Sukkot: The Season of our Joy

Most Christians know Christmas is celebrated on the wrong date.  Many know of the pagan traditions associated with Christmas.  A few, very few, know what the bible has to say about the birth of Christ & the

festival Christians have forgotten.

For an in depth study of the math involved you will need to do your own study.  Math & I are not friends & I am not even going to attempt to do the math.  There are many places that will give you step by step instructions on this.  What I am going to do is give the broad outline, some of the inherent symbolism & the application for us as Christians today.

We actually have a really, really good idea of when Christ was born thanks to Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth.  Elizabeth was married to Zechariah & Zechariah, as we know from the first chapter of the gospel of Luke was a priest of the division of Abijah & Elizabeth was a daughter of Aaron.  Thus both belonged to the Levite line.  

Because Zechariah’s division is mentioned we can date accurately when he was called to serve in the temple, which  would have been twice a year for one week.  Luke also tells us that he drew the lot to go in & burn incense before the Lord, offering up the prayers of the people.  At this point an angel appears, prophesises that in their old age their prayer for a son would be answered & that he would come in the spirit & the power of Elijah.  Zechariah is struck dumb, goes home to his wife & she falls pregnant.  This places John’s birth around Passover, which would be what Christians later termed Easter.

As we read on in Luke we are told that in Elizabeth’s 6^th month her cousin Mary visits her.  Mary has some rather startling news to share because she has just found herself in a very unique position & is also pregnant.

We know that according to Luke Mary fell pregnant in Elizabeth’s 6^th month.  Count forward 40 weeks & you are in September when the festival of Sukkot is celebrated ~ though like many of the Jewish festivals it is sort of moveable because the Jew’s calendar works on a combined solar/lunar cycle.

That is the foundation.  Scholars can work it all out & practically pinpoint the very day.  That is not my purpose here.  While I know God values accuracy He does something both charming & kind for the mathematically challenged amongst us.  He gives us symbols.  He gives us shadows & types.  He lays down a pattern so that we recognise the real thing when it arrives.

Now it is not my purpose to tell you whether or not you should celebrate Christmas.  Rather I want to reveal the Father’s heart &  add to your joy in the birth of a saviour.

Sukkot falls some time in either September or October.  This year it fell in September.  It is a week long festival & lasted from the 1^st to the 7^th of October.  In the northern hemisphere this makes it a fall festival & the 3^rd of 3 mandatory annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem.  The first is Passover which celebrates Israel’s delivery from Slavery.  The second is Shavout , which celebrates the giving of the Law.  The third is Sukkot, which remembers how Israel wandered for 40 years before being allowed to enter the Promised Land.

Why should Christians bother themselves with this stuff?  It is O.T.  It was for the Jews.  Because this is the shadow of what was to come, indeed came in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ!

Firstly this is the festival that celebrates God Tabernacling with His people.  As He did as a cloud by day & a pillar of fire by night, when the Shekinah glory filled the temple, when Christ became man & dwelt among us & most wonderfully when the Holy Spirit was sent to dwell within us.

This is a 7 day festival that lasts for 8 days.  Why?  Because it is the only Jewish festival that is not Jew~specific.  That is, it was a celebration that was extended to & included the gentile nations, invoking blessing & inclusion to them also.  Sacrifices were offered for the nations of the world.  Traditionally the 8^th day is the day God asked his own people to tarry a little longer to enjoy a special time alone, just He & them together.

Sukkot was a time of extending hospitality, especially to the poor.  Each night a chair was set for the specially invited guest for that evening who would be one of the Great Shepherds of Israel: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron ~ or when Christians celebrate this festival, John the Baptiste but most especially Christ Himself!

Sukkot is commonly known by 2 other names:  Holiday of the Ingathering & The Season of Our Joy.  Both have deep symbolism for the believing Christian.  It is said that you have never known rejoicing until you have celebrated Sukkot in Jerusalem!

For the week of this festival it is customary to build temporary shelters & to live in them ~ though modern Jews usually only eat meals in them.  As the weather in Israel is usually mild at this time of year it is perfect for camping out!

Now come forward to the birth of Jesus.  We have established that He was He was probably born in September but what clues do we have that it was at Sukkot?  Firstly we know that Jospeh & Mary went down to Bethlehem for the census.  Bethlehem was considered an outer suburb of Jerusalem.  As traveling was expensive & took people away from their work it would make sense to combine the 2 things.  Joseph would have been close enough to Jerusalem to attend the religious services each day.  After the birth of Jesus Mary was unclean until she offered her sacrifices on the 8^th day.

