You Shall Dwell in Tabernacles

Transcription

1 Recorded on September 26, 2018 As we all know, the Feast of Tabernacles is a time that we all look forward to throughout the year. It s probably one of the favorite holy days because the Feast is such an enjoyable, festive time for all of us. If we look back at how Ancient Israel kept the Feast of Tabernacles, there is a unique commandment they were given during this festival season that is quite frankly a little puzzling when you look at the details of it. It s where this festival actually gets it s very name from. What I d like to do today is look at this particular instruction and see how we can see the lessons that not only Ancient Israel was learning from this, but also the lessons that we will learn from this spiritually. If you would like a title for the sermon today, it s: Let s turn to Leviticus 23 and we re going to start in verse 39. Leviticus 23, as we all know, is the chapter that goes over the holy days. It gives us an overview of the holy days throughout the entire year. We get down to about verse 33 and it starts talking about the Feast of Tabernacles. In verse 39 it begins discussing more details and we ll get to the specific instructions we re going to look at today. Leviticus 23:39 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. 40) And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. (NKJV) Notice in particular it talks about keeping the Feast for seven days and then it mentions the eighth day, and kind of mentions it separately. The reason I m making a point of that is that sometimes it s debated, well, is that eighth day part of the Feast of Tabernacles or is it something separate. One of things you ll see is it will always refer to the Feast as seven days, and then it ll say on the eighth day that s a festival as well, because that s something unique and separate. One of the ways we can clearly see this is the instruction where this festival gets its very name from it only applies to seven days, it doesn t apply to the eighth day, and that s how you can see that the eighth day is something separate and has its own meaning. Pick up in verse ) You shall keep it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42) You shall dwell in booths for seven days. (NKJV) Recorded on September 26, 2018 Page 1! of! 16

2 If you have a New King James translation of the Bible like I m reading from, you ll notice booths has a little [numeral] 1 next to it and if you look in the margin you ll see the word tabernacles. The Hebrew word for booths or tabernacles is the same one it s a translation choice as to whether it s tabernacles or booths. That s the unique instruction they were told to do for the Feast of Tabernacles. Notice that it s commanded for seven days. Never does it say to dwell in booths on the eighth day, it tells you the eighth day is a high day, it is a holy day we are to keep it s a special day but it never says to dwell on the eighth day. You dwell in booths for seven days and that s where the Feast of Tabernacles gets it s name from because of this tradition. 42 continued) All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43) that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. 44) So Moses declared to the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD. (NKJV) Notice you see this repeated again seven days doing this and then it tells you the eighth day is a Sabbath as well. Think about the instructions that they re given they are told to take these branches and put them together and make little booths and they are going to dwell in them during this festival. As we re going to see there is a contradiction, and what I mean by that is you ll see a kind of dichotomy in this, in terms of what they re dwelling in versus everything else they re going to do during this week. It s kind of an interesting picture when you think about it. If you notice in this chapter it talks about making the branches and then later says dwell in the booths; it doesn t specifically say take the branches and make the booths but we re going to see in Nehemiah that s obviously what it means because it s going to specifically say that in the book of Nehemiah. If you look over here, one of the reasons they are to do this is to remember (when they were coming out of Egypt on the way to the Promised Land) that they dwelt in booths. As they re keeping this they re looking back they re looking back at their history. For us, as we keep the Feast of Tabernacles, we re not looking back, we re looking forward, we re looking to the future. For them it s a physical thing, in a sense; they re remembering they re coming out of slavery and all that God accomplished for them there; we re looking forward to what God s going to accomplish in the future. Let s turn over to Nehemiah 8:13 and we ll see the same instruction being addressed. Nehemiah 8:13 Now on the second day the heads of the fathers houses of all the people, with the priests and Levites, were gathered to Ezra the scribe, in order to understand the words of the Law. 14) And they found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, Recorded on September 26, 2018 Page 2! of! 16

