The Feast of Tabernacles

00:02 Good morning. We greet each one in the name of Jesus this morning. If you have your copies of the Scriptures with you, I invite you to turn to the book of Leviticus, the 23rd chapter. This is the last in the series of feasts that we've been looking at from the Old Testament with their fulfillment in the New Testament. 00:23 And in relation to the last four feasts, the last, yes, three feasts, their fulfillment in the prophetic realm as well. Likely have one more message to follow this up, but this is the final feast, maybe not the final message. 00:41 But we come in our study of the feast to the final feast in the Jewish calendar. 00:47 And the Scripture says in Leviticus 23:33 and following, "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. 01:08 You shall do no customary work on it. For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation. And you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly and you shall do no customary work on it. 01:28 These are the feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day, besides the Sabbath of the Lord, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides all your free will offerings which you give to the Lord. 01:51 Also, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days. On the first day there shall be a Sabbath rest and on the eighth day a Sabbath rest. 02:04 And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. 02:25 You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths or shelters or tabernacles. That your children may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. 02:47 I am the Lord your God." So Moses declared to the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord. Reviewing those feasts just briefly, we start the Jewish calendar year or the Jewish year of a series of feasts with Passover, which is the death of the Lamb as a substitutionary sacrifice for sin. 03:08 We're very familiar with Passover. It corresponds with the death of Christ and what we have today in the New Testament as the communion, Lord's Supper. 03:19 And it is a celebration of the death of that substitutionary Lamb, applying the blood to the doorposts of the hearts so that the death angel of the house and then of the heart in the case of the Lord Jesus as a signifying that we trust in the provision of God for our salvation. 03:41 That was immediately followed by the feast of unleavened bread, which represented the sinless Christ who was buried according to the Scriptures. He was the sinless one. No leaven was found in him. They searched for leaven. They searched for imperfections. They could not find any. And Christ was buried in the grave without decay. 04:02 Leaven, of course, that which causes decay and fermentation. With no decay in the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, he came forth from the grave on the feast of first fruits. The first fruits was the first of the harvest of the year in the spring. It represented a barley harvest, guaranteeing that there was more harvest to come. 04:24 And it would take the first of the barley and present it to the Lord. And that was the guarantee that there was more harvest to come. And that is fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ, the first one out of the grave. And as he rose from the grave, even so we also shall rise from the grave. 04:43 And the graves will be opened on that great final day of resurrection. This is followed fifty days later or seven weeks later, 49 plus 1, by the feast of weeks, the feast of Pentecost. We read about it in Acts chapter 2. This corresponds with the wheat harvest, 05:03 fifty days after the resurrection, celebrating in the Old Testament the giving of the law. But in the New Testament, the giving of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit coming upon the people of God, God writing our law, his law in our hearts and not on stone tablets. It was the birth of the church. 05:24 And so we see that that fulfillment was also in Christ, the Baptizer. 05:29 The feast of weeks was as much about the Baptizer, Christ, as it was about the Holy Spirit or that which was being baptized with or filled with or coming upon or immersed by the Holy Spirit poured out upon the church on the day of Pentecost. 05:49 Then the Lord went silent as far as the feasts were concerned. He had those first four. And then the summertime. The summertime was a dry time in the country of Israel. But at the end of the harvest or at the end of the summertime came then the three fall feasts, 06:10 the feast of trumpets, which was looking forward to Christ, Christ fulfilling this as being a picture of the return of Christ. There's not much said about the feast of trumpets other than they were to blow the trumpets and to begin gathering together for the fall feast. If you might remember this, 06:29 in the feast of trumpets was always in the first day of the seventh month. And because they were on a lunar calendar, the new moon was the darkest time of the month. And that was feast of trumpets was always on that new moon, feast of new moon. 06:49 And then several days later, they would go into the day of atonement, ten days later, National Day of Repentance, representing the coming of the Lord when Israel will repent and recognize the Messiah. Of course, those were in between the feast of trumpets and the day of atonement or Yom Kippur were what was called the days of awe, 07:11 the days of awe. The Jewish people still celebrate that today or commemorate it. It's not really something to celebrate as much as to commemorate because the days of awe were those times when you were to go into a time and period of self-examination and repentance and repenting. And the way they do it, 07:30 since there is no sacrificial system in the Jewish faith any longer, they would repent by doing more good deeds than bad deeds. And of course, they entered into a works-oriented salvation rather than a sacrificially based payment for sin, which is what the Old Testament prescribes. 