One of the joys of doing word research is what turns up.  What turned up was the Greek word Phatne, which is usually translated as manger & indicates a crib for fodder for animals.  The Hebrew is, yep, sukkot ~ a temporary shelter for animals made of green boughs & the traditional housing for the Jewish festival.  Many sukkot were attached to the outer wall of the temple.

The last point I want to raise is another obscure tradition that has been lost ~ because it tells us something terribly important about who Jesus is & what He came to do.

In the 2^nd chapter of Luke he informs us that not only will Jesus be lying in a sukkot, he will be wrapped in swaddling clothes.  I have always found this comment a little strange because surely all babies are wrapped in swaddling bands of some sort?  That Luke mentions it means there is something for us to note.  It is found in a Jewish priestly practise.  When the priestly garments had become worn out in service at the temple & could no longer be worn they were torn into strips & used by Levite families to swaddle their babies to indicate they were priests dedicated to the Lord from birth…

We too have our sukkot ~ this flimsy temporary dwelling we call our body & which now is a dwelling place for God’s Holy Spirit.  God physically dwells with us.   

God gives us such richness to feed our spirits.  When we place things in their correct biblical frame we have the most wonderful promises:  As I dwelt with Israel in the wilderness, so now I dwell with you;  See, I have given you one who has fulfilled all the law & redeemed you from the bondage of sin; I remembered you, though you were not my chosen people & you did not know me ~ but now you do; I have sent my son; from His birth he was a priest dedicated unto the Lord & now, you are my people, my chosen ones.  Come apart & tarry with me, just the two of us together.  Truly this is the season of our joy.

Things that happened in the garden.

When God says His word is a living word He means just that.  It is full of surprises.  And we grow blase because having read the scriptures over & over we think we know what they say.  We think we know what they mean ~ when in fact we know very little at all.

So I was thinking about John 20:17 ~ which is an odd little verse in the midst of an odd little scenario.  Jesus has been crucified & hurriedly tucked into a borrowed tomb because of the Sabbath.  At the first opportunity Mary heads to the tomb.  She has in mind to prepare Jesus body properly for burial but is worried about moving the stone that shuts the tomb.  She is probably carrying the necessary spices, something to hold water so she can wash the body, cloths & linens.  It is very early.

Now here's where I promptly stumble.  The Sabbath lasts from sundown to sundown, about 6pm to 6pm the next evening.  Don't ask me to do the math but because it was Passover there was an extended Sabbath because Jesus didn't just overnight in a tomb.  He was there a full 3 days, from sundown to sundown.  The messy logistics of this are not my point just now & better mathematicians than I have tackled them far more effectively.  What has always arrested my attention are 2 things:  Firstly Mary completely failed to recognise a man she had lived & traveled with & looked at for the better part of 3 years!  She mistakes him for the gardener.  Secondly Jesus says, in effect, Get off me, woman!

What is fascinating about all this is how the scriptures always tell it like it is.

The first thing to note is Mary's expectations.  She is looking for a dead body, not a living man.  This expectation alone, let alone combined with the discovery of the stone rolled away & Jesus' body missing, has defined her reality.  When she finds a living man her immediate reaction is that it cannot possibly be Jesus because she *knows* that Jesus is dead.  She stood at the cross.  She saw the blood & water pour from Jesus side.  She recognised the signs of death.  She saw the body taken down.  She understood what it meant.  Jesus was dead.  No doubt about it in her mind ~ & dead men do not raise themselves.  She has no expectation of meeting Jesus.

Secondly she is distraught with grief.  Grief almost always distorts our reality.  She is grieving.  She doesn't even look at the *gardener* properly.  She is weeping [Jesus comments on it] & most people are not in the habit of looking others directly in the eye when they are weeping.  They avert their gaze, often their whole face.  They turn their body away.  They carve out a private place in public so others cannot intrude on their grief & need not be embarrassed by it.

Thirdly, & we know the story so well it is easy to miss it, it is really early in the morning.  If you are standing under trees at first light, just as the dawn forms the first bright streak across the horizon, before the first birds have begun to sing, you are standing in a murky gloom where nothing is clearly defined.  Seeing a strange man's features clearly would have been difficult.  What we do know is that Mary recognised his voice when he spoke to her.

Visually Mary last saw her beloved Jesus beaten almost unrecognizable, his body twisted in pain upon a cross, naked & bloody.   Alive he was in the habit of wearing the usual male Jewish robe with the Tzitzit clearly visible [this is what the woman with the issue of blood touched] either on the robe or his  prayer shawl,  sandles on his feet.  Jewish men of this day & age did not wear a prayer cap.  

But Mary mistook him for the gardener.  Which immediately raises the question, at least in my mind, What did the gardeners wear?