3 15) and that they should announce and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, Go out to the mountain, and bring olive branches, branches of oil trees, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written. 16) Then the people went out and brought them and made themselves booths, each one on the roof of his house, or in their courtyards or the courts of the house of God, and in the open square of the Water Gate and in the open square of the Gate of Ephraim. 17) So the whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and sat under the booths; for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that day the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very great gladness. 18) Also day by day, from the first day until the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; (NKJV) Notice once again, the Feast seven days and then it mentions the eighth day later. 18 continued) and on the eighth day there was a sacred assembly, according to the prescribed manner. (NKJV) Realize that when they were keeping this these people were already in the Promised Land. It mentions their buildings and the roofs, or out in the backyard or courtyard, or out in the courts because they have permanent homes to live in. They have permanent structures, they re far superior structures that they can live in. When they re keeping the Feast they re going to be cutting these branches and building a booth and living in it for seven days. Think about this they re looking back at their history of coming out of Ancient [Egypt] but then we look at the instructions to rejoice and enjoy the finer things, and you re going to see an interesting dichotomy in that they spend a week having the finer things and enjoying whatever their heart desires but then go live in what we would call a rickety shack today. You re making this booth to live in that s out of branches, think about this: If you have a permanent structure and you go out and cut these branches and build this little booth out of it, this is by definition going to be a structure much more sensitive to the weather if it s more cold or it s more hot, if it s raining, if you have wind this is a lot more vulnerable and you re going to feel all this if you re in a structure like this, particularly if you re not just roughing it all the time and you re used to living in a solid structure. You can see what that s going to do. At the same time they re told to live in this structure, they re also told to rejoice and enjoy the finer things, and you can see a contradiction when you think about it in terms of our physical way of looking at this. Turn over to Deuteronomy 14; we re going to read the same scripture we read on the first day. Look in verse 22; this is the instruction for second tithe. Recorded on September 26, 2018 Page 3! of! 16

4 Deuteronomy 14:22 You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. 23) And you shall eat before the LORD your God, in 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. 24) But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the LORD your God has blessed you, 25) then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses. 26) And 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. (NKJV) He tells them save up a tenth of your income all throughout the year so you will have plenty during this time. Regardless of what your standard of living is, just by sheer math, if you re saving a tenth of your income throughout the year, you ve got a lot more abundance during this week than you re going to have the rest of the year. How many of us, if we just think of this physically, think about I m going to plan a vacation week and I m going to save up all year, and I m going to have a week where I can really enjoy and have the finer things in life, and while I do that, I m going to make a rickety shack out of branches, and I m going to move in and live in there while I eat good steak and fine wine and all the nicer things, and I m going to rough it and deal with the rain and the weather who does that? Just think of the contradiction you have here because God said to physically rejoice at this time because He wanted it to be special. Turn over to Deuteronomy 16:13 and we ll notice again the specific instructions of rejoicing and making this special. Deuteronomy 16:13 You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. 14) And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates. 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. (NKJV) This is supposed to be special a time to really be happy and rejoice, and enjoy the finer things in life while you live in a rickety shack at the same time doesn t that sound a little funny, that they would do this? Again, if you look at this from Ancient Israel s point of view, they were looking back (as we read in Leviticus 23) remembering you came out of Egypt and you lived in temporary shelters on your journey to the Promised Land so that s part of the meaning for them. But we also need to ponder what the Recorded on September 26, 2018 Page 4! of! 16

5 meaning is for us. We re not looking back, we re looking forward. So what are we to make of the spiritual end of this? (For them it was more of a physical thing because of being in an old covenant, with its physical characteristics.) It s more about spiritual things and we re looking forward into the future. So we have a time of abundance, but what about this contradiction of the finer things in life while you dwell in something inferior what s up with that and how are we to understand that? First of all, we need to look at what we re picturing here because, again, we re not looking back at our journey out of Egypt, we re looking forward to the fulfillment of the Millennium. Let s start by examining what we re looking forward to as we start putting together the picture of what this is teaching us. Turn over to Revelation 20; we ll get a brief picture of the Millennium. I m going to start in verse 1 to put together the whole scene. Revelation 20:1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2) He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3) and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. (NKJV) This is the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement when Satan is being bound away from mankind for a thousand years, and that sets the scene for and enables this wonderful utopian environment we have throughout the thousand-year Millennium. If you notice in the last verse, the story is not completely over with him because he comes back. 3 continued) But after these things he must be released for a little while. (NKJV) God is not completely finished with Satan; he comes back later for other purposes. 4) And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped 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. (NKJV) This thousand-year period is what we re talking about. 5) But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6) Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. (NKJV) Recorded on September 26, 2018 Page 5! of! 16

