Jesus Kept the Feast of Tabernacles

Well, good morning again, brethren, and certainly wonderful to be able to see all of you again and be able to get back. You know, we were mentioning before church how that we like to go, we like to be somewhere else, we like to be, you know, staying somewhere, and yet, many times there's no place like home. You know, I was sure glad to get back in my bed and be able, even though we take our pillows, you know, we always take our pillows with us, so I have my normal brick hard pillow that I like, and then Pat has this, basically it's a pillow case, a tiny little pillow that really doesn't even suffice as a pillow.

It's basically just a pillow case, but anyway, just nice to be back home, nice to be back in our bed, and certainly, as I've mentioned earlier, all of us are privileged to be able to go to the feast, to be able to think about what it means. I hope that whatever messages, I mean, we have similar and yet varied and different messages at every site, and all of us should have heard, or at least had access to hear Mr.

Kubik talking about going up to the mountain of the Lord. That is clearly a theme that we would always have for the feast, as far as at least a message, because whenever you read the Bible and the more familiar we get with the Bible, the more we see that the return of Jesus Christ, the establishment of a new kingdom, a new government, that's what the whole Bible talks about. And particularly in Daniel, it talks about that in chapter 2 and chapter 7, and of course, we then fill in a lot of the blanks from many other parts of the Bible, and even the book of Revelation.

Revelation 19, 20, 21, 22, at the very end, you know, it points out the framework of what it is that God is going to do in bringing this kingdom to the earth. We had, again in Steamboat, we had messages about not only the coming of the kingdom, but also how God is later and toward the the eighth day, the last day of the feast, we were listening to what it is that God is going to do even beyond.

Whenever it talks about the rest of the dead living not again until the thousand years are finished, and the sea giving up the dead, that's important. What does that do for us? Whenever we think about, whenever you listen to the chaos, if you do, I'm starting to less and less listen to, I mean, the continual diatribe of just nonsense that officials are involved in, in our country and around the world, we can think about the kingdom of God.

We can think about being a part of that kingdom. We can think about the fact that God is training us because that's what He's doing. What's He training us to do? Well, we know He's going to have us to be leaders or rulers or teachers. What are we going to teach? Well, from what we see in different places, it talks about the law being taught. It talks about people actually coming to learn what repentance is. See, that's something we should know, something that we are being, in a sense, immersed in throughout our physical life.

We're learning to respect the law, to observe the law, to obey God, but to be repentant when we're wrong, and to turn from our sins. And I think there's going to be a need as we come out of this very unsettled world to teach about godly marriage. See, that's clearly something that, you know, the world is very confused about. Many people get married, I realize, but do they truly understand what God's expectations are and how it is that, in a sense, marriage is a center for the family and for, you know, the continual perpetuation of the human race for us. But even as we think about God's family, understanding the love, understanding the respect, understanding the way in which God wants us to be living at peace, all of that gives us hope.

We have hope right now, even if we are being, you know, living, getting used to our normal, everyday existence once again, we still have hope. We have hope for the future. We have hope for the remainder of our lives, however long we live, and we clearly have hope beyond the grave if we happen to die between now and then.

We have a great deal of things to be thankful for and concerned about.

We had several sermons that, actually, I guess I can tell you that the makeup of the feast site there in Branson often is dealing with people around this general area, and many of us are older, and usually we have a very sizable, larger elderly population in Branson. I don't know if that was the case this year, but it struck me as I looked at, we had about 400 people in Steamboat. Purely one quarter of those were teens or less. There were a lot of young families and teenagers and then younger kids, because I saw a stat that showed, you know, at least 100 of the 400 are these young kids, and only about 75 said they were over 65. So it was a lesser group that way, and a larger group of maybe younger families or even older families who were there attending the feast. But several of the messages pointed out the need to respond to God's calling. See, all of us have an opportunity in front of us, no matter who we are, you know, whatever age we happen to be, and even our younger people here, Max and Jack and Faith, we all have an opportunity that's set before us. Beginning to learn the truth of God, and understanding something about that is important. But responding to that is also very important. And as I mentioned, I would say two or three of our messages were along that line, that all of us have to respond to God and see all of us realize we have to respond to God for the rest of our lives. You know, I'm not only wanting to endure unto the end, I want to overcome unto the end. And that's a big part of what God is expecting us to do.

