The Feasts of God (15)

Table of Contents

120. Tabernacles: Thy Kingdom Come

121. Tabernacles: Kingdom Authority

122. Tabernacles: So Long Ago the Garden

123. Summary

Chapter One Hundred Twenty

The Feasts of God

Tabernacles

Thy Kingdom Come

The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Jesus in Luke 17:20-21

Jesus didn’t preach the Gospel of Personal Salvation, which has been the main focus of Evangelical Christianity for many years. Instead, He preached the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Evidently, the Kingdom message was as misunderstood when Jesus first preached it as it is today. In Luke 17:20-21 Jesus was responding to a question the Pharisees had asked Him pertaining to the Kingdom. The Pharisees wanted to know when the Kingdom would come.

I believe the rest of chapter seventeen of Luke’s account of the Gospel is a prophetic scripture, looking ahead to the Church Age and the eventual coming of the Kingdom Age.

Age is a relative term, and can be used to describe different periods of history.

I often use the term Church Age to describe the first two millennia since the crucifixion, resurrection, ascension of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the term Kingdom Age to describe the third millennium of the Church, which we are now entering into on the timeline of history, according to the Gregorian calendar.

Peter informed us that a day is as a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are as a day (see 2 Peter 3:8). Some of what Jesus prophesied in the seventeenth chapter of Luke was concerning the first two days (millennia) of the Church, but most of what He said was a picture of the third day (millennium) of the Church, which is the day (millennium) we have now crossed the threshold of, when the Church Age is transitioning into the Kingdom Age. (Note: The Church won’t cease to exist during the Kingdom Age, but instead will come to completion/perfection.)

I believe the seventeenth chapter of Luke describes the greatest of all spiritual awakenings, which is about to take place throughout the world.

This awakening is going to be a major suddenly of God, seeming to take place spontaneously and all at once throughout the world, as described in Luke 17:24.

For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.

Luke 17:24

The third day of the Church, which is revealing the Kingdom coming in/on Earth as in Heaven, is also the seventh day (millennium) of/since creation. There is a parallel between the seven days of creation and the seven millennia the Bible focuses on.

The seventh day is the Sabbath. The millennium we have now crossed the threshold of, is the Sabbath of all Sabbaths, which the Sabbaths of the law and the Sabbath of creation all point the way to. It is the day (millennium) the writer of Hebrews prophesied about.

For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

Hebrews 4:8-9

This day (millennium) is His day that Jesus spoke of in Luke 17:24. It is the Day of the Lord spoken of throughout the Bible.

It is the day that will reveal the ultimate prophetic fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles, when God fully indwells His people, tabernacling in them to such an extent that they literally become an extension of Him, becoming the true Ekklesia (Greek word for Church, meaning a governing body), bringing His Kingdom on/in Earth as in Heaven, which is no less than the fulfillment of Revelation 11:15:

The kingdoms [nations] of this world are become the kingdoms [Kingdom] of our Lord [Jesus], and of his Christ [the Body of Christ]; and he shall reign for ever and ever [Jesus the Head and Body joined in perfect unity].

There is a remnant on Earth today finding that rest that remains, trusting completely in God to reveal the purpose of this new day (millennium). This remnant is beginning to get a glimpse of this reality, a taste of it, and as a result they are operating in greater authority than ever before.

So, while the Kingdom of God first has to manifest in us, ultimately it will manifest throughout the world, literally changing the world.

Surely, absolutely, we were born for such a time as this!

Chapter One Hundred Twenty One

The Feasts of God

Tabernacles

Kingdom Authority

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

Matthew 4:8-9

And Jesus came and spake unto them saying, All power [authority] is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Matthew 28:18

In Matthew 28:18 (above) the word power (KJV) is exousia in Greek, and literally means delegated authority and the right to use it.

When God created Adam in the Garden of Eden, He gave him authority over Earth. But when Adam fell, he in turn gave that authority to the devil. The devil had no legal right to that authority, except that the one (Adam) who possessed it had given it to him.

However, as we have established in previous teachings, the real man God created in the garden was not the first Adam, but the last Adam, Jesus, who had a legal right to the authority God had given the first Adam. So, in essence, the devil really had no legal right to that authority.

When the devil tempted Jesus, by promising to give Him the authority the first Adam had given him (if Jesus would fall down and worship him), there was really no temptation, because Jesus knew the devil was an illegal possessor of that authority. Jesus knew that authority was already in His possession, actually given to Him and not the first Adam in the garden, when God created man.

