Chag Sameach Sukkot kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah and welcome to the last of the autumnal and annual festivals of Messianic Israel. It marks the conclusion of a series of historically important events beginning with the return of Yah'shua (Jesus) at Yom Teruah, followed by the Final Judgment at Yom haKippurim and the grand celebration of the Remnant Bride with their Master and King! And finally, on the eighth day of this moed, at Shemini Atseret, the anticipated thousand year-long Millennium of peace will begin desired by all believers. These three events happen very close to one another, just days apart, because when the Saviour is back, the time for making choices are well and truly over. The choices we have made become our final choices.

What I find particularly interesting about this festival of simcha (joy) is that a major component of it is looking back and commemorating the long journey, with all its difficulties and challenges, that brought us thus far. The great part of this assembly room is today occupied by a tent, booth or sukkah because here in, the far north, it is far too cold to live outside. It's cold enough inside what with the fourfold rise in the cost of electricity during the present crisis, that, we have been forced to carefully save and prepare in order to survive the coming winter, but at least we are not outside in the rain and strong winds that we have been lashed by. So we are doing the next best thing.

So why have we erected this tent? Because Yahweh told the Israelites they should live in booths for seven days so that the generations would know that His people lived in booths when He brought them out of Egypt. Each Sukkot, Torah-odedient believers build, dwell and usually eat, in booths or temporary dwellings for seven days. As you can see, this year we have a new one. It time for joyful celebration - we have made it so far! Elohim (God) has been with us, and guided us, and seen us through great difficulties, and He will see us through the new ones as they arrive by our trusting Him and obeying Him. Furthermore, Yah'shua (Jesus) is our tabernacle or dwelling place (John 14:14) and we dwell, as it were, under His tent or covering too. So this tent reminds us of that too.

So on the one hand we remember what our ancestors had to do - the sacrifice of creature comforts they had to make - in order to reject the pagan Egyptian system by completely leaving it - complete separation was required not just to survive but, importantly, to thrive. And to be 'separate' or qadosh in that way is the Hebrew idea of being holy. To be holy is to be separate or separated from all of that which would pollute each individual soul and the Messianic Community (Church) as a whole. It is a picture of living a lifestyle separate from that of the world whilst remaining in the world to earn our daily bread and to witness until the signal is given from heaven to finally leave it completely and head for the Promised Land once more. For our ancestors, that Promised Land would become the nation of Israel.

This Promised Land was not some mighty, impregnable Empire. It was not a huge realm like Babylon, Egypt, Assyria and Persia, or in modern times, like the former British or French Empires, Russia, Brazil, Canada, Australia, China or the United States which are huge nations. Israel was pitifully small by comparison, a drop in the ocean of nations. In a modern aircraft you could have flown across it from west to east in less than 10 minutes. Not only that, but geopolitically, Israel was situated in the worst possible location in the Fertile Crescent with huge empires to the north (Babylon, Assyria, Persia and Rome) and to the south (Egypt and Ethiopia). To 'get' at one another these empires, when at war (as they commonly were), would have meant passing through the slivver of a country called Israel. Israel was incredibly vulnerable.

So why did Yahweh send His people to probably one of the unsafest places in the Middle East? Because its safety and prosperity was dependent on His supernatural power, not on the nation's own human strength to muster armies or generate fabulous wealth. Once, and only once, could it be said that the Kingdom of Israel was powerful and rich, in the days of King Solomon, but that was only because at that time Assyria and Egypt - their immediate neighbours - were weak, troubled by internal crises. And it was precisely at such a time of material prosperity that the people, as is typical, ceased relying on Yahweh but on themselves, including - and especially - the King himself, a reason it was supposed to remain a 12-Tribed Confederacy and not become a Monarchy! There is much we can personally learn what not to do, because every Empire in history has eventually gone the same way.

It was in this same way of trusting Yahweh and obeying His mitzvot (commandments) that this little, young and inexperienced nation destroyed Pharaoh's army by Yahweh's power through Moses, and it was in the same way of trusting Yahweh and obeying His mitzvot (commandments) that this young and inexperienced nation destroyed the giants and Canaanite powers occupying the sin-ripened territories of the Holy Land, which they did by Yahweh's power through Joshua. Israel would never have overpowered Canaan's major fortress, Jericho, without supernatural intervention.

The idea was simple: Israel, created and preserved out of a single plural family, would exist solely by Yahweh's grace and power and not by their own arm-of-flesh. And the condition for this? Trusting in Yahweh and obeying His mitzvot or commandments - living the Torah-lifestyle. The promise was given them that if they adhered to the covenant Yahweh established with them at Mt.Sinai, they would be protected and do what no tiny nation in its own strength could ever possibly do. They would prosper and enjoy the covering of Heaven and not be swallowed up in another's Empire, for in this world you either have an empire or you exist as a servant nation in someone else's. In doing so, Yahweh would then reveal His glory through a tiny and helpless nation sandwiched between the superpowers of the day in the same way that today He reveals His glory today through individual believers trusting in Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) and obeying the New Covenant Torah scattered throughout the nations of the world. And we, like ancient Israel when it was taken into captivity, are waiting to be brought out of a rapidly growing enslaving world system called 'Egypt' ourselves by a latter-day prince like Moses.

We are on a repeat journey of sorts. We are being prepared, as members of the scattered nation of Israel in the metaphorical wilderness of the gentile nations, for a homecoming which is both inward (the most important part) and, ultimately, outward too. Our destiny is in that vulnerable plot of land again that is presently occupied by modern-day 'Canaanites' though this time we won't need an army to do the job. A day will come, in the future, when the Promised Land will be cleared of its occupants (save the few who, like Rahab and her family, who yield to Messiah) to make way for the returning Twelve Tribes of scattered Israel that are presently in every nation under the sun. Their journey home - this Second, Final or Last Exodus, will be even more dramatic that the first one. The first one occurred under conditions of primitive civiliations. The second one will occur in an advenced, high tech civilisation, and will require miracles even greater than the First Exodus, for which you are being prepared. As I have said many times, this is the dress rehearsal.

This year, being the Year of Penultimate Judgment, finds us facing food and fuel shortages because of rising inflation and on the edge of a nuclear war that could easily escalate into a global or third world war. Indeed, the war in Ukraine ramped up dramatically. We all pray that that it won't go global for I am not at all convinced we must give assent to, let alone surrender to, any occult timetable spoken of by occultists like the late Albert Pike. Why is a Third World War necessarily inevitable just because a satanist and prominent freemason prophesied three of them and so far got two right? Why do we even believe him or his ilk, let alone modern claimant-prophets spouting the same thing?

I am not saying such an event can't, or won't, take place - I'm simply saying I won't have my thinking steered, or my fears aroused, by the servants of the devil. If I want a stunningly accurate prophecy by a believer who foresaw the two world wars in remarkable detail, whose predictions came to pass, then I can go to the 19th century Eastern Orthodox Serbian navi (prophet) Mitar Tarabić (1829-1899) (see right) whom Yahweh showed great things in the 1800's.

The Book of Revelation, which we're currently studying, speaks of dreadful things in the very 'last of the last days', but nowhere are we told there will be a nuclear third world war, in spite of attempts to force one of Ezekiel's prophecies to fit into such a scenario. All we're told is that there will be "wars and rumours of wars" (Mt.24:6; Mk.13:7; Lk.21:9) and that's an ongoing prophecy being fulfilled. So I refuse to allow myself to be terrorised by the pundits and 'prophets' who tell me a third world war is inevitable on the original authority of a devil-worshipper. I am barely thinking of such a possibility. I am far too busy preaching Christ, discipling the Remnant and getting on with my own life to be worried about such things. Yes, I carefully observe what's happening in the world, make mental notes, and prayerfully consider whether a response is necessary, but I don't let them seize me by the throat. And today of all days...and over the next week...is the Remnant's day for celebration, because we know how this all ends! So we shall be as "wise as serpents but as harmless as doves" (Mt.10:16). Be prepared, yes, absolutely, but have your eyes fully on Yah'shua (Jesus) and be at peace in Him.

So what else are we doing over the next seven-plus-one days other than to remember our ancestors' journey through the wilderness and priming ourselves to prep, at least mentally for now, for a similar journey that we, or at least the last generation, will have to undertake? Specifically, we are also to look ahead into the future in the anctipation and hope of a joyful reunion with the Saviour that is described in celebratory language in the Book of Revelation as the Marriage Feast of the Lamb:

"'Let us be glad and rejoice and give [Yahweh] glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife (bride, the Remnant) 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 or holy ones). Then he said to me, 'Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!''" (Rev.19:6-9, NKJV).

