The Best Feast Ever

Will this feast be your best feast ever and what determines that? What is the measurement for a good feast?

Presented by David Register
Cincinnati, Ohio - October 11, 2008 (50 minutes)

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Sermon Transcript

I want to thank Mr. Smith. His message fits well into what I have prepared today. This is my 56th Feast of Tabernacles coming up and I've seen some good ones and some not so good ones. I'd like to ask you a question today: Will this feast be your best feast ever?

I'd like to share with you some memories of a feast that I experienced in 1973 — went back a few years. I had been serving in the ministry for a year as a ministerial trainee and I was helping to pastor a couple of churches, the Abbotsford congregation, the Chilliwack congregation in British Columbia, and I had been told about two weeks before the feast that I was going to be ordained at the feast. It was pretty obvious to the people I was working with that I was being called to the ministry. So, I was looking forward to this feast. There were going to be four of us that were going to be ordained at that particular feast. I don't know how many of you remember the old tent that we had? That year the tent was in Penticton. We had about 7,000 people as I recall, at the feast. It was a big feast-site and when we arrived at the feast it was very exciting to be there. Lots of people, lots of noise, lots of chatter, lots of reunions, it was very exciting. The opening night was fantastic. We had some very inspiring opening messages. Of course I was personally excited about this feast - it was going to be a spiritual highlight for me - my ordination.

The first holy day was a wonderful holy day. We had a record crowd and they had to cramp more seats in the back of the hall, the tent, and it was a wonderful feast. The second day of the feast we had a softball tournament. I think we used to have a lot of those at the feast. In fact some times the softball tournaments overshadowed the main messages, years and years ago. I remember our team had bought new uniforms for the feast-tournament. It was going to be a great time at the feast. We were going to play this softball tournament for three days during the feast and during the course of the game - I was playing short stop — while I was in the field with the team, one of the batters hit a high-fly ball that went up in the air and went back over second base, and I ran back as the short stop to catch the ball. At the same time the short fielder, who was a short, very heavy set guy, came running in and we collided. I'd like to add that I did catch the ball and it wasn't out! The collision actually knocked both of us down and I got up and I felt a little sore. He was a little bigger than I was — so we went back to the dug-out — I think that was the end of the inning and we played the rest of the game.

I don't know who won the game — it shows you how important that game was — so after the game I went home and I noticed that some pains were developing in my back and along my side as the evening went on. During the middle of the night I get up to go to the bathroom and I started passing blood and the pains got more severe and the injury felt more severe so I asked my wife to take me to the hospital early in the morning. I went to the hospital and they gave me a few tests. They performed some scans and they determined that I had a ruptured kidney and a ruptured bladder. They called the surgeon in and the surgeon gave me an examination and he said: Well, you have hairline fissures in your organs and they are bleeding into your urinary tract but I want to watch this. I don't want to perform surgery immediately. We want to watch this and see what develops.

So I spent the next six days in the hospital in Penticton in British Columbia, Canada, and I missed my ordination. As I was lying there I was beginning to wonder: OK. Does God want me in the ministry? Does He want me to be ordained? Am I going to die here? This is not the way I had planned to spend the Feast of Tabernacles.

After the feast was over a friend prepared a bed because the doctor said: Why don't you go home and just observe this because your condition seem to be improving. He said: We want to watch it and if you have recurring symptoms then go to the hospital immediately because you may need surgery. So a friend prepared a bed in the back of his van and drove me the 250 miles home and I spent the next probably six to eight weeks in or near a bed recovering from this injury. I am standing here so you know that I recovered without surgery, thankfully. It took me a while but I still remember very distinctly after about 6 weeks the Church newspaper arrived — you remember those? — and it is a feast summary and the headlines said: Best Feast ever! You are already way ahead of me, aren't you? I rolled the paper up and threw it against the wall. It was one of my worst feasts ever, I thought.

I'd like to ask you: Will this feast be your best feast ever and what determines that? What is the measurement for a good feast? I'd like for us to help determine this by looking at some basics and then a little history - the history of ancient Israel and their experience, particularly with the Feast of Tabernacles, and see if we can't understand an answer to the question I just posed: Will this be our best feast ever and how can we take part in determining that, no matter what conditions we may find ourselves in?

