To All Doves,
For Fair Use Discussion and Educational Purposes
http://www.raptureready.com/featured/chambers/jc129.html
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God is Stirring “Israel’s Nest”
The
events throughout the Middle East have a powerful Biblical meaning.
God’s chosen Nation of Israel is yet, after 63 years, a nation riddled
in disobedience. That disobedience must be broken and we are watching
the early stages heading into the dark “Seven Years.” By the end of
“The Great Tribulation” and the Antichrist’s sinister design, Israel
will be ready to cry out to their Messiah in Repentance. Zechariah
prophesied this mournful time as God’s betrothed nation returns to
their birthright. “And I will pour out upon the house of David and upon
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplications:
and they shall look upon Me Whom they have pierced, and they shall
mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in
bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great
mourning in Jerusalem…” (Zechariah 12:10-11a)
Thank
God that this awesome time does not end in mourning but quickly turns
to great rejoicing. “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to
the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for
uncleanness. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of
Hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and
they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets
and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.” (Zechariah 13:1-2)
Apostle
Paul carefully documented the word of Zachariah for the New Testament
saints. We must never think for one moment that we have replaced
Israel. Nothing in theology is more false than to forget the Family
that gave our Lord in the flesh to us. The Holy Ghost by Paul said,
”For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery,
lest you should be wise in your own conceits that blindness in part is
happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And
so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of
Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For
this is My Covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As
concerning the Gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching
the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.” (Romans
11:25-28)
It’s
thrilling to know there are three “Feasts of Jehovah” which Israel is
soon to witness and celebrate. Only the One Hundred and Forty Four
thousand Jews will celebrate the “Feast of Trumpets” and even this
company will miss the celebrated moment of the glorious Rapture. They
will be saved and sealed in the beginning days of the “Feast of
Atonement” which pre-figures the dark seven years of the Great
Tribulation.
The
glorious moment for all Israel will be the fulfillment of the “Feast of
Tabernacles.” This great celebration will last a thousand years and all
the Saints returning with Christ to reign will join this triumph. The
first four feasts were perfectly completed in the death of Christ, the
sanctifying period following His death, the Resurrection and the Day of
Pentecost. Let’s look at the great Biblical picture of these “Seven
Feasts of Jehovah.” It’s impossible to watch the world scene,
especially the Middle East and not shout with anticipation.
The
Seven Feasts of Jehovah! Everything that God did or revealed in the
First Testament was given as a shadow or an example of His finished
plan of redemption. Nothing in the Bible is an afterthought or a new
thing, but all of His actions or words are the acting out of a
pre-ordained drama. It can best be called the “Drama of Redemption.”
Seven major feasts are the prophetic picture of Jesus Christ and His
redemption accomplished. The actual feasts are the simple rehearsal of
that accomplishment and were used to allow Israel to receive the
benefit of the Father’s eternal plan.
Our
God does nothing for its dramatic effect, but if He did, these “Seven
Feasts” would transcend the greatest masterpieces of human existence.
They are breathtaking in both design and message. Each feast
foreshadows a unique part of God’s redemption story. Each one is a
complete message in itself, yet fits into the total picture in such a
way that it would be incomplete to let it stand alone. Indeed the seven
feasts together are God’s redemption drama and the world will be His
kingdom when the last curtain of the Feast of Tabernacles is lifted.
The Feasts of Jehovah! The seven feasts
must not be called the Feasts of Israel, but the Feasts of Jehovah.
Moses stated clearly what each feast was to represent. “Speak unto the
children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feast of the
LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are
my feasts. Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the
sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it
is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. These are the feasts
of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their
seasons.” (Leviticus 23:2-4).
When Jesus was present in the
flesh to be the Messiah, the Jewish nation had changed the Feast of
Jehovah to the Feast of the Jews. Instead of Sevens Feast of
Revelation, they had become the Feasts of the People and tied to the
nation, instead of the promises of God. Listen to the Apostle John
speak of these feasts in the Jewish terminology of his time. “And the
Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.” (John
2:13). “Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand.” (John 7:2).
No
wonder Isaiah had said the following when he noted the backslidden
state of Israel. “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a
seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the
LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are
gone away backward.” (Isaiah 1:4).
The First Testament Foretold
God’s Plan! The New Testament writers were ordained by the Holy Spirit
to simply unveil what was contained in the First Testament. Nothing in
the New Testament was new. The First Testament was their tutor to
enable them to see all that Jesus Christ represented. All the things of
God are higher than the wisdom of the wisest. Yet, God had chosen to
teach by shadows, types, and simple events so that the New Testament
writer or believer could grasp the depth of His wonderful works.
Let’s
look at several New Testament Scriptures that show plainly what we are
saying. Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or
the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I
say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall
in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever
therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach
men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but
whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in
the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your
righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
(Matthew 5:17-20).
Often the Word Of God fulfilled is
misunderstood in the way Jesus used it. It means completed. Jesus did
not fulfill to eliminate but to complete. The First Testament was the
shadow and Jesus came to show that which was only dimly visible before.
He eliminated nothing but the shadow and then established the finished
product.
The
Apostle Paul adds a beautiful dimension to this same truth. He said,
“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might
have hope.” (Romans 15:4). Remember, the only Scripture that the
apostle could refer to was the First Testament. The Second or New
Testament was in the process of being written, but was not canonized or
accepted yet as an official document. The Old (First) Testament was
their only approved Scriptures. The total message preached by the early
church was based on the lessons and inspiration of the Law, the Torah
or prophets and writings of the Jewish Scripture. Consequently,
everything in the New Testament is Jewish and based on the anointed
truths of their Scripture.
The
Law Was a Tutor! (School Master or Teacher) It’s amazing to see the
rebellion in today’s church against the laws of God. When you begin to
see that the Law was God’s ordained schoolmaster and that it was the
exclusive route by which the Father would bring us to His Son, then the
Law becomes beautiful rather than restrictive. Rebellion against
anything is always in the mind of the rebellious. What one man rebels
against is the protection of another.
Look at Apostle Paul’s
description of this breathtaking truth. “Is the law then against the
promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which
could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the
law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise
by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But
before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith
which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our
schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by
faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a
schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus.” (Galatians 3:21-26).
We
are not to become disobedience and start breaking God’s Laws because
the tutor finished His job. We are to move up to the higher level of
the Lawgiver Himself that now abides in our life to effect the Law by
grace instead of works. The Law is our teacher to bring us to Christ.
The feasts were his object lessons to show us the dramatic effect of
His Law. Every truth in the Law was to manifest itself in the feasts so
that the Jewish people would have a witness of the fulfillment when it
occurred.
The Jewish leaders and people allowed the feasts to
become rituals instead of revelations and because of that they rejected
the fulfillment or completion of the first four feasts. How did they
miss seeing Jesus as their Passover Lamb? Everything that the Passover
Lamb suggested or typified, He fulfilled. As we look at the life of
Jesus Christ and His death and the numerous perfect expressions of the
Passover Feast, we are amazed at such precision. But, remember they
missed it because of ritualism and we see it because of revelation.
This is a spiritual fact in all truth that never fails.
The
Apostle Paul adds a kind of finished expression to the thought of the
First Testament shadows becoming their light to the brighter day of
Christ’s coming. Paul said, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or
in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the
sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of
Christ.” (Colossians 2:16-17)
It would appear that the Jews were
certainly free to continue their feasts days as a remembrance of God’s
lessons. It is also clear that there is absolutely no spiritual life in
those feasts because Christ has come. To place confidence in a
communication of grace by any shadow of the First Testament is to
revert back to the Law and its powerlessness to save. The glory of the
shadow was only in its hope of the promise. Once the promise is
completed, it is futile to trust in a shadow. The church must study the
values of revelations afforded the First Testament worshipper and then
quickly move into the glory of revelations fulfilled.
If
the ritualism of the Jews so clouded their vision that Jesus Christ was
totally rejected then for the church to return to those rituals suggest
the same blindness all over again. All of us have probably heard the
clear expression of how the two testaments relate to each other. I
repeat it for all our benefits. The New Testament is in the First
Testament concealed, while the First Testament is in the New Testament
revealed.
What a glorious hour we are
privileged to enjoy. Many has been the Saints in the past that longed
to live in this day and yet so many among us only complain. Lift your
heads my friends and see what our God is doing.
Joseph Chambers
jrc@pawcreek.org
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