God Remembers All the Dead

Good afternoon, everyone! Good to see all of you here again on this last service for the 8th Day Festival. Appreciate the special music very much. I haven't heard that song for a while at one of the holy days, and it's always good to have that. I remember hearing that at a very young age, sung at the Feast of Tabernacles, and it's good to hear it again.

I hope everyone has had a good feast as we've been here in Cincinnati, and you have a safe trip home. I want to just ditto to whatever all the things Mr. Simkowiak said about the thanks. But living here and seeing all of this come together and all of you come in for the feast is very exciting. Go home and tell everybody that Cincinnati makes a pretty good feast site. And you all come back now.

Last year, my wife Debbie and I were able to attend the Feast of Tabernacles in France. In the south of France, at the site, I think they're the same site they're using this year. And on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, a group of us went to a military cemetery. The United States military cemetery, very close to where we were holding the feast in the south of France. And we were all interested in things like that, and so we made the trip over.

Most people don't realize when we think of France, military cemeteries, World War II, we think usually of Normandy, the D-Day invasion of June 1944, made famous by so many books. And the movie Saving Private Ryan, which carried with it a great story, but there is a beautiful cemetery at Normandy, an American military cemetery, which was figured prominently in that movie. But what most people don't know is that a few months after the D-Day invasion of June 1944, the Allied troops also invaded the south of France. And it was a very successful invasion, and they were able to link up with the troops who had invaded Normandy and then make their final push into Germany and bring World War II to a conclusion. The dead, the American dead, who were in that southern invasion of the south of France, are interred in this military cemetery which we visited last year. If you've ever been to an American military cemetery, either in maybe Hawaii, here in the States, or on some other foreign soil, it is a very impressive sight. Let me explain a few things about that. The American Battle Monuments Commission, kind of a division of the Department of State, I believe, or Department of Defense, is responsible for the care and the upkeep of all the American military cemeteries. And they take great pride in tending those cemeteries and caring for them. When we were at the one in the south of France last year, we got a tour by one of the tour guides there that was a resident member of the staff. In addition, she called out the director of the cemetery, a retired military Marine captain, and he gave us another tour. We had actually two tours. And it was a rainy afternoon, and it was fascinating. What I learned is this. Not only do they keep a well-tended, well-mowed, well-cared-for cemetery for all the men who are buried there, they go to great lengths to find out all they can about the men who were buried. The American soldiers who lost their lives. And as they were touring us around, they would walk us up to a grave, one of those white markers that you see, and they would look at, they'd show us the man's name, and they would begin to tell us what they knew about them. Because as relatives through the years have come and made their pilgrimage to those sites, they brought with them the story of their uncle, their grandfather, in some cases their own father that they didn't know, who died in that invasion, never came home, and was laid to rest there.

And they collect these stories and they talk about them as if they were real flesh and blood people. And I was very impressed with that. That they'd go to such great lengths not only to take care of the grave, but to find out something and perpetuate the memory and the knowledge of those men, and a few women who are buried in their cemeteries.

Let me give you one story. They walked us over to one grave, and in front of the grave was a red rose. I've got a picture of it. I checked my phone this morning. I still have it. There was a red rose there, fresh. And they said there was a red rose that is kept on this grave. It was a soldier from Connecticut who died in that invasion. The woman that he never went home to marry has ordered and made it possible for a fresh rose to be kept on his grave in perpetuity.

And at the time we were there a year ago, she was still alive. You do the math. Evidently, she went on married, had a life. But she never forgot the love that went off to war that didn't come back. And she wanted a red rose put there on his grave.

I saw it. They had the story. There were many, many stories like that. When you go to a place like that, you are impressed. You realize that there are a lot of other cemeteries from other wars and other times that are neglected, forgotten. And in time, likely, the American military cemeteries could see the same fate should time go on that long. The care that people have to care for the cemeteries and perpetuate the memory of the people may eventually be forgotten.

But one thing will not be forgotten, and that is the dead small and great. God will not forget all of the dead. Those military cemeteries, shipwrecks, and unmarked graves all over the world throughout the history of human beings on the earth. And this day brings us to that understanding, to that knowledge, and to that hope. You see, every grave that we looked at in that American cemetery also not only commemorates the valor, the sacrifice of those men and women, but also the dashed hope of those who died, who didn't get to live out their life and marry and raise maybe even the children that left behind, and experience a life beyond that moment when they died in battle, and their hopes died there for that time.

