The first great command Jesus Christ will issue after His return will be that all nations must keep the Feast of Tabernacles! (Zechariah 14:16-19). Today, many "Christian" churches and organizations believe God's annual holy days are "done away, " nailed to the cross! WHY, then, will Jesus Christ issue this command at the very beginning of His millennial reign? Must we keep the feast today? What does the Bible really say?
by Garner Ted Armstrong
When God brought ancient Israel out of
slavery in Egypt, He constituted them as a new nation, a theocracy, ruled directly
by God Himself. They had grown up in a foreign land, had known nothing of the worship of
the true Godbut had been heavily influenced by the rank paganism of the Egyptians;
men who worshipped flies, fish, birds, lions, scarabs; who believed in demoniacal,
Satan-inspired religion.
It was no accident God deliberately hardened
Pharaoh's heart, causing him to refuse to let God's people go, time and again! God
had a purpose in doing so!
God said, "And I will harden Pharaoh's
heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt" (Exodus
7:3). God had commanded Moses concerning the PASSOVER! Earlier, Moses had said to Pharaoh,
"... Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the
wilderness" (Exodus 5: 1).
Pharaoh's retort? He knew of no such
"God." He said, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let
Israel go? I know not the Lord [Heb., YHVH, or "the Eternal"] neither will I let
Israel go" (Exodus 5:2).
Time and time again, during the plagues of the
frogs, the waters turning to blood, the boils on man and cattle, the plagues of lice,
Moses was ordered to speak to Pharaoh and say, "Thus saith the Eternal God of
the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me" (Exodus 9:1).
God told Moses the very purpose for this
particular Pharaoh's life was so God's great POWER could be demonstrated throughout the
earth! God purposely hardened Pharaoh's heartBECAUSE HE KNEW ISRAEL WOULD
FORGET VERY QUICKLY UNLESS THEY COULD BE CONTINUALLY REMINDED OF HIS POWER!
Notice! "And the Eternal said unto Moses,
Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the
Eternal God of the Hebrews, let my people go, that they may serve me. For I will at this
time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people;
that you mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth...and in very deed FOR
THIS CAUSE HAVE I RAISED THEE UP, for to shew in thee MY POWER; and that MY NAME may be
declared throughout all the earth" (Exodus 9:13-16).
Later, God said, "
I have hardened
his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before
him: and that THOU mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what
things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; THAT YE MAY
KNOW HOW THAT I AM THE ETERNAL" (Exodus 10: 1, 2).
What if Pharaoh had quietly acquiesced to
Moses' first request? What if the Egyptians had cooperatedhad actually helped the
Israelites on their way?
First, the Israelites would have REFUSED TO GO!
Plenty of murmuring occurred, during which
Israel wanted to go back to Egypt; during which they yearned for the "garlics
and leeks," and the variety of foods they had enjoyed there. God knew they would not
COME OUT of that slavery; COME OUT of their deeply-rooted way of life IN PAGANISM except
that God DESTROYED the nation of Egypt; left it in ruin, made them anxious,
desperate to escape Egypt! Yet, in spite of this, some of them still yearned to return
to their old ways.
The twelfth chapter of Exodus explains how,
following the awesome display of God's power, the Israelites were THRUST out of Egypt! God
said, "And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying What is this?
[the Passover celebration] that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the Eternal
brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage: and it came to pass, when Pharaoh
would hardly let us go, that the Eternal slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both
the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beasts: ... and it shall be for a token upon
thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by STRENGTH OF HAND the Eternal
brought us forth out of Egypt!" (Exodus 13:14-16).
The account of the Exodus concludes, "And
Israel saw that GREAT WORK which the Eternal did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared
the Eternal, and believed the Eternal, and His servant Moses" (Exodus 14:31).
Then came the test commandment, the
weekly Sabbath! Read Exodus 16 and 17. God said, "
Tomorrow is the rest of the
holy Sabbath unto the Eternal..." explaining the people were not to gather manna on
that day. Instead, they rebelled.
"God then said, "
HOW LONG
refuse ye to KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS and my laws?" (Exodus 16:28).
Later, at the foot of Sinai God gave the
Israelites His commandments, including many statutes and laws. He expounded His annual
Sabbaths to them, commencing with the Passover and progressing through all seven of
the annual feasts and the seven annual holy days.
Notice how God described the Feast of
Tabernacles: "Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, the fifteenth day of
this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles [Heb., "Succoth, "
meaning "booths, " or tents] for seven days unto the Eternal ... 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
Eternal your God seven days ... and ye shall keep it a feast unto the Eternal seven days
in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations; ye shall celebrate it in
the seventh month.
"Ye shall dwell in booths [Heb.,
"Succoth"the identical word rendered "tabernacles" in
verse 341 seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: that your
generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when
I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Eternal your God" (Leviticus
23:33-43).
God had uprooted the captive Israelites
from their enslaved conditionby a series of great miracles!
Notice the parallels!
Egypt is used as a type of sin. As God
brought His nation Israel out of Egypt, so He brings us individually, and collectively, His
church, out of "spiritual Babylon," this evil worldand sin, which
holds us captive!