Without getting too deeply into this as we will do this when we get to this passage in our Book of Revelation Course, I do think it important to draw out some important truths about this great happening. The fact that Sukkot lasts seven days according to the mitzvah (commandment) given to us to do the same over the current week, ought to make us cast our minds back to Chag haMatzah, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which we observe each spring, in the midst of which (specifically, on its second day) is Yom haBikkurim or the Day of Firstfruits in which we celebrate the resurrection of He who was its firstfruits. As everyone knows, this seven-day period symbolically represents a single human lifespan - my lifespan or yours - even if they are not the same length in years - in which we are commanded to dutifully commit ourselves to daily getting the chametz or leaven of sin out of our lives through the power of the resurrected Messiah by repenting (resetting the direction of our lives when we go off-course), that is to say, by what Scripture calls making teshuvah. Seven days equals a lifetime.

So we should not be surprised if the symbolism of this early seven day-long Chag haMatzah festival in the spring is matched or paralleled by the symbolism of the later seven-day long festival of Sukkot in the autumn (fall). If seven days represented a lifestime at Chag ha Matzah then so too much the seven days in the autumn festival for the former to shadow the latter. In other words, this is not a literal feast that we will be eating in the future but be something that we will be doing in the lifespan of a resurrected being. As far as æonian time is concerned for a resurected being, the seven-day 'feast' must last a thousand years.

In this life we live about 70 years; in the next we will live forever, but within this particular timeframe or æon, we will be living a 'thousand years'. And as Shemini Atseret or the 'last Great Day' is the promise of the first day of the Millennium (Year #1 in the new Millennial calendar), so for those living in the Millennium itself, the final Shemini Atseret is the promise of an entirely New World yet to come after the Millennium because this is the repeating divine tavnith or pattern. Only this time, we won't be busy removing sin from our lives but celebrating that we did so in the past...if we did so, and were delivered from it by Christ! Those who didn't, or wouldn't, will have to wait as disembodied spirits for another thousand years in Sheol before their (second) resurrection comes along and claims them for their glory...or lack thereof, for you will all recall that there are two resurrections and three glories.

To help you understand why the Marriage Feast of the Lamb is going to be this way, let me share with you some insights that Charles Spurgeon had on the subject because there are some valuable nuggets of truth we can profit from here. Commenting on the 9th verse of chapter 19 of the Book of Revelation, he said:

"'Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.' (KJV) At first sight it may seem incongruous (inconsistent) to blend these two things togegher - the Lamb and a marriage feast. But the incongruity (inconsistancy) of figures [of speech] must sometimes be allowed in order to make more apparent some significant truth of God (Elohim). I gather that Christ, even in His highest glory, still wishes us to regard Him as the sacrifice for sin. Since He delights to remember that He was our sacrifice, so does He appear as a Lamb in the marriage feast. He links the memory of His grief with the manifestation of His glory. The marriage supper is a feast of love - there love is at home. So Jesus (Yah'shua), that He may reveal Himself in His love best of all, appears as a bleeding sacrifice on the day of His love's triumph.

"This marriage feast will be the bringing of the people of God (Elohim) into the closest and happiest union with Christ the Lord (Master) in glory. Even now the Lord Jesus (Master Yah'shua) is not a stranger to some of us, and we are not strangers to Him. Yet a day will come when we will see Him face-to-face, and then we will know Him with a clearer and fuller knowledge than is possible for us today. The feast will be, like most other marriage feasts, the fullfillment of long expectation. We do not know the longings of the heart of Christ for that day of glory. For this He lived. For this He died" [1].

Now I am not saying there won't be fabulous sacred banquets in the Millennium - absolutely I believe there will be, and especially each year at Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths, with a major one in Jerusalem where Messiah reigns as King, which I am sure He will personally attend. We know that from at least one Tanakh (Old Testament) prophecy that attendance at these will be mandatory for all nations each year (e.g. Zech.14:16-19). Egypt is specifically mentioned so we know that many of the extant nations will continue to exist in the Millennium and we can expect that some which no longer exist today will be re-established. And though demons will no longer be present at that time to plague sinners, individuals and nations will still have their free agency to submit or rebel against King Yah'shua (Jesus) for which there will be consequences, for we read:

"...the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, Yahweh-Elohim, and to celebrate Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles). If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh-Elohim, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. Yahweh will bring on them the plague (drout) He inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles). This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles)" (Zech.14:16-19, NIV).

