Are You A Luminary?

Well, good morning, everyone! It's very good to see you. Wasn't that beautiful special music? Wonderful. Thank you to the Jacobsons for bringing that to us. We are spoiled in our area. We get to hear them quite often, so it is very nice to be able to hear them in this beautiful hall. So that works out really, really nicely. Of course, we live over in Minnesota, don't you know? And we have an interesting tradition over there. We have a tendency to tell stories about some of our favorite people. And of course, you guessed it. Over in Minnesota, we love to tell those Ollie and Lena jokes, you know. You betcha.

So I heard this story about Ollie and Lena. They had moved out way, way to the backwoods. And sure enough, Lena went into labor right in the middle of the night. They called the midwife. She finally arrived. They fetched her to help with the delivery.

And of course, since there was no electricity, the midwife handed Ollie a lantern. And she said, Ollie, you hold this lantern and you hold it high so I can see what I'm doing.

And so, sure enough, soon a beautiful bouncing baby boy was born. Now she said, oh, wait, Ollie, don't be in too big a rush to put that lantern down. Looks like there might be something else coming.

So he was shaking as he was holding this lantern. And sure enough, a minute or so later, here comes this beautiful little baby girl. And Ollie is just shocked. He cannot believe it.

And he's just about to put the lantern down and hug his wife. And she says, wait, don't put that lantern down. She said, I think there might be something else coming.

And Ollie just could not believe it. He looked at the lantern and he looked at his wife and he looked at that lantern. And he said, do you suppose it's the light that's attracting them? Well, how attractive are you? I noticed they have this camera here and they said, well, make sure you put your best side to the camera. So I'm going to have to turn around, I think. I don't have a best side. My profile is scary. So I have to apologize for that. And they said, I might not play with it. But if I get too far away from the mic, we'll try to stay away from it. But how attractive are you? Or maybe to put it a different way. Are you a luminary?

Are you a luminary? Now, when you think of the word luminary, maybe you think of a celebrity or a star, a bigwig, an achiever, a VIP maybe. Well, that's not the kind of luminary I'm talking about. Are you a luminary that lights the way? Now, here we are at the Feast of Tabernacles. Have you noticed over the last week or two or three that suddenly that sun seems to be going down a lot sooner than it was just a month or so ago? And it's getting dark fast in the evenings. It seems like, wow, before you know it, wow, it's not 10 o'clock anymore. It's 7 o'clock and it's getting dark. And before we know it, we'll switch our time and it'll be dark at 4.30 or so, at least up here in the north.

And yet, when you think about it spiritually, does God leave us to stumble around in the dark? We know the answer to that. No, of course He does. And the Feast is a reminder of that. That God does not leave us to stumble around in the dark.

So I thought it might be helpful this morning to take a little bit of time to notice how light is associated with the Feast of Tabernacles. And how they blend together. How it is a symbol of the Feast itself. And how it's a symbol for what we are to be. We are to be luminaries.

We are to light the way. It's kind of interesting to see how much light comes into play throughout the Bible. Someone were to ask you, can you think of the way light was used early on in the Bible? Let's say when God was first working with Israel. When they first were coming out of Egypt. Can you think of an example of lumination? What comes to your mind? What do you think of that pillar of fire that lit the way for the Israelites to go through the wilderness? Well, certainly that was a great example. That pillar of fire by night, that cloud by day. It led Israel on their journeys through the wilderness. Now, if we fast forward a little bit, by the time they get to making a tabernacle, a house for God. Do you remember one of the things that was in the Holy Place that lit up the tabernacle? There was a golden lampstand. And that golden lampstand was to be kept burning continuously. Why? Because it was an example of the light that was to shine upon the people. A symbol of the presence of God right there among His people. Now, if we move a little bit farther forward, can you think of another example of the way light was used? Now, this one specifically is directly associated with the Feast of Tabernacles. If we fast forward to the time that the temple was consecrated, the time of Solomon's temple, and when that temple was dedicated, do you remember what happened during the Feast of Tabernacles at the dedication of Solomon's temple? There was a great light. The Shekinah Glory, the glory of God, filled the Holy of Holies during the Feast of Tabernacles when Solomon dedicated the temple.

I mean, what an amazing occurrence! Light and the Feast of Tabernacles has a direct association. Now, one of the things that brought this to my mind, I was reading a little bit about some of the traditions that happened during the Feast of Tabernacles. One of them we read about was this appearing of the glory of God in the Holy of Holies at the time of Solomon.