Pharaoh is typical of Satan. Jannes and
Jambres, the two magicians, are probably symbolic of the beast and the false prophet.
Moses is typical of Christ. In another analogy,
Moses and Aaron are typical of the two
witnesses of Revelation 11, who are to testify before the beast and false prophet
concerning the latter-day captivity of Israel!
The Red Sea crossing is symbolic of Christian
baptism (I Corinthians 10: 1, 2), and the forty years' wandering in Sinai, a type of
the Christian life of trials.
The fact that they dwelt in booths showed
them that we "have no certain dwelling place" in this life (I Corinthians 4:11),
but that we look forward to a permanent dwelling placethe Kingdom of
God, for all eternity!
For decades, the church has heard the emphasis placed on the
future picture of the feast, but has never heard the rich meaning of the feast
for our lives NOW!
But notice!
What will Christ do as His first great act when
He arrives on this earth?
He will issue a command that all nations DWELL
IN BOOTHSbegin to KEEP THE FEAST!
God's Word says: "And it shall come to
pass, that everyone that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall
even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Eternal of Hosts, 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 Eternal 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 Eternal will smite
the heathen that come NOT UP to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
"This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment
of all nations that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles" (Zechariah
14:16-19).
Remember! This chapter begins, "Behold the
DAY OF THE ETERNAL cometh..." and says plainly, "Then shall the Eternal go
forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle.
"And His feet shall stand in that day
upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east..." (Zechariah
14:1-4).
No amount of "reasoning" or
"arguing" will get away from the plain fact that Zechariah 14 is speaking
of the second coming of Christ, the final subjugation of the beast power and of all
nations, and the establishment of the world ruling Kingdom of God on earth!
God says, "And the Eternal shall be King
over all the earth: In that day there shall be one Lord and His name one"!
(Zechariah 14:9).
But, WHY?
Yes, why, if the only emphasis on
the Feast of Tabernacles is that of LOOKING FORWARD to the Kingdom of God, do those who
are now BEING GOVERNED BY THAT KINGDOM; those who are alive, as human beings, on
this earth AFTER the second coming of Christ; those who are now being ruled by the
Kingdom of God itself, told to KEEP THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES? How can it picture ONLY the
Kingdomyet be enjoined upon human beings after the Kingdom of God is established?
Perhaps there is a great deal that church
leadership missed during the past decadesa rich meaning to the feast; our dwelling
in boothswhich God intends we now learn.
WhoWhat Do We Worship?
One of the greatest lessons in the Christian
life is the rejection of materialism.
Ancient Israel, even though held captive as
slaves, had become accustomed to their lives in Egypt. It isn't so bad, in many ways; at
least, many of them believed this. Oh, they groaned and complained under their
taskmasters; yet, when Moses led them into a harsh, bleak, dry, forbidding wilderness,
they were quick to yearn for Egypt
Jesus Christ said, "Lay not up for
yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break
through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor
rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also!" (Matthew 6:19-21).
He continued, "No man can serve two
masters [think of Ancient Israel, in Egypt, and of ourselves, when held captive
by Satan's world, and our own sins]; for either he will hate the one, and love the other;
or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon
[this world; its economic, social, religious systems]. Therefore I say unto you, take no
[anxious] thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for
your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than
raiment?" (Matthew 6:24-34).
Read the remainder of Jesus' words in the sixth
chapter of Matthew!
He gave the example of Solomon, in all his
glory; of the lilies of the field; then concluded by saying, "
your heavenly
Father knows you have need of these things. But seek ye first the Kingdom of God,
and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you!
Christ says it is a matter of emphasis.
Where are our hearts? Where are our minds,
our thoughts, our hopes and dreams, our plans? What do we worship?
Are our hearts on material thingshomes,
autos, boats, vacations, trips, salaries, bonuses, clothing, toys, food, a glittering
array of material goodsor are our thoughts, plans, hopes, and dreams centered
on GOD'S GREAT KINGDOM?
God commands, "
COME OUT of her [spiritual
BabylonEgypt], my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye
receive not of her plagues!" (Revelation 1:4).
Yes, once again, God is going to call
His peoplephysical, national Israelites OUT OF SLAVERY. Once again, He will
have to break the yoke of bondage, of slavery, with an outpouring of plagues!
God "made a difference" (Exodus 11:7)
between His people Israel and the Egyptians because of the shed blood of an innocent
little lamb, painted on their doors and Windows. During the Day of the Lord, and the
outpouring of God's wrath against Babylon the great, it is only those who have the
shed blood of their Saviour, Jesus Christ, figuratively painted on their hearts who
will be spared the plagues!
Are Our "Roots" in This World?
Jesus said, "REMEMBER LOT'S WIFE!"
(Luke 17:32).
Why? Because Lot's wife was so
thoroughly corrupted by the filthy, homosexual community of ancient Sodom that, once she
reached the wildernesshaving escaped that rotten, evil, sin-sick
environmentshe looked back in longing toward the filth of Sodom! Instantly,
she was turned into a pillar of salt, as a perpetual monument to the folly of longing for this
world with all its filth, instead of bravely looking ahead, toward the Kingdom
of God!
