CHAPTER 8 - TABERNACLES - THE FEAST OF UNITY
An Introduction To Tabernacles
An Introduction To Tabernacles
And ye shall take you on
the first day the boughs of goodly trees, the branches of palm trees, and the boughs of
thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven
days... Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in
booths..." (Lev. 23:40, 42).
In the Feast of Tabernacles we have a beautiful
picture of the unity of the Saints. On this notable occasion every Israelite must leave
his place of dwelling, his farm, his flocks, his place of business--and assemble together
in the streets of Jerusalem or along the highways, and dwell for seven days in the humble
little booths which they were to construct with branches and willows and boughs of trees.
They all had one common purpose in mind, to keep the Feast of the Lord in its season, and
to celebrate the ingathering of their wines and oils. And if some would fear lest the
enemy would attack their homes during their absence and take away their property, God
promised that obedience to this ritual would be their safeguard. "Neither shall any
man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the
year." (Ex. 34:24).
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If the saints of God could only see the glory of the Feast of Tabernacles which even now looms before us, they could not possibly be in doubt
or fear concerning their little fenced plots of sectarianism and division; and they would
joyfully assemble together in the streets of Jerusalem and keep this glorious Feast. Let
us be assured of this, our only safeguard rests in obedience to the Lord and a willingness
to follow in the path which He shall choose for us. And if God reveals, as He does in this
present hour, that the Body of Christ is being firmly knit together by the Spirit to form
a vital, living organism, operating in the power of the Holy Spirit--then obedience to
that revelation is all that matters. God will look after our property; our pet doctrines,
our theories, our little churches, our opinions, our ambitions, and so forth. If any of
these are of God, He will preserve them for us; if not, then who is concerned about
maintaining them?
What then is involved in the revelation of the Body
of Christ? Briefly and simply it is this: that henceforth we must learn to minister and
function as members of that Body, and not as members of a sect or a denomination. In other
words, we must recognize that the Body of Christ is a spiritual organism, whose Head is in
Heaven, and whose very life and being is in the Holy Spirit Himself. If any individual or
group of individuals is unwilling to recognize the Holy Spirit as the life of the Body,
and His ministries as the faculties of the Body, then a "sect" is born. The word
"sect" from the original Greek means 'opinion', 'sentiment', 'party'. Therefore
it is quite possible to have non-sectarian sects, as well as sectarian
sects. That is to say, it is not necessary to belong to a religious system in order to be
a "sect." There are many sects who loudly denounce the whole ecclesiastical
system--but they themselves are the most sectarian of any. To be a member of a
"sect" all one has to do is to refuse to recognize the ministries which God is
raising up and setting in their place in the Body of Christ. To be non-sectarian it is not
sufficient to withdraw from the maze of religious schemes abroad in the world today; but
we must become a vital member in the Body of Christ, functioning according to the power of
the Holy Spirit, and in the place and ministry which God has ordained for us in the Body.
IS THIS UNITY POSSIBLE?
It is amazing how unbelieving a believer can become.
One might as well call Christ a liar, and his apostles false witnesses of God, as to deny
that God is going to have a Body functioning in absolute unity of the Spirit, with each
member in his proper place, and all members working together as one harmonious whole. Here
again, there is only one reason why "believers" refuse to believe it, and it is
because we have never seen it either in our own experience
There are many sects who loudly denounce the whole ecclesiastical
system--but they themselves are the most sectarian of any.
or in the history of the
Church, and it is scarcely visible in the days of the early apostolic Church. When will
the saints of God realize that the sins of Israel are recorded in the Word "to the
intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted" (1 Cor. 10:6). The
story of strife and division and corruption that is recorded in God's Word concerning
God's people is for one purpose, namely, that we should not follow in
their pathway of disobedience. And the Church's long and bitter history of disunity and
strife does not prove that God's Word means disunity when it speaks of unity. If God said
it, it is going to come to pass; and if Jesus prayed for it, not all the devices of Satan
can prevent the glorious fulfillment of that prayer of faith.
THE INTERCESSION OF CHRIST
Let us examine briefly John 17, where we have the
request of the Son of God for this vital union among the saints:
"Holy Father, keep through thine own name those
whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are..."
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also
which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them;
that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent
me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me."
Surely this marvelous prayer needs little comment.
The unity for which Christ prayed, and which the Father is duty-bound to create, is going
to be fulfilled. It is a unity both inexpressible and exquisite: "Even as we
are one..." As surely as the Father tabernacles in the Son, speaking through
Him, thinking through Him, walking in Him, working with Him... so shall it be in the Sons
of God. They shall have "the mind of Christ," and therefore they shall be "perfectly
joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment" (1 Cor. 1:10; 2:16). The many members shall function as the
members of the human body, in unity and harmony of purpose (1 Cor. 12:13, 14). They shall
"be like-minded, having the same love, being of one
accord, of one mind" (Phil. 2:2). They shall have the mind
in them "which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5).
Unthinkable! Yes, but God is able to do exceeding and abundantly above all that we can ask
or think!
THE MEANS TO THIS END
It is because such a measure of unity and harmony is
so positively beyond us, and almost inconceivable, that men refuse to believe it is
possible. And of course, it is impossible. But with God "all things are
possible." Let us not limit the Holy One of Israel. For God has established a sure
and a certain means by which this inexpressible unity is going to be brought into being,
even the ministries of "apostles, ...prophets, ...evangelists, ...pastors,
...teachers." These are given, we are told, "For the perfecting of the
saints, for the work of the ministry,..." Step by step the work is brought to pass:
the ministries perfect the saints, and they in turn are empowered "for the work of
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the
faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13). Thank God the
hour is at hand when this glorious unity for which Christ prayed, and for which He
ascended on high and bestowed gifts unto men, is about to be manifested. Ministries are
being raised up and established in the Body of Christ--and these constitute Christ's
love-gift to the Church for their perfection. Will they bring this unity to pass? To doubt
it is to doubt God's Word. It is not a case of rejecting man, because of his faults and
failures; but to reject the God-ordained ministry is to reject God who gave him. Many
would much rather prefer to perfect themselves through prayer, fasting, reading the Word,
and so forth. These, of course, all have their place, and will do much to prepare the
heart and soul. But in themselves they will not produce this perfection. God has ordained
ministries in the Body by which this perfection shall come to pass. To refuse the
ministries, then, is to say to Christ: "I don't need your Ascension Gifts. I prefer
to be perfected some other way."
WHAT ARE THE SIGNS OF CHRIST'S MINISTERS?
The sincere saints of God are being subjected to a
great test; of that there is no question. For they are being called upon to receive God's
ministers on the one hand, and to refuse the false minister on the other hand. And in this
great hour when God is establishing His ministries in the Body of Christ, Satan is
likewise sending forth His ministers of light; and we must learn to discern the true from
the false. Truly the saints are like the multitudes over whom Christ yearned in the days
of His earthly ministry--for He beheld them as sheep having no shepherd. Yes, there were
Scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees, men who loved to wear the garb of religion, and say
long prayers, and receive greetings in the marketplace, and to be called
"Father," and receive the applause of men. But there were no true shepherds.
Even Paul in his day was forced to testify: "For all seek their own, not the things
which are Jesus Christ's" (Phil. 2:21). It is therefore with the greatest concern and
tenderness that the Holy Spirit doth now raise up true ministers in the Body of Christ to
establish the saints, and to lead them in the path of righteousness. And though it might
be difficult for us to discern the true from the false, if we will pay good heed to God's
Word, and the pattern of the true minister as outlined therein, we shall not go astray.
Here are a few ways and means by which we shall be able to discern the true from the
false:
THE TRUE MINISTER WILL LOVE THE FLOCK
The good shepherd, Jesus tells us, will be prepared
to lay down his life for the sheep. (Jn. 10:11). In this hour of comparative security and
ease, there are thousands of hirelings ruling over the sheep. But let persecution come our
way, or let some difficulty arise in the assembly that is apt to prove dangerous to the
minister,--and the hireling will flee because he is a hireling and careth not for the
sheep. But the true shepherd will lay down his life for the sheep.
