured by fire. It even has the trees at the centre of the garden (as many cycles do).

…………………………O LORD, (Ark)
……………………………..to You I cry out; (Veiled face)
………………………………….For fire has devoured
………………………………….the open pastures, (Altar)
………………………………………And a flame has burned
………………………………………all the trees of the field. (Lampstand)
…………………….……………The beasts of the field
………………………………….also cry out to You, (Incense)
…………………….……….For the water brooks are dried up, (Laver)
………………….     … And fire has devoured the open pastures. (Shekinah)

Notice that the final line is not missing from this stanza. Rest for the Land will be achieved because the incineration will be complete.

Now, we are still within the “Day of Atonement” cycle, (the prophet likes to expand some points into their own cycles!) Trumpets should follow, and we find that chapter two begins: “Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain!” At this stage of the game, I’d say the book of Joel is a single, fractal, de-Creational chiasm.

This might all seem too much for some Bible commentators, but it does work like clockwork. There are those who still dispute this method, and this amazes me. Yes, one needs to be something of a poet, but if I were a Bible scholar who had no poetic sense, I might be tempted to go home and find something more useful to do, like set myself alight.

Does Christ’s exhortation to His disciples in John 15 to remain in Him allow for the possibility of unregenerate New Covenant members?

Doug Wilson writes:

“For many Christians, [John 15:1-6] is a ‘problem passage.’ We want Christ to use a different figure. We want Him to be the Marble Box, with us as the individual marbles. When we are saved, we are put into the Marble Box, and we had better watch it, or we might find ourselves taken out of the Marble Box, losing our salvation. Or, if we know that salvation is not a possession of ours, which we could lose, we want the Marble Box to have a great big lock on it, and to be full of elect, non-loseable marbles” (To a Thousand Generations, p. 84).

We agree that the truly elect cannot be lost. We also agree that not all of the Old Covenant people were truly elect. But can we import this “not all Israel are Israel” into the New Covenant order?

Isn’t the whole point of Spirit over Law the fact that the Law is being fulfilled in us? Where the Law was weak, the Law is now strong by the Spirit because the Spirit can take the Law beyond the letter, beyond the “blueprint” requirements and actually build a lasting house by the power of God. All Israel is now truly all Israel. The border is no longer flesh on Land but the curtains of the Holy Tent.

Sure, we see baptized Christians fall away. We see denominations fall away. But Pastor Wilson’s purpose in discussing this passage is to create a handy-dandy divide between the visible, historical church and the eschatological church so he can wheel prams into the gap.

As I’ve said before, the Old Covenant process was from Law to Repentance. Yes, many believed, but as a “church body” it was a period of childhood. The New Covenant process is from Repentance to Resurrection. There’s no need for perambulators for the upright.

Jesus’ analogies very often slice through our neat doctrinal systems, but we know that the most crucial interpretive factor is not timeless truth, nor culture, but Covenant. What would come to mind as a first century Jew when Jesus says He is the true vine? The Feast of Tabernacles. Throughout the Old Testament, I have found that the mention of “vine” coincides with the final step of the Feast/Creation/Dominion matrix. It’s almost always a dead giveaway, particularly in Isaiah. It’s the Jew/Gentile rest entered into after the “Joshua” Conquest at Atonement.

Firstly, in context, if Jesus is the true vine, who is the false vine? The system of Herodian worship presiding over the Covenant people, or “the kings of the earth” as many English translations unfortunately render it. Only Jesus could bring true peace, and He would do it by opening the Veil, His own flesh, ripped in two like the animals cut by Abraham, reunited by fire.

Secondly, what time of year is it? As mentioned, it is Booths, also known as Ingathering. The word “abide” or “remain” is fairly consistently used to refer to Booths in biblical literary structure (see the cycles in Acts, for instance). It is God’s people gathered into God’s house, and in Acts it is usually Gentile houses!

