THE JOY OF TABERNACLES

DAY 3

Solomon spent seven years building the Temple. Then, when all Israel gathered for the Feast of Tabernacles, Solomon had the ark of the covenant brought into the Temple. With the ark came the manifest presence of God.

The priests then brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim … When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple (1 Kings 8:6, 10-11).

The people so delighted in God’s presence that they celebrated Sukkot for 14 days, instead of seven. Then, they “went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things the Lord had done for his servant David and his people Israel” (1 Kings 8:66).

Feast on the God’s Word

Read the whole story of Solomon’s Sukkot celebration in 1 Kings 8. 

Psalm 16:11:You lead me in the path of life; I experience absolute joy in your presence; you always give me sheer delight (NET).

Celebrate the Feast

Ask the LORD to keep his appointment with you today in a way you know he is present. Invite his glory to fill the place where you are. Declare that his glory will fill the earth. Wait for him. As you begin to encounter him, respond to him. You may, for example:

• Praise him, starting with 1 Kings 8:23 
• Pray Psalm 16 to him.
• Pray for and bless his people, using 1 Kings 8:56-61 as a guide.

Go on your way joyful and glad in heart.

THE JOY OF TABERNACLES

DAY 2

God required many more sacrifices at the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot than at his other appointed times. Numbers 29:12-28 lists them.

Most prominent and most numerous were burnt offerings. Indeed, on the first day of the feast alone, God instructed, “You must present a burnt offering as a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. It will consist of thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen one-year-old male lambs, all with no defects” (Num. 29:13 NLT).

For all the other animal sacrifices in the Mosaic law – the sin offering, guilt offering and peace offering – only the entrails of the animal were burned. The meat was made available either to the priests or to the people as food. By contrast, the burnt offering was wholly consumed. It typified total surrender to the Lord.

Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we now express our total surrender to God by becoming living sacrifices, instead of offering burnt ones.

In the classic, Absolute Surrender, Andrew Murray wrote:

The condition for obtaining God’s full blessing is absolute surrender to Him.

God does not ask you to give the perfect surrender in your strength, or by the power of your will; God is willing to work it in you.

When God has begun the work of absolute surrender in you, and when God has accepted your surrender, then God holds Himself bound to care for it and to keep it. Will you believe that?

Feast on the Word

Romans 12:1-2 speaks of surrender as one decisive act, followed by many day-to-day choices. Meditate on these two verses:

Decisive act. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship (v. 1).

(In The Message:) So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering.

Daily choices. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be [being] transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will” (v. 2).

(In The Message:) “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.”

Celebrate the Feast

Surrender happens in a decisive act – and in daily choices. In view of all God’s mercies, have you decisively dedicated yourself as a living sacrifice to him? If so, recall that time. Thank God that he gave you grace then and that he will “care for and keep” that surrender.

Will you also give him permission to show you any specific thing you’re now trying to hold back? Will you trust him today for grace to release that thing to him?

If you haven’t made the decisive surrender called for in Romans 12:1, will you press in to God and ask him to work in you what you in your own strength cannot do?

Celebrate the surrender that brings freedom, rest, victory and joy!

THE JOY OF TABERNACLES

DAY 1

Our Lord has set aside a week plus a day every year to give his people a new infusion of joy!

Exodus 23:16 calls it “the Feast of Ingathering” (NASU) or “Feast of the Final Harvest” (NLT). Deuteronomy 16:13 calls it the “Feast of Tabernacles” or “Feast of Booths.” Leviticus 23 tells why both names fit:

So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the Lord for seven days; the first day is a day of sabbath rest, and the eighth day also is a day of sabbath rest. On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees – from palms, willows, and other leafy trees – and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days … Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God (Lev. 23:39-43).

The Lord specified two purposes for this feast: 

• To celebrate harvests in the Promised Land 

• To recall his faithfulness in the wilderness. 

Yet when he established the feast, his people had just left Egypt and entered the barren desert. They were 40 years away from living in permanent houses and reaping their first harvest.

