Chag sameach Sukkot kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah, Shabbat Shalom and welcome to the first of the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles! There was to have been a sermon for you today but events overtook me, of which this is but the briefest summary. Though I prepared the previous three festivals weeks in advance, getting the inspiration needed to do so this time, no such anointing was given to me for this one, for reasons which will become apparent presently. So MLT as a congregation are going to be uniting around the Master's (Lord's) Supper today as we seek the peace and joy of this season of celebration for what Christ has already done for us and what He will yet do both in the immediate future and on that Great Day when He returns and a great Wedding takes place for Him and His allegorical Bride, Hephzibah!

For though we have trials and tribulations now, we are promised:

"No longer will they call you Deserted,
or name your land Desolate.
But you will be called Hephzibah ('my delight is in her'),
and your land Beulah ('married');
for Yahweh will take delight in you,
and your land will be married.
As a young man marries a maiden,
so will your sons marry you;
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,
so will your Elohim (God) rejoice over you"
(Isaiah 62:4-5, NIV).

Over the course of the year I speak to many people who come to me for counsel, many of whom feel abandoned. And in some cases, they have literally been abandoned - by spouses, by parents, by children, by siblings, by those who once called themselves friends - and (the greatest contradiction of all) by fellow believers. Having experienced a lot of this, I can deeply empathise. True believers don't abandon each other - they stick together and patiently work differences out. The picture we are given of Sukkot in the Bible is of a Saviour who is not only loyal and true but who loves us with such a great love that to abandon just one of His children would be tantamount to Him denying Himself and His very nature. Yes, He leaves those determined to sin who know what they are doing for a season until they come to the end of themselves, but He does so only to bring them to their senses so that they can re-evaluate their priorities, repent and come home.

The season of Sukkot is about togetherness of the most intimate kind - the togetherness of a Bride and Bridegroom, a Husband and his beloved Wife. And Sukkot is, above all, a Grand Marriage on a Cosmic Scale. Not only are true, obedient and loving believers celebrated on this day but indeed, to borrow the words of Paul, so is "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable" (Phil.4:8, NIV) for these are the things that we, the celebrants, are metaphorically feasting on in this "the wedding supper of the Lamb" (Rev.19:9, NIV) - that's why we're gathered here today and for the next seven days and for no other reason. And Who is the very epitome of truth, nobility, righteousness, purity, loveliness and what it is to be rightly admired? The Saviour Himself, not forgetting that He is the image of His Father Yahweh too. Hence the clarion call a few verses on in the same Book of Revelation:

"Come, gather together for the great supper of Elohim (God), of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great" (Rev.19:17, NIV)

If that surprises and even shocks you (for these are both elements of that Marriage Supper of the Lamb), let me explain. There can be no Wedding without Justice having first been served. That is why at most Western marriage ceremonies, the minister asks the congregation if anyone can name just cause for the wedding not to go ahead. Well, that is what Father does at Yom haKuppurim, the previous sixth annual festival we observed fasting nearly a week ago. Let me repeat that in another way: Sukkot is impossible without Yom haKippurim, but also, Yom haKippurim does not end at Yom haKippurim! What we in the West have largely forgotten, or don't want to know, is that Love cannot exist without Justice first making everything right (that, after all, is the definition of righteousness) - without Justice 'sorting everything out'. Yes, Love has the final word (because Grace truly surpasses Justice) but what Love does not do is replace or displace Justice. Justice must have its hour otherwise Love cannot have its victory. Let that sink in. Sinners want Love but not Justice but that is wholly impossible.

None of this is to say that Yahweh is cold, harsh Justice and Yah'shua (Jesus) warm and fluffy Love. Remember, that both the Father and the Son are Elohim (God) - you don't get to separate them and remove one at the expense of the other without horribly distorting the Gospel. This is what so-called 'progressive' Christianity has tried to do - dismiss the Father and treat the Son as though He was the better 'option'. This is a lie. This is what the Gnostics did, accusing Yahweh of being a harsh, inferior angel or 'Demiurge' in contrast to the loving Son. This is a wicked perversion. The Father and the Son are in complete agreement. The Son can only do what He does because of what He sees the Father doing (Jn.5:19), a truth that is brought out again and again in the Gospel of John.