THE TRUE MINISTER WILL NOT BE COVETOUS
The size of the congregation, the amount of money
one is to receive, the kind of place a man will have to live in--these will not matter to
the true minister. He will as readily preach to the ones and the twos, as to the hundreds
and thousands. And if necessary, he will work with his own hands to sustain himself,
rather than burden the flock. Paul said, "I know both how to be abased, and I know
how to abound..." (Phil. 4:12). Very few "know how to abound." Riches have
deceived many and ruined their ministry. The true minister, as a pattern of the flock,
must know how to suffer hardship in times of difficulty, and to use the world without
"abusing it" in times of plenty.
THE TRUE MINISTER WILL SHOW THE FRUIT OF THE
SPIRIT
Jesus said, "By their fruits ye shall know
them." We must admit there is a woeful lack of the real fruit of the Spirit
everywhere; but it is beginning, nevertheless, to become manifest in those who are going
on with God. And this fruit shall be the final test: "Love, joy, peace,
long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith (fulness), meekness, temperance
(self-control)..." (Gal. 5:22, 23).
THE TRUE MINISTER SHALL NOT SEEK HIS OWN GLORY
"He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own
glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true..." (Jn. 7:18).
It is usually not difficult to discern whether the minister is taking the glory unto
himself, or ascribing all the glory unto Christ. The true minister will exalt Christ, and
Christ only; and not merely with lipservice, but from the heart.
THE TRUE MINISTER SHALL DISCERN THE BODY
He shall recognize the ministries which God is
beginning, and will continue, to establish in the Church. God is going to vindicate his
true ministers so that there will be no confusion in the minds of those who are really
seeking to follow the Lord. The ministries will be contested, as with any ministry God
ever established in Old Testament or New. They contested the authority of Moses, of Aaron,
of Elijah, of Elisha, of David, of Solomon, of Jeremiah, of all the prophets, and of
Christ Himself. But God vindicated them all in one way or another--and in such a manner
that the people feared God, knowing that of a truth they were His chosen. The ministries
will not be established by self-appointment, nor by human-appointment, but by Divine
Appointment; their word shall be with power and authority, and not as the Scribes; and the
servants of Christ shall recognize and acknowledge them.
Are you aware that there may not be" one day of Tabernacles?"( The Hayling Station Theatre and John 7 post)
by Chris Welch on Wednesday, 19 October 2011 at 10:24 on Facebook
Hmm. Except you'd have a very long play. There are no trains. You see the former Hayling Billy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqHDoF2hO-Y
stopped running in 1963. The terminus station in West Town was the plot of land that is now Station Theatre which is where the local Am Dram players tread the boards.
And I got to thinking unless you've got local knowledge, you can't half be misled.
Modern Christians hardly understand that Christianity comes out of Judaism. Those that do usually haven't much actual Spirit revelation. Jews themselves have a lot of "local knowledge" of the Bible and background because many are still living it,(see my latest blogpost the "True Sukkot"), but they don't know Jesus, so they only understand something of the outer forms. Those Jews that have come to know the Messiah usually understand Jesus the Passover Lamb, and Jesus the Baptiser in the Spirit (the fulfilment of Pentecost), but I am not sure I have met one yet who understands what product Jesus was really importing when He came to earth.
Pentecostals are terrors! They go brandishing their revelation on all and sundry and everything in the New Testament has to be bashed into place, hammered down here, hammered down there, squeezed in a bit there, twisted a bit there...and "AAAAAh ! That's better....raise your hands, shout whoop whoop, speak in tongues, get saved from hell and Bob's yer uncle! Anybody spare me a tithe while I race round the Earth holding crusades?"
Unless we "get" the Jewish Feasts we really haven't a clue about what Jesus was doing.
I mean, according to Anglican,Baptist,Charismatic,Catholic ,Network Church,Terry Virgo, Alan Vincent it is normal for a Spirit filled man of God as in John 7:37-38, to go into the centre of a busy city like Guildford, UK,and shout by the Spirit at the top of your lungs "
“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
May I just suggest quietly that while this may be in your soulwinner's Guide, and it may still work in Africa before the novelty wears off, in Britain it will be regarded alongside nervous ticks, and compulsive speech like Tourette's Syndrome.
A Pentecostal hasn't got time for learning the whole picture because the world has to be saved by lunchtime! So he or she is rushing around convinced that any talk of the Holy Spirit, and Water, and Living Waters is to do with a Baptism in the Holy Spirit, and running meetings at this feverishly high pace before the anointing wears off!
Here's where the local knowledge comes in.
John 7: 37-38 performs exactly the same function as the verse Catholics have messed up here in this chapter:
Luke 22:7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.....
:19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
Luke 22 actually was the final feast Jesus celebrated with them, which was Passover. But as those words left Jesus's lips He was, by the Spirit within Him kicking off the ONE TRUE PASSOVER that has ever existed. How awesome is that? To go from virtual rehearsal mode, as had been done in exactly the same way since the celebration began in real time as the Israelites left Egypt.....to the TOTAL REALITY of it, by just speaking into existence by the Spirit, those very words.
From the moment He uttered them,the machinery started working...it was only a matter of time before the authorities would come for him, via Judas who kicked off from that very moment!
So back to John 7. Jesus "went up in secret" to this Feast. What was this Feast?
"Please sir, please sir,me , me, "
Pentecostals, put your hand down! You are wrong. It's not Pentecost.
It's the Feast of Tabernacles which is being held right now in Israel and among Jews everywhere.
Now in John 7, Jesus did not spend the whole chapter in Tourette's mode, just as He never stood on a table at Passover screaming as loud as He could to the disciples..."This is My Body".
But in verse 37-38 of John 7 He was loud.
Why? Because this is the FINALE of all 3 Feasts in the Jewish year. This is the denouement! This is what all the agricultural year has been about. This is the Harvest of Harvests. This is the Feast of Ingathering of all that has been sown. This is the Day of the Early Rains which kicks off another year's sowing with the seed that you have just gathered. This is the loudest Feast there is in Israel. This is the Feast Day of the Pouring of the water. This is when Jews freak out! This is a Feast of Total Joy. This is a Feast, apart from wedding celebrations, which gave birth to the clarinet, which gave birth to the inspiration of a whole ton of music in the world. This is the feast when Jews link hands and dance and dance and dance.
It was loud. Jesus had to shout!
It was in context!
He is that Final Feast.
He is the completion, the capstone that gets shouted to: "Grace to it , grace to it!"
We see a Pentecost version of what the Fulness of Tabernacles is on the Day of Pentecost BECAUSE
while the 3,000 were crashing the gates of the Kingdom in Acts 2, in a kind of "Feast of Ingathering "type of way, which is very much a Feast of Tabernacles concept....
ONLY the 12 apostles at that point were packed with FEAST OF TABERNACLES revelation of Christ in them as them,the rest of the 3000 had to learn it....but they probably got about 10 years download of revelation on that one day.
So for the 3000, it was Pentecost.Pentecost outside as a Jewish Festival, and Pentecost as an inundation of God's Spirit which we experience as Baptism in the Holy Spirit.For the apostles, it was the first culmination of a whole lot of "inner celebration" that had taken place living with Jesus for 3 years.So for them, it was like a living enactment of the Feast of Tabernacles. All the components were there. And so the seedtime harvest cycle kicked off in the Kingdom of God. One generations Tabernacles giving birth to another generation's Passover and Pentecost...
Ever wheels within wheels that Ezekiel saw in his vision.
Hmmm. But consider this!
There's a DAY of Passover. The angel passed over Israel in one day as they left Egypt.Jesus died on ONE DAY.
There's a Day of Pentecost. You are baptised in the Spirit in one "beginning" experience of a whole load!
But Tabernacles is a 7 DAY FEAST. It's a PERIOD! For the apostles it was until they were brutally murdered.Martyred.
Consider this too. Jesus lived thirty years of Tabernacle Life. For this is the other side of Tabernacles. Once you have been made aware of the glories of heaven, it seems like God pares away at your whole existence to remove everything but what is essential. Your life is reduced to a booth of His indwelling. Were His life not real, it would be most unsatisfactory. However the Cross, your awakening to your own Death in Him 2000 years ago, and His subsequent resurrection in you, His coming in you, is so satisfactory....you begin to develop a genuine form of Tourette's just like Jesus had in John 7: 37-8. Wow, God You are amazing!...Whoop whoop
Just one thing though. This isn't an anointing that wears off. It comes from your own belly now, like a permanent roar!
Jesus is LORD. Jesus is ALIVE. Jesus is in ME NOW! Look out world!
