BY HAROLD LEE
Well, as was mentioned in the sermonette, today is the last weekly Sabbath before the start of the Fall Holy Days. And, as was mentioned even in the announcements, at sunset Monday, the Feast of Trumpets is going to begin the third and the final Holy Day Season of this year.
I likewise am bewildered at how fast this time has past. It seems like about two months ago that we were keeping Passover and about a month ago we were keeping Pentecost. And here we are going into the Fall Holy Day Season.
We traditionally focus on the meanings of the individual days as they occur. We delve into the specific meanings of the individual Holy Days and we relate it to God’s plan. And we know God’s Holy Days give us a picture. They give us a vision of God’s plan. I personally think that God intended these periods of time to be times that we would focus on, think about, and consider what they are.
And frankly, He gave them to us, including the weekly Sabbath, but the Holy Days on an annual basis. And I think recent history in the Church over the past twenty years has shown us how important it is and how quickly if we put those aside, how quickly we can forget, completely forget God’s plan and really stop observing the Sabbath and the Holy Days.
My opinion is the Holy Days and the Sabbath are an anchor for us and they keep us centered. They—I don’t know—you nautical types. In the old days when ships were made of wood and men were made of steel, the way they would stabilize ships is they would put rocks in the bottom of the ships.
And, in fact, archeologists could find out where seaports
were because there would always be big piles of these ballast rocks that would
be not too far off shore, because ships would say come from
Of course, later in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, they had these big gyroscopes. These huge gyroscopes in these ships and the purpose of those was is when the waves and the stormy seas and it would stabilize the ships, these gyroscopes.
And, of course, those of you that have been on some of these floating hotel cruise ships, you know they have these big wings. These big hydra foils that go out and the purpose of those—and of course, once they’re out in open sea—the purpose of that is to stabilize the ship.
Don’t turn there.
Ephesians
I’ll just go back to
But one of the things that you know or they’ve commented on is there is just ferocious winds that come and then when the eye of the storm comes on shore, everything just gets calm. It gets quiet. It gets very peaceful. And, in fact, you can be lulled into a false sense, “Well, it’s over.” And it would just be dead calm. The sun would come out. All the wind would cease. Of course, as you know, looking at the radar images, you can see the eye and there’s no clouds in there. Again, it’s a perfectly calm area.
I remember in
But what happens is is then all of a sudden the wind starts up again. It gets cloudy. The rains start and the tempest comes from the other direction and it’s even more ferocious than it was on the front wall. Because remember, as the front wall hits the land it starts to slow down and of course, the back side of the wall still has a lot of the ferocity that’s in it. And, of course, it would come back and hit you again. Then you had to kind of hunker down for the rest of it.
If you think about it, our Christian lives are very similar to that. We tend to exist in a tempest! It’s a—we’re always getting a one-two punch from somewhere. And when it does calm down, we take a sigh of relief and breathe it and yet we know that that’s just a respite. And I think God’s Sabbath, God’s Holy Days are that eye of the storm. It’s that time when things should calm down and that gives us a time to think about things, perhaps to make some emergency repairs, read that, work on things in our lives, to concentrate on them. When at the other times, it’s maybe hard for us to focus on those because you’re just trying to stay on an even keel.
Turn over to Exodus 23. God’s Holy Days do give us a respite, do give us a time of rest, a time that we can take stock of our situations, because, Brethren, we know the tempest is going to return. Just like the eye of the storm when it passes, it’s going to return with a greater force from another direction. And I think that’s interesting too. Brethren, we need God’s Sabbath and we need the Holy Day Seasons to survive. If we miss them, we’re in danger of being swept away like so many others in the past have been. In Exodus 23 and verse 12, it says
Exodus 23:12. “Six days you
shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest,
Did God intend this to be a curse? Did He give us that to force us to have to have trials? Satan’s world is not geared to God’s cycle, the Sabbath and the Holy Days. We seem to be constantly fighting to be able to live God’s way.
We’re kind of like a fish, a salmon trying to go back to its spawning grounds and you’re constantly swimming upstream. And as you swim upstream, you’re over rocks and things are coming down and by the time a salmon gets there, he’s pretty beat up. And that’s kind of the way we feel sometime.