When we come to this eighth day, we think about hope. We think about the hope of all who have ever lived who will rise in the resurrection of this day, that Revelation 20 talks about, who are the dead small and great, who come up in that resurrection at the end of the thousand-year period, what we will call the second resurrection, because the first one is called the first, and it's a very definite resurrection that is distinct from that first one, so it's appropriate to call it the second resurrection, or the resurrection of the great white throne.

But we are here to remember that, to celebrate that, to commemorate it in every possible way. We are here on this day to dip our toe into eternity. We're here to dip our toe into eternity. This is what this day pictures to us. In Ephesians 1, verse 14, the Apostle Paul talks about the hope of the creation, the hope of God's purpose and plan, and what it brings. Ephesians 1, verse 13, he speaks of the work of Christ and him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption or the purchased possession to the praise of His glory. Therefore, I also, going on here, verse 15, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

Paul speaks to the hope of God's calling. Hope. Paul would later write, the greatest of these is faith, hope, and love. The greatest of these is love, he said. But hope is listed among faith and love as the greatest of the qualities to strive for, 1 Corinthians 13. Interesting thing about hope and what we think about, not only as it applies to the meaning of this day, but just our everyday part of our life. We all have hope. We have hope in the resurrection.

We have hope in God. We have hope in our calling, as Paul writes here. We hope for a better life. We hope for healing. We hope for reconciliation in some way, perhaps with someone in our own family or place right now with whom we may be estranged. We hope a lot. We use that word in a lot in our language. Do we really think about what it really is saying? All said, faith, hope, and love are the greatest of qualities. Faith is a way of life.

Love is care that we have for one another. Faith and love can wax and wane. Christ in Matthew 24 talked about love growing cold. The love of many will grow cold at some point. Faith can suffer a blow. We can sometimes be strong in faith.

Maybe next week we might be weak in faith. It depends on a lot of different factors. Faith and love can be replenished. Prayer, study of God's Word, fasting if we need to, can help us to regain faith. And love. Go out of your way to give of yourself, your money, your time, your attention to someone, to show love towards someone. And we can once again rekindle an affection for one another, for our fellow man. Faith and love can be rekindled quite systematically in one sense.

What about hope? Have you ever lost hope? Have you ever lost hope? You don't want to lose hope. If you lose hope, you've got a big problem. Hope is something that people need a lot of today.

Probably, faith and love in terms of everyday society is pretty important. But if you look at the problems that people face every day that cause them to turn to drugs, legal or illegal, alcohol, alcohol abuse, or other types of destructive behavior, most often it can be traced to a lack of hope. And they've lost hope. They have no hope other than what they can find in a chemical substance or in some rush through some other means to one degree or the other.

And that's a big problem because when those things don't work, Prozac steps in. Think about that. When people lose hope today, they take Prozac or some other antidepressant.

And it helps. It may get them through the night and it may help to deal with their struggle. I'm not making any comment for or against it. There's a time for it. But the reason for the rise in so much of that and the need for it in large part is because there's a lack of hope.

There's so many different levels today in the world. And hope is hard to regain if it's ever damaged, lost. That's why when we come to the eighth day, hope is on the top shelf. Hope is in the front of that shelf.

Hope doesn't have an expiration date, not the hope of this day. It has a very, very long shelf life. It's called eternity. Hope is very, very important when we think about this day.

In Ezekiel 37, the prophet has given a vision that ties into this day of a vision of the valley of dry bones. Ezekiel 38. And you know this, but let's review just briefly.

Beginning in verse 1 of Ezekiel 37, it says, And he said in verse 3, And so he said, And say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. It's a great spiritual that these words gave rise to.

Ezekiel is given a vision of a physical resurrection.

Sinews, bones, breath of life is put back into these dry bones. This is a resurrection not to eternity, not to eternal life, not to the resurrection described in 1 Corinthians 15, or the resurrection of 1 Thessalonians 4. This is a physical resurrection by the description. You know that. And it happens. And breath came upon these in verse 10.

And so he identifies who they are, and they are symbolic of all peoples, all nations, not just the descendants of Abraham.

