In this episode, we delve into the Feast of Tabernacles, a cherished tradition full of spiritual lessons about God’s enduring care and the fragility of life. Pastor Kyle shares the transformational journey of the Israelites from sorrow to joy as they embrace God’s Word. Learn how these ancient truths resonate in our lives today, reminding us of the eternal hope and joy we have in Christ, our living water. Join our community as we seek to live with joy and demonstrate God’s love in our everyday walk.
00:00:08 Introduction and Purpose of Expository Truths
00:00:58 The Faithfulness of Nehemiah and Rebuilding
Welcome to Expository Truths, where we exalt Christ by bringing clarity of truth through the scriptures with Dr. John Kyle, pastor of Faith Community Church in Vacaville. As Christians, we are called to know the truth and be able to proclaim it. We can know the truth when we know the word of God, which is precise, without error, powerful, and effective for both salvation and spiritual growth. Let’s join Pastor Kyle as he takes us verse by verse through the book of Nehemiah, an incredible book showing us how God sovereignly used the faithfulness of Nehemiah to lead the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in the midst of many mighty and powerful enemies.
SPEAKER 02 :
Please turn in your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 8, verses 13 through 18. Nehemiah 8. 13 through 18 now remember nehemiah was a faithful jewish man who was living in the capital city of the persian empire shushan also known as susa and nehemiah was a cupbearer to king artaxerxes as we saw the good hand of god led nehemiah to go to jerusalem where the people were in great distress and reproach and where the walls of the city were still in ruins and look God used Nehemiah to lead the people in rebuilding the wall in 52 days, an absolutely amazing work of God. But now what? Well, do more to help the city return to its former glory, of course, which Nehemiah will continue to do. But even more, help to bring spiritual reformation for the people who have been living in mediocrity and rebellion for way too long. The good news is that the wall building project lit a fire under the people. And so as we saw at the Feast of the Trumpets on the first day of Tishri, which is the seventh month in 444 B.C., as the people were gathered together as one man to celebrate in Jerusalem, There was indeed a spiritual hunger in the people. They were eager and they were ready and they had no problem with Ezra reading God’s word to them for hours and hours. In fact, they loved it. As Ezra read it and as others helped the people to understand what was being read. And good news, they did understand because their response makes that clear. Look, they wept when they heard the words of of the law why clarity they now understood their own sin and what that sin did and so they rightly wept which revealed their sorrow and repentance over their sin The good news is that they didn’t remain in that state of weeping because when you’ve truly sorrowed and repented over your sin, and when you’ve gone to God with that sin, you can then know that you now stand forgiven, which will then lead to great joy. And as this day was a day of the feast of trumpets, a time to eat, a time to celebrate, a time to rejoice, the people were now truly able to do that which they did. What a day. What a day. Now what? Day 2, let’s look, verse 8. 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. And they found written in the law, which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month. and that they should announce and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, Go out to the mountain and bring olive branches, branches of oil trees, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of leafy trees to make booths as it is written. Then the people went out and brought them and made themselves booths, each one on the roof of his house or in their courtyards or the courts of the house of God and in the temple and in the open square of the water gate and the open square of the gate of Ephraim. So the whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and sat under the booths for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that day the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very great gladness. 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. Now, here we see that the people celebrated the feast. Now, again, the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths, or as they call it today, Sukkot, it was a family affair. It was one of the three great pilgrimage festivals of the Jewish year where the Jewish males were expected to attend its celebration in Jerusalem. The designation Feast of Tabernacles comes from the requirement for every born Israelite to live in booths made of trees and palm branches on the days of the feast, Leviticus 23.42. Those who lived in the city erected these booths on the roofs of their houses, while others made use of street corners and vacant areas in the city. In these booths, these huts, they would live for the next eight days from Saturday to Saturday, Sabbath to Sabbath. The point of the Feast of Tabernacles was to commemorate the 40 years that the Israelites had spent wandering around in the desert with no roof over their head except the night sky. It was probably fun the first night, but subsequent nights, especially if it rained, would be a lesson in hardship and inconvenience, which