Now, I'd like to simply point out that we can read in the Old Testament a number of different places.

You can read where the Holy Days are mentioned. You can read where we looked some of the verses up here in the sermonette. You can read where the Passover was observed. There are a festival of seven days, another seven days. You can read in Leviticus or in Deuteronomy of Nehemiah. There are different places where the Holy Days are mentioned. And yet, where do you look in the New Testament to verify you're traveling to the feast every year? See, it's mentioned clearly. And one, you know, all of us should be aware of where that is because, you know, you can read some of the detail, and we do, out of the Old Testament, which clearly points out that these are God's, He says, My appointed festivals. And yet, in the New Testament, you see the disciples and the people who made up the early New Testament church. You see them observing the Holy Days as well.

But when we look at John chapter 7, and that's what I want to focus on today, when you look at John 7, you have the premier example, perhaps in all the Bible, of observing the feast. Because here it is, Jesus Christ, the perfect example for everyone, our Savior, the Redeemer, the Son of God, He's keeping the Feast of Tabernacles. So I want to look at that here in John chapter 7. Again, I realize that most of you know this. Most of you are aware of this, but again, even for our younger people, we need to know that the Holy Days are not only a part of the Old, but clearly a part of the New Testament. And they do help us. They help us today, because clearly Jesus is the example that we want to follow. Verse 1, Jesus went about Galilee, and it says, others were looking for Him, trying to find an opportunity to kill Him.

And so, even though maybe they didn't think about it that way, this is exactly what verse 1 of John 7 says. Others were trying to get rid of Jesus. And in verse 2 it says, now the Jewish festival of Tabernacles was near. So, you know, you see a reference here to the Feast of Tabernacles. Why is it called the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles? Well, let's see. I thought I wrote that down, but I didn't.

You actually see here...let's see. Well, I'm not finding it immediately here. I thought it was on the page or two before this. But it also talks about the Jewish Passover was ready to be observed. So, why is it that it references it as a Jewish festival? Well, you know, the reason is that the Jews at this point in Jesus' life 2,000 years ago, they were basically the ones who were maintaining awareness of the law. They were maintaining an understanding, or maybe not understanding, but at least awareness, of the Bible of the Old Testament, of the laws of God, of the rules that God gives us to live. And so here, as we see this written in this case by the Apostle John, he is saying that, well, you know, the people that Jesus lived among, he grew up as a Jewish lad.

He had his mother, Mary, and Joseph, and brothers and sisters who were there in his family. And yet, they observed. They observed the Holy Days. They observed, and Jesus did. So, if he's perfect, and if he's sinless, and if he's keeping the Feast of Tabernacles, that's a pretty good reason for all of us to follow that same example. Of course, we go on here in verse 3, his brothers said to him, leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the works you're doing. No one wants to be widely known, does acts in secret. See, now, his brothers were a little bit jealous of Jesus. They didn't fully comprehend who he was. Now, I'm pretty sure Mary fully understood who he was. She had to know. Joseph, I'm sure, at least knew what he had been told. And yet, the brothers and sisters who grew up with Jesus had a little more difficulty figuring out, you know, how could this be God? God in the flesh. How could this be the Word who became flesh and dwelled among us? That was something John would later write, actually, because that's when he would write his gospel, it would be later on. But his brothers, it says, if you do these things in verse 4, show yourself to the world. You know, they were, in a sense, chiding him. They were saying, well, you know, you want to be recognized, you want to be known, but you're not willing to do these things that everybody could see easily. And, of course, he has to explain, well, it's not the right time to do that. He goes ahead in verse 5 to say, and this is in parentheses in probably most of our Bibles, for not even his brothers believed in him. See, they didn't comprehend who he was.