The Sabbath is not as difficult because of the way the labor in society is set up, but to take time off for the Holy Days and to take your kids out of school, make arrangements for our back-up at work which, as you know, always falls through at the last moment. You’re just about to get in the car and the phone rings and everything’s just come apart.
Doesn’t God know what we have to go through? Doesn’t He understand? Does He enjoy seeing us suffer? “Let’s see how much they can take,” and He just sort of turns the screw a little tighter. Or did God intend for it to be a blessing for not only those of us that keep it, but those of us that our lives touch, those of us that are around us?
Let’s see. Let’s
continue reading,
Exodus 23:12. “Six days you
shall do your work, and on the [Sabbath] you shall rest, [Notice!] that your ox
and your donkey may rest,
Remember what—and don’t turn there—John 12:6 where Christ said
Luke 12:6. “Are not five
sparrows sold for two copper coins? And
not one of them is forgotten [of] God.
God’s concern goes down to even those things that He gave us. The animals!
Remember His weekly Sabbath pictures the seven days of His seven thousand year plan. And it’s a time that the entire world, including the animals, will have a different nature and a rest from their burdens.
Just hold your finger there and let’s go over to Romans chapter 8. Actually just set a marker there so you won’t run out of fingers. Romans 8 and verse 19, it says
Romans 8:19. For the earnest
expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
Now this word “creation” is Strong’s 2937. I know I’ll mispronounce it. It’s ktis-is.
And you thought you had trouble with “Sinai!” Ktis-is,
I don’t know anyway.
But what it means “the creation” is it means of individual things, a creature, anything created. In fact, it’s used nineteen times in the New Testament and eleven times “creature” and six times as “creation.” So it includes not just mankind, but everything that God made.
Romans 8:20. For the
creation
Again, this word, in fact, this word is used in every verse that I’m going to read.
Romans 8:20. For the
creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who
subjected it [to] hope; 21) Because the creation itself also will be
delivered [Notice this!] from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. 22) For
we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together
until now.
Let me just read that out of The Bible In Basic English. I think it’s a good translation. It says
Romans 8:22. For we are conscious that all living things are weeping and sorrowing in pain together until now.
Romans 8:23. Not only that,
but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan
within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our
body. (NKJV)
What we go through and what we see should give us hope that it’s temporary. It should give us a feeling that it’s not going to last forever. And God did it for a reason, but as we keep the Sabbath, that’s to remind us of the end.
Every one that lives on planet earth right now has been
rocked by some of the latest events that are happening in the
Brethren, we truly are groaning within ourselves and as
these come on the world and on the nation, we’re not exempt from that. We have to buy gas. We have to buy groceries. We have 401K’s. We have retirement. We have all of those things. And I’d like to know of anybody that says,
“Well, everybody else’s grocery bill went up, but mine didn’t,” or “I’m still
getting gas cheap.” You probably got one
of those—what do they call them?—
When God put man in the Garden of Eden, He created—and let
me just; I apologize to anybody in
But contrast what we see with what God originally gave man. God created man and He put him in the Garden of Eden. And it was created to give man everything that he needed. Everything that would provide complete nourishment and shelter was there. God said, “It was very good.”
Man’s job was to dress and to keep it. Dress and keep. I remember as a child those words “dress.” That meant we were going somewhere and we had to put on our seersucker shirts and then we couldn’t play until we got back. So you had to stay clean. But the connotation of “dressing” to me never had—well, we can compare that to the toil, the sweat of your brow, any of those things, sore travail, labor. God wanted us to dress and keep. When the ground was cursed and man had to eke out a living, even the animals suffered and are suffering.
Look over in Isaiah chapter 46. I’m glad I told you to put a marker and not put your finger there, because we’ll make a few stops on the way back. Isaiah 46 and in verse 1, it says
Isaiah 46:1. Bel bows down,
And Bel is Zeus. Belshazzar. A lot of them named their kings. They’re named after Belshazzar, Belteshazzar and all. It says
Isaiah 46:1. Bel bows down,
Nebo
And that is Hermes. You remember Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan, and all of those. These were the gods that they kind of put on the front of their names to make themselves powerful. And it’s interesting. These are the same gods that those in Lycaonia thought Barnabas and Paul. Remember when they saw them and they said, “Oh, it’s Bel and Nebo.” Or they said, “Zeus and Hermes.” But it’s the same ones.
But it says
Isaiah 46:1b. stoops; their
idols were on the beasts and on the cattle.
Your carriages were heavily
loaded, a burden to the weary beast.
This whole system, notice what it does! It weights down. It’s a burden. It’s hard to carry.
Isaiah 46:2. They stoop,
they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but have themselves
gone into captivity.
Everything has been enslaved!
As time moves forward from here—and I have no idea what the future holds—but the pressures of life and the hardships that we face just trying to make it from day to day and from week to week, they can force out our acute understanding of just how important these Days are and the need that we have to keep them to remain stable and to remain focused.
What I’d like to cover today is, since this is the final Sabbath before the Fall Holy Days, is to cover not the meaning of each individual day, but to take a macro, wide-angle view of them. If you look at something very closely, you see the intricacies that something possesses. But when you back way off and consider them from a distance, you see other things that perhaps you haven’t focused on before. In other words, we’re going to consider the meaning of all the Holy Days. I think it will give us a perspective that we all know, but might not have focused on like we should.
As I mentioned, we know from recent experience the Sabbath and Holy Days in order to remain grounded in God’s Truth and vision, we have to use those. We have to use them as they come.
Back to Exodus chapter 23. I told you to set a marker and then I missed it! It says
Exodus 23:12. “Six days you
shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and
your donkey may rest, [Notice this!] and the son of your female servant and the
stranger may be refreshed.
Brethren, God that created man, that knows man better than himself knows that man needs downtime. We need a time to just get out of the storm. We need that eye of calm, a time to stop our everyday pursuits, to smell the roses, to reflect on God and His Majesty and His plan and the love that He has for all of mankind. Notice! It’s not just a few. It’s all of mankind. It’s the animals.
In the ‘70’s, I remember a friend of mine asked me—I was going to give a sermonette—and I told him. He said, “What are you speaking on?” I said, “Why we keep the Sabbath.” And he said, “Because God said so! Now what are you going to speak the other twelve and a half minutes?” And you know he was correct to a point. But I submit as mature Christians and as we grow in grace and knowledge and deepen our understanding, we come to realize it’s not just about us. Now to be sure, it includes us, but God’s concern is much greater. And it does include the entire creation that is groaning in travail. And, Brethren, there are real physical and spiritual benefits for keeping His Sabbaths.
Look over in Acts chapter 3. Again, keep your mark there. We’re coming back. In fact, that’s going to be sort of the basis for our sermon. Acts chapter 3 verse 19. Just read, break into a thought. Remember this was when they were delivering the gospel after the Day of Pentecost or on the Day. He says
Acts
That word “refreshing” is only used once in the New Testament and that’s there. It’s Strong’s 403, anapsuxis—I think—anapsuxis. It means a recovery of breath. It means a time to catch your breath.
Don’t turn there.
Hebrews
In Acts 3, there’s a dimension added to the use of the word anapsuxis. It means a recovery of breath.
Brethren, the present and future Sabbath is intended not just to be a katapausis, a rest, but it’s also meant to be a time to catch your breath, to just relax, to just think about your relationship with God, to spend time with each other. It is an anapsuxis, a time of refreshing. It should be. And if we miss that point, we have lost something. We are the less for not taking the advantage of that. And we’re going to read a little later where God really wants us to rejoice and to spend time in that on the Sabbath. And, again, we’ll get to that later.
But I think this brings a dimension of the Sabbath that we don’t often consider, a time to catch your breath. Life hammers at us in every way. And, again, it’s something fresh in my mind. It’s like a direct hit of a hurricane. It just comes on and you’re just in a tempest. And, again, the Sabbath gives us a brief respite from that, a chance to catch our breath, a chance to be in the eye of that storm, because we know it’s going to soon pass. We know the onslaught’s going to resume. It’s going to be even more powerful and more devastating than before. And we need to have used that time to catch our breath.
Okay, back to Exodus 23.
But consider in that Scripture that the Sabbath, God’s
concerned with not just for a few, but it was for the animals. It was for the stranger. It was for everyone. And His desire is everyone—and we know God’s
will will be brought about. That’s what
we’ll be celebrating here. Of course,
every Sabbath, the Millennium, we celebrate that. We think about it. But also at the Feast of Tabernacles.
Okay, Exodus 23:13. Then He goes on to say
Exodus 23:13. “And in all
that I have said to you, be circumspect
The word “circumspect,” which God commands this approach, is a word we hear and perhaps don’t understand the full meaning of it. Sometimes people think it’s simpler than it really is and sometimes maybe more complex. I just want to cover it because it’s going to come up again later on. That word is Strong’s 8104, shamar, and here’s what it means: to keep, to guard, to observe, to give heed, to keep watch, to protect, to be a watchman, to watch for, to wait for, to retain, to treasure up in memory. He says, “Everything I’ve told you, I want you to treasure up in your memory.” To keep, to observe, to celebrate, to keep as the Sabbath or a covenant or commands, to perform, to be on one’s guard, to pay heed. The word is used 468 times. “Keep” is the greatest.
A long time ago I, long, long ago in a place far, far away, actually in the early ’60’s, I served a two-year term in the Navy Reserve. And then I went into the regular Army where I spent eight years. But in both situations, in the Navy, it’s called a watch and in the Army, it’s called guard duty.
Those of you that can relate to this, in the Navy I was on a
Destroyer Escort which is a three hundred and six foot ship that’s used that
goes with the Destroyers. It’s
smaller. It’s more nimble. Its job is if the Destroyer is the target, it
“takes one for the Gipper.” It’s fast
enough it can sail up there and take the torpedo. But it’s got depth charges. It has torpedoes and what they call
hedgehogs. And it’s got three three-inch
guns. So it’s not like it’s totally
passive. But its job is to go with the
Destroyers and to protect them. It sails
with the fleet.
Anyway. And I was on one of those. Of course, it’s interesting. They only had one. I think two hundred and six enlisted men and eight officers. It only has two lifeboats and four blowup dinghies, so. I don’t know that they expected everybody to get off. That’s another story.
But anyway, on the side of the ship—you know the bridge sits up high—and projecting out on either side on the port and the starboard side is a little three foot; it’s almost a semi-circle with some armor plate around it and that’s so you can duck behind so that you don’t see the bullets when they come through it. But anyway, in the middle of this is a pedestal with a compass and it’s barely large enough for a person to kind of stand out there and you have the compass in front of you. And you’re given a pair of binoculars and for four hours—because you do four on and eight off—so for four hours, your job is to continually—and you can probably see about two hundred and thirty degrees because you can see there’s an overlap from the port and the starboard watch—but you have to continually be scanning both the sky and the surface looking for what they call “contacts.” They always tend to make things sound more benign than they really are. But anyway, that was your job and you had to be—unless you had a target or a contact—you had to be continually scanning. You would make a sweep and then you would make a sweep back and then you would make a sweep. You did that for four hours and that was your job to do.
In the army, when I was in the military, one time I was given guard duty on an airport. It was a military airport. And you’re assigned a perimeter and your job is to walk that perimeter. But you walk it one way. You say you go clockwise and then you walk counter-clockwise. And the purpose is is because when you go the other direction you’re looking in different areas. But you have to continually for your watch, for your guard duty, you’ve got to continually be doing that. And you have to be looking in all directions.
The word “circumspect” kind of has a similar meaning. It means to be on the lookout, to look around.
Hold your finger there. 1 Peter 5:8. 1 Peter 5:8, it says
1 Peter 5:8. Be sober, be vigilant;
That’s similar. That means you keep your eyes open. Keep looking around.
1 Peter 5:8. Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom
he may devour.
Let’s go back to Exodus 23. I want to read this from several translations the words “be circumspect” in the hopes that you can get a better sense of the meaning.
The Jewish Publication Society ….
Well, Exodus 23 in The New King James says
Exodus 23:13. “And in all
that I have said to you, be circumspect
The Jewish Publication Society says
Exodus 23:13. “And in all
things that I have said to you, take you heed
The Septuagint says
Exodus 23:13. “Observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you
Sounds kind of familiar, doesn’t it?
The New American Standard
Exodus 23:13. “Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be on your guard
The NIV
Exodus 23:13. “Be careful to
do everything I have said to you
The New Jerusalem Bible
Exodus 23:13. “Take notice
of everything I have told you
The New Living Translation
Exodus 23:13. “Be sure to
obey all my instructions and remember
The New Revised Standard
Exodus 23:13. “Be attentive
to all that I have said to you
The Revised Standard says
Exodus 23:13. “Take heed to
all that I have said to you
And The Tanakh says
Exodus 23:13. “Be on guard
concerning all that I have told you
So again, it’s something that we don’t just casually take. We pay careful close attention.
Exodus 23:13.
Exodus 23:13. “And in all
that I have said to you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of
other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth.
And The NIV and The New Revised Standard says
Exodus 23:13b. do not invoke
the names
The New Living Translation says
Exodus 23:13b. never pray or
swear by
In other words, don’t invoke the names of these other gods. He said, “I’m your God. You better pay attention. Don’t go looking for these other gods.” It says to pay close attention to what God tells us and never be attentive to or give heed to other gods.
Continuing into verse 14.
Exodus 23:14. “Three times
you shall keep a feast to Me in the year:
I looked at all the Scriptures in the Bible that relate to God, concerning keeping the Feast, in fact, every place that it said “three times a year.” I found it very interesting in the emphasis of it. I just want to spend a minute on this. Now what I’m going to say doesn’t change it. I’m hoping that there is an aspect of this that we will maybe see that maybe we haven’t considered as much.
The Scriptures—and you can write these down and look them up
later. For the sake of time today, I’m
not going to go to each one of them. But
they are: Exodus
And we’ve always related to the words “three times” to refer to three seasons, and that’s correct because these times are the spring, the summer, and the fall. However, the Hebrew words bring out some additional emphasis. In all the Scriptures, the word “three” is translated from the same Hebrew word. So “three” is not in question. It’s Strong’s 7969. It means three, third, thrice. It even means a fork. Of course, a trident fork with the three prongs on it.
But the other Scriptures, and again, I will—the word
“times”—these are in all the others except for Exodus 23:14. The same word is used and it’s Strong’s
6471, pa’am, pa’amah. And it means a stroke, a beat, a foot, a
step, an anvil, an occurrence. It means
a foot, a footfall, or a footstep, an occurrence in time, a stroke, a beat, one
time, once, twice, thrice, and time. So
in addition to meaning seasons, it also means a cadence. It also means to walk, to march.
Of the six Scriptures,
So again, it means seasons, but it also means a journey. It also means with your feet you move somewhere. And it can mean marching. It can mean walking. It can mean a footstep. It can mean cadence.
If you have An Englishman’s Concordance, look up all
the occurrences of the word and in the majority, they’re used foot or
feet. Genesis 29, it says, “On his
journey.” Genesis 30:30, “Since my
coming.” 1 Kings
And again, in every case regel
is related to the foot, which was, of course, the primary means of
transportation, of moving from one place to the other. The word pa’am
also related to steps, to feet and to time.
And again, that’s where we get the idea of the three seasons of the year.
When God set up the Holy Days, they were referred to
commonly by the Jews as “The Pilgrim Feasts.”
They made a pilgrimage. They went
from one place to another. They went to
After the Israelites received their inheritance and they
settled into the routines of life, they were primarily an agrarian
society. And most of what they did
revolved around the planting and the harvest and tending their flocks. That’s what they did. And three times a year, they would make a
pilgrimage to
Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, Exodus 23, Verse
10-19 IV. 5. The passover,
pentecost, and feast of tabernacles in spring, summer, and autumn, were the
three times appointed for their attendance, not in winter, because traveling
was then uncomfortable, not in the midst of their harvest, because then they
were otherwise employed;
I don’t know if you’ve ever considered that that God spaced those out so they didn’t have to leave behind. They had just in the spring; it was before they started their harvest, before they got busy. And then in the summer, it was after the spring harvest. And then in the fall, it was after the fall harvest. So these were times that they kind of naturally were at a say a transition in their routines.