Pentecost brings wheat, but olives and grapes take longer to mature. In Israel’s “big history,” Pentecost was the time of the Davidic Kings, the “mighty men,” whose failures eventually brought the Trumpets of the prophets. The Atonement period was from Joshua the High Priest to Jeshua the High Priest, type to reality. Now Israel was ready to throw the biggest Jew-Gentile God-fest—Tabernacles—in history, and it would cost her both her High Priests, the true One and the false one, and tear her prostituted Veil in two. It would also reclothe her in something better.

While the True Tabernacle, at its completion, would be filled with Shekinah, the false Herodian Temple would be filled with seven demons, seven eyes of darkness, the same false Lampstand encountered by Adam in Eden. “So shall it be with this generation.”

So, Jesus’ warning here is tied to Old Covenant Israel. Can we apply it today? Yes, certainly. We can apply all Scriptures to ourselves with Covenantal and historical qualification.

But, tying Jesus’ words to Paul’s, grapes and olives, it seems the “branch” period was limited to the apostolic “firstfruits” church. The “wild olive” branches were Noahic believers, carried by the Dove-Spirit, a fertile, holy remnant from the Old Creation. Those branches founded the New Order, an apostolic structure which would bear the weight of all future hybrid fruit. And God loves godly hybrid marriages. Not only is the food interesting, but the children are better looking. [1]

This would mean that the period of ingrafting was completed in AD70. It means that Jesus’ and Paul’s references to olive tree and vine were not implying a permanent harvest, for there is no such thing. Harvests are never permanent. It means that Jewish branches did not exist after AD70, because the Jew/Gentile divide was gone. It means that the only thing that grows out of the tree now is fruit. AD70 completed the framework and the “millennium” is glorifying it, “filling it up.” [2]

So, for the Husbandman, the Great Tribulation was the Great Purge. And for Pastor Wilson, the pram parking space was a figment. Even if the Firstfruits Church had made room for a baptism that deliberately included the unregenerate, (and this is an extremely tenuous assertion) the post AD70 church most definitely cannot. The ingrafting refers to the establishment of a New Covenant elder-priesthood, and they are now ruling in heaven on thrones, the redeemed of the First Resurrection.

This interpretation is simply an assertion, of course, but it does take into account the principle of “first audience.” And it means that the only malignant growths the church now deals with are fruits hanging over the wall, picked in bad judgment from the Enemy’s tree (Bunyan). As the “heavenly country,” the Body of Christ is to vomit them out (Leviticus 18: 25, 28; 20:22; Revelation 3:16). [3]
__________________________________
[1] See Forbidden Mixtures.
[2] See Communion of Saints.
[3] See Spat Out at Jesus’ Table.

The debate over infant baptism at Doug Wilson’s blog continues. Pastor Wilson writes:

“The Gentiles were threatened with removal from the same tree the unbelieving Jews had been in. But if this were the tree of salvation, then the elect can lose their salvation — which cannot be defended biblically. And if this is the tree of the covenant, then the point stands” (To a Thousand Generations, p. 36)

This looks logical enough, but trees are a process of maturity, from seed to fruit. So is righteousness, and so is sin.

Israel was a trunk, a single genealogy stuck, stationary, in one plot of Land. Her history follows the feasts (see Bible Matrix, p. 189-191). In this structure, the coming of Christ brought the final harvest, Booths.

After Jesus’ Day of Atonement (tasting the cup for potential poison, for every man) there was wine for every man, both Jew and Gentile. The Jew-Gentile God-fest came after this High Priestly Day. All nations could now be Booths, as predicted by Zechariah.

During the Restoration era, the tree trunk sprouted branches, and when the Christ came He was looking for fruit. By and large, all He found was an Adam hiding in leaves.

What does a good farmer do? He cuts off the fruitless branches and, in this case, grafts in some stronger, wild ones, just as Rahab and Ruth were grafted in to bring new life to a weakly, inbred, barren tree.

