Seven Reasons Why We Go to the Feast

The sermon today, then... Oops, excuse me. I forgot to plug in my laptop on the drive down here today, so don't want it to die on me. So, probably one thing has been on our minds more than anything else here over the last month or two. And I say that because I've had more questions, more emails, more phone calls about this one thing than any other over recent weeks. And that one subject is the feast, specifically the Feast of Tabernacles.

Among other things, we've been wondering where we will have the feast, what sites will be there, which will not. We've been wondering if we will have feast sites, and also what conditions will be like at various feast sites in a climate that's been changing, literally day by day. And now, as of a week ago, we have answers to most of those questions. Some minor things may still change between here and the feast, specifically conditions there at some feast sites. But now that we know that has taken a huge burden off of our minds, and now most of us have our plans set for where we're planning to go for the feast this year.

But due to all of the confusion, all of the questions, and so on about the feast, we probably have not focused to the extent that we should have on the most important question relating to the feast. And that is this. Just why do we go to the feast anyway? Why do we go to the feast? What is God's command about that all about? Why does God want us and tell us to go to the feast?

What is the purpose behind going to the feast every year? And what are we collectively and individually supposed to learn from going to the feast? And I understand that there are circumstances, situations that do make it impractical or impossible for everyone to go to the feast every year, and this year especially so with the different coronavirus restrictions and so on there. So I'm not talking about or to those people who find themselves in the situation of literally being unable to go to the feast.

Regrettably, that happens every year due to various circumstances that come up in our lives. But I am talking to everybody else. Everybody else here today. Why does God want you to go to the feast? Why does He want us to go to the feast? What is the purpose and what are we to learn from it again? So the subject of today's sermon is seven reasons why we go to the feast. Seven reasons why we go to the feast.

Because if we are to get the most out of the Feast of Tabernacles, we need to understand the specific reasons that God gives in His Word why we go to the feast. And these reasons are important. And we need to understand that. Understand the reasons why. So starting with number one, it's pretty simple. We go to the feast because God has commanded us to go to the feast.

This is the first and foremost reason we go to the feast. God commands us to keep the feast in a number of different passages, and we go to the feast in obedience to those commands. Let's look at a few of those. The one we're probably most familiar with is Leviticus 23, where God lists His different feasts in order. Tells us when they are. There, He lists them in order and tells us that they are to be kept.

So beginning in Leviticus 23, verse 1, The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, The Feast of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are my feasts. And then He goes on to list them in the next verses, starting incidentally with the Sabbath day. The weekly Sabbath day, which is the first of God's feasts.

He gives us 52 weekly feasts, the Sabbath day, weekly Sabbath every year, and then 7 other feasts. Some that are one day, some that are multiple days here, which we're familiar with. Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement. And then in verse 34, we come to the Feast of Tabernacles. And God says, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. So this is a seven-day feast.

And again, notice it is to the Lord. It is God's feast. It is not the Feast of the Israelites or Feast of the Jews. It is God's feast. His Feast of Tabernacles. And then it gives some specific instruction. On the first day, the first holy day of the feast is a holy day, there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. Verse 36, For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation. Again, holy convocation on the eighth day, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.

It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it. These are the feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations. And then, skipping down past verse 38 to verse 39, we find the command repeated. He repeats this again and again in this chapter. Also, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days.

On the first day there shall be a Sabbath rest, and on the eighth day a Sabbath rest. So it is repeated, the command to keep the feast of tabernacles for seven days, and then followed by another separate feast on the eighth day. And he continually emphasizes these are his feasts. They're God's feasts, not ours, not human feasts. So, to kind of recap what we've covered so far, the first reason we go to the feast is very simple. We go to the feast because God has commanded us to go.

So we recognize that this is a command from God, and as people who have surrendered our lives to him, we obey that command to celebrate the feast of tabernacles. And again, I understand, we understand, there are at times extenuating circumstances with health situations, family situations, emergencies that come up, different crises, but this is an explicit command from God to keep his feast of tabernacles yearly, so long as it is within our power and circumstances to do so. So, second reason, we go to the feast because this is one of God's sacred appointments with us. We go to the feast because this is one of God's sacred appointments with us.

And this is something I think we haven't perhaps fully appreciated to the extent that we should have over the years, in large part because the way some of the Hebrew words here are translated. And let's look a little closer at the verses we just read, and dig a little deeper into the meaning of those words.

When we do, we find some important lessons here.

So, going back to Leviticus 23 that we just read, The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations. These are my feasts.

And I want to draw our attention to three different Hebrew words here.

The word translated feasts, Moed, M-O-E-D, plural, would be Moedim, M-O-E-D-I-M, which you shall proclaim to be holy, Qodesh, Q-U-O-D-E-S-H, convocations, Micra, Micra, M-I-Q-R-A, these are my feasts. Moed, again. And part of the problem in reading these verses is that in the English language, these three words, feasts, holy, and convocations, just don't mean much in our language and culture these days, because they've kind of fallen out of use, which happens with language when things aren't done any longer, the words fall out of use. And unfortunately, because of the growing secularization of our culture and society, that is true of these words as well. Because if you think about it, when is the last time in everyday conversation you heard the word feast outside of a church context? Sabbath services are talking with other church members. When's the last time you heard it? Maybe talking about Thanksgiving, perhaps, but probably not for years. When's the last time you heard the word holy used? Probably in a profanity. I mean, to be blunt. That seems to be the way the word is used most these days in the workplace and in common language and so on there. Sad, but true. It's just not a word that is used in our culture that much anymore.