Now, notice two outstanding examples!
First Noah: God called Noah at a time when the
world was in such evil it was virtually unimaginable. Every kind of
perversionmurder, even cannibalismwas rampant. God was sick to His heart that
He had made mankind! Only Noah was found to be righteousIN THE WHOLE EARTH!
Noah was instructed to build an ark, a
temporary dwelling place, as a means of protection and survival for himself, his
family, and a select group of animals. The project may have required most of Noah's
lifetime to complete! But as Noah built, he was constantly reminded that he was NOT
building something to take root in this world, but something which would be home up
by the waters, to be taken wherever God's will and ocean waves and currents directed. He
was BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE! His whole life's effort was aimed toward the project which
would save his family, save his life, save mankind. Few ever learned the lesson of
looking toward a temporary dwelling-place more than Noah.
Second, consider Abraham: God called Abram (his
name before God changed it to mean "father of many nations") while he was in his
own land, among his own kinsmen. God said, "Get thee out of thy country, and from
thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will bless thee, and make
thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing..." (Genesis 12:1, 2).
Abraham didn't argue. The Bible account is
beautifully simple, direct.
"So Abram departed, as the Eternal
had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when
he departed out of Haran" (Genesis 12:4).
Next, we learn that Abraham lived in tents for
the remainder of his life, that he moved from place to place. We do not know if he lived
in a permanent home in Haran. We do know God told him to "pull up
stakes," to uproot from his permanent place of 75 long years, and to "go to a
place" God would show him.
That place? It was the place of ETERNAL
INHERITANCE! God promised Abraham ETERNAL POSSESSION OF THE LAND he could see, from one
horizon to another! It was the promise of salvation; yet it also carried the
connotation of possession of the land. (Genesis 13:14-18).
Now notice what God says about Noah and
Abraham: "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved
with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the
world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
"By faith Abraham, when he was called to
go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and
he went out, not knowing whither he went.
"By faith he sojourned in the land
of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling IN TABERNACLES [tents, booths!] with
Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city
which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God!" (Hebrews 11:7-10).
Abraham, like Noah, worked hard for the
remainder of his natural life, not to accumulate great material wealth, physical
possessions, or to build a place of permanent residence. Instead, he dwelt in tents, going
from place to place in a land which he was promised he would inherit in the future!
Notice the lesson of Hebrews 11: "These
all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them
afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were
STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS ON THE EARTH!" (Hebrews 11: 13).
Now, what was the purpose for the Israelites
dwelling in "booths" immediately upon being wrested from slavery in
Egypt, which was a type of sin? God said they should dwell in booths for the
duration of the Feast of Tabernacles "that your generations may know that I made the
children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of
Egypt!" (Leviticus 23:43).
Notice the emphasis Almighty God HIMSELF
placed upon the Feast of Tabernacles when His original instructions were given!
It was not a futuristic lesson; He did
not tell them they were "dwelling in booths" looking toward the promised
landalthough this was implied!
The important lesson the Israelites were to
learn was the IMPERMANENCE of this physical earth, its corrupt nations, its bankrupt
institutions, its sinful socioeconomic systems!
Almighty God uprooted the Israelites by
force!
In the same fashion, He sometimes has to
perform miracles to force some of us to let go of our tenacious grasp on our
materialistic possessions, our homes and families, our earthly pursuits and concerns! Like
plucking a tree from the earth, to the sounds of tearing roots and rupturing soil, God has
to pry us loose from our material environment if we are to become fit servants of
Histo become "sojourners and pilgrims" in this life, having no
"certain dwelling place" during our human, physical life span, but looking
for an eternal inheritance with Almighty God in His Kingdom!
The Feast of Tabernacles includes a lesson in values.
It is a time for us to examine our hearts, our
priorities.
As God requires us to leave our physical
homes and dwelling places for seven days (plus the extra holy day after the Feast
of Tabernacles, making eight days in all), He reinforces, year by year, the lesson He
taught Noah, Abraham, many other righteous men and patriarchs; the lesson the apostle Paul
learned, the lesson to which Jesus Christ referred when He said, "The Son of man hath
nowhere to lay His head," and the lesson of Hebrews 11, the "faith"
chapter.
That lesson? Peter put it this way,
"
ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar
[purchased, or 'unique'] people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath
called you out of darkness into His marvelous light:
"Which in time past were not a people, but
are now the people of God..." (I Peter 2:9, 10).
Thus, in a very real sense, a great deal of the
emphasis of the Feast of Tabernacles is on the fact that DURING THIS LIFE we are
"strangers and pilgrims" on this earth; that we have no deep
"roots" in this life! Rather, as we dwell in "booths," or
temporary dwelling places; be they tents, campers, trailers, motor homes, condos, hotel or
motel rooms; we are away from our own homes, away from our familiar surroundings, away
from our "stuff," our "things" with which we are so familiar and which
we tend to treasure so highly!
Think for a moment!
Is Almighty God surrounded by
"things"? That is, does God sit in His heavenly armchair, gazing about Himself
at bric-a-brac, artifacts, family heirlooms, treasured paintings, family albums, pictures
of His "relatives," a prized piece of silver, a battered old phonograph
playerthe bits and pieces of human lives, so carefully hoarded and collected
together?
