2023 Feast of Tabernacles

[Rick Shabi] Good evening, everyone. Wherever you're keeping the Feast around the world, welcome to the Feast of Tabernacles 2023. We are here on the 15th day of the seventh month, and wherever you have traveled from, you are in the place where God has placed His name for us to keep this Feast. This Feast has such great meaning for us and really for all of mankind.

In Isaiah 30 and verse 29, it says, “You shall have a song, as in the night when a holy festival is kept and gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute to come into the mountain of the Lord to the mighty one of Israel.” Perhaps even as the night began, you sang a hymn that has those words that have such meaning for the Feast of Tabernacles.

When we think about mountain of the Lord, and the mountain of the Lord has so much to do with the coming millennium that this Feast pictures. In Isaiah 2:2-3, it says, “it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations will flow to it. Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, let's go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Eternal from Jerusalem.’”

We have in a sense, come to the mountain of the Lord as we have assembled here at this Feast. Here we will be taught of His way and here we honor and recognize Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the reason we are all here and the reason that we have a future ahead of us. All glory and honor go to Him. As you know this festival pictures the time of Christ reign on earth when the law will go forth from Jerusalem. All the world will learn to respect, follow and live by these laws, fearing and revering Christ and obeying Him just as we are learning to do now. As they learn and apply His way into their lives they will experience the peace, joy, harmony, and so many other blessings that will mark Christ's reign. We've all learned that as we live His ways. Blessings do come when we obey Him.

Today, though, we've come to the Feast out of a troubled world that is becoming more and more distant from God and more and more distant, even from the way the world was just a few years ago. This is not a world of peace. It is not a world of joy. It is a troubled and messed up world that sadly will grow worse and worse, just as the Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:13. But mercifully, God has called you and me out of that world to learn the only way to peace, joy, harmony and abundance for all of mankind. That only way is through Jesus Christ and learning to live by every word of the plain and clear Truth. God's Truth recorded in every word in this Holy Bible. And we have come to the place where He has placed His name for these seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth day. It is time to rejoice. For the Lord is King, and He will save the world from itself. He will usher in a time for peace, joy and harmony for all of mankind. Let's use these eight days to set a vision for us of what life will be like when the cares and chaos of this world have faded away and all mankind lives by God's standards.

Looking ahead to the millennium, picture the fact that Christ will have returned in Majesty and will be a King of kings. All nations will bow to Him. Satan will have been bound, the first fruits, that's you and me if we continue to follow God and be led by His Spirit, the first fruits will have been revealed and born into the Kingdom of God ready to serve and teach this way of life to all surviving humanity. Christ’s Bride will have made herself ready. She has lived the way she will teach and she will be a living example of the benefits of this way of life just as Christ is an example for us today. The first fruits waited through trial and tribulation and God sent Christ to earth to establish His Kingdom just as He promised.

It says, “Behold, this is our God. We have waited for Him and He will save us.” This is the Lord. We've waited for Him. We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation. We have cause to rejoice at this Feast just as God commands in Deuteronomy 16 verse 14. Christ has made it all possible, and under His righteous rule, a new world of peace, joy, love and beauty in which all mankind can achieve their potential will blossom.

As they journeyed to Jerusalem for the Feast back in ancient times, ancient Israel praised God. Let me read from Psalm 150 which is one of the songs of ascent that they sang as they would go up to the Feast in recognition of what they were going to do and in recognition of the glory that belonged to God as they kept the Feast of Tabernacles. Psalm 150 says, “Praise the Lord, praise God in His sanctuary. Praise Him in His mighty firmament. Praise Him for His mighty acts. Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet. Praise Him with the lute and harp. Praise Him with the timbral and dance. Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes. Praise Him with loud cymbals. Praise Him with clashing cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.” The same refrain is sung in heaven in praise of Jesus Christ. Knowing what He has done, knowing that He is going to return to this earth as King of kings and Lord of lords, all the earth will revere Him. We wait for that day. Revelation 5:11-13, we read of the many places in Revelation where the hosts of Heaven praise Jesus Christ. “Then I looked,” John writes as he's in this vision, “Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000. And thousands of thousands sang with a loud voice: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.’ And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and such as our in the sea and all that are in them. I heard saying, ‘Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him. Who sits on the throne and to the lamb forever and ever.’ The four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ And the 24 elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.”

