InterimDays

This Sabbath falls within the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, also called the Feast of Ingathering. Because of this, this Sabbath reading is titled Chol Ha-Mo'ed Sukkot, or the "Intermediate days of Tabernacles". Within these intermediate days during Tabernacles, we have the opportunity to consider the great meaning of this feast. There are several scripture readings that are assigned to the seven days of the Feast including Ex. 23, Ex. 33-34, Ecclesiastes Chapters 1 and 12, and 1 Kings 8. For additional thoughts on the Feast of Tabernacles, I re-posted a previous blog entry on the right side of this page titled "Culmination", if you would also like to read it. As I was reading the assigned Sabbath selections for this feast, I found it interesting to see how an understanding or vision of the Feast of Tabernacles was gradually revealed in the scriptures. Even as the understanding of Tabernacles grew from a seemingly simple beginning, no one, aside from the prophets, could have imagined the tremendous depth of meaning that the LORD embedded in this feast. At the start, the feast was given by the LORD through Moses as an occasion to celebrate the harvest, particularly the grape harvest: "...the Feast of Ingathering (asip - "harvest; gather, assemble, collect, to be taken away") at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field." (Ex. 23:16). For Christians, the thought of harvest and ingathering has a spiritual meaning as a harvest of souls, and a gathering up of believers. The Feast of Tabernacles was a feast that required the bringing of offerings to the LORD, and rejoicing in the provision He has given in the fields. Continuing in the Sabbath reading portion, we see another aspect of the Feast of Tabernacles revealed as Solomon brought the ark of the covenant up to be placed in the new temple which he had built. He also dedicated the new temple with massive amounts of sacrifices. This was done "at the feast in the month of Ethanim (meaning perpetual, flowing, enduring), which is the seventh month (1 Kings 8:2). Solomon offered thanks to the LORD that he had been given the task as the son of David to complete this new house of the LORD (v. 18-19). After the priests placed the ark of the covenant in the Most Holy Place in the new temple, "...the cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD." (v. 10-11). Solomon spoke of this overwhelming event by saying to the LORD, "I have surely built You an exalted house, and a place for You to dwell in forever."(1 Kings 8:13, see also 2 Sam. 7:12-14, Ps. 132:14). The celebration went on for seven days, and then an additional seven days more when "..the people...went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the good that the LORD had done for His servant, David, and for Israel His people." (1 Kings 8:65-66). From the details given here, I believe that the temple of Solomon was dedicated on the Feast of Tabernacles. This joyous feast takes place in the seventh month, and lasts for seven days. As God's glory filled the temple, perhaps Solomon thought that the completion of this great temple fulfilled the Feast of Tabernacles. Solomon must have considered the temple that he built for the presence and worship of the LORD to be the high point of his reign as king of Israel. The temple was magnificent and opulent by all of the accounts in scripture, with an interior covered with gold, and built with the finest and most beautiful materials that could be found. Only the most expert craftsmen were allowed to work on the building and furnishings of this temple. Some since that time have included Solomon's temple on the list of the wonders of the ancient world. From his words, it seems that Solomon felt that this temple would stand forever. All of Israel probably assumed the same thing. It is one of the reasons why they thought that the LORD would never allow Jerusalem to be captured by an enemy - because His House was there. However, this temple would not stand forever. A few hundred years later, a mighty army came into Jerusalem and looted the beautiful and sacred furnishings of this great temple, and destroyed it. The prophets had warned that this would happen as the people of God turned away from Him, worshipped other gods, and became filled with iniquity. However, the Feast of Tabernacles was never just about a harvest of crops, or about the building of a great edifice. In another portion from this Sabbath's readings, we hear again from Solomon in the Book of Ecclesiastes. He draws this conclusion regarding all of man's natural toils and efforts: "I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed all is vanity, and grasping for the wind. What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered." (Eccl. 1:14-15). The Feast of Tabernacles is not found in the work of men's hands. Who could have imagined from its first mention that the Feast of Tabernacles would be fulfilled, not by a harvest of crops, or a great building, but by the atonement accomplished by another Son of David, Jesus, who would build a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, not of this creation? (Heb. 9:11). Who could imagine that the tabernacle of God would be in us? We would become His living temple. His Spirit, His glory and His presence dwells within us. God has placed these treasures in earthen vessels, rather than in a building (1 Cor. 3:16, Jn. 17:21-22, 2 Cor. 4:7). Who could have anticipated that the glory of Christ could dwell in men? In another of this Sabbath's readings, Moses asked to see God's glory, and the LORD had to hide Moses in the cleft of a rock, and cover him with His hand, allowing Moses to see only His back parts as the LORD passed by him (Ex. 33:18-23). The glory given to us is not glory that passes by or fades, but it is a glory that remains (2 Cor. 3:10-13). Moses knew the passing glory of the commandments of God engraved upon tablets of stone, encased in a wooden ark, and placed within a tabernacle of animal skins. Did he ever imagine the living Word of God, Jesus, written upon living hearts, placed within a living tabernacle, sealed by the Spirit of God in the promise of everlasting life? Jesus asked the Father that we be given the same glory as He had from the beginning, and this is the eternal glory that we contain as the tabernacles of God. The Feast of Tabernacles reflects a dwelling with and in God, and He with and in us. The separation or veil between God and man caused by our sin has been removed through Christ (Heb. 10:10, 19-22). The revelation of the Feast of Tabernacles doesn't end there. It is also promised that the Lord will bring a city, New Jerusalem, down from heaven arrayed as a bride adorned for her husband (Rev. 21:2). We are the Bride of Christ (Rev. 19:7-9, Eph. 5:25-27). The original tabernacle built in the desert to house the presence of God is described as a kind of Chuppah, or bridal canopy like those used in a Jewish wedding. This is the inseparable union created by the tabernacle. God will dwell among men, and tabernacle with them, as He has always planned (Rev. 21:3-5). Who could have imagined the greatness hidden in the Feast of Tabernacles: "But as it is written, 'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." (1 Cor. 2:9). If you would like to become part of the living tabernacle of God, you can pray: "Lord Jesus, You have made me a living temple, filled with Your Holy Spirit, Your glory, and Your presence. During these days of the Feast of Tabernacles and beyond, show me how to be the Temple of God, not built by human hands, but by Your atoning blood, and the presence of Your Holy Spirit. Open the eyes of my understanding, and lead me to walk in this unity with You. You died for my sins and rose from the dead to bring me near to You and the Father, to make us one. Forgive me Lord, and cleanse me from all that separates me from You. I ask these things in Your name. AMEN."

