Past Focus
The centerpiece of the Feast in the past has been….
How great it is going to be during the millennium
Lion and lamb
beautiful settings
rain in due season; bountiful crops
wild animals are no longer an issue
healings are taking place
a revitalized earth
We go to the Feast for:
great deal of excitement and the “highlight” of the year for us
We talk about how great a time it will be
We think of how great it would be to
What will we (the firstfruits) be doing during this time in the future
We are resurrected before the 1,000 years
1 Corinthians 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—
1 Corinthians 15:52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1 Corinthians 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1 Corinthians 15:54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY.”
What state will we be in:
John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
John 3:2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
John 3:4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 3:7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.“
We will be spiritual and eternal. The spirit realm was first, it preceded the physical which is a partial and temporary facsimile of the spirit world; God inhabits eternity; He is the master of space and time; life and death –
This is what we will be like! The Feast of Trumpets represents this time and change; this part of the plan.
So the physical will have little or no bearing on us.
Of course we will be there as rulers and teachers
Isaiah 30:20 Yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, But your eyes shall see your teachers.
Isaiah 30:21 Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left. [Deuteronomy 5:32; Joshusa 1:7, Joshua 23:6; 2 Kings 22:2; Proverbs 4:27]
Deuteronomy 5:32 “Therefore you shall be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
Deuteronomy 5:33 You shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.
Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
Revelation 5:10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.”
We will be doing all of this a member of the God Family – as God-beings.
So are we getting excited for the right reason?
But the point is here that all we tend to look forward to is celebrating the physical wonders of the Millennium which will not be the most pertinent thing to those that are spirit beings.
So let’s ask the question, who is the Feast of Tabernacles really for?
Don’t get me wrong, We continue to observe it/show the day until He comes. This is true for the whole plan of salvation for mankind, from Passover through the Feast of Tabernacles and Eighth day.
Do you understand what I am getting at and trying to say here?
But most of the things that we talk about and represent during the Feast of Tabernacles will not be for us BUT RATHER it will be for those that come through the tribulation and then eventually those in the Great White Throne Judgment.
It is a time when everyone else will then get their turn to be a part of the family of God
1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
1 Corinthians 15:23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.
1 Corinthians 15:24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.
This is the wonderful aspect of the plan of God. It shows the fairness and mercy of God upon everyone “each on in his own order”.
Romans 9:15 For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOMEVER I WILL HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOMEVER I WILL HAVE COMPASSION.”
Cited from: Exodus 33:19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”
Now it will be the next in line’s turn for salvation
I want to focus on this aspect a little more today, because it is seldom done justice and here is why….
Coming out of the World
Previously we have been told that we are to come out of the world, don’t be a part of the world, don’t walk in the world.
John 15:19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
2 Corinthians 6:16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM. I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.”
2 Corinthians 6:17 Therefore “COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM AND BE SEPARATE, SAYS THE LORD. DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN, AND I WILL RECEIVE YOU.”
2 Corinthians 6:18 “I WILL BE A FATHER TO YOU, AND YOU SHALL BE MY SONS AND DAUGHTERS, SAYS THE LORD ALMIGHTY.”
This is of course true! We are not to go back to what God called us out of:
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
1 John 2:17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
There is a great importance placed on this fact that sometimes we throw the baby out with the bath water.
This is what we are not to go back to – the WAYS of the world and what it has to offer
We cannot bring sin from the world into our now Godly way of life
If there is something between us and our brother (a sin) God says fix that first, in other words remove it:
Matthew 5:23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,
Matthew 5:24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
We are to emulate God in this:
Isaiah 59:1 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear.
Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.
We are to follow the same example
Leviticus 16 is an example of how the High Priest came before God – sinless
So here is my point:
Because of this we sometimes have the tendency to not have the right perspective when viewing those that God is not calling at this point in time.
Three points on how to better relate to the world around us
1. We are to hate the sin and not the sinner
John 8:1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
John 8:2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.
John 8:3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst,
John 8:4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.
John 8:5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”
John 8:6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
John 8:7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”
John 8:8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
John 8:9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
John 8:10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
John 8:11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.“
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Time: Hebrews 1:9 YOU HAVE LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS; THEREFORE GOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS MORE THAN YOUR COMPANIONS.”
2. Sigh and Cry for the Abominations
The vision of the previous chapter continues.
A remnant of the Israelites will be spared.