Obviously, the devil had no clue to this reality, and thought he was operating in that authority when he used the Jews and the Romans to crucify Jesus. Had Jesus not allowed the Jews and the Romans to crucify Him, they would not have been able to. Jesus alone had the authority to lay down His life, but it had to be at the hands of the Jews and the Romans, crucifying the only innocent man who had ever lived on Earth, to make it a legal transaction and a covenant cut in His own blood with the Father, enabling and securing the salvation of all.

It was that authority that belonged solely to Jesus even when He was crucified, that enabled Him to descend into the lower parts of the Earth and take the keys to death and Hades. And that same authority also raised Him from the dead.

It is the same authority that now indwells us, those who are born again (born from above) and baptized with the Holy Spirit.

The verses that follow Matthew 28:18 commission us to use that authority.

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world [age].

Matthew 28:19-20

Using this authority to reach, teach and literally change nations will bring about the fulfillment of Revelation 11:15:

The kingdoms [nations] of this world are become the kingdoms [Kingdom] of our Lord, and of his Christ [the Body of Christ]; and he [we] shall reign for ever and ever.

Surely, absolutely and without a doubt, we were born for such a time as this!

Chapter One Hundred Twenty Two

The Feasts of God

Tabernacles

So Long Ago the Garden

A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

Solomon’s Song 4:12

So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Genesis 3:24

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

John 20:15

And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [Jesus] was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

1 Corinthians 15:45-46

I don’t think it was a coincidence that when Mary Magdalene first saw Jesus in the garden where he had been entombed, she mistook Him for the gardener.

Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden to dress and keep it (see Genesis 2:15), so we could say the first Adam was a gardener. In John 20:15 we see Jesus, after He was resurrected from the dead, appearing to Mary Magdalene and she mistook Him for the gardener.

This is a type and shadow of 1 Corinthians 15:45-46. It is a picture of the two Adams. Between the first Adam and the last Adam (Jesus), four-thousand years of history on planet Earth had passed. Four-thousand years of suffering because of sin. And now here we are, two-thousand more years since the first Adam and the suffering has continued.

Jesus came preaching the Kingdom of God but here we are two-thousand years later and the Kingdom is just now beginning to manifest in fullness on planet Earth. I emphasize just beginning. It would seem that the suffering of mankind is certainly no less and maybe even more intense than before Jesus came as the Son of Man.

There is an old saying, “The darkest hour is just before dawn.” While it is not in the Bible, I think there is a lot of truth to it.

We are now entering the seventh day (millennium) of/since creation. On the Jewish calendar, the day begins at evening, as recorded in the Genesis account of creation. So the day begins as the darkness of night is quickly approaching. There is a little light left at the very beginning of the day but soon the darkness of night comes.

As we have been studying, this seventh day of/since creation is the Sabbath. All the Sabbaths of the law are but types and shadows of this day. This is the ultimate Sabbath when the people of God will realize and experience the rest of Hebrews 4:9. That rest will produce an end to the suffering sin has caused for the last six-thousand years.

Six-thousand years is a long time. Many generations have come and gone. The perfection of the Garden of Eden before the fall is a foreign concept to all the descendants of Adam and Eve, because Adam and Eve were the only people who actually lived in the garden. Not even their immediate children had any memory of the garden. All they knew was the fear of death and laboring to survive by the sweat of their face (see Genesis 3:19).

But now, suddenly (in the twinkling of an eye), after all these years, a remnant of mankind, which is also a remnant of the Church and the Body of Christ, is getting a glimpse of the restoration of the garden. As we are entering this new day, the flicker of evening light is foreshadowing the dawn that awaits just beyond the night.

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles [nations] shall come to thy light, and kings to thy brightness of thy rising.

Isaiah 60:1-3

Surely we were born for such a time as this.

Chapter One Hundred Twenty Three

The Feasts of God

Summary

The Volume of the Book

Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.

Hebrews 10:7

Then said I. Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation. Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.

Psalm 40:7-10, 16 (A psalm of David)

The volume of the Book is so much more than words on the pages of our Bible. The Bible is a living thing; and as such, becomes synonymous with the person that God is, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

When David wrote Psalm 40, he wrote it in the first person. While he was speaking of himself, he was also prophesying and speaking the words of Jesus, which the writer of Hebrews makes clear (I encourage you to read the entire tenth chapter of Hebrews).

So when David saw himself in the volume of the Book, long before Jesus was born as a baby in Bethlehem, he saw himself as one and the same with Jesus, who the entire volume of the Book is about. Perhaps this is why God saw David as a man after His own heart (see 1 Samuel 13:14/Acts 13:22).

