The Feast of Trumpets, Pt. 1 (09/09/2001)

Now that we have your attention, thank you brother

Raymond for sharing that that's the kind of story you don't always share

But he felt like he could trust us enough to share it with us and I appreciate that This message that we're gonna have this morning

It'll probably be good for you to have had that information As we think about tribulation

In our lives and how the Lord never lets us go through it alone and let's let's turn to We're gonna be in the book of Revelation About chapter 8.

I'm gonna read from Leviticus 23 24 first if you want to turn to that You certainly may

Leviticus 23 24 I'm glad that angel didn't let you get on that ladder

Well, I'm being I'm being selfish We're coming up into the fall season and in the fall season we have

Some of the Feasts of Israel and If you remember last year,

I sort of made a commitment to my own family to During these feasts to at least talk to my children about what they picture what they symbolize what they teach us

And we have such wonderful vision of these with hindsight Even better understanding than the

Jews had as they went through and faithfully kept these Feasts most of their history sometimes when they were not right with the

Lord They didn't and then there were other times when they were in captivity and they couldn't But I'd like to speak with you this morning about the

Feast of Trumpets And what it pictures I Sort of let you know last year that I felt that the

Lord was moving in my heart that If we're going to have holidays in our lives

We have so many holidays that have been given to us by out -and -out pagans such as Easter At least some of the things that we do during that season and really it's should be surrounding the

Passover which is the true biblical holiday that should be celebrated at that time and the resurrection of Jesus Christ should be celebrated at that time

In the fall we have Halloween, isn't that a wonderful thing to have? given to us by the

Roman Catholic Church and That is obviously

I think if you've been around for even six months time in this church You know that I think it's inappropriate to have anything to do with that As far as trick -or -treating or any of the things that go on and totally inappropriate for a born -again child of God But there are some fall feasts and festivals that God gave his children in the

Word of God and Why would it harm us to spend time with our children during these times of the year and teach them?

What God is? picturing in these beautiful festivals and feasts the

Feast of Trumpets actually occurs on Monday evening and Tuesday of September the 17th and 18th so we're studying them a little bit ahead of time so that when it gets to be that time if you want to spend some time with your children in your home and Teaching some of the beautiful pictures in these feasts.

We'd have a little foreview of it So that's what we'll talk about. It comes from Leviticus chapter 23 in verse 24

Speaking to the children of Israel saying in the seventh month in the first day of the month shall you have a

Sabbath a memorial of blowing of trumpets and Holy Convocation Blowing of trumpets.

What is this picture? Well, the ancient rabbis believed that the Lord created the world in the first week of the month of Tishri Which is the month we're in well

They have their own calendar based on a lunar calendar, but it's roughly equivalent to our late

September early October They believe that's when God literally created the world

Therefore the first day of the seventh month is considered the beginning of the creation in the beginning of the year it's interesting that the

Jews have two new years and That's great. They get to celebrate twice I suppose but they have two new years and They can pretty much consider this one to be their new year

Even though that's not the one that God told them to have in Exodus chapter 12 verses 1 and 3

God told them that the month of Nisan would be the beginning of the new year for the

Jew having to do with the Passover in that time and Yet most of them consider this time of the year to be the starting of the new year

It's interesting though if you Calculate the month of Nisan to be the start of the new year

Then the month of Tishri is actually the seventh month which makes it a sabbatical month

It is the same to a year that the Sabbath is to a week hence, the first first day is celebrated as a

Sabbath a day of rest and a memorial of blowing of trumpets and a holy

Convocation a holy convocation means a call to meet together When the children of Israel came back from Babylon They began to observe this feast again in a few moments.

We're going to go in and take a look at that particular time period One of the things that we see in this feast that is so important is the ram's horn and They use this they blow they call it the feast of trumpets.

It's actually a ram's horn I have one in there in my in my study and Russ played it for us one time.

You remember awful sounding thing. That's why I left it in the study I was afraid he'd be here today He's not well today.