As near as I can tell, most of the social structure revolved around those periods. It was the time that they got together and they caught up on the news. They visited with relatives. The patriarchs, the fathers, they would be out negotiating wives for their grown sons. That was kind of the period that they could sort of go around and sort of survey the available women. There was plenty of food. There was plenty of wine, strong drink. People were happy. They were unified and it was a very peaceful time.
The pilgrimage to
I don’t know if some of you remember back when you were going to the Feast and you’d see all the FT stickers and you’d “Ah!” And that’s what the kids and the adults, you’d sort of look and see if you could find some FT stickers on the way. And when you did, you felt a kindred or a kinship even though it was just briefly as they passed by.
They would sing songs. And then the fall, the kids—and the parents
probably would send them—they would pick up branches and foliage on the way to
build their booth from. They would see
some foliage and they would. So, because
But there were some estimates that
Go over to Psalm 120. And I’m not going to go through these, but I just want to make a point here. Look at the headings on this. And as I’ve said in past sermons, there’s a lot of information in the headings of these Psalms. In fact, that’s part of the inspired Scripture.
Notice Psalm 120 through 134, it says, “A Song of
Ascents.” And so there’s ten songs there
that were actually, in fact, The New Jerusalem Bible says “Song of
Ascents.” It says—in the margin—it says,
“A Song of Ascents.” Psalms 120 through
134 were sung by pilgrims on their way up to
And I think in the past I read—I think it was Psalm 121—it’s
a Psalm that we sing, To The Hills I’ll
Lift My Eyes. And as they would come
around and they first caught the sights of the hills of
And Psalm 122 was when they, it’s actually when their feet—if you notice
Psalm 122:2. Our feet have
been standing with your gates, O Jerusalem!
So as they actually came into
And again, this was part of their social structure and routine, but it was a very joyous time. And it was a time to be together and a time to spend time together.
In your own study, I would encourage you to read those
Psalms, especially as we’re approaching this with the idea that these were
songs that were used for the journey from their homes to
Let me just continue on in my Cliff Notes
version. When
Be turning over to Nehemiah 7.
And Ezra was the priest and he made the proclamations to the people.
I need to turn there too.
Ezra—I’m sorry Nehemiah 7. I want to pick out a couple of important points as we go through this. Let’s pick it up in verse 73 of 7 and we’re going to go on over. It says
Nehemiah 7:73. So the
priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the Nethinim, and all
Nehemiah 8:1. Now all the
people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate; and they
told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel. 2) So Ezra the priest brought the Law before
the assembly, of men and women and all who could
hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month.
The Day of Trumpets!
Nehemiah 8:3. Then he read
from it in the open square that was
in front of the Water Gate from morning until
Thought you had a long sermon!
Nehemiah 8:3b. before the
men and women and those who could understand; and [all] the ears of all the
people were attentive
They were circumspect! They listened. They paid close attention.
Nehemiah 8:3 cont. to the
Book of the Law. 4) So Ezra the scribe
stood on a platform of wood
And I’ll just skip through this. They had translators to help them. He was reading, but there were also translators. And they were priests. And let’s just skip down. Oh, in verse 5.
Nehemiah 8:5. And Ezra
opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, [Notice!] all
the people stood up.
They had respect that God’s Words were about to be read.
Nehemiah 8:5. And Ezra
opened the book in the sight of all the people,
Oh, verse 6.
Nehemiah 8:6. And Ezra
blessed the Lord, the great
God. Then all the people answered,
“Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands.
And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their
faces
And I’ll skip through again. There were other Levites that helped. It says they “helped the people to understand the Law.” Verse 8.
Nehemiah 8:8. So they read
distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and
helped them to understand the
reading. 9) And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught
the people said to all the people,
You see they started realizing they had lost this and they said
Nehemiah 8:9b. “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn nor weep.”