was a vivid reminder of the days spent wandering in the wilderness. The feast celebrated two great truths for the people of Israel. First, it was a reminder of God’s protection during a time of great difficulty and great hardship. Life is fragile. Anybody know that? Life is a vapor. We really have no lasting city here, but we eagerly long for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God, which is yet to come. This world is not our home. Amen to that. Anybody? Anybody glad about that? This world is not our home. This is all temporary. This is all fading, and we do well to remember that. Thus, the booths. James 4.13 tells us that life is a vapor, and again, that’s good to remember. A vapor is short-lived. You see the mist for a moment, and a few minutes later, it’s gone. You see the steam coming off of your coffee cup, and in just a second, it disappears into the air. Life is like that. in psalm 90 moses laments the brevity of life he compares life to the grass of the field that sprouts in the morning and by evening it’s faded under the hot sun he writes in verse 10 as for the days of our lives they contain 70 years or if due to strength 80 years yet their pride is but labor and sorrow for soon it’s gone and we fly away he’s right And even if you live to be a hundred years old, how quickly life flies by. That’s why Moses prays, so teach us to number our days that we may present to you a heart of wisdom. And so the wise live not for this life, not really, but for the next, for the life, for that which lasts forever. Look, we’re all going to die. Yes, Jesus could come first, oh blessed hope, but unless he does, we’re all going to die and it could be soon. We don’t know. We don’t know, but too many of us ignore that fact. But we can’t because we have a God to glorify and we have too little time left to do it in. And so we live for the next life. And we trust God to care for us until that time comes. And when it’s time, He’ll take us to glory. But Booth’s reminded the people of this. Oh, that those in the world would understand that truth today. They try so hard to hold on to this life as long as they can because this life is the best they will ever get. How sad is that? But for us in Christ, the fastness and frailty of this life is more than compensated for by the knowledge that the Gospel grants the assurance of eternal life in the presence of the Lord forever. And that changes absolutely everything. For us, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, and the best really is yet to come. Good to remember. A second lesson is seen from the timing of the feast, since it occurred at the time of harvest, and was also known as a feast of harvest, or as a feast of ingathering. So, it was also a harvest festival, kind of like Thanksgiving. And it included the eating of the summer harvest, fruits… dates, grapes, olives, and so on. See, their ancestors in the wilderness had lived from hand to mouth, eating only manna and quail. In the promised land, they lived with an abundance of provision that was given to them by the hand of God. And this is what the feast brought to the surface. The constant provision of their Lord who would set His love on them. He takes care of them. He watches over them through the good and the bad, the difficult, the valleys, the hardships, the trials. Same is true with us, by the way. All that we have is of the Lord. All the good comes from Him. He’s the supplier of all that. We do well to remember that. We do well to be thankful for that. God gets all the credit for any and all good, and too often we don’t give Him the credit. Amen. The booze reminded the people that God gets the credit and that we are to be thankful to Him for all the good things that He bestows on us. You picture what that day was like when it came? Note that five days before was the Day of Atonement, a massive day for the Jews. That’s not mentioned here for some reason, perhaps because it had more to do with priestly activity, while the emphasis here is on what the community did. But it’s now the 15th day. of Tishri, and the people came to Jerusalem. They have brought their branches. They’ve made their booths. I mean, forts were everywhere, okay? Booths were everywhere. Roofs, courtyards, open squares, and the courts of the temple around the gates of the city, they were everywhere. What a time. Note that back then, there was nothing fancy about these little huts, but today, some people really make them nice and very extravagant. I saw a picture of one, when was it, a couple months ago? I saw a picture of one, and it was like a outdoor man cave it was incredible with a tv and everything it was amazing but but not not then right not then but try to picture it as the people had their quickly made huts and as they celebrated and remembered the goodness of god our provider our caretaker our all in all Note that while celebrating this feast sounds pretty cool, we today have no reason to do it because this was all part of the Old Testament law and Christ fulfilled the law. He is our true deliverer. And He’s the one who protects us and who provides for us as we go through life in the wilderness of this world. And soon, we will indeed be with Him forever. So good news, we can celebrate Christ every day, and we should, for to have Him is to have everything. So go ahead and make your forts, make your man cave, whatever. You can do that any time. But we can celebrate Christ every single day. Note that there