By the way, he's He's under the weather but Another thing that's interesting is during this season the

Jews always talk much About Abraham's sacrifice of his son

Isaac at the Lord's command and This is considered to have been accomplished due to Abraham's faith even though there was a substitute given to die in his place and they talk about this much during this festival and this feast and Speak of it and pray it in their prayers and so forth

The Jews refer to the sacrifice of Isaac again and again in their prayers reminding God of the faith of Abraham It is a solemn time of repentance this time of the year is for the

Jew or was all through those times still is today for those who still celebrate it and It's in preparation for the

Day of Atonement Which follows ten days later? Now the

Day of Atonement and understanding it a little bit helps to understand this feast and what it's all about But the

Jews believe there are three books that God keeps First there's a book of righteousness and Only the truly righteous are in this book the second book is a book of people's names who are neither wholly righteous nor wholly wicked and The third book is a book of the holy wicked

Who are bound for hell? Now this is according to the Jewish belief.

I'm not saying this is scriptural teaching at all I'm just saying this is what the Jews have believed through the years

Now the interesting thing is that those who are in the first book according to the Jews They are the righteous and they are judged on New Year's Day Which to them is is this day the starting of this feast the

Feast of Trumpets? So those who are in the first book are actually judged and they receive rewards such as life and welfare in this life prosperity security from all evil of hot manner of evil and harm and they receive peace from God and It's interesting that in the

Jewish prayer book in the synagogues all across the world. This is read at this feast

And I'll quote from it in the book of life which refers to this first book that they believe in Blessing peace and good sustenance.

May we be remembered and inscribed before thee in other words May we be inscribed within this book?

We and all thy people the house of Israel for a happy life and peace Blessed art thou

O Lord who make us peace Now those who are found in the second book remember they are neither holy righteous nor holy wicked

Those who are found in this second book now have ten days between now and the

Day of Atonement for repentance and They call these ten ten days the yo meme

Noreen and that means the fearsome days are the ten awesome days

And at the end of those days, they will be judged on the Day of Atonement is what they believe

Those in the third book can only expect condemnation death and hell

Since the Jews believe that the majority of mankind are found in this second book However, these ten days become extremely important to them

Now that gives you a little idea of Of what's going on in Jewish mind during this time period it's interesting during these ten days in between these two feasts the

Feast of Trumpets and young before or The Day of Atonement during these ten days old enemies strive to make up their differences

Charity is given to the poor Long confessions of sins are repeated in the synagogue by way of prayers during these ten awesome days and so we kind of see what goes on in the

Jewish world and much of that as you know is tradition and Much like our

Roman Catholic Church in the Christian realm has added to the Word of God and created their own

Vain traditions of their fathers and esteem them more highly than the word the Jew does the same thing

And so they have their their type of Judaism, which is non -biblical

It's extra biblical and it very much parallels the Roman Catholic theology of our quote

Christian world But I would like for us to look at the biblical meaning of this feast turn with me if you would to Nehemiah chapter 7 and let's look at a place in the

Bible where this feast was actually celebrated in the true biblical way far long before the

Traditions of modern Jews came to twist and pervert and add to these feasts to give you an idea of how they've done this if you go to the

Passover table of the modern Jew, they'll actually have an Easter egg sitting on that table and You won't find where that came from the

Bible. That's the sign of fertility and it came straight from Babylon And they brought it back from Babylon and inserted it into their feast, which is not biblical and not right with God and we do the same thing when we put little

Easter eggs around let the children hunt them and all these things the Pagan world

Satan has his way of inserting things worldliness into worship

Of God's people and we're exhorted all through the Bible to be watchful Now, let's look at a true celebration of this feast of trumpets though And let's talk a little bit this morning about what this feast pictures

You know the Bible teaches us that everything that happened in the Old Testament is for in samples for those of us who live in these last days and So there are types in the

Old Testament and we find the antitype in the New Testament there are symbols in the Old Testament and we find what they symbolize in the

New Testament and Yet I have found that the New Testament as it speaks of doctrines

It's so wonderful how you can go back into the Old Testament and sometimes see the details found in the types so sometimes the

Doctrine is revealed in the New Testament because it was a mystery in the Old Testament and we understand the meaning of it but yet the details and the fine colors are found back in the

Old Testament in the actual types that God gave and in these feasts and so forth and that's why it's important to study them with our children and To talk about them from time to time as they come across our calendar in the year

Let's look at this place when the children of Israel came back from Babylon. They began to observe

This feast again in Nehemiah chapter 7 and verse 73 it says so the priests and the

Levites and the porters and the singers and Some of the people and the

Nethemians and all Israel dwelt in their cities and When the seventh month came now, that's the month

We're referring to roughly equivalent to sometime in late September early October of our of our month

When the seventh month came now, remember this is seventh starting with the month of Nisan Which God told them would be their new year.