And what about convocation? When's the last time you heard that word outside of reading the Scriptures? Well, probably not. Probably for years, decades, perhaps there. Because, again, society is drifted so far away from a religious understanding or a biblical understanding of these things. So what do these words mean? What did they mean to that audience at that time? And in the early years of the New Testament Church as well. And what are we to learn from those particular words? Let's go through and take a deeper dive into them. Again, the word fis is moed, M-O-E-D, meaning an appointed time or meeting. An appointed time or meeting, or to get together an appointed time. And it comes from a Hebrew word that means to meet together by appointment. To meet together by appointment. Now, appointment's an English word we all understand. We set appointments. We set a dentist appointment, or a doctor's appointment, or an appointment with our car mechanic, or an appointment, in my case, with our computer mechanic, or our vet, or whomever here. So what does an appointment mean? It means that you and another person have agreed to meet at a specific time at a specific location.

And you have agreed to do that. And if you don't show up, and the other person was there, you did not keep the appointment.

You did not keep the appointment.

So what are the implications of this when it comes to God's feast days?

Incidentally, of course, the first one of which is the weekly Sabbath day.

Well, what this means, and what it meant at the time this was written, is that God sets an appointment to meet with us, to meet with His people.

He ascetic the whole chapter spells when those appointments are, beginning with, again, the weekly Sabbath day, every Sabbath day.

So it means He has invited us to that meeting, to that appointment. He sets the time, spelled out Leviticus 23, He sets the place through the authorities that He has established here. And He says that He is going to be there.

He's going to keep His appointment.

He's going to be there. But if we don't show up, what does that mean?

To be blunt, it means we blew Him off.

Would we think of blowing off an appointment with our doctor, or our dentist, or car mechanic, or whatever? Would we? No, of course not, because we know it's hard to get appointments scheduled here. But think about this. Would we blow off God's appointments with us?

Something for us to think about here.

Again, this is something we need to seriously consider, because it's a serious matter to God.

A very serious matter to Him. So these are some of the important implications of this word, Moed.

Which means an appointment with God.

This word translated feast, or feasts, plural.

The next word we'll look at here is the Hebrew word translated holy, kodesh, Q-U-O-D-E-S-H, meaning set apart or separated by God as sacred for God's use or purpose.

Set apart or separated by God for His use or purpose.

And God says, speak to the children of Israel and say to them, the feasts of the Lord, the appointments of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy, Qodesh, convocations here. So these feast days, these appointments with God are holy, meaning they are set apart for God's holy use and purpose.

There, can man make anything holy? No, we can't.

Only God can make something holy. And this is one of the things that God has made holy, these holy appointments with Him here.

So He has set apart these appointments as holy for His purpose.

What is His purpose? Well, we are all familiar. A great purpose of His holy days is to teach us about His plan for the salvation of mankind.

There are many other purposes too, which we'll talk about a little bit later here in the sermon here.

But the point, the reason I mentioned this, and the reason God says these days are kodesh, they are holy, they are set apart, is that they are special.

They are special. They are not ordinary days. These are not ordinary weekdays like any other day of the week.

God set them apart. He made them special. He made them holy for His purpose and for His use.

And it's easy. I mention this and emphasize this point, because it's easy for us to get into the mindset that the feast is a vacation.

And yes, and let me clarify that, it may be the only vacation a lot of us get during the year because of our work situation, because we may not have enough seniority to get more than a week's vacation in the year. So I understand that. It may take us several years of working to get another time off so that we can have a vacation in addition to the feast and holy days, and so on.

And it also doesn't mean that God doesn't want us to enjoy this time. We'll talk about that in another point here.

My point in mentioning this is that God has set this time apart as something much more important than just a vacation.

And you'll see that as we go on through the sermon. He has far more important things to teach us during this holy, set-apart time.

It's not just a time to rest and relax and so on. It's much more important. There's much more to it than that.

Let's look at this third word that I've highlighted here, and that is convocations, or mikra.

It means an assembly, a calling together, a gathering together of people.

And God says that we are to proclaim His feast, His boeid, His appointments with us, to be kodesh mikra, to be these holy and sacred gatherings of His people.

This word, mikra, comes from a Hebrew root word that means to call, or to call out, to shout out, or to proclaim.

In other words, to proclaim, to shout out, that God's people are together, together, for their appointment with God. That's what we're being told here.

And He says, as we've covered, He will be there.

He has set the appointment. He has set the time. He has set the place.

And He expects His people to join Him there, to join Him there for these holy sacred assemblies, for which He has set the time and the place in many locations around the world.

As we do it today, it's not practical now for all of God's people together in Jerusalem, as it was 2,000 years ago. Logistically, we cannot do that. So, we have dozens of fee sites around the world where God's people assemble for that.

I want to read this passage here from a couple of other versions that bring out some of the emphases that I've just mentioned here. For instance, a NIV, a new international version, translates this passage, as, speak to the Israelites and say to them, these are my appointed feasts. We see here the concept of an appointment, a set time.