To attempt a separation of Father and Son by denouncing one and exalting the other is rank blasphemy, a wicked lie of Satan. You can no more separate the Father and the Son than you can separate Law and Grace. They are echad, one, in complete agreement. They are instruments of each other. That is why what follows this wonderful Feast of Tabernacles is Shemini Atseret or the Millennium, which is a picture of the thousand years of a Kingdom ruled by Justice and Love. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is not the 'end' but the preface to a New Beginning for Israel. It is the fruit of a battle won, of the spirit triumphing over the flesh, of good conquering evil, which is why Yom haKippurim - the Day of Atonements and Day of Judgment - was something the Bride delighted in, and the wicked despaired of. We cannot - dare not - must not - ever separate the two, or indeed treat the other six festivals as if they never happened, for all of them define our Journey to th Goal of Love. That is why we celebrate both the Torah and Grace - the Undeserved Loving Kindness - of Yahweh-Elohim. The Law or Torah is the Vessel - the Chalice or Cup, if you like - it is what gives Love its shape. Try drinking a drink without a cup and see how far you get!

So whilst I cannot give you a full sermon today because of ill health I did at least wish to remind you why we are here, and how we came to be here, today. This is, in reality, a double wedding. On the one hand, it is the allegorical marriage of the Messianic Community or Church to Christ, which all Christians acknowledge, but people often forget that it is also the marriage of Israel to the Father. This is the Wedding Feast of Messianic Israel. Were it not so, how could the Son one day return all authority to the Father? It is written:

"But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits (bikkurim) of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when He comes, those who belong to Him. Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to Elohim (God) the Father (Yahweh) after He has destroyed all [enemy] dominion, authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he 'has put everything under His feet.' Now when it says that 'everything' has been put under Him, it is clear that this does not include Elohim (God, Yahweh) himself, who put everything under Christ. When He has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to Him who put everything under Him, so that Elohim (God) may be all in all" (1 Cor.15:20-28, NIV).

Yes, today is our allegorical marriage to the Son-to-come but, as Paul explains, it does not end there because that is not bthe final 'End' or 'Goal'. The Final End or Goal is to be returned to Yahweh, the Father! Don't ever forget that. The authority that Christ currently has - described as "all authority" in Scripture (Mt.28:18) is temporary, a reason why the Trinity doctrine is not wholly correct because a son is never co-equal with his father but does what he does by permission only (until, in human terms, when he comes of age, he becomes his own father and authority, of course). But this is a Divine Picture we are being given here, even though Christ is fully human as we are. Common sense alone should tell us that a human can never be coequal with Elohim (God) for the creature (like the clay) is not on the same level as the creator (like the potter) (Is.29:6; 45:9). Nevertheless Christ is both man and Elohim (God).

I remind you of this truth not to get into a complex theological discussion, which this can so easily become, but to make sure the Father is not dishonoured while we rightly honour the Son, our allegorical Bridegroom. Indeed, the Son is also described as a father in Isaiah, is He not?

"For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on His shoulders.
And He will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty Elohim (God),
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and shalom (peace)
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of Yahweh Almighty
will accomplish this"
(Is.9:6-7, NIV).

Again, I repeat, the theology of this is deep - very deep - and I have neither the time nor the energy to get into this today. For the Son is indeed Yahweh too (the 'Lesser Yahweh' after the Father who is the 'Greater Yahweh'), but He is also a human being. Enough said. There is more than enough there for you to chew on for a lifetime! I wish only to maintain the cohesion of the 'Bigger Picture' for you so that you do not go down the Evangelical Christian cul de sac which is lawless (and therefore fatherless). We are here to honour the Father and the Son. Always! Amen.

For the benefit of those who don't know why this year's Sukkot program got thrown off I need to give a few words of explanation, so those of you who here know the story already, I hope you will bear with me for just a few short minutes more. On 3 October my health took a decided downturn when as it transpires I had a very bad reaction to a drug I have been taking to treat my chronic inflammation which initially I supposed was a mini-stroke but which I now believe to have been something else. And though all but one of a whole battery of medications I had been taking for heart failure had to be abruptly ended owing to the very bad side-effects I was having from them, making me iller and iller, I was still dependent on the medication treating my fibromyalgia which is very bad for heart failure. So I was ordered to stop by the heart specialist. The alternative I was prescribed, an anti-depressant, I react badly to as well. Being as the original medicine was all that enabled me to sleep 2-3 hours a night, I was left in a catch 22 situation.

The following day, 4 October, two days ago, Sweden was struck by a violent storm with gales. With the sudden drop in temperature I lit the little woman a wood fire and she dropped off to sleep. While asleep a strong gust of wind must have swept down the chimney, flinging open the wood-burner doors which were only loosely closed to enable the fire to build up a head of heat. The result was that her room filled with thick white smoke while she slept. By the mercy of Elohim (God) she was awakened in time before being suffocated, and I was able to get her out the room into fresher air. Though she has very sore lungs, eyes and throat, she has basically survived unharmed. I, of course, concerned that she should breathe again, rushed about opening as many windows as I could and securing them while getting her out the snmoke. All returned to normal after about an hour of intense airing though it smelled as though the house had actually been on fire.

