Mishpachah Yeshua Newsletter
A Newsletter To The Family Of Jesus From Restoration Ministries
The Hebraic family is not simply an individual or private matter.
Rather, it is an institution in which the whole community has a stake.
Thus, the Hebrew word “mishpachah,” meaning family, not only refers to parents and children,
but to the whole extended family worldwide in the body of “Yeshua”—our Jesus.
[click here for a printable copy]
September/October 2004 Topic: Lessons
From The Feasts
Dear Friends,
Twice this summer Sue and I were asked if
we’d like to attend a Feast of Tabernacles celebration
this fall. The first request was geographically impossible, so
after declining the invitation we didn’t give it another
thought. The second one, however, was doable. Now I had to do
some thinking.
The last time I attended a Feast of
Tabernacles was in 1998. It was filled with some of the most
spiritually unrighteous, worldly inflamed people I’d
ever been with. The Feast was a performance, a show for the
people with all the banners and dancing. Little concern was
shown for the “clean hands and pure hearts” needed
to worship God in Spirit and in truth.
But the families who were inviting us this
time were of a different spirit. They were filled with deep
regard for the Lord, and serious about living righteously for
Him. No this newsletter isn’t being written to urge you to keep the
Feasts, but to review what followers of Jesus can glean from
them.
How Can Tabernacles
Help Your Pilgrimage?
The Feast of Tabernacles (or booths) was
one of the three annual festivals in which the people of Israel
and Judah had to travel to Jerusalem. The name of this feast
came from the requirement for everyone to live for seven days
in outdoor tabernacles made of boughs and branches.
Throughout the Older Testa-ment, God gave
the Israelites several reasons for keeping the Feast of
Tabernacles:
1. A Reminder Of That From Which God Had
Freed Them
You shall live in booths for seven days;
all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God (Lev. 23:42,43).
The Feast was to remind the Israelites for
generations to come of the miraculous manner by which God had
freed them from Egyptian bondage. This is an important point to
remember when we review later how Tabernacles still helps the
followers of Jesus today.
2. A Reminder of Our Sojourner Status
Living in booths reminded the Israelites
that they were just sojourners on earth. Earthly existence was
not designed by God to be permanent. But at the same time, the
years they were given were intended to point to a larger
eternal purpose.
The writer to the Hebrew believers
clarifies this: “All these
people kept on trusting until they died, without receiving what
had been promised. They had only seen it and welcomed it from a
distance, while acknowledging that they were aliens and temporary residents on the earth” (Hebrews
11:13).
3. A Grateful Expression Of Their
Dependence On God
You shall celebrate the Feast of Booths
seven days after you have gathered
in from your threshing floor and
your wine vat; and you shall rejoice
in your feast, you and your son and
your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite
and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your
towns...
Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God
in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread
and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Tabernacles, and
they shall not appear before the
LORD empty-handed (Deuteronomy
16:13,14-16).
The Israelites worked hard on the land God
gave them. Harvest time, the time of in-gathering, was an
appropriate occasion to recount the good their God had
accomplished on their behalf. The Feast pointed to their utter
dependence on their Lord for provision, for He alone was the
Source of the rain, sunlight and nutrients necessary for their
crops to flourish.
4. A Time To Bring Sacrifice To God
These are the LORD’s appointed
feasts, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for bringing offerings made to the LORD by fire — the burnt
offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings
required for each day (Leviticus 23:
37).
The Israelites were not to come to the
Feast empty-handed. Their journey cost them not only time away
from home, but also the finest of their crops and stock.
5. To Know God And To Keep His Commands
Then Moses commanded them, saying,
‘At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year
of remission of debts, at the Feast of Tabernacles, when all
Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place
which He will choose, you shall read
this law in front of all Israel in their hearing.
Assemble the people, the men and the women
and children and the alien who is in your town, so that they
may hear and learn and fear the
LORD your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law. Their children, who have
not known, will hear and learn to
fear the LORD your God, as long as
you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to
possess (Deuteronomy 31:10-13).
Every seventh year during the Feast of
Tabernacles, families together reviewed the laws of God, from
the youngest to even the aliens in the Land. Even for
“Christians” today in a democratic society, the
goal of reviewing the law to “learn and fear the LORD your God” seems like a foreign concept. But it
shouldn’t...
6. A Time to Rejoice
“On the first day you are to take
choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches
and poplars, and rejoice before the
LORD your God for seven days” (Leviticus 23:40).
This was an important command. Here was a
nation of people surrounded by enemies. Yet, as a testimony of
their trust-based relationship with God, He wanted them to
devote 8 days to rejoicing in Him!
The Feasts:
A Foreshadow Of Our Spiritual
Responsibilities
In many ways the testimony and history
that God has given us in the Older Testament are physical representations of that which we in Christ need to understand spiritually.
God’s reasons for the Feasts provide the foundations for
aligning our heart motives as we live in Covenant-union with our Father.
The Apostle Paul reminds us of the
physical-to-spiritual sequence when he writes, “The spiritual did not come first, but
the natural, and after that the spiritual” (1Corinthi-ans 15:46).
For instance, when Jesus at the Last
Supper blessed God in sharing the bread and wine, He
wasn’t doing something unheard of. Jesus was
incorporating aspects of the Passover Seder to express a
spiritual truth that concerned Himself: “This is My body...This is My blood.”
We want to stress this point: If you don’t
understand the foundations in the Older Testament, you can
never fully appreciate their spiritual significance in the
Newer Testament.
The relationship between our Father and us
in Jesus and His intended way of life for us that is presented
in the Newer Testament did not spring up in a vacuum. This is
why Jesus and the Newer Testament writers cite the Hebrew
Scriptures so often.
Again, we aren’t saying that you
should keep the form and ritual of the Feasts. But we are
encouraging you to gain spiritual
understanding of why God
commanded the Israelites to do certain things, and how these
apply to you today.
It would be wrong for you to go back and
keep ritual and form if you believed that by so doing you are
more pleasing to God. That would be legalistic perversion —
striving to earn acceptance by performance. Yet, now that Jesus
has come, we who follow Him can glean deep insight from
God’s purposes for establishing the Feasts.
Learning from Passover
God commanded the Israelites to keep the
Feast of Passover each year at a specific time:
For seven days you are to eat bread made
without yeast. On the first day remove
the yeast from your houses, for
whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day
through the seventh must be cut off from Israel (Exodus
12:15).
The responsibility to remove all yeast
from the home was so serious that anyone who failed to do this
was cut off from the people. What can we learn about the
significance of removing yeast from our lives and our homes?
Jesus told His disciples, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees,
which is hypocrisy“ (Luke 12:
1b). Is Jesus referring to bread yeast here? Paul presses on
further to connect “yeast” to sinful attitudes of
the heart: “Therefore let us keep the Festival,
not with the old yeast, the yeast
of malice and wickedness, but with
bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity
and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:8).
Can you see how meditating on the Older
Testament and God’s commands for Passover can help us
today? Do you think that the failure to remove malice and
wickedness from our hearts today is any less serious a matter than it was
for the Israelites to remove yeast from the land?
Can Jesus be speaking to this when He cuts
off self-justified religious practitioners at the Judg-ment
Throne with the words, “Get
away from me, you workers of
lawlessness!” (Matthew 7:23b)?
Learning from Yom Kippur
The Day of Atonement was an annual event
in which all Israel came together in order to have their sins
forgiven. (Consider God’s amazing grace in forgiving
people through the vicarious sacrifice of an animal!)
Instructions for this ritual were precise:
When [Aaron and subsequent priests] has
finished atoning for the Holy Place, the tent of meeting and
the altar, he is to present the live goat. Aaron is to lay both
his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the transgressions, crimes and
sins of the people of Israel; he is
to put them on the head of the goat and then send it away into
the desert with a man appointed for the purpose. The goat will bear all their transgressions away to some isolated place, and he is to let the
goat go in the desert... For on this day, atonement will be made for you to purify you; you will be clean
before ADONAI from all your sins
(Leviticus 16:20-22,30).