6 Notice it s with God and with Christ it s the Father and the Son involved, and we re reigning with them for this thousand-year period, and that s the Millennium we re looking forward to here in the Feast of Tabernacles. Satan is out of the picture during this whole time and this creates a wonderful utopian picture of a very peaceful environment that we can enjoy throughout this thousand-year period. Let s briefly look at this over in Isaiah 2; we ll start in verse 1. This is a very familiar scripture typically right at the Feast of Tabernacles. Isaiah 2:1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2) Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD's house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. 3) Many people shall come and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4) He shall judge between the nations, And rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore. (NKJV) This is a wonderful time to look forward to; we re looking at a thousand years of a peaceful environment. It s not like it s not going to have any problems you can see in Zechariah 14 there will certainly be people still resisting God and not totally cooperating, but compared to our world today, you read this and it s fantastic to look forward to this type of environment in a wonderful, peaceful, positive setting. It s also a time of great abundance. When we see that we can understand why God says you picture this, saving up all your extra income, and having more and enjoying the finer things, which is a picture of what this is going to look like. You can see in Joel 3, let s look over this and see that it s going to be a time of great abundance. It totally makes sense that it s a time when we have extra income and we can enjoy things we don t normally get to do, and we are picturing a time of abundance. Joel 3:18 And it will come to pass in that day That the mountains shall drip with new wine, The hills shall flow with milk, And all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water; A fountain shall flow from the house of the LORD And water the Valley of Acacias. (NKJV) It s lush, with lots of water. Looking at desert areas, things are now green and blooming and it s a very positive environment, and that s going to result in agriculture lots of plenty, plenty of food; you re not looking at shortages. Look also at Amos 9; we ll see some more descriptions of this and we ll start in verse 13. Recorded on September 26, 2018 Page 6! of! 16

7 Amos 9:13 Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, And the treader of grapes him who sows seed; The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, And all the hills shall flow with it. 14) I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. 15) I will plant them in their land, And no longer shall they be pulled up From the land I have given them, Says the LORD your God. We have this picture of plenty and a time of abundance not shortages and famine and things we re used to in this world but a time of great abundance. It totally makes sense that you picture that by saving extra money throughout the whole year so you can enjoy the finer things during this week. That seems like an exact picture. Okay, so what about this living in a rickety shack for seven days while you re doing this. Doesn t this seem a little puzzling? We can understand this from Israel s point of view because they were living like nomads, wandering around in the wilderness and living in temporary dwellings on the way to the Promised Land but what about us, looking forward to the Millennium what s the spiritual end of this, what lessons are we to learn from this? The key to understanding this subject is understanding what the Bible refers to when it talks about our dwelling. It says, you shall dwell in Tabernacles. When the Bible speaks about our dwelling it can certainly be referring to our physical address, or the roof over our head, or where we actually live. It can also have a much deeper meaning when it refers to our dwelling because the Bible oftentimes uses this phrase not just to refer to the roof over our head. It has much more spiritual significance to it. Turn over to Psalm 90:1. Psalm 90:1 LORD, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. 2) Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. (NKJV) It s referring to God being their dwelling place. Obviously it s not talking about their physical address or the roof over their head. We re talking more of spiritual issues here we re talking about their spiritual condition or their relationship with God, making God your dwelling. As we re going to see when we go through a few scriptures, we can make God and righteousness our dwelling or we can make wickedness our dwelling. It s a spiritual concept that our dwelling can picture, and not just the physical end of where we live. Turn over to Psalm 91:1 just across the page in my Bible. Psalm 91:1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2) I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust. 3) Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. Recorded on September 26, 2018 Page 7! of! 16

8 4) He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. 5) You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, 6) Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. 7) A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. 8) Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked. 9) Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your habitation (NKJV) I m reading from the New King James and you ll see it has a [numeral] 1 next to habitation; in the margin it says dwelling place. In other words you ve made the LORD your dwelling place. You can see the spiritual significance of the connection. It s not just referring to where you live, it s your spiritual condition your relationship with Him. It can also have an opposite meaning. In other words we can make God our dwelling place; we can also make wickedness our dwelling place. It can refer to our spiritual relationship in general. Turn over to Psalm 55:9. We re breaking into the context of a psalm of David and David is basically lamenting dealing with adversaries those who have betrayed him. Psalm 55:9 Destroy, O LORD, and divide their tongues, For I have seen violence and strife in the city. 10) Day and night they go around it on its walls; Iniquity and trouble are also in the midst of it. 11) Destruction is in its midst; Oppression and deceit do not depart from its streets. 12) For it is not an enemy who reproaches me; Then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me; Then I could hide from him. 13) But it was you, a man my equal, My companion and my acquaintance. 14) We took sweet counsel together, And walked to the house of God in the throng. 15) Let death seize them; Let them go down alive into hell, For wickedness is in their dwellings and among them. (NKJV) It can be referred to on both sides of the equation, again, making God your dwelling, making wickedness your dwelling. My point is, dwelling place can refer more to a spiritual concept and not just a physical one. Now let s look at this and start to put some of the picture together. From a spiritual perspective you kind of have this dichotomy: Physical abundance but your dwelling place is an inferior dwelling. The important thing to remember, Israel was in their Promised Land, and they were looking back at their journey into their Promised Land. For us, we re looking forward, and we re looking forward to a wonderful time but it s not our Promised Land. Our Promised Land is the Kingdom of God. What we re looking for Recorded on September 26, 2018 Page 8! of! 16

9 in the Millennium is a wonderful time it s a fundamentally important part of God s plan but is it the Kingdom of God? No, no it s not. It s a step on the way to the plan to get there. As we re going to see, the Kingdom of God is a spiritual concept, the Millennium is a physical concept. What I mean by that is, when you think of the Millennium, you ve got a physical planet with physical human beings enjoying a very wonderful, physical environment but they re still human beings. They re still fallible human beings who are not yet in the Kingdom of God, they re not spiritual, because the Kingdom of God is a spiritual concept. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God so we shouldn t confuse the Millennium with the Kingdom of God. Yes, you can say the Kingdom of God is administering it, in ruling over it, because the family of God will be overseeing this. But are the inhabitants members of the Kingdom of God? no, because flesh and blood does not inherit the Kingdom of God. Let s see that from the Bible. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 15:50. 1 Corinthians 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51) Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed 52) in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53) For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54) So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. (NKJV) We have to become spirit beings because the Kingdom of God is the family of God. It s made up of God beings. That s the gospel of the Kingdom of God, the good news that all of us have the opportunity to eventually one day be born into the Kingdom of God. To become God beings and become part of His family to be spiritual that is ultimately our Promised Land that we are looking forward to. The Millennium is an important step along the way. As we know, even after the Millennium we have the Last Great Day we re not even done with all the holy day plans; there s more in this plan to play out. For us as firstfruits, if we successfully endure to the end, at the blowing of the seventh trumpet, we have the first resurrection and we become God beings yes, we would technically be in our Promised Land. Think about how we ve pictured the Millennium because it s important for us to realize, oftentimes in our history in the Church, we have focused a lot on what we call the good news of the World Tomorrow. That is good news and that s what we re looking forward to here in this week. But it s not the same thing as the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Think about it yes, the Millennium is good news and that s something to look forward to, but what do we think of when we talk about the Recorded on September 26, 2018 Page 9! of! 16

10 World Tomorrow? Is it not a lion and a lamb and a little child together? a physical human being and a couple of physical animals, together on a physical planet enjoying a physical utopia. It s a wonderful picture. Is it the Kingdom of God? No, we ve got flesh and blood here, again, being ruled over by the Kingdom of God, but ultimately they haven t made it into God s Kingdom yet until they re born as spirit beings. It s important for us to understand that issue because that s truly what the Kingdom of God is. Sometimes we can equate those terms as if the good news of the World Tomorrow and the gospel of the Kingdom of God are synonymous they re not. We have to understand that the Kingdom of God is the family of God made up of spirit beings. Notice this again in John 3 Christ makes this same point. John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2) This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him. 3) Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4) Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? 5) Jesus answered, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6) That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7) Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again. 8) The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. (NKJV) He says that which is born of flesh is flesh, it s composed of flesh, that which is born of Spirit is Spirit, it s composed of Spirit. Let me address one other thing here. When I was a student at Ambassador College (this was the late 80s, early 90s, my senior year at A.C.), we had a guest speaker come into my senior Bible class. Doctrines of the Worldwide Church of God was the name of the class. This gentleman was not the main instructor of the class, he was a guest speaker, a popular individual within Worldwide at the time; you could say he was considered the Church s expert on Greek. As he was making his presentation, he was discussing this particular chapter, and his whole argument for this was it really isn t talking about being born into the Kingdom of God as a spirit being, it s just referring to conversion. Several of us as students were asking questions wait a minute, what about verse 8, how do you explain this? His explanation at the time was, that s just referring to the fruits of the Spirit. If someone has the Holy Spirit, you can see the fruits of it in their lives but you don t see the Spirit. The problem I had it with that day is the same problem I have with that argument today. It doesn t say the Spirit is like that, it says the Recorded on September 26, 2018 Page 10! of! 16