07:49 And so they would do good works and really evaluate it and pray hard and work hard to make sure that their names were in the book of life. There was the book of life unto death. There was the book of life unto life. 08:02 And there was that intermediate book which you hoped you kind of slipped over the edge and tilted toward the book of life so that you could live and blessed by God for the following year. But that day of atonement represents for us prophetically the time of Jacob's trouble, 08:23 when Israel will repent as a nation and recognize the Messiah that she had for so many years held in contempt and despised. And at the end of that is the feast of tabernacles on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. All three of these feasts happen right close together: trumpets, 08:45 atonement, tabernacles. And this was a time to be a time of great rejoicing. The days of awe were past. There had been repentance for sin. The sacrificial had been made and applied. And the high priest had gone into the holy of holies to atone for sin. 09:05 And now you know that your name is in the book of life. You're qualified for God's blessing. And you're going forward with the celebration. This was always held at the feast of tabernacles. It was always held on the fifteenth day of the month. And because they were again on a lunar month, the fifteenth day would be full moon. 09:25 And full moon represents light. It represents brightness. It represents the light in the darkness of night. And so full moon, light, and a time of rejoicing and was the most festive of all of the feasts, still is for the Jewish people. On the first day and on the eighth day, 09:46 there were to be holy convocations. There were to be gatherings. There were to be celebration. There was not to be any work, no regular work. It was a Sabbath day. Their sons and their daughters and their servants and strangers and widows and the fatherless, everyone was to participate in this time of celebration as you read about it in Deuteronomy 16. 10:07 There are several passages, parallel passages to the texts that we just read in Leviticus 23. There is Numbers 29, which prescribed the sacrifices. We'll touch on that in just a moment. And then Deuteronomy 16 also has a few more instructions as well as Deuteronomy 31. You can read more about it. 10:26 We'll limit our text this morning to chapter 23 of Leviticus. They were to celebrate the final harvest of the year. This was the feast of ingathering where you gather the final harvest, the harvest of grapes, the harvest of figs, the harvest of fruit, 10:47 the harvest of everything that could be harvested yet before the fall and winter, the grapes, the fruit, all of these things and accompanied by prayers for rain for the following season. Their dry season would be coming to a close. And they would be praying for rain. 11:07 And it's interesting to me this morning the way the Lord orchestrated the Scripture reading and the songs. We're talking about water. We're talking about light. We're talking about vision and seeing. 11:20 We're talking about rejoicing in the Lord, praying to Him for the new year. And they were to dwell in tabernacles or booths and to celebrate the goodness of God, the provisions of God that He had for them through the past year. 11:39 And looking back to their time in the wilderness, they were to erect booths from the fruit trees, the palm trees, the willows, and display in those booths. They came to display and hang on the booths different forms of fruit and fruit of the vine and celebrate the goodness of God. 12:00 This, in essence, was to honor the provisions of the Lord in the wilderness. What did He provide for them in the wilderness? He provided water. He provided bread. He provided shelter. And He provided what could be called a non-physical thing, joy, joy in the presence of God, 12:20 living under the authority and under the provision of God. And so those things are key when we come to understand the significance of the feast of tabernacles. Many sacrifices and offerings, in addition to the regular ones, were required. 12:35 Interesting, you can read in Numbers 29, there was the grain offerings of fine flour and the burnt offerings for sin and the drink offerings and all the divisions of the priests shared in its duties. There was a lot of activity happening in this time of celebration. Daily, they were to offer two rams, 12:56 fourteen lambs, one goat, and then a descending number of bowls. And so on the first day, they were to offer thirteen bowls. On the second day, they were to offer twelve. The third day, eleven. The fourth day, ten. The fifth day, nine. 13:16 The sixth day, eight. And the seventh day, seven bowls. I'm not exactly sure what the significance of that was except that's what God told them to do. And then on the eighth day, they would offer one more bowl in addition to all of the other sacrifices that were happening. 