Of course not!
Almighty God says the UNIVERSE, the heavens and
the earth, and everything that is in them are HIS!
Thus, Almighty God is far, far above the
pecuniary motive of measuring Himself by His "material" surroundings; far, far
above the picayunish, mizerly, greedy, smallness of men and women who tend to place great
emphasis on passing "things" which can be so quickly destroyed by earthquake,
fire, storm, mildew, insects; which can be broken, burnt, or become yellowed with age and
illegible.
"Treasure" is not always merely
money. Sometimes, people "treasure" certain thingsmaterial, physical
possessions they have accumulated over a number of years, and without which they feel they
simply could not live!
But to Almighty God, whether He looks down upon the lofty
alps, the Andes mountains, the veins of rich gold which yet lie beneath the mountains of
this earth undiscovered; the multiple BILLIONS of dollars, of diamonds, rubies, emeralds,
sapphires, which have never been discoveredor the great diamonds which now
repose in the vaults of great banks, or the British crown jewels at the Tower of
LondonHe can gaze upon it all and say "That's mine!"
Therefore, since Almighty God owns
everything, He does not have the need of gathering "things" around
Himself, and placing His heart, mind and attention upon those "things! "
God says "Look to the Future!"
Always, Almighty God called righteous men
and women to leave their secure, comfortable, material possessions and to embrace
the great WORK to which He has called them!
Jesus Christ, for example, was a
"sojourner" on this earthknowing He had but a certain span of
years, and that His life was going to be forfeited!
The righteous examples of "the
faithful" as enumerated in Hebrews 11 tells us a great deal about the rich tapestry
of the Feast of Tabernacles!
Notice, the writer of Hebrews, speaking of all
of the righteous patriarchs who "died in faith, not having received the
promises," and who were "strangers and pilgrims on the earth," goes on to
say "for they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a
country.
"And truly, if they had been mindful of
that country from whence they came out [in other words, if, like Lot's wife, they yearned
for the old environment and all of their material possessions] they might have had
opportunity to have returned [which would have meant their destruction].
"But now they desire a better country.
That is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God:
for He hath prepared for them a city" (Hebrews 11: 13-16).
And remember the description of some of these
great men and women of the past? God said they "...had trial of cruel mockings and
scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn
asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they 'wandered about' in sheepskins and
goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (of whom the world was not worthy:) they
wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
"And these all, having obtained a good
report through faith, received not the promise; God having provided some better
thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect" (Hebrews 11: 33-40).
Remember what Jesus said about possessions,
friends and family? Remember, Jesus' disciples left their homes and families, and followed
Him.
On one occasion, Peter asked "Behold we have forsaken
all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?
"And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say
unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man
shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the
twelve tribes of Israel.
"And every one that hath forsaken houses,
or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my
name's sake, shall I receive an hundred fold, and shall inherit everlasting
life!" (Matthew 19:27-29).
Can You Stay at Home and Keep the Feast?
Sometimes, people begin to
"reason" about God's annual holy days! Some, of course, delude themselves
into believing the annual holy days are not important! Perhaps they are
disappointed or chagrined at a human leader, or a church organization. Perhaps they simply
"grow weary with well doing," and are "too tired" to go to all the
"trouble" to go to the feast!
Others believe that as long as they "take
note of it," or somehow realize that it is the time of the feast, that it is
perfectly alright for them to remain in their own homes!
Yet, Israelites during Jesus' day actually
moved out of their homes and pitched tents on their roof tops just to ensure
that they learned the lesson of getting OUT of their familiar surroundings, and that
they lived in "booths," or temporary dwelling places during the seven days of
the feast!
What about that fourteenth chapter of
Zechariah, which tells us that Jesus Christ is going to issue a great command to all
nations to keep the feast?
Those who believe they are
"Christian," and yet find "excuses" for not keeping the Feast of
Tabernacles, must soberly and seriously ponder this chapter.
Obviously, the very first published edict of
the new super WORLD RULING KING, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, will be an absolute COMMAND,
punished by horrible plagues if any disobedience is found, to come up to the
new world capitol to KEEP THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES!
If you are one who is somewhat in doubt, this
chapter presents to you a question. Do you intend being alive at that time?
Whether human, or spiritual, will you then OBEY the voice of the Eternal your God?
Do you plan, now, in other words, to begin
keeping the Feast of Tabernacles when Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the KING OF KINGS, commands
you to?
Surely no rational person remotely calling
himself "Christian" could contemplate disobeying that future command.
Have you never read how the nations say they
are eagerly willing to go up to the new world capitol to learn of God's ways ?
Notice! "And it shall come to pass in the last days,
that the mountain [symbol of GOD'S GOVERNMENT] of the Eternal's house shall be established
in the top of the mountains [symbol of earthly governments] and shall be exalted above the
hills [symbol of smaller earthly governments] and all nations shall flow unto it.
"And many people shall go and say, Come
ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Eternal, to the house of the God of
Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of
Zion shall go forth THE LAW, and the word of the Eternal from Jerusalem.
