"Now, the 15th day of the 7th month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall keep the Festival of Yahweh, lasting 7 days; a complete rest on the first day, and a complete rest on the 8th day. On the first day you shall take the fruit of majestic trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your Elohim (God) for 7 days. You shall keep it as a festival to Yahweh 7 days in the year; you shall keep it in the 7th month as a statute for ever throughout your generations. You shall live in booths for 7 days; all that are citizens in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am Yahweh your Elohim (God)" (Lev.23:39-44, NRSV; also Num.29:12-38; Dt.16:13-15).

Chag sameach Sukkot kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah and a hearty welcome, with much grace and shalom (peace), in Yah'shua's (Jesus') Name, to this first day of the Israel's Harvest Festival - the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Ingathering! For those of you who are new here, this is a week-long divine moed (appointment) to which is attached a final day known as Shemini Atseret or 'Last Great Day' which falls on the 8th day, making the end of the autumnal (fall) and the annual cycle of festivals as a whole. We will be having fixed Sabbath assemblies today and on Shemini Atseret.

Christians who are unfamiliar with Israel's feasts are usually unaware that the Bible prophesies that the festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles) would be observed by Yahweh's people from the first time it was revealed to Moses and all the way into earth's seventh millennium, this one we're in now being the sixth millennium, as we read in the navi (prophet) Zechariah:

"Then all who survive of the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts, and to keep Sukkot (the Festivals of Tabernacles or Booths). If any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts, there will be no rain upon them. And if the family of Egypt do not go up and present themselves, then on them shall come the plague that Yahweh inflicts on the nations that do not go up to keep Sukkot (the Festivals of Tabernacles or Booths). Such shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to keep Sukkot (the Festivals of Tabernacles or Booths)" (Zech.14:16-19, NRSV).

The traditional explanation or interpretation of this passage, at least by Evangelical Christians, is that this prophecy refers specifically, and only, to the Jews who will have built a 'Third Temple', the one that Temple Institute Orthodox Jews in the Israeli Republic have been preparing to build now for some time, which is being built according to the pattern revealed to the navi (prophet) Ezekiel. Some of you may even have heard in the news this last spring that they went and offered a Passover sacrifice to 'practice' for the restoration of this Temple which they believe could be erected any day now. They certainly have all the building materials and implements ready and they have trained up priests.

The last Sukkot sacrifices to be offered occurred nearly two thousand years ago just before the Temple was burned to the ground by the Romans. The temple seen by Ezekiel in vision, and described in great detail in his book, will not, however, ever be built with the approbation of Heaven. Why? Because it was offered to the exiles in Assyria (10-tribed Israel) and Babylon (Judah and Benjamin) if they would repent there and then, which they refused to do, and thus Yahweh's offer expired. Any temple erected in our day will therefore be a counterfeit, of no value spiritually to anyone except to the Anti-Messiah or Antichrist whom Scripture prophesies will set himself up as Elohim (God) in such a building, obtaining the idolatrous worship of Jews, deceived Christians and the rest of the world on accound of the miracles he will perform, including supernaturally calling fire down from heaven. It has been the teaching of this ministry that the Republic of Israel is a counterfeit Israel created specifically by Illuminists to deceive Chrstians and Messianics (the 'Zionists'), destabilise the Middle East to create chaos and war, further change the sacred times and seasons, and to blaspheme the Most High.

What, then, has Sukkot (Tabernacles) got to do with believers in the Master Yah'shua the Messiah (the Lord Jesus Christ)? Well, as far as the orginal tabernacle/temple is concerned built under the auspices of the old Levitical or Aaronic Priesthood, nothing whatsoever, because the Covenant of Moses or 'Old Covenant' ended two millennia ago with the birth, crucifixion and resurrection of the Messiah. There are no more Levitical Priests and no more animal sacrifices for, as the Letter to Hebrews explains to us, Yah'shua (Jesus) was the final sacrifice offered for sins, our eternal Cohen Gadol (High Priest). Of Messiah it is written:

"So think carefully about Yah'shua (Jesus), the apostle and cohen gadol (high priest) of our confession of faith. He was faithful to the One (Yahweh) who appointed Him, just as Moses was faithful in all Elohim's (God's) House (Tabernacle). He deserves much more glory than Moses, you see, just as the one who builds a house deserves more glory than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the one who builds all things is Elohim (God). And 'Moses was faithful, as a servant, in all his house,' thereby bearing witness to the things that were yet to be spoken of; but the Messiah is over Elohim's (God's) house as a Son. What is that house? It's us - those of us who hold on tightly to the free delight and confidence of our hope" (Heb.3:1b-6, Kingdom New Testament - KNT).

As this and other Scriptures explain, we are no longer in need of any physical structure called a 'house', 'temple' or 'tabernacle' because we ourselves are now that 'house' or 'temple', the 'Body of Messiah', and our sacrifices are a 'broken heart and a contrite spirit' [1] before the One who has made an everlasting Sanctifice for sin on our behalf. One of the purposes of the temple was to make atonement for sin through animal sacrifices, including at Sukkot (Tabernacles), but that was finally completed by Yah'shua (Jesus) on the cross, negating the need for either a temple, animal sacrifices or the Levitical Priesthood. Therefore any observance of Sukkot (Tabernacles) under the New Covenant of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) must be without these three things.

Why must we continue to observe it? For at least two reasons:

• 1. We have been commanded to, as we saw in Zechariah, into the seventh millennium which hasn't yet come; and
• 2. Because it, like Yom Teruah (Feast of Trumpets) and Yom haKippurim (Day of Atonements), which we celebrated only a few days ago, has not yet been prophetically fulfilled yet, and we need annually reminding of what is yet to come, and when.

What is yet to come? The Second Coming of Christ, the Day of Judgment, and the Marriage Feast of the Lamb for the faithful qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones)!

"'Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.' And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones). Then he said to me, 'Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!''" (Rev.19:7-9, NKJV).

In the last-but-one verse of the Bible, in the Book of Revelation, Yah'shua (Jesus) says, and then John the Apostle says:

"The One who has spoken these things says, 'I am coming soon!' So, Master Yah'shua (Lord Jesus), please come soon!'" (Rev.22:20, CEV).

And that is what the autumnal (fall) festivals are all about because it's at this time of the year that the hope and endurance of the faithful will be finally vindicated! The trials and tribulations of mortality will be over, at least for a thousand years, and we will be able to enjoy the new world promised to the faithful as far back as the navi (prophet) Isaiah:

"'The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole,
And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My qadosh (holy, set-apart) mountain,
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Yahweh
As the waters cover the sea.

"And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse (the Messiah),
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious'" (Isa.11:6-10, NKJV).

Here the navi (prophet) Isaiah anticipates the Millennial Reign which commences at Shemini Atseret, on the 8th day of this last autumnal (fall) festival of which this is the first day, once the celebration - the big party - which is what Sukkot (Tabernacles) is, is over, and everyone goes home. And the mitzvah (commandment) thereafter, as we saw in Zechariah, is that all the nations gather annually to Jerusalem to observe Sukkot (Tabernacles) upon pain of severe punishment for failing to honour the Messiah, the Righteous King, the Root of Jesse who was the father of David, the forefather of Yah'shua (Jesus) in the messianic line. The passage immediately after this Scripture is all about the gathering of the remnant which we won't go into today.

Instead I want to pose a question to you: why the harsh language in Zechariah? Why the punishment of drout and plague if the nations fail to honour Sukkot (Tabernacles)? And why all the 'temple language' in the surrounding verses? This is the same chapter (14) which speaks of living waters flowing out of Jerusalem, half of them to the Dead Sea and half to the Mediterranean all the year round (Zech.14:8), after the Mount of Olives has split in two (14:4), an event which has not taken place yet. The text further reads:

"On that day there shall not be either cold or frost. And there shall be continuous day (it is known to Yahweh [when this will happen - GNB]), not day and not night, for at evening there shall be light" (Zech.14:6-7, NRSV)