David even saw himself as having God’s law in his heart, much more than a written law he tried to obey. To have God’s law in one’s heart goes beyond obedience; it literally means a person’s nature is to obey God’s law. It takes obedience beyond an act of doing, and makes it an act of being. While David saw himself in this way, it was not actually possible for him to experience this reality until after God became a man in the person of Jesus, being tempted in every way as we are but remaining sinless, and learning obedience through the things He suffered.

One New Man

In Genesis 1:26, when God said, “Let us make man in our image after our likeness,” it had to come to pass. Once He said it, it was a done deal. Nothing could change it.

But then in Genesis 1:27 we are told that God created man in His image, without any more mention of likeness. So, what happened to likeness?

The Hebrew word for image is tselem. It means, among other things, resemblance or a representative. The Hebrew word for likeness is demuwth, which means like manner, like nature or like character.

Adam was made in God’s image, to be His representative on Earth. Image can be created. Advertising agencies do it all the time. However, likeness or character cannot be created. Character has to be developed. Hence, in verse 27 there is no mention of likeness.

So, if Adam was created in God’s image but not in His likeness, how did he become the likeness of God, having the character of God, which is pure, genuine and unadulterated love?

In order for mankind to experience the character of God, man had to first fall and acquire a knowledge of good and evil. Adam, in his original state, knew neither. He wasn’t good or evil, he just was. He resembled God and represented God but was not like God in character. In Genesis 3:22 God said, “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.”

In order for mankind to be in a position to become the character of God, he had to first come to a knowledge of good and evil. However, initially, in that state he lacked the ability to overcome evil with good, so evil reigned not only in his life but throughout the earth.

There is a sense in which, when God said, “Let us make man in our image after our likeness,” the man He was speaking into existence was not Adam but Jesus. Adam was created in His image but not in His likeness. It was Jesus who came not only with the image of God but with the likeness or character of God as well.

So, in essence, the real man God created was Jesus. Today we sometimes speak of real men, or a man’s man. In the scope of mankind on Earth, Jesus is that man.

Ephesians 2:14-15 speaks of Jesus being our peace and unifying both Jew and Gentile as one new man in Him. In a very real sense, Jesus is the only man God created and when Jews or Gentiles are born again (born from above) they become that same one new man, Jesus.

As he is, so are we in this world.

1 John 4:17

When we speak of the Body of Christ, we are speaking of the only real man there is. All others are only fallen mankind, perishing in sin. The real man, Jesus the Head and Body, is eternal. So ultimately, He will be the only man; the one God created when he said in Genesis, “Let us make man in our image after our likeness.”

This is in essence what 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 says. The first Adam was physical and died. The last Adam (Jesus) is spiritual and lives forever. It is only as all things are reconciled into Him that all mankind will become that one new man and live forever as an eternal being.

For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

Colossians 1:19-20

The Greek word for image in 1 Corinthians 15:49 is eikon and unlike the Hebrew word for image, means likeness or character. This verse says that fallen man, before we were born again, had the character (or lack of character) that the first Adam possessed. But now, as new creatures or creations in Christ (see 1 Corinthians 5:17), we are becoming like Him in character.

We are becoming, not just that one new man but the only man. The man God spoke of when He created Adam in Genesis was not the first Adam but the last Adam, Jesus. God spoke Him into existence, which is why after creating man He said, “Behold, it was very good (see Genesis 1:31).” The first Adam, who God formed from the dust of the earth, and the last Adam, who was born of a woman, exist because God said, “Let us make man in our image after our likeness.”

There is only one man, Jesus the Head and us, the Body. There are no divisions in that Body. Each part supplies what is needed in order for the other parts to function properly. While that does not appear to be the case at the present time, that is who we are becoming. It is who we are growing into as we become the likeness of God and it will happen in this new day we are entering, which will be the ultimate prophetic fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles.

In the scope of eternity, we are already there. But on the timeline of history, we are getting there.

The Faith of Jesus Christ

I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is of the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.

Philippians 3:8-9 (emphasis added)

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things will be added unto you.

Matthew 6:33

Mankind has no needs.

You might think, we need to eat to survive. Or, we need to have shelter from the elements or from intruders. Or, we need to have finances to purchase the necessities of life.

But in reality, these are not our needs. These are God’s needs. He needs us to have these things so we can play our part in fulfilling His purpose for mankind on Earth.

You might think, we need God; we need to be born again (born from above); we need to know Jesus. But in reality, God needs us to be born again and know Jesus, to bring His Kingdom in/on Earth as in Heaven.

While the Bible does speak of having faith in Jesus or in God, Philippians 3:9 speaks of the faith of the Lord. So in essence, our having faith in Him can only be realized because it is not really our faith, but His faith working in us that produces the desired results.