"And He shall judge among the nations, and
shall rebuke many people: And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their
spears into pruning hooks: Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war any more" (Isaiah 2:2-4).
Now, according to Zechariah 14, WHENat
WHAT TIME OF YEARwill these many nations be willing to journey from whatever
point of the compass to the new world capitol to "learn of His ways"?
On what great annual occasion will
Almighty God COMMAND the representatives of nations to come to His headquarters?
You cannot avoid ityou can't get around
itno amount of human reasoning or argument will change itthese great conclaves
will assemble in Jerusalem AT THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES!
The Significance of the Feast
As tens of thousands assemble all around the
world, it is time to realize more fully the deep significance of the Feast of
Tabernacles.
It is through the annual holy days of
Almighty God that we learn, thoroughly and completely, GOD'S GREAT PLAN!
By "acting out, " by mimicking our
Saviour, Jesus Christ (who KEPT God's annual feasts and is Lord of the weekly
Sabbath!), we come to resupport, reinforce, profoundly and indelibly impress upon
ourselves, the ingrained knowledge and acceptance of God's great plan until it becomes
HABIT!
The entire world-girdling plan of Almighty God
is encompassed in the annual holy days! Review them in your mind, briefly, reading the
entire 23rd chapter of Leviticus!
Notice that these are called "GOD'S
FEASTS," and never "festivals of the Jews. "
First comes the Passover looking back toward
God's miraculous deliverance of Israel in Egypt, and the blood of the slain lamb spread on
the doors and linters of their houses, causing the death angel to "pass over"
the firstborn of the Israelites, while striking the firstborn of every Egyptian home.
It was observed with the "bread of
affliction," for God brought them out of the land of Egypt "in haste."
When Jesus Christ changed the symbols of the
roast lamb and instituted, instead, the practice of sipping a little wine and partaking of
a bit of unleavened bread, He told His disciples, "Take, eat, this is my body which
is broken for you," and told them that the wine symbolized His "blood of the New
Testament"! (Matthew 26:26-28).
Study the latter half of I Corinthians 11,
where the apostle Paul plainly tells us that he was urging gentile Christians to
observe the Passover as a continual memorial of the death, burial and resurrection of
Jesus Christ!
Immediately following the Passover come the
Days of Unleavened Bread. For decades, God's people have had reinforced in their minds the
concept that, even as the physical forebears wandered in the wilderness eating food
provided miraculously from God, so must the individual Christian undergo his lifetime of
trials and tests; living a life of overcoming, putting sin out of his life, even as
he cleanses his home and foodstuffs of leaven.
Almighty God caused His original apostles to wait
in Jerusalem a good bit more than a month AFTER the ascension of Jesus Christ
to heaven, so God could send the Holy Spirit on an ANNUAL HOLY DAY, the Feast of "
Firstfruits, " or the Day of PENTECOST (which means "fiftieth").
Thus, in a completely altered New Testament
feast, the true Church of God has observed the Day of Pentecost ever since!
It is the "birthday" of the church,
the commemoration of that great event when Almighty God the Father first sent His Holy
Spirit to the world as a wholefulfilling Jesus' promise that if He "did
not go into heaven the 'other comforter' would not come"!
On that very day, 3,000 human beings were begotten
as the sons of God!
The commemoration of this day answers the
question "Why are there so few who are called NOW?"
It is the Feast of the firstfruits! Jesus
Christ tells us that we are the " firstfruits, " even as Christ was the
"firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29). Likewise, the scattered few who
represent the spiritual organism that is the "mystical" body of Christ
(the REAL "body of Christ" is in heaven with God the Father!) represent the
"firstfruits" of the harvest of the earth!
Observing the Feast of Pentecost each year humbles us with the
knowledge that, through no deeds, good works or special character of our own, Almighty God
performed the MIRACLE of opening our minds, "drafting" us from among the
billions of human beings on this earth, making us His sons and daughters, and giving us an
opportunity to be among the very FIRST to be changed into spirit beings "in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, " when Jesus Christ
returns! (I Corinthians 15:52-54).
Later, as the first feast of the fall season,
the Feast of Trumpets is observed by God's people.
In gleaning every bit of information we can
from the Word of God, we are struck by the following points:
Trumpets were used as a means of mass
communication in ancient Israel, in their camps in the wilderness. The trumpets were
used to summon the leaders of the tribes; to commence the march in specific order; to
announce special assemblies and convocations; to give a sound of alarm; or to call
to war!
From time immemorial, the military
organizations of the world have used trumpets because of their shrill, strident,
exciting and piercing tones, in marshalling and moving military bands and groups of men.
What veteran of the service is not familiar
with reveille, general quarters," "chow call" and "taps"?
Also, we learn that God's prophets and
evangelists are to "lift up their voices like a trumpet and show God's people
their sins" (Isaiah 58: 1).
The very work of God of being a witness
and a WARNING (like a warning trumpet blast!) is characterized by the Feast of
Trumpets.
Finally, and most important, the Bible
uses the type of TRUMPETS for the great ear-splitting cry from heaven above announcing
the SECOND COMING OF CHRIST! "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in
heaven: And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of
man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
"And He shall send His angels with a GREAT
SOUND OF A TRUMPET, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one
end of heaven to the other" (Matthew 24:30, 31).
