What Is Jesus Christ's Perspective of the Feast?

Fred, why don't we come to the Feast of Tabernacles? We had a very good sermon about that message last evening. I want to continue on that theme a little bit today. As I made mention, we are here from 22 states in this country. Let me give the roll call. Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Texas, Indiana, Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Arizona, Oregon, Tennessee, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Kansas, California, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Washington State, Oklahoma, and Maryland. Two provinces from Canada, Ontario and Saskatchewan. Found out—well, I did know, but I didn't write this down—but somebody here from Gold Coast, Australia. We've got people here from Jamaica. We've got four different nations, 22 states in this country. Why have we come here? Let's take a look at Leviticus chapter 23 and get our bearings. Leviticus chapter 23 verses 34, 35, and 36.

Leviticus 23 verse 34, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, on the fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You should do no customary work on it. For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. A holy convocation. Holy. Something that's very special, separated by God for a very special use. A convocation is a meeting. If you dig deep into the meaning of that word, it can mean a summons. We have a special summons by the great God. You and I can receive a summons from a judge for jury duty. We don't neglect that. Certainly by the same token, when we are summoned by God to go to the feast, we don't neglect that. And that's why you're here today. Brethren, we are here to worship our very special God. We are here to worship with God's very special people. And we're here to prepare for a very special future. But I want to take this sermon a little differently than perhaps you might think. Perspective is an interesting thing. Many years ago, one of the first Russian astronauts, cosmonauts, as he was circling the earth and he was just barely skimming the outer atmosphere of our planet, wasn't very high. He made one full revolution around the earth and he said, I don't see God. Now that was his perspective. It's almost like circling a little pebble on the beach. He didn't think that there was a God. So we can have our perspectives. But today in this sermon, I want to take a look at what is Christ's perspective on this day. He is our Savior. He is our elder brother. We have come here to the feast to rejoice. What is Christ's perspective on a day such as today? Let's take a look at Isaiah chapter 60. I want to contrast a little bit our perspective in Christ for just a couple of moments. Isaiah chapter 60.

You know, so often when we're talking about the resurrection, we'll turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. But here's another chapter in Isaiah that talks about our resurrection. I don't know about you, but I always enjoy when we come to the feast, they have a good dose of the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 60 verse 1, Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Brother, that's talking about our resurrection. Your resurrection. Arise from the dead. Shine, because you are now a spirit being, for the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

You're no longer in the grave. You're no longer formerly flesh. You are now spirit. Verse 2, For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, deep darkness the people, but the Lord will arise over you, with glory will be seen upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. So yes, verse 2 is a date stamp. We realize that when Christ returns on trumpets, as we heard last evening, it's a dark time for the world.

A very dark time for the world. We hear sermons about that on trumpets all the time. But during that period of time when Christ returns, it's the time of our resurrection. Verse 3, The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. So not only do we see a time of resurrection here, we see a time of resurrection to glory.

We see a time when the saints will be ruling with Jesus Christ. Brethren, you yearn, I yearn. We watch the news, we read the news, we want to make a difference in this world. We just long to make a difference. When we see the suffering in this world, we want it to come to an end. We're people of compassion. We're people of compassion because we've got God's Holy Spirit in us, and it's a spirit of love.

And we want to make a difference. And here is our opportunity as we are resurrected fully into the God family. It's a time where healing will begin to take place at every level, especially for human beings who are living in the time of the millennium. Isaiah 35. Now again, this is a perspective that you and I have about the feast. Isaiah 35, verse 3. Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. So here in verse 3, we see where there is a physical healing that needs to take place in the world. And certainly we understand that. We see the commercials and talking about this one and that one and all the children's hospitals and so forth.

We wish we all had the gift of being able to go into any hospital and heal everybody that is there. But of course, that's not God's desire at this point. We just want to see suffering end. Verse 4. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, to the fearful heart of those who have need of mental and emotional healing, and see to those who are fearful-hearted, to be strong and do not fear. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God, and He will come and save you.

God wants to save the world from its misery. Verse 5. The eyes of the blind shall be open, the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Verse 6. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, the tongue of the dumb sing, for water shall burst forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. Now, brethren, explicitly, this section of Scripture is talking about the physical. But I believe there's a depth of meaning here that goes beyond that. I believe verses 3, 4, 5, and 6 also have spiritual connotations revolving around them.

Strengthen the weak hands, the feeble knees. Verse 3. Strengthen those who are weak in the faith. They want to do the right thing, but they don't have the strength to do it. Well, they're living in this world. This world is Satan's world. The world tomorrow will be a much different world. Satan will be banished for those thousand years. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, again, those who their faith is not what it should be. Be strong and do not fear.