11 people are like that. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit [verse 8]. So what comes and goes and you can t see it the people. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. So when He says, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of Spirit is spirit if that which is born of flesh is flesh, it s composed of flesh, that which is born of Spirit is spirit, it s composed of spirit. You have to be a spirit to be born into the Kingdom of God. My point is the Kingdom of God is a spiritual concept, the Millennium is a physical concept, because you have a lion, a lamb and a child you have a wonderful, physical planet, this very utopian environment, and flesh and blood people, and flesh and blood animals together. When we stop and think of this in terms of the original question we started off with, we notice the dichotomy between this physical abundance and your dwelling which is inferior in comparison. This matches the picture when you realize this isn t our Promised Land. This is an important part along the way and it s this wonderful, utopian environment but is it the Kingdom of God? Is it the Kingdom of God? Is it being composed of Spirit and having the mind and nature of God where you can t even be temped to sin? No, because you still have physical, flesh and blood human beings that you're dealing with throughout this. An important thing to realize is that the concept of dwelling, when we look at the whole picture of it, has spiritual implications, not just physical ones. Our Promised Land is the Kingdom of God, and to fully understand how the Bible pictures our Promised Land in the Kingdom of God, one of the things we need to fully understand is the whole theme of dwelling with God throughout the Bible. As we re going to see, God pictures our reward in the Kingdom of God as a city and to make sense of that, one of things we have to understand is there is a theme throughout God s whole plan in working with mankind about dwelling with God. When God started off with Ancient Israel and brought them out of slavery, we tend to focus on that picture (and rightly so) in terms of the people being brought out of slavery, and in the spring holy days we look at the picture of sin with slavery, and being brought out of sin very accurate, very important lessons with that. God also explained it in another purpose in why He was bringing them out of [Egypt to] Israel, and it wasn t just about sin, He said, I m bringing them out of [Egypt to] Israel that I may dwell with them. God literally wanted to live with them. As you re going to see, when we look at the subject of dwelling with God, think of it in terms of two basic concepts. (Realize when we re trying to, in physical terms, describe spiritual concepts, sometimes words don t always totally encapsulate it.) Think in terms of two basic concepts. I m going to call them relationship and proximity because you re going to see that when God wanted to dwell with them, He wanted to have a relationship with them, and He also, in terms of proximity, actually had a designated place where He would dwell in the camp of Israel. So the people could literally see Him God lives with us, He s in that tent over there! It was called the Tabernacle and He actually had a designated place where He would dwell with them, He wanted to Recorded on September 26, 2018 Page 11! of! 16