As we rejoice at this Feast, as we do the things that God do wants us to do while we're here and learn the things He wants us to learn, let's rejoice that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords and is soon coming back to this earth.

[Song: “King All Glorious”]

Christ is Savior, He is King of kings, is our Help and salvation, and He has many other names ascribed to Him as are recorded in Isaiah 9:6-7. Some of those names are Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. There have been very few times in history when there has been peace on earth. Mankind's history is often told by the wars it has fought all the way back to the beginning of time. Even in the very first family of Adam and Eve, peace was broken quickly as they rejected God and chose their own way. When Cain killed Abel killing began and it has continued down through the ages. Even at times when no war was being fought on earth, there's been violence, bloodshed, division, strife and hostility. It exists among nations, between tribes and in families. The simple fact is that human nature without God's Spirit leads to wars and fights, just as it says in James 4:1.

One of the paradoxes of mankind's history is that while he has made fantastic advancements in science and technology, he cannot achieve peace. We can put men on the moon. We can connect with everyone around the world through the Internet. We can develop telescopes that can help us see the boundless universe God created like no generation before us has ever had the opportunity to see. But he cannot achieve peace. As God looks at our earth and what goes on in our families and our cities and the nations in the world, it's no wonder what He says in Isaiah 59:7-9, “Their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, wasting and destruction are in their paths the way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their ways. They have made themselves crooked paths. Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.”

Paul in his epistle to the Romans in 3:10-17, he expands on that and comes down to the conclusion the way of peace they have not known. A world that doesn't want to know God and that will not listen to Him cannot have peace. Without God's Holy Spirit true peace is not possible. Peace. Everyone wants it. Everyone talks about it. But no one wants to hear our Maker on how peace can come about in our lives. You know Christ had things to say about peace in Matthew 5 in the Beatitudes he said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” Peace takes work.

Love, humility, patience and self-control. All those things that somehow are missing when mankind is talking about peace. How important is it to God that there be peace among His people? But in Hebrews 12:14 and 15, He says, “Pursue peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord,” without which no one will see the Lord.

How important is it to God that we as His people make peace, strive for peace, strive for the unity among the brethren just as it says in Ephesians 4. The Bible tells us that the way to peace they have not known. But we do know and this will be taught in the Kingdom. We need to be people of peace. We need to be experiencing it and practicing it at our lives so that we can teach those in the Kingdom that God's way really does work, even in a troubled world where we practiced it. It works among His people, and there are keys to developing that perfect peace that God gives in the Bible. In Isaiah 26:3 God records, “You will keep him in perfect peace,” you will keep him in perfect peace, “Whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts in You.” Because he trusts in You. When we trust in God, we follow Him, we don't trust in the things of the world anymore. One by one, those gods that are in our lives, we cast out and with God's Holy Spirit we put them away and we trust in Him and when we trust in Him we follow His way implicitly. We practice it. We plan it. We make it part of us as God's Spirit leads us and gives us

the power and the strength to resist self and the self-control that we need in order to be peacemakers and not fall into the typical human nature of the contention and whatever it is that we do. Trust in God.

Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” He is the Savior and the whole world will know it at that time. In Psalm 119, a very notable psalm that has so many thoughts in it as David recorded his love of God's law because he truly did come to trust God for everything. He did truly come to wait for God to work out His plan. He truly did meditate on God's law day and night, and God revealed so many things to him. In Psalm 119:165 it says, “Great peace,” great peace, “have those who love your law and nothing,” nothing, “causes them to stumble.” David goes on to write, “Lord, I hope for your salvation. I do your commandments. My soul keeps your testimonies and I love them exceedingly. I keep your precepts and your testimonies for all my ways are before you.” Those are words for us to study and to examine ourselves and to be sure that we are doing and living the way of God that we will be teaching in the Kingdom when Christ returns, the way of life that they will be keeping at that time.