Walls

I was troubled thinking about the threatened survival of many churches, and the pastors who lead them. Then the thought was brought to me:

"If you're not thankful for what you have, you'll lose it."

 

Then I saw as thanks and appreciation were given, walls of protection began to be built around. Perhaps that's why it is stated that "in everything" we are to give thanks, and it is described as "the will of God".

The giving of thanks, appreciation, and gratitude are of great importance to God, and are repeatedly commanded to us in scripture. I'm sure it is not commanded for us to do for His benefit, but for ours.

Are we thankful for our children, even when the relationship gets difficult? Our parents? Our spouses? The place of provision, our employment, that has been appointed for us? Our churches? Our pastors? The stunningly blessed nation with which we have been entrusted?How would our lives be impacted if we were to suddenly lose these people and things? If we are not actively thankful, it could happen, it has happened.

When difficulties or disappointments come, isn't our first reaction to complain and fret? Don't we look for whom to blame? When we pray in these challenging moments, don't we pray for the other person, or the situation to be "changed"? "Please God, change my wife, my husband, and bring her/him to repentance." What if we build walls of thanksgiving around them instead, even when the situation has become difficult? Isn't it just at these times that those walls are most needed?
How did Paul build a protective wall around the churches in the foreign territories that he risked life and limb to establish?
"We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers...For what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy which we rejoice for your sake before our God, night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face and perfect what is lacking in your faith?"   1 Thess. 1:2, 3:9-10
"I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus..."  1 Cor. 1:4
"First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all,...that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers."  Rom. 1:8-9
"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy..."   Phil. 1:3-4
"I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers..."  Philemon 1:4
Paul's thanks to God for these young churches and saints, who were always facing threats and dangers because of their faith in Christ, did not flow from their perfect state. For some of these churches, Paul goes on to give serious correction. Paul was surrounding these infant churches with the protective wall of thanksgiving.
In another part of scripture, on the occasion of a written decree of a powerful king ordering the persecution to death for the worship of God, Daniel continued kneeling before God three times a day in prayer and the giving of thanks, a practice that he had established since he was very young (Dan. 6:7-10). A wall of protection was established around him as he was sentenced to death in a den of lions. Not only was he spared, but the king reversed himself and ordered the worship of God in all his kingdom. "So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian."   Dan. 6:28
If I had been Daniel, no doubt I would have been praying to God according to the dire circumstances that had come upon me. However, Daniel had developed a habit, or way of life, that involved thanks to God "in everything". Daniel was saved by the walls of protection constructed in his thanksgiving to God.
We are instructed by scripture to enter God's courts and gates with thanksgiving and praise. Could that be because the walls around His courts and gates are constructed from thanksgiving and praise? As we become that same thanksgiving and praise, we are able to pass through them, and enter. Similarly, to enter the walls of the New Jerusalem, only those who bring their glory and honor, could do so (Rev. 21:24).
The walls that encircle the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven, derive from a root word that translates, "break forth, produce fruit from seed, to bear or bring forth, be born, be delivered, be in travail". These walls are so great, that it requires a twelve-layered foundation underneath it. Could it be that those mighty walls, garnished with precious jewels, were conceived in the seed of thanks? Jesus talks about a mighty work that was accomplished in thanks:

Out of ten Samaritan lepers that Jesus sent off to the priests, one returned to thank Him (Lk. 17:12-19). Jesus asked him, "But where are the nine?" ...And He said to him, "Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well."
Our thanks to God "in everything" is the ultimate expression of our faith. As the new year approaches, I have determined to make a new effort to develop the Daniel habit of giving God thanks "in everything". Out of the seed of this thanksgiving, I look forward to seeing the  fruit that will come forth, and the great protective walls that will rise up out of the ground.

Our Father constructs walls of protection from our thanksgiving.