Apparently something like what the High Priest wore at Yom Kippur [the Day of Atonement]: a linen tunic,  linen trousers, a linen belt & some sort of head covering & barefooted.  Now this is absolutely fascinating because what did the High Priest do on Yom Kippur?  He entered the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the sins of the people!

We need to stay in the garden for a bit & look at what transpires between Mary & Jesus.  Jesus asks why she is weeping ~ why not?  Boy, has he got a surprise for her!  Mary recognizes him & I imagine throws herself at him ~ as you do.  Yes?  In any event Jesus tells her to stop clinging to him.  This seems a little unfeeling on Jesus' part in the light of recent events & the shock Mary has just received on finding a dead man alive & well & chatting with her in the garden.  Issuing her instructions even.  However he also gives her an explanation ~ of sorts.  He tells her he has not yet ascended to his father.

Do you not find this just a little weird?  Not so long after he's letting Thomas poke his grubby fingers in the holes left by the nails.  And it is even later before he ascends on the clouds in full view of the disciples but Mary gets short shift.

Yet here's the thing ~ & it is wonderful & amazing & mind~boggling.  Sin did not originate on earth! Nope.  It did not.  According to Isaiah it began in heaven when Lucifer said: Is15:15 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.Yet you shall be brought down to sheol, to the sides of the pit.

Revelation 12:7 tells us that as a consequence there was war in heaven & a third of the angels fell...

The clues are all there for us.  When Satan sinned he defiled heaven.  In his hate & arrogance Satan set about corrupting what was God's, including what God had made in His own image: mankind.  There was no plan of redemption for Satan & his fallen angels, but there was one for mankind ~ & Jesus knew it.  He was preparing to ascend to His father, as He plainly tells Mary, dressed in His High Priestly linen to perform His first duty as our High Priest, enter the Holy Of Holies & sprinkle His blood on the mercy seat.  For us.

When He returned He set about preparing his people to walk in obedience & faith because He had prepared the way for the Holy Spirit to be available to all who believed on Him. 

 I believe the bible is very literal.  Jesus is not metaphorically our High Priest.  He is our High Priest.  The duties of a High Priest fall to Him.  And He had a duty to fulfill in heaven as our High Priest, the very first thing needed:  He atoned for our sins in the heavenly temple.  With His own blood.  Shed for us.

There is power in that blood.  Power to save.  Power to redeem.  Power to resurrect.  Power to give life.

Deuteronomy 30:19 says it best:

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

Jesus said: I am the way, the truth & the life...so choose life & live.

Why the Word?

When I began this study I hadn't realised how highly God holds his own word.  As I researched & more & more scriptures turned up I realised I hardly had to say a word because it was all there in the word. Edited because as you go along God gives you new insights on things & He was keen to point out something rather obvious that I left out.  The most important reason the word is so important & so highly regarded, so to be honoured & valued, is because it became the Living Word in God's son, Jesus Christ.  We dishonour the son when we don't value the Father's word as we should.

God wants his people to know His word that they might stand firm against all opposition & proclaim it boldly to those who are yet in darkness.

This is the general outline I used but bear in mind I have highlighted pertinent  verses because this was for a particular people whom the Lord is preparing to proclaim His word evangelically so that He might reap a harvest unto Himself.

Opening Prayer:  Acts 4: 23~31

When they were released they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, "Sovereign Lord, who didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who by the mouth of our father David, thy servant, didst say by the Holy Spirit, 'Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine vain things? The kings of the earth set themselves in array, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed'-for truly in this city there were gathered together against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever thy hand and thy plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats, and grant to thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness, while thou stretchest out thy hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of thy holy servant Jesus." And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.

Faith begins where the will of God is known.  Knowledge of the character of the one in whom we believe, what he has done & who he is, is revealed in scripture

Admonition: Colossians 3:16

 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord

Why: Eph 4:11~16 And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ: till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; but speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into him, which is the head, even Christ; from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love.

What: Eph 5:26 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word,

[WHY] that he might present the church to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

How: Romans 10:17 

Faith comes by hearing, & hearing by the word of God.

Because: ^Psalm119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Our Weapon: Hebrews 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Against Satan

Our example Christ

Matthew 4 Starting verse 1

Three times Jesus reiterates It is Written & quotes the relevant scripture

Hinderances:

Unforgiveness Mark 11:22~26

Not walking in love Galatians 5:6

Breaking natural lawsPhilipians 2:26~30

Marital problems 1 Peter3:7

Unbelief Mark 6:5

Not maintain the right mental attitude Ephesians 4:22~24

Teaching: James 5

¹³ Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

¹⁷ Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. ¹⁸ Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

¹⁹ My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, ²⁰ remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Galatians 6:10 refers to us as the Household of Faith

Romans 1:17

... For in it is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith:
as it is written, The just shall live by faith. ... 