Let's begin in Leviticus 23. As we all know, Leviticus 23 is a listing of all the annual Holy Days. We've touched on this on Trumpets and Atonement and you will probably turn to this scripture again before the feast is over, wherever you may be going. Repetition is good. God repeats Himself many times in scripture particularly when it comes to days and occasions and events that are important to God.

Leviticus 23:34 Moses came to the children of Israel and he said: "The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord.

Notice this expression: "...to the Lord." Probably like some of you I have been accused of keeping those Jewish feast days - the feast days of the Jews. Well, if a Bible is handy

and on occasion I have reminded those people that these are the Feast days of the Lord. They are God's feasts. They are not the Jewish feasts, they are God's feasts and we are to keep these "to the Lord". God wants to be integrally involved in our observation of the Feast of Tabernacles.

V.35 — On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it.

V.36 — For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it.

V.37 — These are the feasts of the Lord - he repeats it again — which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, ...

I think sometimes over the years of keeping the feasts - and I have fallen into this pattern — we can almost become inured, hardened, to the understanding of what the feast is really for because it can become just a vacation or a break or a family reunion. What I want to do today is help remind us of the purpose of the feast and what will make our feast the best ever and that is if we can take advantage of the purpose of the feast and that is to worship God and to learn more about God and I will get to that more specifically.

V.39 — On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days; and we know that God designed and planned His feast days around the agricultural cycle and we know now is the time that agriculture is maturing, particularly we see it around here with the apple trees — all the fruit that comes in from the orchards and from the gardens. It is the time of the year when the agricultural community is very happy. It continues on: You shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest.

V.41 — You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is not just keeping one holy day and the other holy day — it is seven days.

Back to verse 42:

V.42 — You shall dwell in booths — temporary dwellings — and we do that. Most of us move from our homes and we live in temporary dwellings for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths.

That teaches us a principle I think we are aware of. It is mentioned back in Hebrews 11 verse 13 that we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth and living in temporary dwellings reminds us of that fact. We are primarily citizens of the kingdom of heaven not citizens

of the United States or Canada or whatever country we might live in — we are primarily citizens of the Kingdom of God. So we see here very clearly there are instructions about keeping the Feast. Let's go to Deuteronomy 14 and learn a little bit more about the spiritual outcome I'm talking about.

The main reason in God's eyes, I believe, for keeping the feast, even though it certainly is an enjoyable time, it is a joyful time as we heard about in the sermonette but there are some very pragmatic reasons that God has for us keeping the Feast.

Deuteronomy 14:23 — in verse 22 he talks about this tithe and verse 23 tells us which tithe this is. It is not the same tithe that is talked about in Leviticus as the first tithe, because that was for the Levites and for doing the work of God, this tithe is described as:

V.23 — And you shall eat it before the Lord your God, - and we call this in the Church the second tithe — in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, that is kind of an interesting study in itself - is how do we know where God chooses to place His name? "...the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that — here is the outcome: we do this — that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always

This is the outcome of attending the Feast of Tabernacles: so that we might gain some spiritual insight into God and as such develop a deeper respect for God. That is the purpose of the feast. That is why we go to the feast. That is why it is important for us I think, even before the feast starts, to talk about the outcome that we want at the end of the feast and be able to help determine for us whether or not this will be the best feast ever.

Let's go to Ezekiel 20. The prophet here was identifying the reasons why ancient Israel was going to be punished and eventually why they would go into captivity. Subservient to the conquerors and at the top of the list of transgressions that the Israelites committed were that they're loosing sight of the purpose of the Holy Days and because they lost sight of the purpose of the Holy Days they stopped keeping the Holy Days. So I think it is good for us to be reminded of the outcome and the reason for the feast in the first place.

Ezekiel 20:12 Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, and we recognize this means more than just the weekly Sabbaths — it means the Holy Days, the annual Sabbaths, as well. "...to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

We go through this process because it helps us realize that God has separated us, He has given us His Spirit that makes us His children and God has revealed to us these special Holy Days that give us insight into Him so that we more deeply respect, as we read in Deuteronomy — we fear Him — in more detail.

V.20 — hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.

God's plan, outlined by His Holy Days, is a beautiful thing and if we observe God's Holy Days they teach us much about God. I remember talking to a friend who found out about God's Sabbath through his father — he lived in England at the time — he was telling me this story that he and his dad used to keep the Sabbath and he discovered, through reading the Church's literature, about the Holy Days. He told his dad about the Holy Days and he started to explain to his dad with some enthusiasm: - Dad, we have to not only keep the Sabbath, we have to keep the Holy Days too.