Now this is understood by what we find the Apostle Paul writing in Romans, chapters 9, 10, and 11, where the Apostle demands Israel's faith. And he says, if it were possible, I would give up my life that they might have their hope back. And he goes through that passage of Scripture in Romans to show that they will eventually be grafted back on, and they will have hope.

They do have hope. But right here in verse 11, when these bones come together, they say, our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off. It's a significant statement. They say in this vision, our hope is lost. Now, the vision goes on to show that their hope is not lost. And again, when you marry Paul's statements in Romans 9, 10, and 11 to this, then you have a fuller understanding that they have hope.

Israel's rejection by God was not for all eternity. It was for a time and a purpose. Gentiles were grafted in. Other nations. And then, as Paul says, that shows that Israel will once again come to a knowledge of God, and the greater, grander purpose of God that we cannot all begin to understand. And it is a very important picture there that we see as a result of that. Their hope is not lost. They will have opportunity. And that, brethren, is what is so great, not only about the knowledge of this day, but also the all-encompassing purpose and plan of God.

Because Israel sinned, they were rejected by God in time through Christ. The sacrifice was made and given by which all men of all nations, ethnicities, and races, could then be grafted on, as Paul describes it, but have essentially the hope of eternal life, and to become a part of the spiritual church, the body of Christ. But then, Israel will be resurrected, and they will then come to know the Messiah they rejected, the God they rejected. And they will then have their opportunity to know in the fullness of God's plan and even recognize the part that they did play during their sojourn and their life and their time as a nation under the monarchy of David and then Solomon and then the divided monarchy and the temple and all of that.

They'll then say, oh no, and they'll hit their forehead. We could have had a V8, is what they'll say. We could have been what God said we were supposed to be. Wow! Then they will go up to the mountain of the Lord. Then they will be taught the ways of the God of Jacob, deeper than they ever knew it or any of their descendants. But that's for the future.

We talked about that during the day they were in the Feast of Tabernacles. But this day shows how they and all others will come up. This day is for all nations. This day is for all people. This day shows us there is hope for the rest of the dead.

And for that, we should give forever great thanks. When we come to this day, I always personally reflect on those that I've known and never knew. You have people in your past like that? People that you knew, but you never really knew them. An uncle, an aunt, a cousin, a mother, a father, a grandparent. You may have lived in the same house with them, been raised by them, but did you really know them? A few years ago, I was in Amsterdam and went to the Anne Frank home.

You know the story of Anne Frank, the Jewish girl that with her family hid out for a few years in this upper level of a home in Amsterdam. Finally, they were betrayed and taken to a concentration camp. But she kept a diary, the diary of Anne Frank. You know that story? You tour that home today, and you can see it all. There was a little film at the end of the tour that stopped and watched at the time I was there.

It was Anne Frank's father, Otto Frank, who survived, the only one of the family who did. And they had a film of him talking about his daughter Anne, because after the war, when the diary was discovered, and Otto Frank read his daughter's diary, he learned more about his daughter than he never knew. And he was making the statement.

He said, I think that most parents raise their children and probably don't know their children. Now, his was an extreme case, but it caught my attention. And it's kind of been something in the back of my mind ever since. We live with people. We raise people. We're raised by people. We go to the reunions with our family. We live with people for years, but did we really know them? I was raised by my parents, but there are things about them that I didn't know.

I didn't know enough to ask, in some cases. Maybe I didn't need to know everything. But I'll tell you something. When this day comes, and my father comes up in the grave in this day, I've got a few questions to ask him that I'd like to know. Tie up a few loose ends. Anybody in your family that you'd like to sit down with for another day?

I gave a sermon a few years ago called, One More Day with Dad. If I could just have one more day with my dad, I'd grill him up until the last minute of the last hour with questions. If I could just have one more day, well, I won't until this day comes about. But on this day, I think about those that I have known and never really knew and the questions that I would ask. The eight-day picture foreshadows a time when all the hurts will be healed.

All the hurts, all the time, all the injustice will finally be justified. Back in April of 1994, a man named Timothy McVeigh drove a rental van full of explosives and parked it in front of the federal building in Oklahoma City.

And when it exploded toward the whole face of the building off, I think over 150 people were dead, many of them children because there was a daycare there. They finally apprehended Timothy McVeigh, incarcerated him, tried him, found him guilty, and after a few years, they put him to death at the Federal Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.