Well, there was also a specific ceremony that took place during the Feast. Do you know what that ceremony was called? It was called the Illumination Ceremony. So the first point I'd like to talk about is Illumination. Illumination! The Illumination Ceremony took place during the Feast of Tabernacles. And do you know what that was all about? It was an interesting ceremony. What they would do is they would bring in these gigantic candlesticks, these huge lampstands. They were just enormous lampstands, unbelievably tall. Now, if you can imagine this, they were 50 cubits tall. You know how tall that was? Oh, about 12 feet. No, no, that's not right. They were huge. How big is 50 cubits?

Well, it seems to be somewhere around 75 feet tall. So can you imagine bringing giant candlesticks, twice as tall as this building, 75 feet tall, and setting them up in the court of women within the temple grounds? They set up these giant candlesticks. In fact, they were so huge, they put these giant golden bowls on top, and it took gallons and gallons of oil in order to keep these giant candlesticks lit. In fact, they say somewhere around 8 gallons of pure olive oil would burn in order to light these candlesticks. That is kind of an interesting story. You know what they used for wicks in order to keep these big candles burning? They say that they used girdles. They used girdles. Well, that's what they called them. The garments of the priesthood that were worn out and no longer used, they would actually wrap them all up, and they would use those worn out undergarments as wicks to light up the darkness on these gigantic candlesticks. And so these four golden bowls placed on top of these 75-foot high candlesticks, and they would light those. They would light those candles. Now, do you know how bright that light must have been when they lit up those four candlesticks in the evening during the Feast of Tabernies? Do you know how bright that light was? I'm sorry, that was your cue. You were supposed to say, how bright was it? See? Okay, let's try that again. Do you know how amazingly bright it was?

I'm glad you asked that.

It is said that there was no courtyard in Jerusalem that was not lit up. Now, imagine that. Many of us are staying in different homes or different condominiums. Maybe there's a little patio, and oftentimes there's walls between the patios that separate the different buildings. But imagine that every courtyard, every area was lit up. Of course, imagine these gigantic tall candlesticks that were just blazingly bright lighting up everything in Jerusalem. In fact, they said it was so bright, now you don't have to say how bright was it? It was so bright that women would be able to separate the chaff from the wheat. That it was that bright. Now, I couldn't do that because I don't know the difference between chaff and wheat. But if you knew the difference between chaff and wheat, you'd be able to separate it out in the middle of the night because it was so bright. In fact, it's been said that Jerusalem was so lit up by these giant candlesticks during the Feast of Tabernacles that Jerusalem just listened. It was so bright, shimmering like a diamond. You could see Jerusalem from miles and miles and miles away. In fact, it was so bright that Jerusalem and the temple was literally thought to be the light of the world. That's how bright it was during the Feast of Tabernacles, during the Illumination Ceremony. Now, it's interesting that that wasn't all that happened during that ceremony. During that ceremony, there would be music. There would be harps and lutes and cymbals and trumpets and they would play music. And it was said to be so many musicians without number that it was just a huge, beautiful sound. In fact, I've heard that they didn't even need a sound system.

So can you imagine beautiful music without the necessity of a sound system? I guess that would be perfection. And as they would play, they would line up on the steps of the temple. And there were 15 steps that led down to the court of women. And they would line up on these 15 steps and they would sing the 15 Psalms, the songs of ascents.

The songs of steps, literally, they would ascend steps and the songs are in the Psalms. And those Psalms are Psalm 120 to 134. They would sing those Psalms during this illumination ceremony. And they would also dance. In fact, they would make Circus World in Baraboo look ridiculous. Because they would have what they call the men of great deeds. And they would get torches that were lit up and they would throw these torches up in the air. And they would catch them and they would dance and they would sing. And they danced late into the night. I mean, it must have been just an amazing sight to hear the beautiful songs praising and honoring and glorifying God. Jerusalem lit up like a glimmering diamond. And the wonderful joy that had to be at that wonderful experience of the illumination ceremony. In fact, it was said that if you had never seen the rejoicing of the fire ceremony, you had never experienced rejoicing. That's how amazing it must have been. The illumination ceremony. Now, as fantastic as that must have been, all of it was just a symbol. It was just symbolic of something much more important. In fact, I was reminded of a story the other day. And it was a story that took place offshore in the Atlantic Ocean. And it was a foggy, foggy night. A message came over the waters of a flashing Morse code signal. And it said, please divert your course 15 degrees south to avoid a collision. Immediately, there was an answer back flashing Morse code. And it said, negative, please divert your course 15 degrees north to avoid a collision. A moment later, flash, flash, flash, comes back. Negative, please divert your course 15 degrees south to avoid a collision. Well, the captain of the ship was getting a little frustrated, so he flashes right back. This is a captain of the U.S. Navy flagship. I say again, divert your course. Flash, flash, flash, come back. Sorry. You must divert your course. Answer comes back from the captain. I am an aircraft carrier, the second largest ship in the U.S. Atlantic fleet. I'm accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers, and multiple support vessels. I demand you change your course 15 degrees north, or countermeasures will be taken to ensure the safety of this vessel.

Flash, flash, flash, comes back. This is a lighthouse.

Your call.

What an amazing reminder that we need a lighthouse for our security. In fact, that's number two. The lighthouse of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our lighthouse. He is the primary source of life. The ultimate beacon guiding our way. In fact, He said exactly that. If you turn with me over to John 8, verse 12. We're going to spend quite a bit of time in the book of John. So if you've got a little marker, you might want to put your little ribbon there in the book of John. We'll go back and forth in the book a few times during the sermon this morning. But we'll begin over in John chapter 8, verse 12. Now this is an interesting section of Scripture. As you're flipping over there, you might notice along the way over in John 7, verse 10, we notice the context of which this section of Scripture is taking place. I'll give you one guess. What time of the year do you suppose it was when John 7, John 8, John 9 actually takes place?

Yes, you got it! During the feast! This is happening during the Feast of Tabernacles. In fact, by the time we get to chapter 8, it has been said through tradition, can't prove it, but it's said to have taken place right after the illumination ceremony, right after that amazingly brilliant light that shined throughout Jerusalem, that this part of the scenario takes place. Let's notice what Christ says, and we see how that fits together. John 8, verse 12 says, Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. You see, if you were there, imagine being there, witnessing this amazing time of rejoicing. This brilliant shimmering light ceremony that takes place. And here's Jesus Christ saying, that's nothing. That is nothing. I am the true light, is what Jesus Christ said. He claimed to be Messiah. He pointed out the fact to everyone that He was the true lighthouse. It wasn't those giant candlesticks that were much of it. Those were just a physical thing. Spiritually speaking, Jesus Christ is the ultimate lighthouse, the true beacon of light. So He said very clearly, I am the light. In fact, it's interesting when it says, He who follows me shall not walk in darkness. Don't worry about getting the chaff from the wheat. Don't worry about these courtrooms, places that are lit up. He says very specifically, If you follow me, you will not not walk in darkness. In fact, that's what the Greek says. It's got a double not in there. Not that you're tied a knot, but a double not. It says, you shall not not walk in darkness. In other words, you will by no means. There is no possible way to walk in darkness if Jesus Christ is lighting our way. That's what Christ was telling the people. He's telling us that today as well. In fact, if you look up in a different version, the CEV version of the Bible, look at verse 12 again. In the CEV it says this, Once again, Jesus spoke to the people. This time He said, I am the light of the world. Follow me and you won't be walking in the dark. You will have the light that gives life. That's what Christ said. Christ is the light that keeps us from crashing in to the rocks all around us. Not just the physical rocks, but the spiritual challenges that lay before us. And so Christ proclaimed Himself to be the light of the world. He is the only true light. Everything else is darkness. Everything else is darkness. There's only one true way. And Jesus Christ, during the Feast of Tabernacles, says, He is that great shining light. Now, do you realize how vivid, how bright His light was? Oh, boy! Alright! We're doing pretty good here. How bright was it? We can't even imagine. We can't even imagine. More powerful than anything. Brilliant. Perfection. Radiant. You put in the adjective that describes how perfect Christ... In fact, it was so bright, the world couldn't appreciate it. Why? Because what does light do? Light exposes things. It shows things for what they truly are.

