The Eighth Day, A New Beginning

Well, good afternoon, everyone. First, let me thank Mrs. Kennedy. Beautiful job on describing the New Jerusalem. We've talked about it a little bit and singing about it so far today. This is a special day, this eighth day that we're here. But before I begin, let me just thank all of you and thank Mr. Foster and Mrs. or Mr. Mez as well for, I think, the feast site was so well coordinated.

It has been an absolute pleasure and delight and honor for my wife and son and his wife. For us to share this feast with you, we have enjoyed it so very much. It's been great to meet so many of you and to be here through the whole time. It really is a family feeling and we are all family. And it's just wonderful, wonderful to have been able to be here with all of you in this site.

Mr. Foster has said many times, it has such a millennial feel. It's really the spirit that God has put in all of you as we have been here at this feast. Everything has just been so wonderful. But the setting outside has been millennial as well. I know when we came here and people would tell us, oh, you'll see elk, you'll see elk. And I thought, yeah, I'll believe that when I see it. Well, we have seen more elk than I ever dreamed possible.

And to see them walking around as part of the community has just made it all special as well. So thank all of you. Thank you to all of you who have participated in serving in the feast. Most of all, we thank God for calling us and for making this possible, for all of us being here and understanding His plan. So we're here on this eighth day, this eighth day festival, which is a completely separate festival than the Seventh Day Feast of Tabernacles that concluded at sunset last night.

I know you all know that. But let's go back to Leviticus 23. You'll see where God has ordained this day for us to be together here in a holy convocation. In Leviticus 23, in verse 34, God says very little about this eighth day other than it's a holy convocation at the end of the Seventh Day Feast of Tabernacles. So in verse 34, it says, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Eternal. Those are the seven days that we just concluded last night. On the first day there will be a holy convocation.

That was a week ago. Do no customary work on it. For seven days, offer an offering made by fire. And on the eighth day, have a holy convocation, offer an offering made by fire. It's a sacred assembly. Do no customary work on it. God simply calls this the eighth day. You know, sometimes when we're talking about the Feast of Trumpets, we say God said very little about the Feast of Trumpets.

It's a memorial of the blowing of trumpets. And then we go through the Bible and we see the other places that the trumpets are mentioned in the Old Testament and the New Testament. And we get the full picture of what God is picturing by the Feast of Trumpets. And so we can do the same thing when we look at this eighth day that we're celebrating here today and observing. So let's take a look at the other places in the Bible where the eighth day is specifically mentioned and it gives us a clue as to what God has placed on this final holy day of his sacred year that we're observing today.

Because it has a meaning that's tied to the Feast of Tabernacles but is completely separate as well. And it speaks to his plan for humanity, something that we have rehearsed through the entire year from Passover on through this day. So if we go back to the book of Genesis, in Genesis 17, speaking of the man Abraham.

And Abraham, of course, we know was extremely faithful to God. Whatever God told him to do, he did. He said, move, he moved. God said, do this, do that. When it came time to, when God said, sacrifice your son Isaac to me, Abraham didn't question it. He just did it. And in chapter 17 and verse 10, God talks about this covenant that he's going to make with his people, the descendants of Abraham.

And in verse 10, he talks about this covenant. Genesis 17 verse 10 says, He who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. So on the eighth day, on the eighth day, a male child was circumcised. For the first seven days of his life, he was living. Just living life. But on the eighth day, which was the beginning of a new week in his life, God said, in the Old Testament, to circumcise him.

And from that day forward, he is now circumcised and part of the covenant with God. But for the first part of his life, he isn't covered by that. God didn't say on the very first day he was born to circumcise him. Wait till the eighth day. Do that on the beginning of the next week of his life, the beginning of the rest of his life after he's lived for seven days.

Now, you and I, we know that physical circumcision isn't a requirement for salvation today, but circumcision of the heart is. That's mentioned in Romans, even mentioned in Deuteronomy when God said he was really seeking circumcision of the heart. And so, similarly to a circumcision that happened on the eighth day of life, our circumcision doesn't occur at the time we're born physically.

We live a part of our life, whether we're born in the church, our parents were born in the church, whether we're first or second, third, fourth, fifth, whatever generation, part of our life is lived apart from that covenant. But there comes a point in time when we develop a relationship with God, when we know this is the church that God has called us to, that this is the truth. And at that point, we repent. We are baptized.

Hands are laid on us, and we receive the Holy Spirit. And that's that circumcision of the heart so that, as we read this morning in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, we are a new creation from that day forward. A new life begins at that point. A portion of life occurs, and then the circumcision of the heart. A portion of life, and then a new beginning, beginning with that time. If we go one book further into the book of Exodus, we see the eighth day mentioned again in a significant situation. In Exodus 22, after the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, and in verse 28, speaking of the firstborn that are committed to God, verse 28, it says, We know the law of the firstborn in the Old Testament.

Likewise, you shall do with your oxen and your sheep. It shall be with this mother seven days. On the eighth day, give it to me. Seven days, let it be with this mother. But on the eighth day, the beginning of that week, then you offer it to me. It's a sacrifice to me. Let it be alive for a period. And then it's an offering to me from the eighth day forward.

Going on to the book of Leviticus. Leviticus 8 and verse 38. Let me look at this again. Verse 33, I'm sorry. Leviticus 8 verse 33. Speaking of, well, we'll read the verses here. You shall not go outside the door of the tabernacle of meeting... Oh, this is talking about the consecration of the priests. Well, they were being prepared to be priests to God. There was a seven-day consecration period, and then on the eighth day, we'll see, they could begin their service to God.

As he's speaking here, God says, you shall not go outside the door of the tabernacle of meeting for seven days until the days of your consecration are ended. For seven days, he shall consecrate you. As he has done this day, so the Lord is commanded to do to make atonement for you. Therefore, you shall stay at the door of the tabernacle of meeting day and night for seven days and keep the charge of the eternal so that you may not die.

For so I have been commanded. So Aaron and his sons did all the things that God commanded by the hand of Moses, and it came to pass chapter 9 verse 1 on the eighth day that Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel. And then they began their service as priests. Seven days of preparation, and then on the eighth day, they could begin serving God in the manner to which he had called.

The eighth day is the beginning of a new week, a new beginning in life. And this eighth day that we're celebrating today has that same meeting. Seven thousand years of mankind on physical earth has been completed with the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles ends.

And then the eighth day is there. It's a new beginning, a new beginning of the rest of life. The purpose for the world, the physical world and physical man has been completed. What God has been working for, that we've been observing and talking about and learning through these seven holy days that we go through, that's done.

And then this eighth day has a purpose, a purpose beyond the physical creation of mankind. It's done. And now there's a meaning in this eighth day. We go one more part in the Old Testament, the book of Ezekiel.

Speaking of the Millennial Temple that will be there during the time of Christ's reign for a thousand years, in Ezekiel 43, we find this eighth day again.

Again, chapter 43 of Ezekiel, verse 25. Again it's speaking of the priests and preparing them for the work that they will do. Verse 25. Every day for seven days, prepare a goat for a sin offering. They will prepare a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without blemish.

Seven days they shall make atonement for the altar and purify it, and so consecrate it. When these days are over, it shall be on the eighth day and thereafter that the priests shall offer your burnt offerings and your peace offerings on the altar. And I will accept you, says the Eternal. From the eighth day forward, you've been prepared. You've been ready. You are now prepared for the work that God has called you to do.

Six thousand years. Six thousand years of mankind on earth. By Adam and Eve's choice to eat of the knowledge of good and evil, they chose to be under their own rule. That they wanted to set laws and they chose Satan to go by his way rather than following God. And God allowed that to happen.

He's always been there. He's always been watching. He knows what's going on. For six thousand years, he allowed man to live on this earth and to reap the rewards of doing things his own way. And as we discussed earlier in the feast, the result has been misery, strife, war, divorce, heartache, sickness, disease, you name it, every negative thing on earth. So the way of Satan, if we look at it realistically, it hasn't worked. It's miserable. And as we go from here until the day that Jesus Christ returns, we'll see just how bad it's going to be under Satan's sway. And then Christ returns. Physical man is still there. And then Christ returns. The seventh trumpet sounds.

The dead in Christ are resurrected. And given eternal life, they're there with Christ for seven years, ruling with him, learning still, still being prepared for what is going to happen beyond even that millennial period into the white throne judgment, as Mr. Tuck talked about this morning.

What we learned during that millennial period with a smaller number of people is going to prove invaluable when all those tens of billions of people are resurrected in the white throne judgment and the second resurrection. And they have to be taught the way of God as well. They have to learn. They have to repent and choose God just like you and I do.

Prepared for that and prepared by God for what is even beyond that white throne judgment because he hasn't just called us for a limited time to serve him. It's not just for the millennium. It's not just for the white throne judgment. It's for eternity. And we have no idea what that is past the white throne judgment.

Whatever is out there, God already has plans. He knows what it is that he has in mind for mankind. But for 6,000 years under Satan, then 1,000 years to show the benefits of living God's way of life and how wonderful and how great it is, mankind's time will be done. At the end of that 7,000 years, the purpose for the physical earth is done. The purpose for physical man is done.

God has created a new spiritual being at that time. All things are made new. He created 24 elders. He created four living creatures. He created 8 archangels. He created billions of angels.

And now he's creating mankind for a spiritual purpose that we don't have the full understanding of yet.

But we'll know one day that this creation that you are part of, that all of us are part of, that God calls, is higher than the angels.

Called sons of God. Servants of God.

It's an amazing, amazing thing when you think about it and take the time to realize what God has called us to and what he's working.

And this eighth day, this eighth day pictures so many things because when the 7,000 years are done, then as we talked about this morning, the second resurrection occurs.

All the rest of mankind who don't have the opportunity to know what you and I know today have the opportunity to know what the plan of God is.

They have a chance to look at human history and say, who would want to live the way of the first 6,000 years?

We will live by God's way. We will follow him. He is salvation. He is the way to blessing. He is the way to everything good.

It makes you wonder how anyone could ever, ever deny or not do what God has to say.

Because it's only good versus only, in retrospect, not good when you look at the alternative.

So at the second resurrection, people are the rest of humanity. However many that might be. A hundred billion?

They all have to be served. They all have to come to know God's way of life.

You and I will have learned a lot during that thousand years. Working under Jesus Christ. Raining under Jesus Christ. Learning how to deal with people.

And how to teach them. The foundation of which we're doing now as we live our lives and make the choices that we make to learn his way and apply his way into our lives.

In that day, we can say from the heart, this is the way. This is the way. The way you are going to choose doesn't work. We've already been there. We know that this is the way. Walk in it.

So this day pictures the second resurrection. The rest of humanity is resurrected.

From that day forward, there's no more physical birth. There's no more reproduction. Mankind is done.

And everyone has an opportunity to see what the plan of God is, to understand the books of the Bible, to understand what you and I do, and to make the same choice you and I made.

They will either choose God by the decisions and actions that they take, or they will choose Satan. And, sadly, and kind of even unbelievably, some will not yield to God.

Some even then will choose to go their own way and be part of that lake of fire.

But at the end of that 7,000 years, or at the end of that White Throne Judgment period, it's finished. We turn back to Revelation 20.

Mr. Tuck was reading in here this morning, and from verses 11 through 15, I believe, he read and talked about the White Throne Judgment and the books being opened, the dead coming back to life.

So beautifully depicted in Ezekiel 37. I guess we've read that earlier in the feast. But if we haven't, or if you would like again, you might go when you leave from here and look at Ezekiel 37, the first several verses there, because it's a beautiful depiction of how God will bring people back to physical life in the Second Resurrection. In verse 14, let me just read the last three verses here of Revelation 20. It says, Sadly, some will be in the Lake of Fire. That's the eternal death. They won't exist anymore.

There is no immortal soul like the world likes to teach. They're gone. It will just be the memory of them on how they decided to go against God and choose themselves over God, the eternal, the Savior, the author of salvation, eternity.

That will be the end of them. But the rest will receive that life that God has saved, and they will dwell with Him.

In verse 15, it says, There's a time that the Book of Life is just closed, and anyone not found written in the Book of Life is cast into the Lake of Fire.

That's the end of this physical earth. The purpose that God created it for is complete. The purpose that He created mankind, physical mankind, is complete.

If we go back to 2 Peter 10, or 2 Peter 10, 2 Peter 1. I'm sorry, 2 Peter 3.

Peter speaks of this time. When the purpose for the physical earth is complete, then it's finished and God burns it up.

2 Peter 3 verse 10. The day of the Lord will come, as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

Then Peter asks that rhetorical question that we should all consider. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements melt with fervent heat.

What kind of people will we be? Do we believe that? Do we see that occurring? Do we feel it beginning to occur?

Do we see the end of this age as we watch the events that are going on around us, even as we've heard in the last 24 hours about what's going on in Israel, and we see the advent of another war over there?

With some serious implications to it, as the president in Israel has pretty much declared a state of war over there, as you see what's going on in Guatemala in the aftermath of an election that's contested, which seems to be the new norm for the world. When your person doesn't get elected, you contest it, and you try to bring the world to a halt. As we see these things happen and watch what's going on in our society and things that we never expected to see happen, we begin to see where this world is going under the sway of Satan as God allows him to have more and more influence on the people of the world. It should motivate us to grow closer and closer to God, to look at ourselves more and more closely and make sure that none of the ideas of the world and none of the arguments of the world are sinking into our heads, but that we are more closely looking at the word of God and seeing that we believe what he is, and that will separate us even more and more from the world around us.

But here on the eighth day, the eighth day is a new week. The eighth day is a new beginning. And there's a new beginning for the rest of eternity that God has in mind for his people. All the people, everyone who has ever been born, he's not willing to remember that anyone should perish. He wants everyone to have part of it. That's why he created it. That's why he's thrilled when more children are born and one more godly offspring are born to us, that he looks to us and says, rear them. Rear them. Teach them in my way. Make them know me. Help them to choose me so that they have that life and thus they can teach others as well. Give them the gift.

Give them the gift of knowing God and knowing the truth and knowing what the way of life that leads to happiness, peace, joy, is, the things that they will never learn in the world. But they can learn from you as we learn from God in the pages of his Bible.

1 Corinthians 2, verse 9. Mr. Tuck quoted it this morning. It was one of my dad's favorite verses. He used to repeat it. Among several verses he used to tell us all the time. Eye hasn't seen. Ear hasn't heard. It hasn't entered into the hearts of man the wonders that God has prepared for those that love him.

We simply don't know. But we know that there will never be a dull moment with God. What we do in the millennium is going to be exciting as we work with people and as we see God's way cover the earth. And we see people respond and we see the joy and the peace and all the good things that we've always read about happening in a world that is doing everything God's way.

The white throne judgment period with how many billions of people we don't know. How God transforms the earth and it can even hold that many people on earth. It will be an exciting thing to see. And to see how we work through all that under Christ as he teaches us and leads us. And when that's all done, what does God have in mind after that? We know it's something. Otherwise, he wouldn't be preparing you and me and everyone else.

He wouldn't be having us go through this. He has something in mind. God never does anything without a plan in mind and knowing what we need in order to be part of what that is. It's something that should excite us. It's something that should motivate us. It's something that we should just be almost too excited to go to sleep at night if we were thinking about what God has called us to.

And what our responsibility for that is. That's part of what this eighth day is. It's the rest of eternity after the 7,000 years of physical mankind and physical earth.

You and I have a chance to be part of all of that. We might ask, God, why did you choose me? Ask that. But then give Him your life. Give Him your heart. Give Him everything. And thanks and in gratitude, exactly as Paul said in Romans 12, 1, and 2, it is our reasonable service to give God our lives. Because He's made them purposeful, meaningful, and beyond anything this world could ever offer us.

We're here in 2 Peter. Let's go forward to Revelation 21.

After the resurrection of the dead, when a lot of the questions that you and I might have are answered about why did this happen? Well, we have a chance to see those loved ones, as was mentioned, family members, friends, and they begin to understand what we understand now. It'll be a wonderful, wonderful time, except for those who choose not to follow God. And at the end of the physical earth and creation, and the reason for it, when it's all burned up, God brings the new heaven and new earth. Chapter 21. I saw in verse 1, I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea.

And John says, I saw the holy city coming down from heaven, new Jerusalem, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Verse 4. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, no more pain, for the former things have passed away. All that is part of this life, not part of the future that God has planned.

And he sat on the throne, and he who sat on the throne said something we've reversed many times during this feast, that we all look forward to. Behold, I make all things new. Right. For these words are true and faithful. This is what's going to happen that day will come.

Let's drop down to chapter 22. Verse 1. He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. And the middle of its street, on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there will be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. They shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. And then he shows the difference. There will be no night there. They don't need a lamp or light of the sun. For the Lord God gives them light, and they shall reign for ever and ever. And he repeats. These words are faithful and true. They will happen. It's a part of future and a part of what we are observing today and picturing today. Verse 12. Behold, Christ's own words here, he says, Behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me to give everyone according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are those who do, not just know, not just teach, not just talk about, not just listen to. Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city. Verse 16. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star. It's going to happen. It's a bright and glorious future. One that we don't know yet, but we can guarantee it will never be dull. There will never be a time where we say, God, I wish I had just died. This is boring. There is nothing about God that is boring, dull or static. Right? It's always progressive. God is always working. We, as long as we draw breath in this life, we continue to grow and improve and change as we yield to him and let him mold us into who he wants us to be.

During the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, we have had some tremendous messages. I will have to say they've been inspiring, very well presented, very well thought out. Obvious God's inspiration was in all of them, and I hope that has inspired all of you. I hope, as we leave here to go back into the world, back to our jobs, back to our whatever we do, back where we live, that we're inspired because of this, and God has lit a fire in us. A fire that should never go out. A fire that must stay ignited. And that's one of our challenges as we go from here, where we've been with each other, when we've been apart from the world. And we've been able to just kind of enjoy each other's company here. God's Word every single day. Be with people of like-mind every single day. It's been a wonderful experience.

But tomorrow it's going to be a little different. Every day after the Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day is over every year, I don't know, I always just feel a little lonely that morning. I kind of long to be back with everyone again and not be headed out and headed back to where we live. And I'll do that tomorrow because I'll think of all of you and wish we could be together. But what do we do from here? What do we do from here? What does God want us to do? As we've taken all these things and we've had this tremendous time together, what would God encourage us to do as we go forward and go back into the world and do the things that we need to do? So let's spend a few minutes in that. Let's go back to Leviticus 24.

Right after Leviticus 23, which is where God lists the Holy Days, and he talks at the end of the chapters there about the Feast of Tabernacles and dwelling and the temporary dwellings that we're in, the picture of our bodies and the world that we live in, where we've been here in the place that God has chosen. We know we've learned here to learn to fear the Lord, that that always has to be part of what our being is. But in Leviticus 24 and verse 1, he begins to give directions right after. Now, there were no chapter breaks when he was giving these words to Moses. It just continued. So you have the end of chapter 23. Moses declares the feasts of God to Israel. In chapter 24, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "'Caban the children of Israel, that they bring to you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to make the lamps burn continually.'" I give you these feasts. I give you these things to picture what I'm doing in this world, what you've been called to, what the purpose for your life is. Now, you go to the children of Israel, you tell them, you know, you've got a part in this. You bring the oil. You bring the oil because Aaron's job and the priest's jobs are to keep the light burning continually. And you know what those...well, let's read through the Scriptures here a little bit. Verse 3, outside the veil of the testimony, that's where God dwelt in that ark of the covenant, the Holy of Holies, where Aaron went in just once a year at the Day of Atonement. Outside the veil of the testimony, in the tabernacle of meeting, Aaron will be in charge of that lamp from evening until morning before the Lord continually. Have it ever burning. Never let the light go out. Aaron, it's your job. You keep that light lit.

The congregation of Israel, you bring him the oil. You keep a good supply of oil there to keep that lamp burning continually. It should bring Ephesians 4, 16 to our mind, where God says, everyone in the church, what every joint supplies has a part in doing God's will. We all work together to keep that light burning continually.

Bring the oil. Bring the things. You know how to do the oil. You know what it is when it talks in Matthew 25, where half of the virgins let their oil just disappear. Their lamps went out. They didn't follow the command. They let their lamps go out. None of us should ever let our lamps go out. They need the oil and the light to keep them burning brightly.