13:33 Every seven years in the year of Jubilee at the feast of tabernacles, they were to read through the law, the entire Pentateuch or Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. They were to read through the entire law in the presence of everyone: men, 13:55 women, children, strangers, widows, orphans. Everyone was to listen to the word of God. Why? To learn to fear God and obey His commandments. We don't do this every seven years. We do this every seven days, every seven days, not the whole Bible after all. 14:15 But we do listen to the reading of Scripture. We do hear the proclamation and the explanation of Scripture. We study the Scriptures. 14:26 And we worship the God of the Bible so that we can learn to fear God and obey His commandments, to have our relationship with Him that results in the fear of the Lord and obedience to His word. Now, daily, this is where you have to look to some extra biblical sources. 14:44 You can't just read about this in the Bible because it doesn't explain how this developed through the years. But with extra biblical sources, we know that at this time, every day, the priests and thousands of worshipers would descend from the temple mount. 15:01 They would come down a procession down the mount from the 15:09 top there down to the bottom. And at the bottom area, they would fill a pitcher at the Pool of Siloam. And you know what happened at the Pool of Siloam? It was a place of healing. And so they would fill this pitcher. 15:22 And with great celebration and trumpet blasts, they would then proceed back to the temple by a different route and march around the altar one time until they got to the seventh day. They would march around the altar seven times. Sounds a little bit like Jericho. 15:42 The altar didn't fall down. But something significant did happen in the time of Christ. March around the altar. Then they would pour out the water in the basin on the side of the altar in a basin that was to collect the offering or the drink offering. And on the other side, 16:02 then they would pour out the wine for the wine offering on the basin of the altar. And while they were doing this, they would be quoting from Isaiah 12:3, "Therefore, with joy, you will draw water from the wells of salvation." And so again, this was built around water, around provision. 16:21 What was the one primary provision that they lacked in the wilderness that God provided for them? Well, it was bread and water, water. And all this time, they would be singing the Psalms from Psalm 1:13 to 1:18. Interesting if you want to read through that and see what was part of their celebration. 16:42 Psalm 1:13, there's a number of things that come through in those passages. 16:48 Chapter 1:14:7-8 says, "Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a fountain of waters." And so they're reciting these Psalms and singing these Psalms as they are in this procession. 17:07 Psalm 1:15, 14, and 15 is part of that. "May the Lord give you increase more and more. You and your children, may you be blessed by the Lord who made heaven and earth." And so asking for God's increase, it's a time of blessing. "What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me? 17:28 I will take up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord, the cup, the provision, the provision for salvation." Now, their economy and their life was completely wrapped up around water, as you understand in deserts today, even in the United States. 17:49 It's all about water, water rights, water distribution, and making sure the people have enough water to sustain life. And what they were praying for is that November through March, that the latter rains would come, the rains, and so, or excuse me, 18:07 the former rains, that the initial rains would begin to refill their cisterns, replenish their rivers and their lakes and their water supplies. And then that would create the harvest needed resources for harvest for the next spring. No water in the fall, no harvest in the spring. 18:29 And so they were very much dependent on this. And so they'd pour out this water as a drink offering to the Lord, saying, "Lord, we need more water. And so we honor You with what we have." They recognized that they needed to pray for the refreshing rains to come. 18:45 And at the same time, there was a procession that would proceed to an area outside of the temple area where they would cut willows and then proceed back to the altar and place these willows in a shelter beside the altar to form a canopy, 19:03 all the things that looked toward God's provision. Now, say, what does all this mean? What does all this have to do with us? Well, if you want to turn to the book of John, chapter 7, we'll find out that not only did Christ fulfill the spring feast, He's fulfilling the fall feast. 19:22 And He is fulfilling the feast of tabernacles, feast of tabernacles. And so in John, chapter 7, Christ is the fulfillment of this feast. In John, chapter 7:1, it says, "After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee, for He did not want to walk in Judea because the Jews sought to kill Him." Now, 19:43 the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand. Now, there were three feasts where they were supposed to all go to Jerusalem: the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of weeks, and the feast of tabernacles. All were supposed to go to Jerusalem. And so His brothers, 20:01 then to paraphrase this passage, says, "Why don't you go up to Jerusalem and show yourself and do some mighty works up there, Jesus?" And this can be a little bit of a confusing passage to understand because Jesus indicated that He wasn't going. He led them kind of to believe that He wasn't going. But He said in verse 6, 20:23 "My time has not yet come, but Your time is always ready. The world cannot hate You, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil. You go up to this feast, for I am not yet going up to the feast." I'm not sure how the King James translates that. 20:41 But the New King has, "I am not yet going." And so He was not going to go at that moment at their instruction. He was going to go at the right moment from His Father's instruction. And so He remained in Galilee for some time until it was the right time. 20:59 And then His brothers went up. And then He went up secretly to the feast of tabernacles. This is followed by some intense discussions about His identity. Where is Jesus? Why isn't He here? And some people were saying, "He's a good man." Others were saying, 21:18 "No, He deceives the people." Verse 13, no one spoke openly because of the fear of the Jews. And they were wondering, "Where is Jesus so we can talk about Him and figure out who He is, whether He's good or bad?" And Jesus answered them and said, so when He begins teaching there, He says, "My doctrine is not mine, 21:37 but His who sent Me." And then they accused Him of having a demon, 21:42 accused Him of being of self-harm. He had a fetish for being martyred. Or was He going to kill Himself? Verse 20, "Who is seeking to kill you? Maybe He'll kill Himself," was some of the gossip around town. And in the middle of all this, 22:03 while this was happening, there's this seven-time procession happening, daily procession, and then the seven times around the altar. And while this is happening, verse 37, on the last day, that great day of the feast, 22:24 the great day of the feast, where they're remembering the provisions in the wilderness, where they're dwelling in the provisions of shelter, where they're remembering the need for water, Jesus stood and cried out saying, "If anyone thirst, 22:45 let Him come to Me and drink." This is the water. "Let Him come and drink. Let Him come and be satisfied spiritually. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of His heart will flow rivers of living water, rivers, 23:05 not just a cistern, not just a well, 23:10 but a spring, a spring of living water." There were three sources of water in Palestine. Number one, cisterns. If you've been in dry parts of the world, you know that many people have cisterns. You go to Jamaica, and they're off season. They have a cistern. Different places that have wet seasons and dry seasons, rainy seasons and dry seasons. 23:32 They'll collect the water during the rainy season so that they have it during the dry season. But there's a problem with that cistern. The cistern can get polluted, the water stagnant. I remember going to Jamaica. And in the big cistern, the big cistern that they used for water at the mission station, they finally cleaned it out. 23:54 You've heard this story before, some of you. They finally cleaned it out. And after many years, drained it all dry and cleaned it out and discovered some dead things in it, dead creatures like a cat. Now, so when you're taking a bath, a shower with water from the cistern, you're showering in some, 24:15 well, interesting water. Then there's also the spring water, spring water with springs, not spring, excuse me, well water. Well waters can go dry. Well waters can become polluted. But, ah, there is the springs water, spring water. 24:34 And that's the most fresh. That's the one that everybody wants. It's a continuous supply. And Jesus said, "Out of His innermost being shall flow," not cisterns of living water, not wells of living water, but rivers of living water, rivers of living water, an endless supply, 24:54 unpolluted, just fresh and cool and refreshing. This is the kind of life that we have in the Spirit. Life in the Spirit is an unpolluted, continuous source of thirst-quenching refreshment. And He's speaking of the Spirit here in verse 39, "This He spoke concerning the Spirit, 25:15 whom those believing in Him would receive. 25:17 For the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified." And so now that the Holy Spirit has been given because Jesus has been glorified, out of our innermost being will flow springs, refreshing rivers of living water, 25:39 not stagnant water, not polluted water, but life-giving, life-sustaining water. Is that our experience today as we serve the Lord? 25:50 Do you experience those times when the life and the water and the joy and celebration of Jesus Christ and His provisions well up within us and overflow? I hope you have those experiences and those times of a continuous source of thirst-quenching refreshment. 26:10 Now, something else was happening during this time of tabernacles. That is, they were also celebrating light. Remember, it's on the 15th day of the lunar month, full moon, after the days of darkness of the previous feast. On the second evening of the feast, 26:30 they would gather together in the outer court of the temple, the court of women, it's called. And in the center of the court, they would erect four massive menorahs or lampstands, candlesticks, menorahs. These would be so tall that in order to fill them with oil, you needed ladders. 26:52 And so they would have each one would have a ladder ascending up to the candlesticks to put the oil in and to light the lamps. And during this time, the members of the Sanhedrin at night would perform impressive torch dances while the temple and the streets were flooded with light. 27:12 It's a celebration time, light everywhere and celebration. And trumpets and flutes and harps and stringed instruments would resound as the Levites began to gather at the top of the stairs again, the temple steps. 