Repeated in Hebrews Galatians, Habakkuk, Zachariah Ezekiel

So then, as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith.

Prayer of faith  [hebrew 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Considerations:

Don’t ask amiss

changes things, not people

BUT

Can have the things God desires for us to have. 

Can pray that God’s best will be done in someone’s life.

Can pray that God’s will be done.

A righteous person is someone who has submitted to God’s will, thus positioned themselves in a condition of being right with God.  Knowing the word of God, activates our faith because faith comes by hearing & hearing by the word of God

3 Elements of effective prayer: according to James 5

The word of God

The Name of Jesus

The Holy Spirit

[Romans 8:26] And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered;

The word is to be applied, for we are to be not just hearers of the word but doers also.  The word is a tool to help us walk out our Christian faith but it is only any good to us if we actually know it & apply it!

How then do we stand?

Wherefore take up the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. Eph 6:13

Sometimes people say the most astounding things; things that are like a flash of lightening across your life, a blinding illumination.  It gets you thinking, doesn't it?

So a recent speaker, talking about preaching the gospel, said: you can't take a poor weak gospel to a people who can levitate for 20 miles across the desert.  Let's face it, these are a people who know something about spirituality!  And how true this is!  Not just for our indigeneous population but for anybody.  You cannot take a poor weak gospel & expect people, who are made to be innately spiritual, to be impressed ~ because they aren't.  They never have been.

Sadly the one thing the church has managed to do down the centuries is defuse the gospel of it's power.

Now I need to be very clear.  The Word is the word of God & it never returns to Him void. It is vital & living & sharper than a two edged sword.  It has it's own life & purpose but it was never meant to work on it's own.  It was meant to be seed in a believer who outworked it's power through their life, witnessing to its Truth.  The Spirit & the Word work together to achieve God's purposes.

Back in the Good Old Days God was chary about whom He shared His Holy Spirit with.  If you were a King you would be anointed with His spirit for the office of Kingship.  If you were a priest you would be anointed with His spirit for the office of priesthood.  If you were a prophet you would be anointed with His spirit for the office of Prophet ~ but...for the most part the Spirit came & went.  He did not stay.  He did not indwell & He could remove Himself from people, thus removing the anointing , as King Saul discovered [1Samuel 24:6], & which is why we find David begging the Lord to remove not His Holy Spirit from him[Psalm 51:11], & Elisha bartering for a double portion [2Kings2:9].  The ordinary person knew almost nothing of God's Spirit because that Spirit was not for Him.  He had the Torah, the Law & the Prophets.  He did not have access to God's Holy Spirit for Himself.  If he wanted to know God's will he had to go & enquire of a priest.

That all changed at Pentecost. Jesus was the first man to fully live & walk in the Spirit, showing us how it was to be done.  He promised that His departure was for our good but that we would not be left as orphans but He would send us a Helper. That Helper arrived at Pentecost.

So far so good.   The Church grasped hold of the fact, & taught, that the Holy Spirit indwelt in us; that the Holy Spirit sealed us unto the Day of Redemption; that the Holy Spirit testified as to the Truth of God's Word.  All this is true.  But somewhere along the way we lost sight of who the Holy Spirit is.  The Holy Spirit is God.  He is the 3rd person of the Trinity.  He is part of Elohim.  He has personality.  He has power. And He wasn't given to us for us!

He is our Helper: to help us live the God~life.  To help us witness.  To help us understand.  To lead us into all Truth. To help us pray as we ought.

Oh, but you say, He is the Comforter!  Indeed He is ~ but His comfort is of a robust sort, the sort that comes alongside to help us shoulder a burden, the sort that points us constantly to Jesus, the author & finisher of our faith, [Hebrews12:2] the sort that enables us to pick up our cross & lay down our life! This does not mean we will never experience Him comforting our grief but the comfort will be given because we are not without hope & we need to be strengthened for the work that has been given to us to do.

We need to get hold of, grasp like a nettle, understand with our heart as well as our mind, that the Spirit who dwells in us is the Spirit of God!  We have the Living God indwelling within us!  If that is true, & scripture says it is, then certain other facts follow automatically.  If God Lives in me, then His life lives in me.  His power lives in me.  His strength lives in me ~ for He has not given us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline [2Timothy1:7]  And the word for power is dunamis ~ from which we get our word dynamite!  The explosive potential is there but we have to activate it!

