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Opening Night Message for The Feast of Tabernacles
October 16, 2024

As Christians we are told to seek first the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, and the Feast of Tabernacles serves as a yearly reminder of this kingdom to come. It is during the Feast of Tabernacles we celebrate the Kingdom of God. The entire Bible points to the Kingdom of God, and everything that has been done on earth culminates in the Biblical events foreshadowed by the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day.

Unlike the kingdoms and nations of this world, The Kingdom of God will be a kingdom established in righteousness, which is one of the reasons why we are told to seek first the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness. For us, transcending the imperfections of being human to reach for righteousness requires us to be actively doing many things now in our life, and during this Feast of Tabernacles, we will be looking at what we must be doing now to be in the Kingdom of God, and we want to be in the Kingdom of God because it will be kingdom unlike anything ever seen before on earth.

We live in a world that from a choice made by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden knows good and evil, but righteousness is something we need to seek. Imagine living in a world where the worst of that world is far, far better than anything we know today. That is what awaits us in the Kingdom of God. While it’s natural for us to think in terms of physical things, the most stunning change from now to then will be in righteousness. In this future Kingdom, the least of what is righteous will be far more righteous than any righteousness we could ever know today, and that change in righteousness is a change from the top down.

Isaiah 32:1-4
Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.

While few today keep the Feat of Tabernacles, we know in the Kingdom of God all nations will keep the Feast of Tabernacles unless those nations want to be punished by God.

Zechariah 14:16-19
And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

We know Jesus will rule as King of kings and Lord of lords during the Kingdom of God. Isaiah gives us a vision of Jesus Christ, Who when He was born as a baby, was born with the intent to rule the government. There will be no end to the increase and peace of His government as He sits upon the throne of David, as government is established with judgment and justice.

Isaiah 9:6-7
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

Because Jesus reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords at the right hand of God, Jesus reigns with righteousness. In the Kingdom of God when the poor are judged, Jesus will use righteousness to judge the poor. When Jesus seeks to make things right for those who are meek, Jesus will also use righteousness. When it is time to slay the wicked and smite the evilness of the earth resulting from the deception of Satan, Jesus will also do this with righteousness. Righteousness will encompass Jesus in all that He does.

Isaiah 11:1-5
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

Ultimately we look forward to a new heaven, new earth, and New Jerusalem. These will be extremely happy places with a joy and happiness, and peace, that eludes our life today. Because we base happiness as a contrast to sadness and joy to sorrow, we can only understand the joy and happiness that will come as if we are looking through heavy fog barely and barely able to make out shapes in the distance. We have an idea of what is coming but can’t fully grasp how wonderful the Kingdom of God will be.

During this future time, sadness will not exist as pain and suffering will be no more. For all of us who have ever suffered pain or loss when there is a new heaven and new earth, the pain and loss we know today will be no more. All who work will enjoy the result of their efforts without fear of loss. All who work will benefit from their work. No more will work result in only benefits to others.

During this time, all who want to know God, will know God as even animals that are considered natural predators will live peaceably with the animals they once hunted to eat.

Isaiah 65:17-25
For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that 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 bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.

To be part of the Kingdom of God, we must be actively involved with our calling, and that means we are doing or have done certain things in our life and are working towards certain spiritual qualities. For each of us there is a need for repentance. That message of repentance was taught on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was first given to the masses.

Acts 2:37-39
Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

Without repentance there is no place for the Holy Spirit within us, and without the Holy Spirit, there is no place for us within the Kingdom of God. Having been given the Holy Spirit, we need to live our lives spiritually, even as we live within our physical bodies. We cannot give place to Satan, nor can we grieve the Holy Spirit. There is never a place for us to live our lives in such a way that our actions bring shame to the Holy Spirit. We must always seek first the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, and everything we do must support that quest.

Ephesians 4:25-30
Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Having been called to repentance, seeking first the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, and even keeping the Christian meaning of the Biblical Holy Days doesn’t make us better than other people. It just means we have been called at this time and the other people are awaiting their calling.

Along with repentance, to be in the Kingdom of God is the need to overcome. In life, we either overcome what is before us, or we overcome by those challenges and spiritually, it is no different. The Bible makes it very clear we must overcome. We can never surrender and throw in the towel. We must overcome this world like Jesus if we want to be in the Kingdom of God.