Verse 5. Then the eyes of the spiritually blind shall be open, the ears of the spiritually deaf shall be unstopped. The lame shall leap like the deer. In other words, people will have their feet on the proper path set by God. The tongue of the dumb shall sing, sing the kinds of praises we heard today from our wonderful choir accompanied by our wonderful orchestra. So, brethren, when we take a look and we think about the world tomorrow, we think about the perspective you and I have.

We think about a time of peace. We think about a time of harmony, spiritual transformation, healing on all levels. But I want to ask that question again, and if you're taking notes, you might want to put this across the top of your paper. What is Christ's perspective on the feast? What is Christ's perspective on the feast? The genesis for my sermon today comes from one verse in the book of Revelation. Let's go to Revelation 19 and verse 7.

Revelation 19 and verse 7.

It says, Let us be glad, let us rejoice, and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready. His wife has made herself ready. This is Jesus Christ's perspective. We come to the feast to rejoice. So does he. He comes to the feast to rejoice, realizing that his bride is now ready and can be resurrected and be with him through all eternity.

I've broken this down to two basic points. Number one, Christ rejoices in that he's returning to rescue his bride and give her eternal life. Point number one, Christ rejoices that he's come to rescue his bride and give her eternal life. Revelation chapter 19 here, verse 11. Now I saw heaven open to behold a white horse, and he who sat in it was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire. I'm not going to go through this in great detail. We go through this during the time of trumpets, but Christ has fire in his eyes. He's not coming this second time meekly on a donkey. He's coming with a vast army. He's coming to put down the governments of this world. He's coming to rescue his bride. He's coming to rescue you. So heaven opened to behold a white horse, and he who sat in it was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire. On his head were many crowns. He had a name written which no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood. We understand the imagery there about why that robe is dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. Now, we can do some detective work. I don't have the time to go through all the verses, but in chapter 6 of Revelation, we see where the heavens are received like a scroll being furled away. Human beings right now, we can't look into the heavens and see Jesus Christ or God the Father on their throne. But there's coming a time when the heavens will be scrolled away, rolled away like a scroll, and we're going to see Jesus Christ on that white stallion. We're going to see his armies. Probably as far as our eye, physical eye, could see all of them in brilliant white on brilliant white horses, and he's coming for his bride.

Verse 15, out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, and with it he should strike the nations. Again, he's got fire in his eyes. And he himself shall rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God. And on his robe and on his thigh, a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Brethren, this is not some secret entrance by Jesus Christ. This is not some rapture where just a few see. This is, you know, if we turn over to Revelation chapter 1. Revelation chapter 1 and verse 7.

Revelation chapter 1 and verse 7. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even they who pierced him, not just the saints, the sinners too. And they who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him, even so, amen. Brethren, also there in Revelation chapter 6, again, I'm not going to turn there, but talks about how when people in the world, the unbelievers, they see the return of Jesus Christ with his vast army, they want to hide from Jesus Christ. They want to hide from him. Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24. We're continuing on in the same thread about the return of Jesus Christ. He and the head of this tremendous army of angels, as Mr. Faye brought out last night with all the saints. We're going to get to that just right now. Matthew chapter 24 verse 30. Something was quoted last night. Matthew 24 verse 30.

Now think on this. Jesus Christ at the head of that huge army of angels, vast number, he begins to circle the earth, collecting the saints, Old Testament saints, New Testament saints, as they go. What's on his mind? What is his perspective? Let's turn to a scripture you might not think about when we're thinking about this, but it's very appropriate. Hebrews chapter 11. The faith chapter. Hebrews chapter 11.

As Jesus Christ is circling the globe with his army of angels, as he's collecting the Old Testament and New Testament saints. What's going through his mind? We begin to see some of it right here. Women received their dead raised. Verse 35. Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance. There's been an experiment that's gone 6,000 years. God the Father and Jesus Christ said, time for this experiment to end. I don't want to see my bride being hurt anymore. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance. That they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trials of mockings and scourgings. You want to see your bride or groom go through this? Yes, of chains and imprisonment. You want to see your loved ones go through this? They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskin and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. God the Father and Jesus Christ say, enough's enough. We're coming back to rescue the bride. Of whom? Verse 38. Of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth. Jesus Christ says, time is now come to rescue my bride. And again, think about it from Christ's perspective. You know, God the Father and Jesus Christ have an ability. You and I can't wrap our mind around. Every human being on this planet, at the same time, if they so wanted to, could pray to the great God. Pray to and pour out their heart. And because of the greatness of the mind of God, He can listen to each of those prayers, respond to each of those prayers, give them due diligence, and so forth. Well, think about how Jesus Christ, as He's gathering His saints, and He sees them coming up to meet Him. There's Abraham and Isaac, Jacob. Think about what's going through Christ's mind. How He's longed to have that conversation that He used to have with Abraham. How He's longed to see His children grow. Do you enjoy seeing your children and grandchildren grow?