Why was the tree weak? Not because of obedience, but because of disobedience. The Jews became elitist instead of being a house of prayer. They should have been made strong as the nations came to them for Atonement and shelter (Booths). But they came to rely on the empire instead of God for their strength.

In Romans, Paul refers to the Feast of Booths. The fruitless were cut off. Ingrafting requires two cuts: one of the tree (Christ) and one of the new branch. This second cutting was repentance.

Under the Old Covenant, males could be grafted in by circumcision, by adherence to the Law. But it was not about branches. Worship was fleshly and central. It was all about the trunk, about Israel connected to the Land. Males became part of that tree trunk that was always destined to be cut for the sake of the nations.

But, as with a tree, the Covenant grew up, from earthly country to heavenly country. Adam was a singular trunk. Eve is multiplied branches (and I reckon we can also see this in Old Covenant “singular,” stationary scrolls with wooden rollers and New Covenant, portable codices with many “leaves.”) Repentance and baptism grafts us in as branches.

Circumcision had been able to graft Gentiles in as part of the “fleshly” trunk. That was no longer possible because the Covenant had changed. Even when Jews were grafted back in, they had to be repentant. This, too, is no longer possible as there are, Covenantally, no more Jews (being a Jew was a priestly office which was decommissioned in AD70.) If Gentiles (and, logically, there are no more Gentiles either) were cut off because of unbelief, such a cutting came after harvest time. They were cut off because of lack of fruit. We see Jesus, the gardener, pruning the Lamp-trees in Revelation 2-3, warning the pastors that those baby sins would grow to resemble the eighth church He was about to judge, Old Covenant Israel. Paul’s context here is entirely first century. We can apply it now, through church discipline. We see an application of it in the Reformation, another harvest time.

So, under the Old Covenant, this tree was a promise of shelter and fruit. The stump was good, but as it turned out, not all the branches were. The New Covenant is not a trunk, it is a shelter, a Booth.

Covenant membership of infants is trunk stuff. Not only was it Adamic (males) but trunk stuff is over. We are into branch stuff, Eve, the history of a mature Covenant people post-Wedding Supper.

We have no business baptizing babies because they have not repented, they show no fruits of repentance, and they provide no shelter. The requirement for a New Covenant grafting in is repentance and faith. History has moved on, as trees tend to do. Salvation by faith has been constant, but the Old Covenant genealogical tree trunk has become a tree of salvation. The change in the requirements for membership, and in the Covenant sign, reflect this. Jesus can now have a branch in every neighborhood.

Are our babies left out in the cold? No. They shelter under the Covenant tree, “sanctified,” set apart, until they can be grafted in.

_________________________________
Art by Erica Maule

Related posts on the Feast of Booths:
A Place Called Clouds
Time to Party – 1, 2 and 3
Seven Thousand Who Have Not Bowed to Baal – 2

“…how we feast and celebrate is a reflection of our beliefs concerning the salvation of the world.”

Sermon Notes on Deuteronomy 14:22-29 – Part 3
Guest post by Michael Shover

Gathering Clouds

There is another aspect to the Feast of Booths that we need to take into consideration. The sacrifices. During the Feast of Booths, 70 bulls were sacrificed. 13 on the first day, 12 on the second, 11 on the third, 10 on the fourth, 9 on the fifth, 8 on the sixth, 7 on the seventh which equals 70. Then 1 on the last day. Why 70? What is the significance of the number 70? The 70 bulls represented the 70 nations of the world as outlined in Gen. 10. The 1 bull that was sacrificed on the eighth day represented Israel. The 70 bull sacrifices represented the ingathering and atonement for the 70 nations of the world. Salvation was accomplished by Israel for all the nations.

Correspondingly to the 70 nations of  the world, Israel had 70 elders. God had organized Israel as a small scale model of the world. So Israel then was the covenant representative of the nations. When they brought 70 bulls, they were showing the ingathering of the 70 nations flocking to Jerusalem. The feast was an acted out prophecy of the conversion of all the nations of the world to the true faith. Interestingly enough, Zechariah the prophet, when he describes the eschatological blessing that would come to all the nations of the earth, in which all of life would be sanctified, as can be seen by the horses bells having “Holy to the LORD” written on them, he says that all of the nations would come up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Booths.