So something supernatural is happening here, evidently, that can only be pointing to the New Jerusalem described in the Book of Revelation. The text, interestingly, has a mixture of the supernatural and the very natural. There are clearly people around in this millennial world who are capable of resisting Yahweh's command - of failing to turn up to Sukkot (Tabernacles), for whom the punishment will be drout and pestilence, the same world in which the wolf is dwelling with the lamb and poisonous snakes are harmless to infants... if the nations choose to rebel. Whatever the Millennium is, though Satan and demons are absent because of their imprisonment in the Pit, it isn't 100 per cent perfect yet. The unresurrected humans, at least, will still be capable of rising in rebellion spurred on by the carnal nature belonging to all mortals, yet without the urging of demonic forces, which will nevertheless be sufficient to provoke divine wrath. There will be the administration of swift justice in the Millennial world for criminals. There are thus mortals here on earth too at this time. Jerusalem, or at least the New Jerusalem (Rev.3:12; 21:2), by contrast, is a supernatural domain where there is no night or day where other extraordinary things are happening too because of the presence of the glorified King. It's as though there is a segment of the post-millennial world stuck in the middle of the millennial one. The new 'temple' in Jerusalem is, in a sense, the whole of the New Jerusalem itself! Outside of it is the realm of continuing judgment for mortal, unresurrected law-breakers (Rev.14:20; 22:15).

Why would the millennial earth, with the possibility for disobedience still present (which doesn't become fully manifested until the demons are released at the end of the Millennium one last time so that mortals can be tested as they were before the millennium) - why would that be more desirable than that invisible dimension or world of the disembodied spirits called 'Paradise' or 'Heaven', one of the two compartments of Sheol, the other one being 'Prison' or 'Hell'?

Now I realise that a tiny minority of Christians/Messianics believe that the Millennium is just a special treat for the resurrected survivors of the Great Tribulation - the godly martyrs, that is - and for no one else, though hardly anyone believes this and it's certainly not my position because of what Zechariah (amongst others) says. And the Seventh Day Adventists believe all the rightous will be disembodied for the Millennium, the earth just being a gloomy, destroyed place, the haunt of demons. Most others, inspired by the Isaiah passage we quoted, view the Millennium as a place of physical perfection along the lines of Paradise or Heaven, but this is not the picture painted by Zechariah and others except in the New Jerusalem area itself, whatever that is. (You may remember we discussed whether it was literally a giant cube or not recently).

If you think about it, this makes sense, because the Millennium is not the final state of this world - at the end of which some drastic things happen, as Peter tells us:

"But the day of Yahweh will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in qadosh (holy, set-apart) conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of Elohim (God), because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells" (2 Peter 3:10-13, NKJV). [2]

Now I will freely admit that it is not easy piecing the prophetic end-time puzzle of events together. There are, additionally, those who believe that Yah'shua (Jesus) doesn't return until after the Millennium, and teach that many of the prophecies which we regard as preceeding the Millennium fit better at the end of the Millennium after the death and destruction caused by Satan having his final 'go'. If we're honest, given the complexity of the puzzle, we have to conceed that this interpretation is a possibility. What's important, though, is that a final Sukkot (Tabernacles) is coming in this dispensation, to be followed by Shemini Atseret (the Last Great Day), when Jerusalem will be the capital of the world to which the nations must send out representatives to the divine moedim (appointments), at least to the Pilgrim Feasts of Pesach (Passover), Shavu'ot (Weeks) and Sukkot (Tabernacles). One thing you won't find believers celebrating at that time is paganised festivals like Christmas and Easter, the removal of which will be part of the full restoration of all things and the purging out of every last vestige of the satanic system.

When we eventually come to our phronemic study of the Book of Revelation we shall have occasion to return to this theme again and to do it more justice. One of the problems we face in looking at prophetic books like Zechariah and Revelation is that they are heavily laced with symbolism that may easily be misinterpreted as being literally when they should not be. The nevi'im (prophets) write in a language or style which is unique to themselves, deliberately so, that their message may be veiled to all by those whose eyes are spiritually open through being in right relationship with Yahweh. As I have shared before, I have only ever been shown one vision of the Millennium which as you know took me by surprise because of the way the men, at least, were dressed.

