The Feast of Tabernacles — Larry Steers

The Feast of Tabernacles in Leviticus 23

Leviticus tonight for just a few verses and tonight we are coming to the conclusion of the meetings on this chapter, Leviticus chapter 23. So tonight will be the last night on the chapter as we look at the Feast of the Tabernacles.

However, on Saturday, Friday night, tomorrow night, we're going to have a related subject and I think you should come. I hope you've enjoyed the meeting so far and you should come back tomorrow night.

Thanks for coming tonight and thanks to those who have come night after night, two weeks. I know that's a fairly long time for some ministry meetings but I hope that these meetings have been a blessing to you.

I just hope when I leave on Monday morning that I will have left a little blessing behind that you should have, I hope, a little grasp of the significance of this chapter that we have been reading, Leviticus chapter 23.

I hope that you have have picked up the point that it's not an isolated chapter in the Bible and so we have emphasized that it is related to Daniel chapter 2, Daniel chapter 9, Matthew chapter 13, and to the seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3.

We indicate at one night that these are all tied in together and so the coming Friday night we're going to look at a subject related to this and again on Sunday we'll be on something that again is related to it but this will be the last night on Leviticus chapter 23.

And so we're going to read in that chapter tonight and we're not going to read the whole passage relating to the Feast of the Tabernacles but we'll commence reading from verse 33. Verse 33,. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord.

On the first day shall be an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein. Now just skip down the chapter to verse 35. On the first day shall be a holy convocation. Again, ye shall do no servile work therein.

And then verse 36, Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation unto you. Ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. It is a solemn assembly and ye shall do no servile work therein.

And so that expression is repeated a number of times here. And so notice verse 39,. And in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days.

On the first day shall be a Sabbath and on the eighth day, so this is an eight day feast, shall be a Sabbath. And then down to chapter, oh read verse 40. And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, 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. Verse 41,. And ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. Ye shall celebrate it on the seventh day.

Verse 44,. And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feast of the Lord. It's all that we're going to read for the present moment, but I will be reading a number of other verses in just a few moments.

The Feast of Ingathering and the Prophetic Calendar

And so this particular feast, and we're touching then on the Feast of Tabernacles, that this particular feast is a feast that was to last for seven days plus an extra Sabbath. So in total it would last for eight days.

Twice in the Bible it's called the Feast of Ingathering. And so it is related to the vintage, that is to the grapes and to the olives that were to be gathered in. And so this feast is tied in with the gathering in of the grapes and the olives.

And this will be the last feast of the Jewish year, though it is the longest. And so the Feast of Tabernacles follows after the Feast of the Great Day of Atonement that we touched last night, and then the Feast of Trumpets.

Now let me just emphasize something that we have emphasized when we came to the Feast of Firstfruits, that there was the counting of days. And so for these first four feasts and the time that they took place is all very carefully outlined in Leviticus chapter 23 and the number of days until you come to this one, 50 days after the resurrection of Christ.

But at that point the counting of days ceased. And so while we have these feasts taking place in the seventh month of the year, after this feast there is no more counting of days. That simply means that this period of time in the center of the chapter is a period of time of unknown length.

And so the conclusion of this period of time will be the rapture when the Lord Jesus comes and we are called home to heaven. I think we indicated that there are two aspects to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is his coming to the air, and so that will conclude this period of time, the interval in the chart, and then there will be his coming to the earth. And so we're going to touch a little tonight on the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth.

We touched on Israel being gathered for the Feast of Trumpets and the great day of atonement, and I may not have emphasized that last night, is the repentance of Israel. Perhaps when Aaron confessed over the head of that live goat the sins of the children of Israel, and then it was led by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness, represents the acknowledgement of the children of Israel of their need, and this will be the time when they will acknowledge him as their Messiah.

Israel's Restoration and Christ's Millennial Reign

Then we're going to notice today that tonight that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come back to reign. Now I'm going to read a number of other verses, so we're going to turn to Nehemiah chapter 8, the book of Nehemiah chapter 8.

And in Nehemiah chapter 8, we'll read from verse 1. Nehemiah chapter 8 and verse 1. And all the people gathered themselves together as one man onto the street that was before the water gate. Now let me indicate that when it says all the people, these are the people who have come back from the Babylonian captivity and now they are in Jerusalem and they are gathering together before the water gate.

And they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women and all that could hear with understanding that is children who are old enough to understand upon the first day of the seventh month.

And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday before the people before the men and the women and those that could understand and that the ears of the people were attentive unto the book of the law.