His dad said: No, I don't think we need to keep the Holy Days. We keep the Sabbath, yes, but not these Holy Days.

Well, my friend went on to continue to keep the Holy Days and eventually God led him to the Church. He was baptized and was able to serve in the Church, and it was interesting the observation he made about his dad. He said it was like his dad was stuck in his understanding. He stopped right there. He didn't learn anymore much beyond the observance of the Sabbath; He didn't understand the plan of God; didn't really understand the purpose of man. The plan of God, the Holy Days that illustrate the plan of God open to us a whole fresh and broad vista of spiritual understanding. Notice verse 21:

V.21 — "Notwithstanding, the children rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statues, and were not careful to observe My judgments, 'which, if a man does, he shall live by them',...

We must be careful to keep God's commands, particularly as it comes to the Holy Days. God is pretty particular and I think I am going to prove that to you when we go through some of the history of ancient Israel and the Feasts of Tabernacles that are recorded for us.

V.21 — "....but they profaned My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them and fulfill My anger against them in the wilderness.

And God certainly did that. They eventually went into captivity and the reason is because they abandoned the Holy Days. They forgot why they were there. They eventually let them slip. Other things came in and got more important to them and they began to drift from God and that is one of the reasons ancient Israel went into captivity. They lost sight of the Holy Days and their meaning.

Now let's take a look at the history of the Feast of Tabernacles in scripture and see what lessons we may be able to learn to accentuate this outcome we are seeking that we found in Deuteronomy 14. Let's go back to 1 Kings 12. I'd like to begin here with a negative example because in particular it is in the context of the Feast of Tabernacles and it is a very important watershed event. It is where the Israelites were at the cross-roads of decision. They made the wrong decision; followed the wrong man.

1 Kings 12:20 — maybe I can just give you a little historical background here: This is at the time of Jeroboam and Rehoboam; it is after the death of David, king of Israel, and Jeroboam has been exiled by Solomon and he returns to Israel when he feels that there's

a demand here. Often times, as you know, there is a political demand for change among grass-roots, so it is happening here.

1 Kings 12:20 Now it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back, they sent for him and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Israel. There was none who followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only.

So Jeroboam took the Northern ten tribes of Israel and he wanted to keep the people, now that he was being made king, so we find in verse 25 the beginning of some steps that Jeroboam took to try to keep the people of Israel. I think we can assume as we get into the context here that the Feast of Tabernacles is not too far away. It is spring of the year. It says:

V.25 — Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and dwelt there. Also he went out from there and built Penuel.

Now Schechem is an interesting place. It lies in a saddle between two mountains: Mount Gerazaim and Mount Ebal, and these two mountains are actually where God gathered the Israelites and gave them the blessings and the cursings. It said Mount Gerizim represents the blessing and Mount Ebal the cursings and He asked them to choose. This little village of Shechem which still exist today as a settlement, has been excavated. A hill there has been unearthed and it reveals, quite interestingly, a temple of Baal that went back to pre-Israelitish times — back to Canaanite times. So there was a temple of Baal here and this is where, in this particular case, Jeroboam seeks to put up his headquarters. He is right here in Shechem where this temple of Baal was and that should have been the first warning, but notice what else he does.

V.27 — let's get a little background: If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah.

He made this political move; he makes some decisions to try and keep the support of the people.

V.28 — Therefore the king asked advice — I don't know who he was asking advice of but

he gave bad advice, because he said: Why don't you make two calves of gold and why don't you establish altars at Bethel and Dan — Bethel in the south; Dan in the north — which he did, and verse 30 now.

V.30 — Now this thing became a sin, - He's really trying to set up a counterfeit or an alternate of worship for Jerusalem. Now we are going to see a little later that worshipping in Jerusalem was very important to God. Having these pilgrimage feasts

were very important to God. Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.

V.31 — He made shrines on the high places, and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

So now he makes alternate worship places and now he appoints people who shouldn't be appointed, to the priesthood. And then, verse 32, on top of this, he ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. Now this a month after the Feast of Tabernacles and I think we can safely assume, because this is obviously a political manoeuvre, that he did this well before the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem because he wanted to keep the people from going to Jerusalem. So he announces this great feast: We are going to have this big celebration; it is going to be down in Bethel; we are going to get everybody together; this is going to be a wonderful thing. So he establishes a feast on the 15th day of the 8th month ...like the feast that was in Judah. We see this in verse 32.