12 have a relationship with them where He would be their God and they would be His people. He would also actually live with them. Turn over to Exodus 25 and we ll see here in the Tabernacle that God gave them instructions to build a place a sanctuary, as He called it where He would actually live with the people of Israel. Exodus 25:8 And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. 9) According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it. (NKJV) One of the first things that God instructed them, after they made the covenant with Him and they agreed to do all the LORD has said we will do, He gave them instructions to build this Tabernacle and said, that s where I m going to dwell with the people of Israel. That s where you ll come to meet with Him and to worship God or to sacrifice with Him but it s actually a designated area where God dwelt with them, it s called the Most Holy Place. Turn over to Exodus 29; you ll see this mentioned again. Exodus 29:42 This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet you to speak with you. 43) And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory. 44) So I will consecrate the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. I will also consecrate both Aaron and his sons to minister to Me as priests. 45) I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. 46) And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the LORD their God. (NKJV) It wasn t just an issue of bringing them out of slavery; that s an important lesson as well, and I m sure that was probably Israel s focus because as physical human beings what are we typically focused on make my pain go away. If you re having an unpleasant situation and you re in oppression, you re thinking, take me out of this. That s an important part of this; He s taking them out of slavery because as physical human beings, we tend to focus in terms of the pain level. Oftentimes our definition of things, you might say our question the lens through which we look is: does it feel good? We have to realize in God s point of view, oftentimes it is: does it do good? Those two can be in opposition to each other. What feels good to us doesn t always do good. We re attracted to, take my pain away and make it feel good, and God says, trials can be a blessing not because it feels good when you re going through it but because of what it results in it does good. I m sure Israel s focus was on being taken out of slavery and that s a very important part of this but God wasn t just taking them out of that, He says, I m taking you out of it because I want to dwell with you. I want you to be My people, I want to have a personal relationship with you. Think about this you have the Most High Almighty God of the Recorded on September 26, 2018 Page 12! of! 16

13 universe, taking these people and not only does He want to have a relationship with them, He wants to live right there with them. He actually designates a place where they can see the tent and know that s where the God of the universe dwells with us. He personally cares and wants to live with us and have this personal relationship with us. When we follow this through the Bible, you ll see there s a progression, one of the reasons I talked about proximity and relationship, because He wants to have a relationship with them but in terms of proximity; God s in that tent over there. We re going to see as this progresses His plan these all get closer. Ultimately in our Promised Land, it s dwelling with God, being at one with Him in relationship and in proximity. We re going to see on the Sabbath, we re actually able to see His face what no human being can do and live to tell the story. As Moses said, I d like to really see you, and what answer did he get? Moses, no human being can do that and live to tell the story. If you see Me, you re going to die and I can t allow you to do that. That s basically what our ultimate reward is, dwelling with God very personally in proximity and relationship. In Ancient Israel, God was dwelling directly with them but He s separated from them. God is in the Most Holy Place and the Most Holy Place is what is separated by a veil. Not only is it separated by a veil from the average person, there s a physical priesthood that they have to work through to be able to worship God and interact with Him. You have God there and are having a relationship with Him but it s separated. If you look at how it progresses in the New Covenant, this becomes closer in terms of relationship and proximity because now God doesn t dwell in that tent over there or even in a temple later, He dwells in us and we are the temple. Again, this relationship becomes closer and more personal. Turn over now to 2 Corinthians 6:16. 2 Corinthians 6:16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people. (NKJV) It s not God dwelling in a building or a tent but dwelling in us. His Spirit enables us to spiritually understand more of His plan and to take on His mind and character. It s a more personal relationship. Now there is not a veil separating us away from Him it s a closer, more personal relationship. It s the Father and the Son who will actually dwell within us. Turn over to John 14:23. John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24) He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me. (NKJV) Notice this whole concept of dwelling with God from your Old Covenant relationship to your New Covenant relationship now it s closer, not only in relationship but you might Recorded on September 26, 2018 Page 13! of! 16

14 say in proximity. I realize the physical words don t completely address spiritual concepts but you have God dwelling in an individual. The reason I m building this foundation is you can see when we look at what our Promised Land is the Promised Land that we re ultimately looking forward to this week is an important part of the plan but it s a step on the way to getting everyone to the Promised Land because the Promised Land is the Kingdom of God. If you look at how that is described in the Bible how the reward of salvation is talked about you ll see numerous times it s spoken of in terms of a city. If you understand the concept of dwelling with God you can get the connection as to why it would be framed in this language. Let s notice a couple examples of this. Turn to Hebrews 11:8. Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9) By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10) for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (NKJV) He s waiting for his reward and it s spoken of in terms of a city. 11) By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. 12) Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. 13) These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (NKJV) Let s keep reading and notice how they picture the promises. 14) For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. 15) And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16) But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. (NKJV) Once again, we re seeing our reward referred to as a city. That s an interesting way to describe, isn t it? Turn over to Revelation 3; you ll see another scripture that mentions this. Revelation 3:12. Revelation 3:12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the Recorded on September 26, 2018 Page 14! of! 16