The other side of Tabernacles....remember "there was evening, there was morning, the first day." God begins His days in the evening!!! The other side of Tabernacles, like in the wilderness, was experienced in His 40 days of temptation in th Wilderness. And as we subsequently find in our lives, especially after the baptism in the Holy Spirit...
OUR WAY OUT of this seemingly crazy existence is by WORD forming on our insides, which we declare and confess with our lips. Jesus was tested after 40 days, when He hungered. After 40 days this is a different form of hunger. This is when your fat reserves have been gone through, now your body starts to break down vital organs to live from. Your own cannibalism begins!!!! But in this weakness Word formed on His insides which He declared back at the devil's 3 main areas of provocation.
I am aware that Pentecostals and charismatics just wont get this article because they fit the whole of life into a 2 layer approach: Repent, Be filled with the Spirit. PERIOD.
But Jesus throws the whole thing by living for 30 years doing nothing too special and then getting baptised in the Spirit at His water baptism in Jordan. No Pentecoastal has an answer for that one. Just an embarrassing silence. Because as we all know Jesus should have been racing round Israel long before this at least with tracts, if He couldn't do anything else.
But a Pentecostal "doesnt get" just being. He doesn't understand Genesis 3 and how "just being" was twisted completely for all time. So Jesus just living as "the Son of Man", just being, remaining in the Father....was HUUUUUUGE!
Forget the tracts. Forget the high street paraphernalia. Forget that loud brash voice you regale everyone with.
Jesus spent 30 years just BEING in the Father.
AND THEN HE WAS ANOINTED FOR MINISTRY! And that was only a limited LICENSE. The God, who at the right hand of the Father had been Wisdom at the very birth of Creation....was now, a man, at last baptised in the Spirit,
but given less territory than Morris Cerullo,Benny Hinn or Rheinhard Bonnke. He was only sent to preach to Israel.
Well that's a rum do!. The Father couldn't like Jesus very much!
No. Primarily just BEING in the Father is enough. Then receiving an anointing to be able to impart that BEING is quite enough, even on a local scale.
But you see, that's not really what Rheinhard Bonnke, Morris Cerullo and Benny Hinn are exporting is it? There's not much talk of" being" at all.
Because BEING is a Tabernacle revelation.
Francois DuToit and Andre Rabe are being used incredibly to provide the Body with keys about "BEING". I think it is fair to say that neither of them have a clue what they are doing in Tabernacle terms. The Jewish Feasts are pretty unknown to them. In fact they are more about "leaving the elementary things " of Feasts and ceremonial washings and dumping every last shred of religion, and pressing into the INNER FORM which is Christ.
Except that the Jewish Feasts were not a product of a man's mind or a committee. Those celebrating the original versions didn't really have a clue what they were doing it for. David meditated for hours about it all in the Tabernacle as it says in Psalms. Moses fasted not 40 days, but 80 days. The last 40 were supernatural!
He was face to face with God when He instituted the Tabernacle and the Feasts, which were just outer poor copies of what God has always been about:
Moving HEAVEN into flesh BODIES.
First Jesus, the Firstborn of Many Brethren.
The problem with having no knowledge about a subject.....say for instance the position of the Earth in the Universe. The problem isn't that we don't know that the sun is actually at the centre of our solar system and we, as planets, cycle round it. The problem is that the space that should have been filled with true knowledge gets filled with junk. So when the true knowledge comes along, we have no space for it. So we say..."no...you are wrong....as everyone knows the sun goes round the earth. The Earth is the centre of all things."
Jesus says, "In my house are many mansions." We say," No there's not, there's one. Salvation."
A Pentecostal sidles up and butts in, as they do, "No there's two mansions. Salvation and Baptism in the Spirit."
Others join until there is a loud roar. Someone else comes up "Ummmm. There's at least 3, possibly more. Think about the Jewish feasts. Or the 3 growth stages of a butterfly."
"Oh, just go away will you, you're making things far too complicated. There's just Jesus."
We have routinely "missed" every new revealtion coming out of heaven, and the earth is scattered with empty shells of inadequate believing systems called churches, all paid for at great expense in previous centuries, out of people's enforced "tithes". All now derelict, empty, or Turkish Carpet shops.
Just how long are we going to pursue God in this crazy way? Missing Him with each new generational revelation?
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