I am not interested in bandying doctrine around.  That is neither my purpose nor my intention.  However I will say two things to you in the strongest possible terms.  If you cannot access the power of the Holy Spirit how on earth do you expect to stand, when you have done all you know to do in the evil day?!  And if you do not know the power of God's spirit have you gone to Him, with a humble & contrite heart, a heart that is willing to stand corrected, a heart that is willing to hear & submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit & asked of Him yourself?  Have you studied the scriptures?  Power is always given for a reason.  If for no other reason it is so we can match, then overcome, anything that is thrown at us by the evil one.  Does it impress the unbeliever?  You betcha bottom dollar!

This is the generation...

Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me; John 5:39

I said something recently about the Lord’s return & the person I was speaking to snorted dismissively.  Yeah, sure thing.  Two thousand years & He’s not returned yet.

Sadly that is also the attitude of many believers.   We have waited a long time & still the Lord has not returned. 

There has been a shift.  Our world has been changing.  In some ways it has changed beyond recognition in just a generation.  Many of us have been sensing that change.  Some of us, doing as the Lord instructed us & watching the signs, dared to hope that we were watching the birth pains beginning & that very soon our Lord & Saviour would return.

And then…

Then…

The Lord began speaking to me.  He showed me the horsemen loosed & riding over the world.  He showed me cities burning, rioting & the utter depravity of man.  And in case I had missed His point he directed my attention to Matt.24:42, Matt.25:10 & 25:19,  ~ Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come….But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived.  The virgins who were ready went in with Him to the wedding feast & the door was shut….After a long time the master of those servants returned & settled accounts with them….

Now there is no reason on earth why you should believe me just because I tell you these things.  No reason at all.  That is between you & the Lord.  Seek your prayer closet & ask of the Lord yourselves whether these things be true or not.  However there is one point to which I would like to direct your attention because it is completely relevant to this generation & this is not only the first generation but the only generation for which this is relevant.

That point is Israel.

For 2 000 years there was no Israel.  In Matthew 24, where our Lord refers so often to the End Things, He gives the discourse on the Fig Tree.  The Fig Tree is symbolical Israel, an Israel that had not borne fruit for the Lord, which is, & was, its whole reason for existence.  It was to be a Light unto the Nations but because it had not borne fruit it was to be cut down & removed from the land.

That happened in 70 AD when Rome devastated Israel, razed the temple to the ground & scattered the people to the nations just as Jesus had foretold!

But wait!  There is more!

Jesus also foretold that Israel would rise again.  Oh, my brothers & sisters in Christ!   We have seen this happen!  It began in 1948  when returning exiles to the land of Israel declared their independence triggering  the surrounding nations to declare a war of extermination & 1967 when Jerusalem was taken by the Jews during the 6 Day War.

This one simple fact has fulfilled at least 10 O.T prophecies:

Amos9:14~15 Jacob’s descendants would regain control of  Israel

Ezekiel 37: 10~10 Israel would be brought back to life

Isaiah 66:7~8 Israel will be reborn in one day

Ezekiel37:21 ~ 22  Israel would be re-established as a nation

Jeremiah 16:14~15 The 2^nd Israel would be more impressive than the first

Ezekiel 4:3~6 Ezekiel pinpointed the time of Israel’s rebirth

Ezekiel 34:13 The people would return to their own land

Jeremiah 31:10 God would watch over His people & regather them

Leviticus23:3, 7 ~ 8 Israel’s army would be disproportionally strong

Deuteronomy 30: 3~5 The fortunes of the people of Israel would be restored.

You can read more on these here.

The restoration of Israel is the key sign that we are indeed in the last days at the end of the Age.  Remember Jesus discuses the fig tree after he has spoken about the tribulation &  His return.  He returns to the beginning & reminds us that these are the signs to watch for that indicate various stages of the end times.  Then He says: Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished.

Which generation?  The one that has seen the restoration of the Land of Israel! That is us.

I do not care, & I do not think the Lord cares, which denomination any of us affiliate with.  We have been told that those of us who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit & in Truth.  There is only one condition: We are to love Him with all that is in us, all that we are, everything!  And that is only possible if we are sealed unto to the Day of Redemption by His Holy Spirit & live & walk in the Truth of the Spirit.

Dearly Beloved, are you His?  Does His spirit testify with your Spirit assuring you of your salvation & your place as sons & daughters of the king, co~heirs with Christ Himself?  Do you know, personally, experentially that Jesus Christ is alive & that He is indeed your Lord & Saviour?  Are you hearing from heaven?

Behold, even now He stands at the very gates.  He is almost here.  Are you ready?  Is there oil in your lamp?

Oh, my Lord & my king!  Come quickly!

What Abraham saw.

The Fire & the wood are here, but where is the the lamb for the burnt offering. Genesis22:7

When Sarai was 90 years old she conceived & bore a son, Isaac.  The child of promise.  The one the Angel of the Lord foretold.  Their only begotton child.  The one they had so given up hope of having that Sarai laughed when she was told about it.

Can you imagine how loved this child was?  Doted on.  Indulged.  Rejoiced over. 

So what was Abraham thinking when he took off into the wilderness with Isaac for the sole purpose of sacrificing his son to God?!

What was God thinking?  We know from other passages God abhors child sacrifice, yet here He is asking Abraham to to do just that.


The answer begins before Isaac's birth when the two of them are having a chat under the night stars.

"Look," says God.  "As many as the stars in the sky, so will your offspring be."

That's a goodly amount by anyone's estimation.  There was only one fly in this little jar of ointment ~ Abraham was childless.  Abraham was childless but still he believed the Lord & it was counted unto him as righteousness.    He believed the Lord for the hard thing.  After all Sarai was past the age of child~bearing but when it came to accepting that God would give the land he & his descendants were to inherit into his possession Abraham balks. 

"How can I know,"  Abraham asks, "that I will gain possession of it?"

And  God says the strangest thing.  "Bring me a heifer..."  & a goat & a ram & a dove & a pigeon.  What is going on here?

Now nearly every culture has a fundamental understanding that the life of a sentient being is in the blood.  Scripture has strong taboos against the unwarranted spilling of blood so that even the very earth cries out in protest, as it did for Abel.  The strongest ties are not those of family, tribe, nation but those forged in blood.  It is called cutting covenant.  In Africa those entering into covenant make cuts on their arms & mingle their blood.  Other cultures drink the blood.  However it is done it indicated that there is a mingling of two life streams into a single unit.  To fight one covenant brother is to fight the other as well.  Once entered into the terms of the covenant are absolutely binding.  They can neither be altered nor changed, added to nor detracted from.

In the middle east an unblemished animal was cut in half & the covenant parties passed *between the blood*.  Now the thing to note is that it is not Abraham *cutting covenant*, it is God.  When darkness falls a smoking fire pot with a blazing torch passed between the pieces.

What has this to do with the sacrifice of Isaac?  Everything!

When God tells Abraham to head off into Moriah & sacrifice his son,  Abraham doesn't even quibble.  He saddles his donkey.  He has the wood for the fire.  He has the fire. He has his knife.   And Isaac knew what was up because he suggests good old dad has forgotten the lamb for the sacrifice.

Abraham gets as far as laying his hand on the knife preparatory to slaying his son before God intervenes & provides the ram.  We do know the story.  Sighs of relief all round, no doubt.  But the question remains:  Why?  Why did Abraham agree to this?  After all, he's only got the one son; one son to inherit.  One son to provide descendants as numerous as the stars.  One son from whom God has promised to forge a great nation.

The answer lies in the covenant God cut.  Remember the terms of that covenant are so legally binding that they can neither be altered nor changed once the covenant has been entered into.  Abraham knows that God is obligated to raise his son from the dead in order to fulfill His promises because of the terms of the covenant!  Abraham walked in the uttermost assurance that God was irrevocably bound by the terms of the covenant He had cut.

In a deeper sense this provided a gateway for Jesus.  Could God do less than Abraham?  If Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his only son, then so too must God.  For Abraham God provided a ram, but there was no sin sacrifice, no blood than could be shed for sin except the perfect blood of Christ.

So when we speak of *The New Covenant* that God has entered into with us through Jesus Christ we need to understand the terms & conditions of that contract are irrevocable, unchangeable, unbreakable.  If we accept that Christ died for us then the terms of that covenant are ours.  We are buried in Christ.  We are made new.  Our iniquities will be remembered no more.  The life of Christ is ours. 

Abraham saw this very clearly.  He understood covenant.  He understood that the covenant promises of God are unalterable.  Because of that he could act in confident faith.  So too can we.

The Temple of the Lord ~ Haggai

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto good works." 2 Timothy 3:16~17

One of the things that I think is difficult for us, as Christians, as a people who are living in a post Messianic world, is dealing with the Old Testament scriptures.  There are two errors we are prone to.  Firstly we read them as history that doesn't pertain to us ~ & there is a place for understanding the history & context of the Old Testament scriptures.  The second is to think, "Oh well, They were under the law; we are in the age of grace now".  The problem with such thinking is that when Paul gave his injunction to Timothy about the scriptures the scriptures he was refering to were the Old Testament.  There was no New Testament!