15 name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. 13) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (NKJV) Christ is telling those in Philadelphia, you successfully endure to the end, you make it into the Kingdom, what am I going to do write the name of My God on you and the name of His city on you. I m stamping the name of a city on the individuals. But notice one thing He also says leading up to this. He says, I m going to make you a pillar in the temple of My God. Obviously He s speaking figuratively here because it wouldn t make any sense I m going to turn you into a concrete pillar and you re going to hold up a building for all eternity obviously that s not what He means. Obviously this is figurative language He s using. Notice we keep seeing the reward of salvation the Kingdom of God referred to as a city. Why would you characterize it as a city? What sense does that make? Think about the definition of a city. What in broad terms could you define a city as a sizable number of people living together in close proximity with each other. Let me give an example to paint a picture of this. A lot of you have probably heard, and I think Rick mentioned this as I was coming up here, I m originally from the Dallas, Texas area. If you re familiar with the Dallas area, you have the big city of Dallas and then west of there you have a larger city called Fort Worth, but then you ve got all these suburbs that are built around them, so as a result you ve got this big metropolitan area. The only change, if you go from one to the other, is you see a sign on the freeway that you ve gone from one metropolitan area to the next because they all expand and connect together. As a result of that, they re often referred to as the DFW area the Dallas/Fort Worth area because oftentimes people look at it as one big metropolitan area. If you look at this as just measurements (to get a concept of how big the area is) and you measure from the southern end of the Dallas metroplex to the northern end of the Dallas area, it s about fifty-five miles north and south. I m going to make this a square and I m over-simplifying it because the Dallas area is bigger than the Fort Worth area but if you also do the same thing east and west, and go from the farthest eastern suburb of Dallas to the farthest western suburb of Dallas it s also about fifty-five miles across. Think of this square block of fifty-five miles in both directions: There are approximately seven million people who live in that box. You have a very large number of people living in close proximity with each other. What would happen if we took those same seven million people and we spread them out over an area the size of the state of Texas? You could have all of these people living pretty much in their own environment, all separated away from each other nobody would call that a city, would they? A city is a large number of people living together in close proximity with one another. If you understand that concept, now you can get the idea why is He referring to our reward as, well, they re waiting on a city, because, from the very beginning, what s His Recorded on September 26, 2018 Page 15! of! 16

16 plan? I want to bring them out of Egypt because I want to dwell with My people. I will be their God, they will be My people, we will have a relationship together, we will dwell together. What God ultimately wants to do is dwell with all of His family. All of those who make it into the Kingdom of God, who are willing to obey Him and put Him first and endure to the end, He wants to have a relationship with them He wants to live together. We ultimately might say we get to live in God s neighborhood and have personal relationships with each other. Not only being one, in relationship and mind, but as we re going to see on the Sabbath, you can see the face of God the Father; in other words, we re right up close. It s not just a matter of relationship, it s proximity, you might say, in terms of the type of relationship we have with each other. That is our Promised Land it s the Kingdom of God. If we look forward to what this festival pictures, yes, it s an important, wonderful part of the plan of God. It is the good news of the world tomorrow. Is it the Kingdom of God, our Promised Land? No, it s a step on the way. It s an important step on the way. Our Promised Land is to be a part of God s family, to be a God being, to be spiritual and impervious to sin. In God s mind, He can t even be tempted to sin. That s how it works in the utopia that we have for all eternity. If we started back, looking at how we started this sermon looking at the concept of dwelling in tabernacles if we look at this spiritually, we have a picture of the Millennium (again, great physical abundance) but compared to our Promised Land, spiritually inferior. You still have physical human beings having to overcome their physical sins and all the physical issues with it. That s not our Promised Land our Promised Land is the Kingdom of God and we re going to see on the Sabbath it s pictured as a city, because the ultimate picture is God wants to dwell with His people. Our future in the Kingdom of God is dwelling together with God the Father and Jesus Christ for all eternity, at one in relationship and proximity. With that being said, I m just establishing the foundation of what we re going to pick up on the Sabbath. I will stop at this point and on the Sabbath we will pick up with the Tabernacle of God is with men. Recorded on September 26, 2018 Page 16! of! 16