But he did say to them in verse 6, my time has not yet come, but your time is always here, and the world cannot hate you, but it does hate me because I testify against it, the world, that its works are evil. And so part of what Jesus had to say is that, well, people need to recognize the law, they need to be repentant, they need to turn to God, they need to obey. And yet He told His brothers, what did He tell His brothers in verse 6? You, you go to the feast, you go to the festival yourself. I'm not going to go to this festival for my time has not yet come. Now, He wasn't saying He wasn't going, He was saying, I'm not going right now and I'm not going with you because going in Miss Posse, that makes it too easy. That makes it too easy for those who are trying to kill me to find me. And so clearly He was going to go, and after saying this, He returned to Galilee. And so you have a dynamic there in Jesus' home about going to the feast, and clearly He was going to go to the feast. He told His brothers to go to the feast. He tells us to go to the feast. And yes, is it unusual in our world today to do that? Well, some of your employers probably thought that was weird, that you were gone. Some of your schoolmates or teachers probably thought it was weird. Well, that's just something we deal with if we're going to follow God and follow Jesus Christ.

Now, in verse 10, after His brothers had gone to the feast, and so clearly He directed them to go, and He wants everyone to learn to go up to the mountain of the Lord. In His case, their case, they would go up to Jerusalem. They'd go up to the temple. They'd go up to where official services were going to be held. But He says after His brothers had gone to the feast, then He also went, not publicly, but as it were, in secret or in private. So He privately went up. He says, it's not my time to be fully recognized. But He did go up to the feast as well. In verse 11, the Jews were looking for Him, looking for Him at the festival and saying, where is He? You know, they knew He would be there. They recognized that He was an observant person. He was obedient to God's instruction. He did what God, of course, directs all of us to do. And there was considerable complaining about Him among the crowds. And while some said He's a good man, others said, no, He's deceiving the crowd. Yet no one would speak openly about Him because of the fear of the Jews.

So in verse 14, what is Jesus doing at the Feast of Tabernacles? Well, it says about the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. He went up in the temple and began to teach. And again, I think it is good for us to think about what it was that Jesus came to introduce. We read in Mark 1, and this is the Gospel, it's about the kingdom of God.

See, and so what did Jesus teach? Well, I'm pretty sure He taught about the kingdom of God. Now, it doesn't tell us what He said or what He taught about, but I'm going to make some guesses about what He might have talked about. But let's read the rest of this account. So, Jesus taught the Jews, were astonished, saying, how does this man know so much? How does he have this learning when he's never been taught by us? And what do they teach? They teach the Old Testament. They teach the law of God. They teach the knowledge of the festivals. They teach the knowledge of God. They knew what they taught, and they couldn't figure out how Jesus would even know.

Jesus said, my teaching is not mine, but it is His who sent me. What I'm teaching is from God.

Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I'm speaking on my own. I'm just saying whatever comes to my head. You know, Jesus wasn't doing that. He was teaching the Word of God, and clearly He was making the statements from God. And in verse 18, those who speak on their own seek their own glory. That's a pretty good principle to remember. Those who seek their own seek their own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of Him who sent Him is true. There is nothing false in Him. See, even Jesus was directing people to God. He was directing people to know the Father. He was directing them to comprehend, you know, the God. God in heaven is the one who is going to bring the kingdom to earth. Now, was he reading Daniel chapter 2 or Daniel chapter 7, like we've been reading the last week? Well, he may have. It doesn't directly say, but he says, I'm pointing people to God. He goes on, and he's talking to the Pharisees now. Did not Moses give you the law? And yet some of you, or none of you, keep the law. Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me? And the crowd said, well, you know, who's trying to kill you? You have a demon. That's very odd, very odd that they would think that, you know, he is in any way affected by the devil. But they even don't even want to say what they clearly were trying to do and what we read in verse 1, people were trying to kill him. People were trying to determine how could they undermine him. And yet, it says the crowd answered, you have a demon who's trying to kill you. Jesus said, I performed one work, and all of you are astonished. Now, what's he talking about there? Well, he's talking about what we read about in John 5 verse 18, where he healed a man on the Sabbath. He was able to do good on the Sabbath. He was able to help someone receive or regain their their health. And of course, they complained about him doing that, you know, how could you possibly help this man on the Sabbath? He says, I performed one work and all of you were astonished. And yet, Moses gave you circumcision, and you circumcised the man on the Sabbath. If a man received circumcision on the Sabbath, the Lord of the law of Moses may not be broken. Are you angry with me because I healed a man's whole body on the Sabbath? You know, clearly, he always knew the right thing to say. He always was aware of who he was dealing with. He was aware of their motivation. He understood what they were trying to achieve, and he was way ahead of them.

But in verse 25, some of the people said, is not this the man whom they're trying to kill? And here he is speaking openly, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah?

Yet we know where this man is from, but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he's from, and Jesus cried out in verse 28. Now, in verse 14, it says, Jesus went up in the midst of the feast and into the temple and spoke. Again, in verse 28, it says Jesus spoke another time.

I don't know if this is the next day or not, but it says Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, you know me and you know where I'm from. I have not come of my own, but the one who sent me is true and you don't know him. But I know him because I am from him and he sent me. See, again, he's pointing people to God. He's pointing to the Father. He's pointing to the fact that his Father needed to be respected, needed to be honored, needed to be praised. He goes ahead. They tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him because his hour had not yet come. Yet many in the crowd believed in him and were saying, when the Messiah comes, well, they'd be doing any more than this man is doing. This looks pretty impressive. You know, he can heal the sick. He can calm the sea. He can achieve miracles that we have no way of achieving. See, Jesus had quite an impressive Feast of Tabernacles.

He was teaching different times about God, about the knowledge of God, knowing what God is doing.

And, of course, they send other officers to arrest him and that doesn't work either. I won't go through that section, but I will read verse 37 on the last day of the Feast. Last day of the festival, the great day, when Jesus was standing there, he again cried out. And so, we know at least he spoke three different times during the Feast, and he knew what the plan of God was.

He knew what the purpose of human existence was. He wanted people to be aware of the kingdom to come. And he says in verse 37, cries out again, saying, Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes on me drink, as the Scripture has said, quoting out of the what we read in Isaiah, or even connecting it to what we read earlier in John, out of the believer's heart, or belly shall flow rivers of living water.

And now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive, yet for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus had not yet been glorified. This was before the time when we read about in Acts 1 and 2 about the Holy Spirit coming, the people, disciples being together, the Holy Spirit being poured out on those that God had drawn.

See, amazingly, this is the best chapter in my thinking to have in mind to prove that, yes, you ought to be keeping the feast. Clearly, Jesus was, and clearly he taught about God. He taught about His heavenly Father. He wanted everyone to have some awareness. I think you could also say that He probably, whenever it says He was teaching in the middle of the feast, or He was crying out about teaching in the synagogue, or crying out on the last day mentioned here in verse 37, whenever He's crying out, whenever He's making statements, I'm pretty sure He's probably quoting the Old Testament. He's quoting what many times we read during the Feast of Tabernacles.

See, now you could quote, and as we already have done, you could quote Zachariah about keeping the feast. You could quote Zephaniah if you wanted. You could quote Habakkuk if you wanted. You could quote Jeremiah or Ezekiel. You could quote the Psalms and actually picture something that would be regarding the kingdom of God, but it may be that He would be talking about the book of Isaiah. See, we often read a number of verses in Isaiah during the Feast of Tabernacles because they picture a millennial rule of Christ. They picture a change in the society that we live in.

You know, all of you could quote probably several different verses. I think most of us would know what Isaiah 11 says. We can read a little bit of it. I'm only going to reference about 20 different passages here where Isaiah is talking about the coming rule of Jesus Christ on earth. Here in Isaiah 1, a shoot shall come out from the branch of, you know, stump of Jesse. A branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding. In verse 3, he shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide by what his ears hear, but with righteousness. In verse 4, he will judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.

He shall strike the earth with a rod of his mouth. Righteousness. In verse 5 will be the belt around his waist. Faithfulness. The belt around his loin. In the world, verse 6, shall live together with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion, fattling together. Little child shall lead them. How many times have we read that at the Feast of Tabernacles? Because it's talking about a millennial setting. It's talking about a peace and a calm and a stability in the world because of what would be taught.