“Be happy. Don’t mourn and weep.”
Nehemiah 8:9 cont. For all
the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law. 10) Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat
the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is
prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow,
for the joy of the Lord is your
strength.” 11) So the Levites quieted
all the people, saying, “Be still, for the day is holy; do not be grieved.”
12) And all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions
and rejoice greatly, because they understood the words that were declared to
them. 13) Now on the second day the
heads of the fathers’ houses of all
the people, with the priests and Levites, were gathered to Ezra the scribe, in
order to understand the words of the Law.
14) And they found written in the Law, which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of
It was unity that they had not had in all that time!
Nehemiah 8:18. Also day by
day, from the first day until the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of
God. And they kept the feast seven days;
and on the eighth day there was a
sacred assembly, according to the prescribed
manner.
Brethren, how do we feel about being able to keep the
Feast? Is it a joy and a privilege? Do we look forward to it with the
anticipation that we’re going to participate in something that very, very few
people have the opportunity to? We’re
very blessed to have wonderful exotic places to go, but, Brethren, that’s
extra! If you read there, a lot of those
that lived in
I don’t personally know what the future holds. We’re in very uncertain times. The Church, the nation, the whole world is in that. We could be plunged into a depression so fast it would make our heads spin.
But I want to relate something, a personal experience. And this is not to boast, but I just want to
give you some of my experience. Starting
in 1973 the Church started having the Feast in
And here’s my point: some of the greatest, most wonderful Feasts that we had at that time were in our own home town. They were there because it was other people. It was the activities that we were doing. My kids, I don’t ever remember them complaining. And of course, they came out okay. Of course, you know Eric’s got a few facial tics and we have to jumpstart him every now and then, but for the most part, he did okay. But they participated in it and they enjoyed it. Sorry, Eric.
And again, I don’t know what lies ahead. I don’t how long we’re going to be able to do this. But it will not diminish what God wants us to do. And that is to come together, to get out of the hustle and bustle, and rejoice before God, and to rejoice together, and to hear God’s words. And that’s something that we should look forward to. And those other things should just add to it. It should enhance that experience.
Go back to my Cliff Notes version of the history of
Turn over to Luke chapter 2. The Bible only gives us one window into Jesus’ life after He was born and before He started His ministry. And that’s it. This is what we’re going to read, but there’s a lot of information. Especially as we go through this, think about the Pilgrim Feasts. Think about the joy and the enjoyment of it. Luke 2 verse 40, it says
Luke 2:40. And the Child
grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was
upon Him. 41) His parents went to
In other words, remember they’re leaving the Feast. There’s just throngs of people especially for the first day. There’s these throngs of people. You can just imagine the kids just having all of those experiences and wanting to share them and not wanting to leave. You yourself know and I’ve seen it, especially with the young people, the hugging and the crying and everything when they leave each other. So they were very unified. And the parents, it was safe, because there were so many people. They allowed their children to just—I don’t know. We used to just have camping trips that the Church would take and you were out in the woods in a fairly protected area. And you kind of let your kids have a longer leash than normal. But if you needed them, inevitably you would go over to some camp and you’d find them sitting there eating something that somebody else had made or something. But again, you didn’t worry about them. And it was sort of the same thing here.
One of the interesting things, I just want to read this out
of Matthew Henry’s Commentary because it brings something out. It says
Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, Luke 2, Verses 41-52, II, 3. His parents went the first day’s journey without any suspicion that he was left behind, for they supposed him to have been in the company, v. 44. On these occasions, the crowd was very great, especially the first day’s journey, and the roads full of people; and they concluded that he came along with some of their neighbours, and they sought him among their kindred and acquaintance, that were upon the road, going down…. They knew that every one
Notice this! And I had not thought about this.
… every one would be desirous of his company,
Remember He was just a model child. It was one that you would try to tell your child, “Why don’t you play with Him? Why don’t you?”
And so he said,
… every one would be desirous of
his company, and that he would be willing to do good among his kinfolk and acquaintance, but among them they found him not, v.45.