was great gladness in the people, rightly so. They hadn’t celebrated this feast in a biblical manner for many years. And as they gathered together and dwelt in these booths for that week, and as they feasted and worshipped the Lord, there was great joy to be had. And that was the way it was supposed to be from the very beginning. As Deuteronomy 16.14 said, You shall rejoice in your feast. You and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns. It’s interesting to note that an ancient saying of the rabbis declared that a man doesn’t know what joy is unless he’s been in Jerusalem at the Feast of the Tabernacles. So they rejoiced because they remembered what God had done for them and what God was continuing to do for them. And they also rejoiced because they were obeying what God told them to do. And that too brings great joy. As J.I. Packer writes, nothing compares to knowing that you’re doing the will of God. He’s right. He’s right. We love God for who He is and for what He’s done. And when we know that what we are doing is well-pleasing to Him, hey, nothing really compares to that. See, giving Him joy gives us the greatest joy in return. That’s true, and that’s how those who celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles saw it. They were grateful to the Lord, and they responded with desires to know and to do whatever was demanded of them, not out of begrudging compliance, but because they loved Him and it brought them great joy to obey Him. It’s interesting to note that the occasion described in this chapter in Nehemiah was a regulated occasion of formal public worship. As one said, you can choose to engage in worship dutifully and heartlessly. You can do and say all the right things but be devoid of any warmth, tenderness, or sense of euphoria. You can make worship appear the most lifeless and boring activity of the entire week. On the other hand, you can choose joy by reveling in God’s goodness, basking in covenant faithfulness, and being overwhelmed by blood-bought forgiveness. Yeah, we should be joyful here today because we stand forgiven by a holy God. Shouldn’t we be joyful when we come together to worship the God who saved us from eternity and hell? Anybody? Right? On top of that, God gives joy to us as children. True, true joy. Real joy. Heartfelt joy. As we saw last week and here, we’re reminded of it yet again. God gives true joy. Oh yes, happiness comes and goes with the circumstances of life. But in Christ, we can have true joy all the time. And we should have true joy all the time. Why? Because joy is a deep down confidence that all is well between me and God. And therefore, no matter what happens to me in this life as a Christian, look, I am God’s and God is mine forever. What else matters? See, spiritual joy transcends circumstances. You and Christ can be joyful even if you’re sick. You can be joyful even if you’re in pain. You can be joyful even if earthly things are crumbling down around you. Why? Because we know who we are, we know whose we are, and we know where we’re going. We know that life is short, but eternity is forever. And we know that no matter what happens, we’re still going to go to heaven and be with our beloved Lord forever. Come on, what else matters? And the Psalms were repeatedly told to be joyful in the Lord. Paul says rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Christ says rejoice for your names are written in heaven. So our relationship to God should bring great joy to our hearts and lives. It should be seen. And the question is, is it seen in your life? Are you focused? Is your focus where it ought to be as a Christian? Rejoicing is a command. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. And it’s to be a continual part of our lives in Christ. And as we said last week, verse 10, The joy of the Lord is your strength, right? Your refuge, your protection. How? When I remember the joy of the Lord, my trials seem much smaller. When I remember the joy of the Lord, my enemies seem way less powerful. When I remember the joy of the Lord, my sins seem less attractive. When I remember the joy of the Lord, God is much bigger and greater in my heart. When I remember the joy of the Lord, my love for Him grows. How could it not? He forgave me of all my sin. And look, the best is yet to come because of Him. Result? Joy. What about you? Well, it should be seen in our daily lives, and it should certainly be seen in our corporate worship of the God whom we love, the God who saved us, the God who rejoices over us, the God who showers us with undeserved grace and mercy. And if they were joyful back then, how much more us today? Fifth, look, day by day they read from the law of God. That’s amazing. Verse 18. 