So the trick is to read the Old Testament with a New Testament mind.  God in His goodness & grace uses symbols & types that remain absolutely consistent throughout scripture for God does not change.  We can particularly struggle when it comes to the prophets, those wonderful men of God who so consistenly upset the people of Israel they couldn't get rid of them fast enough: Isaiah they sawed in half; Jeremiah they put in the bottom of a well; Zechariah, killed by  Jerhoash near the temple altar; Amos, tortured & matyred; John beheaded; Christ, crucified...  Make no mistake.  They were pretty plain about it because the Prophet's job was always to redirect the people of God in the direction God would have them go, to direct their thoughts & hearts to the Holy one of Israel.  They proclaimed it loudly.  They proclaimed it consistently until as it says in Isaiah, the people rose up & demanded,

"See no more visions... Give us no more visions of what is right...stop confronting us with the Holy one of Israel." [30:10]

Haggai was no different.

Now Haggai was the first prophet to speak to the exiled people on their return to the land & he was called to a very specific role ~ the rebuilding of the temple after the 70 years exile.  I will discuss this briefly because the inherent symbolism is pertinent throughout this short book ~ only 2 chapters, 38 verses.

The name Haggai refers to a festival ~ & his ministry begins & ends at times of Jewish festivities.  He was among the returning Babylonian  exiles who were given permission by the Babylonian ruler to rebuild the temple , the 10th of the 12 minor prophets [the last men to speak before God prophesied through His son] & he was a contemporary of both Malachi & Zechariah.

The Jews got as far as the foundations when the ongoing squabble with the Samaratians halted progress for 16 years.   You'd think they'd get over it in 16 years but in fact the people were gripped by an enormous ennui & there the Temple sat with the foundations overgrown with weeds & nothing at all happening.  You'd think they'd get over it after 70 years in Babylon with neither their own land nor their own temple but instead they were consumed with their own interests.  It is at this point Haggai enters & declares, " Consider your ways."

We will pause here for a moment because if you want an exergisis on Haggai this is not the place.  There is an excellent one here.  Nor is this an historical study with New Testament application.  Sorry, no.  Rather we shall be looking at the symbolism because the symbolism is pertinent to all ages & all God's people no matter their country, their era, their race.  This is the universal language of the bible.  I am not saying the other is unimportant but I am saying that it is secondary to this study.

It does not require rocket science to work out the main symbol in Haggai is the Temple.  The temple was central to Jewish worship.  Prior to the exile it housed the ark of the covenant, the Urim & thummim, the ephod.  It was where the people gathered for the major festivals & sacrifices took place.  It housed the Holy of Holies.  It was a dwelling place for the Name of God.  It was the place where God dwelt among His people & every time the Temple is mentioned you have mention of God's shekinah, His glory.  It was incredibly beautiful.  David, who had wanted to build a house for the Lord & was denied, saved all his life to build & furnish the Temple. The white limestone would have dazzled in the Israeli sunshine.  There was imported Lebanon cedar to panel the walls, gold inlays, gold overlays ~ so much gold which does not tarnish the way silver does.  The best craftsmen were hired to work on the temple: stonemasons, carpenters, carvers, smiths.  No expense was spared.  There were golden bowls, golden platters, golden goblets, the wealth of a nation poured into this one place, the place where God's glory rested amongst His people.  This was Solomon's Temple, the first temple, the temple the Babylonians razed to the ground when they carted God's people off into captivity.  They were never to see its like again.

Now we know that  the Israelites did in fact rebuild the Temple. It was desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes [nick~named *the Mad One*] & rededicated under Judas Maccabaeus then renovated by Herod so that in Jesus time it was known as Herod's Temple.  So where is the application for us?  It is found in 1 Corinthians 6:19~20 "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own;  & also in 1 Peter 2:5: ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Now if this is so, & scripture says it is so, what has Haggai to say to us? I suggest to you that many Christians are like that temple.  They are saved.  They have a firm foundation but work on their temple then halts.  For whatever reasons they do not progress in their Christian walk.  Their spiritual life stagnates.  The building goes no further.  And what does Haggai say the problem is?

Verse 2:  They procrastinate: the time is not yet.

Verse 4: They are selfish & self~involved ~ panelled houses were expensive.

Verse 6: they were dissatisfied. Nothing they did ever gave them the return they expected.

Why?  They were not honouring God.

So this is the first lesson from Haggai.  Let's get our priorities straight.  Our house, our temple, His dwelling place amongst us, is the first thing we need to put in order in our lives.  There is something else here too & it is an important something & it is a directive particularly for those in leadership roles.  Haggai directs his statements initially to Zerubbabel, the civic leader & to Joshua, the high priest.  People tend to follow as they are lead.  If the leadership is in disarray, if the leadership is in sin, if there is fault at the highest levels of a society then it will filter throughout the whole community.  Whether a leader likes it or not they set the standard by which the people will measure themselves.

Note something else, & something that is born out in the New Testament.  It is the Lord's spirit who stirs the people to act.  Sixteen years they'd done nothing.  Sixteen years they sat on their bums & ignored the unfinished work of the Lord's house but when the Lord stirred them up they began to act.  Note too that the leadership was stirred first, then the people. Both parties had to have their hearts prepared & ready but there is an order in this because God is not a God of disorder.

When we first come to the Lord, when we first taste of salvation & know that God is good, we have a fire in our bones  ~ & this is right.  That is as it should be.  Over time though the cares of this world eat away at us.  We need to hold down our jobs, run our households, discipline our children.  There are meals to cook, clothes to wash, cars to be serviced, bills to be paid.  All these things have to be done.  They need to be done. We forget Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. [1 Cor.10:31] 

Suddenly we find ourselves in a place we never expected to find ourselves having to deal with the sin & apathy that defiles our temple.  We may remember how we began & despair but listen to what the Lord says to us through Haggai.  Haggai is speaking to a people who had lived in bondage for 70 years.   Many of them were too young to remember Solomon's temple but oh! For those who did remember! How their hearts must have broken for the cedar walls,  for the gold & the limestone & all the shinning glory that was Solomon's house for the Lord his God.  The new temple, the rebuilt temple, was dowdy by comparison.  It must have seemed so empty!  No ark.  No holy fire.  No Shekinah.  No spirit of prophecy.  No urim & thummim.   It isn't a patch on the old temple & I think we sometimes feel like that too.  We come out of a time of clearing the rubble out of our spiritual lives & commence work on our temple again & we get so discouraged.  We aren't where we hoped to be.  We aren't what we hoped to be.  Sin still besets us but listen to what the Lord says.

Egypt is almost always a symbol for slavery ~ the slavery of sin ~ but "I am with you," declares the Lord. " My spirit remains among you." Now isn't that true?  And isn't it such a blessing?  And then the most wonderful promise takes place & it is particularly wonderful for us because it is addressing the end times, the post Messianic age, our age.  Haggai is talking of the heavens & the earth being shaken & I only know of one place in scripture this refers to & that is the Last days, the end times, the time before Christ's return.   " The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house!" says the Lord Almighty.  He says he's going to fill His house, us, with glory.

And then Haggai gives instructions for bringing us back into right relationship with God.  He explains that the holy can never make clean that which is unholy but what is unclean always defiles. The principle is found in Leviticus 10:10 ~ teaching between what is holy & what is unholy.   See the people were experiencing God working in their lives & they were being outwardly obedient but they were still a sinful people & their sin was defiling their work so God's blessing was withheld.  They still needed to deal with the sin in their lives, to confess & repent.

We are almost to the end but there is yet one thing more & I'm not sure it isn't the most wonderful thing of all in this short little book that holds so much promise.  The promise starts "From this day on I will bless you".  Then Haggai starts talking again about the heavens & the earth being shaken, about the kingdoms being overthrown, about rulers being overturned & then he says the oddest thing.  "On that day I will take you, my servant, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, & I will make you my signet ring for I have chosen you."  Do you ever read this stuff & go, Whaaat?  Turn with me to Matthew.  Matthew 1:12.  This is so exciting.  It reads Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel... Haggai sees, sees not the literal Zerubbabel but the seed of Zerabbabel, Zurabbabel who is in the physical lineage of Christ, Christ who is the Father's signet ring, his seal upon the world, his seal upon believers.

Now this last prophecy took place during the Feast of Tabernacles.  We know this because Haggai dated all his prophecies accurately so we know Haggai delivered this message on October 17th 520 BC.  It is his final message delivered on the last day  of a festival which was the last in the religious calendar for the year; a festival that celebrated the autumn harvest, the ingathering of the crops & the remembrance of the 40 years in the desert when God provided for His people Himself.  Every day of this festival the priest went to the Gihon river & filled a golden pitcher with water from the river.  He then returned to the temple & poured that whole pitcherful of water over the altar.  It was a very graphic visual reminder of God's provision & of how he provided water in a dry land.  The people have been reminded of that. Then Haggai prophecies. Now come forward to the gospel of John [7:37] & we see Jesus at this same feast, celebrating these same truths & on the last day of this feast, a feast that sees water poured over the altar, Christ says, "If a man is thirsty, let him come to me & drink." John goes on to explain that Jesus meant the spirit, a spirit that had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified!

Do you see, friends?  We are God's temple, a temple whose glory is greater than that of Solomon's because the glory of Christ, God made man, resides in us.  So let us consider our ways, prayerfully, thoughtfully & if there be any uncleanliness in us let the light of God's Holy Spirit shine on it & cleanse us from all unrighteousness.