Feast of Tabernacles--Jesus Christ Reigns

FEAST OF TABERNACKLES—JESUS CHRIST REIGNS

Sixth of eight devotions in What God’s Festivals Teach series

John 1:17:  The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.  We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

            The Greek word for dwelling is “tabernacle”.  Tabernacle can be a noun meaning a box, container, or cabinet.  But here, tabernacle is a verb meaning to stay.   

            John 1:1, 3a, and 10 says of Jesus Christ, Creator God of the Old Testament, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. … “Through Him all things were made.” … “and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.” 

            Jesus tabernacled with us.  In His physical life, Jesus lived in the world alongside His disciples.  He said in Matthew 8:20, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”

            Originally, the Father commanded His people to build temporary shelters, booths or tabernacles to live in the week of this Feast.  October 5-11, 2017, is the current date.  God wanted to remind the original Israelites all His miraculous interventions during, their 40 years of wilderness wandering.  See lesson linked below for an explanation for why their wandering was so long.

            God commands in Leviticus 23:42: “Live in booths for seven days; all native-born Israelites are to live in booths.”  Why?  Verse 43 answers with, “so that your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt; ‘I am the LORD your God.’”

            Apostle Paul links the past with the current in 1 Corinthians 10:3-4.  The Israelites in the wilderness “all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they all drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.” 

            At Christ’s second coming, He will again “tabernacle” on earth with those who eagerly await Him.  His thousand-year millennium reign will ultimately fulfill what this Feast foretold for centuries.  “Blessed and holy is he who has no part in the first resurrection.  Over such the second death has no power; but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:6).      

        

Take Home Nugget

            As ruler of His people with whom He dwells, or “tabernacles,” Jesus will reign on earth.  There will be the Kingdom of God! 

 

Thank You Holy Father, for painting this glorious future for us, predicted in Your commanded Feasts!  Now we know and eagerly look forward to Christ’s reign on earth.  Hallelujah!  Amen. 

Adapted from God’s Holy Day Plan, The Promise of Hope for All Mankind.  ©1966, 1998, 2001, 2010, 2013 by the United Church of Christ.  Ohio.  Pgs. 57.

J.D. Griffith  

               

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Day of Atonement

DAY OF ATONEMENT

Fifth of eight devotions in What God’s Festivals Teach series

Hebrews 13:11-12:  “The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp.  And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through His own blood.”

            The opening Scripture shows Jesus being the focus of this Holy Day that’s observed September 30, 2017.  The lesson linked below shows God’s original command in detail from Leviticus 16, with new information identifying both Atonement goats.  Christ represents one goat—as well as other animals slain to pay for people’s sin.

            The animals were killed and the priest splashed the blood inside the Most Holy Place.  While the animal bodies were burned outside the camp, their blood purified inside.  In the same way, Jesus sanctified [SANK-ti-fied] people with His own blood when He was flogged outside the gates of Jerusalem (Matthew 27:26).  Sanctified means blessed, purified, made holy, or approved. 

            Jesus was crucified on Golgotha [GOL-go-tha], a hill outside Jerusalem (Matthew 27:33).  Golgotha means “Place of the Skull”.  A disciple of Jesus named Joseph asked Pilate for His body.  Pilate ordered Jesus’ body be given to Joseph.  Joseph wrapped a clean linen cloth around His body and placed it inside his own tomb that was cut from the rock.  Then, Joseph rolled a large rock in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. 

            This happened outside Jerusalem.  Read Matthew 27:57-66 for details of Jesus’ burial.  Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joses from Mark 15:47, saw the whole thing. 

            The live goat which was exiled to the desert outside Jerusalem represents the devil.  John tells us in Revelation 201-2, “…I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.”                                           

            The Day of Atonement is about Jesus’ sacrifice for sin and the spiritual reuniting of sinful people with a Holy Father.  Indeed, Jesus as our High Priest took His own blood and washed the Most Holy Place of heaven.  His blood sanctifies us making our reunion with the Father possible now—and in the future.

Take Home Nugget

              Christ represents many roles on the Day of Atonement Holy Day.  He is sacrificed for the sins of ALL the people as goat #1. (Although some forgiveness will be applied after His return).  He is the interceding High Priest.  Jesus will also be the “King of Kings” after banishing Satan and establishing God’s Kingdom on earth.

Thank You for Your many roles securing our salvation, Lord Jesus!   

  

Adapted from God’s Holy Day Plan, The Promise of Hope for All Mankind.  ©1966, 1998, 2001, 2010, 2013 by the United Church of Christ.  Ohio.  Pgs. 56-57.

J.D. Griffith   

              

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Feast of Trumpets--Christ's Glorious Return

FEAST OF TRUMPETS—CHRIST’S GLORIOUS RETURN

Fourth of eight devotions in What God’s Festivals Teach series

Matthew 24:30-31:  “At that time [after the great tribulation when the sun and moon won’t shine and stars fall from the sky] the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn.  They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.  And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

            Trumpets blasting this Feast will happen September 21, 2017.  Despite this Feast exploding a future reality, Believers-in-Christ—even the whole of creation—eagerly anticipate Christ’s return to earth.

  

            Romans 8:19 and 20 says, “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed,” [so that] “the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”  This shows that God intends for People to be good caretakers of the planet He created for us.

            The nations which mourn to see Jesus return never believed in Him.  If they observed these important Feasts as God’s holy days, they’d get it that what’s happening is for their own good.  Jesus promises to raise His followers back to life in John 6:44: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

            God’s kids are His elect from the opening Scripture. 

            Trumpets always announce great news in the Bible.  See the lesson linked below for more about trumpets and God’s elect.  1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 proudly announces, “For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And so we will be with the Lord forever.”  

           

Take Home Nugget

            Christ will fulfill the Feast of Trumpets one day.  He is the focus of the prediction of this Feast, too.  At His second coming, celestial trumpets will sound announcing the triumphant arrival of the King of Kings!

            “At the Seventh angel sounding his Trumpet, there were loud voices in heaven which said, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, .and He will reign forever and ever.’”  (Revelation 11:15).                                                 

Holy Father, We proclaim Your kingdom come!  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.  

   

Adapted from God’s Holy Day Plan, The Promise of Hope for All Mankind.  ©1966, 1998, 2001, 2010, 2013 by the United Church of Christ.  Ohio.  Pgs. 55-56.

J.D. Griffith  

               

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Pentecost--The Founding of God's Church

PENTECOST—THE FOUNDING OF GOD’S CHURCH

Third of eight devotions in What God’s Festivals Teach series

Acts 2:1-4:  “The day of Pentecost came, they were all together is one place.  Suddenly a sound like a blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them.”

            What a day that Pentecost was!

 

            Pentecost will be celebrated on June 4, 2017 as a shadow feast. 

            God’s Spirit plays a necessary part in Believer’s lives today.  Whenever a Christian believes in Jesus as Savior and Lord, God’s Spirit moves in.  Repentance and baptism energizes Him to begin transforming believers-in-Christ into Christ-likeness.

             This process replaces our old way of thinking and living.  Jesus’ attitude will guide us into a new way of life—completely foreign to our natural way.  We won’t recognize ourselves after a short while during the Spirit’s transformation.

            In Galatians 2:20, Paul writes what many pray daily to cooperate with God’s Spirit.  They encourage God’s Spirit by praying, “I am crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  

            Truly, it is through God’s Holy Spirit that Jesus comes to live in and guide His followers.   Jesus congratulated Peter in Matthew 16:15-18.  “But what about you?” He asked.  ‘Who do you say I am?”

            “Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, Son of the living God.’”

            “Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by My Father in heaven.  And I tell you that you are Peter, and on FFFthis rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.’”  Jesus was referring to the rock of God’s Spirit on which He will build His church.  Although Peter in Greek is Petros, or Petra, which means detached stone or rock, Jesus meant the rock of the Holy Spirit is where He’d build His church. 

Take Home Nugget

            Jesus really is the focus of Pentecost.  As Believers, we can feel His eagerness to reign on earth ushering in God’s kingdom.  Pentecost will no longer be a shadow Feast, but the real deal.  We will all have access to God’s Spirit then.   

                                               

Holy Father, help me to cooperate with Your indwelling Spirit to grow up, or be transformed day by day in Christ’s likeness.  I pray this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.  

   

Adapted from God’s Holy Day Plan, The Promise of Hope for All Mankind.  ©1966, 1998, 2001, 2010, 2013 by the United Church of Christ.  Ohio.  Pgs. 54-55.

J.D. Griffith      

           

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Days of Unleavened Bread--Christ's Role in Believers' Lives

DAYS OF UNLEAVENED BREAD—CHRIST’S ROLE IN BELIEVERS’ LIVES

Second of eight devotions in What God’s Festivals Teach series

1 Corinthians 5:7:  “Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are.  For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.”

            The Days of Unleavened Bread (April 11-17, 2017) is not old-fashioned.  Even today, this feast teaches a powerful lesson about Jesus—the savior of all people.  However, the days of unleavened bread are a great memorial for the Hebrew people. 

   

            The last thing they did the morning after every Egyptian household mourned their firstborn, was to bake cakes from dough mixed without yeast.  From the opening Scripture, the lesson is for Believers-in-Christ to rid our lives of sin.  Jesus died as payment for forgiveness of our sin.