Down to verse 13 of this chapter. And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the chief of the fathers of all the people the priest and the Levites and Ezra the scribe and to understand the words of the law.

Now notice the next two verses. And they found written in the law which the Lord had commanded by Moses that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem saying go forth unto the mount and fetch olive branches and pine branches and myrtle branches and palm branches and branches of thick trees to make booths as it is written.

So the people went forth and brought them and made themselves booths everyone upon the roof of his house and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God that is the temple that is what was there was there of the temple and in the street of the water gate and in the street of the gate of Ephraim and all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths and set under the booths for since the days now notice this for since the days of Joshua the son of nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so that is a solemn statement and there was very great gladness also day by day from the first day unto the last day he read in the book of the law and they kept the feast seven days exactly as it were commanded and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly according to the manner.

Now just a few verses in the book of Zechariah in the book of Zechariah. And we'll turn to chapter 14 that is the last chapter of Zechariah. Zechariah chapter 14. And we'll read verse 9. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth.

In that day shall there be one Lord and his name one. All the land shall be turned as the plain of Gibeah to Ramon south of Jerusalem. And it shall be lifted up and inhabited in her place from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate onto the corner gate and from the tower of hadil onto the king's wine press verse 16.

And it shall come to pass that everyone that is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall come. They shall even go up to up from year to year to worship the king and the lord of host and to keep the feast of tabernacles.

And it shall be that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the king the lord of hosts even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up and come not that have no rain there shall be the plague wherewith the lords will smite the heathen that will come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

Just verse 20. In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses holding us unto the lord. And the pots in the lord's house shall be like the bowls of the before the altar. Now one more brief reading.

And we're going to turn to the gospel of luke. The gospel of luke chapter 1 we verse 31. These are the words of gabriel to mary. And behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name jesus.

He shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest. Now notice this last expression. And the lord god shall give unto him the throne of his father david and he shall reign over the house of jacob forever.

And of his kingdom there shall be no end. That's all that we're going to rain. And so we're going to touch in the feast of tabernacles upon the reign of the lord jesus christ. That's going to be our emphasis tonight.

If you were to turn to psalm 72 read the eighth verse of that psalm you would read these words that he's going to reign from sea to sea he is going to reign from the river to the ends of the earth. And so the reign of the lord jesus christ on this earth will be for a millennium.

That word millennium of course is not found in your bible but it means a thousand years. And so when you come to revelation chapter 20 you'll find six times over in that chapter reference to a thousand years.

And so for a thousand years the lord jesus christ is going to reign. And so his reign will then carry on into the eternal state. So he'll forever of his reign there shall be no end. And so that's what lies immediately before this world after the rapture takes place.

Christ the Lamb and the Lion

When you come to the passover you have the death of christ. So we've looked much at the passover and the death of christ. When you come to the feast of tabernacles here you have the reign of christ. When you come to the passover the emphasis is on a lamb.

When you come to the tabernacles the emphasis is upon a lion. And so he is given that title as the lion of the tribe of judah. And the lion of the tribe of judah is the one who is going to reign. When you come to the passover and the lamb you have the meekness of christ.

When you come to the tabernacles and the lion you have the majesty of christ and the might of christ and the glory of christ and the power of christ of the king who is going to reign. Peter combines those two expressions or those two thoughts.

When you come to first peter chapter 1 and verse 11 peter speaks about the sufferings of christ. That's the passover that's the lamb that's the meekness of christ. But in that same verse he says the sufferings of christ and the glory after these that's the exaltation of the king who is going to reign and he is going to be reigning in majesty and in might.

And so what we're going to touch tonight then touching upon the feast of tabernacles. And i hope we got a little sense of the flow of the chapter and that the chapter is going over a number of details that god purposes and and in time and carrying on to eternity.

This is one of the great chapters in our bible. And so it starts at the passover and it ends with the last three feasts that are prophetic they have not yet taken place and so they're going to build little booze.

And those little booze that they're going to build will be a reminder of them. They will look back to the journey in the wilderness and to the passover and to the blood that was shed and the booze will remind them of their tents and their dwelling in the wilderness.

Only these booze are going to be made of branches. They're going to be put on the roofs of the houses and on the streets of the lanes they put them in as renee amaya's day in the temple or the uh courts of the tabernacle.

And so they're going to leave their homes and they are going to dwell in booze as a reminder of the wilderness journey of the children of israel. So it's interesting that they keep the passover today.