An ever-burning light in the temple of God. In the tabernacle of God. This was a physical building back then. Today we're the temple of God. He says, keep that light burning continually. It needs oil. Everyone supplies the oil, and the light keeps burning. Let's look at Psalm 18.

We're talking about this light and what we need to do to keep the light burning. Psalm 18, I'm not going to read all of it. I'm going to read seven or eight verses of it here beginning in verse 28. But a really good psalm to look at, if you're feeling like you've lost your purpose a little bit, looking for some direction in life, going through this psalm can be an eye-opener. Psalm 18 verse 28, David writes, For you, you God, you will light my lamp. You'll light it. Psalm 119 says, your word is a light unto my feet, right? And a lamp unto my path? Your word. Well, part of that oil, part of that light burning is being in God's word.

The light isn't in the world. There's darkness in the world. You will light my lamp. The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. For you, by you, I can run against a troop. By my God, I can leap over a wall.

As for God, His way is perfect.

Be in His word. Live His way.

What did Jesus Christ say? I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life.

As for God, His way is perfect. The word of the Lord is proven. He is a shield to all who trust in Him. Build that trust. Take every opportunity to build that trust.

Our brethren in Israel, our brethren in Guatemala, are having an opportunity to build that trust in God. He will deliver them. They can trust in Him. And we have those opportunities along the way to build that trust in God. He is a shield to all who trust in Him. For who is God? Accept the eternal. Who is a rock? Accept our God. It is God who arms me with strength.

His Holy Spirit. The Spirit of power and love and of a sound mind. We have to use it. We have to exercise it. We have to let it lead us to choose. And we have to make the choice. Do it God's way. Not my way. I choose to think this or I choose. And my natural response to this is, Thus, but no, now I'm going to choose and use the strength of God's Spirit to deny self and to do it His way. And to build that pattern into my life. Verse 33, He makes my feet like the feet of deer. He sets me on high places. He teaches my hands to make war. He gives us the weapons of warfare. In Ephesians 6, the weapons of our warfare are not physical. They're not carnal. God gives us those things. We have to use them and learn how to use them. Not just know about them, not being able to just recite about them or talk about them, but to actually use them when the opportunity arises. You've given me the shield of your salvation. Over and over in the Bible, God says, There is no salvation apart from me. He is the only way to salvation. We may want it to be something else. We may think, oh, my way is better. My idea is better. It is God's way that is the only way to salvation. And it's crystal clear that there is no other way to salvation than through Jesus Christ. Verse 37, I pursued my enemies and overtaken them. You know, that's going to be physical enemies, but who are our enemies? Sin, right? You and I can't overcome sin of our own volition. You and I can't do it by our own strength. We need God's Spirit. I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them. I didn't turn my back on them until they were destroyed. Overcoming. Over and over in Revelation. God talks to the churches. To him who overcomes. It needs to be on all of our minds. What is that sin that so easily besets? Go out and keep that fire lit. Build that oil. Overcome that sin with God's strength. And your focus on overcoming that sin, you can overcome it. But it takes determination, and it takes doing the things that God wants us to do. I could go on and spend maybe a whole sermon in Psalm 18. I'm not going to do that. But you know what that is. You know what the oil is. We must be supplying that oil and letting God, that His church, and through everything that everyone in the church provides, that we are a light to the world. We read already in Revelation 22 and verse 5, He's the light. He's called us into light. Christ tells us, you are to be the light of the world. Something He's called us all to. Let's go back. So we have this ever-burning light that must be there. And it's all of our jobs to keep that light burning. Never let it go out. In Exodus 27, it's the first place that God talks about this light. He repeats it in Leviticus 24, right after the Feast of Tabernacles, right as we're leaving and going back into the world. Moses, He says what He says here in Ezekiel 27, verse 20, He says bring the oil, all you children of Israel, keep that lamp, that light burning, and at Exodus 30, He gives Him another thing to keep doing forever. Exodus 30 and verse 8, When Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.

Don't offer strange incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering. Don't pour a drink offering on it. This altar was purely for incense, and it was located, as we see, right there outside the Holy of Holies. Just burn incense on this altar and have that incense burning continually.

Whenever Aaron tends the lights, the incense happens as well. And He gives specific directions on how that incense, what the formula for it is, and He says it's only to be used this way. Don't make it for yourself to use it. This is the incense and the formula, the concoction of it. Do it exactly God's way.

Burn that incense continually. You know what that incense is. Psalm 141. Keep your finger there. Exodus and Leviticus will be right back there in a second. In Psalm 141 and verse 2, the Bible always interprets itself. You don't have to guess these things. It doesn't have to be speculation. In verse 2 of Psalm 141, David writes, "...let my prayer be set before you as incense, to lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." Incense before God. Have that incense burning continually.

In 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 17, it says, "...pray without ceasing." Pray without ceasing. Always be in contact with God. Wherever you go, whatever you do, ask Him to guide your actions, to guide your thoughts, to guide your words, to guide what it is that He wants you to do. Be in contact with Him. Pray to Him.

If we go back to Revelation 5, we see here in the New Testament that incense that arises as a sweet smell before God. Revelation 5, verse 8, verse 7, Christ comes and takes the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne, and when He had taken the scroll, verse 8, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a heart and golden bowls full of incense, golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

Your prayers to God. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. Grant me repentance. Forgive my sin. I acknowledge my way and my sin before you. Cleanse my heart. Cleanse my soul. I know my brother is suffering. He has need of healing. Heal him, God. I have faith and I have trust in you.

God, my enemies surround me. And I don't know what to do. But I know that I can call on you and I can count on you. Give me your trust. God, give me wisdom to know how to deal with the situations that come up in my life. God, give me your Holy Spirit so I can become more like you, so I think more like you, so I know how to react to these situations like you do.

I'm sorry I've disappointed you in the way that I reacted to this or handled that situation, but I'm learning. I need you to give me the presence of mind and let that thought enter my mind that the next time I'm in that situation, I don't do the same thing again. But I do it your way. Help me to understand your word and get out of it what you want to teach me.

All those prayers that come before Him where He sees our heart is invested in Him, that we really and truly want what He wants us to want, that we want His will, that we want His kingdom to come, that we want to become who He wants us to become. And we're willing to give up any part of us or our personalities or anything about us that God says, No, that's not who I want you to be. This is who you need to be so that you can serve me in the way you want. Sweet incense that comes up before Him when He sees our heart matched by the activities and what we do in our lives on a day-to-day basis. That's those prayers that He hears. That's those prayers that He wants to answer. That's what pleases God.

And that's what gets in heaven that encourages Him, too, to know that you and I are responding to Him. Let your prayers come up before God as sweet incense. You have your finger in Exodus. Let's look at Leviticus 16 for a second. Leviticus 16, verse 12, just a few weeks ago on the Day of Atonement, you doubtless read through this chapter, as it talked about the ceremony that the ancient Israelites went through on the Day of Atonement. And there in verse 12, it talks about this incense and how it should be.

Verse 12, speaking of Aaron, it says, He shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the eternal, with his hands full of sweet incense, beaten fine, and bring it inside that veil, which is where the mercy seat was. You know, Christ says there's prayers that are empty, not vain repetition, not just general prayers, but just repeating the model prayer that Jesus Christ gave us. Not just saying the same thing over and over again, but heartfelt communication with God, reciting to him the details of what you are asking him to forgive or do or help you to understand, or the prayers that you give for other people, the intercessory prayers, or what it is that you find lacking in life that you need him to provide. He will provide when we ask, he says, asking you will receive, seek and you'll find, knock and he'll open, beat them fine. Make him your friend, talk to him. You can open your heart and lay every burden on God. Every burden. There's nothing from him to hide. If you're failing a certain way, tell him. He'll help you through it.

If you're depressed, go to him. If you're depressed, go to the Word of God, too. I guarantee if you would just spend some time when people are depressed or feeling apart from everyone, go and just start reading the Bible and you will see your attitude improve. You will feel the Spirit of God being rejuvenated in you as that oil begins to flow again.

The prayer, God said, that altar of incense, it needs to be burning perpetually. Perpetually. Always in prayer and always in contact with him. So we have the ever-burning lamps. We have the perpetual incense.

In Leviticus 6, we find one more thing that is to be ever before God. Leviticus 6 and verse 12.

Leviticus 6, verse 12.

The fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it. It shall not be put out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, lay the burnt offering in order on it, and he shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. A fire shall always be burning on the altar. It shall never go out. Fire has so many. It symbolizes so many things in the Bible. We could go on and on and on about it. You could recite to me those things of where God ignites the fire. The same fire that I hope he's ignited in you, as he has in me, as we go back to there to more thoroughly and completely do his will and seek his will and what he wants done. In our collective lives and as well as in our individual lives. Let that fire be perpetually burning. Never let it go out. Keep it lit. You know, when God, on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the people assembled there in one accord, in one place, it appeared as cloves of fire. Fire. It would give them the zeal. It would give them the energy.

It would keep them motivated. It would keep them focused on what it is. Fire is a cleansing agent. And sometimes God says, as he says to the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3, you know, go seek gold refined in the fire. Purify yourself so that you can come before me, blameless and spotless, exactly the way I am leading you to be, the way you need to be, of the eighth day and eternity beyond. Eternity beyond that. Let that fire, that Holy Spirit, always be in you. Never let it go out. It's God who lights the fire. And our job is to keep it burning. In Leviticus 9, as God gives these instructions to Moses, who passes him on to Aaron, we see that it's God who ignited the fire in that tabernacle. He didn't just tell Moses, go get some wood, strike a match, get that fire lit. No, God lit that fire himself. Verse 22, Leviticus 9, Aaron lifted his hand toward the people, blessed them, and came down from offering the sin offering, burnt offering and peace offering. And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting and came out and blessed the people. And then the glory of the eternal appeared to all the people, and fire came out before the eternal and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. God lit the fire. God lit the fire in you. God lit the fire in me. Our job, don't ever let it go out. And don't look to other sources for that fire to be lit and continually burning. Don't look to God. Look to His Word. Don't go looking in the world. The very next verse there in chapter 10, the adab and the bayhu, put profane fire on it. Not the fire that God ignited. They thought, ah, and the old fire will do. No. It's the fire that comes from everything in the Bible, the truth that God has given us, the Word of God that He's given us, that He wants to write in our hearts and write in our minds, that we live, that we do, that we speak, that we all speak the same thing and do the same thing. Keep that fire. Keep that fire ignited. Deuteronomy 4, and it says in Hebrews as well, our God is a consuming fire. He lights the world. He lights the path.

He will keep that fire absolutely moving in us as long as we exercise what He gives us and not allow it to go out by getting too close to the world, getting too engaged in the things of the world and forgetting even who we are.

By listening to much of the reasoning and the clever, cunning arguments that come from the world about certain things that may think, no, they seem to have a better way. No, they don't have a better way. Only God's way is right.

Keep that fire lit. As we go from here, keep those lights burning. Everyone in the congregations, everyone all over the world, you bring the oil.

We'll all keep the lamps burning individually and collectively, the prayers, the incense going up to God, and the fire ever burning and lighting our way.

Don't ever let it go out. It's been a wonderful feast. Brethren, we have, I said, enjoyed so much being with you. It has been an absolute pleasure.

And again, thank you for everything. Don't forget. Don't forget what went on here. Don't go back.

Keep what you have learned here in your mind. Keep the oneness with each other that God wants us to have and the oneness with Him there.

Seek the truth and live by the truth. And don't discount it and don't look elsewhere for the truth.

If you have questions, come and ask. We go to the Bible, and that's what leads us and guides us and will bring us as we follow God.

He will answer every question in His time, but we will seek the Word of God and keep that light burning in us.

So may I all have a wonderful trip home, and we look forward to seeing you all again. But let me close with some of the last verses of the Bible, which I think is a wonderful way to close and end the feast. So if you will, turn with me over to Revelation 22.

And I'll conclude with the words that God has given us. Revelation 22, verse 12.

Jesus Christ speaking, reminding us, behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me, to get to everyone according to His work.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city.

But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things, and the churches I am, the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star.

And the Spirit and the bride say, come, and let Him who hears say, come, and let Him who thirsts, come.

Whoever desires, let Him take the water of life freely.

For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book.

If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away His part from the book of life and from the holy city and from the things which are written in this book.

He who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.