            Apostle Paul’s sermon to the Church in Corinth was to not allow sin in our lives.  Eating flat bread reminds us to take in Jesus every day, crowning Him king of our lives.  For Jesus explains in John 6:27a, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”

            Each person longs to fill a built-in spiritual vacuum.  Jesus is the divine bread from heaven that satisfies spiritual hunger, as He explains in John 6:35, and 51: “He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and him who believes in Me will never thirst. … I am the living bread which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  This bread is My flesh, which I give for the life of the world.”  

            As the focus of this feast, Jesus cleanses every Believer from all sin and helps us to live sin-free.  Paul shows how to live in new life in Galatians 2:20:  “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” 

Take Home Nugget

            Paul urged the brethren to keep this feast that follows Passover “with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”  (1 Corinthians 5:8).   Linking together the New and the Old Testaments of the Bible, Christ reunites His followers coming before the Father spiritually “unleavened” or sin-free. 

            Jesus was buried for the first three days of this feast.  He was raised back to life in the middle of this feast to show the importance of His supremacy in our lives. 

   

Holy Father, may Jesus’ sacrifice bury my sins—my old self—deep.  May I rise daily a new person clothed in Jesus’ righteousness!  I pray this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.  

   

Adapted from God’s Holy Day Plan, The Promise of Hope for All Mankind.  ©1966, 1998, 2001, 2010, 2013 by the United Church of Christ.  Ohio.  Pgs. 53-54.

MAY YOUR GOOD FRIDAY MOURNING TURN TO JOY EASTER MORNING!

J.D. Griffith

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God's Plan Begins with Christ's Sacrifice

GOD’S PLAN BEGINS WITH CHRIST’S REDEEMING SACRIFICE

First of eight devotions in What God’s Festivals Teach series

Leviticus 23:2:  “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘These are My appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the LORD, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.’”

            The Lord’s commanded feasts are important to Him.  They ought to be important to Believers-in-Christ, too.  Commanded Holy Days Importance Today devotional series ended.  Does the reader understand that the feasts centered on Christ and teach us about God’s plan for all humans? 

            Christ was always the focus.  Jesus had an essential role in whatever the Father was busy.  John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  See the lesson linked below for Scriptural confirmation for this devotion.

            Yet Christians, Believers-in-Christ think that these feasts were only commanded for the Jews to keep, and not them.  Do they really think that our Father considers His feasts meaningless for Christians?

            Sadly, for 2,000 years Biblical scholars agreed.  Let’s take another brief look at each festival and learn what they teach us about our Savior.  Perhaps we all can arrive at the end of this incredible journey freshly awed what Jesus accomplished?

            Yesterday, April 10, 2017, was the current date for Passover.  This feast is the first one Scripture mentions.  It marks the greatest event in Israel’s history with miracles that released Israel from Egyptian bondage.  What does Scripture teach us about Passover?

            John the Baptist leads the parade with, “Behold!  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”  Lambs were always Biblical symbols of sacrifice, especially at Passover.  The blood of the lamb protected Israelites’ firstborn from death  Almost fifteen centuries later, Jesus fulfilled the greatest of all sacrifices as the LAST Passover Lamb.

            Jesus was grieved—overwhelmed by sorrow to the point of death—the night before He was arrested.  He fully understood His role of the sacrificial lamb and walked willingly.(as far as he could), to His death.  

            Now this Passover feast took on ultimate meaning when Jesus’ disciples grasped the weight of Jesus being the Passover Lamb.  They observed these Feasts while they lived.  They understood that they are a shadow of things to come. 

Take Home Nugget

            God always planned for Jesus to sacrifice His life for redeeming all mankind from sin.  A lamb as the symbol of Passover is the Father’s idea.  Far from being obsolete, [OB-sole-eet] mean outdated, St. Paul talks about these feasts predicting the future. 

            These Feast events have not been fulfilled yet, but tell of mankind’s salvation in our future. 

Heavenly Father, help me to observe Your feasts and learn Your plan of salvation for all people.  I pray this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.  

   

Adapted from God’s Holy Day Plan, The Promise of Hope for All Mankind.  ©1966, 1998, 2001, 2010, 2013 by the United Church of Christ.  Ohio.  Pgs. 52-53.

J.D. Griffith

Click here for Interactive-Online-Lesson for God’s Plan Begins with Christ’s Redeeming Sacrifice

. 

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                   Written for http://www.Biblestudyforkids.com  

The latest Christmas eBook by J.D. Griffith:   

To order “Meet Guardian Archangels” click here

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