Also, at the moment of the RESURRECTION, God
says, "Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, AT THE LAST TRUMP: For the TRUMPET SHALL
SOUND, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed"! (I Corinthians 15:51, 52).
Think of the insane, ridiculous,
childish "reasons" why many nations celebrate various "national
holidays." Think of the demonic, satanic, ridiculous frivolities associated with
"Halloween," with decorations consisting of witches, goblins, ghosts and ghouls!
What about "April Fool's Day, " New Year's Eve with its drunken ribaldry and
revelry; "Easter," with its sex and fertility symbols of rabbits and eggs?
It would seem, if there was ever an excuse or
a "reason" to observe an annual festival, it would be one of the
greatest excuses in all of history to observe a festival commemorating the FACT of the
death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christwhich guarantees that WE, TOO,
can be RAISED FROM THE DEADmade IMMORTAL, changed into SPIRIT, given ETERNAL LIFE!
Then WHY such resistance to observing the same
ceremony (called "the Passover") as did Jesus Christ?
What could be a greater "excuse" than
a gigantic FALL FESTIVAL celebrating the coming establishment of the very KINGDOM OF GOD
on earth? What could be GREATER than celebrating, not only the physical harvest of
the land, but looking forward to the vast, SPIRITUAL HARVEST of the WHOLE EARTH?
In looking at all of the holy days
simultaneously, we celebrate, seven times annually, the very PURPOSE OF LIFE! If there was
ever a "CELEBRATION OF LIFE," the seven annual holy days of God constitute such
a celebration!
But, of course, God's people have not merely
sought "an excuse" to observe the feast!
How Should We Worship God?
What is idolatry? Why are the Ten
Commandments so arranged that the first two have to do with false worship;
worshipping other gods and making idols? Probably because God knew these would be the very
FIRST commandments men would tend to break! What is true worship? It is mimicking,
IMITATING, obeying, serving the one being worshipped! It is love, adoration,
adulation and a desire to BE LIKE the one being worshipped!
Almighty God portrays to us His feasts; Jesus
Christ shows that the first GREAT COMMAND to be issued from His exalted throne as supreme
WORLD RULER will be: "You must come up to keep the FEAST OF TABERNACLES! " How
can it be conceivable to ANY human mind that an individual will DISOBEY that
thunderous command?
Yet the book of Zechariah seems to predict that
some nations will have to be FORCED through back-breaking drought and famine; through the
SHATTERING of their remaining economy, to OBEY GOD!
If you are a worshiper of God, then God
requires that you DO WHAT HE SAYS! False worship, idolatry, is illustrated by
millions of human beings who "mimic" the actions, voice mannerisms, dress,
appearance, hair styles and other affectations of their "matinee idols."
Some people worship other people; some people
worship themselves. Though few recognize it, MILLIONS are literally worshipping
Satan the devil, who masquerades as "an angel of light" (II Corinthians 11:
13-15) and are worshipping a FALSE Christ, and "another gospel"!
This FALSE Christ they are perfectly willing to
"obey," for the FALSE Christ that is portrayed to the world hands the world
easily palatable, easily acceptable, meaningless, lackadaisical, empty, weird FANTASIES
instead of obedience!
The world lets out nary a whimper as it rushes
madly about spending literally BILLIONS of dollars on nonsensical "gifts" in
lavish commercialism during the "Christmas season."
It protests with nary a word as it scampers
about, carefully attempting to avoid razor blades or needles in apples, LSD or poisons in
candy, ground glass in cookies, shouting "trick or treat" from behind the
grotesque mask on "the Evening of All Hallows" (Halloween).
Of course, all of this nonsense teaches
nothing, educates not a whit and only in a remote mannertotally overshadowed by the
pagan accoutrements of the seasonallegedly represents "Christianity. "
But inform some of these same partygoers at
Christmas time over the eggnog bowl, or kissing under the mistletoe, that they OUGHT to be
observing God's FEAST OF TABERNACLES, and you may find yourself forcibly ejected from the
scene!
But God says we are to WORSHIP God! Jesus said
we are to worship God in spirit and in truth. Paul urged, "Be ye followers
[imitators] of me, even as I also am of Christ" (I Corinthians 11:1). Peter said
Jesus Christ set us an example that we should follow in His steps (I Peter
2:21).
God has ordained that we must act out a
part of His plan by observing His annual holy days. By living for eight short days with
converted brethren in the actual conditions which will soon prevail on earth, we
come to impress upon ourselves His great plan.
Rejoice in the Feast
God says: "But unto the place which the
Lord your God shall choose ... thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your
sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your
freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and your flocks, and there ye shall
eat before the Lord your God, and ye shall REJOICE in all that ye put your hands to, ye
and your household, wherein the Lord thy God has blessed thee" (Deuteronomy 12:5-7).
Notice that He included the burnt offerings and
sacrifices in this scripturespeaking to ancient Israel. We know that Christ's one
sacrifice has rendered all of these ordinances (burnt offerings and sacrifices)
unnecessaryfor Christ's ONE SACRIFICE has, once and for all, atoned for SINS!
Furthermore, remember that these animal sacrifices were NOT A PART of the original holy
days of God when He called His people out of the land of Egypt! (Jeremiah 7:22).
They were added because rebellious
Israelites were breaking God's Commandments.
The important thing to notice is that Almighty
God wanted families to REJOICE in the feast!
To WHOM Will You Conform?
Many people "kid" themselves they
are willing to obey Godso long as God does not require them to do anything that
is distasteful, inconvenient or difficult! Millions of words have been expended;
thousands of pamphlets, articles, booklets and hundreds of books have been writen in
attempts to provide carnal-minded, disobedient human beings with myriad
"excuses" for AVOIDING conformance to God's will!
God says, "For the carnal mind is enmity
[hostility] toward GodIt is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be"! (Romans 8:7).
To Catholics and mainstream Protestants, the
only "excuse" required to avoid observing God's annual holy days is the mere
fact that they have virtually never heard of them! Complacently satisfied they have
already found the "truth"; satisfied with their own church affiliation and body
of doctrines (in so far as they have either heard them, studied them or understand
themwhich in many cases is shockingly sparse), they merely shrug their shoulders,
retort "What feasts?" or say, "Oh, those are Jewish holidays!"
To millions, that is enough of a retort to
"justify" themselves in their rejection of God's holy days.
Proof.? They have none. Have they ever
studied the entire subject of God's weekly and annual Sabbaths throughout the
Bible; in both Old and New Testaments; through history? No. They know nothing of
the Nicene Council, the Quartodecimen Controversy, the attempts over centuries to STAMP
OUT the observance of the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread commencing on the 14th of
Nisan!
They know nothing of the great
restorations under righteous kings centered around the rediscovery of God's annual holy
days and the great BLESSINGS lavished by God upon His people for so doing. They know nothing
of Christ's own example of holy day observance; that He is Lord of the Sabbath day
(Mark 2:27-29) or that the apostle Paul taught the gentiles to observe God's annual
holy days (I Corinthians 5).
They are as ignorant of God's annual holy days
as is a Buddhist of Christianity, a Moslem of Catholicism, or a Confucianist of Coptic
Christianity.
To millions, the subject of annual holy days is
completely FOREIGN! It is no wonder, then, that those same millions are completely ignorant
of the entire plan and purpose of Almighty God! For, in vivid and colorful fashion,
the annual progression of God's holy days, continually occurring as yearly reminders to
God's people, portrays the beautiful PLAN OF GODthe very PURPOSE for your human
life!
To a truly converted person, God's
"wish" (if there is such a thing) is the Christian's COMMAND! A truly converted,
obedient son of God no longer attempts to "reason" around in his own mind
various methods of avoidance of God's clearly indicated WILL!
Rather than being conformed to the world;
conformed to the ways of life of those around him; conformed to the Satanic
deceptions of this evil world, the truly converted, obedient Christian is CONFORMED to
Jesus Christ! Almighty God will not bless a cantankerous, hostile,
"reasoning" human mind which only seeks excuses to AVOID conforming to
the will of God! God says, "
A broken spirit: A broken and contrite heart, O
God, thou wilt not despise" (Psalms 51:17).
Paul says we are to present our bodies to
GodGIVING ourselves to Him! "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies
of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable serviceand be NOT CONFORMED to this world, but be ye
TRANSFORMED by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Romans 12:1, 2).
Notice! The true Christian is to be transformed
CHANGEDuntil he is no longer conformed to this world and its anti-God
"excuses. "
We are to be conformed to CHRIST! "For
whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son,
that He might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29).
Jesus Christ IN US the Hope of Glory
Do you belong to Jesus Christ? If the
answer is yes, then it would be UNTHINKABLE to you to disobey the example,
the plans, yes, even the indicated choices or wishes of your Saviour, your High
Priest and your soon-coming King!
Almighty God says, "I change not! "
Remember, Jesus Christ is "the same yesterday, today and forever"! (Hebrews
13:8).
The apostle Paul explained that, when one is
converted, Jesus Christ is literally living within that person (Galatians 2:20-22).
Question: Did Jesus Christ observe God's annual
holy days? Answer: YES! We see Him observing the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem;
observing the Passover as a habitual, annual occasion, and changing the
ancient symbol of the roast Paschal lamb, bitter herbs and the "bread of haste"
into the wine and unleavened bread of the New Testament in His blood!
We see Him commanding His disciples to WAIT
until the Day of PENTECOST (Greek meaning "fiftieth"), the annual "Feast of
Weeks" or "Feast of the Firstfruits, " for the receiving of God's
Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ inspired the apostle Paul to
preach to gentile Christians: "Let us keep the feast!" (I Corinthians 5:8).
We see Paul writing, in the late 50s A.D.,
approximately 25 years after the resurrection of Christ: "But I will tarry at Ephesus
until Pentecost..." (I Corinthians 16:8).
In the narrative of "The Acts [deeds] of
the Apostles," written by Luke, concluded in approximately 59 A.D., we see
Luke, the chronologer, mentioning, as a prominent, annual and seasonal occasion, the ':fast"
of the Day of Atonement. "Now when much time was spent, and when sailing
was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them..."