So they call this the seventh month in the Bible The children of Israel were in their cities so they were back from captivity

Now what is captivity picture? Let's get on a little rabbit trail just for a second. What is captivity picture?

When the Nation of Israel goes into captivity and they're made I'll stop there.

I don't give the answer. What is that picture for us? It's God's people Judgment What else what do you think of when you think of being captive?

What do you think? Slavery to whom? The enemy the enemy

The enemy primarily is Satan man, he's manifested in the world system world philosophy philosophical system and even in our flesh and so to become captive is what's pictured here to be slaves to the devil and Yet when we were born again who became our

Lord? Jesus Christ now, that's not Lordship salvation

It's just simply that it's impossible to be saved except by any other than the

Lord Jesus Christ That's simply who he is any other Jesus is a figment of our imagination and you can't be saved by the other

Jesus's the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who will take control of your life and mess with your life and Change your life and that's the way he is by nature and when he comes into your life, that's what happens and so Yet we've invented a modern

Jesus who doesn't do anything you can pray and ask him to come into your life Theoretically, but you don't have to quote make him your

Lord you do that later Later on is what's taught in many churches today. I don't know.

I don't find that in the Word of God anywhere It's not what happened Paul Saul when he was on that road and he saw that light heard that voice

The first thing he said was Lord What would you have me to do? It's the first thing you said to if you're saved this morning if you've never had that experience, then you need to certainly look into your own life and Search into your own salvation

But the seventh month These children were back in their cities so they were back from captivity

Isn't it nice that when we? Yield our bodies as captives of the wrong

Lord, you know that when Jesus became your Lord he freed you from every other Lord And you never have to be under bonded to anyone else in the whole world other than the love

Bondage relationship you have with the Lord Jesus Christ the bondservant relationship the doulos relationship you don't have to serve any other and Yet, sometimes we do do we not?

But this picture is a time when they're back in the city. That means they're back from slavery they have become freed by God and They are wanting and yearning for that relationship

That they had before the slavery took place And this is the scenery as we begin here in this passage chapter 8 verse 1 and all the people gathered themselves

Together as one man You know, sometimes God will take people

Families or churches through tribulation and even into some bit of slavery

So that when we come out the other side we have unity We're not thinking about nitpicking on the little things anymore

We're not so interested on on the kind of shoes that the other person wears or are the exact little

Interpretations of every verse that the other person has as long as the main things they are the main things, you know

As long as we understand the main doctrines of the Bible and an agreement on those What happens is we become as one man?

They were gathered together as one man into the street that was before the water gate Now that's not the one

Nixon was involved with it was much earlier and They spake unto

Ezra the scribe and They told him Bring the book

Isn't that a neat phrase? Bring the book Bring the book how many churches today ask their pastors to bring the book when they get up and preach?

This one does I believe I believe that with all my heart what makes it a joy to To have the opportunity to do that in this place 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 men and women and all that could understand with understanding now, who's that group?

What group are those who could understand with understanding? That's the children

That's the children the ones who were old enough to hear something and understand it they were in the group

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

Why were their ears attentive because they had just come back from slavery and they knew what the enemy could provide

And they were no longer interested in that They wanted to hear what God had to provide and so they had ears that would hear at this point

Now this water gate is an interesting place It's not a part of the existing modern wall

If you've been to Israel if you or if you go there someday, you'll see the wall that is existing

It's not really part of that wall. Although that wall does have some gates in it it was built by Suleiman and in the 16th century and It's not part of that what it's actually part of is the ancient eastern wall of the ancient

Jerusalem and it's located immediately south of and in very close proximity to the

Temple Mount and In the gates of the wall is where the people would meet they would meet when they wanted to have a congregation and hear a word

Either from the king or from the priest or from the prophet they would meet at these gates and this is what was going on Verse 4 says and as Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood

Which they had made for that purpose and beside him stood 13 men

Some of whom or if not, all of whom were Levites now, it's interesting about these men because in this group of men

He had some on his right hand and some on his left hand some of these men had somewhat famous lineages for example, one of them was the grandfather and the other the father of Azariah who was one of the men listed as Repairing a portion of the wall of Jerusalem long about this same time period

Another was Uriah who? Who was the son of Shemiah?

Who was a prophet in the days of Jehoiakim who was martyred for simply telling the truth?

he was killed because he prophesied the truth to this king and So his son was here standing

By Ezra the prophet and there was another man there with an interesting name

His name was Mishael, which is called by the Babylonians Meshach.

Have you heard that name before? Well, this is not actually Meshach because this is about a hundred and forty some odd years later

Than the three young men in the fiery furnace, but he has the exact same name

So he was either named that he's obviously was named after him, but he might have been kin to him

He might have been in this lineage now what's kind of interesting to do is to take the names of these men that are surrounding

Ezra Ezra and see what their names mean and Here we see

Ezra whose name means help And who the scripture says is the man who led the second expedition back from Babylonian exile and he is known as quote a ready scribe in the laws of Moses and quote a scribe of the law of the

God of heaven that's a pretty nice title, isn't it a scribe of The law of the

God of heaven is the title is given to Ezra and on his right hand there were men who had this name one of them's name was gift of Jehovah and Standing beside him was a net man named report or witness and standing behind Beside him was a man named protected by Jehovah brother

Raymond. That's a pretty good name, isn't it? and standing behind beside him was a man named

Jehovah is light and Standing beside him was a net man named portion of Jehovah and beside him was

Work of Jehovah and on Ezra's left hand was a man named who is like God and Standing next to him as a man named

Jehovah is King and next to him was Jehovah Remembers they had just come from captivity captivity where I'm sure they were wondering does

God remember us? and there was another man standing next to Ezra whose name was rewarded and Verse 5

Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was above all the people because he was in this wooden pulpit and When he opened it

Look at the response of the people No, no, you didn't have a man stand over to the side and say all stand please for the reading of God's Word it was just a response as He opened this book the people just shoot

They just all stood up immediately and you can hear this huge crowd as you heard the clothing ruffle as they all stood in silence and Ezra blessed the

Lord the Great God and all the people answered now imagine thousands of people the echo that comes back

Amen as he blessed the Lord Amen With lifting up of their hands.

Now. This was spontaneous as well and They bowed their heads and they worshiped the

Lord in their faces to the ground I'm presuming in silence. The silence was probably deafening

Notice you have two aspects here you have praising which is Seen in the lifting up of their hands and the shouting of Amen But you have worship which is not the same thing today in the modern church.

It's it's confused They have what they call worship Groups and they get together and they play the music and and they get the hands lifted up in the air and they get happy About God and they think they're having worship and that's why they call it a worship group or worship leaders

That's not worship that's praise and That is very important by the way in the life of the church and the congregation is the praise and we don't have probably enough of that sometimes our services

Start off more gloomy than happy. I would say the Jews the Jews don't do that. They don't do that They are happy about their relationship with the

Lord, especially when they've just come back from captivity Some of us in this room have been in captivity.

Haven't we some may be just coming out and we don't know about it We can be happy about that.

And that's what praise is and it is a sacrifice from the lips To the Lord, but that's not worship

Worship happens on your face now I don't mean literally because the Bible lists several postures for worship one standing

One on the face in many different postures obviously on the knees with the head to the ground

So I'm not talking about the physical posture But I'm saying worship happens in silence with the face to the ground and it is a response to the presence of God It is not something that causes him to be present

Now I have a friend I won't give you his name but his initials are Russ how Who has the theory that the praise part

Causes God to show up as he says now I know he doesn't literally mean that because he's aware of the omnipresent God as we are but what he means is

That God does like music and you see that in Psalm 100 My mom read that the first day of school and I was sitting there thinking about the

Jews and their music When you read that and she exhorted the young children to enjoy singing in school when they sing the first songs in the early morning

And I thought that was great by the way And and so God does enjoy this as you visualize

God in time with us. He enjoys Singing from the heart from spiritual holy people not from carnal people trying to be

Hollywood However, but we I don't think we have much of a problem with that. Would you say in our church? We don't have

Hollywood singers here But when we sing sincerely from our hearts and make a joyful noise don't think for a moment that the

Sensibility part of God remember we studied that in our doctrinal study his heart his feelings

He loves it But you know what? If you want to visualize it as a man speaks

If you want to visualize it as Paul said so often as a man speaks God shows up during the praise

When he does you don't keep praising what you do is you fall on your face and You get quiet and that's what happened here.