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. And so we see that the week continued as it began. Several specific Bible passages were carefully examined that week, obviously. Those relating to the making of the booths, Leviticus 23, 40-43 and Numbers 29, 12-38. Another passage relating to the call to rejoice, Deuteronomy 16, 13-15. And then another passage in Deuteronomy 31, 12-13 that commands the reading of the law every seventh year at the Feast of Lent. tabernacles why so they can listen and learn to fear the lord your god and follow carefully all the words of this law their children who do not know this law must hear it and learn to fear the lord so here’s a question was this the seventh year because that’s the year they’re supposed to read the law or did ezra seize the moment and read the law anyhow He read the Word of God because they were eager and ready for it. And if people are eager and ready to hear and learn the Word of God, then man, you let them hear and learn the Word of God. You picture it, hey Ezra, we’d love to hear the Word of God read to us and then explain to us like you did two weeks before at the Feast of Trumpets. What do you say, Ezra? No, no, can’t do that. It’s not the seventh year. Not going to happen. Sorry about that. We have three more years. No way Ezra did that. People need the Word of God, the truth of God, the wisdom of God. And these families need the Word of God. And these parents need the Word of God. And these children need the Word of God in a world full of lies. And Ezra will take every opportunity he can to give that truth to them. And that’s what he did. Question. What did the sacred assembly look like on the eighth and final day of the feast? Worship. On the eighth day of the feast, a bullock, a ram, and seven lambs were offered to God, which were all pictures of Christ, who is our once and for all sacrifice for sin. Note that there was also an additional ritual that wasn’t prescribed in the law that was added to the Feast of Tabernacles, a tradition. The ritual involved drawing water from the pool of Siloam and carrying it through the city to be poured out at the temple altar. This was done every day except on the eighth day. It was done to recall how God had enabled Moses to draw water from the rock in the wilderness days. It also looked forward to a glorious time in the future. Isaiah 12 pictured that time when he wrote, “‘Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and I will not be afraid.'” The Lord God is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. Therefore, with joy, you will draw water from the wells of salvation. That’s a picture of Christ. Isaiah 55.1 also alludes to this when it says, Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. What waters? That too is a picture of Christ. Christ who brings true joy and salvation. Christ our Savior who alone cures the true thirst of the soul. Now, on the eighth day, the ritual was especially dramatic. The people walked around the temple altar seven times, but where was the water? See, water wasn’t part of the ritual on that eighth day. But look, very interesting. In John chapter 7, We find Jesus in Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles on the eighth day. And knowing the way the Lord works, it seems that as people walked around the temple altar those seven times, look what happened. I think the timing was perfect when Jesus said this. John 7, 37. On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scriptures have said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Come on, isn’t that amazing? How cool is that? Where’s the water? Jesus is the water. He’s the living water. He satisfies. He sustains us. He provides for us. He gives us everything we truly need for life and eternity. Those in Nehemiah 8 look forward to Christ through the feasts and through the rituals. And we get to look back and see clearly that Jesus is indeed our all in all. If you have Him, you have everything. But if you don’t have Him, you have absolutely nothing in the end but misery. He alone satisfies. Don’t we know it? Those who have Him, we know this. He alone satisfies. He alone saves by grace through faith because of what He did on the cross for all who believe. He alone quenches the true thirst of the soul. Christ alone. And look, the way to draw near, ever near to Him, your all in all, is through His Word. His Word. What’s the best thing you can do for yourself? And what’s the best thing that you can do for those around you? Dive into God’s Word which is truth. Dive in so that you can know the God of the Word and glorify Him better with the precious short time that you have left. Lord, help us all to dive in. Do yourself some good and dive in. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we love You so very much and we thank You for this time. Thank You for blessing us. Thank You for joy. The joy that comes through You and You alone. Thank You that You reveal Yourself to us through Your Word. Thank You for saving us, Lord. And if there’s any here who aren’t saved, I pray that You would open their eyes so that they can see that You are our answer. You alone. You save. You give hope. You give peace. You give life. And when we surrender to You in repentant faith, we discover that for ourselves. Oh Lord, help us. Help us to cling to You. Help us to not waver. Help us to not veer. Help us to walk faithfully. And help us to dive in and eat up Your Word which is truth so that we can know You and glorify You better in our fading lives. Bless us now. Encourage us. Help us to encourage one another. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thanks for joining us. truth.org faith community church seeks to exalt christ by bringing clarity of truth through the scriptures with a commitment to glorifying god through the pure deep and reaching message of the gospel pastor john is the preaching pastor at faith community church of vacaville a seminary professor and a trainer of preaching pastors overseas Join for services at Faith Community Church Sundays at 9 and 1045 a.m. 192 Bella Vista Road, Suite A. To learn more, visit vacavillefaith.org or call 707-451-2026. That’s 707-451-2026. Or visit vacavillefaith.org.