27:32 And they would begin to descend. And if you look at your scriptures in Psalm 120 through 124, it's called the Psalms of Degrees, the Psalms of Degrees. And they would come down those steps one step at a time. As they came down the steps, 27:54 they would recite Psalm 120. And then they would move down the step to another Psalm, Psalm 121. Then another step, Psalm 122, all the way down to the bottom with Psalm 134. With each step, they would move down one step. And what was this a reminder of? 28:14 This was a reminder of the Shekinah glory of God that came down and filled the temple so that God came down and dwelt with men, dwelt among us. And so we see where that could be going. 28:33 In First Kings, chapter 8, verse 2, and Second Chronicles, you can read about it. You've already read it, I'm sure, where Solomon was dedicating the temple. It happened in the tabernacle as well. But it really got full experience there in the temple as Solomon was dedicating the temple. 28:52 And the glory of God descended. And the glory of God was so strong that the priests could no longer do their work. The light, glory is equated with light. The light of God's presence descended on the tabernacle. And God dwelt among men. 29:12 And get this, brothers and sisters. It was on the day of the feast of tabernacles. You go back and you look at it in First Kings, chapter 8, and Second Chronicles. I think it's about chapter 7 or 6 or 7. On that day, the glory of God descended. 29:35 On that day, they're celebrating light and water. And light was the other thing that they had need of provision in the wilderness experience. And on that day, Christ is standing up and saying, "I am the water of life. I am the bread of life. I will give you sight. 29:55 I am the light of the world. And I am the Shekinah glory come down to tabernacle among you. It's about Me. I am the one," He says, "who will fill you with the Holy Spirit." You see, Messiah would be referred to many times as light, the star out of Jacob, 30:15 the light of Israel, the light unto the Gentiles, a refiner's fire, a burning lamp, a son of righteousness. Now, turn over to John, chapter 8, verse 2. And this is happening right in this same time, chapter 8. 7:53, everyone went to his own house. 30:36 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. And in the morning, early in the morning, He came again into the temple. So we're talking feast of tabernacles right around this time. And He said in verse 12, verse 12, "I am the light of the world. 30:57 He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." You know, guys, folks, the things that you saw happen last night when the priests were walking down and they were celebrating with torch dances and they were walking down and reciting the scriptures and the light of the full moon and the light of the menorah and the light of the sun today, that's Me. 31:18 That's Me, Jesus. That's Me. If you want real light, you come to Christ. Chapter 9, again, right this same period of time, chapter 9, He went to this man who had been blind from birth. And verse 5, 31:39 "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." And looking at chapter 9, verse 14, 31:48 "Now it was the Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened His eye." And it doesn't take much Bible interpretation to know that what is happening here in the natural is a picture of what needs to happen to every one of us spiritually, 32:08 to have our eyes opened to see God in His world, in His works, in His plan, in His ways, His light. 32:22 And so here we have in this feast of tabernacles the celebration of light, light not just of the temple or of the city, but the light of the world, bread, the bread that came down from heaven to satisfy the hunger of mankind, water, 32:42 water not just from a cistern or from a well, but from a spring, from a river, and joy that would be full celebrating life in the Son, Jesus Christ, festival of tabernacles, celebration, celebration. Now, we're almost out of time. 33:03 But this is where I'm going to pick up on this next coming message. No more feast, but more prophetic implications of the feast. One more thing to look at, and that is the future fulfillment of the feast, the coming of the King, the ingathering of the final harvest, 33:24 when the Bible says that He will gather His wheat into His barns and the tares will be burned up with unquenchable fire. We get discouraged, brothers and sisters, when we think about the days in which we live. We get discouraged with what is happening around us. 33:43 We get discouraged with what might happen this coming year. I think Brother Justin referred to that, or maybe it was Trevor, what might happen. We don't know. But we get discouraged when we think about the tribulation that's coming upon the world. Will we go through it? Won't we go through it? How much trouble will the church endure? 34:03 How will we be able to make it? How much trouble is for the church and how much is for the world? How bad will it get? And we sometimes get fixated on the tribulation period. I want to tell you, when you celebrate the feast of tabernacles, you realize that there's something coming after Yom Kippur. 34:24 That is celebration, celebration. And so I believe that just like in the birth of a baby, Paul talks about the birth of a baby or the birth of childbirth, the travail of childbirth being like the return of the Lord and those contractions and that pain. And we get fixated on the pain. 34:44 But folks, brothers and sisters, the thing that takes a mother and a father, a mother especially, through that time of pain is the fact that there's a baby coming. It's here. It's ready to be born. And what takes us through times of tribulation and difficulty, whether it be the first three and a half years, the full seven years, 35:04 the last, whatever, what gets us through all those times of tribulation, the fact that there is an event coming, there is a time coming, brothers and sisters, when Christ will rule over this world. And it will be a just rule. There will be no more political maneuverings. 