So the book was open now This is a modern phenomenon to you. You leave the book out nowadays you just want the praise and the singing and the and the loud music and the excitement and the joy and Sometimes a play done up here on the platform, but you leave the book out

You don't want to leave the book out. The book was open first The book was opened he praised the

Lord and they began to praise the Lord and then They sensed the presence of God and they fell on their faces and worshiped the

Lord With their faces to the ground now

You're seeing a beautiful earthly scene So often what we learn from the

Old Testament is a physical Earthly thing that teaches the true spiritual things that are happening in the heavenlies so I want you to turn to Revelation chapter 5 and while we are still picturing this earthly scene that literally happened in the history of Israel and we have our people on their faces in silence and let's just hit the pause button and And picture them in this state and let's look in the heavenlies at a different picture a different scene

Described from the book of Revelation that I believe is a picture of the real thing going on and I'm not saying that's not real

But I'm talking about in the spiritual realm in the heavenlies Revelation chapter 5 in verse 3 and no man in Heaven nor in earth neither under the earth was able to open the book neither to look thereon and I wept much

And you'll see a little later in our passage back here in Nehemiah that the people wept When that book was open and here you see

John Weeping because no one man was able to open this book Neither to look thereon and one of the elders and in the the scene is in heaven.

Remember we're now in heaven One of the elders said unto me weep not behold the

Lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David Hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof now remember we're talking about what in the world is the feast of trumpets picture and I see this scene that parallels this earthly scene in verse 6 and I beheld and lo in the midst of the throne and Of the four beasts and in the midst of the elders now

This is a fascinating thing to study in the early portions of the book of Revelation You can see a throne where the father is seated upon that throne and you don't get a full view of him appearing as we might see a person appearing but you do see that John is seeing a

Person on that throne. He describes him as looking like jewels and shining resplendent light

And jewels and then in a moment we see this in the same midst of that same throne

Was a lamb and we see this lamb stood as it had been slain

Who do you suppose this is? Who is the slain lamb? Jesus Christ And look at this lamb this lamb has seven eyes and the seven spirits of God is

What these eyes represent? These eyes are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth the sevenfold

Holy Spirit of God when you looked into the eyes of the Lamb guess what you saw

You saw the Spirit of God now It's interesting because these seven spirits these same sevenfold spirit of God were previously found in the book of Revelation as Lamps in front are connected to are part of the very throne that they're in the midst of So we see that the father has these same this same sevenfold spirit.

The son has the same sevenfold spirit and Verse 7 says and he came and he took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.

So This personage who was on this throne who is in fact the father had a hand now some would say that's just Anthropomorphized it just means that's how we would view it

But John is just telling us how he saw it. So you take it how you want to either John was delusionary

You if you want to say that you might as well say brother Raymond was and that that whole story never happened

But I don't believe that And I don't believe John Was making up things either

I think when he says that he saw a hand come from that throne and hand this book to the lamb

I believe that's what he saw now He's describing it in the best vocabulary that he had which obviously was not enough of a vocabulary

But it was what God wanted us to have was it not? So this is what we see now this little passage will change your view of the

Trinity or the China like to say Trinity, but to try the the What's the word that I I prefer

I read it in a little Jewish book The tri not the triune, but the tri what is it?