Why can't Christians and Messianics, who all claim to be led by the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit), come to agreement on the interpretation of these prophetic passages? There are three possible answers to this question:

• 1. Some of them don't have the Ruach (Spirit) and aren't actually born-again or spiritually regenerated;
• 2. Yahweh has sealed up certain understandings until specific times so the Ruach (Spirit) won't actually give them an answer and they end up falling back on their own human understanding unawares - hence the disagreement and confusion; or
• 3. Yahweh gives different regenerated believers different measures of the Ruach (Spirit) according to their gifting and calling, and certain understanding are reserved for those to whom the keys of prophecy have been given.

We are commanded at this time of the year to rejoice which can be difficult for those who are going through suffering or extreme difficulties. What exactly are we to rejoice in? Firstly in Yahweh - notice that one of this festival's many names is the "Festival of Yahweh", a designation not given to any of the other moedim (appointments) of Elohim (God). It is also a Festival of Deliverance or Salvation, for like the spring festivals, Sukkot continues in the celebration of deliverance from Egypt. And you will remember how Egypt figures in Zechariah 14 - Egypt is to be blessed in the Millennium but only if it faithfully observes Sukkot (Tabernacles) or Festival of Yahweh and everything it stands for. But even more important than this is the celebration of our salvation from sin and death in Christ which surely, in this (New) Covenant, is the most important thing to celebrate of all.

Like I said, this is the annual harvest festival of Israel, a time of thanksgiving for the grain that was gathered in for the winter, but also the oil and wine which contributes so much to the celebration and to life in general. I don't doubt that many of us are praying that what we have gathered in will last us through the winter. We have just got in our apple and potato crops in. Sukkot thus reminds us that in the 'life after life after death' - the resurrection - we are to be thankful for and enjoy the good things of the earth, the produce of the land. This was also a time anciently to meditate on the fact that the Israelites' prosperity and abundance of things did not come through their own power, however hard they had worked ploughing, planting, tending and harvesting, but though the provision and care of Yahweh-Elohim, our Creator and Heavenly Father, for is is He who brings prosperity.

That's, by the way, one of the reasons we call ourselves Provisionists (and not Calvinists) for Yahweh in His goodness provides for all people. We, like our ancestors, were enjoined to think about these things, particularly at this time of year, so that we might, in the words of Moses, avoid "[]our heart [becoming] proud and []our [forgetting] Yahweh []our Elohim (God), who brought [us] out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery" (Deut.8:14, NIV).

As Messianic Israelites, then, this is a perfect opportunity for us to give thanks for our salvation through Yah'shua our Messiah (Jesus Christ) for this is supremely the Festival of Complete Salvation and Deliverance. By living in booths, tabernacles, or tents at this time of year [3], we not only remember the simplicity of life that our ancestors had to live for 40 years in the wilderness but are given the opportunity to give thanks for our abundance. We are all richly blessed for there is always someone worse off than ourselves, one man's poverty being another's abundance. And perhaps, in the light of what's coming, when we will have to, in some cases, radically alter our lifestyle and lower our standard of living after the Collapse following Judgment, for which we ought to be prepping, it's as well to remember these words of Moses too:

"[Yahweh] led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you" (Deut.8:15-16, NIV).

So let us celebrate over the next week but also keep a wary eye open so that we are ready for what is coming. For those who may already be homeless living on the streets, or those suffering persecution and facing death daily, they are even now experiencing the bitterness of changed fortunes. We therefore conclude this assembly by thanking our Heavenly Father for all His provision, trusting Him to keep providing for us, and by thanking our Eternal Cohen Gadol (High Priest), Yah'shua (Jesus), both for our individual salvation but also for the salvation of Messianic Israel in which we are citizens. I hope to see you again in the days to come but especially at Shemini Atseret! Amen.

Endnotes