35:25 They shall beat their weapons into plowshares and study war no more. When peace will cover all the earth and mankind will know the Lord. And a time when righteousness will rule, sin will be banished, and the curse will be suspended. Now, we'll leave this for our next message. 35:46 But I want you to just look at two things yet. One is Zechariah, chapter 12. Zechariah, by the way, if you haven't camped there for a while, it's right before Malachi. Zechariah, chapter 14, rather, verse 16, 36:06 "During this reign of King Jesus, at the end of the tribulation, at the end of the war of the battle of Armageddon, it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, 36:25 the Lord of Hosts, and to keep what?" You looking at it? The feast of tabernacles. The feast of tabernacles is going to be kept during the reign of Christ. 36:40 Now, one more thing, Matthew 17:4. We've got to get to this. We've got to get to this. Matthew 17:4, "Peter bless his heart." A casual reading of the Mount of Transfiguration. 37:02 Jesus transfigured before them. Moses and Elijah come representing the law and the prophets and Christ, the fulfillment of the law and the prophets and all of them in their shining glory. Heavenly beings come down here on the mountain. Oh, that's interesting and significant. Heavenly beings come on down here on the mountain. 37:25 And Peter bless his heart says something that you think is way, way out to lunch. He said, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, let us make three tabernacles, three tents, three booths, 37:45 one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah." What was he saying? Brothers and sisters, he was not that far off. He was not just pulling something out of his hat. He just had the timing wrong. 38:02 The dwelling in booths, eschatologically or in relation to the coming reign of Christ, the dwelling in booths, he was wanting to set up the kingdom. Let's get the kingdom going. We've got Moses and Elijah and Christ here. Let's start the feast of tabernacles. 38:22 Peter, it's not time yet. We're here to do the spring feast, not the fall. We've got Passover. We've got unleavened bread. We've got wheats. We've got first fruits. Peter, he's just misplaced in his timing. 38:43 It's not a weird thing that he's suggesting. It is a biblical thing, but it wasn't the right time. And again, whether he knew it or not, he was wanting to go to the kingdom and bypass the cross. And Jesus never allowed him to do that. 39:04 So this thing of all of the feasts, I find this one the most exciting, the most gripping, and the most celebratory, the feast of tabernacles. And we can in spirit rejoice in that today to thank God for His provision, 39:25 the provision of Christ, our bread, the provision of Christ, our living water, the provision of Christ, our shelter, our safety, our security, our reason for celebrating anything, our source of our joy. You see, Jesus, if you forget everything else this morning, Jesus is our source. 39:45 He is our source. 39:46 And so when we go through this next year, remember that it's not about how hard we work. It's not about how much we try to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. It's about letting Jesus be the source of life within us, asking Him to fill us with His spirit. 40:07 I was challenged this morning. I was reading a post on Facebook from one of my nieces. I thought about just printing it out and reading it this morning, but I decided not to. But she touched on the new year. She said, "My last year has been very, very difficult. There's been all kinds of things that I've dealt with, 40:28 some good, some very bad." She said, "And I don't feel like I'm in a position to start any resolutions. I just need to be nourished." And so the word that the Lord gave her for her new year is nourishment, nourishment. 40:49 Brothers, that's what Jesus is. Jesus is not our resolution setter. Jesus is our nourishment. He's our bread. He's our water. He's our shelter. He's our joy. He is the source. 41:08 Let's pray. Father, I pray that You will increase the joy. 41:15 Lord, sometimes I know I'm guilty of this, of allowing the negative things of life to overtake and overcome and snuff out my joy. And Lord, we don't want to do that. We daresn't do that, especially, Lord, when You are the source of our life. 41:35 You are the source of our nourishment. You are the refreshment of our soul and spirit, and You are the cause for rejoicing. 41:45 Lord, let us look forward beyond today, beyond tomorrow, not with a list of more resolutions and more things where we're going to try to do better and try to do better and try to do better. No, but where we let that life of Christ flow from within, where we connect with the Spirit, 42:06 the Spirit of Christ, the person of Christ, the great baptizer. In the Holy Spirit, with the Holy Spirit. So Lord, I pray a blessing upon this congregation this morning. I pray a blessing upon each one that we might tabernacle with You, that we would invite You into our booth, 42:28 into our booth, into our tent, into our tabernacle, and give us joy. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.