Can you imagine if the world kept even one of the commandments of God, perfectly? What a vastly different world would be. You pick the commandment, and if the world was keeping just one of those ten perfectly, we would live in a far different world. But in the millennium, they'll be learning and they'll be applying and they'll be developing the obedience to all ten of those commandments.

Isaiah 48. So many scriptures in the book of Isaiah about what it will be like when Christ returns to earth, and Isaiah 48:18, God, as He's talking to the One, He's talking about Him being the Holy One of Israel, He says, “I am the Lord, your God who teaches you to profit” and verse 17, “Who leads you by the way you should go,” and in verse 18 He says this, “Oh, that you had heeded my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” Oh, if you had just listened to me life could have been so different.

When Christ returns, there will be peace like a river and righteousness will be as the ways of the sea. Great peace have they who keep His commandments. There will be physical beauty and accomplishments during Christ reign as there are on earth today. But it won't be a Kingdom just about the physical. It'll be a Kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. You can read those words in Romans 14:17. Christ is the Prince of Peace and the world under His reign will be at peace. Perfect peace. So great will be that peace that even the animal kingdom will be at peace in the beautiful words that are recorded in Isaiah 11:9. That peace lights up the world and produces joy, happiness and helps all to realize the potential God has in mind for all of mankind.

Brethren that peace begins with us. It begins with you and me. We as God's people must be practicing and living in peace now, people of humility, looking out for the needs of others, putting our egos and pride aside and letting God do His work through us as we look toward the Kingdom. Let the peace of God's Kingdom begin with us and less practice it at this Feast in our everyday lives so we can be called Sons of God.

[Song: “Let There Be Peace On Earth”]

Peace will not come to earth overnight. The way to peace will be taught and learned and lived. And it will transform the earth to a place of beauty, physically, emotionally, morally and spiritually. When Christ returns to earth, the restoration of all things will begin. There will be a return to the Truth of the Bible, not just knowing the Truth, but the whole world living and doing the Truth. A new way of life will be on the earth. Christ will make it new. The knowledge of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. It's another part of Isaiah 11:9 and Habakkuk 2:14. It will be a great and exciting time of building and rebuilding, of restoring the foundation of education, the foundation of right human relations, and the right relationship with God.

That's what the world has been waiting for. They don't know that that's what they're waiting for. But we know and that's what we're being prepared to do, to be able to teach that way in the Kingdom. A time when things will be restored. In Acts 3:18, it says this. It says, “But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all of His prophets, that the Christ would suffer. He has thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ who was preached to you before, whom Heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all of His Holy prophets since the world began.”

When Christ returns all the world will know this. All the prophets have foretold and it’s not anything that has been hidden or secret. God has opened our minds to the Truth and we wait for the return of Jesus Christ. We look forward to it. When God called us, we repented and were baptized, had hands laid on us and received the Holy Spirit. Remember what He called us? In 2 Corinthians 5:1, He called us a new creation and indeed our lives were new from the time that we committed our entire life to Jesus Christ. To live His way and to follow Him with all of our hearts, minds and soul. Promises that God makes about the coming Kingdom are exciting and dramatic and you and I have an opportunity to be part of the greatest thing that has ever happened to mankind. That is if we continue to follow Christ and yield to Him to the very end. In that day, the world under Jesus Christ will undergo a tremendous restoration. The Bible tells us that He will pour His Spirit out on all mankind. That's recorded in Joel 2:28. They will become new creations when they receive the Spirit of God. They will be able to understand and accept and learn to apply what they're taught about God's way. In Ezekiel 36:25-27, God says He will give them a new heart and a new spirit. And in Zephaniah 3:9 we're told there will be a new pure language that will be spoken on earth.