Jesus Christ showed the world their sin. He showed the religious leaders of the day their shortcomings. He exposed evil. He exposed sin. And so, through His illumination, He showed that He was Messiah and shown sin for what it really is. Now, if you hold your place here in John, flip over to the 1st John. 1st John, toward the back of your Bible. 1st John chapter 1 verse 5. 1st John 1 verse 5 is an amazing description of how bright the light of our Savior really is. Notice what it says over in 1st John. Chapter 1, and we'll pick it up in verse 5. Just a little short passage, but it says so much. Notice what it says here. 1st John chapter 1 verse 5. It says, this is the message that we have heard from Him and we declare to you. Now, I wonder if the Apostle John had in mind Christ's words right after the illumination ceremony. If He had that in His thoughts. This brilliant shining light of the Messiah, the Savior of the world. That's the message we've heard. We're declaring it to you. What is that message? He says, simply put, that God is light. He is light and in Him is no darkness at all. Not even the slightest shadow of turning. None whatsoever. So His light was an amazingly bright signal to the world, lighting the way, shining, protecting mankind. If you had eyes to see. Now someone might ask you, what do you think is your most important sense? Is it touch? Is it hearing? Maybe most of us would say it is sight. It's sight. To have eyes to see. That brings us to number three. Number three. That is the eyes have it. The eyes have it. If we flip back to the book of John, go back to John 9. We're going to continue on with the story right after the illumination ceremony. After Christ proclaims Himself to be that lighthouse, to be that shining beacon to the world for all mankind, something interesting happens. A healing takes place. It's not just any old healing. It's the healing of a blind man. A man who was blind from birth. Look at the very first verse of John 9. Jesus passed by. He saw a man who was blind from birth. Imagine just coming through the illumination ceremony, claiming to be that lighthouse. Here is a blind man who cannot see. Notice what Christ says, verse 5. Skip down to verse 5. Christ says, So He makes that proclamation, and then what happens? Well, it says, He spit on the ground. He spit on the ground. Verse 6. He made a clay with his saliva, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with clay. Fortunately, he was blind. I don't know if he could understand some of those things that were going on. Who knows? But Christ made an ointment. He anointed the man. He told him to go down to the pool of Siloam and wash in that pool. The man obeys. He goes down to the pool. Can you imagine a blind man bending down in the pool, washing his face and his eyes with water?

And suddenly, as he begins to open his eyes, just a torrent of light would begin to fill his brain. And it would flood from all directions. Suddenly, his senses would come alive. Objects would begin to clarify. Faces would be able to be seen. Reflections. Lights coming all directions. It must have been an amazing sight.

And so, jubitantly, this man rises to his feet. And people were looking on. How could this man, who was blind from birth, suddenly begin to see?

And so, Christ sets the tone. As with the illumination ceremony, he takes the physical thing that was happening and shows the spiritual significance of the event. He does the same with his blind men. Physically blind from birth, he heals his physical inabilities to see so that he can set the example of how he lights men's spiritual vision. His spiritual vision. That's the lesson he wants us to learn from this example. He wants us to see the spiritual lesson.

If you flip back just a couple of chapters. Look at 1 John. Not 1 John, but John 1. John 1. Look at verse 6. Notice his description in how Christ is described.

This great light. This fantastic spiritual lesson that was before us. John 1, verse 6.

It says, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. Talking about John the Baptist. Verse 7.

This man came for a witness to bear witness of the light. And if you've got the New King James, that light is capitalized because it's representing Jesus Christ.

That light, Jesus Christ. That all through him might believe. Now John, verse 8, was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that capital L, light.

That light of Jesus Christ. Verse 9. That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

That's the spiritual light of Jesus Christ. And that spiritual light is amazingly bright.

Do we realize how radiant, how brilliant the light of our spiritual lighthouse Jesus Christ really is? Do we understand how bright it is?

Okay, how bright is it? Everybody together. How bright is it? Okay, I know you're awake now. How bright is that light?

You see, Jesus Christ reveals the way, doesn't he? He shows us the way to what? He opens our eyes to understanding so that we can see. The eyes have it. Without Christ healing our spiritual blindness, we have no sight. We have no spirituality. He reveals the truth. He opens our eyes. He shows us. He illustrates God's plan. He illuminates what the kingdom of God is all about.

And it's not just to you and I, but did you catch verse 9? It says He gives light to every man. Every human being who ever lived will have the opportunity to come to the true light. We've got to have eyes to see.

A good example of this is Saul. Remember Saul who became the Apostle Paul. Remember what happened to him on the road to Damascus? Driven to his knees, he was blinded by light. Whose light was it?

It was the light of Jesus Christ. He was opposing persecuting Jesus Christ and the church by extension. I think there's a valuable lesson in that example.

You see, here was Saul. He was so energetic for what he thought was doing right. And yet, he was persecuting Christ.