(Acts 27:9).
In the large, English-language King James
Version printed by the Philadelphia Press, a marginal reference says, "The day of
Atonement."
The Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread are
mentioned in Acts 12:1-4.
In short, if Jesus Christ is living His life
within you, then you will be obeying Him; joyfully and willingly taking part
in the happy, exciting, joyous annual celebrations of life itself, of the great
plan of Godand of the future reign of Jesus Christ on this earth!
History and the Future Remember!
God revealed His annual holy days to Israel
(the "physical church in the wilderness") when He brought them out of Egypt.
In a sense, even as God was restoring to them
the lost knowledge of the seasons, the calendar and even the weekly cycle, He
revealed to them the ANNUAL HOLY DAYS first! Of course, they had never lost track of the
weekly cycle, and yet, through the years of slavery and the adoption of Egyptian, pagan
customs, the entire nation of Israel had drifted into Sabbath breakingignoring the
Sabbath commandand had to be reminded of it, shown that to break the Sabbath
was punishable by death, before they began to observe the weekly Sabbath
once again!
When the kings of Judah or of Israel forgot God's
annual holy days, the land drifted into anarchy, enemies attacked and transported the
peoples of the nations into slavery, rampant paganism ensued, the Israelites
drifted into abominable idolatries, and God meted out swift and stern PUNISHMENT!
In the great restorations under such
righteous kings as Josiah, for example, the very hallmark of those
restorations was the REESTABLISHMENT OF THE OBSERVANCE OF GOD'S ANNUAL HOLY DAYS!
Throughout the past, Almighty God blessed His
people for observing His annual Sabbaths, and they were under a curse when those
annual Sabbaths were ignored!
Remember! The first great global COMMAND to be
issued by the soon-coming WORLD RULER will be: "You must come to Jerusalem to keep
the feast!"
One thing is sure.
No matter what your religious background,
upbringing, points of view, concepts, or even imagined "excuses," todayyou
WILL KEEP IT THEN! However, if Almighty God detects rebellion; if there is a
willing disobedience in hearts and minds who refuse to obey God nowit may
well be Too LATE for them to rejoice in the great, GLOBAL celebration of the Feast of
Tabernacles at the beginning of the millennium!
Think of the incredible festival
that will be held in the environs of Jerusalem AFTER a nuclear holocaust has devastated
perhaps more than one-third of the population of this earth!
Literally billions of people will not be thinking,
then, about the so-called "Permanence" of their physical surroundings!
Rather, they will begin to realize what a near
thing it was that ALL MANKIND might have been utterly destroyedOBLITERATED
from the face of the earth!
Now, suddenly, hundreds of millions will
have awakened to the fact there really IS a great, powerful, Creator GOD!
God will have been shaking this earth;
pouring out every kind of plague, the trumpet plagues, the seven last plagues spoken of in
the book of RevelationHe will have utterly destroyed the great false churches
of this earth, and the cities will run with rivers of blood as the ghastly
scenes in the book of Revelation and other prophecies portray!
At that time, there will be hundreds of
millions who will be WILLING to docily and meekly find their way (with the help of angels,
no doubt!) to the environs of Jerusalem, and keep a Feast of Tabernacles unlike
any "camp out" in the history of mankind!
Bible prophecies say that the great return of
God's people Israel from nations all over the four corners of the globe where they have
been held captive will then forever erase the memory of the first exodus!
He says, "And I that am the Eternal thy God from the
land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, [booths] as in the
days of the solemn feast" (Hosea 12:9).
This scripture comes after the picture
of the regathering of Israel, this time from the "land of Assyria
" (Hosea 11: 11).
Now, you may have a far broader, fuller, richer
understanding of the Feast of Tabernacles than ever before!
You see, not only does it show us the future Kingdom
of God; it also acknowledges, in a very real sense, our day-today "sojourning"
in THIS physical life, here, NOW! In that sense, the Feast of Tabernacles is a "now"
feast!
We "uproot" from our pleasant, home
surroundingsgo to the place where Almighty God has set His name, where other
brethren of like spirit and like mind are gathering, and there rejoice in God's
festival, as pilgrims and strangers in a new, different and strange environment, happily
sharing the festival together, acknowledging the impermanence of our physical,
material lives on this earthcelebrating, joyously, the fact that we, together with
Noah, Abraham, all of the righteous patriarchs and prophets, the apostles, and Jesus
Christ Himself, are looking for a righteous KINGDOM which Jesus Christ will bring with Him
when He comes!
I hope to see ALL of you at the FEAST!
-End-
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This publication is intended to be used as a personal study tool. Please know it is not wise to take any man's word for anything, including ours, so prove all things for yourself from the pages of your own Bible. Because your salvation is between you and God, it is through such personal verification that you will gain confidence and come to know for yourself what is truth.
For additional related knowledge and understanding,
may we suggest the following title:
God's Seasonal Plan
The Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association
P.O. Box 747
Flint, TX 75762
Phone: (903) 561-7070 Fax: (903) 561-4141