Not clearly thinking because of the urgency of the situation, I took no precautions to filter out the smoke with a mask or handkerchief. By eventide I began to notice that all was not well with my lungs. At bedtime I took my usual anti-inflammatory which had an effect similar to the day before, only this time I was coughing up mucous and feeling very nauseous. Though the anti-inflammatory did enable me to get a couple of hours' sleep, I woke up very early the next morning feeling worse, my heart pounding, I realised my condition was serious. All night I battled a fever, first rosting and then latterly unable to keep warm without adding more and more layers of clothing. When I checked my blood pressure it was off the charts. I was about to call for an ambulance when I remembered that yesterday was my last opportunity to prepare today's sermon so I decided to make a crack at it - what I had originally planned.

I was too ill to even think clearly and knew that any such undertaking would in reality be impossible then and to my great disappointment I realised I would not be able to conduct the program I had had in mind over the bulk of the Feast of Sukkot. Then I remembered a vision Yahweh had shown me right after the first incident on 3 October when it felt as though my innards had exploded. I was standing inside by the back door of our house, on a mat, holding a shotgun. Now I have not fired one of those since Malaysia when my godfather took my out on a range to shoot clay skeets, and one other time when I was staying at a riding school as a boy during school vaccations and we went out to do the same. I have never owned a shotgun but by the by I understood the symbolism of the vision.

The shotgun was 'broken', as they say, meaning it was not closed so nothing could be shot accidentally. I was loading the left breach with a cartridge. And then, for some reason, though this is impossible in the physical, I loaded the same breach with a second cartridge, so there was one on top of the other. Why I did this, I don't know. But within seconds the shotgun fired, with the breach still open (again, not possible in real life), and it send an almighty blast of gunpowder at the ceiling where the gun was pointing. When I looked down on the back doormat where I was standing, all the buckshot pellets were lying on the floor in a layer of very fine brown powder, which greatly surprised me (as this too is impossible in real life - even if had been possible to fire a double cartridge with the gun 'broken', the buckshot would have violently left the shortgun forwards and backwards, causing much damage and certain injury to myself. But there it was lying harmlessly on the ground.

I then swung my head up toward the white-painted ceiling for some reason and there, to my astonishment, stretching in a double arc, were all these burn marks in multiple patches, the blast having only gone forwards after all. Seeing the buckshot and powder beneath my feet, I opened the back door and shook the mat onto the lawn for fear it might do someone harm if left indoors. Then the vision ended.

Now this is admittedly unusual symbolism indeed but it ties in perfectly with what had happened, and what was about to happen, the next day - the business of the smoke and the taking of a second anti-inflammatory pill ('cartridge') at night which set everything off. Circumstances, and a fear of a repeat attack, mean I must now walk in faith that Yahweh will intervene directly or give me fresh instructions.

As I sat on my chair wondering about Sukkot, the Ruach (Spirit) very clearly motioned me to load up the page I created called the Johannine Community. I re-read the introduction and instinctivly corrected one or two typos there, and was led to open the first of the seven articles, Reconstructing the Johannine Community I where I did the same. Quite early on the Ruach (Spirit) gave me great clarity of mind, in spite of feeling so ill, and in a wordless revelation reminded me that this series, which I wrote in 1999-2001 and then greatly expanded last year (2024), together with my course on the Book of Revelation (2021-2024), and to a lesser extent my very earliest series in which I explored John's writings for the first time called Johannine Essays (1982-3), represented a detailed summary of my main calling to restore the Johannine Tradition and to expand it in preparation for the Millennial world to come. Everything else was but duplication of what others - evangelical and messianic - had already done, other than to smooth out some rough edges and to integrate everything together into the 'Big Picture' as I like to call it.

It was then, again wordlessly, that I got my marching orders for Sukkot - to present this series again, which is already written and on video, over the next seven days, which would require little work on my part other than to use AI to make some translations for Scandinavian speakers, and to use this time to recover from the double blow to my health three tto four days ago.

So all that remains for me to do is to give you links to articles and videos and to choose the medium you would prefer. Then, Yah willing, if I am well enough, there will be a new sermon on Shemini Atseret - on the 8th or Last Great Day. We'll see what can be done on the other days of Sukkot, health permissing. As this 7-part Johannine series is quite long, I don't recommend your reading or listening to more than one a day as there is much to take in and many cross-references to consider if these are unfamiliar themes to you. In the time remaining for me on earth I need to complete the Johannine Project before all else. In the meantime, enjoy, and try not to be too shocked! Yahweh bless you all, have a wonderful Sukkot, in Yah'shua's (Jesus') Name. Amen.