Jesus clearly showed He overcame this world, and He told us to be of good cheer because He overcame this world. He had to overcome this world to be our Lord and Savior, and the fact that He had overcome the world was the reason for good cheer He mentioned. When Jesus first preached during His earthly ministry, He used proverbs and parables to make His point. He also knew that after His resurrection, the message of God the Father would be made available directly to them. At this point the disciples were beginning to understand that Jesus came from the Father and would be returning to the Father. He also knew that some difficult days would be ahead for the disciples scattering them throughout the world, but Jesus wanted them to have peace, and to know that He had overcome the world.

John 16:25-33
These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Like Jesus, we too must overcome this world, and we begin our quest to overcome this world by believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He came from God and returned to God. We also will find ourselves keeping the commandments of God because we know that it is our faith which gives us victory in overcoming the world. We keep God’s commandments because we love God, but it is faith which gives us victory in overcoming the world.

1 John 5:1-5
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and everyone that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

When we consider the dilemma before us, to overcome or be overcome, that same dilemma has been faced by all our brethren throughout the millennia as we all seek first the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness. Between now and the Kingdom of God, we are warned of challenges that we will face, and to be in the Kingdom of God we must endure to the end.

Matthew 10:17-23
But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.

To be in the Kingdom of God, we must have faith. Today, it seems like faith is the exception and not the rule among people on earth. Living in a world that relies on science where the value of faith is minimized, we know we must still have faith. Jesus gave a parable about an unrighteous judge who gave in and helped a widow get justice so he would not be bothered. He used that parable to show there is a benefit for people to cry out to God, day and night whenever they have need, and then Jesus asked a rhetorical question, would He find faith on earth when He returns?

Luke 18:1-8
And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

We might expect the people of this world to be without faith, but Jesus was speaking about His elect, those who we would consider to be of the faith today. Imagine the irony if the people of faith were a people without faith. That is the dilemma Jesus is addressing. We cannot be people of the faith who are also a people without faith. We must be of the faith and be people of faith if we want to be in the Kingdom of God.

Having faith means we might not have all the answers like a scientist might have. Science is about determining what can be proven and faith is something much different. Faith is about believing even when there is no scientific proof. When others might look to any source of information to make decisions in their life, while we might look to those same sources of information to make decisions in our life, we also go beyond what can be understood by the five senses and also make decisions in our life based on faith.

2 Corinthians 5:1-7
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: For we walk by faith, not by sight:

As we wait for the Kingdom of God, we must continue in hope because the Kingdom of God is not yet something we see. Without hope, we cannot be in the Kingdom of God. It is those things that we do not see and that we desire that we hope for. Having that hope gives us reason to patiently wait for it as we await the transformation of our bodies from human to spiritual.

Romans 8:18-25
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Love is also essential if we want to be part of the Kingdom of God. Without love, we are hollow. Paul wrote that even if he could speak with eloquence or speak like an angel, if he didn’t have love, he would be hollow and would only be speaking to be noticed by others. He showed that even if he were given the gift to completely understand prophecy and all mysteries, that if he had knowledge of the Bible and faith so powerful that he could move mountains, without love he would be nothing. He would be empty. He would be hollow. He added that even if he shared all of his physical possessions to benefit those in need and gave his life in an act of ultimate sacrifice, if he didn’t have love there would be no benefit for him.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

The Feast of Tabernacles is a celebratory time as this feast foreshadows the coming Kingdom of God, and because we all want to be part of this kingdom, we must be actively involved with our calling, and that means we are doing or have done certain things in our life and are working towards certain spiritual qualities. For this Feast of Tabernacles we will be examining repentance, overcoming, enduring to the end, faith, hope, and love, and all are necessary for salvation and to be in the Kingdom of God.

We celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles as a time of plenty, a time of peace, a time for the Kingdom of God. We celebrate a shared experience knowing that all who are called also have this hope of the Kingdom of God. There is nothing that man can offer to compare to the glory that will be the Kingdom of God, New Jerusalem, and eternal life. Let us celebrate this Feast of Tabernacles and let us celebrate the Kingdom of God.

All verses are from the King James Version.
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