Chag sameach Sukkot and welcome to the seventh and last day of the Feast of Tabernacles with only Shemini Atseret or the Last Great Day to follow tomorrow. Remember that tomorrow is a sacred convocation and high sabbath.

Today, one day in the future, will be the last day of celebration of the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. We cannot begin to imagine what it will be like or what will be happening, except that it will be glorious.

I have called today's sermon 'A Festival of Glory' because the word 'glory' means 'exalted renown', 'honourable fame', 'resplendant majesty, beauty or magificence', an imagined unearthly beauty, a state of exaltation, and so on. Glory conveys so many images, at least of the heavenly kind. Though we tend to associate the word 'glory' more with more mundane, earthly situations, like victory won in battle or heroic deeds, and though this is certainly part of the glory of Elohim (God) who is Yahweh Sebaoth ('Lord of Hosts/Armies') and of Yah'shua (Jesus) who returns as a Conqueror of the Wicked, it is mainly of the kind I just described.

The glory of Elohim (God) is to be seen everywhere, in nature and throughout the cosmos. If you're as interested in astronomy as I am, then I know you'll agree with David when he exclaimed:

"The heavens are telling the glory of Elohim (God); and the firmament proclaims His handiwork" (Ps.19:1, RSV).

No man has ever been shown what the glory of Elohim (God) will look like in the seven-day long Marriage Feast of the Lamb, so it's a big unknown for us, though we do have some clues. As the glory of Yahweh-Elohim is made wonderfully manifest during this consummate festival, so we shall "glory in this, that [we] understand and know [Him], that [He is Yahweh] who practices steadfast ahavah (love), justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things [He] delight[s]" (Jer.9:23-24, RSV). Those assembled as the collective Bride will therefore glory in these things too - steadfastness, loyaly, unwaivering consistent ahavah (love), justice, and righteousness. These are the things we favour above all else. Everything else is secondary.

We are not as spoiled as those first talmidim (disciples) because we never "beheld His glory" in the flesh as they did, which "glory [is] as of the only Son of the Father" (Jn.1:14, RSV), because we never beheld Him face-to-face as one who is familiar to us through daily conversation. But that doesn't mean we cannot, and don't, experience this same glory in other ways, as Yah'shua (Jesus) promised future generations after the apostles:

"The glory which Thou (Yahweh) hast given Me (Messiah) I have given to them (the talmidim/disciples), that they may be echad (one) even as we are echad (one), I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may bececome perfectly echad (one)" (John 17:22-23, RSV).

We - you and I - receive this self-same same glory within us when we receive Messiah through dying to self and a filling of our hearts by the Ruach (Spirit). So we receive this intimate communion by other means, and according to Him, even more effective means. And this in-filling has but one ultimate purpose, to create complete unity or echadness between the Father, Son and Bride.

That mystical union is the ultimate glory; and when that union is weakened or destroyed, the glory disappears. If, as Henry Ward Beecher believed, Elohim's (God's) glory is in His goodness, which I don't for a second doubt, then our glory is to be seen, found and obtained by being good toward one another. Division and strife bring glory to no-one. We are only as good as we love.

I do believe the doctrines we espouse about Yahweh-Elohim shape the way we both view and experience His glory. We should not assume that all believers perceive or understand that glory uniformly, or with the same clarity, or with perfect agreement. That is why a common doctrine - the true doctrine - is so important. If the greatest glory is to be found in ahavah (love), then we need to know, more than anything else, of what that ahavah (love) practically consists. So I totally agree with William Barclay, who said:

"There is the supreme truth that the glory of God lies in His compassion, and that God never so fully reveals His glory as when He reveals His pity." [1]

We, in our turn, reveal Yahweh's glory only as we extend compassion to others, taking pity on those in terrible circumstances. And to do that we have to cultivate godly inter-personal relationships. That is the medium where glory is revealed - in how we treat other people.

So often that means we must go against the tide of contemporary morals and ethics. In a world running wild - where all pure and chaste barriers are eroding so fast that there is barely time to catch one's breath - maintaining purity and chastity has to be one of the greatest challenge there is, and especially for young people, because there is little regard for such things anymore. Godly morals are regarded with great hostility these days, and all in the name of a pretended, yet destructive, 'freedom'. In countries like this one, even the word 'morality' is virtually taboo.

History for sure repeats itself. In ancient Greece, relationships before marriage and outside marriage were the normal practice and it did not take our post-Christian culture long to revert back to such a heathenish philosophy and lifestyle once it started rejecting Elohim (God) and the Bible. I suspect the ancient Greeks would blush to see just how immoral and self-destructive we have now become. For all their faults, and they were many, they at least knew what gender they were, loved fine art, and appreciated clarity of thought.

Part of the glory of Yahweh lies in His justice but unfortunately Christians and Messianics have contradictory ideas about the form it should take, especially when it comes to the future of the wicked. For far too many, His justice consists in eternal torture, and for some, annihilation - 'out of mind, out of sight'. And though the early Messianic Community believed, as do we, in a greater vision of Yahweh's love and grace, few moderns believe that He will one day save all people, albeit it differentially, that is to say, the reception of different glories, as Paul taught the Corinthians believers (1 Cor.15:42-42) [2].

We are commanded to love our enemies and yet in the minds of some ghastly belief systems, like that of the Calvinists and other misguided fundamentalists, the same is not, for some reason, required of Elohim (God), even though we're supposed to be imitating Him. No wonder there have been abusive political systems in the history of Christendom, with torture and murder becoming normative, which atheistic tyrranies have taken to brutal excess - think of the tens of millions murdered by communism in one century, the 20th. Today, of course, we have swung to the opposite, yet equally unjust and wicked, pole where decent people are now punished and the wicked are given sufficient 'rights' to escape all justice. We are watching our very civilisation collapse around us because of such insanity, and all done in the name of 'equality'.