I remember reading about it because when they shot his veins up with the poison that they used in those cases to execute a criminal, they had a life feed. They also allowed people there to come in and witness it firsthand, who were victims of those who had died at the Oklahoma City bombing. And they had a life feed to Oklahoma City, the people who couldn't make the trip who wanted to watch him die, to find justice. I remember reading about people and their comments afterwards. Some felt that they had closure. There were a few that said, I still don't have closure because their loved one, their child, their relative, was dead.

Timothy McVeigh's death couldn't bring them back. Justice is something that is reserved really for this day too, because on this day, God will empty the graves and people will have hope, and they will be able to live out their life. And if they died tragically, if they died with unfulfilled hopes, dreams, and lives, then they will have a chance to fill that out and to know the truth of God. This day is also about justice.

The only justice that can heal the hurt in the night, and the ache that never goes away. I used to have a couple in one of my congregations who had lost a teenage daughter to a drunk driver. They never got over that. When I would visit with them, I had to look at her painting, prominently fixed in the home.

You couldn't really walk through that home at any point without passing her picture. And I thought, this is what they chose to remember and to live with every day of their life. And they, no doubt, died still, missing their sweet daughter.

On this day, justice will be finally provided for that situation and those that you know about as well. On this day, we live with the hope of eternity, and we live in the light of eternity.

In John 7, Jesus came into the temple. He came up late to keep the Feast of Tabernacles that year. He had sent his disciples on up early. And he said, you go on up. And then he came up, it says, in the midst of the feast. And then, when we come to John 7, in verse 37, on the last day, that great day of the feast, which was the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the Jews had a water ceremony that they had added into the ritual at that time. And this is when Jesus stood and cried out, saying, on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, which for us was yesterday. Remember, the Feast of Tabernacles is only seven days. And then there's the eighth day, which is where we are here today. And so it was on that last day, that great day of the feast, that Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. And he who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. For this he spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in him would receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. And so Christ makes this statement, and he talks about rivers of living water coming and flowing out of him, signifying the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which will certainly begins at the, during the millennium, the beginning of the millennium with Christ's return, the establishment of His kingdom, and His righteous reign upon the earth. And as the generations go through that thousand-year period, that promise of the Holy Spirit will be made, and society will be built for that period, anchored in God's law and God's way. And so there was a bit of confusion as the remainder of this chapter goes, in the plotting by the Pharisees. But down to verse 53, at the end of the day, John 7 verse 53, it says, everyone went to his house. That was at the end of the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles. And Jesus went, chapter 8 and verse 1, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

And early in the morning, He came again into the temple. This was on the morning of the eighth day. This day. When Jesus went back into the temple because He wasn't finished. There was one more sermon that He was going to give. There was one more piece of instruction. And He sat down and He began to teach. And this is where they brought a woman caught in adultery. They were ready for Him. They had trapped and laid, probably through, came on through the night, and they dragged this poor woman. Her backstory must have been very interesting in the circumstances of her being drugged here. And He basically, as you know, He stooped down and wrote in the sand all the accusers left. And He looked up and He said, where are your accusers, woman? And she says, they've all gone. And He said, I don't judge you. Go and sin no more. And He told her to stop her sinning. And by this time, then He made a comment toward, and you go down to verse 12. He spoke to them again. And He said, I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. On the seventh day of the feast, Jesus stood in the temple and cried out, If you come to Me and drink, out of you will flow rivers of living water. He talked about water. On the eighth day of the feast, here in verse 12 of chapter 8, He talks about light. Water and light, two essential qualities to life. Water and light. I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. He goes on to preach a rather long, convicting message to them on that eighth day, to the gathered Jews. It's a remarkable story that speaks to all that we are dealing with in this life, the Holy Days. He brought it to a resounding conclusion on this last fall festival that He kept. It goes by the next spring, it was the time of His death. He gives really a summation of this when you really piece together all that He says. That's what this eighth day comes to. It's the knowledge of this eighth day that opens up the ability to supply the missing peace needed to complete the great puzzle of life.

There is no other amount of knowledge, no other source of knowledge, that I've run across in my studies through the years that talk about the meaning of this day from Scripture, from marrying the Old Testament teaching and with the New Testament teaching of Christ's example and teaching and what we read in Revelation 20 as we have on this day.