The appointed feasts of the Lord, which you are to proclaim, there's the proclamation, the calling out, as sacred assemblies, sacred gatherings, holy gatherings of God's people together. And the New Living Translation, I really like this one, it says, give the Israelites instructions regarding the Lord's appointed festivals, the days when all of you will be summoned, there's the proclamation idea again, summoned to worship me, to come together to worship God. A couple of others, the Bible and Basic English, say to the children of Israel, these are the fixed, and there's the appointment idea again, the fixed feasts of the Lord, which you will keep for holy meetings. Holy meetings. We know what a meeting is. It's easier for us to understand than a convocation. These are my feasts. And finally, the Holman Christian Study Bible, or Standard Bible, I mean. Speak to the Israelites and tell them these are my appointed times.

Again, the concept of an appointment there, the times of the Lord that you will proclaim as sacred assemblies. So like all of these translations, which views more modern language to convey the meaning and the intent that is there in the original of Hebrew. So this confirms what I've been telling you here. So when we put all these meanings together, we do get a more complete picture that these are God's appointments with us, the specific special times that He has set apart as holy for sacred gatherings, assemblies of His people to come and meet with Him at this appointment and to worship Him. And He emphasizes again and again that these are His feasts. His appointments with us, which we have no right to change or ignore, blow off there. And what it means is that at the feast sites every year, God the Father and Jesus Christ are there in Spirit.

They are there in Spirit with us to keep the appointment that they have set.

And do we recognize that? Do we understand and appreciate that? That God has invited us to this special meeting, this appointment with us, so we go to the feast to have a holy meeting with God at His command. So to sum up the second point again, we go to the feast because this is one of God's sacred appointments with us, along with the other Holy Days festivals, weekly Sabbath and so on. The next point, a third reason we go to the feast, is to rejoice, to enjoy the feast.

We go to the feast to rejoice and enjoy the feast. Let's pick up where we left off earlier in Leviticus 23. We've read verse 39, and now let's go to verse 40. And again, this is part of the instructions regarding the Feast of Tabernacles. And God says here, you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. So part of the command to keep the Feast of Tabernacles is to rejoice. We are told to go there and have a good time to enjoy that. And the common thinking of Christianity today is that keeping these days is bondage and slavery and so on. But man, if this is slavery, give me more of it. I'll take more of it. I feel like the people of Hezekiah's time, when they kept the feast seven days, this is Feast of Unleavened Bread, and then they enjoyed it so much, they kept it again for another seven days here. So God tells us that the feast is a time to rejoice, to have a good time, to enjoy your time together. Let's notice another command that ties in with this, and this is over in Deuteronomy 14. Breaking into the context, this is talking about second tithe, which we're told to save up a second tithe of our gross income through the year here, or net income, rather, to go to the place where He commands the feast to be kept. And then He tells us what to do with that second tithe. He says, You shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires, for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires. You shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.

So a couple of things to point out here. One is obviously God tells us that if we want to enjoy some things we normally would not be able to during the course of the year, to do that, to enjoy those things. And He gives us several examples of types of things.

For instance, lamb. If you want some lamb, Connie loves lamb. So it seems like every feast we can go to a restaurant, and if there's lamb on the menu, that's what she's lusting for, some lamb.

So she will order lamb. And of course, most of us enjoy a nice, juicy steak here. So God tells us, if you want to have steak every day of the feast, breakfast, lunch, dinner, go for it and enjoy it.

Do that there. And I've never tried to eat an entire oxen during the feast, but I imagine there are probably some people who've tried and made a good dent on that by the amount of steak they've consumed during the course of the feast. But if you want to do that, have steak every day, go for it. God says, do it and enjoy it. Enjoy these things. And He also says you can spend some of that second tithe on something good to drink. So if you enjoy good wine, and you're free to go out and do that and buy that and enjoy it, that you would be, you know, higher caliber wine than your usual Thunderbird or Ripple or Boons Farm or Mad Dog 2020. I saw something on Facebook a week or so ago that said, who knew that Mad Dog 2020 would be prophetic? If you don't understand that, ask one of the older people here. So God says you have His blessing to enjoy that, of course, so long as we enjoy it in moderation there. So God also says here, notice the last line here, you shall rejoice you and your household. So the entire household is to rejoice during this time, to enjoy learning God's truth, to enjoy celebrating and rejoicing before God during this time.

So if you're a head of household with children still in your house there, it's not just a matter of what you want to do or see or where you want to eat during the feast. This is a time for all members of the household to rejoice and enjoy themselves and enjoy God's blessings.

It's interesting I've heard this over the years, I can't count how many times, that when the parents ask their children, where do you want to go? Which restaurant do you want to go? And the overwhelming choice is McDonald's. The kids' idea of a nice place to eat is McDonald's, where they've got a playground and happy meals. For a lot of kids, it's torture to have to sit still at a restaurant for an hour, hour and a half, two hours there. So they want to go and enjoy their happy meal and their playground and so on. So God specifically says here that everyone in the household is to rejoice. So keep that in mind as well. Let's notice something else over a few chapters. Deuteronomy 16 verses 13 through 15. Again, instruction about the feast.