And again, I just thought that was interesting because the joy didn’t just the curtain came down. They had the trip back to spend together as well. And, no doubt, singing.
Verse 45.
Luke 2:45. So when they did
not find Him, they returned to
And I’ll skip down to 51.
Luke 2:51. Then He went down
with them and came to
And, again,
This was only a glimpse of His, but the next is about the
time He started His ministry. We know He
went to
Now Paul one time mentioned sailing past
When we leave the security and comfort of our home, think about your favorite chair, your slippers, your own bed, the familiar surroundings, familiar sounds, familiar scents. When we’re at the Feast, there’s no doubt that we’re in a different environment. Why would someone do that? Why leave all of that and leave it behind?
Look over in Hebrews chapter 11. I think the Bible gives us a very clear answer. This is the “Faith Chapter.” It says in Hebrews 11:1
Hebrews 11:1. Now faith is
the substance of things hoped for,
It’s what you’re looking forward to. It’s what you’re ….
Hebrews 11:1b. the evidence
of things not seen. 2) For by it the
elders obtained a good testimony. 3) By
faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the
things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
Skip down to verse 13, sort of look at the end of it.
Hebrews 11:13. These all
died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off
were assured of them, embraced them
and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
If you want a title for today’s sermon, it is Strangers And Pilgrims.
Brethren, we’re just passing through. Our comfortable homes, our cars, our bank accounts, our pensions, our stock portfolios—all of that can be gone in an instant! I think many of us are thinking about those things right now. But you know what? Many of those things, in addition to serving us if we allow them, can become a distraction. Brethren, our security comes not from here. It comes from God. It comes from what He has promised. And God is doing a tremendous work in every one of us.
Do we stand in line among those that like the Hebrews and do we possess the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen? Do we have that as which is the definition of faith? The Sabbath and the Pilgrim Feasts as we’re traveling give us a chance to consider those.
Let’s go back to Exodus 23. We’re just about done here. Exodus 23 and verse 13 and I’ll just reread a little bit of it.
Exodus 23:13. “And in all
that I have said to you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of
other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth. 14) “Three times you shall keep a feast to Me
in the year: 15) “You shall keep
You know what’s interesting? That word “you shall keep” is the same Hebrew word as “be circumspect.” Remember I read that as one of the definitions. He says—if I can use the definition—when He says
Exodus 23:15. “You shall
keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread [and He says] (you shall eat unleavened
bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of
Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty);
It’s interesting if you go to Deuteronomy 16:16, it lists the three and then it says not to appear before Him empty. Here it’s specifically after about the Pilgrim Feast of the Unleavened Bread.
And let me just tell you what I can just deduce from this. And this is just my idea. The summer and the fall harvest, they had things to bring to God. In other words, they have the increase. They have offerings to bring, but the spring is before the harvest. All they have there is old store. And I think God here when He put this with the Unleavened Bread still intended for them to bring something to Him even though they had not harvested something. I don’t know. That’s just my guess at it.
But He said, “You shall keep the Feast. You shall guard them. You shall observe them. You shall give heed. You shall keep watch. You shall protect. You shall retain. You shall treasure up.” These are all meanings of this word, shamar. “You shall celebrate. You shall perform. You shall pay heed.”
Brethren, the Feast Season as a whole should remind us of our pilgrimage on this earth. We’re just here for a short time. We’re on a journey. We’re temporary. Our possessions, including our homes, our wealth, everything we have is temporary. We’re not going to take it with us. And when we move out of our familiar settings, it should remind us of that lesson.
At sundown Monday, the third and final Feast Season, the
third and final pilgrimage season will start.
Let’s reflect on the tremendous blessings we’ve been given to understand
and to celebrate it. Let’s never devalue
it. Let’s never take it for
granted. As we make our pilgrimage to
keep the Feast, let’s use that to remind ourselves of our temporary and very
brief sojourn on the earth. Let’s never
forget our calling and our goal. Let’s
never forget where we came from. And
let’s never forget what we’re looking forward to: A Homeland with foundations whose builder and
maker is our Father and our Brother Jesus Christ. And, Brethren, while we’re here, let us never
forget that we’re just strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Transcribed by kb