God enjoys seeing His kids grow. How He's longed to see He longs to speak again and discuss things and share life with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. How He longs to see Moses, who doesn't have to worry about stuttering anymore. How He longs to hear more songs from David.

Of course, you've got Sarah and Rebecca, Rachel, Esther, Deborah. You've got Peter, and you've got Paul. All these folks, God is so happy to resurrect from the dead because He wants to have more time with them. The one who raised Him, Mary, half-brothers James, Jude, and you. Christ's perspective is He wants to be together with His bride. 1 Thessalonians 4 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 17 1 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. 2 And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Christ's perspective, as He looks forward to the Feast of Tabernacles, because of the pictures of time when there's no longer a separation. Those who have died in the faith are resurrected. Those who are living will be transformed at the time of the return of Christ. And Christ looks forward to the time where He can have that ongoing relationship with all of His children. You know, we don't know after the book of Revelation closes, we don't know what takes place, what kind of plan God has after all of this is said and done. But we do it. I would have to think that God has some kind of plan. You and I will be a part of that plan. How do you challenge a spirit being? I don't know, but God knows He's going to do that. He's going to watch us grow as spirit beings, as He's watched us grow as physical beings. He's our loving Father. Christ is our loving elder brother. And they don't have to be separated by the grave anymore, by the fact that we're physical in their spirit. Because we'll all be spirit at that point. 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians chapter 15. Verse 51.

So we've seen how Christ has come to rescue His bride. Now we want to see how Christ is coming to rescue that bride and give her eternal life. 1 Corinthians 15.51.

For this, corruption was put on in corruption. This mortal must put on immortality. No longer corruptible. Now immortal. Verse 54. So when this corruptible is put on in corruption and this mortal is put on immortality, then she'll be brought to pass the same what was written. Death is swallowed up in victory. Death is swallowed up in victory. The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. What is Jesus Christ's perspective? On the Feast of Tabernacles is that we, the family of God, is victorious. You are no longer flesh and blood. You are now spirit. And Christ rejoices that His bride is so. He rejoices because He loves us so. Verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast. To be steadfast means to be steady. You know, I know that so many of us have various trials that we're going through. But we need to be steadfast, immovable. We're going to be a no-matter-what Christian. No matter what happens, we're going to make sure that we're following God and doing the things God wants us to do. Always abounding in the work of the Lord. We're not here just for our own salvation's sake. We enjoy that. We want that. There's nothing wrong with that. But we want to give. We want to serve. We want to pass along the beauty of what's happened to us, to others. That's the mind of God. And we've each got a portion of that mind, knowing that your labor is not in vain. So point number one, brethren, was that Jesus Christ rejoices to rescue, to come to rescue His bride and give her eternal life. Let's revisit Revelation 19, verse 7 again. Revelation 19, verse 7.

And let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come. And secondly here, His wife has made herself ready. Point number two, Christ rejoices because He's pleased His wife, His bride, You, I, we've made ourselves ready. Let's turn to John 4, verse 34.

John 4, verse 34. I mentioned this earlier today.

How have we made ourselves ready? What is it that Christ admires about us? We obviously, we stand in awe of the great God of Jesus Christ.

But there's a reciprocal thought here. How much they love us. How much, when the time comes, Christ says He's rejoicing that His bride has made herself ready. How has she made herself ready? John 4, verse 34.

Work. To finish the work. You know, when we're looking to marry somebody, we want to marry somebody of like mind, like attitude, where we think a lot of like. Jesus Christ wants a bride who thinks like He thinks, because that is the way to think, the way God thinks and the way Jesus Christ thinks. Christ sees it as bride as the same values that He holds. That the priorities are in order. That they have a passion to do the work of God. And of course, brethren, as I put my notes together for this feast message, I had to do an awful lot of introspection on myself. Are my priorities in order? Do I have the proper passion for the work of God? You know, we all had the first love when we first came into the church. But as that first love, is it waning? Is it failing? Is it going out? Or is the passion stronger than before? We want that passion to be strong. And if the passion isn't where it should be right now, then today could be a beginning where we make this passion even stronger. We rededicate ourselves to the great God. We renew our commitment to following Him and doing the things He wants us to do. Christ loves us. He rejoices that the bride has made herself ready because even in the darkest of times, He's seen where His bride is stood tall. Daniel chapter 3.