Now, to be fair, there are some who attribute the fulfillment of this prophecy to the end of the Millennium and not the end of the current æon and the beginning of the Millennium. They see all this happening after Satan and his demonic hosts are released one last time to tempt the descendants of the original survivors of our own end times to see if they will be faithful as we hopefully will have been. That is only fair and just. Yahweh treats all alike. There are no 'teacher's pets'. Either way - and I grant this prophecy could be interpreted both ways (there's a good case for the alternative explanation) - the necessity of continuing festival observance remains incumbant upon all true believers today and of all nations in the Millennium: they weren't abolished at His first coming as orthodox Christians - Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant - suppose, nor will they be restricted to Israel as a separate body of people to Christians as Zionists falsely teach. So you would be perfectly justified in supposing that this joyous time of feast-making will continue forever as part of the perpetual recongition by Yahweh's people and of the whole earth - the entirety of humanity living on this planet - of what it was the Lamb of Elohim (God) did for us on the cross in the meridian of time:

"'As surely as I live,' says the Master,
'every knee will bow before Me;
every tongue will confess to Elohim (God).'" (Rom.14:11, NIV; also Phil.2:11)

You see, this is not optional. All those who are given the privilege to be on, or return to, the earth when Yah'shua (Jesus) returns will want to bow the knee and confess with the tongue that the Master (Lord) Yah'shua (Jesus) is Elohim (God), and those who don't want to - or won't - will be forced to wherever they happen to be until they see the light of truth and want to do the same of their own free volition. Accepting reality is not ultimately a choice - it is an obligation, because all things will be made whole.

As the ancient Israelites looked back in remembrance and commemoration of the wilderness wandering in Sinai when they were forced to live simply and roughly in booths, tabernacles or tents; and as Messianic Israelites from the Book of Acts onwards looked back - and still look back - to the redemption or salvation worked out by Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) for us on the Cross of Calvary for our sins in addition to rememberting the trials and challenges of the First Exodus in Sinai; and as the Millennial qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) will look back in remembrance and celebration of the First Exodus in Sinai, the atonement of Christ at Calvary, and to the amazing events that (for us) are yet to occur during the Second Exodus of the 12 tribes of Israel from every nation of the earth at Sukkot, so, additionally, as now, we shall all be looking to the glorious future of Yahweh's people in Messiah forever and ever! And if what we believe about Universal Reconciliation is true, then this is something all human beings and all malakim (angels) and all elohim (rulers) will do in the distant future when the Cosmos is finally at rest. So this Sukkot festival will grow and grow in importance, possibly swallowing up all the other divine moedim (appointments) one day, in the memory of all created beings. Now there's a thought!

So we have covered a vast stretch of time now - three or four æons - in order to get the bigger picture. This is a time for us to look back in time with gratititude to Yahweh that He has brought us to today. It is also a time to celebrate that we are alive, that Yah'shua (Jesus) is with us and that He knows the future and has taken care of it for us. So we can look into the future with hope no matter what Pharaoh sends against us to bring us back into bondage and slavery. Accordingly it seems appropriate to ask the great preacher to make a comment on one last passage of Scripture I'd like to share with you today, from 1 Peter, chapter 1, verses 3 to 5, New King James Version:

"Blessed be the Elohim (God) and Father of our Master Yah'shua the Messiah (Lord Jesus Christ), who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of Elohim (God) through emunah (faith) for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honour, and glory at the revelation of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith -- the salvation of your souls" (1 Peter 1:3-9, NKJV).

Speaking of this 'incorruptibe inheritance', Spurgeon said:

"The substance of everything earthly passes away by degrees. Even solid granite will rot and crumble. It is a paradox that the substance of things seen is devoid of substance. Empires, dynasties, and thrones have tottered by internal corruption. But the inheritance of the saints (qodeshim, set-apart ones) of God (Elohim) has nothing within it that can make it perish" [2].

May you all have a joyful Sukkot and for a moment forget all the tribulation going on in the world and simply celebrate the Good News that is our ongoing life in Christ with this amazing hope of the future and in the sure knowledge that in Him we have this perpetual covering of glory which will cover all Israel and be visible once again, as prophesied in the fourth chapter of Isaiah, in the very end time.

Each day we will have some short readings and testimonies when we gather to eat and then on Shemini Atseret we will gather once again, as we are now, for the final message of Sukkot, of the season of festivals, and of the year. Yahweh bless you all and may your cups be full to running over. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] The Spurgeon Study Bible, King james Version (Holman Bibles, Nashville, Tennessee: 2018), pp.1393-4)
[2] Ibid., p.1353