No other religion, no other philosophy, no other ideology, no other self-help course, no other book that I've found of any sort like that says and gives the hope that this day gives us as we see it revealed in Scripture.

Interestingly, I have run across two books written by scientists, physicists, who as they have studied the cosmos and worked it all out to the degree that they can with the physical knowledge that they have observed in the universe, I have found two sources from physicists who allude to and recognize that even from a physical perspective, they say and see that at some point in the distant future, a million, billion, three billion years from now, there will be what they call an Omega point, an ending point. You know, Alpha and Omega, the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet, Christ said, I'm the Alpha and the Omega, he's the beginning and the end. They call it, these physicists, they call it the Omega point. And end, after the universe expands, something will happen as they figure it all out. Some say that the universe is going to collapse back upon itself. Others postulate that every living being, including animals who've ever lived, will somehow come back to life. I've actually read that in a book written by a mathematician physicist.

Apart from the Bible, he figured it out that there's, the way the universe is constructed, there has to be some point out there in his theory that everything that has ever lived will be brought back to life. I remember when I read that, I'm thinking, he's describing the eighth day from a secular, humanistic, mathematical point of view is all. And I've read that one other time by another physicist. But neither one have the whole package that the Bible puts together here as we look at this. God's Word gives us everything when it comes to the planet and the purpose of life. And as I said, it supplies the missing piece needed to complete the puzzle. This day really opens the door to eternity. It really opens the door to eternity. We read that the dead, small and great, will stand in a judgment. There will be a period of judgment there. We have speculated in the past that, based on the scripture in Isaiah, that it might be a hundred years.

We don't know that that verse is telling us that exactly. And we've, in a sense, kind of backed away from dogmatism on that for more than 40 years in the church. But we know there's going to be a period of time of judgment as the books of the Bible are opened and people have an opportunity for their name to be written into the book of life. If it's a generation, or two or three, God knows. We'll find out when we get there.

That's my standard phrase for anything I don't know about when we get to that point in time. God knows. The scripture tells us there are some things God keeps to Himself. And my point is, let's just get there and find out. It's going to be great. Let's just get there and find out. And then we'll know. But then beyond that, there's something else. Now, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 begins to tell us a little bit about that. Paul makes a comment in this resurrection chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, where he begins in verse 20. And he says, Christ has risen now from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. And as an Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But each one in his own order, Christ the first fruits, afterward those who are Christ that is coming. That takes us down to the day of trumpets and into the millennium, which we've just kept as we've observed through the Feast of Tabernacles. Then, in verse 24, Paul makes this statement. Then comes the end. When he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end to all rule, all authority, and power, for he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet, and the last enemy that will be destroyed is death. Then comes the end, verse 24, when he gives the kingdom to God the Father. When is that? You know, we all like to know about the study of the subject of the end times. A number of you came out on Friday night for the Bible study that I did on prophecy. I always know every time I bill a talk or lecture or seminar or Bible study on prophecy, and everybody's going to flock for that one. They're going to come out. I can always guarantee a pretty good turnout for that. We all want to know about end time events and this and that. And that's good. We should. And I try to explain to us all that we should have a balanced approach to that, not get off into speculation. But that's only one part of the end time. And there's a lot there that we will never know until it finally happens. And then we'll look back again and we'll say, oh, that's what you meant.

Well, we thought we had it all worked out in our charts, in our timelines, in our speculation. But God, again, knows that timing and it'll be perfect. And it'll be exactly as He's going to do it. But there's another time of the end, even greater. And it's the one spoken of here in 1 Corinthians 15, 24. Then comes the end when He gives the kingdom to God the Father. After the millennium, after the time of the Great White Throne Judgment, it seems, then He will give it to the Father. The Father will come down. And that's where we turn to Revelation 21 and see what is told there.

Because by the time we get to the end of chapter 20 of Revelation, as has been brought out in an earlier sermon during the feast, the time of the Lake of Fire and the judgment of that period of time that verse 13 talks about. In verse 14, where death and Hades are cast into the Lake of Fire, this is the second death and anyone not found written in the book of life is cast into the Lake of Fire. You correlate this with what Peter says in 2 Peter chapter 3 about a time of great conflagration when the elements melt with fervent heat. By the time we get through the picture of Revelation chapter 20, we've come to the end of the time of the Great White Throne. And all that is physical ceases to exist. And that's when John sees the new heaven and the new earth, verse 1 and verse 21. For the first heaven and first earth have passed away, there's no more sea, and I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them and their God. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain, for the former things have passed away. And this correlates with what we just read in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 24, when Christ gives up the kingdom to God the Father.