Jesse, you know it remember that little book try unity The try unity of God is a better expression of it now

Here he is and he sat upon the throne And he this hand comes out from the throne hands the book

To the lamb and when he had taken the book the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before the lamb

Having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors

Which are the prayers of the saint now? We see these Saints pictured on the earth as we punch the pause button a moment ago

Remember and they were on their faces. They had been praising God and I'm sure they're praying as well

But here in the heavenly scene we see that there are vials of odors sometimes pictured as smoke that comes up and it is the prayers of the

Saints coming into the true heavenly place and They sung a new song saying thou art worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation and Has made us into our

God kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth Someday out in the future from this vantage point and I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels

There there are angels brother Raymond Round about the throne and the beasts and the elders and the number of them was ten thousand times

Ten -thousand and thousands of thousands. Can you visualize that? John is trying to express it to us the best he can with a human vocabulary

Saying with a loud voice all of these thousands of ten thousands of thousands of thousands are all crying with the same loud voice in unity worthy is the

Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing and this is what the folks that were down there on the earth with their

Hands in the air we're doing they were praising God a very very heavenly thing to do

It's going on in heaven here in this place and every creature Which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them heard

I saying Blessing and honor and glory and power being to him that sitteth upon the throne.

Who is that? Who's sitting on the throne The father and unto the

Lamb who is that? That is the eternal Son of God forever and ever and the four beasts said amen and The four and twenty elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever the same posture that we find our friends back in before we hit the pause button and I saw when the

Lamb opened one of the seals and I heard as it were the noise of thunder one of the four beasts saying come and See and it's very interesting what

John was allowed to see from that point on go over to Revelation chapter 8 as We see the people of God since the presence of God and fall on their faces in silence awesome silence

It reminded me of this passage in Revelation 8 verse 1 because in the heavenlies the same things

Happen and it certainly happens at this particular juncture. It says and When he had opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven about the space of an hour

And that an awesome verse silence in heaven heaven about the space of an hour and I saw the seven angels which stood before God and to them were given seven trumpets now, we're talking about the

Feast of Trumpets and Here we see them And another angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer and there was given unto him much

Incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne so here we have the prayers of God's people coming up ascending before the throne of God and the smoke of the

Incense, which came with the prayers of the Saints Ascended up before God out of the angels hand angel means messenger and this one brought the messages or the prayers from the

Saints to the throne of God and the angel took the censer and filled it with fire of the altar and Cast it into the earth and there were voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake and the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound now

Let's go back into our Old Testament passage And let's go back to verse 7 there in Nehemiah where we were.

I hope you left your hand there And let's go back to the earthly scene again

Because they are celebrating this event and they don't know it because they're Jewish and they're they don't have the hindsight that we have

And it's a mystery to them, but they just know that God commanded them to celebrate this feast and to blow the trumpets

That's all they know as far as I know. That's all they knew They may have had their theories about what it meant and They did have their theories.

We'll we discuss some of those as we study this but it was a mystery now We with hindsight, it's like perfect view perfect vision but not as perfect as some other things that we know about because some of this is yet future and So we find ourselves this morning gazing into the future.

Although maybe not so distant a future In a similar fashion that they did because we don't see all this yet either

But whatever they were typifying by these trumpets is yet in our future so many of the feast picture things that have already occurred that we can see with perfect vision now and Yet this is a yet future event for them and for us in verse 7 says

Also, I'm gonna save you some time and not pronounce these men and it won't embarrass me either

But they were Levites Who caused the people to? Understand the law and the people stood in their place now

The people are still standing all this time as if you had been standing this entire sermon and as if the sermon lasted three four hours,

I Know you feel that it does but at least you're not having to stand and They're still standing and the

Levites and the scribes Such as Ezra were causing the people to understand the law.

That is so very important knowledge for us today The people were caused to understand the book that is the definition of the gift of teaching in verse 8 it says so they read in the book in the law of God distinctly and They gave the sense and they caused them to understand the reading if a teacher is not doing this

He is not teaching and it's so funny that you mentioned that in Sunday school this morning How that had anything, you know, that's so strange that that hit the same day interesting coincidence

Brother I was talking about teachers who aren't teachers who are not teachers. Well a teacher of the

Word of God Gives the law of God distinctly in this Hebrew word

Paul Roche means he separates it The New Testament equivalent is rightly divide the word of truth

He has the ability to rightly divide the word of truth and make sense out of it to himself and to the people

We ought to all gain that ability in our own personal Bible study And then he says he gave the sense of it

He would read the verse and it wasn't like a verse like we think of a verse, but he would read the sentence

He would stop and he would say now here's what the Lord means by this. This is the sense of it this is the grammatical sense in which