So the Feast of Booths was an acted out prophecy of the conversion and salvation of the whole world. 70 Bulls were sacrificed for the 70 nations. And Israel would dwell in leafy booths symbolizing a return to the Garden of Eden, and representing the glory cloud covering of God  over Israel as He brought them out of Egypt. They were to then feast in a celebration of the past redemption that God had wrought for them out of Egypt, and they were to celebrate the future salvation of the world that God would accomplish through Israel.

In other words, as I said in the beginning of this sermon, how we feast and celebrate is a reflection of our beliefs concerning the salvation of the world. When we take celebration more seriously, more Biblically, we will see our heart for evangelism grow, and we will see the nations flock to Christ and to the Church. Our feasting before the Lord is a reflection of our belief in the promise of God to save the whole world.

The Lord’s Supper is supposed to be exactly where this is lived out. All the feasts of Israel are fulfilled in the Lord’s Supper. Just like Israel, we look back to the redemption that God wrought for us in our “exodus” in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. And like Israel, in the Lord’s Supper, we look forward to the future salvation of the world. The Lord’s Supper is not just a memorial of what Christ had done for us, but it is an acted out prophecy of what the Lord will do because of the death and resurrection of Christ for the salvation and redemption of the whole world. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb in Revelation is an encapsulation and fulfillment of what all the feasts of Israel, especially the Feast of Booths were. Because of Christ’s Death and Resurrection, He is the King of the whole world. All Nations will be baptized into the Triune name, and all nations will be discipled and taught to obey all that Christ has commanded.

In John 7 Jesus is at the Feast of Booths and He gives his divine interpretation of the feast and he says, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” When the Spirit came after Christ ascended to heaven, that long awaited promise became a reality. For now salvation does not just belong to one nation, but the people of God are from every nation on earth. The fact the we are here today worshipping, all of us Gentiles, and a Jew or two, is proof that the prophecy of the Feast of Booths has been and is being fulfilled.

And so, if God saw fit to instruct Israel to bring their tithe once a year for the purpose of celebrating a future return to the Garden of Eden and the salvation of the whole world, how much more should we be willing to give every Lord’s Day for the sake of celebrating the coming of the Messiah who has accomplished that which the Feast of Booths looked forward to? The tithe then for us should correspondingly be for 3 major things. 1.) For the pastor’s salary. 2.) For widows, orphans, and strangers. And 3. For Feasting.

Israel was supposed to bring along their Levites, and they got food and flocks from this feast. We no longer live in an agricultural society for the most part. We get paid every week, or every 2 weeks. So we take up a collection every week. And from that collection the pastor receives his weekly pay. Concerning the widow, the orphan and the stranger, this is essentially our local missionary work. Israel was supposed to bring in those less fortunate and they were to experience the blessings of the Lord. The stranger was a non-Israelite living in the land. He was not a member of the covenant. But he was not to be rejected. Therefore, we ought to include and invite unbelievers to our feasts. Now they are not to celebrate the Lord’s Supper proper, the taking of the Bread and the wine, for that special ceremony is reserved for God’s covenant people. But after service there should be great feasting and celebration in which non-Christians are invited to experience the blessings of God.

The Lord Jesus understood the importance of this and lived this out in his earthly life and ministry. He says of Himself that people looked at him and said, “Look, a drunkard and a glutton, and a friend of tax collectors and sinners. And yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.” Jesus knew that people looked at him wrongly and got the wrong idea of what he was doing, just as I am sure some of you might be concerned about what others would think of us if we started celebrating every week with feasting, great food and wine and beer. Some people don’t think it would be good for the world to perceive us in such a way.

