The Feast Of Tabernacles Series

B. So tabernacles brings us to one last great prophetic event involving Israel = God the Son comes to the earth and establish His kingdom in the land of promise.

1. Look up Revelation 7:9-17

2. Nb. That 15th verse, “he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.”

a. You see that word “dwell” – guess what it means.

b. It’s the same Gk word we read in John 1:14 – “skenoo” = to tent or encamp.

C. Turn with me now to Zechariah 14:16.

1. The prophet Zechariah envisioned a day when “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.” (Zech 14:16).

2. The meaning of this mysterious observance of the Feast of Tabernacles by the nations of the world can be understood in the light of Israel’s calling and mission.

3. You see God’s plan for the purpose of Israel reaches back to His covenant with Abraham.

4. In that covenant, God promised: “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen 12:3).

a. God’s choice of Israel was for service.

b. Israel’s mission was to bring the knowledge of the true God and of His plan of salvation to all the nations of the world.

c. See Deut 28:10; Exodus 19:6; Isaiah 56:7

5. The prophet Zechariah envisions the fulfillment of God’s plan when the faithful among the nations (the unbelievers) will come to Jerusalem “from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles” (Zech 14:16).

6. Why did the prophet mention specifically the Feasts of Tabernacles and not one of the other major feasts, as the sign of obedience of the Unbelievers (Gentiles – nations)?

7. Because the Feast of tabernacles, being the Feast of Ingathering, fittingly represents the ingathering of the redeemed from ALL the nations of the earth.

D. The millennium will give us a little taste of "heaven on earth" but it won’t be heaven...

1. It will be a time of great peace – at last the aspiration of the nations to turn their swords into plowshares will be realised

2. Great prosperity...there will be no want upon the earth

3. Very little suffering...most people will be in their glorified bodies

4. Very little sin/temptation . . .the earth is largely indwelt by the redeemed

5. Great joy upon the earth, yet

6. At the very end of the millennium Satan is loosed and there is one final rebellion against God by man.

7. You see, contrary to the notion that mans’ problems have been created by his social environment, God allows Satan to have one last throw of the dice, to reveal that all of man’s problems are caused by sin.

Conclusion: So there we have it God’s great panorama of time. His calendar for the nation of Israel. Leviticus 23 takes us from the cross to the crown. From Christ’s grief to His glory, and yet there is one final day, a solemn day tagged on to the tail end of the Feast of Tabernacles – a day when the rejoicing momentarily stops, the eighth day.