V.33 — so we see he made offerings and he was going to Bethel. It says at the end of verse: And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.

Now this is something that certainly he was not authorized to do so once again he makes a breach of God's law. So we see here there are at least five instances where he has broken the covenant, the law of God in his attempt to create an alternate feast.

Now in 1 Kings 13:1 a man of God is sent from Judah to Bethel and to Jeroboam and he arrives about the time that Jeroboam is making these sacrifices. And he makes a prophecy about Josiah, as you see in verse 2, and then he talks to the altar and says: You are going to be torn and rent and your ashes are going to be poured out and God is going to show He doesn't approve of what is going on here today. And so as he said, the altar was torn in half and as he begin to make these pronouncements Jeroboam reached out his hand and pointed at him and said: Arrest this man! And as he did his arm was turned leprous and frozen in that position. You see that he immediately, in verse 6 said:

V.6 - "Please entreat the favour of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me." So the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king's hand was restored to him, and became as before.

V.7 — Then the king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward." Probably offering him a position to maybe be one of his high priests.

V.8 — But the man of God said to the king, "If you were to give me half your house, I would not go in with you; nor would I eat bread nor drink water in this place. He was expressing his disgust with the actions of the king that had led the northern ten tribes away from God and God speaks very clearly through the prophet here that He was displeased with what they did and the actions that they took.

I think what we can glean from this very clearly is that God is concerned about His Holy Days. He is concerned about the timing of the Holy Days. It is kind of interesting — I was telling the congregation this morning that I visited a family in eastern Massachusetts and it was about this time of the year, a little earlier, and they told me they had just come to the knowledge of the Holy Days by reading the Bible and that they had just kept the Feast of Tabernacles. I said: Oh, really? They said: Yes, on the fifteenth day of July we kept the Feast. I began to explain to them the seventh month according to the Hebrew calendar is not the seventh month on the Gregorian calendar, the Roman calendar. So we talked that through and they seemed pretty enlightened but not everybody has the knowledge we do, of the Hebrew Calendar.

Let's now notice a couple of other examples in Ezra. I think that we can see that God considers His Holy Days - the timing of keeping it, of the understanding that we keep it properly and right - it is important to God. We learn that lesson from the example of Jeroboam.

Let's go to Ezra 2. This of course is the recounting of the history of the release of the Jews from captivity. We see in verse 64 of chapter 2 there were forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty of them plus a few extras. I would like to focus on Chapter 3 verse 1.

Ezra 3:1 And when the seventh month had come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem.

Then several gathered together, including Ezra, Zerubbabel and Nehemiah.

V.3 — Though fear had come upon them because of the people of those countries, they set the altar on its bases; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening burnt offerings.

You see, by this time the temple had been destroyed by the Babylonians; it lay in ruins and when they returned they wanted to start keeping the feasts again to God, so they built an altar on the old altar remains — foundation — and they began the offering.

V.4 — They also kept the Feast of Tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings in the number required by ordinance for each day.

It is fascinating. You go back to Numbers and read about the number of offerings on the first day of the Feast. I think there were seventy-seven bullocks and then the number of offerings declines as the feast goes on, which is kind of fascinating to read that. I will let you read that on your own time but they found enough of the law when they were beginning to reconstruct at Jerusalem that they knew how to begin to do this.

Let's go to Nehemiah 1 and verse 8, picking up the story:

Nehemiah 1:8 Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; We read that prophecy in Ezekiel.

V.9 — but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.'

So, in the context of what we just read in Ezra, Nehemiah recognizes that this is the fulfillment of the prophecy - that God is bringing back from captivity where these people went because they stopped keeping the feasts - He's brought them back. Now let's go to Nehemiah 8 and begin reading in verse 1.

Nehemiah 8:1 Now all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate; and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel.

V.2 — So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. This would have been Trumpets that they began this process.

V.3 — Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

Now granted this is a time of spiritual rejuvenation and revival. There is no doubt about that. They are excited about discovering the Law; they are excited about keeping the feasts again — it hadn't been kept this way in hundreds of years — they are very excited but they were attentive to the Book of the Law.

I think this speaks to us. Why are we going to the Feast? Are we going there seeking

spiritual rejuvenation, spiritual rededication? If so, I believe it calls on us to be attentive to the reading of the Law; to give our undivided attention to the speakers; to try and be there for every service because remember the outcome is for us to learn how to fear God.