But in fact, it was the religious hypocrites who condemned Jesus for such behavior, not the world. If we want to be identified with Jesus and not with Pharisaical Christians, then it might do us well to begin celebrating the salvation that our Lord has accomplished on the cross the manner in which God commands us to. Spending our tithe money for whatever our heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household. Also you shall not neglect the Pastor, or the stranger, the orphan and the widow who are in our town, for they shall come and eat and be satisfied. Why? Verse 29 of Deuteronomy 14 says,  “in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.”

Brethren, if we want our Church blessed, if want our families blessed and all the works of our hands blessed in all that we do, then God tells us that we are supposed to do this, and we are not to be ashamed of this, or scared to do it. Feasting with great food and great wine and great beer, feasting for whatever our soul desires, with rejoicing not only brings the blessing of God upon us, but it identifies us as Christians, since one would think that being like Jesus might constitute what it means to be Christian, and it shows of what we truly think of Christ’s redemption.

I will end this sermon the same way I began it. God tells us that celebration is central to pleasing Him. It is central to pleasing Him because feasting is one of the chief ways in which God chooses to blesses His people, and to our utter disbelief, celebratory feasting is at the heart of evangelism. In other words, how we feast and celebrate is a reflection of our beliefs concerning the salvation of the world. When we take celebration more seriously, more Biblically, we will see our heart for evangelism grow, and we will see the nations flock to Christ and to the Church. Our feasting before the Lord is a reflection of our belief in the promise of God to save the whole world.

Do we believe Him? Our celebrations and feasts will answer that for us. Amen.

___________________________________
Related posts: Eat Local and Die, On The Outside Looking In, Tavernacles.

“…how we feast and celebrate is a reflection of our beliefs concerning the salvation of the world.”

Sermon Notes on Deuteronomy 14:22-29 – Part 2
Guest post by Michael Shover

The Garden City

According to Leviticus 23 the Feast of Booths, or The Feast as it was later called, was an eight day celebration.

It says in Lev. 23, “Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the growth of beautiful trees – palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook – and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God for seven days.  . . . You shall dwell in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall dwell in booths.”

This command was later demonstrated in Nehemiah 8:15, which says, “Go out to the hills and bring olive branches, and oil-tree branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.” So, essentially what they were supposed to do was to build tree houses. Not like tree houses we have today. Instead of going up into the tree and building the house, they brought the tree down to the ground and built little shelters out of the branches. This seems like a strange thing to do, but God commanded them to do it. The reason why God commands them to do this was “So that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt” (Lev. 23:43).

What is odd about this rationale is the Israelites did not live in leafy booths when they came out of Egypt. In fact, as one person commented: “First, sukkot (or leafy booths) are generally not found in the desert. Leaves, branches, reeds, foliage, wood, and hay are not such materials one would find in the desert wasteland? So, where would they have found enough foliage to make booths for 600,000 men and their families in the middle of the desert?”

Secondly, outside of this lone verse in Leviticus, the Bible never claims that the Israelites stayed in booths. There are several descriptions of the camp of the Israelites in the desert, but not one pictures the tribes dwelling in sukkot. Tents are occasionally mentioned, but never booths. Why does Leviticus 23:43 suddenly assume that the Israelites dwelled in sukkot, while the books of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy know nothing about it.

One answer to this problem begins with noticing that right after leaving Egypt, the Israelites dwelt at a place called Sukkoth. Sukkoth was, in fact, the first place the people went after leaving Egypt, which is where the Feast of Booths finds its origins. But they did not dwell in booths while they were in Sukkoth. So why does God say they did?

One theologian suggests that “Sukkoth” might not be the name of the place Sukkoth, but rather Sukkoth was a description of the environment in which the people dwelt. And that environment was an environment of clouds.

Now bear with me. There is a whole lot of imagery involved here that help us understand this. I am not going to go into all of this in great detail, but there is going to be some detail. I want you to think with me. I am just going to give you the quick version of it.