Now is it possible that we could be opposing God? Is it possible that we oppose Jesus Christ? Do we oppose the church? The people of God?

Sometimes we don't like light. We kind of like the shadows at times. Or maybe saying it a different way, is it possible to be deceived into thinking we're doing the right thing and really our vision isn't right?

Maybe we're not seeing things for what they really, truly are. Sometimes it's easy to be deceived if we're not careful.

Example. I heard about our good friend, Ollie. He was returning home from work one day. He got home and he noticed everything in the house was out of place. VCR's gone, the TV's gone, all kinds of things are missing. He can't believe it. He runs to the phone, calls 911, he calls the police, he reports this crime.

Just happened to be a K-9 unit that was patrolling the area. First to get the call, closest there they respond to Ollie's emergency call. And as they approach the house, the K-9 officer gets out of the car, got the dog on the leash, they're coming up to the porch. Ollie takes one look at them and he says, Great! I come home to find everything stolen from my house, I call the police and what do they send me? A blind policeman! You see, it's a silly example, but sometimes we don't see things for what they truly are. If God isn't enlightening us and we're not submitting to that light, we're as good as a blind policeman. We're not going to be able to see.

Do we really see? Do we understand how amazing our God really is?

Over in Matthew, if you still hold your place here in the book of John, flip over to Matthew for just a moment. Matthew 13.

If we could be a little corny here, shed some light on the subject here in Matthew 13.

If you look in, even if we begin in verse 14, we have Christ speaking and He talks about a prophecy that was in Isaiah.

And He says that, in hearing you'll hear and you shall not understand, in seeing you'll see, but you won't really understand. You won't perceive.

He says, the heart of the people have grown dull, their ears are hard of hearing, their eyes have been closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears.

Now what's interesting is when He comes to us, because Christ has illuminated us. Hopefully the lights are on and there actually is somebody home, right?

Because Christ has opened our minds to understanding. And so He says in verse 16, He says, Why? Because they see, and your ears for they hear. He says, He says, He says, To have spiritual understanding, to be called of God, to understand God's awesome plan that we're living out right here at the Feast of Tabernacles.

And yet, He says, they didn't see it, and they didn't hear it. But we have. But God has opened our minds. He's given us spiritual eyesight.

But we've got to be careful. We can't become self-assured in that. We have to be relying on the lighthouse. Because think about it for a second.

Remember, there's a counterfeit out there. There is a counterfeit out there.

Question. What does that counterfeit appear as?

An angel of light.

Doesn't Satan the devil, the great deceiver, appear as an angel of light?

You see, he wants to give us different light. He wants to shed light in a different way. An ungodly way.

But it's a light of deception. We could be deceived if we don't stay focused on the true light.

He wants to give us his revelation, new revelation. He wants to enlighten men's minds.

But that's not true light. Satan wants to keep us walking in the light that the Bible literally calls a light of darkness.

Kind of an odd paradox in that terminology. You might just write down Luke 11.35. That's where it says that be careful that that light that's in us isn't darkness.

You see, that's the light of Satan being deceived. So God says, watch out. Be careful of the things that are out there that might be labeled light, that might look like some shining object out there.

It might just be one of those lures that are floating in the water that once we take it, we're hooked.

You see, we need those spiritual eyes to see. Test it. Be sure it conforms to the light of the Word of God. Then it will be a true light.

Now, if we're going to do that, if we're going to have eyes to see, we must do number four.

Number four is turn on the power. Turn on the power. Now, I happened to catch a commercial the other day that kind of reminded me of power, and it was about the Energizer Bunny.

We've all seen those commercials. Energizer Bunny pounding all along with his big bass drum and all that sort of thing.

I heard the story about the Energizer Bunny and Peter Cottontail. Have you heard that story? Energizer Bunny and Peter Cottontail, their rivals forever, they got into an argument. They started to squabble. They were bickering.

And sure enough, this whole thing escalated into just an awful mess. Friends had to jump in there, separate them. Finally, it got so bad, they had to call the police.

Both the Energizer Bunny and Peter Cottontail were arrested, and they took them to jail. Can you imagine that?

Well, at the court hearing, the presiding judge just took one look at the day's agenda, and he said, oh boy, looks like we're going to have a bad hair day.

Yeah, okay, that was an O.

Now, after the hearing, he said to the Energizer, he said, I'm sorry, you ready for this one? But I'm going to have to charge you with battery.

Well, we're here at the feast, and it's often been said, we're here to have our batteries charged, aren't we? We're here to have our batteries charged.