God meant this and Then it says he would cause them to understand this word understand is the

Hebrew word bean Beanie which means to separate mentally

To separate mentally So he would rightly divide the word of truth give the sense of the passage

So that the people could separate in their mind and have understanding of God what God was saying

All of this was going on this day while they were standing and while they were reading they were not just reading they were teaching and giving the sense and Causing the people to understand and look at the result in verse 9

When a when God's people come to the place Where through the teaching of the Holy Spirit of God and the teaching of God gifted teachers this happens and Nehemiah which is the

Which is the tear Shatha and Ezra the priest the scribe and the

Levites that taught the people Said unto all the people this day is holy unto the

Lord your God Mourn not nor weep for all the people wept when they heard the words

Isn't that amazing when they understood the sense of what God was saying? When they understood that they had been in captivity and all that that meant and that God had now brought them

Deliverance and all that that meant and they understood God's will for their lives as it came from the

Word of God Properly understood they began to weep They began to weep for the

Word of God Down through the years the Jews have believed

That the blowing of the trumpets has a threefold purpose We don't have time to discuss that this morning but the first purpose that they've always believed that the sound of that trumpet meant was a call to repentance and As we study this further at another time

You'll see as you go on into the book of Revelation That many many things happen including these trumpet calls

Including the seals as they were open and the trumpets as they were sounded all of these things were

Circumstances that God brought to the earth during this seven -year tribulation period that would cause his people and And Certainly Jews and Gentiles alike were saved during this period or shall be saved during this period but it would cause his people

Israel To come to repentance so that by the end of that tribulation period all

Israel shall be saved All of them that are left alive at the end of that time

Shall have repented and come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah and their personal

Savior We'll go looking into this part as we pick this back up next

Sunday, but for today Suffice it to say as We come before the

Lord in praise One of the things that brings a genuine joy of praise is knowing that you've been freed and delivered from the slavery

That brings true joy. You don't have to work that up you might have to think about it, but once you think about it contemplate it remember it the joy will come forth and sometimes the hands will be lifted up holy hands and to the

Lord in praise to him and happy joyful singing to the Lord and shouting and praising him and Then when you get a sense of his presence

All of that stops and you fall on your face before him in silence and worship the

Holy God Who's brought you the deliverance? We see this scene taking place in our history in the history of God's people

We see this scene taking place in our future in the heavenlies with God's people and going on into eternity future and so we must

See that God desires us to spend more time about this more time about praising him more time about worshiping him

And when we don't it might be in a period of slavery and bondage and that may be why we don't do it

So the deliverance is the wonderful part We think from our vantage point that that's the good part

We don't see the slavery and all the things that can happen as good, but they are

Because that's what brings us back to a place where we want to keep the feast of the trumpets again

We want to keep the feast with God in joy and happiness

And praise and thanksgiving and we want to put behind us that slave walk

And we want to walk the next days in our near future in total promised land victory

That's what this is the first part of what this pictures to us next time We'll talk about some of the rest of it.

Let's stand and have prayer together Father Go with us and help us to walk the victorious life

Help us to understand we're supposed to be in our cities in the promised land. We're not supposed to be in Babylon Living there and yet we know that there is this

Truth that we're walking through enemy land that we're pilgrims here. This is not our home and we have a commission from you

To be lights bright and shining and to be salt that purifies the

Awful wounds that Satan is inflicted in this world Help us to be what we're supposed to be help us to be

Witnesses help us to be conscious of the souls of other people as we pass them and to speak a word when you move us to and give us wisdom as we do that and Father help us to witness and to see people saved

It'd be that I will if not help us to water and to plant

Father just help us to be about living the victorious life help others in the community see

Your joy in our faces help our faces to look like Moses face when he came down from that Mount because we've been in your presence and Accomplish your work in us in this generation

Father we ask you to Bless our time together our fellowship We thank you for the testimony that brother

Raymond gave in the fact that you left him here for our benefit We know that it's for our benefit because it would have benefited him to take him on and you left him here to serve a purpose one of which is to To encourage us and so help us to Think of that as we fellowship with one another today that we are here still and we are together

We're all part of an ongoing purpose Bless the food and thank you for it and we pray in Jesus name.