Most jews would go through some formality of keeping the passover. It's interesting that they also keep the great day of atonement today. And so i suggested to you i have been told that if you go to israel on the great day of atonement you're going to have a little problem because the buses stop the elevator stop everything comes to a dead stop on the day of atonement.

They keep the day of atonement today and there's amazing things that they keep the feast of tabernacles today. I was staying at a conference one time a jewish house right next door at this period of year and this man and his family had gone out into the backyard and a build a booth out of branches of trees and they were going to spend the eight days in those booths.

So there are three feasts that they do keep today. We have indicated that some of these particularly the feast of weeks and the coming of the holy spirit will not be renewed again will never be kept again.

And so while these feasts are looking back they are also looking forward and so the feast will remind them that there is another day coming. Zachariah has told us about that the verses that we have read in zachariah chapter 14 particularly verse 16 and verse 18 would remind us that there is a day coming and so they build these booths.

Trees would suggest the idea of restfulness of shade. Trees were scarce in the wilderness. But in the millennial reign of christ it's going to be tremendous things that take place upon this earth that's going to occupy us a little on the lord's day.

And so they are going to know what it is what the booze are. And in the millennial reign of christ it will dwell under their own mind and there will be peace in the land. It'll be a tremendous moment.

Peace Under Christ's Rule

No war on this earth during the millennial reign of christ it has been said that likely there hasn't been a day on this earth when there was not a war someplace. But in the millennial reign of christ there's no war and so the police officer will lose his job and the security man he will lose his job.

My son-in-law is a is part of a large company that has security for various buildings. They won't be needed. There'll be no locks on the door and so every person will sit under their own vine because there's going to be peace in the land.

There will be peace upon earth during the reign of christ. That's very interesting as we have noted that they soon forgot the feast of tabernacles. And so we have read here from nehemiah chapter 8 that for a thousand years from the time of joshua until we enter into the experiences of ezra and nehemiah that they never kept the feast of tabernacles.

We have noticed along the way that there are other feasts here that they never kept and so now for all of these years this period of time for a thousand years now they are going to keep the feast of tabernacles.

We indicated the other night that there were there were three captivities of israel. We'll not go over them all in detail but there was a babylonian captivity and there was a egyptian captivity and now they are dispersed throughout the world in the egyptian uh circumstances.

It was a moses that delivered them when you come to babylon and that's what we have here that we have read tonight. There were a small number of jewish people that were allowed under the decree of the leader of the medial persian empire that now has defeated the babylonians that they were allowed to come back into the land of israel.

And so this small group of people now they are standing at the water gate and ezra is there and it's interesting to notice that it wasn't the priest that wasn't ezra and it wasn't nehemiah that demanded the book.

It was the people that were standing there and now coming out of babylon where for 70 years that they have had not been not able to sing the lord's song. Now they find themselves in jerusalem and now they're lifting a demand to bring the book.

That's when they bring the book of the law and ezra begins to read in the book. I i was saying this afternoon to my brother here that we're very soft people. You know mr albert ramsey didn't like a break in a conference.

I'm i'm not. I'm not here to criticize a conference. I just tell you what mr ramsey didn't like a break in a conference. I think i kind of agree with him because you lose a speaker and you never get back when the break is over and but notice what's taking place here.

They are standing. They're not sitting on soft chairs. They are standing and their children are with them. And they're standing for a long period of time. And so you have the older people are there and the younger people are there and the children are there.

And this large gathering is standing at the water gate for a long time. That's when they say bring the book. And that's when ezra begins to read from the book. And then they discovered from the book the feast of tabernacles.

And so i would conclude that ezra was reading from the book of leviticus. I would gather that there's reading from chapter 23. And as ezra is reading from the book leviticus chapter 23 and it dawns on the people as they listen that there's a feast here and we have been told by god to keep this feast and we have failed to do that.

And so there is a movement that they're going to keep the feast. That's a tremendous thing. Well there's a little recovery. There was a recovery here. I suppose we shouldn't say a little recovery. It was a great recovery because now after 1 000 years this little group of people and they have their former slaves in babylon and now they're standing and they want to keep the law.

They want to fulfill the feast of tabernacles. And so they determine that that's what they're going to do. They're going to keep the feast of tabernacles. And so they're going to build these little little booths.

I don't know how waterproof they would have been. I don't know about the man in the backyard that i just mentioned that builds a little booth in the eight days. But that's what they did whether on the rooftop on the streets or in the courts of the temple they built the booths out of these branches of trees.

Returning to the Word of God

So we're told what the branches are. There was the olive branch the olive tree. The olive tree is a symbol of beauty and strength and it is the oil of the olive that would speak of blessing. And so they they get the branches from the olive tree and then they get the branches from the pine tree.