It takes a gracious God to forgive
people’s sins through the sacrifice of a substitute. It
also calls for great trust on the part of the people to believe
that the sacrifice has been accepted! Too often, when we today
confess our sins, we forget that the Only Sacrifice for those
sins has already been made. Yet this is exactly what our Father
accepted on our behalf! “God
presented [Jesus] as a sacrifice of
atonement, through faith in his
blood” (Romans 3:25a).
Consider for a moment the loving choice
Jesus made on your behalf. In order to be the perfect
sacrifice, He had to become just
like you in your humanity, yet not
give way to sin. “For this
reason he had to be made like his
brothers in every way, in order
that he might become a merciful and
faithful high priest in service to
God, and that he might make
atonement for the sins of the
people” (Hebrews 2:17).
The Need to Prepare
The Israelites didn’t just casually
show up for the Feasts like people today do when they attend a
church service. All it seems you need to do is sit down and
listen. You are the spectator to the performance others have
prepared for your enjoyment.
For the Israelites, preparation was key to
properly celebrating the Feasts. Before each feast, people had
to prepare their homes for their absence. They needed to get
ready for the often lengthy journey to Jerusalem, and locate
others to form a caravan for safety from brigands.
Remember, in preparing for Passover
the yeast needed to be removed from the land. Preparing for
Tabernacles required booths to be built. Preparation...
As you study your Bible try to pay
attention to all the times that preparation is needed. And
take note of the consequences to those who weren’t prepared.
The spiritual truths that are embodied in
the Feasts provide followers of Jesus a means to learn vital
spiritual truths. But it begins with preparation. You
wouldn’t show up at a wedding or birthday without a gift
and appropriate attire. In the same light, our Father wants us
to consider His reasons for the Feast of Tabernacles, and how
to prepare ourselves to meet Him at the Judgment Throne.
Removing Idols From Our Lives
The Feast of Tabernacles affords followers
of Jesus a key opportunity to confront any idolatrous
attachments we may have on earth. You may think you have none.
But idolatry is one of the most
inhibiting factors you may encounter if you desire to
wholeheartedly follow Jesus.
Idolatry is one of those subtle sins that
slowly takes over like a virus. It can creep into many areas of
your life, even into your ministry to others.
While we were at the retreat center, Sue
and I didn’t own the property. We worked without a salary
under a board of directors. For 8 of our 10+ years there I felt
I could leave any time God might call us. But then,
imperceptibly, something happened deep inside my motivation.
Whereas I once felt like a “steward” of the
ministry, I began to feel “ownership.”
When we left there, an older prophetic
friend, Leon Price, told me, “Even a place can become an
idol.” As I looked back, I could see that his words were
correct. I repented and thanked God for separating me from the
idol I’d grown to cherish.
From Sight to Trust
Paul assures us that “we live by trust, not by what we see” (2 Corinthians 5:7). That short sentence
is packed with significant ramifications. Studies show that
90% of what we learn and value comes through our
eyesight. The rest is acquired through taste, touch, hearing,
and smell.
But what you see around you, as wonderful
as it is, can also be your worse hindrance in living fully for Jesus.
That’s why preparing for the Feast of Tabernacles gives
us a great opportunity to scrutinize our lives to see if we
have any idols.
1. Idols: Things
and Places
Just as the booths reminded the Israelites
that they were sojourners on this earth, we too need to remind
ourselves of that which is important to our God. Consider the
goal of Abraham and of others who were commended for their
persevering trust. Note how they pushed past that which they
saw with their eyes into a heart trust that centered on
eternity:
“For [Abraham] was looking forward
to the city with foundations, whose
architect and builder is God...
Instead, they were longing for a better country — a heavenly one.
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called
their God, for he has prepared a
city for them” (Hebrews 11:
10,16).
“But you have come to Mount Zion, to
the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to
thousands upon thousands of angels
in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the
judge of all men, to the spirits of
righteous men made perfect” (Hebrews 12:22,23).
What does this mean to us today? It means
we too should question what truly occupies our devotion.
• Look around you. Where do your
possessions fit into your priorities?
• What do you fear losing?
2. Idols: Creed
versus Jesus
Is your faith centered more on your
denominational creed than on Jesus? Jesus warned the religious
leaders against putting their traditions on a higher plane than
the pure Word of God. Those leaders knew nothing of loving God
or their fellow man. Instead, they were consumed with putting
fences around the boundaries of the Law so they couldn’t
be accused of sinning!
• Do you identify yourself more by
your creed than by your walk as a follower of Jesus?
• Is what you know more important to
you than how you live?
Keep in mind that the path Jesus walked
may be yours as well: “And so
Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people
holy through his own blood. Let us,
then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore” (Hebrews 13:
12,13).
3. Idols: Family
Maybe your family has become your idol.
Perhaps you are fearful to confront sin in your home because
your spouse will object. Perhaps you give in to your kids
regarding activities or media that you know are contrary to
God’s.
• Do you overspend to meet most of
your children’s or spouse’s desires?
• What is the level of love for your
family compared to your love for Jesus?
Jesus well understood the shock His words
made on His hearers:
“Anyone who loves his father or
mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son
or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37).
The Path To Eternity Is Strewn With
Shattered Idols
Do you want to rid yourself of the idols
that hinder you? Then you need your mind, will, and emotions to
be brought into alignment with our Lord’s. No one is born
with the character of Jesus. To be transformed we need to stop being conformed:
Do not let yourselves be conformed to the
standards of this world. Instead, keep
letting yourselves be transformed by the renewing of your minds; so that you will know what God wants and will agree that what he wants is good, satisfying and able to succeed (Romans 12:2).
Only by casting aside your man-pleasing,
self-gratifying pursuits will you then be able to hear the Spirit and
be responsive to Him. Then you will be able to discern our
Father’s will and walk in it.
Fully determine to embrace your
sanctification—being set apart for His work in and
through you — into the nature of Jesus. Don’t let
yourself become self-satisfied or complacent about anything on
this earth:
“And we, who with unveiled faces all
reflect the Lord’s glory, are
being transformed into his likeness
with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the
Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:
18).
You’re on a journey, so keep
pressing onward!
A “Mind-field” of Idols
We often think of idols as some sort of
man-made image, an icon we can behold and revere. Yet, our God
sees idolatry in His children as a matter
of the heart. Do you recall the
repeated references to ancient Israel as adulterous and
whorish? They had chosen to worship idols alongside God rather
than adoring Him alone as He calls for.
Idolatry is whatever we desire more than
Him or the same as Him. We yearn
for things that compete with our loving devotion toward our
Lord. Our old fleshly nature keeps vying with our
spirit’s desire to be transformed. It’s an ongoing
battle that demands vigilance and response!
In dealing with idolatry Paul offers a
simple command: “There-fore,
my dear friends, flee from idolatry” (1
Corinthians 10:14). John puts it just as simply, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21).
The longing that comes from discontent
with what you have emanates from a heart that is vulnerable to
all sorts of wickedness. The only way to be rid of these is to kill them!
“Put to
death, therefore, whatever belongs
to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil
desires and greed, which is
idolatry” (Colossians 3:5).
Habitual sin nullifies your inheritance in
the kingdom of God. Note that Paul is addressing the church
here!
“The acts
of the sinful nature are obvious:
sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and
witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish
ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies,
and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the
kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21).
The apostle to whom Jesus was especially
close summarizes the impact of an idolatrous worldly focus:
Do not love the world or anything in the
world. If anyone loves the world,
the love of the Father is not in
him. For everything in the
world—the cravings of sinful
man, the
lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the
world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever (1 John 2:
15-17).
John shows us the way out of idolatry: doing God’s will. How do you know what His will is? It begins by
studying and prayerfully applying the Bible as made full in
Jesus. If you aren't studying the
Bible to apply it as living truth, you have idols that
aren’t being confronted and confessed.
The Stronghold of Idolatry
[From our book Demolishing Strongholds]
In order to flee idolatry you have more to
fight than just your sinful human nature. Demonic strongholds
will also resist any of your attempts to fulfill God’s
commands. With the stronghold of idolatry the here-and-now will
always have more emotional attachment for you than does the here-after.
In this culture, pursuit of wealth is one
of the strongest attractions this stronghold uses. And that
chase for power and prestige has ruined the faith of many
people:
People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and
harmful desires that plunge men
into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some
people, eager for money, have wandered
from the faith and pierced
themselves with many griefs (1Timothy
6:9-10).
A rich man was once asked, “How much
money is enough?” He replied, “A little bit
more.” To crave and yearn for more of earth’s
treasures and pleasures defies God’s will to “seek
first His kingdom.” You are unable
to be grateful for what you
have because you are disconnected from the Source of peace.
“Happiness” seems to be just out of grasp. You long
with all your heart for whatever you think will bring
contentment. That becomes your next idol.
If you habitually display any of the
symptoms below, you may have a stronghold of idolatry:
FRUSTRATED
Continuous feelings of perplexity; nothing seems to go right
HOPELESS
Strong feelings of desperation and despondency
GREEDY / SELFISH Stinginess or excessive self-indulgence
FINANCIAL PROBLEMS
Habitual pattern of bad financial
decisions
WRONG GOALS / DECISIONS
Outcome is focused on temporal pleasures
and material possessions
LIVING A LIE
Fear that others will discover the hollowness and
superficiality of your life
APATHETIC Unconcerned for the feelings or welfare of others
If any of these describe you, stop now!
Confess these before our Lord, casting this spirit down by the
authority of the name of Jesus. Purpose to turn away from these
deceits in your heart, and receive our Father’s
forgiveness for having preferred the world’s values over
faithfulness to Jesus alone. Then prayerfully discover how to
fill in those old ruts of behavior with transformed ways
according to His Spirit.
The Pilgrimage of Salvation:
Preparing Yourself
For Eternity
A person bent on idolatry does not concern
himself with eternity. The things he sees and craves in this
world occupy all his thoughts and focus. Thus he does nothing
to prepare himself for what lies beyond.
In a newsletter years ago we wrote about
the retired leader of a major denomination for whom God given
Mike a word, “There is nothing written about you in
heaven.” That old gentleman sadly replied,
“Twenty-five years ago my brother told me the same
thing.” All the years during which he’d risen to
the top of his denomination he’d been propelled by one
idol: desire for prestige. But that man isn’t the only
one plagued by underpinnings of idolatry.
Our Father intended that our time on earth
be a trust-based transformation from the here-and-now to an
unswerving focus on eternity. This is what our forefathers in
Hebrews 11 were commended for.
Jesus got His point across about
trust-based preparation in the Parable of the Ten Virgins. Five
prepared themselves in earnest anticipation of the
Bridegroom’s arrival. Five neglected their
responsibilities. The consequences of each choice is revelatory:
But while [the foolish virgins] were on
their way to buy the oil, the
bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went
in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. Later the
others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said.
‘Open the door for us!’ But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you (Matthew 25:10-12).
We realize that it’s hard for those
who have embraced any of the so-called man-centered gospels of today
to even consider that they have any responsibility to prepare
for the Judgment Throne. But you do! These false gospels negate
so much of the responsibility God calls for in His Word.
Jesus again hammers home the truth of
being properly prepared in Matthew 22:1-14, the Parable of the
Wedding Banquet.
A king sends his servants to summon the
guests who had been invited to his son’s wedding. Full of
worldly excuses and selfish pursuits, they declined and later
even killed the messengers. This group represents those Jewish
people who refused to put their trust in the Messiah. They
forcefully disregarded all the prophecies of Scripture that had
pointed directly to Jesus as Messiah.
Next in the parable, others from the
streets and by-ways were invited. They represent the Gentile
nations. Even though they responded, not all were prepared. And
the consequences for the unprepared?
But when the king came in to see the
guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you
get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was
speechless. Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him
hand and foot, and throw him
outside, into the darkness, where
there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth’” (Matthew 22:13).
The man who didn’t prepare for this
most honored occasion is a lesson in utter stupidity. He
wasn’t even on the original guest list! He got invited
because those who had been asked refused. This man shows up
unprepared. Confronted by the king, he is bound and tossed out.
“For where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also”
(Matthew 6:21)
If your heart is set on the things of this
world in opposition to God’s Word, don’t you think
our Lord may be speaking to you? Jesus knew that many would be
shallow in their relationship with Him, preferring to seek
worldly acclaim and personal ego satisfaction from their
religious activities. His warning still stands today!
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord,
Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord,
did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and
perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you
evildoers [lawless people]!’ (Matthew 7:21-23).
Is this what you want to hear at the
Judgment Throne?
Preparing For The Feast
God isn’t requiring you to keep the
Feasts of the Jewish Calendar. But He is calling you to
spiritually discern why they were important for Him to
institute, and how this awareness can help you prepare to meet
Him. As we showed earlier through Passover, Yom Kippur, and
Tabernacles, each feast has Newer Testament applications for
each of us.
Although gaining understanding from the
feasts should be an ongoing part of each of our lives,
sometimes, like renewing our Covenant with our Father through
communion, we need a special time to examine our lives in light
of His Word.
You may want to use the time leading up to
the Feast of Tabernacles this October to scrutinize your own
life.
1. From what God Has Freed You?
Often we grumble, just like the Israelites
(see 1 Corinthians 10:10). Discontented complaint leads to
despair and self-pity. This is a good time to review what Jesus
accomplished on your behalf (see John 8:36). It’s also
appropriate to receive forgiveness for not walking in the fruit
His Spirit so freely gives.
2. Why Is It Important To Be A Sojourner?
Consider the important things in your life (see James 4:4). Do
any of them compete with your loving and obedient devotion to
God? If they do, repent, confess, and cry out for help. If you
are to walk in His steps, you need to get off the path of
idolatry!
3. Are You Grateful, Expressing Your
Dependence On God?
Dependence on a God Whom you can’t
see can be difficult. He knows that! This is why living
righteously in accordance with His Word yields answered prayer (see
James 5:16-18; 1 John 1:9). Answered prayer not only
strengthens our dependence, it brings glory to our Father.
If you have nothing you really need from our
Father, not even deeper intimacy, then you are not dependent on
Him. Think of the consequences of your lack of dependence, and
purpose to cry out for His heart perspective on your
relationship with Him.
4. Are You Sacrificing To God?
We no longer need to bring our Lord animal
sacrifices. But did it ever occur to you that in your desire to
be more like Jesus, you are the sacrifice? To be changed and
conformed into His image will cause you suffering (see Romans 8:
15-17; Hebrews 5:8). But in the
process of your sanctification, you put yourself on God’s
altar — sacrificing all of your temporal and worldly
inclinations in order to gain a holy and eternal perspective.
5. How Well Do You Know God’s
Commands?
Sadly, so many have brought the awesome
God of all the universe down to their level. This blasphemous
view of Him permits them to live in sin without fear of
consequences. Ignorance of His Word makes this possible. That
is why the Lord required the Israelites to review His commands
every seventh Feast.
The Apostle John warned against setting
aside the Word of our Lord: “Everyone
who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is
lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). Remember, Jesus told the lawless
to depart from Him (see Matthew 7:21-23).
Do you have a regular pattern of Bible
study in which you are daily looking for new things God would
have you apply to your life? Does your study include an
adequate penetration of the Older Testament? There is good
reason why so many of the Newer Testament writers quote or cite
it in their writings. Remember, 2 Timothy 3:16,17 begins with, “All Scripture is inspired by God...”
6. A Time to Rejoice
Rejoicing sounds simple, doesn’t it?
Look around you. Do you and those who are part of your intimate
fellowship really know how to rejoice? When you are together,
can you all set aside every concern and worry so you can truly
worship God with Spirit-inspired exuberance? Can you?
Take Paul’s words to heart as you
recall that this man had experienced beatings, imprisonment,
stoning and shipwrecks: “Rejoice in the Lord always.
I will say it again: REJOICE!” (Philippians 4:4). It proves to God that your focus is more on
Him than on this world when your trust in the Lord frees you from
despair over circumstances.
The Older Testament Connection
The Feast of Tabernacles
and Jesus
Have you read our article, The Gospel of the Covenant is the Pilgrimage to
Salvation, concerning the Gospel
the early Church embraced? Do you know that Jesus points to
this specific Gospel on the last day of the Feast of
Tabernacles?
Picture yourself there as the high priest
has just poured out the waters of Siloam at the base of the
altar. Golden trumpets are sounding, Levites are singing,
people are chanting psalms of deliverance and prosperity.
And a loud voice penetrates the cacophony
as the fulfillment of those cries:
‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
Whoever trusts in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ By this he meant
the Spirit, whom those who trusted in him were later to
receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since
Jesus had not yet been glorified (John 7:37-39).
The last day of the Feast was called Hosanna Rabbah, the
day of highest praise. Our Lord uses this greatest day of
rejoicing at the Feast to tell His listeners the path to
eternity — through Him! These were people who had just
completed the solemn Yom Kippur fast the week before the Feast.
Cleansed of their sins, they had fulfilled God’s 6
purposes for the Feast. They were in great jubilation! Then
Jesus proclaims to them the key to the New Covenant His Father
offers. And, this key is found in the Older Testament.
The words of hope that Jesus announces to
them He speaks to all who want eternity with Him. The only
Scriptures in existence when He spoke was the Older Testament.
The only Scripture that guided the early Church was the Older
Testament. Why then do people today focus exclusively on the
Newer Testament but ignore the value of the Old? Have you ever
asked yourself why there was more relational intimacy and
spiritual power in the earliest Church than we see today?
Everything they did was based on the Older Testament as it was
deepened and made complete in Jesus.
What Scriptures were the Bereans commended
for searching as they verified Paul’s teaching in Acts 17:
11? The Older Testament.
The Older Testament isn’t a book of
law only for the Jews. It is a testimony
of grace for all followers of Jesus
throughout the ages. You can never fully appreciate Him and
what He accomplished on your behalf if you’ve never read
the 333 prophecies in the Old Testament that pertain to His
coming.
If you want to prepare as our Lord
requires, whether for the Feast or for heaven, you need to
understand the spiritual
significance of the Older Testament
in your life.
Everything that guided the earliest
followers of Jesus is found there! Anyone who tells you that
all that matters is the “New Testament Church”
totally maligns the fullness of Jesus’ work.
The laws regarding the Temple service and
sacrifice are no longer applicable, but what about God’s moral laws.
Didn’t Jesus bring these forth as still applicable to all
of us in Matthew 5-7 among other places? As with our
understanding of the Feasts, Jesus gave these laws a heart interpretation. What is murder? The death of a human only, or hatred of one?
And adultery isn’t a physical act alone, but a wicked
motive of the heart — lust.
Our Father’s purposes for the Feasts
need our careful attention as followers of Jesus to fully
appreciate His fulfillment of them. The spiritual aspects of a
Christian’s life are found in the Older Testament as well
as in the Newer. Without understanding these foundations,
people embrace hollow religious practices rather than a vibrant
trust that sacrifices self and rejoices in God their Maker.
Keep this in mind:
Religion is an idol;
Faith is a relationship.
Yours in the journey,
Mike and Sue
