“‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.
Whoever believes in me,
as Scripture has said,
rivers of living water will flow
from within them.’
God gave man His Sabbath to keep mankind in the
right knowledge
and proper worship of the true God.
But how does the Sabbath identify God?
How does it point to the true God, rather than a false one?
Would not Sunday work just as well?
Notice Exodus 31:17:
"It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever;
for in six days the
Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on
the seventh day He rested and was refreshed."
God rested from the work of creation on the
seventh day of creation week.
The act of creating identifies the Creator.
God set aside as holy the only day that is a memorial of
the Act of Creating.
He appropriated the only day that points, constantly, every
seventh day of the week, to the existence of the Creator.
The Feast of Booths
also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, and Sukkot,
Is the seventh and last feast
that the Lord commanded Israel to observe and one of the
three feasts
that Jews were to observe each year by going to
"appear before the Lord your God
in the place which He shall choose”
(Deuteronomy 16:16).
The importance of the Feast of Tabernacles can be seen in
how many places it is mentioned in Scripture.
In the Bible we see many important events that took place
at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. For one thing, it was at this time that
Solomon’s Temple
was dedicated to the Lord (1 Kings 8:2).
It was at the Feast of Tabernacles that the Israelites,
who had returned to rebuild the temple,
gathered to celebrate under
the leadership of Joshua and Zerubbabel
(Ezra 3).
Later, the Jews heard Ezra read
the Word of God to them
during the Feast of Tabernacles
(Nehemiah 8).
Ezra’s preaching resulted in a great revival as the Israelites confessed and repented of their sins. It was also during this Feast that Jesus said,
“If anyone thirsts,
let him come to me and drink.
He who believes in Me,
as the Scripture has said,
out of his heart will flow rivers of
living water”
(John 7:37–39).
The feast begins
Five days after the Day of Atonement
and at the time
the fall harvest had just been completed.
It was a time of joyous celebration as the Israelites
celebrated God’s continued provision for them
in the current harvest and remembered His provision
and protection during the 40 years in the wilderness
and is symbolic of Christ’s Second Coming when
He will establish His earthly kingdom..
The strong possibility that
Jesus was born
at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles is also seen in the
words John wrote in John 1:14.
"And the Word became flesh and
dwelt among us,
and we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth.”
The word John chose to speak of Jesus “dwelling” among us is the Word
tabernacle,
which simply means to "dwell in a tent.”
there is a strong possibility the
Feast of Tabernacles
not only looks forward to His second coming
but also reflects back on His first coming.
We all have expectations.
Whether it has to do with people, with events – with how life should be.
And most of the time, what unfolds isn’t exactly
how we expected.
What do you do when these things happen?
during the feast of booths, we are challenged by Jesus –
who purposely goes against what is expected of Him
by man in order to
keep in step with God.
Feast Time - Jesus Waits
Each major section in John
starts with a story that brings
out another aspect of
Jesus’ claim as
The Son of God
Then the remaining portion of the section gives
clarity and understanding to that claim.
– chapter 7 of John.
Here it starts with a description of
an upcoming feast – the Feast of Booths
(a booth is temporary shelter made of palm branches).
Jesus goes to Jerusalem,
the center of religious Judaism
and the seat of the religious leaders –
but He does not do it like they expect.
Also, Jesus uses the feast
to describe the fulfillment of this feast
In Himself.
We are going to see
several things in this
section of John.
We will see the way people
respond who
do not believe in Him.
Here we see it is His own family.
They challenge Jesus to go to Jerusalem –
how can anyone make any claims like Jesus
and not go to Jerusalem?
They do this because they do
not believe the claims of Jesus.
The religious leaders want to kill Him.
Later we will see how others react to the claims of
Jesus as the Son of God.
We are going to see people who
should accept Him – they will reject Him.
We see others that will believe – and we
will be surprised.
God required all Israelite males to attend the
Feast of Booths in Jerusalem.
It is not optional. So asking Jesus to attend is not an unrealistic question.
For Him to say that God did not want Him to go–
that must have raised a few eyebrows.
So He stayed back in Galilee
(probably with the other religious rebels, sinners, uncommitted and ungodly people).
That is interesting to consider.…
We know that Jesus goes to the Feast eventually,
but for now He is public about His refusal –
and His choice to stay with people unwilling to go.
Jesus knows the cost
of following the voice of God
and it begins with rejection from
religious people and
even His own family.
Dealing with pressure from people around when
God asks us to do something different
is a big challenge.
Usually, it means following Jesus even when
others can't see or understand clearly
At times, it even means stepping outside
of
accepted norms within the family or church.
It takes a heart
that listens to the voice of God.
-- today, take time to listen and see if we are
just doing things
because it is the thing we usually do;
take time
to ask God for His direction.
-- today, Stop and listen to the voice of God.
Fast for the day, take a longer time in prayer,
take time in the Word of God.
Do something that breaks your routine and just listen.
Jesus Teaches in the Temple
Jesus goes up quietly – not to draw attention to Himself,
like His brothers said He should do.
That is what people do who don’t want the attention for themselves.
We see other responses from people as well. We see grumbling people –
people complaining that Jesus is not there.
We see people angry, legalistic people –
they condemn Jesus
because they feel He is a law-breaker.
We see people who mock Jesus, saying He has a demon.
The one thing we do not see is indifferent people – people who do
not care what Jesus says or does.
Jesus polarizes people
– they love Him or are unhappy with Him.
That is what God wants to see.
He wants people to make a choice about Jesus.
This festival is supposed to be one of celebration – a time of thanksgiving to
God for the blessings of the past year.
Instead many people focus and condemn Jesus for
doing a miracle on the Sabbath day.
Jesus shows that Moses required that a child gets circumcised
on the eighth day regardless of whether it is a Sabbath –
Jesus made a whole body well!
It is a time to celebrate, rejoice and give thanks;
it is not a time to argue over silly things.
Finally, this festival is again
a time when the people would read and hear
the Law of Moses and be instructed.
Jesus is doing this for the people.
This is a season of blessing where we hear the
Word of God.
Take time to listen carefully
and ask God
for understanding of His Word –
just as Jesus gave understanding to the people about Moses
and the real purpose of the Sabbath.
The purpose of the Sabbath is to give us a
certain day of the week on which
to direct our thoughts and actions
toward God.
It is not a day merely to rest from work. It is a sacred day to
be spent in worship and reverence.
As we rest from our usual daily activities,
our minds are
freed
to ponder spiritual matters.
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