And the Father then dwells with...we can't really say man, because if you have not been changed to a spirit being at this point, you don't exist.

Because we have moved through the plan of God as we understand it by the resurrections and the time of judgment and the lake of fire and that.

So God then dwells with his family in an existence that we call eternity, and we have crossed a threshold. As was mentioned in an earlier sermon this week, time and space are not there. Not a 24-hour day, not a 365-day year. No more eclipses as we know them.

And you have to understand Revelation 21 and 22 in that reality, that we have crossed the threshold into eternity. That's why I say this day, the 8th day, gives us a toehold into eternity. It is the time of the resurrection of the dead, small and great.

But then it moves into something far greater that the Scripture begins to give us just an inkling about. And this is the end. The end of what this earth and the human creation upon it in the image of God has meant to be accomplished in God's eternal plan. And what will take place from that point forward, we don't know.

But God knows, and He'll tell us, He'll show us when we get there. And that's what we hope for. And that's, in a sense, where we leave this day, as we come to the hours before the glorious blazing sunset on the 8th day. It may not be too blazing today. I think it's probably still overcast out there.

But the Bible remains silent on so much, and that is where we go.

Revelation 21 tells us that the light of the New Jerusalem comes from the glory of the Lamb and the Father. All things are new, which means there's no sun as we know it.

Because the sun gives us light today.

And without sun, there's no physical, carbon-based life. So again, you have to understand what we're being told here.

And when you do, the plan and the purpose of God takes on an entirely grand dimension that makes us realize it is worthwhile.

It is worth everything to be there, to be a part of it today, to have the foreknowledge that we have, to get a foretaste of the coming kingdom, to walk through the plan of God every year as we begin with Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, and all through the Holy Days, rehearse that meaning year after year and come down to this moment on the 8th day.

It's all, it makes it all worth it because we get a peek into eternity.

And in existence with the Father, with Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, as spirit beings, as members of His family, seeing Him as He is because we will be like Him, as John says. And then God will, maybe He'll give us another book that will have that plan. I don't know. That's just, if you write that down, put Macneally speculation out to the side of it, okay? So just so we know what it is, we will find out. But, you and I have to go home today. We have to return home to the issues of life, to a job, to school, to a family, to life.

Life goes on. And another year has come to an end in terms of how we measure it based on the Holy Days. And we have to deal with life, the struggles that it brings, our own nature, the pulls of the flesh, aging. And let's be blunt at this moment. For some, this will be the very last Feast of Tabernacles, on the 8th day.

We all should think about that, no matter what our age might be.

Be grateful, not morbid, to be thankful, to be filled with hope. Because life will go on. And we don't know what the next year will bring. For so many in the last 12 months who are at the Feast this year, here, and in other locations, it's been quite a year.

Quite a year. And God has given His people and His church the grace to deal with all of it that has come. And He will continue to do so. And we have to proceed forward. We have to keep going. The announcement was made about John Sephoric, one of our long-time elders, pastors this morning, who died.

Many of us knew him. I knew him quite well through the years. He used to be my mother's pastor back in Missouri. And we are saddened, as his family is, unexpected.

But knowing him, he died in faith, and his crown is awaiting him.

And we've got to go on.

When we turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter 12, the whole book of Hebrews has as its theme a message to people to hang on.

Don't give up. Be strong. Don't give into the struggles of life.

In chapter 11 of Hebrews, the writer Paul gives a whole litany of faithful people.

The Hall of Fame of Faith, as it is called by some, who, through faith, it says in verse 39 of chapter 11, did not receive the promise.

God, having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

Abraham will not be in the kingdom one day longer than any of us in this room who attained to the resurrection to life.

Even though Abraham died, how many thousands of years ago? Two, three, more than three thousand years ago, Abraham died. He won't be in the kingdom any faster than you and I will be.

King David, the Apostle Paul, they'll get there at the same time we get there.

We'll all arrive at that moment of the resurrection at the same point in time. Think about that.

God has a perfect plan. They have not received the promise. We will all receive it together.