On any given year at Sukkot, we may be experiencing harvest, or wilderness, or something in between. Regardless, God calls us to celebrate his faithfulness. By grace through faith:

• Remember his provision in the past: “Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness” (Deut. 8:2).
• Believe his promises for the future: “For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete” (Deut. 16:15).
• Rest and rejoice in him today: “Celebrate the Lord’s festival for seven days. The first day and the eighth day are days of special rest … and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days” (Lev. 23:39, 40).

Feast on the Word

As one enjoying a banquet, feast on:

• the full description of Sukkot in Leviticus 23: vv. 33-36, 39-44;
• the brief overview of all three feasts in Exodus 23:14-16;
• the description of the Feast of Tabernacles in Deuteronomy 16:13-15.

What in them triggers an interest, a question or an insight deep within you? ask God to guide you, pursue.

Celebrate the Feast

Remember a wilderness time, or acknowledge if you’re in one now. What “temporary shelters” has the Lord provided for you? Live in them this week, by recalling how it felt in a difficult season when God sheltered you and faithfully led you.

Acknowledge the bounty God has provided for you. Ask him for eyes to see the good things he gives you day by day. As you see them, give thanks for each one. Reread God’s promise of future harvests (Deut. 16:15). Will you, by faith, believe what he has said? Regardless of what else today holds, ask the Lord for grace to spend the day resting and rejoicing in him.

MONTH OF ELUL: September 4 – October 2, 2024

Tribe: GAD (Genesis 30:11; Genesis 49:19)

• Good expectation; Rewards will begin to manifest
• Faithful to their commitment

Characteristics: Preparation of Peace

The month of Elul is about preparing for the high and holy days between the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Tabernacles. Ephesians 6:15 says, “And having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” In biblical times, warfare involved standing your ground. The term “preparation” means foundation. As believers, we stand on the promise of the word of the Living God, not on fables. The foundation of peace keeps your heart and mind secure. Refuse to quit or give in to the enemy’s lies. Stand with faith, ready to march forward, because Jesus, the Prince of Peace, leads you!

The Eye of the Needle

Elul is known as “The Eye of the Needle” month in Israel. God doesn’t need much room to work in your life—He can do great things if you give Him just a little space. No area of your life is too small for Jesus to reign. He wants to fill you with grace, mercy, and power. Let Him make you ready for the abundance He is sending. God sees you as mighty and powerful—able to possess the land. Open your heart by faith and rejoice for what He will do!

The King Is In The Field

In Israel, during a special time, the king would leave his throne and go into the field to meet the people, allowing them to speak with him. Over 2,000 years ago, King Jesus left heaven to dwell among us (John 1:14). His presence remains on earth, inviting us to come to Him. His throne is a place of help, grace, and mercy. You can speak to Him, touch Him, and He will change your life. Ask Him—“Ask and it will be given.” You can trust the word of the King!

• Approach the King for what you need and let Him shine upon you.
• A month of spiritual service, organization, and management.
• A month to find yourself in the company of the Lord.

A Month to Fix What Is Broken

During Elul, the king would leave his palace and set up camp in the field, allowing everyone to approach him. Normally, access to the king required a formal summons, palace protocols, and strict guidelines. But in the month of Elul, the king came into the field, inviting people to come just as they were—no dress code, no intimidation. The king received everyone with a smiling face and listened to their concerns. The peasant in the field had the same access to the king as the highest-ranking official.

Biblical Examples of Kings in the Field

1. King Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 19)

Jehoshaphat went out among the people to turn their hearts back to the Lord and establish justice. He saw injustice and oppression, so he appointed judges to bring righteousness and fairness to the people.

2. King Melchizedek (Genesis 14)

Melchizedek met Abram in the field, blessing him with bread and wine after battle, strengthening and refreshing him.

3. King Jesus

Jesus, the greatest King, left His throne to dwell among us in mortal flesh. He came to manifest God’s goodness, love, and righteousness, drawing us into a relationship with the Father.

As kings and priests (Revelation 1:6), we are in the field like Christ. We should walk among the people with a smiling face, reconciling them to God with His love and righteousness.