V.6 — And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. Then all the people answered, "Amen, Amen!" while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

And it lists a number of other predominant people who did the same.

V.8 — So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading. — which is what we do in our services. We read the scripture and then we explain the sense; we explain and expound on the scripture.

V.9 — And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn nor weep." For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law.

They were so excited about hearing God's word that they were filled with emotion to the point that it made them cry. They were so excited about the word of God — certainly a time of rededication and inspiration.

V.10 — Then he said to them, "Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

We heard that in the sermonette. We have been asked to rejoice during these days.

V.11 - So the Levites quieted all the people, saying, "Be still, for the day is holy; do not be grieved."

V.12 — And all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions and rejoice greatly, because they understood the words that were declared to them.

We should go to the feast with the desire for rededication, spiritual rejuvenation, an understanding of what is said, as it says here. Then we read:

V.13 — Now on the second day the heads of the fathers' houses of all the people with the priests and Levites, were gathered to Ezra the scribe, in order to understand the words of the Law.

V.14 — And they found written in the Law, which the Lord had commanded Moses,

concerning of course living in booths. They kept finding new understanding in what was said and that led to deeper understanding and more understanding and so they started keeping the Feast literally in booths because they now understood that from the Law.

V.17 — So the whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and sat under the booths; for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that day the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very great gladness. It was indeed a time of spiritual rejuvenation.

Again, I think one great lesson we learn from this account in history is that the feast rejuvenated and re-inspired and encouraged these people.

V.18 — Also day by day, from the first day until the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eight day there was a sacred assembly, according to the prescribed manner.

So indeed we see it is the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day as we call it, that was kept by these returning Jews to Jerusalem and then they began to rebuild. They build the altar first and then the wall and they eventually were able to rebuild the temple. Let's go to 2 Chronicles.

I wanted to read these positive examples to tell us in example why we are going to the feast and what we should expect to come away from the feast with. We talked about new understanding, spiritual rejuvenation, excitement and joy. I want you to notice something in 2 Chronicles 7 and see if we can learn more. The occasion is the construction and completion of the construction of the temple in Jerusalem. This is Solomon's temple as they call it. As you know, it was the plan of David to build a house for the Ark of the Covenant, a place of worship in Jerusalem, and it really is rather interesting when you find the Israelites came into the Promised Land, where did they worship? Well, they worshipped wherever God let them, didn't they? Their place of worship was portable — right? So they set up the tent, they worshipped in the middle of the wilderness and when they moved into the Promised Land and began to settle, where did God settle them? Where did they begin worshipping from? A place called Shiloh.

Now Shiloh is very interesting. It was one of the very few places where there was no temple of Baal and no previous pagan worship. So it was in Shiloh for a long time and then finally when the Philistines came in and helped obliterate and destroy Shiloh. To make a long history short: the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant became the focus of worship, not a particular place, it was this mobile Ark.

As you know David recaptured that and he brought it to the City of David. Remember how he did that dance and his wife got all excited and upset? He was really happy to have the Ark of the Covenant back and he determined at that point to build a house for the Ark of the Covenant and a place of worship and he decided to do that in the City of David. It had been renamed now as the City of Jerusalem, the City of Peace. As you know David was not allowed to do that so Solomon took over the task and we find here in verse 8 of 2 Chronicles 7 that Solomon finishes the temple. It took decades to build. It was a beautiful building filled with precious metals, the finest woods, rock had been quarried from all around the world; it was a beautiful building.

2 Chronicles 7:8 At that time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt. This was the furthest extend of the Israelite empire under Solomon. It was called the golden years of the ancient Israelite Kingdom.

V.9 — And on the eighth day they held a sacred assembly, for they observed the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. There is fourteen days of celebration: seven days of dedication followed immediately by the Feast and the Last Great Day.

V.10 — On the twenty-third day of the seventh month — it gives the timing of this — he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the good that the Lord had done for David, for Solomon, and for his people Israel.

Now why do you suppose Solomon, and we are going to see here in a minute that God really approved of what Solomon did, why do you suppose he chose the Feast of Tabernacles as the time to dedicate the temple? Because the Feast of Tabernacles is time for rededication and spiritual rejuvenation.

V.11 — Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king's house; and Solomon successfully accomplished all that came into his heart to make in the house of the Lord and in his own house.

V.12 — Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.