Therefore, verse 1 of chapter 12, he says, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sand which so easily ensnares us.

And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

As I said, we've got to go home tonight. We have to go back to our homes or apartments, families, maybe a mate that doesn't believe in the same way.

Whatever struggle or trial, maybe there's something we have to face we kind of put off until after the feast this year.

I'm going to keep the feast. I'm going to keep that. I'll deal with that afterwards.

Maybe it's a call back to the doctor. Maybe it's a visit that you've got to make to the doctor.

Or maybe it's something else that is just you put it off.

And we will, and you'll deal with it. And life will knock on our door.

And as he says here, let us run our race. And let's lay aside the weight and run with endurance.

Plan to be here next year, ladies and gentlemen.

Plan right now, by God's grace, purpose, and will in your life, to be at the feast next year.

To set your course, your plans, your purpose, wherever you will go to be at the feast on that opening night when that moon is full.

And to keep the feast before God.

Verse 2, he says, Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

We look to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.

It's another way of saying, I'm the Alpha and the Omega.

He has begun a good work in us, and He will finish it, as Paul says in Philippians 1.6.

We need not fear we're going to make the kingdom. I hope none of you are labored day in or day out or season in or season out rather than under the fear of not making the kingdom.

You should not. If you've repented, if you've had faith, if you've accepted God's Spirit, then God will help you be there.

That's not a one-saved, always-saved type of an idea.

But it is a promise and a guarantee of eternal life. And we have to run the race, and we have to endure and overcome and die in the faith that that happens before the time of the resurrection.

And by a transformation to His Spirit body, we will experience the fullness of God's glory.

But you don't need to fear in your life, will I make the kingdom? Don't.

Like Big Pappy said in the commercial, just don't. Just don't. Just don't.

Have confidence, have courage, have faith in God's Word that we look to Jesus that He will finish our faith.

His work within us, He will finish as we yield to Him and allow that.

We'll make mistakes. We'll sin. We'll have to get back up.

But don't ever turn away from it. Christ endured for us for our sins. He lived a perfect life. He showed that it can be done with the help of the Spirit.

And as He gives that Spirit and as that life is lived within us, then we can overcome and we can be conquerors of human nature, of this world, and of anything that Satan throws at us.

Verse 3, consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. Keep your eyes upon Christ. He's active. He's the head of His church. He is working in it, and He's working in perfecting His plan.

He is preparing the bride today and tomorrow. And we are a part of that if we are in the mainstream of God's purpose and plan.

He goes on down to verse 12. Therefore, strengthen the hands which hang down on the feeble knees.

I know some of us have feeble knees. I see the wheelchairs and walkers. That's okay. You're here. But strengthen them. Keep going. Keep moving. The Stashel page said, don't look back. Somebody might be gaining on you.

Okay? Keep moving forward.

Make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be dislocated and rather be healed.

Pursue peace with all people and holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Do what you can to reconcile this year where you need to reconcile. Pursue peace with all and holiness.

Looking carefully, lest anyone fall short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble and by this many become defiled.

Don't let anything embitter you. Determine not become bitter over anything in the coming year.

I used to hear that every year when I was a kid at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles on this eighth day as in the final sermon. I used to hear that explained.

Don't get bitter. Don't let anything about life, any person, any situation cause you to be bitter against another or more importantly against God or against His Church.

Don't let bitterness, a root of bitterness, spring up. Determine that. Seek peace where you need to and seek reconciliation.

Verse 25, See that you do not refuse Him who speaks, for if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth.

But now He has promised saying, Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.

Now this, yet once more, indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken as of things that are not made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

For our God is a consuming fire.

So I asked what I did on the first day. What have you learned this year at the feast?

Did you keep another feast just like the others? Or did you learn something more this year, to where it was a little unique? If you'd be a little unique, I guess you can. Don't get caught up in a spirit of bitterness. Don't get caught up in pride over the next month.

By the time we get to the eighth day and beyond, all the pride that we might think we have in our life and in our minds and in our abilities, all of that will be tossed into the lake of fire.

It burns with brimstone.

And those who are fearless, strong, courageous, will be there. We'll be at that point with the Lamb and with the Father.

So let's take hope on this day. Our hope is not cut off. And let us live in the light of eternity. And may we all see one another by God's will and grace next year at His feast.