But, you know, if you've got one of those flashlights that have the batteries that you can't take out, or you've got your iPod, or your CD player, your phone, if you're going to recharge your batteries, what do you have to do?

You've got to plug it in! You've got to plug it in to the source. We have to turn on the power. And if we're going to have our spiritual batteries charged, we have to plug in. Plug into the true source.

Notice what it says over John 12, verse 35. We have an interesting turn of events, maybe we could say.

Because Christ takes that example of the illumination ceremony, He shows how He is that great light source, how He is the light of the world, how He opens our spiritual understanding to understand what the feast is all about, what God's plan represents, what He has in mind for us and for all of mankind.

And He adds to this awesome symbolism of the story. Let's notice what He says, John 12, verse 35.

Jesus said to them, a little while longer the light is with you. Talking about Himself, He says, Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. He who walks in darkness doesn't know where he's going.

And He says something amazing, verse 36. While you have the light, believe in the light. Put your trust in that light, in other words. Why? Look at this amazing statement.

He says that you may become sons of light. You see that illumination ceremony was not only a representation of Jesus Christ, but Christ now stretches that application to you and I.

He says we ultimately are to be sons and daughters of light. That's the awesome plan of God. He's called us now to shine as lights in this world.

If you want to flip over, hold your place here. Over to Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 8. It says it a little bit differently over here.

It puts a little bit different glow on the application of what it means to be a son and a daughter of light.

Let's notice how the Apostle Paul puts it over in Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 8. He first of all describes all of us.

He describes all of us at some time in our lives. We were exactly what it says here in Ephesians 5, 8. It says, For you once were in darkness. Once we didn't have a clue what God's plan was about. We didn't understand what God was doing until He opened our minds.

He says, But now, what about now? Here we are at the Feast of Tabernacles. We're celebrating the future millennium, the future reign and rule that we will have with Jesus Christ.

We understand God's plan. He says, Once we were in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

You see, if we're justified, if we're lined up with Jesus Christ and God the Father, we then are the great illumination candle that lights the world.

We are that lampstand that's shining a great spiritual light. That's what our example should be in the world. We are that light.

Christ, in a sense, has taken that light and shared it with us. In fact, a little bit farther down, He says, Walk then as what?

We're in the light in the Lord. He says, Walk as children of light. Wow, there's God's plan. We're children of God.

We're brothers and sisters with Jesus Christ. We are God's children.

Then look down at verse 11. He says, Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.

What are those giant candlesticks exposed in Jerusalem? Every shadow, every corner was exposed. Well, now we're supposed to do that spiritually speaking. We're supposed to expose them first and foremost where?

Right at home. Right in our own lives. We're to expose the darkness within our own life first.

So no wonder, He says down in verse 14, Awake you who sleep. Awake. You know, you got a bright light on. Worst thing that could happen to me in the morning? My wife gets up ahead of me and flips on the light. He's like, Oh, what? Your eyes have trouble adjusting. But you've got to wake up. You've got to come to the light. Arise from the dead, it says. And Christ will give you light. Christ will give you light. Isn't it amazing thing that Christ is sharing that in this representation of the Feast of Tabernacles? He's sharing that responsibility with us because He also said, You are the light of the world. It began by saying, I am the light of the world. But He also said, Matthew 5.14, You are the light of the world. A city that's set on a hill, just like that amazingly lit up Jerusalem during the illumination of the day, a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. That's us. That's us. And we have to turn on the power. Turn on the power. How do we do that? But we've got to respond to the Spirit of God.

There's a, I suppose it's a simple example, but a challenging one nonetheless that's found over in Philippians 2. Philippians 2.14, boy, here's an amazing section of Scripture in the Bible. Philippians 2 is that whole section that talks about putting on the mind of Christ. That we must put on His mind.

And as we light up our thinking, our reasoning, by responding to God's Holy Spirit, by turning to the power, the true power source of spirituality, that we can be different. We can be different. The feast is a reminder to us that each of us have to turn on the power. And it's not our power. It's power that comes from God through His Holy Spirit. And so Philippians 2.14, he says, if we flip on the power, here's how we're supposed to be acting. And here we are at the feast. We've come out of the world. We've separated ourselves from the world. What a great opportunity to do things exactly the way they're supposed to be done.

How are they supposed to be done? Philippians 2.14, do all things without complaining and disputing.

Can we do that at the feast?