I wasn't born in a city. I was born in a little country. And when i tell my chinese friends about the little village of 350 people they all kind of smile because little villages like that are almost unknown in china like they're big villages.

And yet when i would come home on the bus from high school i had to go for 14 miles and i would go into the house and change my clothes put some old clothes on and go for a walk in the woods. We had a house that was surrounded on two sides by a fairly heavily thick woods.

And as i was walking through that wood sometimes it started to rain a little bit and when it started to rain a little bit i would look quickly for a shelter. And i discovered that the best place i could get to when it was raining a little bit was on the pine tree.

Because of the branches of the pine tree are fairly thick and it would take a little time for the water to soak through the branches of the pine tree. So could i suggest that the pine tree would suggest shelter.

And so while they're in these booths they have a little bit of shelter from the pine tree. They were to take the palm branches. And those who go further south in the united states know what the palm branches are.

Well the palm branches would speak of grace of elegance of dignity. And then they would take the myrtle. And if there's a lawyer here the myrtle tree is taken by the lawyer community as a sign of justice and as a sign of peace.

So they would take the myrtle. They would take the willow. Remember what they did in babylon. That would be a reminder of babylon to them because in babylon they hung their harps and they couldn't sing the lord song in a strange country.

And so now they take the willow tree. And it is likely that when peter and james and john were on the mount we referred to as the mount of transfiguration. And when the lord's garments were white and glistening and his face shone as bright as the sun there must have been a momentary alteration of some kind in the eyes of those men because you can't look at the sun and his face was literally shining.

And that's when peter who's always quick to say something and peter said let us build three booths three tabernacles one for the lord one for moses one for lias. That's when the whole thing is ruined.

Because peter was going to put the lord on the same ground as those other two men he couldn't do that because the bible declares very clearly that in all things he must have the preeminence he must be first.

And so he can't be on the same level as those two other men. So the whole scene ended when peter made his his his suggestion. And so the feast of tabernacles relative to ezra and nehemiah's day was a call back to the word of god.

I take it brethren that that's very very evident that we need that today. We need a call today to get back to the word of god that the language of our souls should be not the people here just bring the book.

That that's all we need. It's just the book set all of the other little inventions and little things aside and just bring the book. Every believer should be satisfied with the word of god. It's very interesting that if you were to pick up a book that was written by any writer likely prior to 1826 or before that you wouldn't find much about the rapture.

That was a truth that was recovered when souls began to leave the denominations and go outside the camp under the person of christ. And they began to recover certain truths truths that we practice today.

And i wonder in my own soul speaking for myself if we are really as devoted to the truths that were recovered in the 1850s as those who recovered those truths of gathering to the name of the lord jesus christ as we ought to be.

Christ's Kingdom Over Israel and the Nations

And so coming to israel for a moment the lord is going to come to establish a kingdom. Israel is going to be part of that. And we have read that there are going to be gentile nations on this earth who will be left after the lord delivers jerusalem from the armies that surround jerusalem after the rapture.

Those nations are going to bring their glory up to jerusalem. And they're going to worship at jerusalem. And so notice the lord is going to be the supreme ruler in our day. Human government has failed and it failed miserably.

We all understand that the democracy in the in canada the united states has failed. Up my way right now they have a big trial going on when corruption has entered in it has failed. Dictatorship has failed.

It's ruthless cruel let's fail. Communism has failed all human government has failed. And there's only going to be one man who will be the absolute ruler. And that one man is the lord jesus christ. He's going to reign as a king in all of the glory and in all of the beauty and in all of the righteousness of christ he is going to reign.

And so i want to take you for a moment back to the gospel of luke. In the gospel of luke an angel has appeared to mary. There are two archangels in the bible of course michael being one and gabriel being the other.

Michael seems to have some relationship or some response to the israel people of israel or to the jew. On the other hand gabriel seems to have some some responsibility relative to the person of christ.

And so when you come to gabriel gabriel made four trips to this earth. That is four times that is recorded in the bible that gabriel was upon earth. He made a visit to earth when daniel was in shushan the palace.

And that's when he gave daniel the truth that we have already mentioned just briefly the uh daniel chapter 9 and the 70 weeks of daniel. Gabriel came and revealed that to daniel when daniel was in shushan the palace.

But he's going to come again to daniel when daniel is in babylon. And so he visits daniel in babylon. And he makes another revelation to daniel. And so he has already visited then two of earth's great cities.