Even in the worst possible circumstances. You know, I don't think there's a single person in this room other than maybe the very young. Where we've gone through some really desperate times in our life. And depending on how old we are, there's probably several times in our life that have been the darkest days of our life. Maybe not only just a day, maybe several months, maybe a several-a-year period where we've gone through some of the most difficult times imaginable for us. Well, here was a time that was very difficult for three young men. Onto the rule of Nebuchadnezzar. You know the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Daniel chapter 3 and verse 22. Therefore, because the king to man was urgent and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They stood firm. They were steadfast. They were removable. They were not about to worship anything but the true God. And for that, they were going to be thrown into a burning fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar, verse 23, these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. You know, that by itself could have killed them. Didn't. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and he rose and hasten, spoke, saying to his counselors, Did we not cast three men bound to the midst of the fire? They said, True, O king. Look, he said, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire, and they're not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. When you're going through the worst times in your life, Christ stands for you. He stands with you. He's there because he loves you so.

Back in New Testament times, there was a man by the name of Saul of Tarsus. Zealous, religious, on fire, passionate, but he had a zeal that was not a zeal of God. And I'm going to turn to these chapters, but in chapter eight, we see where Paul made havoc of the church, dragging people out of their homes, sending them to prison. Think on this for a moment, brethren. You know, here we're assembled at the Feast of Tabernacles. We want to come and listen to the various ministers who are giving the various messages. But what if one of the ministers standing before you had your mother or your father or your children, your wife or husband, thrown in jail? And they're still in jail. And this Saul of Tarsus now is the minister of the Gospel, and he's come to your church or to your feast site. I'm sure that was very hard for the Apostle Paul and for the members. The Apostle Paul on numerous occasions talks about how he was chief among sinners. He knew what he did to the membership of the church. He made havoc of the church. He dragged people out of their homes, sending them to prison. Chapter 22, it says that he had people beaten. Chapter 26 said that he had people compelled to blaspheme. What would it take for you to blaspheme the name of God? These four people were tortured. Paul was there when Stephen was put to death. His name, of course, at that point was Saul. But, brethren, God sees all you go through, and He's there with you, and He loves you.

Let's look at 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 7. 1 Peter 5, 7. 1 Peter 5, 7. This is one of my favorite verses. 1 Peter 5, 7.

2 Peter 5, 7. This is one of my favorite verses. Beaten, jailed, tortured, forced a move to other cities, and there were no financial safety nets for these people. What happened to them? Some of them were financially ruined, lost everything they had, fleeing from Saul of Tarsus. Acts 8. Let's turn there.

Acts 8 and verse 4. After we look at the first three verses, Saul scattered the church, making havoc of the church. But what did they do? Stephen had just been martyred. They were being scattered. They were being financially ruined. They were being hurt. But what did they do during the worst times of their life? Verse 4. Therefore, those who were scattered went everywhere, preaching the Word. Preaching the Word. This is why Christ loves us so. His wife, his bride, during the worst of times, has made herself ready. Your sufferings are not in vain. 2 Timothy 4 and verse 8. Finally, there is later for me, the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day. And not to me only, but also to those who loved His appearing. We love the thought, and we work toward the thought of His appearing. We realize we're strangers in this world. We realize we're on a journey, and we're continually moving forward toward God's kingdom. Jesus Christ loves that in His bride. He understands that we know that we're never going to stop until we reach that kingdom. We're going to be steadfast. We're going to be immovable. We're going to be pilgrims. We may stop here and there, but we know we're on a constant journey. And Jesus Christ loves us because of that. He rejoices that you are here at the feast because of that. He realizes that the debilitating sickness is not going to stop you. The loss of your job is not going to stop you. The fact that you've got interpersonal issues of various ones in your life, that is not going to stop you from your journey to the kingdom of God. Ephesians 4 Ephesians 4, verse 12 and 13. Verse 11 talks about the various types of ministries. And for verse 12 now, the reason we have the ministry is for the equipping of the saints for the work of service. For the work of service, for the building up of the body of Christ. And brethren, in my estimation, this next verse, verse 13, is one of the most powerful verses in all the Bible. Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man or woman, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Notice how all these things point somewhere. The word unity, the word knowledge, the word mature. They all point to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Christ, His perspective at this feast, it's His love for you because you are growing in unity with Him. You are growing in knowledge of Him in His way. You are growing to be mature as brothers and sisters in the faith. And He loves that in you. He loves your prayers. He loves when you get and open the Bible and study. He loves when you fast. He loves when you meditate. He just loves you all the time. As the sun radiates light and warmth, so our God radiates love, and especially to those who are the called, the chosen, the faithful. Britton, I ask the question, why have we come to the feast? We've come to the feast to worship our very special God. We've come to the feast to worship with God's very special people. We've come to prepare for a very special future. What is Christ's perspective on this feast? He rejoices. He rejoices because He's come to rescue us. He rejoices because He's going to give us eternal life. He rejoices because He is pleased with us as we have made ourself ready. That's what He's thinking as He goes around the world.