Can we imagine this? If we can't do it at the feast, how are we going to do it at home? What a challenge! It doesn't say a couple of things, but all things. All things, why? Why? Well, verse 15 goes on, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of light, or children of God, without fault, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Why? Among whom you shine as lights to the world. You see, what's going to separate us from everybody else out there?

Who we are. Who we really, truly are. What our behavior is. Light is the whole representation of everything that's in harmony with the will of God. Darkness, on the other hand, is everything that's outside of the presence of God. So the object lesson here, I think it goes along with the time of the year the feast falls.

It gets dark early at this time of the year. It's going to even get earlier as we approach winter. It gets dark now in the morning. It doesn't get bright at 5 o'clock in the morning every morning. You have to get up, and what do you have to do? Well, if I'm going to find my socks, I've got to flip the switch on. I've got to turn on the power.

I've got to flip the switch in order to turn on the lights. Every morning, here at the feast, every morning when we get home, think of that. You get up in the morning, and you flip on the switch. Every morning, as you get up, and you go to turn on that switch, think of it as an object lesson.

We've got to flip it on. We've got to turn on the power. Flip it on! Well, don't flip out. No flipping out. Flip it on. Turn on the power. Respond to God's Spirit as you turn on that every time. Here at the feast, you turn on the light switch. Think, I have to turn on and obey God.

I have to respond to His Holy Spirit that's within me. Not my own reactions, not my own thoughts, but my thoughts must be within the context of the Spirit of God. Are we that shining light? Do we allow our actions to show what we truly believe? We say, well, I'm in God's church. What can we really prove that? By how we live, by what we say, by what we show in our actions?

Then there's the tough one. We could show lots of things on the outside, but what am I thinking? I'd really like to strangle that guy, but I'm still smiling on the outside. No? Not quite there yet. You see, and then there's also a challenge that as a shining light for God's way, we have to have a respect for others. We've got to make sure that we're not glaring. You ever notice that, especially with these new headlights that they have?

They have those fancy, I forget what they call them, but they're these fancy headlights. I hear some of you saying the word. I can't think of it offhand, but they're really bright. And sometimes, you know, I'm flashing the guy that's coming at me, and then he turns on his brights, and they're like, whoa, it's really bright now. And those lights are just blasting. They're so bright that you can't see.

We've got to make sure we're not offending people by our glare. By our glare. That we think it's our job to point out everybody else's shortcomings. That's not really our job. You see, if the light is right, if the light is right, it is attractive, isn't it?

Maybe you're staying in a condo that has a fireplace. What a wonderful invention they are. There's just something about the glow of a fireplace, isn't it? And it's warm. It's not only that it's warm feeling, but it looks inviting, doesn't it? It looks inviting. It looks comfortable. And we're attracted to that light. Now, imagine that as we are God's light, we are the light of the world.

Is our light something that as people get closer to us, are they more comfortable? Are they more invited? Do they feel the warmth of the presence of God's Spirit as they get closer? Or are we confrontational? Are we cold? Now, what is our light? Our light should be just right so that it's attracting attention. Not to me, not to ourselves, but it actually attracts attention to Jesus Christ, to God the Father, and their way of life, their great calling.

Because God offers warmth and comfort and encouragement to this world. The Feast of Tabernacles represents that time when the kingdom will be established on earth. People will have come through the Great Tribulation an amazingly awful time. And they're going to need comfort. They're going to need encouragement. They're going to need warmth. They're not going to need correction. They've just come through all of that. They need to be served. They need to see the source of hope. They want to be warmed. They're not going to need to be burned. And so we are to do that.

How do we do that? Flip on the switch. We know that Psalm. We probably have it memorized. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Thy commandment is a lamp, the law a light. Psalm 27, The Lord is my light and my salvation. If we think those things when we flip on that switch, every time we do it, it'll be a constant reminder of the shining light of Jesus Christ and the light we are to emulate. Now, as you think about it, it doesn't stop there. It goes on into the future. In fact, that's number five. Number five is there is light beyond today.

Light beyond today. The feast represents that time of the world tomorrow. Things that are happening beyond today are future. The future plan of God. The feast exemplifies that time. And you know what? It's interesting. You can find that representation, that symbolism, all the way at the very end of your Bible. So if you flip with me over to Revelation 7. Revelation 7. There are many indications, many applications that we'll see throughout the book of Revelation that directly point to the Feast of Tabernacles and the great symbolic meaning that's found in God's Holy Days.