The cow and the bear shall graze, the young shall lie down together, the lion shall eat straw like an ox, the nursing child shall play on the whole of the asp. Verse 9, they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. I wonder if Jesus quoted Isaiah 11. Now the Pharisees who were questioning wondered, well, how, where'd you get this training? Where'd you get this information? Well, Jesus being the Lord of the Old Testament had given this to Isaiah anyway, and so I'm pretty sure he could quote it better than I can read it. And yet, what did he have to say? What about Isaiah 2? You know, we're all, we've surely probably read that at the feast. Verse 2, in days to come, the mountain of the Lord's house will be established in the highest of the mountains. That's mountain being a reference to a government or a kingdom. The kingdom of God will be established higher than all of man's kingdoms. It shall be erased above the hills. All nations will stream to it. Many people shall come and say, come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. That he may teach us his law, his ways, and that we may walk in his paths, for Isaiah will go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. In verse 4, it talks about beating swords into plow shears and spears into pruning hooks. I wonder if Jesus explained to them that this prophecy is going to happen. We don't know, but he usually could have. What about Isaiah 9? Verse 6, a child has been born for us, a son given, and authority rest upon his shoulders, and he's named wonderful and counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. His authority will grow continually, and there will be no end. There will be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time on, and forevermore in the zeal of the Lord of hosts. We'll do this.

Now, clearly, Jesus has these verses in mind. Now, whether he spoke them, whether he would even reference, often it looks like he only quotes certain parts of what we read in the Old Testament.

But see almost all of these verses. Chapter 35 here of Isaiah. 1. Wilderness in verse 1, in the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and bloom, like the rose that will blossom abundantly and rejoicing with joy in singing.

2. Verse 5, the eyes of the blind will be open, the ears of the deaf unstopped, the lame shall leap like a deer, the tongue of the speechless sing for joy, water shall break forth in the wilderness. See, again, that's all a depiction of what we believe is going to happen in the world to come. See, now, those are verses, again, that I think any of us could easily pick out if you just look through Isaiah. Let's go back and look at a few others here in Isaiah.

Isaiah 4. Verse 2, it says, On that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious.

The fruit of the land shall be the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel. Whoever is left in Zion, whoever remains in Jerusalem, will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem. Once the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstain of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning, then the Lord will create over the whole sight of Mount Zion and over its place of assembly a cloud by day of smoke and shining of a flaming fire by night. Indeed, over all the glory there will be a canopy, it will serve as a pavilion, a shade by day from the heat and a refuge, and shelter from storm and rain. Now that's also a millennial scripture. It's talking about Jerusalem, referring to it as Mount Zion.

Let's take a look at chapter 19. Chapter 19, even starting in verse 16. I'm not going to read all of these. Starting in verse 16, down to the end in verse 24. Let's read verse 23. On that day there will be a highway, a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

And on that day Israel will be a third with Egypt and Assyria blessing in the midst of the earth.

And the Lord of Host has blessed, saying, Bless be Egypt, my people in Assyria, the work of my hand in Israel, my inheritance, my heritage. See, these are all predictions of the future. Chapter 25, verse 6.

On this mountain, the Lord of Host will make for all people a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wine, strained clear. He will destroy on this mountain. And so in the government and kingdom of God that Christ will bring to the earth, He will destroy the shroud, the veil that is cast over the people, the sheet that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever.

The Lord will wipe away tears from the faces and disgrace of His people. He'll take away. Verse 9, it will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God. We have waited for Him so that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited. Let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation for the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain.

So He's going to remove, we know as Christ returns and then Satan is restrained, and He's going to remove the veil, the veil that binds people today.

Chapter 27, verse 12, on that day the Lord will thresh from the channel of the Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you will be gathered one by one, O people of Israel, on that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria, those who were driven out of the land of Egypt, will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

You know, those are, again, millennial depictions in chapter 30, verse 19. Probably you read this at the feast, truly, O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more.

He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. When he hears it, he will answer.

And though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and water of affliction, yet your teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes will see your teacher, and when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear the word behind you saying, This is the way. Walk in it, and you shall.

You will defile your silver idols and your gold images. You will scatter them like filthy rags and say, Away from me or away from you. See, the teaching that God is going to provide in the Millennium is going to be what everybody needs. Here in chapter 32, it mentions in verse 1, A king will reign in righteousness, princes will rule with justice.

Down in verse 15, Until a spirit from on high is poured out upon you, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field. A fruitful field is deemed a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in a fruitful field. The effect of righteousness will be peace.

The result of righteousness will be quietness and trust forever. My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. Verse 20, Happy will you be, whoso beside every stream who let the oxen donkey range freely. See, there's a lot of verses here in Isaiah that you could read that are talking about the rule of God on earth, the coming kingdom of God.

Chapter 33. In verse 17, it says, Your eyes will see the king and his beauty. They will behold a land that stretches far away. And in verse 20, look on Zion, the city of our appointed festivals. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, and a movable tent. Those stakes will never be pulled up, none of the ropes broken.

For there the Lord in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams where no galley with oars can go, nor stately ship can pass. For the Lord is our judge, He is our ruler, He is our king, and He will save us. In that verse, as we've mentioned before, even indicates kind of the three branches of the government that has functioned fairly well up to this point here in the United States. Not functioning quite as well for us today, but that's what the ruler in the world to come is going to be incredibly impressive in everything that he gives. Let's jump over to chapter 56, verse 1. It says, the Lord maintain justice and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come and my deliverance will be revealed. Happy is the mortal who does this, the one who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it and refrains from doing evil. This whole section from verse 1 down through verse 8 is about everyone learning from the law the need to keep the Sabbath, the need to obey and respect God when he says, I have set this day apart for your good.

It talks about in verse 7, my house should be called a house of prayer. That certainly is something that will be promoted instead of dismissed, instead of cast aside, as we see even some of the laws in our states and country today. They don't want people to be allowed or permitted to pray. Well, it's going to be promoted in the world to come. Let's look at just the last two chapters here. In Isaiah 65, it says in verse 19, I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in my people. No more shall the sound of weeping be heard of the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant that lives for a few days or an old person who doesn't live out a full lifetime. For one who dies a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered a curse. They shall build houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit, and they shall not build, and another inhabit they shall not plant and another eat. For like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, for my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain or vain and bear children for calamity, but they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord, and their descendants as well. And before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear the wolf, and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, but the serpent its food shall be dust, and they shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain.

See, in the last few verses here of Isaiah 66, verse 22, as the new heavens and the new earth will I make shall remain before me, so shall your descendants and your name remain. From new moon to new moon, from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the Lord.

You know, I just picked those out by flipping through the pages. It's pretty easy to find them. They're all through. Now clearly, you know, you could go to other parts of the Old Testament and fortify that with many other scriptures about the millennial rule of Christ on earth.

But my point is simply, you know, keeping the Feast of Tabernacles is a great privilege.

It's an honor. And it's not just an Old Testament idea or Jewish idea, it is God's idea.

He is the one who appoints the festivals and clearly as the obedient son, which he was, Jesus in John 7 was observing the Feast of Tabernacles, and that's a perfect example for all of us. So as we've enjoyed going to the Feast and now returning back to our normal routine in our comfy bed and being able to be back into the... I think one thing should be said. You know, we often are encouraged to examine ourselves prior to the Passover, you know, getting ready for the Passover. We know that's four, five, six months away. It's quite a while. I think it's good for us as we come back from the Feast to think about, well, you know, this is fabulous. This is wonderful. This is uplifting. This is encouraging. And yet we don't want to take the next six months off. We want to try to determine, well, where can I improve? What do I need to change? Are there specific things that I ought to change in order to be closer to God? Because God is clearly made. He is clearly made, you know, an abundance of information available to us, and He wants us to benefit from that. He wants us to do the right thing. And yet, you know, sometimes we get into habits and patterns of being that are comfortable but may not be as godly as we might think they should be. And so, I will just simply say, I hope all of us can reflect not only on the wonderful feasts that God has provided, and not only on the example of Jesus, which is clear, but also on what He wants each of us to do as His children. He wants us to draw closer to Him. He wants us to take a look at ourselves and see can we continue to identify areas where we need to change in order to be closer to God. And then, go about doing. We have a number of pagan holidays in the next six months.

You know, Halloween's almost here already. And of course, Christmas and New Year's Day and Valentine's Day and all the others here in the next little while. You know, what do we need to do to really draw close to God and to be closer to God as we go into next year? Because that's what I'm pretty sure God wants for all of us. So, that will conclude the sermon today. Again, I'm excited to see all of you. I'm glad you made it to the feast and back. And now, we can look forward to each week being able to get together. And yet, each day, being able to draw close to our Heavenly Father and our glorious Savior, Jesus Christ.