Clarify: Israel and Judah are to be punished (verse 9).
the kingdom of Israel had fallen more than a century before Ezekiel wrote, this prophecy
Ezekiel 9:1 Then He called out in my hearing with a loud voice, saying, “Let those who have charge over the city draw near, each with a deadly weapon in his hand.”
Ezekiel 9:2 And suddenly six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his battle-ax in his hand. One man among them was clothed with linen and had a writer’s inkhorn at his side. They went in and stood beside the bronze altar.
angelic beings who watch over these people of Israel (which includes Judah) described here as the people of Jerusalem
each armed and standing beside the bronze altar of sacrifice (this does not bode well for the people)
man in linen [symbolizing righteousness] with an inkwell (cup of ink)
Ezekiel 9:3 Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn at his side;
mercy seat and now makes judgments
Ezekiel 9:4 and the LORD said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.”
sigh = groan elsewhere and figures prominently in Lamentations if that gives you a feel for the word.
Romans 8:23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
Are we to walk around in a dour state? NO, but we are to be circumspect about the sins in the world around us and to not be a part of them and to earnestly desire for something better for us AND for them!
Do we desperately want something else for them? Or do we knowingly wait for them to get what they deserve?
Example of Moses Interceding for Israel
Deuteronomy 9:13 “Furthermore the LORD spoke to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed they are a stiff-necked people.
Deuteronomy 9:14 Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’
Deuteronomy 9:15 “So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire; and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.
Deuteronomy 9:16 And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the LORD your God—had made for yourselves a molded calf! You had turned aside quickly from the way which the LORD had commanded you.
Deuteronomy 9:17 Then I took the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes.
Deuteronomy 9:18 And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you committed in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.
Deuteronomy 9:19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the LORD was angry with you, to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me at that time also.
Did they deserve to be killed? Yes, God was going to do it so it was just.
Moses sighed and cried for what these carnal people had done.
He even fasted 40 days and nights for them
Would we have done the same thing?
Are we doing the same thing?
In the end-time, which this pictures, God will spare those that have this mark on their forehead.
Revelation 7:3 saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”
Revelation 9:3 Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Revelation 9:4 They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
Ezekiel 9:9 Then He said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of bloodshed, and the city full of perversity; for they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see!’
We don’t do this to be saved, but because we do it we are saved.
Matter of attitude
Jeremiah exemplified this:
Jeremiah is sometimes called the “weeping prophet” This was not a put down, but one of his strong suits as God sees it
Jeremiah 9:1 Oh, that my head were waters, And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people!
Jeremiah 13:17 But if you will not hear it, My soul will weep in secret for your pride; My eyes will weep bitterly And run down with tears, Because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.
And of course the book of Lamentations
Why sigh and cry – because of the consequences of the sin and where it leads
wrong path
pain and suffering
death
What are we to be sighing and crying for?
Psalms 119:136 Rivers of water run down from my eyes, Because men do not keep Your law.
Amos 6:3 Woe to you who put far off the day of doom, Who cause the seat of violence to come near;
Amos 6:4 Who lie on beds of ivory, Stretch out on your couches, Eat lambs from the flock And calves from the midst of the stall;
Amos 6:5 Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments, And invent for yourselves musical instruments like David;
Amos 6:6 Who drink wine from bowls, And anoint yourselves with the best ointments, But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
Amos 6:7 Therefore they shall now go captive as the first of the captives, And those who recline at banquets shall be removed.
This is one of the reasons that we pray:
Matthew 6:10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
3. We were once as they are now
We were once in their state….
Romans 5:5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
We have the Love of God because of the Holy Spirit
Romans 5:6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Jesus Christ died for them too – He died everyone
feeble, impotent, powerless, without strength, weak; it was not within our capability to stand [:2] before Jesus Christ came and accomplished what He did and also not before God began subsequently working in our lives
Romans 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
We can relate to this; Most would not be willing to do this, but it is exactly what Christ did.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Think of what this means and now the example that we have to follow and what we must do?
But by the mercy, grace and compassion of God go I
Allegedly from a mid-sixteenth-century statement by John Bradford, “There but for the grace of God, goes John Bradford”, in reference to a group of prisoners being led to execution.
1 Corinthians 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Conclusion
What should our perspective be of those in the world?
Some we know right now
1 in 30 will survive (Ezekiel 5)
Who will you see
We are to be a witness to them now
It will yield fruit
conversion during great tribulation of Israel and Gentiles
What if they remember you?
Think about them this upcoming year