And God says, You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress, and you shall rejoice in your feast. Again, command to rejoice. You and your son and your daughter, so children included, they are to rejoice. Your male servant and your female servant, so those who are working as part of your household as well. But also, notice this, the leave light and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates. So we are to look beyond our immediate family as well. Verse 15, Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God, in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice. So again, a command to rejoice here.

So this is a time to rejoice, because after all, what is it? Picture. It pictures the time after Jesus Christ returns and establishes his kingdom on earth for a thousand years in the millennium.

When Satan the devil is bound and constrained and no longer able to bring about suffering and sorrow and pain and death and blindness and so on, and mankind will at last be able to experience these great blessings that we are able to enjoy during the Feast of Tabernacles.

And one of the ways that we do rejoice is by giving of ourselves during the Feast as brought out in this passage here. We are to rejoice with the strangers, with the fatherless, with the widows, with those who come to the Feast without families or without their spouse, or perhaps they're the only person from their church area who's at a particular feast site and they don't know anybody else there. Do we ignore those people or do we make it a point to invite them along, to invite them out for dinner or a social activity or over to our house or condo or wherever we're staying, to enjoy a meal with them and so on. So we go to one of the reasons we go to the Feast is to give of ourselves in serving other people as well and rejoicing, making it a joyful experience for other people as well. And if we want to have a truly miserable feast, there's a way to do that, and that is to only think of yourself and to not serve and to not pray and to not study and so on during the Feast. And you're pretty much guaranteed to have a miserable feast if that is your approach to the Feast. So to recap here again, third point, we go to the Feast to rejoice, to enjoy the Feast and rejoice with our physical family but also our spiritual family before God. So not just our physical family but our spiritual family as well. And a fourth reason we go to the Feast is that we go to the Feast to learn to fear God. We go to the Feast to learn to fear God. Let's notice another command here, Deuteronomy 14, verse 22, You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. This is again talking about second tithe. And you shall eat before the Lord your God, and the place where he chooses to make his name abide. The tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. So what does this command, this purpose for the Feast, mean? It's stated very clearly here that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.

And this is one of those words that trips us up sometimes here and leads to a lot of misunderstandings because after all, what does the word fear mean to us in English today? Well, it means to be afraid of or to be terrified of someone or something. Is God saying that we are to be terrified and afraid of him? It seems to indicate in English, but is that really what it means? What is being talked about here? Because after all, fear is pretty much the opposite of trusting and loving God.

Because how can we love and trust a being that we're terrified of? It just doesn't make any sense. It doesn't compute. And to begin to understand this, we need to understand that Hebrew words have a broad range of meaning in most cases because Hebrew vocabulary, biblical vocabulary, is quite limited here. So in English, we have different words for everything. We have about seven times as many words in English as in biblical Hebrew. So we have specific words for just about everything. Hebrew is not that way, so one word can have a range of meanings here. We're familiar with that with examples like ruhok, which is Hebrew for wind, or for breath, or for spirit. So Hebrew words do have a range of meaning, and this is one of those words.

This word translated fear, relating to fear in God, in most places in the Old Testament, is yare, y-a-r-e, pronounced yare. So what does this word mean? Can we get insight through some comparisons?

Well, let's notice in Leviticus 19 and verse 3, same word is used here, Every one of you shall revere his mother and father. Now, does this mean if we take yare to always mean fear, does this mean that every one is to be terrified and fearful of their mother and father? Well, no, that makes no sense. God has wired children to love their parents, to want to emulate their mother and their father, to naturally look up to their parents there. God wired us that way, naturally, there, to trust our parents, to look to them to protect us and provide for us and watch over us. And that is a lot of what is behind translating this word, yare, here, as revere, to highly respect and hold in great esteem our parents.

That is the exact same word. God is not telling us to be terrified and afraid of our mother and father, but to revere them, to honor them, to respect them. And it is a shame that the King James translators translated this word, yare, is fear when it comes to God, because it puts an entirely wrong connotation on our relationship with God. It is true that we should fear the consequences of disobeying God or rebelling against Him. Yeah, we ought to fear those consequences. But that doesn't mean we should be afraid or terrified of God on a routine basis, because, again, how can we have a loving and trusting relationship with God if we're terrified of Him? It just doesn't work. And that's not what is being talked about here.

Let's notice a passage that ties in with this in 1 John 4, verses 18 and 19.

And here John tells us, there is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

We love Him, God, because He first loved us. So this tells us very clearly that fear involves torment, mental anguish here. And there's no fear in love, because love casts out fear.

It gets rid of that fear. So when we love God, we don't live in terror of Him, because we know what God is like. We know that He loves us. We know that He wants only the best for us, and that everything that He does or allows is ultimately for our good.

And this is why John says, just before this, backing up to verse 16, he says, We have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love.

And He who abides in love abides in God. And this word abides means to have a close relationship with God. So if we have a close relationship with God, we're going to be loving people. We're going to love God. He's going to love us. And that love is going to be reflected in our relationship and in our lives, is what we're being told here. So love, as we see here, God is love. That is a perfect summary of what God is. And we have a relationship with Him that is rooted and based in that love. Not a relationship rooted and based in fear and being terrified of God. Let's notice something else that helps us understand this in Proverbs 9 and verse 10. Proverbs 9 and verse 10, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Now is this saying that being afraid of God is how we begin to get wisdom? No, no, it's not. A common way of communicating in Hebrew, and we see this again and again in the Proverbs, especially in some of the prophets as well, is to say the same thing twice in slightly different language. And this is a good example of this, that Solomon says the same thing in two slightly different ways. He says, if you want to become a wise and understanding person, the place to start is to first understand who and what God is. And for centuries, people have pondered the big questions of life, of who and what is God, who and what is man, what is our purpose, why are we here?