Revelation 7. We can notice something kind of interesting here. If you look at chapter 7, the setting actually reflects upon the Feast of Tabernacles. You might say, well, how in the world is that the case? Well, it's interesting if you notice all these people coming out of the Great Tribulation. That's kind of the theme as we begin here. If we look down to verse 9, what is this great multitude doing? What are they doing? It says, well, you can't number them. They're out of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues. They're standing before the throne of God. They're clothed with white robes.

They are righteous. In other words, they are converted members of the church, we could say. And what do they have in their hands? It says, with palm branches in their hands.

This is symbolic of the Feast. This is a time you take palm branches and you make a sukkah. You make a temporary dwelling. And they would wave these palm branches and cry out, Hosanna, save now! And of course, the Jews did that when Christ came into Jerusalem at the Passover.

They kind of got things turned around and thought He was going to do that at that time. But it's really a representation of the Feast of Tabernacles. At that time, when Christ will return and God's kingdom will be established on earth. And so they have palm branches in their hands and they're waving them because it has been fulfilled.

God has saved. And it's interesting, they're coming out of great tribulation. And that's the ones that have come out. Verse 14 says, These are the ones who have come out of great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And they're going to represent that time when the kingdom is established. Now we skip down to verse 15. Notice what's happening with all the righteous here. It says, Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple.

And He who sits on the throne will dwell with them. Will dwell with them. This word in the Greek for dwell, it's a very interesting word. Literally, it means tabernacle. That He will tabernacle with men. Is that the piece of tabernacle's representation? Of course it is. He will sukkah in the Hebrew with us. He will dwell with them.

Or one of the translations in the Young's literal translation, it says, He will tabernacle over them. Which is an awesome meaning when you think about it. Think about the representation of that. What do we do today? We live in temporary dwellings here at the feast. And it's representing the fact that we are temporary beings living in a temporary world. Living in a tent? Well, maybe not literally today.

We're in a hotel maybe or a condo. But it's not going to last. And so we've got a roof over our head that's temporary. We're pilgrims. We're sojourners. This isn't what it's all about. What it's all about is we're looking forward to the time where the feast is fulfilled and God Himself is our temporary dwelling. But no longer temporary. He is the ultimate dwelling place. He's the rock, the ultimate tabernacle, the ultimate dwelling place. And so He will tabernacle over us. That's what Revelation is talking about here. So this symbolism is just phenomenal when you see how the Bible just interconnects over and over. So we have the ultimate fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles here.

In fact, turn to the very end. Look at Revelation 21, just before the final chapter in the book of Revelation. He wants us to understand this so thoroughly. He keeps repeating it. Notice chapter 21, Revelation 21, verse 3. Revelation, verse 3, here we just finally get to the point of a new heaven and a new earth. And notice the description here. Verse 3, we'll pick it up. I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Lo, the tabernacle of God, the dwelling place of God, is with men, and He will dwell with them.

That word tabernacle. They shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. I'll skip down a little bit, verse 23. We see the New Jerusalem. It says, The city had no need of the sun or the moon to shine in it. Why not? Because the illumination ceremony is finally, spiritually fulfilled. We don't need any candlesticks or lampstands, any of those kinds of things. We don't need any sukkahs. We don't need any partial part-time dwelling places, because we've got the real thing. It says, We don't need the sun or the moon for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. Verse 24, The nations of those who are saved, that's representing the feast, the nations will come together, They shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. And its gates shall not be shut at all by day. There shall be no night there.

In fact, he repeats it one more time. Chapter 22, verse 5, it says, There shall be no night there, they need no lamp, nor light of the sun. For the Lord God gives them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. And so we already have that opportunity to be a shining example.

And so we can ask ourselves, Am I a luminary? Am I a luminary? How brightly are we shining? Are we plugged in and switched on to the power of God? Are we lighting up the world? Remember that illumination ceremony that lit up Jerusalem at the feast? Remember that. It represented our Savior, Jesus Christ, the lighthouse of God, our beacon of hope. Remember that. Our blinders have been removed. And so the eyes have it. We have eyes to see. And so may this feast inspire us and encourage us, not only to charge our batteries, but to really turn on the power. So we can be dedicated to utilize the Spirit of God to be His shining light, to be a living, breathing example of God's way, literally becoming children of light. So let's carry that light beyond today. Let's carry that light right into the very kingdom of God, and let's be the luminary that God has called us to be.