Justice is, of course, a part of Yahweh's glory, as it is of ours, which is why Yah'shua (Jesus) commands us to "judge with righteous judgment" (John 7:24, NKJV). The two must be balanced, not an easy thing to learn, which is why we mortals are commanded to err on the side of mercy if we are to err at all. There is no glory, no mercy, and no love in either predestination to eternal torment or indeed the imaginary decree of eternal torment itself. Those who imagine there is to be any are, in our view, living a delusion, and have not understood some of the basic truths about Yahweh's character, and lack glory. Theirs is a glory of the moon, not of the sun, a pale reflection, which generates no warmth. These are cold-hearted doctrines belonging to the kind of fanaticism to be found in another religion I could mention. I am deeply saddened for Christians and Messianics (mostly Christians) who believe such terrible and unscriptural things.

Love is a mysterious force, and man is a slow learner as to the kind which Elohim (God) delights and glories in. Now here is a deep thought for you:

"The glory of love is its unaccountability: it is not something rendered proportionately - such and such an excellent, so much regard for it - but is rather a divine overflow." [3]

When Yahweh loves, He loves to overflowing: "My cup runneth over" (Ps.23:5, KJV), said David in famous Psalm 23. Yahweh is not stingy. He is generous beyond any generosity we could ever know or understand. So it was no problem for David to understand, and to conclude that magnificent psalm, with the words:

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of Yahweh for ever" (Ps.23:6, KJV).

That is divine glory, and we are to manifest it by our generosity to others, surprising them as He surprises us, with real grace - the undeserved loving kindness with is unmeasured and uncontainable. And, yes, I must say this to all our detractors and contrarians, we will be surprised at His generosity to the unsaved once they have served their term of punishment, which will be painful, long abd costly (make no mistake of that), and come to understand the foolishness of their rejection of Him in mortality. Such have to give account for their rebellion and lack of emunah (faith). But there is no accounting for such generosity as proceeds from the heart of our Heavenly Father, and nor should we demand an account of ahavah (love) from others either. We are never to measure it, limit it, or distribute it on the basis of perceived deservability. "Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing" (Matt.6:3, NIV), the Master said, for everyone is needy.

Think on the Saviour's attitude to such things as encapsulated by Eric Symes:

"To God be the glory. Think how Jesus lived, prayed, worked, suffered, all to the greater glory of God. He sought always the Father's glory. His pure ambition was the glory of God and the Kingdom of God. Pre-eminently Jesus could have said: 'to Thee, O Father, be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.' 'I seek not Mine own glory, but the glory of Him that sent Me.' All was done to the Father's greater glory." [4]

Have you ever thought of so treating those in authority over you? Your employer, your husband, your parents, your pastor, your elders, the older members of your community, your rulers, your country? How selective we are when it comes to these! Yet the idea of an espirit de corps is very much wrapped in such a concept because the Derech (Way) of the Besorah (Gospel) is not about self-glory but a glory greater than ourselves. It looks beyonf our narrow, personal world. It is about the glory of our heads, however unmerited the giving of it may at times seem to be, because only in this way is our pride kept in check. Yah'shua (Jesus) sought only to glorfy His Father and the true Bride, the children of the First Resurrection. That collective Bride seeks only, and exclusively, to bring glory to their Master.

This is divine tavnith (pattern). This is what we mean by honour - honouring your parents, honouring your husbands, honouring Elohim (God), and so on. That is why "honour and glory" are so often coupled together in Scripture:

"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honour and glory and praise!...
To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honour and glory and power,
for ever and ever!" (Rev.5:12,13b, NIV).

Sukkot (Tabernacles) is about all this and, of course, more. Over the week we have spoken of simcha (joy), the Father's Glory, the essence of the moed (appointment), friendship, the resurrection, endings, and once more, in order to underline it, glory. So my question is: whose glory do you seek in your own life? The Saviour never sought His own, so why should anyone suppose that we should not be imitating Him both God-ward and in our inter-personal relationships? Indeed, were we not admonished by Paul to "in humility consider others better than []ourselves" (Phil.2:3, NIV) and, in respect to ahavah (love), to "submit to one another out of reverence for Messiah" (Eph.5:21, NIV)?

If you have 'got' these things - if you have understood these things - then you have understood the glory of Sukkot. You have understood the Sukkot which is in the Saviour's heart. And you have understood what being a Bride means. And if you have not understood, then there is either some maturing or repenting still to be done.

Brethren and sisters, Sukkot (Tabernacles) ends today but we are commanded to assembly one more day - tomorrow - for an important announcement from Heaven. I pray this has been a tov week - a good week - for everyone and that you have been able to glory in, and celebrate, the things that we have spoken about today. Enjoy the rest of the day and come back tomorrow when, Yah willing and health permitting, I will have a fresh message for you to bring the season of annual festivals to an end for another year.

Moses asked Yahweh: "Now show me Your glory!" (Ex.33:18, NIV) I hope you will ask Him too, and then live it to the full. Show us Your glory! Amen.

Endnotes

[1] William Barclay, The Gospel of John (St.Andrew Press: 1965), p.86
[2] See our websites on Hell, Time, and Universal Salvation
[3] Mark Rutherford, Last Pages From a Journal (OUP, Oxford: 1919), p.263
[4] Eric Symes, The Compassion of God and the Passion of Christ (Geoffrey Bles: 1963), p.92