The most important meaning of the word sukkah, from which we get Sukkot, means “covering.” There are passages in the Bible that use the root of this word to describe coverings. For example, the veils of the tabernacle cover the Ark (Ex. 40:3, 21). God’s wings cover His people (Ps. 91:4), and the wings of the cherubim cover the Ark (Ex. 25:20; 37:9, 1 Kings 8:7; 1 Chron. 28:18). And what is important for us is that trees are said to cover and shade from the heat (Job 40:22). Jonah is even said to have built himself a booth after he left Ninevah to see if God was going to destroy it or not.
Putting all this together, we find that a sukkah or booth is a covering or a shade. It is analogous to the shade of a tree, and thus is made of leafy materials. It is also analogous to the covering and shade of God’s Glory Cloud, and to the symbol of that Cloud, the tabernacle, which is also why it is called the Feast of Tabernacles.

With this understanding, we can see how the Feast of Booths memorializes the time in the wilderness. During that time, Israel dwelt in the covering of God’s Cloud. They were shaded by His Cloud. We get this understanding from Psalm 105:39 which says, “He spread a Cloud for a covering, and fire to illumine by night.” The imagery presented to us here shows God’s Cloud over the people forms a Great Booth, within which they lived. That Cloud over them is like the canopy of a leafy tree, and thus the reproduction of such a leafy canopy during the Feast of Booths is a symbol of God’s Cloud.

Now in Exodus 12:37 – 13:20 after the Israelites came out of Egypt and after they left Sukkoth, not before, we see that the Pillar of Cloud appears. Exo. 13:20 says, “Then they set out from Sukkoth and camped in Etham on the edge of the wilderness. And Yahweh was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might go by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.”

So on the one hand there is this imagery of God’s people being redeemed out of Egypt to dwell in the cloudy booth of God’s presence and protective covering. The people were to build for themselves booths to remember God’s salvation and protective covering presence that was with them when they came out of Egypt.

But living in leafy booths for eight days, booths which were made up of boughs of fruit trees, and olive oil trees, and palm tree leaves was also meant to recall life in the Garden of Eden. It was a return to Paradise. Just as the Tabernacle and the Temple was designed with engravings of pomegranates, and palm trees, and gourds, and flowers, so too, these little tabernacles, in which God’s people were to feast in the presence of the Lord, were designed to be little reflections of life in the Garden.

Think about it. In the Garden, Adam didn’t have to work for his food, it was all right there for him to pluck off the trees. So too, in the Feast of Booths, the Israelites had at their disposal all the food they could eat and all the drink they wanted to drink. They didn’t have to work for it during that week. The feast symbolized paradise for a week, feasting in the Edenic Clouds of God’s protective covering and salvation.

Now the Bible is full of imagery and allusions about returning to the Garden of Eden. But one of the most interesting things about the Garden is that the Bible begins in the Garden and it ends in a Garden. But the garden in Revelation is in a city, New Jerusalem. So New Jerusalem is a Garden City.

Now tell me, if you have everyone in all of Israel going to the city of Jerusalem all setting up leafy booths throughout the whole city, what does it look like? A Garden City perhaps?  This Feast was an acted out prophecy of the future glory of God’s people and the salvation of the world in the new Creation.

“…how we feast and celebrate is a reflection of our beliefs concerning the salvation of the world.”

Sermon Notes on Deuteronomy 14:22-29 – Part 1
Guest post by Michael Shover

Feasting, the Heart of Evangelism

It has been one of the most unfortunate developments in the history of the Church that we have gotten away from and have forgotten the Biblical mandate to feast before the Lord.  We so often lead lives that are shallow in piety and so consuming in busyness that we become forgetful, nay even neglectful of the fact that our God commands such things as, “And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or strong drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.”

For some reason that is foreign to our modern ears and sensibilities, God tells us that celebration is central to pleasing Him. It is central to pleasing Him because feasting is one of the chief ways in which God chooses to blesses His people, and to our utter disbelief, celebratory feasting is at the heart of evangelism. In other words, how we feast and celebrate is a reflection of our beliefs concerning the salvation of the world.

When we take celebration more seriously, more Biblically, we will see our heart for evangelism grow, and we will see the nations flock to Christ and to the Church. Our feasting before the Lord is a reflection of our belief in the promise of God to save the whole world. Do we believe Him? Our celebrations and feasts will answer that for us.

Look with me to Deuteronomy 14:22-29.

22 “You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year.

23 “You shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.

24 “If the distance is so great for you that you are not able to bring the tithe, since the place where the LORD your God chooses to set His name is too far away from you when the LORD your God blesses you,
25then you shall exchange it for money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses.

26 “You may spend the money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household.

27 “Also you shall not neglect the Levite who is in your town, for he has no portion or inheritance among you.

28 “At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall deposit it in your town.

29 “The Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

Now this passage is somewhat straight forward. God commands the Israelites to tithe. In fact, he is emphatic about it, rendering the command literally as “The tithe you shall tithe.” Now Israel lived in an agrarian society so they were expected to tithe from their fields, from their flocks, from the first born of their herds, from their grain, wine and oil. But in an agrarian society some of the produce of the field doesn’t come in until the harvest, and some of the other produce came in earlier in the summer. So they were to store up a tenth of their produce until the time came to present the tithes before the Lord. God told the Israelites that they were to take all their tithes to the place where God would choose to make His name dwell. Eventually this was Jerusalem. But this command in Deuteronomy was given before the Israelites were about to enter into the land, so there was no central sanctuary as of yet. Eventually there would be.

And God tells them that if it is too far of a distance for them to travel to Jerusalem with their tithes, because the LORD their God had blessed them and their tithe was too much to carry, then they were to convert the tithe into money, and then carry the money up to Jerusalem. Once they got there, they could then use the money to buy whatever their soul desired;  for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, (which is beer) or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household.

Now some of the tithe was given for sacrifices, but most of it was to be eaten by the people. It was understood to be a religious celebration to bring the tithes of the land to the Lord and to eat it before Him there. The local Levite was supposed to be included in the feast as well, since he had no inheritance. He had no land of his own, no crops, no flocks, nothing to contribute of his own. He lived only off of what he was given, and so he was to be included.  The Levite was essentially your local pastor. So God commands his people to feed their pastor, and celebrate  and rejoice with him.

Now this whole celebration was to take place every year at the Feast of Booths, also known as Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Ingathering, today you might know it as Sukkot, which is in the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar (which corresponds to around the harvest time here, late September – October). But every three years, that is every third and sixth year of the seven year sabbatical cycle, the tithe that was left over after the celebration at the Feast of Booths, was taken to the elders of the towns and they were to distribute it to the sojourner, or the resident alien, the orphan, and the widows, and also the Levites.

And God promised that when His people did this He would bless them. In fact, according to Deut. 26 after this was done on the third year, the Israelites were to tell God to bless them on the basis of His promise to the patriarchs, and because of their obedience to the command to share their tithe with the stranger and the fatherless and the widow. This might seem strange to us, but God loves to be reminded by His people of His promises that He makes, so that he can keep His promises to His people and thus glorify Himself in their presence and give joy to His people. God doesn’t need to be reminded, but He commands us to remind Him, so that in turn we can be reminded of God’s promises.

So this is all pretty straight forward stuff. But where in all this do I get the assertion that I made in my introduction, “that how we feast and celebrate is a reflection of our beliefs concerning the salvation of the world”? It comes from the Feast of Booths when the tithe was to be presented before God and eaten in His presence in a religious celebration. The Feast of Booths is the key to understanding this passage. Once we understand what the Feast of Booths was all about, we will understand better my assertion that, “How we feast and celebrate is a reflection of our beliefs concerning the salvation of the world.”

[To be continued]

________________________________________
For comments on the Feast of Tabernacles, see A Place Called Clouds.