And Solomon tells us, if you're going to find the answers to those big questions of life, the place to begin is to come to a right understanding of who and what God is.

And how do we do that? Well, one of the obvious ways is by going to the feast every year, keeping God's Holy Days, which tell us what God is doing. And tell us about God's plan, and teach us about that, and teach us about what a great and loving God He is, because He wants to share with all of humanity the gift of eternal life, and everything that He has made. So these Holy Days teach us about God's love, and as we learn about that, and learn about who and what God is, we naturally learn to honor and to love and to respect and revere Him.

So we need to understand that when the Bible talks about fearing God, or tells us one of the reasons we go to the feast is to learn to fear God, is that saying we go to the feast to learn to be terrified of God? No, no, not at all.

It's saying that we go to the feast to learn to revere Him, to highly respect Him, to hold Him in the greatest and highest respect and esteem, to come to stand in awe of Him, here, to love Him as the great God that He is, who wants all of mankind to come to know Him, and to receive His gift of salvation, and to live eternally in His family. And this is well expressed in Psalm 66, verses 3 and 4, which tells us, Say to God, how awesome—here's that same word translated fear again—how awesome are your works, God! All the earth shall worship you and sing praises to you, they shall sing praises to your name. So this is telling us that we should stand in awe of a God who is so great and so incredible and so awesome that a time is coming, pictured by the feast, when all of the earth will do what is described here. We'll worship God, we'll sing praises to God for His awesome works. So to recap this fourth point, we go to the feast to learn to fear God, to love, honor, revere, and stand in awe of Him. Now, in these first four points, we talked about why we collectively go to the feast, and these are what you might call group instructions to the ancient physical nation of Israel. These are His instructions to His physical nation at that time. Why? Are we His physical nation of Israel today? Well, for the most part, yes. Most of us are, as we understand it, descended from Israel, the ancient Israelites here, who were scattered after their deportation there. But more importantly, we're something else. Are we His spiritual nation today? Well, yes, we are. We are God's spiritual nation. So as His spiritual nations, would some of the reasons we go to the feast be different today than for the ancient physical nation of Israel? Well, yes, there would be. There would be some different reasons. To understand that, let's look at some of the words of Jesus Christ in John 6 and verse 44, where He says, "...no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day." So we see here that God has drawn us into a relationship with Him and with Jesus Christ for the purpose that we will be raised up at the last day, resurrected at Christ's return, as we understand again from the Holy Days, at His return to start His millennial reign on earth, as pictured by the Feast of Tabernacles here. So, bottom line, we did not choose God. God chose us, and He did something to spark that interest in our minds. Or some who are younger, the minds of your parents, or in some cases, grandparents perhaps here. He did something to draw us to Him so we could begin to learn His ways and His truth. And He drew us into a relationship that ultimately leads to our being raised at the last day and given God's gift of eternal life. So, since we are called to eternal life, what is it that we're called and chosen to do? And how does that tie in with the Feast of Tabernacles? Yes, we are raised up, raised to, as we understand it, eternal life, glory, immortality, in the resurrection, at the beginning of Christ's reign on earth, to do what?

To do what? And there are other reasons flowing from that why we go to the Feast that have to do with our spiritual calling as a spiritual nation, as a spiritual people. So, in light of this calling, let's look at three other reasons we go to the Feast. And these have to do with what we are called to become. So, the first reason, again fairly obvious, we know this, we go to the Feast because God chose us to be rulers and kings. We go to the Feast because God chose us to be rulers and kings. A couple of familiar prophecies we've heard at the Feast a number of times. Revelation 19 in verse 11. Now, I saw heaven opened, John is describing a vision that he sees, and behold, a white horse. And he who sat on him was called Faithful and True.

And skipping down to verse 16, and he, the rider on this horse, has on his robe, and on his thigh, a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So, the title that Jesus Christ bears at his return isn't just King and Lord, but King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He will be King over other kings, and he will be Lord over many lords. So, who are those other kings and lords? This is review here. You know the answers, but let's make sure we get this solidified in our mind. So, who will be the kings and the lords over the earth when he returns?

Let's move to the next chapter, Revelation 20, in verse 4. And I saw thrones, and what do thrones connote? It connotes rulership, reigning. And they sat on them. Who's the they? We'll get to that in just a minute. And judgment was committed to them. So, an important aspect of what those who are sitting on these thrones do is judging. Judging, determining right and wrong, based on a standard.

The standard of God's Word, of God's truth.

And continuing, that I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded, now we start to find out who the they is sitting on these thrones. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus, and for the Word of God, who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands.

And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. And this is where we get the term of the Millennium Platon for a thousand years. So this is, of course, talking about God's faithful saints, his people, over the centuries there. Some have been sleeping in the grave for thousands of years now, like Noah, like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and others, waiting in the grave, awaiting the resurrection. And some, we've all known people in the Church in recent decades who have died and passed away and are waiting in the grave for the resurrection as well. And some will yet die, whom we know. And they will wait in the grave for the resurrection to reign, as we see here during the time pictured by the Feast of Tabernacles. But the key point is this, that they live and reign with Jesus Christ as kings and as lords. So this is a key reason why we go to the Feast to be in training for that great responsibility that lies ahead for us here.

Let's notice also Matthew 19, verses 27 and 28. This is part breaking into a conversation between Jesus and some of his disciples. Then Peter answered and said to Christ, See, we have left all and followed you. Therefore, what shall we have?

Peter says we've left behind our business, my fishing business, my beloved fishing boat, and all of that, and my friends and family and all of this. So what is going to be our reward for abandoning everything and following you? What shall we have? So Jesus said to them, Assuredly I say to you that in the regeneration, the recreation, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And we know from other passages we don't have time to cover them all, but David will rule over all of Israel at that time, and the parables of the Talents and the Pounds, which we covered two weeks ago. From that we learn that God's saints will rule over one city or five cities or ten cities, depending on what we have done with what God has given us. So this is our future, reigning over physical peoples on a physical earth, under Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God come to earth.

But there's something we have to learn first. And Jesus talks about this next chapter over Matthew 20 and verses 25 through 28. He tells us we have to learn a different kind of leadership.

Very different kind. We have to learn to lead as Jesus Christ leads.

And he explains it here. Verse 25 of Matthew 20, but Jesus called the disciples to Himself and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. And one of the themes that we hear regularly at the feast is that of serving. And why is that emphasized at the feast? Well, because it's part of our job description. It's part of our training. It's part of what we're called to do and to be.

Because we go to the feast to learn how to become kings, lords, rulers. And if we are to be rulers and lords and kings in the world tomorrow, we have to learn to serve as Jesus Christ serves.

And we just saw that described here. To rule as he rules, which is with love and with mercy and compassion and with outgoing care and with sacrificial love for the well-being of others.

And is that ever more clear than what we're seeing in the headlines today? With all of the corrupt and rotten leadership that we see around us, people focused on themselves and what they can get and having power and control over other people here.

It's just a great contrast here that we're seeing played out in the headlines every day.

Of the contrast between the kind of leadership and rulership we see from Jesus Christ versus human rulership, the kind we are not to be like.

So to recap this fifth point, we go to the feast because God chose us to be rulers and kings.

Another reason we go to the feast that ties in with this is we go to the feast because God chose us to be priests. We go to the feast because God chose us to be priests.

Let's notice in the book of Revelation another prophecy of God's people at this time foretold by the Feast of Tabernacles, Revelation 5, verses 9 and 10.

And they sang a new song, saying, you, referring to Jesus Christ, are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals for you are slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation and have made us kings and priests kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth.

Now, we've already discussed what it means to be kings, but what does it mean to be a priest? And what is a priest? Anyway, what does a priest do? And this is kind of like I discussed earlier. Priests, again, our society has become so secular and so far removed from the Bible.

We no longer understand the role or the purpose of a priest, what a priest was, what a priest's job was, and so on. But kings and priests really aren't separate positions. It's like a coin that has two faces to it here, the two sides of the same coin, two different aspects of the same responsibility. And when we read the word priest, well, what comes to your mind today?

Well, the common view of a priest today is an old guy in a black robe with a hood and maybe waving, swinging a sensor back and forth and mumbling under his breath and that kind of thing. And like so many religious concepts, Satan has polluted the meaning, perverted the meaning of priest and blinded people to his intent for that job and that role and that responsibility. And in most people's minds, nothing could be more boring or to be blunt, more weird than the common perception of a priest, like I just described. But is this what the Bible tells us about the role of a priest and what a priest is and what his job is?

Let's notice a prophecy about God's people as priests found over in Isaiah 61, verses 6 through 9, reading from the NIV. God says, and you, referring to his people, will be called priests of the Lord.

You will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast. Instead of their shame, my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace, they will rejoice in their inheritance. And so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs. Verse 8, For I, the Lord, love justice. I hate robbery and iniquity. In my faithfulness I will reward them and make an everlasting covenant with them. Their descendants will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the Lord has blessed. So we see a number of different things here. But first of all, does this sound like a boring picture to you? Let's go back and note a couple of key phrases here about what God's people are going to be and to do. As priests of God, they will feed on the wealth of nations. In their riches you will boast. They will receive a double portion, and they will rejoice in their inheritance given to them by God. Again, they will inherit a double portion.

Everlasting joy will be theirs. Their descendants will be known among nations, and all who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the Lord has blessed.

Gives you a little bit of a different picture about priests, doesn't it, here?

You know, it's not the old guy in the Black Road swinging the sensor and so on. No, these are people who are incredibly, incredibly blessed. Incredibly blessed. Highly respected, honored, looked up to, greatly blessed by God for the role and responsibility that God has given them.

Keep in mind also that Jesus Christ's role is what? Well, he's our elder brother. He's our coming king. He's our Messiah, our Savior, the head of the church. But he's also our high priest.

Our high priest. What does a priest do?

Let's notice a passage here. Before we get into that, let's notice what specifically a priest's job was to be. A reading from Malachi 2, verses 1-7. God says here, And now, O priests, this commandment is for you. And when you read something like this in the Bible, this is for you. This means wake up, pay attention, or else.

And then God goes on to sternly correct the priests of Malachi's day, because they had drifted so far from God's original intent and job for the priests.

So he goes through and he starts telling him, hey, guys, this was your job. You had one job to do. One job to do, to use the phrase. One job. Here's what it is. And he goes on to talk about the purpose of the priesthood as though he does it in a little unusual way. He does it Levi. The priests were from the tribe of Levi. So he talks to the entirety of the priests as though he was talking directly to Levi himself. So in doing that, that's the rhetorical methodology he uses to address all of the priests. So he goes on, skipping down to verse 5, My covenant was with him, with Levi, one of life and peace. And I gave them to him, life and peace, that he might fear me. So he feared me and was reverent before my name.

The law of truth was in his mouth, and injustice was not found on his lips.

He walked with me in peace and equity, and turned many away from iniquity.

For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. So here we see the job description of a priest, and it's quite different from the guy in the black robe swinging the sensor. It's quite different here. And again, keep in mind that Jesus Christ is our high priest.

So what do we see here is the description or job description of a priest.

Notice the highlighted phrases. To fear God. To be reverent before God's name. To have the law of truth in our mouths, and injustice not found on our lips.

To walk with God in peace and equity, and to turn many away from iniquity.

And on the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from the priest's mouth. For the priest is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

And what is a messenger? Well, a messenger is a representative, bringing the Word of God to people here. It gives a bit of a different picture of priests. What this is telling us is that in the millennium, this and the other prophecy we read from Isaiah here, a priest isn't going to be somebody that people are going to avoid and shy away from. No, rather, these will be the ones that people will want to see, and will highly esteem and respect, and will come to them because they know that these are the messengers, the representatives of God, bearing the words of God on their lips, turning people from iniquity, teaching people about the blessings of obeying God and following God here. So part of our job will be, as we see here, turning people from iniquity and getting people to seek the Word of God, the laws of God, to learn about God. And now let's notice something else about a priest's role regarding Jesus Christ as our High Priest. Hebrews 7, verses 24 and 25. But because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore, He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him because He always lives to intercede for them. So we see that Christ intercedes for us constantly, but to what end? To what purpose? How would you sum up from what we read here, Christ's role as High Priest? What is His purpose? What is the end result? Well, we see it at the beginning of verse 25. Therefore, He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him. So His purpose is to bring people to salvation. That's the great purpose of a priest, to bring people to salvation. That's not to say that any of us can bring people to salvation because we can't.

Only God the Father and Jesus Christ can do that, because Jesus Christ is the only one who made the ultimate sacrifice to make salvation possible. And none of us can duplicate that. So He alone makes salvation possible. But what we can do and what we will do from these passages that we've read here is to bring people to a knowledge of salvation and into a relationship of obedience to God.

Of obedience to God. And a forsaking sin that makes their salvation possible.

And as we saw from back there in Malachi, what was the job of a priest? Always from the very beginning.

It was the same job as to be a representative of God, to turn people from iniquity and to turn people to God. And that is going to be a major part of our role in the Kingdom of God, in the Millennium. So again, to recap here, we go to the feast because God chose us to be priests.

And we are in training for that responsibility of turning people from sin and turning people to salvation through coming into a relationship with God. And now we come to the seventh and final point. Final reason we go to the feast, and that is we go to the feast because God chose us to be teachers. We go to the feast because God chose us to be teachers. And just as the responsibilities of a king and a priest overlap, so does this responsibility. But it is so important it deserves a brief discussion on its own here. Because the biggest responsibility or job in the Millennium will be to help in rebuilding the world. Rebuilding the world on right values and on God's truth, on God's Word, the Bible. Because what's going to happen? What's the world going to be like after Christ's return and the beginning of the Millennium? We get a little glimpse of that. There are many prophecies we don't have time to go through, but we get a little glimpse here as it pertains to us in Isaiah 30 and verses 20 and 21. And God says here, talking to the survivors, those who have lived over into the Millennium after the chaos at the end of the age of man. And God says here, and though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, in other words, these are the people who have lived through the chaos and widespread destruction, the near annihilation of the human race on earth at the end of this age. God tells these people something. He says, yet your teachers will not be moved to a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers. What is our role going to be at the beginning of the Millennium?

We're reading it here. Is it going to be kings?

The people don't need kings to start off. Is it going to be priests? Yes, but not most importantly. What they're going to be needing the most is somebody to comfort them and to help them start over in an entire world that is starting over.

And that's what we're told here. We're called teachers.

And he tells these people, these survivors, your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, this is the way. Walk in it whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.

What the people are going to need is somebody to walk alongside them and comfort them and help them and start out gently teaching them by saying, don't go this way. It's time to learn a new way, a new way of thinking, a new way of living, a new way of acting. Not the old way. You've lived through where that way leads. You see it in an earth that is destroyed. It's time to learn a new way.

It's time to learn a new way. Let me show you that way. Let me teach you that way.

This is the way. Let's walk in it. That's what our job and our role will be at the beginning of the millennium. It's not going to be ruling and raiding over people. It's going to be comforting them, teaching them, starting out with the basics. It's two ways of life. A way of giving, and a way of getting. You saw where the way of getting gets us. You've got the world.

This is the way we're going to learn now. We're going to learn a new way. We're going to learn God's way. This is the way. Walk in it. And being teachers shouldn't be a new concept to us, because what is the mission of the church always been? Another familiar passage, Matthew 28. Jesus Christ's last words to His apostles.

Matthew 28, 19. Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.

So what has the great commission of the church always been from the first century, right after Christ has resurrected and ascended to heaven? It's always been, go and teach the nations. Teach them what? Teach them to observe all things that I have commanded you. Teaching them God's ways. Teaching them God's laws, God's way of life, all the things that Christ has commanded us. So teaching is a big part of our job. It always has been part of the commission of the church to teach people about God's ways. Let me ask you another question here. Is this commission only for this age of man? Well, think about that for a moment, because how many disciples is the church going to make in this age of man? Not many. Not many. We've seen this over the last 25 years, actually, going back to the 1970s, when the church had its greatest growth. That's half a century ago. Hasn't met a lot of growth since then. You know, we send out 300,000 copies of Beyond a Day magazine every other month. 300,000 readers. Well, that's subscribers.

In multiple languages there, we send out thousands of booklets. We send out 1,400 booklets, pieces of literature every day out of our home office. More than 1,000.

Each year, we're getting currently about 8 million visitors to our website. 8 million of them. Are many responding to that message? No, they're not. No, they're not. So, are we making a lot of disciples now? No, we're not. Not for lack of trying. But when are we going to see a lot of disciples made? Well, not until the millennium. Not until the millennium. When is God going to call multiple millions? When is He going to call the entirety of the human race? Not until the millennium. Not until then. And that is when our job will really begin as teachers. And at that time, as we read in Isaiah 11 and verse 9, prophecy that I really love, they shall not hurt nor destroy, and all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And that will be part of our job because the earth will be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea. And we've all been to lakes and oceans and so on. And how do waters fill the sea? Well, water by its nature fills every nook and cranny and crevice and crack. It fills it to the full, to the brim. And that's what the world is going to be like in the millennium. The knowledge of God will permeate everything, everywhere. And how will it be filled?

By teachers. By teachers teaching God's ways to the entire world.

One final scripture for us, Daniel 12 and verse 3, which ties into that, our role and our future.

Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.

And this is a key part of our calling, brethren, because we will be carrying out the role of kings and priests and teachers in the millennium, turning many to righteousness, leading many to righteousness, teaching them God's ways. And that will be our job as teachers of God's way of life.

And as a result of that, what is our future? Our future is to shine like the stars forever and ever, as the glorified, immortal spirit, children of God.

So to wrap up here, why do we go to the feast? We've seen seven different reasons here.

But basically, we go to the feast because God chose you. He chose you. He chose me. He chose all of us.

And He chose us because He believes in you. He didn't choose you to fail. He didn't choose you to be like the unprofitable servant, like we talked about with the parable of the pounds and the talents two sabbaths ago, to go bury our talents in the ground.

No, God chose us now, called us now because He believes in us. He knows we can do it.

Do we know that we can do it with God's help? Well, God believes in us, and we are now, because of that, in training for that future as kings, as priests, as teachers.

So if you takeaways, how can we get the most out of this feast to fulfill that calling and that purpose for us? A couple of bullet points here in conclusion. First of all, pray about the messages. Start doing that right now. Pray about the messages for God to inspire the speakers at the feast. Speaking schedules are being revamped and put together right now because of all the chaos and late scheduling and new sites and cancel sites and so on. But pray about the messages and messengers for God to inspire the speakers to give us what we need.

And ask God to give you what you need. What you need. Ask Him to help you learn things you haven't known before. Or to gain a deeper understanding of some of these passages that you've read.

To understand it more, to understand it in its full intent here. Or to remind you of things you once knew and have forgotten. Ask God to do these things for you.

Next bullet point, take to heart what you hear and learn in the messages. Take those messages to heart. Pay attention. Listen. Come. Get your rest. Come to services refreshed and eager and having prayed about that to hear what God wants you to hear, what you need to hear out of those messages there. And then after you've heard it, review and discuss the messages with your family, with your friends, with others. Sit around the lunch table or the dinner table and talk about what you've heard, what you learned, how you benefited, the insights you gained from those messages that day. So review them and then take them home with you. Don't let them go in one ear and out the other and be forgotten after the feast. Go back home and review your notes. Think about those messages. Maybe get the recordings of the sermons and go back and listen to them again, those that really stood out for you there. And most importantly, live those messages because if we don't live them, they ultimately don't do us any good. Live those messages. Put them to use in our lives. And then come back and build our congregations. Build the body.

Help unify the body. Help the body be all that it can be.

Realize that we are all collectively the Kingdom of God in training for those roles that we've talked about today. We are the Kingdom of God in training. How can we help that body in that training? In growing in grace and knowledge. As Peter said, by this time we all ought to be teachers. One of the jobs we're training for. We all ought to be teachers and no longer babes or infants drinking milk. But we all ought to be teachers. So we ought to be training to use the gifts, the abilities that God has given to all of us. So put into practice these reasons why we go to the feast.