You see, God appeared to him in a vision and said: This pleases Me. This is where I have chosen to be worshipped. And then he describes in the next couple of verses that when the people call upon God, He will answer their prayer again as long as they follow Him. He will forgive their sins; He will heal their land. He says:

V.15 - Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.

V.16 — For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.

He put his stamp of approval on that and to prove that — I am not going to go there, but you can go to John 4 and you can read about the discussion that Christ has with the lady

at the well in Samaria. There was some controversy that raged in that first century about where was the place of worship. The Samaritan said: It is in our temple on Mount Gerizim - which is just up the hill, interestingly enough, from Shechem where Jeroboam set up the false place of worship.

She said: It is here!

He said: No it isn't, it is in Jerusalem.

And He said: In fact, salvation is through the Jews and nowhere else.

Even though those people in Samaria kept the Sabbath and the Holy Days Christ said: It is not here. It is in Jerusalem and then Christ went on to say: But it will not always be there because He knew that Jerusalem will be sacked and destroyed. He said: Eventually it will be that God's people will worship Him in spirit and in truth, as we do today. Not in Jerusalem, but all around the world in various places where God places His name.

God put His stamp of approval on the place of worship in the time of Solomon during the days of the Feast of Tabernacles. I think that is significant. The revival we read about with Ezra and Nehemiah took place during the Feast of Tabernacles. I think that is significant.

The purpose of the Feast of Tabernacles is for us to learn to fear God and to rededicate ourselves to get a new fresh start on a new year, if you will, immediately following the Feast. It is a time for spiritual rejuvenation and rededication.

I'd like to tell you the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey says, about my feast in 1973. During those weeks after the feast I had some time to reflect. I picked up that newspaper that got thrown against the wall and I began to read through the articles. I was encouraged by the reports I read. It was in that process that I learned to have greater empathy for people who have injuries like I had and in my prayer for myself I also prayed for many of them because I could empathize with what they were suffering with.

I learned to forgive, because that man who ran into me was a member of the congregation there where I pastored, and he came and asked for my forgiveness. I listened to all those sermons that were given at the feast several times because somebody was kind enough to bring me the tapes at the end of the feast and over the next six-days and weeks while I was recovering I listened to those sermons over and over and over again. I think I got a lot more out of them than had I been sitting in that congregation at the Feast in Penticton that year.

My wife and I had wanted children for several years. We had been married for four years and had two miscarriages and didn't think we could have a child and it was 12 months from the time I had that injury until our first son was born. There were a number of blessings that came to me as a result of my experience at that feast and I look back on the feast in 1973 now and I can truly say it was one of my best feasts ever because of the spiritual work it did in my life.

I've had some really great feasts since 1973. Feasts that I remember because of the inspiring sermons, the lessons learned, the great fellowship and I've had some that weren't so great. When I look back on the ones that weren't so great it is because they were not spiritually rewarding to me because I didn't focus so much on the spiritual. I was distracted by the physical. Either the venue I was in or the schedule I have made for myself or what I thought about during the Feast.

That's why I wanted to encourage all of us to think about the purpose of the feast today. As I reflect on the feast that I experienced in 1973 it turned out to be one of the best feasts ever because of spiritual growth and lessons learnt.

I'd like to conclude today by going to Ephesians 3, lest I get accused of preaching only out of the Old Testament.

Ephesians 3:14 For this reason, Paul wrote, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

V.15 — from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, - We are going to the feast to celebrate that fact that we are going to become part of the literal family of God.

V.16 - that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, That is what the feast is for: for us to be spiritually strengthened, rejuvenated, rededicated in the inner man.

I think we will come away from this feast more equipped spiritually if we determine that ahead of time. Going into the feast saying: This is going to be a great spiritual feast for me no matter what happens, it is going to be a great spiritual feast for me.

V.17 — that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

V.18 — may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height —

V.19 - to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

V.20 - Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think; according to the power that works in us,

V.21 — to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.

The level of success at this upcoming feast really depends on us: you and me. We are going to receive nearly three month's worth of sermonettes and sermons during the eight

days of the feast. We will be encouraged by reunions, fellowship, new friends, family; we may even be challenged by a trial or two. The question is: what will we do with our festival experience? Will we use these sermons, the renewed friendships, our deeper respect for God as a springboard for spiritual renewal and rededication or will this feast just be another feast?

Hopefully this feast for all of us will be our best feast ever.