He's going to visit another great city of this earth. He's going to come to jerusalem. And so in the early part of luke chapter 1 gabriel comes to jerusalem and he visits zacharias. And he gives zacharias the message that he's going to have a son.

And he tells zacharias that the son's name will be john. You know the details of that. And so gabriel visited. He visited a prophet daniel. He visited a priest zacharias. He came to some of the great cities of this earth.

But he's going to come again not to a priest not to a prophet not to a great city. He's going to come to a little village of nazareth. Nazareth as far as the economy of israel was concerned was not much of note.

And in nazareth and there was a woman by the name of mary likely a very young woman. Some would suggest we don't know her age of course. But some would suggest she was likely very young when the lord died 30 years after he was born.

And mary is standing alone at the cross. Joseph is not with her. It would almost seem that joseph had passed away. And so she's standing alone with john of course. And none of other children are with her.

She stands alone at the cross as so likely as the years have run their course. When gabriel appeared to her in nazareth she was likely very young. And gabriel is going to give to mary a tremendous revelation.

I have thought at times what you or i would do if we were standing quietly someplace. And suddenly before us there appears the angel gabriel. Well that's what happened to mary. In fact the chapter luke chapter one would indicate that her soul was filled with fear.

She was told not to fear. And so gabriel begins to pour into mary tremendous truth. And gabriel has said to mary here concerning the son that is going to be uh that is going to be. I'm looking for a word here that is going to be conceived as by the spirit of god.

And since he was conceived by the spirit of god he does not have the atom nature. And not having the atom nature he could not sin. He was conceived in holiness. And now mary a virgin. And i don't appreciate a bible that doesn't call her that because that's what she was.

She was a virgin. And so the angel gabriel says that she's going to have a son. And gabriel says that that son shall be great. And what does isaiah say about that son. Isaiah says that his name is wonderful counselor mighty god everlasting father prince of peace.

And as the years run their course and on into the millennial reign of christ he's going to be great. And gabriel also said he shall be called the son of the highest. I i don't think that we sitting here me standing here can really grasp what that really meant to a young woman that she's going to hold in her arms the son of the highest.

And gabriel said the son of god. That's a tremendous thing. The virgin birth of christ is a a wonder and will be a wonder of eternal ages. A mystery god manifests in the flesh. But gabriel also said something else.

He said the lord god shall give unto him the throne of his father david. That's a throne up until the moment as i stand here he has never had. But that's a throne that he anticipates that will be his.

There are some satisfactions that the lord does not have at this present moment. You can understand. Of course most of us who are men can understand what it's like to appreciate the moment when the person that we're going to marry the bride will become our wife.

We anticipate that moment. There's a man in heaven and he anticipates a moment when the church is going to become his bride. That's a satisfaction that he doesn't have yet. But he is going to have when the church is going to surround him myriads the result of the shedding of his precious blood.

And i can't imagine and you can't either what it's going to be like when we surround him and begin to sing the anthems of heaven who is onto him who is worthy and has redeemed us by his own blood. He's waiting for that moment but he's waiting for another moment.

He's waiting for a moment when the promise that was given to mary is going to be fulfilled when he is going to have the throne of his father david. And when he has the throne of his father david he will reign as the king of all kings.

The Throne of David and the King of Glory

Interesting that he was born a king. That's what the wise men said they came to worship one who was born a king. I i don't know what people in the united states think but north of you a little different north of you is a country that is a monarchy.

That is we have a queen and we have her representative who is the governor general. And so the only country in in the north and or south america that is a monarchy uh ruled by a well it's only a figurehead but she's a queen.

Although the governor general does have some power he's just not a figurehead. God's order of government is a monarchy and not only a monarchy. God's order of government is a theocratic monarch. That is god must rule.

And so god was going to rule over israel. That was his purpose. And yet israel didn't want that. Israel wanted a king. They wanted someone they could see someone who could be very evident amongst them someone who they have their eyes on as he led them into battle not gone but a king.

And so god said i gave them a king in my anger because that's not what god wanted. That's what the people wanted. And then the moment came god says still very angry he said i took him away in my wrath.

And so then he raised up a david who was different than saul. But david of course is a type of the lord jesus christ. God's order of government is a monarchy and a theocracy. That is when god will rule and he will have that in the millennial reign of christ when the lord jesus will be supreme and all will look up to him and he'll be upon the throne.

You know there have been men in this world that have desire to rule the world. Napoleon alexander the great constantine hitler. Communism failed to have what they thought they wanted. Putnam thinks he's going to get the russian empire revived a little.