All the people will be of one language as unity comes to the earth. Unity worshiping one God, learning one way of life, using the Bible as the guide to human existence and behavior. And there will be teachers, you and me, who know the Truth, who have lived the Truth, and who can speak firsthand about the benefits of living this way of life because of the way we live on earth today, and because of what we do as we yield to God we will have been given a new name. It tells us that in Revelation 2 as well as in Revelation 3, all things will be new when Christ returns. The world will be at one with God and each other and they won't be hidden, the teachers, they will be there to help teach and guide. You can read about those teachers in Isaiah 30 and verses

20-21. You know the scripture well where it says when someone is going astray there will be a voice behind them saying no, no, no, this is the way walk you in it, the way that we have learned and the way we are to be walking today. The millennial reign of Christ will see dramatic changes in the earth which will finally be released from the bondage of futility mentioned in Romans 8:19. It's a beautiful verse when we hear about even the world that has just been in futility waiting for the return of Jesus Christ, waiting for the revealing of the Sons of God. Those things that happen as pictured by the Feast of Trumpet. Those things that are occurring as the millennial period that we are picturing as we keep the Feast of Tabernacles begins. Under Christ's rule and following His laws of nature, dramatic and breathtaking changes will occur in the earth.

Let's read some of those beautiful verses that you will probably hear again this Feast. But I don't think we can put the vision strongly enough in us to realize what is coming. It's as certain as you and I are here today that when Christ returns, there will be restoration. There will be a new way of living. All of His principles, all of His laws will be taught, kept, applied, and even the earth, even the earth will benefit.

And Isaiah 35:1, it says, “The wilderness and the wasteland will be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It will blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it. The excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the eternal, the Excellency of our God.” In verse 6 it says waters will burst forth in the wilderness and the thirsty land springs of water, and the parched ground shall become a pool. There will be grass with reeds and rushes. The earth will become like a veritable, or a veritable, garden of Eden as man applies the laws of agriculture, the laws of nature, and God works with them and we work with everyone to see God's blessing on this earth as we live His ways.

It's not just the earth alone. Dramatic changes will also occur in people's health and well-being as they are taught the way of health. Continuing in Isaiah 35 and verse 3 it talks about the healing that will come about. Verse 3 says “strengthen the weak hands, make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful hearted,” who may have some anxiety, who may be fearful and timid, that they need to trust in God. And when we trust in God and we see His work and His way in our lives, the confidence is in Him, never in ourselves. “Say to those who are fearful hearted, Be strong, do not fear!” In verse 5, it says, “Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. The lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing.”

When people are taught the right ways of health, the right ways of diet and they're obeying God's law, He will fulfill the promise He made to ancient Israel back in Exodus 26:15. None of those diseases will be on you when follow my way, and there will be spiritual healing of the people as well. Isaiah 61 and verses 1-3, a beautiful set of scriptures talks about the spiritual restoration of people. Verse 1 speaking of Jesus Christ, and Isaiah 61 says, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because He's anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. He has sent me,” verse three, “to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes. The oil of joy, for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” Why?

When all those things are replaced with the things of God and the spiritual healing has come to people that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified.

Throughout the millennium there will be joy, peace and abundance for everyone because they're living God's way. It'll be a new, vibrant earth and life for all mankind all over the world. After the thousand years of Christ reign, the second resurrection will occur as we all observe on the eighth day and the rest of mankind will be resurrected and have the opportunity to learn God's way and come to repentance and receive eternal life. And then God's plan for the physical earth and physical man will be complete.

A future beyond that day holds unlimited opportunity, excitement to learn new things that we can't even imagine now. Our God is limitless. His love for us is boundless and He wants to share eternity, literal eternity, with us. A hallmark scripture about that time in the future is in 1 Corinthians 2:9, where it says, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor has it entered the heart of man, the wonders that God has prepared for those that love Him.”

Brethren, make this Feast a real Feast to the Lord, honor Him, give Him the glory by being at every service. We are here to come out of the world and have the opportunity to experience what it's like to be people of like mind in God's presence every day, rejoicing with each other in services and in the group activities that have been planned.

Rejoice at the Feast and catch the vision of what this Feast pictures. May we all pray for God's Kingdom to come and the return of Jesus Christ. Revelation 21, I'm going to begin in verse 4, “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away. Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And He said to me, ‘Write, for these words are true and faithful.’ And He said to me,” as He's revealing it to John, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.”

Brethren, enjoy the Feast and let’s pray for the time when Christ will make all things new.

[Music Video: “All Things New]