So we don’t need to exercise our faith to get our needs met. Rather, it is His faith at work in us to bring about His plans and purposes. The things we often perceive as our needs are really His need to accomplish His desire for mankind and the universe.

When this process of God fully indwelling mankind (see Galatians 4:19 AMP), literally living His life in and through mankind is completed, the ultimate fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles will be complete.

And, the seven thousand year plan of God for mankind and planet Earth, which the Bible focuses on will be complete.

World without End

However, the Feast of Tabernacles also gives us a hint of what comes after that seven thousand year period.

Tabernacles was considered to be a seven day feast, but was sandwiched between two Sabbaths, actually making it an eight day feast.

Seven in scripture is the number of completion or perfection. Eight is the number for new beginnings.

So I submit to you, our Bible is not complete. There is much more to be written as it plays out beyond the seventh day (millennium). There will be an eighth day (millennium). And much more beyond that.

The apostle Paul said the world is without end. Therefore, time will never end.

However, because of the perfection that will be realized in the seventh day (millennium), time will be overwritten by eternity.

And it yet remains to be seen what that will look like.

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21

I must say it again:

Surely we were born for such a time as this!

In Conclusion

THE LORD spoke again to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, “The appointed times (established feasts) of the LORD which you shall proclaim as holy convocations [called assemblies]…

Leviticus 23:1-2 AMP

Without an understanding and working knowledge of the complete prophetic significance of the Feasts of God, it is impossible to understand the New Testament and the plan of God for mankind and planet Earth.

According to historical accounts, Jewish Christians in the first century AD continued to celebrate the Feasts of God, which the Gentile Christians also celebrated, not because they were under the law to do so but because they must have had some understanding of the complete and ultimate prophetic significance of the feasts.

These feasts or festivals were holy convocations, or in other words, called assemblies. This is what the writer of Hebrews was referring to in Hebrews 10:23-25:

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching (emphasis added).

The assembling together here is not about going to church, as many have interpreted it. It is about observing the Feasts of God. The approaching day the writher of Hebrews referred to here is the day (millennium) we are now entering on the timeline of history.

As we move into this new day we are actually moving beyond assembling together to observe the feasts; we are moving into experiencing the feasts in their fullness.

Hidden within the feasts is God’s blueprint for the first seven thousand years of the history of mankind on planet Earth. As I have studied the feasts, the Holy Spirit has revealed to me secrets unknown to most of the Church. The majority of Christians, if they know anything at all about the feasts probably only know their historical origins. A few more may know of and have an understanding of their first prophetic fulfillments; Passover having to do with the crucifixion of Jesus and Pentecost having to do with the coming of the Holy Spirit. Some may even realize that Tabernacles has to do with the birth of Jesus, but for most that truth may be clouded and hidden by the Christmas tradition, which is totally unscriptural.

Beyond the first prophetic fulfillment of the feasts lies the second prophetic fulfillment of them, with Passover and Pentecost playing out during the Church Age (the two millennia following the coming of Jesus as the Son of Man). However, it is not until we fully experience the second fulfillment of Tabernacles during the Kingdom Age that Passover and Pentecost will be fully realized.

Tabernacles is about God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit fully indwelling a people, to the extent that there is no difference between the Godhead and the people being indwelled, with those people literally becoming an extension of the Godhead throughout the earth.

The apostle Paul said he travailed as in giving birth until Christ becomes fully formed in believers (see Galatians 4:19, KJV & AMP). I suspect he is still in travail. But from his current vantage point, he is probably getting excited about the prospect of the result of his travailing coming to pass on the timeline of history in this new millennium, which is the third day of the Church and the seventh day of/since creation.

Much of our understanding of scripture, especially so called end-times (nowhere does the Bible use the term end-times, because as we have already established, time will never end), is at best in part and often totally wrong without understanding the full prophetic significance of the feasts. Even the way the Gospel has been understood and presented falls short of the truth.

But that is changing as a remnant of the Body of Christ is coming to a much better experiential understanding of the prophetic significance of the feasts, having been subjected to an intense and severe process of dying to self, enabling the Godhead to indwell them more completely than any generation in the past, giving them a taste and glimpse of the full blown coming Feast of Tabernacles, when the restitution of all things and the reconciliation of all people will become reality.

We have been given the ministry of reconciliation and the word of reconciliation (see 2 Corinthians 5:18-19), and for those of us who are experiencing the beginning stages of the second fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles, we are driven and compelled to teach nothing less.

Surely, absolutely and without the slightest hint of doubt, we were born for such a time as this!

ARISE, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles [nations] shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

Isaiah 60:1-3

Amen.

The Feasts of God (15)

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