“So we are Christ’s ambassadors, God making His appeal through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God.” — 2 Corinthians 5:20

Hebrew Letter: YUD

Appointed mercy from the hand of God.

Constellation: VIRGO (The Virgin)

“I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.”

DECLARATIONS:

1. I DECREE, the foundation of peace is keeping my heart and mind.
2. I DECREE, I am preparing for the Holy Spirit to reveal light and power.
3. I DECREE, I am creating intentional time to meet with God, because the King is in the field!
4. I DECREE, I am walking in God’s favor.
5. I DECREE, faithfulness will manifest a great God reward.

Sealed Instructions

Date: 10/13/24

Leviticus 16: The Day of Atonement

1. The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the Lord.
2. The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.
3. “This is how Aaron is to enter the Most Holy Place: He must first bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
4. He is to put on the sacred linen tunic, with linen undergarments next to his body; he is to tie the linen sash around him and put on the linen turban. These are sacred garments; he must bathe himself with water before he puts them on.
5. From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
6. “Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household.
7. He is to take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
8. He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat.
9. Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering.
10. But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat.
11. “Aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering.
12. He is to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense and take them behind the curtain.
13. He is to put the incense on the fire before the Lord, and the smoke of the incense will conceal the atonement cover above the tablets of the covenant law, so that he will not die.
14. He is to take some of the bull’s blood and with his finger sprinkle it on the front of the atonement cover; then he shall sprinkle some of it with his finger seven times before the atonement cover.
15. “He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull’s blood: He shall sprinkle it on the atonement cover and in front of it.
16. In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same for the tent of meeting, which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness.
17. No one is to be in the tent of meeting from the time Aaron goes in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he comes out, having made atonement for himself, his household, and the whole community of Israel.
18. “Then he shall come out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He shall take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on all the horns of the altar.
19. He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and to consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.
20. “When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat.
21. He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task.
22. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.
23. “Then Aaron is to go into the tent of meeting and take off the linen garments he put on before he entered the Most Holy Place, and he is to leave them there.
24. He shall bathe himself with water in the sanctuary area and put on his regular garments. Then he shall come out and sacrifice the burnt offering for himself and the burnt offering for the people, to make atonement for himself and for the people.
25. He shall also burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar.
26. “The man who releases the goat as a scapegoat must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may come into the camp.
27. The bull and the goat for the sin offerings, whose blood was brought into the Most Holy Place to make atonement, must be taken outside the camp; their hides, flesh, and intestines are to be burned up.
28. The man who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may come into the camp.

Day of Atonement

1. “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you— 30 because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins.
2. It is a day of sabbath rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance.
3. The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest is to make atonement. He is to put on the sacred linen garments
4. and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, for the tent of meeting, and the altar, and for the priests and all the members of the community.
5. “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites.”

And it was done, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Disappointment

Disappointment refers to sadness or displeasure caused by the non-fulfillment of one’s hopes or expectations. It comes from the Middle French word “disappointer,” meaning “undo the appointment” or “remove from office.” Disappointment can describe anything that crushes your hopes or ruins your day.

Re-appointed

Definition: Appoint (someone) once again to a position they have previously held.

Example: “He was reappointed for a second term as chairman.”

Flesh

Romans 6:

1. Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
2. I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.
3. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
4. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!
5. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
6. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 7:

1. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
2. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;
3. but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.
4. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
5. Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Romans 8:

1. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

The Flesh

Galatians 5:24: And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Galatians 6:8: For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

2 Corinthians 1:12: For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you.

1 Peter 2:11: Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.

Thought

I’m removing from office the flesh and reappointing my spirit to lead.

2 Chronicles 20

1. It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat.
2. Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar (which is En Gedi).
3. And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
4. So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.
5. Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court,
6. and said: “O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You?

He got His Focus (emotions) set on God.

1. Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever?

He got his Mind focused on God’s Faithfulness!

1. And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying,
2. ‘If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’
3. And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir—whom You would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them—
4. here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit.
5. O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”

He got his confession directed toward God’s power.

1. Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the Lord.
2. Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly.
3. And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
4. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel.
5. You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”
6. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord.